Productivity in services: a systematic review

Abstract

Through the method of Systematic Review of Literature (SRL), this study conducted an analysis of productivity in services. For this purpose, fourteen journals of Operations Management and Scielo database were consulted. The studies were analyzed with respect to six criteria for classification: i) type of study, ii) investigated business sector, iii) affiliation of authors, iv) prevailing methodological approach, v) themes, e vi) methods used in comparative analyzes of performance. It was found that the greatest amount of work used the modeling approach to assess the productivity, particularly by linear programming methodology - Data Analysis Envelopment (DEA). It was observed that the vast majority of authors are academic, there are few publications of researchers from companies or that have both types of researchers. The study identified four recurring themes in the articles. Then, some studies have focused on the establishment of productivity indicators and their analysis over time, comparing the performance of different firms or industries. Other studies have identified the characteristics and difficulties of measuring productivity in services in relation to manufacturing companies. Different studies have proposed indicators to measure productivity in services. Finally, in light of the main textbooks on operation's management and service literature, this study identified key strategies and methods for improving productivity in services. It was found that the theme productivity in services is a promising research topic.