Abstract

The service sector has experienced a remarkable growth in most advanced economies over the last decades. Services are processes that transfer inputs into outputs through interaction between customer and provider. The performance of service processes can be measured in terms of service productivity. Service productivity, expressing the relationship between service outcome and the resources required, is a key measure to service providers. In this literature review, we take a BPM perspective to examine which practices extant studies suggest to help service managers to increase productivity of service processes. We assign 15 recommendations which we are able to identify from the literature review to the phases design, configuration, enactment, and diagnosis according to the BPM lifecycle. Based on these recommendations, we outline three interconnected areas of future research from which the service industry could benefit. These are cross-boundary BPM, understanding IT support for service processes, and contributions of design science. This study takes a fresh look on service productivity as it offers a novel systemization and synthesis of the diverse recommendations present in the literature. The implications we discuss go beyond common beaten tracks as they bring forward the new opportunities of growing digital connectedness that also exist for traditional services as well as the formation of networks and increasing collaboration within the service sector.

Keywords

Service Science, Service Management, Productivity, Business Process Management, Literature Review

ISBN

ISBN: [978-1-86435-644-1]; Full paper

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