Systematic scoping review reveals fragmented definitions and quantitative dominance in professional services literature, highlighting the need for dual-perspective frameworks.
Key Points
To map fragmented literature on service quality across diverse professional disciplines, synthesize conceptual understandings, and establish strategic directions for future research.
Conducted a systematic scoping review of 60 peer-reviewed journal articles published between 1985 and 2025.
Identified records primarily through Scopus and Web of Science with Google Scholar supplementation, guided by the PRISMA flow diagram.
Coded data systematically and performed thematic and frequency analyses using MS Excel and VOSviewer (v1.6.20).
Identified four thematic characteristics forming five persistent patterns: client-centric perspectives, quantitative dominance from structured frameworks, contextual disparity, pre-decided determinants, and definitional ambiguity.
Applied the PAGER framework to outline strategic research directions emphasizing dual perspectives, methodological shifts, contextual expansion, service-specific determinants, and definitional precision.