Sustainable service quality

Abstract

The time of corporate social responsibility as a marketing communication activity is over. More and more companies build their businesses on sustainable products and services. A major reason for this lies in consumers’ need for conscious consumption. This paper investigates sustainable service quality from a customer perspective as well as its impact on satisfaction and co-creation intention. Based on psychological theories explaining pro-environmental behaviour and existing conceptualisations of service quality, a conceptual model explaining customers’ perceived quality of sustainable services is developed. The model proposes – additionally to the standard cognitive and emotional dimensions – a normative dimension, and is tested in two mixed method case studies from a car sharing and a recycling service context. Qualitative data supports that customers perceive sustainable services quality as three dimensional: a cognitive, emotional and normative dimension. Quantitative data confirms the positive impact of the three dimensional concept on both, customer satisfaction and co-creation intention. In sum, this paper shows that consumers want to use and buy services that support their moral values regarding a conscious consumption, that cause a positive emotional experience, but also have no functional disadvantages compared to nonsustainable service options.