Slide 08

Services Marketing

Service Quality
Quality in service
Service quality - an elusive and abstract
concept that is difficult to define and
measure.

Service quality - An attitude formed by a

long-term, overall evaluation of a firm’s
performance.

From the user’s perspective : Service quality

is a high standard of performance that
consistently meets or exceeds customer
expectations.

Quality in service
Customer satisfaction and service
quality are intertwined. However,
the relationship between these
two concepts is unclear.
Satisfaction assists consumers in
revising service quality
perceptions:
1. Consumer perceptions of the service quality
of a firm with no prior experience is based on
the consumer’s expectations.
2. Subsequent encounters with the firm lead
the consumer through the disconfirmation
process, and revised perceptions of service
quality are formed.
3. Each additional encounter with the firm
further revises or reinforces service quality
perceptions.

4. In turn, revised service quality perceptions

modify future consumer purchase intentions
toward the firm.
 Quality Perspectives between Goods and Services

Gaps in Service Quality

The distance between a
customer's expectation of a
service and perception of the
service actually delivered.

Conceptual Model of Service Quality:

Source: Adapted from Parasuraman et al., 1985)

Gaps in Service Quality
The distance between a
customer's expectation of a
service and perception of the
service actually delivered.

Conceptual Model of Service Quality:

Source: Adapted from Parasuraman et al., 1985)

Gaps in Service Quality

Gap 1: The knowledge gap

The difference between what

consumers do expect of a service and
what management perceives that
consumers expect.

Closing this gap requires detailed

knowledge of what customers desire,
and then building that response into
the service operating system.
Gaps in Service Quality
Gap 2: The Standards Gap

The difference between what

management perceives that
consumers expect and the quality
specifications set for service delivery.

Detailed standards can be written

for: (1) the way the system should
operate and (2) the behavior of
contact personnel at each point in
the system

Gaps in Service Quality

Gap 3: The Delivery Gap

The difference between the quality

standards set for service delivery and
the actual quality of service delivery.

Depends on both the willingness and

the ability of employees to provide
the service according to specification.
Gaps in Service Quality

Factors Influencing the Delivery

Gap:
• Willingness to perform
• Employee-job fit
• Role conflict
• Role ambiguity
• Dispersion of control
• Inadequate support

Gaps in Service Quality

Gap 4: The Communications Gap

The difference between the actual quality

of service delivered and the quality of
service described in the firm’s external
communications.

When the communications gap is wide,

the firm has broken its promises, resulting
in a lack of future customer trust.
Measuring Service Quality: The SERVQUAL model

Have a read and bring your

queries in next class . . .

Thank you