The Service-Profit Chain: Reflections, Revisions, and Reimaginations

Abstract

Over the past 25 years, the service–profit chain (SPC) has become a prominent guidepost for service managers and researchers. In this article, we reflect on and synthesize published research to clarify what researchers have learned about the SPC and what remains less well understood. Based on an in-depth discussion of the field, we present a revised SPC and propose multiple areas in which further research would be worthwhile, such as internal service quality as specific systems of human resource management practices, both employee and customer well-being as additional mediators, different targets of employee and customer loyalty, contingencies, and non-linear and feedback effects. We conclude by reimagining the SPC, and we discuss digital and artificial-intelligence–driven changes to the SPC’s structure. Finally, based on the insights we discuss, we inform scholars of the current state of SPC research and provide a detailed agenda for future research.