This paper examines the current state of service quality research through various organizational theoretical perspectives and identifies potential research directions that can be explored to provide novel insights into the field. A systematic literature review approach is used to examine service quality literature from the perspective of agency theory, contingency theory, motivational theories, prospect theory, resource-based view, signaling theory, social network theory and transaction cost economics. This paper is the first attempt to review service quality literature from an organizational theory lens and can serve as a template study for future theory-building research to advance topics in other areas. © 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.