A review of DEA-based resource and cost allocation models: implications for services

Data envelopment analysis (DEA), by its design, was not intended for resource allocation but for measuring relative efficiency of decision‐making units. Despite this, many researchers have successfully applied this modelling technique to a variety of resource and cost allocation decisions in order to improve operational efficiencies. This paper is a comprehensive review and classification of such articles. The papers were classified by industry and by DEA model‐orientation. The findings of this paper show that existing models predominately apply DEA to mass service industries (e.g., banking), thus, revealing the opportunity for researchers to further develop DEA‐based resource allocation modelling toward improving the operational efficiencies of other service industries (e.g., professional services). To guide researchers to this end, we offer a discussion of the use of DEA modelling when the service provider and the customer are both resources needing to be allocated, in other words, using DEA to model professional or co‐created services.