A Thirty-Year Bibliometric Analysis on Servitization

Abstract

This paper performs a bibliometric analysis of all the servitization literature written during the last three decades, providing its social, intellectual, and conceptual structures. The methodology is based on the R-package bibliometrix for the analysis of co-citation, collaboration, and co-occurrence, applied to all the servitization literature published from 1988 to 2017 indexed in Scopus and WoS databases. Results from the 615 reviewed articles synthesize, consolidate, and improve the existing knowledge on the phenomenon. The study allows the identification of the leading authors, institutions, works, and keywords that compose the servitization publications related to the last three decades, suggesting useful metrics for researchers, new potential entrants, and practitioners. Moreover, offering a definition of servitization, the study provides lexicon consistency to both servitization researchers and practitioners, fostering the constructive accumulation of knowledge on the topic. Lastly, the study provides suggestions for future studies and collaborations opportunities.