Title: Can past research generate future opportunities? - A systematic literature review for consumer behaviour in the service sector

Authors: Elia Oey; Hotniar Siringoringo

Addresses: International Business and Management Program, Management Department, Binus Business School Undergraduate Program, Bina Nusantara University, Jakarta, 11480, Indonesia ' Department of Industrial Engineering and Post Graduate Technology and Engineering, Gunadarma University, Jakarta, 16424, Indonesia

Abstract: Research on consumer behaviour is vast as it is crucial for both academia and industry. The service sector gives both challenges and opportunities for research on consumer behaviour. This paper is a systematic literature study on consumer behaviour research in the general service industry, aiming to identify groups of opportunities from previous studies. This study collected articles from the Scopus database from 2001-2020. From 4,229 potential articles, 807 were selected. After two data reductions, the sample was reduced to 232 articles. The articles were then categorised into theme, sub-theme, methods, and domain area. We found that the majority of past studies concentrated more on a diagnostic theme, with a smaller number suggesting improvements. Based on that, we proposed 16 groups of opportunities for future researchers. Three opportunities are specifically for the 'improvement' theme of service research. Four opportunities are specific for the 'diagnostic' theme, while the rest are generic.

Keywords: consumer behaviour; services; systematic literature review; SLR.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBEX.2025.149749

International Journal of Business Excellence, 2025 Vol.37 No.2, pp.182 - 205

Received: 17 Aug 2021
Accepted: 21 Sep 2021
Published online: 12 Nov 2025 *

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