An experimental approach for investigating consumers' evaluation of pharmacist consultation services.

Abstract

The goal of this study was to investigate factors that influence consumers' perceptions of service encounter satisfaction, overall service quality, and trust in the service provider for pharmacist consultation services. We used the Dynamic Process Model of Service Quality as the framework for investigating the formation of these evaluations. Consumers' prior expectations of what should and will transpire during the service episode(s) and the performance level of the actual delivered service during the service encounter(s) were hyphothesized to affect satisfaction, quality, and trust. Two experiments using a 2 x 2 x 2 fully crossed factorial design were used for collecting and analyzing data. The results showed that normative (should) and predictive (will) expectations play differential roles in consumers' evaluation of satisfaction, perception of quality, and trust in the service provider. Also, a particular type of expectation seems to serve different roles depending on the level of service performance. The results can be useful for decisions related to financial planning, marketing, and management of pharmacist consultation services.