Capabilities for service innovation: Bibliometric analysis and directions for future research

ABSTRACT Purpose: This study aims to identify how the innovation studies literature addresses the topic of capabilities for service innovation and to propose directions for future research in this field. Originality/value: There is a gap in the literature on service innovation of the combination of capabilities that guarantees the success of service companies considering the characteristics of service innovators. Design/methodology/approach: This study comprises a bibliometric analysis of documents retrieved from Scopus and Web of Science databases. The total sample examined consists of 1523 studies published between 1974 and 2020. The data were analyzed with the Bibliometrix R-package, providing many visualization forms. Additional co-citation analysis was carried out using VosViewer software. Findings: Results indicate a growing discussion about service innovation and capabilities in the period under analysis, but it is still a fragmented theoretical body. There is a great variety of theoretical approaches that have been used to describe capabilities for service innovation. This way, this study contributes to the literature by mapping the current state of the art in the field of service innovation and by identifying its main research themes, which enabled us to propose a research agenda for further development. Finally, we recognize that few studies involve data collected from different geographic regions other than developed countries.