Title: The service profit chain in healthcare services: a systematic literature exploration

Authors: Chrystina Barros; Claudia Affonso Silva Araujo

Addresses: The COPPEAD Graduate School of Business, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro – UFRJ, Rua Pascoal Lemme, 355 – Cidade Universitária – Rio de Janeiro/RJ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil ' The COPPEAD Graduate School of Business, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro – UFRJ, Rua Pascoal Lemme, 355 – Cidade Universitária – Rio de Janeiro/RJ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; São Paulo School of Business Administration – EAESP-FGV, Avenida 9 de julho, 2029, Bela Vista, Sao Paulo/SP, CEP 01313-902, Brazil

Abstract: The objective of this study is to present a systematic literature review on the service profit chain (SPC) applied to the healthcare sector covering the articles published, limitations, and future research avenues. The search was performed in nine databases that cover international content in the fields of management and healthcare and also in Google Scholar. The findings demonstrate that the topic has been little studied so far. Among the 292 articles that included the term 'Service profit chain' in the title, abstract, or keyword, only 12 (4.1%) dealt with the healthcare sector. Most of the articles focused on the connection between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction, and only one empirical study considered all the SPC links with only one research being conducted in a private institution. This review highlights the research gap in the current literature and provides direction for future research.

Keywords: service profit chain; healthcare sector; systematic review.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOM.2023.131498

International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 2023 Vol.45 No.2, pp.271 - 291

Received: 15 Oct 2020
Accepted: 31 Mar 2021
Published online: 15 Jun 2023 *

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