THE GAP MODEL OF

SERVICE QUALITY
BY- Niranchan.A.T
MBA
SERVICE QUALITY
 An attitude formed by a long – term, overall evaluation of a firm’s performance. It offers a way of
achieving success among competing services.
 SERVQUAL (i.e. Scale For Measuring Service Quality)is a 44-item scale that measure customer
expectation & perceptions regarding its service quality dimensions. The five service dimensions
include tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance & empathy.
 Service dimensions:
Reliability – ability of the service firm to perform the service Promised accurately.
Responsiveness – willingness of the firm’s staff to help customers & Prompt service.
Assurance – ability to improve trust & confidence
Empathy - caring, individualized attention
Tangibles – physical facilities, their equipment & appearance of Employees
GAP MODEL OF
SERVICE QUALITY
 Is a framework which can help us to
understand customer satisfaction.
 The model shows the five major
satisfaction gaps that organizations
must address when seeking to meet
customer expectations.
 The model was first proposed by
A. Parasuraman, Valarie
Zeithaml, and Leonard L. Berry in
1985.
GAP MODEL OF
SERVICE QUALITY
Customer service is largely a
function of perception, customer
expectation & service actually
provided.
If service provided meets the
customer expectation then the
customer is satisfied.
If service provided not meets the
customer expectation then the
customer is dissatisfied.
This dissatisfaction arises due to
Gaps that arises in customer service.
MARKETER GAPS
The Provider Gaps:
 Gap 1 – The Listening Gap
not knowing what customers expect
 Gap 2 – The Service Design and Standards Gap
not having the right service designs and standards
 Gap 3 – The Performance Gap
not delivering to service standards
 Gap 4 – The Communication Gap
not matching performance to promises
 GAP BETWEEN
“ CUSTOMER EXPECTATION & MANAGEMENT
MARKERTER GAP-GAP1 PERCEPTION OF CUSTOMER EXPECTATION ”

Knowledge gap or listening gap which

occurs due to not knowing the customer
expectation.
The reason for this gaps are:
• Lack of management and customer Expected service
interaction.
• Lack of communication between service Customer
employees and management. marketer
• Insufficient market research. Gap1-listening gap
• Insufficient relationship focus. Management perception
• Lack of market segmentation. of customer expectation
• Failure to listen to customer complaints.
• Focus on transaction rather than
relationship.
MARKERTER GAP-GAP1 GAP BETWEEN
“ CUSTOMER EXPECTATION & MANAGEMENT
PERCEPTION OF CUSTOMER EXPECTATION ”
To reduce the gap:
 To overcome this gap the
management should do proper Expected service
research ,increase interaction
between service employ and
management, validate the Customer
insights of customer. marketer
Gap1-listening gap

Management perception
of customer expectation
 GAP BETWEEN
“ MANAGEMENT PERCEPTION OF CUSTOMER
MARKERTER GAP-GAP2 EXPECTATION & SERVICE QUALITY SPECIFICATION”
Customer
Service Design and standard gap- Not
having the right service design and
standards Customer driven service
The reason for this gaps are: marketer design and standards

• Poor service design. Gap2-

• Inappropriate physical evidence. service design and standards gap
• Unsystematic new service
Management perception
development process.
of customer expectation
• Failure to connect service design to
service positioning.
• Failure to regularly update service
level standards.
MARKERTER GAP-GAP2

To reduce the gap:

To overcome this gap management
has to understand the wants of the
customer and need to change the
service environment.

Restaurant – ambiance, table , chair,

Foodquality, waitingtime.
 GAP BETWEEN
“SERVICE QUALITY SPECIFICATION & SERVICE
MARKERTER GAP-GAP3 DELIVERY PERFORMANCE”
Customer
The delivery gap is the difference
between service delivery policies and
standards and the actual delivery of the Customer service
service. marketer Delivery

The reason for this gaps are: Gap2-

service performance gap
 Deficiencies in human resources
Customer driven service
policies(ineffective recruitment). design and standards
 Failure to match supply to demand.
 Employee lack of knowledge of the Management perception
service roles and responsibilities. of customer expectation
 Lack of cohesive teamwork to
deliver the product or service.
MARKERTER
GAP-GAP3

To reduce the gap:

It can be overcome by ensuring
performance reaching the
standards , providing proper
training ,providing proper
technology to work with and
retain effective employees
 GAP BETWEEN
“SERVICE DELIVERY PERFORMANCE & EXTERNAL
MARKERTER GAP-GAP4 COMMUNICATION TO CUSTOMER”

The communication gap is the gap between

what gets promised to customers through
advertising and what gets delivered.
The reason for this gaps are:
 Overpromising.
 Viewing external communications as
separate to what’s going on internally.
 Insufficient communications between the
operations and advertising teams.
 Different policies and procedure in
different branches.
 Communication gaps lead to customer
dissatisfaction.
MARKERTER
GAP-GAP4
This happens because what they
receive isn’t what they were
promised.
In the worst case, it may cause them
to turn to an alternative supplier.
To reduce the gap :
 This gap can be overcome by
providing matching service which
is been promised
 Use reality advertising by using
real customers, real reviews, and
real employees etc
 GAP BETWEEN
CUSTOMER GAP “CUSTOMER EXPECTATION & CUSTOMER PERCEIVEDSERVICE”
 Customer gap is the gap that state the
difference between what is delivered and
what the customer perceive they have
received.
 The gap between “what the customer was
expecting and what customer actually
they got” is known as customer gap .
 The reason for this gaps are:
 Perception gap recognizes the customer do
not always correctly understand what the
service has been done to them.
 Eg doctor explanation about the operation
carried out ,what they have found what
patient can expect in future
 It is been fueled by the four marketer gaps Hotels
or provider gaps/company gaps