SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT IN SERVICE MODULARITY

Modularity in services has emerged as a promising design principle to achieve a sound balance be-tween cost-effective standardization and individualization at the same time. However, the multiple perspectives from which scholars have addressed service modularity reflect the high degree of com-plexity of the concept. We denoted numerous research streams within the service modularity domain that use different terminology and draw on their distinctive understanding about the modular service design. The implications that arise from these research streams are manifold and have not yet been covered from a holistic perspective. The purpose of this paper is therefore to provide an overview of the commonalities and differences between existing research pathways and thereby guide both future research as well as service providers. We approach this goal by the use of an innovative methodology that combines both systematic literature review and hermeneutic approach, which enabled us to de-velop fresh research perspectives while avoiding certain pitfalls of traditional methodologies. Our findings show the emerging of four schools of thought in service modularity research. Each school draws on a distinctive understanding about the interrelation between modularity in service, product and business model