Toward a Core Typology of Service Organizations
Abstract
Typologies of organizations have generally failed to address the special character of service organizations. In this article we develop a core typology for service organizations based on the personal Interface between the client-customer and the service organization. Three types of service organizations are described utilizing seven dimensions of the interaction between a focal organization and its customer-clients. The typology developed and discussed is an attempt at providing more precision in the classification of organizations.
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The classic typologies elaborated by Mills and Margulies (1980) and Lovelock (1983) assigned services to categories reflecting different aspects of the relationship between customers and the service organization, facilitating prediction of organizational behavior and marketing action.
“For example, the classic typologies elaborated by Mills and Margulies (1980) and Lovelock (1983) assigned services to categories reflecting different aspects of the relationship between customers and the service organization, facilitating prediction of organizational behavior and marketing action.”
From Designing conceptual articles: four approaches (2020) · cites this paper as Mills and Margulies (1980)
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References 42 · Cited by 271
- Authors
- Mills, P. K., & Margulies, N.
- Affiliations
- Santa Clara University (US)
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- Venue
- The Academy of Management Review
- Publisher
- Academy of Management
- Published
- 1980-04
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 255
- ISSN
- 0363-7425 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1969453545
- Cited by
- 271
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 17 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 8.24
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Academy of Management Review (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Customer Service Quality and Loyalty
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Management and Organizational Studies
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Marketing › Service and Product Innovation
- Keywords
- service organizations, organizational typology, customer interface, organizational classification
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