Exploring Service Quality Research Articles

Exploring Service Quality Dimensions of IT Shared Services in the Malaysian Public Sector

Exploring Service Quality Dimensions of IT Shared Services in the Malaysian Public Sector

Exploring Service Quality among Online Sharing Economy Platforms from an Online Media Perspective

The sharing economy has become a new socioeconomic activity that allows the co-creation, production, distribution and consumption of goods and services between individuals, driven by Web 2.0 and e-word of mouth. How these online platforms communicate their content is critical. This paper seeks to develop a scale for measuring the perceived quality of websites that offer information about sharing economy services focused on online peer-to-peer accommodation. The resulting model is validated by means of structural equations and is composed of four dimensions (efficiency; reliability, privacy/security; and communication). The influence that perceived quality exerts on satisfaction and loyalty is then explored from an online media perspective. A scale resulting from the combination of these two areas of knowledge (online media and e-service quality) may take advantage of the more beneficial features they have to offer and provide us with as balanced and convergent a model as possible. The results of the study show that all of the initial hypotheses are confirmed except one. Efficiency, reliability and privacy/security positively influence the perceived quality of a collaborative accommodation portal, whereas communication does not.

STUDY OF IMPROVING PERFORMANCE OF RAPID TRANSIT (BRT) BUS IN YOGYAKARTA

The implementation of the Rapit Transit Bus (BRT) requires evaluation of performance, by exploring service quality. Because service quality is important for the success of Trans Jogja. The purpose of this study was to determine the existing conditions of bus rapid transit (BRT) service and performance in the city of Yogyakarta, and to find out the priority strategies for implementing bus rapid transit (BRT) management at the study site. The method used in this study was the Science and QFD methods. The results of the research on the existing level of BRT performance in Yogyakarta, the arrival and departure times of Trans Jogja buses are good and can satisfy passengers, but the waiting time and operating time still need handling. The research results of the priority strategies for implementing BRT management management that need to be addressed are ease of location from the community living environment to the Trans Jogja bus stop, ease of change of mode, and management of cost compliance.

Exploring service quality and its customer consequences in the sports spectating sector

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate issues relevant to service quality and propose a conceptual model addressing the convictions held by consumers in relation to the service quality of sport services as regards spectators and their influence on sport consumption. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative method was used for the purpose of this study and 1,643 questionnaires were gathered and analyzed. The current research intended to employ an integrated service quality model within the scope of sport spectating. The model included five fundamental factors and they were examined in association with the behavioral intentions that spectators have. By combining all these factors and aspects, it was attempted to shape consumers’ general perception regarding quality in service. The model of the research considers quality in service to be a hierarchical construct comprising many dimensions and it is observed that service quality can be classified into five factors, all of which can be defined by a variety of corresponding sub-factors. Findings The outcomes showed that four of the suggested factors regarding quality (i.e. game quality, augmented service quality, interaction quality and outcome quality) had an important as well as favorable influence on sport consumption. Research limitations/implications The empirical evidence for this research is derived from one specific professional sport event (European Basketball League) and spectators who took part were from Greece. Future research could use a wider sample of sport events and the participation of spectators from various countries is necessary before such findings are generalized. Originality/value The present research provides a contemporary analysis of factors influencing sport spectators anticipated quality and their influence on sport consumption.

The exploration of service quality and its measurement for private higher education institutions

The strategic importance of service excellence for service industries places the focus on service quality leadership, service quality management systems, service quality dimensions and the measurement of service quality. Many businesses such as private higher education institutions (PHEIs) regard service quality excellence as the single most important and distinct competence for survival and sustainability. The paucity of literature on the topic does not reflect the substantial growth of PHEIs in South Africa, and this paper explores service quality in this context. This exploratory study focuses on service quality (general insights), the need for service quality management and measurement at PHEIs, and the practical value of the SERVQUAL methodologies. The research approach is exploratory in the sense that it involves a literature review and an empirical application of the SERVQUAL instrument at a PHEI. The results (with internal validity) indicate the following three factors: the increasing strategic importance of service quality at PHEIs; good service quality levels at the PHEI studied; and why and how SERVQUAL (and SERVPERF) can benefitt PHEIs.

Exploring Service Quality of Low-Cost Airlines in Europe: an Integrated MCDM Approach

This study aims to evaluate service quality performance of major LCCs (Low Cost Carriers) in Europe by the MCDM (Multi-Criteria Decision Making) methodology. In addition it focuses on managerial business models and includes the international airline service providers that have applied the cost leadership strategy. In the study passenger reviews based on customer-rating systems are adopted as an alternative data source. For this purpose 24,971 passenger reviews, including 7 evaluation criteria, are analyzed. In this integrated methodology the Entropy method is used to weight the service quality criteria and the WASPAS method is used to rank the airlines. A sensitivity analysis is also applied and the robustness and stability of the application are confirmed. Consequently Jet2.com demonstrates the best service performance overall and legroom is the most important evaluation criterion.

Investigating Customer Satisfaction of Airline Passengers in Aviation Sector of Pakistan

This study aims to measure customer satisfaction by exploring service quality, trust and physical environment as drivers of customer satisfaction in airline industry of Pakistan. The study used a cross-sectional research design. The data collection was done by survey research method through a structured, adopted, modified and self-administered questionnaire. There were 576 questionnaires that were distributed to passengers of three airlines namely; Pakistan International Airline (PIA), Shaheen International Airline (SAI) and Air Blue (ABQ), in five airports of Pakistan. The hypothesis were tested simultaneously on 446 passengers out of 576 questionnaire that were distributed getting a response rate of 71 %. The data was analyzed using SPSS (version 21.0) and PLS-SEM (using Smart PLS version 3.2.8) at the 0.05 critical level. The study findings were in line with previous research and expectation disconfirmation theory (EDT) of customer satisfaction. The findings have shown significant association among variables that were examined in the study. Despite the significant association among trust, physical environment and service quality, this study is an addition in the theoretical knowledge of airline industry of Pakistan. Additionally, the study explores influence of trust, physical environment and service quality and their association to how the passengers perceive the service quality, physical environment and their level of trust on service providers whether the passengers are satisfied or not from the international airlines of Pakistan. Also, this study deliver understandings for future research in service marketing area and help travel agencies to employ the implementation of role of service quality, customer trust and physical environment as main drivers of customer satisfaction.

Service quality in Iranian hospitals: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: This study aimed to explore service quality in Iranian hospitals by a systematic review and meta-analysis of the existing literature. Methods: The literature search in the international (PubMed, Scopus, and the ISI) and Iranian (SID, Iranmedex, and Magiran) scientific databases was conducted to identify studies (published in English and Persian) used the service quality gap (SERVQUAL) model to examine service quality in Iranian hospitals between 2000 and 2016. The databases were searched using a combination of the following keywords: "hospital service quality", or "healthcare service quality", and "SERVQUAL model", or "gap model", and "Iran". A random-effects meta-analysis model was used to investigate the quality of hospital care in Iran. Results: A total of 13 articles with 4,217 patients were included in the study. Results indicate that there are negative gap values between patients' expectations and perceptions in six SERVQUAL dimensions namely. tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and access. The overall mean score of patients’ expectations and perceptions of quality of hospital care in Iran were estimated 4.59 and 3.69, respectively (i.e., quality score gap= -0.9). The highest and lowest quality score gap values were related to the reliability and responsiveness dimensions, correspondingly. Conclusion: The study found that expectations of patients from hospital care have not been met in Iran. Thus, improving service quality in Iranian hospitals warrants further attention by health professionals, health policy-makers, and hospital managers.

Pricing and Service Quality Guarantee Decisions in Logistics Service Supply Chain with Fairness Concern

Although existing contributions that explore service quality guarantee problem of a logistic service supply chain (LSSC) consider fairness concern behavior of one member, little attention is paid to considering the combination of members’ fairness concern and the joint decision of pricing and service quality guarantee in LSSC. Therefore, it is necessary to research how different fairness concern affects the joint decision of pricing and service quality guarantee in an LSSC. First considering a price and quality-sensitive logistics service market, a basic model without fairness concern of a customized LSSC is established. Then, a new model with fairness concern of a decentralized LSSC is constructed based on the basic model. The optimal decision of the LSSC with fairness concern is investigated in three cases. In each case, we analyze the effect of fairness concern on the optimal decision, and the expected profits and utilities. Finally, some numerical studies are shown to verify our theoretical analyses and some managerial insights are given.

An integrated fuzzy MICMAC with a revised IPA approach to explore service quality improvement

Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) and SERVQUAL are both widely applied in service quality assessment. Even two model integration is also commonly used to eliminate the shortcomings in their respective single application. However, several modified IPA methods for improving traditional IPA has been put forward continuously, the integration model becomes difficult. This research proposes a new revised IPA method which can be integrated with SERVQUAL and preserve the advantages described in previous studies. Meanwhile, we further propose that the integration method for Fuzzy theory and Impact Matrix Cross-Reference Multiplication Applied to a Classification (MICMAC) consider the interdependence between attributes. Furthermore, the importance or performance of the respective attributes is to be corrected based on the degree of influence and dependency between the respective attributes. This novel hybrid IPA approach is not only valuable in the exploration of service quality but also identifies a strategy to improve overall satisfaction. The feasibility of this approach was demonstrated through an empirical study of the visitors at the Xiamen International Conference and Exhibition Center.

An Exploratory Examination of Service Quality Attributes in the Ecotourism Industry

ABSTRACTThis study explores service quality attributes of ecolodges in Australia. In-depth interviews were used to develop service quality dimensions that ecotourists believe to be of importance when visiting ecolodges. The performance-based measure of service quality (SERVPERF) was adapted as a generic measure of service quality in order to investigate whether the SERVPERF instrument is applicable to the ecolodge industry. Findings indicate that three additional dimensions are specific to the ecolodge sector: eco-friendly practices, eco-activities, and eco-learning. The findings are significant in assessing guests’ perceptions of service quality in the ecotourism area and can serve as a framework for further empirical research.

Exploring service quality: a critical review of literature

With the phenomenal growth of the service sector in the last few decades, research related to the creation and delivery of services has been intensified. Four well-documented characteristics of services - intangibility, inseparability, variability and perishability pose challenges to the marketers to develop appropriate strategies to meet a consumers' service need profitably. The researchers were keen in developing models to identify the attributes and understand quality dimensions of services across varied service settings and their applicability in the service industry to facilitate the service marketers in their efforts of service excellence development. This paper discusses a review of literature on service quality and presents key managerial insights to enable service marketer to formulate strategies appropriately to enhance the quality of their offerings to satisfy service customers and achieve their objectives.

Complaint behaviour by third parties: exploring service quality, customer satisfaction and word-of-mouth in health clubs

In recent years, in the services market, we have witnessed a growing importance of concepts such as service quality, satisfaction, word-of-mouth and complaint behaviour. The proposed conceptual model aimed to examine the existing relationships among these dimensions in the context of health clubs. Data was collected through questionnaires and analysed using structural equations modelling (SEM) to simultaneously test all the relationships in the model. Overall, the results suggest that quality is assessed through staff, programme and facilities evaluation, and that service quality is crucial for both satisfaction and word-of-mouth generation. Customers do not complain to third parties, i.e., to external parties that are not involved, but have some influence on the service provider even when low quality is delivered or they are dissatisfied.

Exploring Service Quality Perceptions of Online Shoppers: Evidence from India

With emergence and evolution of Internet, shopping has added another trajectory which has got acceptance and has been adopted by shoppers not only in developed countries but also in emerging economies. It is crucial to understand, explore and advance service quality dimension associated with online shopping, that too from the shoppers perspective, since a consistent growth has been witnessed in the online space which suggests that this new space has been well accepted by shoppers and they are willing to explore it further. Of late, e-retailing and its various dimensions have been an area of research for academia as well as for practitioners. The present study endeavors to understand and explore service quality perceptions of Indian online shoppers. Effort is made to find out whether or not the perceived e-service quality lead to shoppers intention to shop online. This research utilizes various frameworks, particularly the framework E-S-QUAL developed by Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Malhotra (2005) to understand the said phenomenon. It covers 106 online shoppers perception towards e-service quality of different e-retailers, currently operational in India. At the end, research and managerial implications are discussed.

Exploring service quality of the department stores: a study from India

The purpose of this study is to empirically explore retail service quality of the department stores in the Indian context. A measure is developed by modifying the RSQS scale as available in the literature to measure retail service quality. Data were collected from four competing department stores so as to assess retail service quality. Statistical analysis revealed a three-factor construct structure. The validity and reliability of the measure are assessed empirically. The study has managerial implications in strategic decision-making.

Aesthetic service quality – a study of a symphony orchestra

The purpose of this paper is to explore service quality in classical music, to relate the findings to the essence of Beauty that Kant, Plato and others describe and to discuss the implications for practice and research regarding aesthetical organisations. Some of the views of Beauty held by Plato and Kant are described and related to the theories of service quality, particularly the fundamental premises of the service dominant logic of marketing. An empirical study has been carried out at the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. In-depth interviews with members of the orchestra have provided qualitative data that have been analysed. The musicians’ views of quality in classical music are described. The findings are related to the philosophical theories of beauty and to the service quality theory. A model of quality dimensions in classical music is proposed. The findings of the study provide a vantage point for better understanding of the relationship between aesthetics and service quality. Service quality in music has not previously been studied and related to aesthetical theory. A limitation is that the study has only been carried out in one orchestra in one country. For managers of organisations with aesthetic activities, the study provides guidance into how service quality can be seen and handled.

Impact of service quality dimensions in internet banking on customer satisfaction

This study explores service quality dimensions in Internet Banking in the State of Kerala (India) and investigates the effect of these dimensions on customer satisfaction. The service quality dimensions identified were Website attributes, Reliability, Responsiveness, Fulfillment, Efficiency, and Privacy and Security. All the dimensions except efficiency and website attribute dimensions were found to influence customer satisfaction. The findings of the study have managerial implications for banks to better promote Internet Banking among their customers by enriching these service quality dimensions. The study calls for the need to exude confidence among the users that their personal information is secured and protected in the bank’s website and that their bank will not misuse their personal information. The study highlights the necessity for banks to have a pool of highly responsive bank employees who can respond quickly and professionally to all the requirements and complaints of customers.

Service Innovation: the state of the art and a proposal of a research agenda

The service sector has acquired a growing importance in every country economy, which has stimulated research in the field of service innovation, a new field in management studies. This text aimed to state a research agenda upon service innovation, based on an articulated discussion of the results of several articles that compose the state of the art of this concept. 73 empirical articles were analyzed, 33% of them exploring the innovation strategies and technology; 18% of the articles describe research on economic performance and enterprise productivity; 16% are related to antecedents and determinants of innovation; another 16% about network capacity development, alliances and collaboration among organizations; 9% of the articles explore service quality, innovation taxonomy, flexible systems and regional systems of innovation; and another 8% are related to themes such as intensive knowledge, research and development. The researches were concentrated in the Engineering & Technology and Hospitality Industries, which accounted for 31% and 24% of the texts, respectively. The remaining 45% of the articles referred to sectors such as Telecommunications, Health, Retail, Financial & Insurance and Public Services. The main gaps identified in these texts refer to the difficulties on measuring service innovation, besides the small number of researches on the public sector. At the end, a research agenda in the subject is presented, including the development of a scale for orientating the innovation and identifying the determining factors of the innovation in the public environment.Key words: Innovation. Services. Service innovation.

The role of Islamic culture in service quality research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore service quality (SQ) from the perspective of the Muslim consumer. There is growing evidence that culture influences buying habits and behaviours of consumers in services. However, most cross‐cultural consumer research in Asia has focused on the dimension of Chinese‐Confucian beliefs providing an opportunity to investigate other religious‐cultural aspects in Asia and consumption.Design/methodology/approach – This research explores the key attributes/factors of quality of services according to Muslim customers using the verbal protocol method followed by in‐depth probing interviews of 35 respondents. In depth, the interviews were conducted in Indonesia with a sample of Javanese‐Muslim customers of the airline, retail, hotel, and restaurant industries. Theoretical saturation was achieved with thick rich scripts obtained from respondents.Findings – Preliminary analysis suggests some distinct outcomes positioning culture and religion as important constructs for...

Red Palm: exploring service quality and servicescape of the best backpacker hostel in Asia

The Red Palm was voted the best backpacker's hostel in Asia for 2006. This study explores the reasons behind this phenomenal achievement by examining service quality and servicescape of the establishment. Using NVIVO software, data from 192 website comments and eighteen in-depth interviews were content-analysed. The results show that the most important dimension of service quality experience with the Red Palm is tangibles, followed by empathy and assurance. The most important tangible elements of the Red Palm are facilities and equipment, location and the atmosphere of friendliness, welcome and homeliness, and cleanliness. The excellent staff elements include their courtesy, individualised attention and willingness to help. The paper also presents the illustration of Bitner's [(1992). Servicescapes: The impact of physical surroundings on customers and employees. The Journal of Marketing, 56(2), 57–71] servicescape framework in relation to the Red Palm.