The evolution of the services marketing literature can be tracked across three metaphorical evolutionary stages from its early beginnings in the Crawling Out stage to the most recent publications in the Walking Erect stage. As with human evolution, the outcomes at each of the three stages would have been difficult to predict precisely at an earlier stage. Thus, while we have speculated on future literature, we cannot give a precise label or time frame for the next phase of the evolution. The face of the literature at each stage, the ideas that emerged, and even the contributors who chose to write in the field truly evolved 1993).
Clearly the risk-taking of services marketing researchers (particularly in the Crawling Out phase) was a key element shaping the literature. However, as the debate over whether services marketing is distinct eventually died out, it became somewhat less risky for academics to enter the field. During the Scurrying About phase, specific problems faced by business practitioners in service industries influenced the large numbers of topics that were researched. The problems first identified in this phase carried forward in the Walking Erect stage, and in fact the roots of all the major topic areas (such as service quality, service encounters, internal marketing) can be tracked to the Scurrying About phase. This problem-centred research focus later branched into the issues faced by manufacturing companies that were beginning (during the Walking Erect stage) to view service as a competitive advantage, if not a competitive necessity. As the term Walking Erect implies, the literature published during this most recent evolutionary phase stands on its own and is a solid contribution to management practice and academic theories of marketing in a variety of topic areas.
As with human evolution, evidence of past stages is always apparent in later evolutionary stages. The entrepreneurial spirit of the early services marketing researchers in the Crawling Out stage is still evident in the topics selected for research and in the excitement and enthusiasm with which they are pursued. The business problem-centred nature of the research in the Scurrying About phase also has carried forward. We expect that the strong international and interdisciplinary nature of the research in the Walking Erect phase, as well as the interest in service issues from manufacturing businesses, also will carry forward into the next, unnamed stage of evolution.
Of one thing we are certain, the community of scholars, the wealth of issues, and methods for understanding them will continue to grow. The future for scholarship and for scholars in services marketing has never been brighter. We envision the services literature of the future burgeoning in quantity, but more importantly, in quality. This growth will bring many additional unanswered questions in need of research that will represent future opportunities. The literature we have documented here and future contributions will shape the next evolutionary stage, enriching not only the services marketing literature but also enhancing the marketing discipline.