Purpose

This study aims to examine how the foundational premises (FPs) of service-dominant logic (SDL) have been applied and interpreted in scholarly research. By distinguishing between SDL’s proposed and realized narratives, the study advances understanding of how SDL has evolved through cumulative use and interpretation, and proposes directions for future research and theory development in marketing.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a data set of 4,371 papers published between 2004 and 2019, complemented by a qualitative analysis (2020–2025), the authors combine quantitative mapping and interpretive analysis to trace how SDL as a theoretical framework has travelled through the literature and how its meanings have shifted over time.

Findings

Results show a consistent yet evolving application of the FPs across journals, disciplines and ranking levels. While SDL remains a cohesive theoretical framework, its use reveals increasing conceptual variety, reflecting both stabilization and drift in its realized narrative. Recent developments highlight stronger ecosystem and institutional orientations, marking SDL’s continuing theoretical maturation.

Research limitations/implications

The study provides a lens for examining how marketing theories evolve through cumulative scholarly use and adaptation. It underscores the need to balance theoretical coherence with interpretive flexibility.

Practical implications

The overall message of the framework for managers is in its advocacy of a company’s service orientation. The essentials of such a service orientation lie in the company’s proactive stance vis-à-vis its business context and its capability to identify and seize emerging opportunities for service provision.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study offers the first large-scale, longitudinal analysis of SDL from 2004 to 2025, revealing how its FPs have travelled from a proposed to a realized narrative in scholarly discourse.