Why are we still waiting? A multidimensional framework for waiting in services

For more than four decades, waiting has remained a persistent concern in services management. That endurance is striking. Over the same period, service systems have been transformed by digital platforms, automation, real-time tracking, premium access arrangements, and rising expectations of immediacy. The forms of waiting have changed significantly, yet waiting itself has not disappeared, suggesting that services may reduce delays without resolving the broader problem of waiting. This paper addresses that puzzle through an integrative conceptual narrative review of waiting in services. Drawing primarily on literature published between 1984 and March 2026 across marketing, consumer research, services and operations, sociology, anthropology, philosophy, and cultural studies, the review develops a multidimensional framework organised around five interrelated dimensions: temporal structuring, experiential waiting, social embeddedness, power and agency, and narrative and ritual. The paper contributes in three ways. First, it consolidates a fragmented interdisciplinary literature into a more coherent account of waiting in services. Second, it shows that waiting cannot be understood through temporal and operational variables alone, since delay is also affective, relational, unequal, and symbolically mediated. Third, it outlines a research agenda and managerial orientation for analysing waiting in contemporary service systems.