AUTOSERV: Development of a Scale for Measuring Automobile Service Quality

Abstract

We are living in the world of globalization that is characterized by hyper competition across the industry and automobile industry is no exception. The challenge for today’s organizations is not attain first position, but to be there for the long time. If this is the goal of the organization, it should focus not simply to attract new troop of customers but to ensure customer loyalty; their patronage both for present and future. Importance of service quality in determining customer loyalty is highly evident irrespective of the nature of the offerings. Organizations can distinguish its offering based on service quality and can gain advantage over their competitors in the long run. Thriving service organizations always strive to maintain a superior service quality in all exchanges in order to gain customer loyalty. The problem of managing service quality is that the service quality is not easily identifiable and measurable due to inbuilt distinctiveness of services which make them different from goods. Various scales of measuring service quality have been developed in the past based on different characterization of service in different service sector. With this study, attempt is made to develop a Scale for Measuring Automobile Service Quality in Indian Context.