Service Quality Construct Research Articles

Quality evaluation in on‐line service environments: an application of the importance‐performance measurement technique

This paper investigates the conceptualisation and measurement of service quality in on‐line service environments. It reports the findings from an exploratory study of consumer perceptions of service quality as they relate to an on‐line library service in a prominent public sector university in Western Australia. The results reveal the core service quality dimensions of significance to on‐line consumers and demonstrates the usefulness and relative simplicity of this measurement methodology for evaluating the service quality construct in on‐line environments. The study highlights not only how the service is perceived from a customer point of view, but also what is important to the customers in their use of on‐line services.

Logistics Service Quality as a Segment-Customized Process

Logistics excellence has become a powerful source of competitive differentiation within diverse marketing offerings of world-class firms. Although researchers have suggested that logistics competencies complement marketing efforts, empirical evidence is lacking on what logistics service quality means to customers and whether it has different meanings for separate customer segments. The authors present empirical support for nine related logistics service quality constructs; demonstrate their unidimensionality, validity, and reliability across four customer segments of a large logistics organization; and provide empirical support for a logistics service quality process. Although structural equation modeling offers support for the logistics service quality process across customer segments, the authors find that the relative parameter estimates differ for each segment, which suggests that firms ought to customize their logistics services by customer segments.

Some New Thoughts on Conceptualizing Perceived Service Quality: A Hierarchical Approach

Through qualitative and empirical research, the authors find that the service quality construct conforms to the structure of a third-order factor model that ties service quality perceptions to distinct and actionable dimensions: outcome, interaction, and environmental quality. In turn, each has three subdimensions that define the basis of service quality perceptions. The authors further suggest that for each of these subdimensions to contribute to improved service quality perceptions, the quality received by consumers must be perceived to be reliable, responsive, and empathetic. The authors test and support this conceptualization across four service industries. They consider the research and managerial implications of the study and its limitations.

Converging Services Marketing and Tourism Approaches in Satisfaction and Service Quality Research

ABSTRACT This paper attempts to converge the utilitarian or provider-based concept of service quality and the experiential or customer-based concept of satisfaction. It presents two empirical projects which examined visitor's service quality and satisfaction judgements by alternative methodological approaches. The first is a quantitative study of visitor's assessment of historic houses, illustrating that quality and satisfaction concepts can be successfully combined into a model of the means-end chain type. The second is a qualitative study of visitor's narrative assessment of successive service experiences, highlighting the various functions of service quality aspects during the entire holiday stay. Finally, the authors argue that these kinds of approaches may contribute to the academic debate on satisfaction and service quality constructs, and will equally open up new opportunities for service and destination marketers in tourism.

Service quality and satisfaction – the moderating role of value

The constructs of service quality, satisfaction and value are discussed. Instruments are identified and exploratory research is undertaken among customers of an audit firm to determine whether value plays a moderating role between service quality and satisfaction. Results from a moderated regression confirming such a role for value are reported. Implications are drawn and opportunities for further research are highlighted.

INTSERVQUAL – an internal adaptation of the GAP model in a large service organisation

Explores the extent to which the construct service quality plays in an internal marketing setting. A conceptual model known as the “Internal Service Quality Model” was designed based on the original “GAP Model” developed by Parasuraman. The model evaluated the dimensions, and their relationships, that determine service quality among internal customers (front‐line staff) and internal suppliers (support staff) within a large service organisation, namely, Singapore Airlines. The dependent variable in this study was internal service quality (ISQ), while the independent variables were tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. The results suggest that the perceptions and expectations of internal customers and internal suppliers play a major role in recognising the level of internal service quality perceived. The acceptance of the postulated hypotheses has confirmed the importance of the internal service quality construct, thus acknowledging the usefulness of the INTSERVQUAL instrument and the conceptualised Internal Service Quality Model proposed in this research study.

The Impact of Scale. Characteristics on the Dimensionality of the Service Quality Construct

Many studies focusing on the dimensionality of the service quality construct have adopted frameworks developed within the marketing literature. This study, involving interviews with 200 repeat attenders at a specialist family planning clinic, suggests that earlier frameworks developed by patient satisfaction researchers go further in explaining the resu1ts of factor analytical studies. Analyses of data relating to two suppliers illustrate that scale characteristics i.e. scale length and the level of variation introduced into the data, have little impact on a factor structure which distinguishe between two key dimensions of expressive/instrumental qualities and access/convenience.

Assessing the effects of quality, value, and customer satisfaction on consumer behavioral intentions in service environments

The following study both synthesizes and builds on the efforts to conceptualize the effects of quality, satisfaction, and value on consumers’ behavioral intentions. Specifically, it reports an empirical assessment of a model of service encounters that simultaneously considers the direct effects of these variables on behavioral intentions. The study builds on recent advances in services marketing theory and assesses the relationships between the identified constructs across multiple service industries. Several competing theories are also considered and compared to the research model. A number of notable findings are reported including the empirical verification that service quality, service value, and satisfaction may all be directly related to behavioral intentions when all of these variables are considered collectively. The results further suggest that the indirect effects of the service quality and value constructs enhanced their impact on behavioral intentions.

Service quality in the banking industry: an assessment in a developing economy

Examines the applicability of alternative measures of service quality in the developing economy of India and assesses related issues in that context. Based on data gathered from customers of two major banks, overall results support a multidimensional construct of service quality and suggest that the SERVQUAL scale provides greater diagnostic information than the SERVPERF scale. However, the five‐factor conceptualization of SERVQUAL does not seem to be totally applicable, and no significant difference was found in the predictive ability of the two measures. Further, although SERVQUAL and SERVPERF have identical convergent validity, SERVPERF appears to have higher discriminant validity than SERVQUAL.

Quality customer service demands human contact

Investigates the interrelationships between the factors comprising the bank customer service quality construct through path analysis. Credibility is modelled as an outcome of the causal variables staff conduct, access to teller services and communication. Staff conduct emerges as the key variable explaining the direct and indirect linkages between the causal variables and the outcome variable. Those advocating high‐technology solutions as substitutes for branch staff may be ignoring the essence of high customer service quality which involves staff‐customer contact. It is necessary to provide adequate staff numbers to serve customers and train staff to be responsive and professional in their conduct. Structural equations and OLS regression were used to decompose zero‐order bivariate correlations into direct, indirect and spurious effects in the path model. Internal reliability coefficients for the four factors and instrument reliability are also calculated with gratifying results.

Nurse education in competitive markets: the case for relationship marketing

Since the National Health Service reforms of the late 1980s, nurse education has been increasinglysubject to market forces. This new competitive environment presents not only threat, but also challenge and opportunity. Providers of nurse education who recognize the need for market orientation and develop responsive marketing strategies will maximize their potential for market retention and growth. Traditional marketing strategies have considerable limitations for public sector services. The new and growing field of relationship marketing offers nurse education an opportunity to retain and develop profitable relationships with both internal and external markets. This paper reviews the marketing arena in nurse education and proposes context-based qualitative research to ascertain definitive constructs of service quality. Such constructs might then be rooted in a theoretical framework of service quality measurement, and be measured within the disconfirmation paradigm of relationship marketing.

Mission Impossible? Making Sense of the Key Debates in the Service Quality Literature

ABSTRACT This paper reviews the key issues within the service quality literature, from main themes and terms of reference, development of conceptual models to identification of some of the key empirical considerations. This paper is structured in three related sections: • Section One, where a discussion of the constructs of satisfaction and service quality indicates the level and nature of debate within the literature. This sets the context for the following conceptual and methodological discussion. • Section Two develops earlier themes and tracks the gradual developmental processes of the key contributory models within the service quality literature, discussing their impact on empirical research and knowledge. • Section Three unpicks the literature and suggests how key empirical issues can be addressed in order to further develop knowledge and understanding of the construct of service quality.

The nomological net of perceived service quality

Aims to explicate the relationships between, and restrict the domains of, perceived service quality, perceived product value, product attitude, and customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction. Uses conceptual dimensions to explore similarities and differences between perceived service quality and related constructs. States that the conceptual analysis shows similarities, differences and inter‐relationships which are not always recognized in service quality research and management and suggests avenues for future research.

The importance of cross-cultural expectations in the measurement of service quality perceptions in the hotel industry

Early service quality research posited that service quality is the gap or difference between “perceptions and expectations” (Parasuraman et al., 1988, J. of Retailing 64(1), 12–40). Recent research by Parasuraman et al. (1994, J. of Marketing 58, 111–124) has argued that “expectations” measurement is necessary in the measurement of the service quality construct. While Cronin and Taylor (1994, J. of Marketing 58, 125–131) have argued the reverse that one need not measure “expectations” to measure service quality. Evidence presented by Cronin and Taylor (1994; op. cit.) was collected in the American context and no cross-cultural samples were involved. This research paper examines the impact of “expectations” on service quality perceptions in the Hong Kong hotel industry which involved cross-cultural samples. Data were collected from hotel guests from different cultures in three major Hong Kong hotels using the SERVQUAL instrument to measure service quality. The study found that significant “expectations” differences exist between cultural groups and that “expectations” did not improve the validity of SERVQUAL.

The Dimensions of Service Quality: The Original European Perspective Revisited

The early pioneers of services marketing in Europe, especially the Nordic School, argued that service quality consists of two or three underlying dimensions. Lehtinen and Lehtinen [1985] referred to physical and interactive quality while Christian Grönroos [1984] identified a technical dimension, a functional dimension and the firm's image as a third dimension. In later years, Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry [1988] published empirical evidence from five service industries which suggested that five dimensions more appropriately capture the perceived service quality construct. This study uses an exploratory factor analysis approach to investigate the empirical factor structure of the SERVQUAL instrument developed by Parasuraman et al. [1988] to measure perceived service quality. Based on the results of five exploratory analyses performed on five SERVQUAL data sets, a model for SERVQUAL is proposed. It suggests that the SERVQUAL difference scores are measures of two factors termed ‘intrinsic’ and ‘extrinsic’ service quality. The model is then fitted to the SERVQUAL data obtained from five samples of clients who evaluated the services of five service industries or companies by means of confirmatory factor analysis. The results of this study provide empirical support for the European authors who, in the early 1980s, argued that service quality perceptions are largely determined by two (rather than five) dimensions.

Dimensions of service quality: a study in Istanbul

Investigates the elements which contribute to service quality for customers of the hotel industry in Istanbul. Examines whether the quality dimensions included in the SERVQUAL model apply in an international environment, specifically in Turkey. Searches for additional dimensions, identified by customers, which should be included in the service quality construct. Measures the level of importance of each specific dimension for the users of hotel services in Turkey. Concludes that users of Turkish four– and five‐star hotels may expect to receive friendly, courteous, hygienic and expert service but without special personalized attention.

Expectations and Performance from Whose Perspective

The construct of service quality has received considerable attention in the recent professional services marketing literature. Typically, attempts to measure service quality have focused on the gap between expectations and performance perceptions. This note identifies and discusses the various perspectives from which expectations and perceptions of performance can be measured.

Measuring Service Quality: A Reexamination and Extension

The authors investigate the conceptualization and measurement of service quality and the relationships between service quality, consumer satisfaction, and purchase intentions. A literature review suggests that the current operationalization of service quality confounds satisfaction and attitude. Hence, the authors test (1) an alternative method of operationalizing perceived service quality and (2) the significance of the relationships between service quality, consumer satisfaction, and purchase intentions. The results suggest that (1) a performance-based measure of service quality may be an improved means of measuring the service quality construct, (2) service quality is an antecedent of consumer satisfaction, (3) consumer satisfaction has a significant effect on purchase intentions, and (4) service quality has less effect on purchase intentions than does consumer satisfaction. Implications for managers and future research are discussed.