The study sheds light on the role of controversy in co-creation processes in service innovation projects that are characterized by project team members from different organisations or from different disciplines. Controversy , in this study defined as different interpretations of information, and differences in opinions and interests among project members, is of essence in order to create new knowledge, but simultaneously controversial situations hamper the development process of new services. Although current literature contributes to our understanding of the development of new services, questions pertaining to successfully creating new services in highly complex collaboration processes are still little understood. The purpose of this study is to gain insights in the role of controversy within interorganisational service innovation projects by identifying different theoretical lenses and thereby creating a broader perspective in explaining success in new service development. This study provides a systematic literature review by combining insights from several literature streams. The search resulted in a set of most influential studies of equivocality, controversy, ambiguity and conflict in co-creation processes. We classified the studies into different perspectives of controversy in new service development. This research shows three perspectives of the role of controversy within interorganisational service innovation projects. The information processing view explains difficulties in combining different types of knowledge and acknowledges the importance of developing coordination mechanisms to overcome information processing challenges. Studies from a value-based perspective emphasise the fact that knowledge is based on personal and professional values. This research draws attention to emotions and motivation of project members and emphasise the role of collective sensemaking, reflexivity and responsibility as affective mechanisms in guiding co-creation processes. The stakeholder perspective deepens our understanding of interaction processes among different stakeholders, placing particular emphasis on the role of power and interdependencies as a source of controversy and conflict and, through this, influencing project success. This perspective draws attention to negotiation and defining common interest in the development of new services. This research shows the need for handling mechanisms in interorganisational service innovation projects to make controversy constructive and to cope with conflicting situations resulting from controversy.