Service environment research opportunities

Purpose This paper aims to explore the evolution of the service environment literature and speculates about future research in this area. This paper focuses on studies regarding how the interior and exterior environments of physical service settings (including retail stores) influence consumer response. Web atmospherics are not covered in this paper. In addition, while a number of studies have been conducted on retail and service atmospherics elements in other disciplines, such as environmental psychology and leisure and hospitality, the focus is on research published in marketing and consumer-related journals. Design/methodology/approach This paper reports the results of empirical studies; however, as there are few empirical studies on the effects of exterior environmental characteristics (e.g. storefronts) in marketing, two conceptual papers on this topic will be reviewed to set the stage for future research on exterior design. Findings Over the past 40 years, there has been a proliferation of articles on how service environments influence consumer responses. The review covers illustrative examples of articles in several categories of environmental topics. The areas for future research based on the review are suggested. Originality/value An up-to-date review of service environment research that is broad in scope is provided. The authors also propose 41 different research questions based on the review that services scholars can use to take this area of inquiry forward.