Growth in the service sector across the globe over last few decades has made it a hot topic for research both for academicians and corporate. Traditionally service researchers have focused on issues such as customer satisfaction, service quality, customer relationships, service process management, service encounters, cross-functional integration, etc. There is also a great deal of literature focusing on employee motivation, performance, and productivity in the service industry. Recently service managers have recognized the impact of physical environment or servicescape on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Servicescape has been considered as a significant and critical tool of differentiation and has been attracting the concern of many researchers and practitioners. This paper presents a summary of literature available to show the impact of servicescapes on consumer behavior in service settings. The major objective being to gain general understanding of how an individual evaluates a servicescape, and how servicescapes influence consumer behavior, relevant literature has been analysed in varied service contexts. Finally authors conclude that there is scarcity of research on servicescape in emerging economies such as India, China, etc. Considering the current service growth and continuing opportunities in these economies, future research needs to be focused on these consumers.
Arousal, Behavioral intentions, Pleasure, Physical environment, Servicescape
