Journal Article
The servitization literature has evolved into a rich field of academic inquiry that today calls for a consolidation of extant knowledge and opens new opportunities for meta-analytic reviews. The present research provides a fine-grained understanding of the servitization–firm performance relationship.
The authors first develop an integrative conceptual framework that systematically ties together factors identified in prior research that affect the relationship. Through a meta-analysis of 379 effect sizes across 85 studies, the authors then provide broad-based empirical evidence that servitization indeed exerts a positive effect on firm performance.
The authors further examine a broad set of potential moderators affecting the servitization–performance relationship to understand and explain the heterogeneity and, at times, the inconsistency of prior results regarding the relationship’s directionality and strength.
Finally, the authors provide guidance for future research, from both a substantive and methodological standpoint, and sketch out an integrative conceptual model for future research.
