Building a new academic field—The case of services marketing

Abstract

The growth of services marketing as an academic field offers insight into how a new field of study develops. This article examines specific forces that contributed to and accelerated or inhibited knowledge creation, dissemination, and utilization in services marketing. Multiple methods were used to explore this question. The analysis reveals that services marketing developed academically because it filled a need in marketing practice. Industry assumed an influential role in the development of the academic field of services marketing.