<![CDATA[Healthcare service characteristics have implications for service management and hospital marketing strategies. This systematic literature review aimed to analyze healthcare service characteristics, including intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity, and perishability, and to identify their implications for hospital marketing strategies based on the 7P service marketing mix. Literature was searched through PubMed and Google Scholar using search strategies covering terms related to service characteristics, healthcare or hospital services, and marketing. The search was conducted on September 8, 2026, with restrictions to English-language publications from the previous 10 years. A total of 84 records were identified, comprising 54 records from PubMed and 30 from Google Scholar. Following screening and eligibility assessment, two studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the final synthesis. The synthesis showed that intangibility was primarily associated with Product, Promotion, and Physical Evidence. Inseparability was associated with People and Process, whereas heterogeneity was associated with People, Process, and Promotion. Perishability was associated with Place and Process. Evidence regarding Price remained limited and conceptual in nature. These findings indicate that the four service characteristics do not have uniform implications across all elements of the 7P marketing mix but demonstrate different relationships according to the characteristics of the services. The main limitations of this review were the limited number of studies meeting the inclusion criteria and differences in service contexts among the available studies. Further empirical research across various hospital contexts is needed to clarify the relationships between healthcare service characteristics and each element of the 7P marketing strategy.]]>
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