Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe and apply teleological approaches from complexity sciences in services.

Design/methodology/approach: The performance of service encounters and the outcome of service quality are dependent upon complex and dynamic interactions between service providers and service receivers. A set of teleological approaches from complexity sciences is incorporated and applied in the context of service settings.

Findings: A teleological application from complexity sciences in relation to the interactive nature of the performance of service encounters and the outcome of service quality offers opportunities to apply innovative research designs and alternative methodological approaches to future research problems in services.

Research limitations/implications: Future research could focus on where and how the insights from other research disciplines can be used that have encapsulated teleological approaches from complexity sciences more sophisticated, and how this knowledge could be incorporated and applied in services.

Practical implications: The inclusion and consideration of teleological approaches from complexity sciences in the performance of service encounters and the outcome of service quality generates a series of managerial and research implications regarding the dynamics and complexity of the interactive nature in services.

Originality/value: The research opportunities into service quality and service encounters by applying teleological approaches from complexity sciences are extensive. They might also stimulate innovative analytical techniques that may generate important empirical findings, in extension, with relevant and valuable implications for practice in services. A maintained focus on multi‐disciplinary aspects of research may enhance contemporary research and practice of services.