Two New Gaps for SERVQUAL

Abstract

This paper proposes an update to enhance SERVQUAL’s capabilities. Service logic stipulates that service is not a unilateral process, but co-created between provider and customer. This principle reveals an omission in SERVQUAL. It overlooks a customer-failure gap, _i.e._ a customer’s deficient and flawed co-creation. To address this omission, we propose two additional SERVQUAL gaps. The logic is the theoretical and conceptual premise that service-value is the outcome of value co-creation between provider and customer. It is not a unilateral process. By definition, co-creation implies interactions between a provider and a customer; The responsibility, of the customer in the co-creation process, is not fully addressed as gaps. We propose two additional gaps to the SERVQUAL; this is a fresh idea. Our additional gaps close a major theoretical and practical gap in SERVQUAL.