The Neglect of Service Scienceservice science in the Operations Management Field

Abstract

Services have dominated Western economies for over half a century. Worldwide, services are now the largest economic sector, recently replacing agriculture. Services are now a larger portion of the economy than manufacturing for every nation on Earth. Yet, much of the scholarly work in Operations Management (OM) still addresses manufacturing issues. While Western economies are 70%–85% services, less than 10% of OM research done by Western academics is dedicated to services. Here, we examine some causes for this state of affairs: The attitude that “service = servile”, the rise of supply chain as an organizing paradigm, and the research methods needed for services.