The service-profit chain (SPC) is one of the most influential concepts in service research. Introduced by Heskett et al. (1994), the SPC emphasizes the significance of both internal and external service quality for a firm's long-term financial performance. It bridges service companies' internal and external environments by positing employee satisfaction, loyalty, and productivity as mediators between internal and external service quality, and customer satisfaction and loyalty as mediators between external service quality and financial outcomes. In doing so, the SPC links three domains: (a) internal marketing, encompassing internal service quality and employee attitudes and behaviors; (b) external marketing, reflecting external service quality and customer attitudes and behaviors; and (c) firm performance, including revenue growth and profitability. Over the past three decades, the SPC has gained considerable scholarly attention and continues to inspire organizations that place employees and customers at the center of their strategies.
Now is a particularly timely moment for the Journal of Service Management to devote a special issue to the SPC. Despite its widespread influence, recent developments have challenged its original assumptions, calling for both revision and reimagination. Three developments in particular highlight the need for renewed scholarly attention.
First, the digital transformation of service work, including the rise of service robots, automation, and artificial intelligence (AI), is profoundly reshaping the roles of service employees. These changes alter the meaning of internal service quality and affect how customers evaluate service encounters. SPC research must therefore account for the opportunities and unintended consequences of AI-driven transformations.
Second, employee and customer well-being have become central concerns in both academic scholarship and practical applications. Well-being increasingly influences transformative service research and may complement—or even substitute—the SPC's traditional satisfaction measures. Understanding whether well-being is a stronger predictor of loyalty and performance outcomes is a critical next step.
Third, external shocks and turbulent environments, from pandemics to economic crises, challenge the stability of SPC relationships. These shocks not only critically disrupt service provision but also have profound effects on customer-employee interactions. Service employees must quickly adapt to shifting processes, environments, and often enforce service rules that are not well received by customers, adding another layer of stress to their already challenging jobs. Disruptive events, therefore, raise questions about how resilient the SPC framework is and how firms can adapt internal and external marketing practices to maintain performance in uncertain times.
Taken together, these challenges provide an impetus to further develop and extend the SPC. This special issue aims to build on its rich legacy while critically assessing how it must evolve to remain relevant. By explicitly including practitioners' perspectives, the issue will not only illustrate how the SPC is lived in practice but also identify where its core links need to be rethought. We call for an interdisciplinary perspective, engaging scholars across marketing, management, operations, finance, and human resources to reflect, revise, and reimagine the SPC for the next generation of service research.