Unit 6.

Service Quality

Nguyen Manh Tuan

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Learning Objectives

Service evaluations using means-end

chain approach
Describe the five dimensions of service
quality.
Use the service quality gap model to
diagnose quality problems for a service
firm.
Describe a walk-through audit (WtA)
Describe service recovery

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 AGENDA – Part A

 Service Personal Values

 Models of Service Quality

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Service Personal Values (Lages & Fernandes
2005)

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Service Personal Values (Lages & Fernandes
2005)
Zeithaml’s (1988) means-end chain
approach to understanding the cognitive
structure of consumers:
product/service information is retained in
memory at 4 levels of abstraction
Service attributes refer to functional
benefits or concrete service attributes
(Olson and Reynolds, 1983)

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Service Personal Values (Lages & Fernandes
2005)
Service quality is defined as the
discrepancy between consumers
perceptions of services offered by a
particular firm and their expectations about
firms offering such services (Parasuraman
et al., 1985, 1988, 1991)
It is a long-term attitude (Cronin et al., 1994),
believed to affect behavioral intentions, which
is thought to impact the consumer’s individual
behavior (Parasuraman et al., 1996).

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Service Personal Values (Lages & Fernandes
2005)
Service value is defined as a cognitive
tradeoff between perceptions of quality and
sacrifice (Cronin et al., 1994), or, between
the perception of what is received and
given (Zeithaml 1988).
Zeithaml (1988) identifies 4 definitions of
value: “low price”,”whatever I want in a
product”, “the quality I get for the price I pay”,
and “what I get for what I give”

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Service Personal Values (Lages & Fernandes
2005)
Personal values are beliefs or conceptions
about end-goals or desirable end-states,
classified by Rokeach (1973) as terminal
values.
They are key central elements in consumers’
cognitive structure, meaning that by
understanding and acting on consumer
personal values, it may be possible to better
understand consumer behavior (Homer and
Kahle, 1988).

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Service Personal Values (Lages & Fernandes
2005)
 Personal values are a strong tool for
understanding and reaching users and usages,
as they can drive and explain consumer
attitudes and behaviors (Madrigal and Kahle,
1994).
 They can be more reliable and consistent in
understanding consumer behavior towards a
service than all of the other “lower level”
constructs (at the attribute, quality and value
levels) (Zeithaml 1988).

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Service Personal Values (Lages & Fernandes
2005)
 Zeithaml’s (1988) means end chain approach
explains hierarchically how an individual
cognitively runs through a consumption process.
 In a lower level, he/she pays attention to the
product/service characteristics (e.g., mobile service
functionalities).
 The quality level starts when the individual checks if
all these perceptions are in accordance with the initial
expectations he/she had about it (e.g., evaluation of
service access speed).

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Service Personal Values (Lages & Fernandes
2005)
 If this level is successfully overcome, the individual
then compares all the product/service given
advantages with the needed sacrifices to have it, that
is, the benefits versus costs (e.g., content importance
versus price).
 But overall, the purchasing decision will depend on
the service’s capacity to meet or reflect the
individual’s personal values.
 Personal values allow one to understand the personal
inherent reason(s) that explain why the service is
used.

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Models of Service Quality

Service quality

Service Product Service delivery Service

Environment

The Three Component Model of Service Quality

(Rust & Oliver, 1994)

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Models of Service Quality

 3 characteristics of service (intangibility,

heterogeneity, inseparability) must be
acknowledged for a full understanding of service
quality (Parasuraman et al 1985)
 Service quality is more difficult for consumer to
evaluate than goods quality
1. Service quality perceptions result from a comparison
of consumer expectations with actual service
performance
2. Quality evaluations are not made solely on the
outcome of a service; they also involve evaluations of
the process of service delivery

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Models of Service Quality

Service quality is a measure of how well

the service level delivered matches
customer expectations.
Delivering quality service means conforming to
customer expectations on a consistent basis
(Lewis & Booms 1983)
Comparison of the service consumers
expect with perceptions of the service they
receive in evaluating service quality
(Gronroos 1982)

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Models of Service Quality

Satisfaction with services is related to

confirmation or disconfirmation of
expectations.
Disconfirmation paradigm: satisfaction is
related to the size and direction of the
disconfirmation experience where
disconfirmation is related to the person’s initial
experience (Churchill & Supernaut 1982)

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Models of Service Quality

Quality evaluations involve outcomes and

processes
 2 types of service quality: technical quality (what
customer is actually receiving from the service),
and functional quality (the manner in which the
service is delivered (Gronroos 1982).
 The quality associated with the process of
service delivery and the quality associated with
the outcome of the service.

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Models of Service Quality

Quality evaluations involve outcomes and

processes
 Service quality is produced in the interaction
between a customer and elements in the service
organization (Lehtinen & Lehtinen 1982)
 3 quality dimensions:
Physical quality (e.g. equipment)
Corporate quality (the company image or profile)
Interactive quality (interaction between contact
personnel and customers and among some
customers)

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Models of Service Quality

Parasuraman et al 1985

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 AGENDA – Part B

Chapter 6. Service Quality (text book)

Defining service quality
Dimensions of Service Quality
Gaps in Service Quality
Measuring service quality
SERVQUAL
Walk-through Audit (WtA)
Service recovery

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Defining Service Quality

Word of Personal Past

mouth needs experience

Expected Service Quality Assessment

Service Quality service 1. Expectations exceeded
Dimensions
Reliability ES<PS (Quality surprise)
Responsiveness 2. Expectations met
Assurance Perceived ES~PS (Satisfactory quality)
Empathy service 3. Expectations not met
Tangibles ES>PS (Unacceptable quality)

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Dimensions of Service Quality

Reliability: Perform promised service

dependably and accurately.
Ex: receive mail at same time each day.
Responsiveness: Willingness to help
customers promptly.
Ex: avoid keeping customers waiting for no
apparent reason.

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Dimensions of Service Quality
Assurance: Ability to convey trust and
confidence.
Ex: being polite and showing respect for
customer.
Empathy: Ability to be approachable.
Ex: being a good listener.
Tangibles: Physical facilities and facilitating
goods.
Ex: cleanliness.

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Gaps in Service Quality
Word-of-mouth
Personal needs Past experience
communications

Customer

Expected service

GAP 5
Perceived service

Service delivery (including External communications

GAP 1 pre- and post-contacts) to consumers
GAP 3 GAP 4
Translation of perceptions into
service quality specifications

GAP 2
Provider
Management perceptions of
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 Service Quality
Service Quality Gap ModelGap Model
Customer Customer Satisfaction Customer
GAP 5
Perceptions Expectations

Managing the Customer / Understanding

Evidence Marketing Research the Customer
Communication
GAP 4 GAP 1
Management
Service
Perceptions
Delivery of Customer
Expectations
Conformance
Design GAP 2
GAP 3
Conformance Service Design
Service
Standards
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SERVQUAL
 Reliability (the ability to perform the promised service
dependably and accurately)
 Assurance (the knowledge and courtesy of employees
and their ability to convey trust and confidence)
 Tangibles (the appearance of the physical facilities,
equipment, personnel, and communication materials)
 Empathy (the caring, individualised attention provided to
the customer).
 Responsiveness (the willingness to help customers and
provide prompt service)

RATER dimensions (22 questions)

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Walk-Through Audit

Service delivery system should conform to

customer expectations.
Customer impression of service influenced
by use of all senses.
Service managers lose sensitivity due to
familiarity.
Need detailed service audit from a
customer’s perspective.
WtA is a customer focused survey to uncover
areas for improvement

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Customer Satisfaction survey vs. WtA

Customer Satisfaction Walk-through Audit

Survey
Determine overall Conduct a systematic
satisfaction associated with assessment of the entire
Purpose the current level of service customer service experience
quality from beginning to end

Measure customer attitudes Measure customer

toward, opinions about, and perceptions of the
Focus perceptions of service effectiveness of each stage
quality of the service delivery
process

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Customer Satisfaction survey vs. WtA
Customer Satisfaction Survey
1. Identify important customer
service requirements or
quality dimensions
2. Design, test, and administer
questionnaire to a sample of
customers
3. Summarize and analyze
questionnaire results with
Process emphasis on low ratings and
changes relative to prior
survey administrations
4. Determine areas needing
improvements and
implement change designed
to correct deficiencies
5. Repeat for continuous
quality improvement
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Walk-through Audit
1. Flowchart the service livery
process from the customer
perspective
2. Design, test, and administer
questionnaire to a sample of
customers, management,
and/or customers at
benchmark organizations
3. Summarize and analyze
questionnaire results with
emphasis on low ratings
relative to benchmark firms
and gaps between
management and customers
4. Determine deficiencies and
implement improvements
5. Repeat for ongoing
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Customer Satisfaction survey vs. WtA
Customer Satisfaction Survey Walk-through Audit
1. Survey may be completed 1. Questionnaire is completed
by customers at any time by customers during or
after receiving service immediately after receiving
2. Management, with some service
customer input, 2. A comprehensive audit of the
designs/structures the customer’s total service
survey around common experience of all 5
service dimensions (e.g. dimensions of service
Features availability, timeliness, package (e.g. supporting
responsiveness, facilities, ..)
convenience) 3. Usually conducted by
3. Often performed by operations personnel
marketing personnel 4. Emphasis is placed on the
4. Primary emphasis is placed customer’s evaluation of each
on assessing the stage of the service delivery
determinants of the process and his/her overall
customer’s overall impression of the
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service
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Service Recovery
 Even with the best quality intentions, service failures occur.
 Customer Feedback and Word-of-mouth
 The average business only hears from 4% of their customers who
are dissatisfied with their products or services. Of the 96% who do
not bother to complain, 25% of them have serious problems.
 The 4% complainers are more likely to stay with the supplier than
are the 96% non-complainers.
 About 60% of the complainers would stay as customers if their
problems was resolved and 95% would stay if the problem was
resolved quickly.
 A dissatisfied customer will tell between 10 and 20 other people
about their problem.
 A customer who has had a problem resolved by a company will tell
about 5 people about their situation.

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Service Recovery Framework

 Service recovery outcomes: customer

satisfaction, loyalty
 Service recovery antecedents:
 Customer commitment/loyalty
 Service quality
 Failure severity
 Service guarantee

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Service Recovery Framework

 Service recovery phases

 Pre-recovery
 Immediate recovery
 Follow-up recovery
 Types of service recovery activities
 Psychological
 Tangible
 Delivery of service recovery
 Frontline empowerment
 Speed of recovery

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Approaches to Service Recovery

 Case-by-case addresses each customer’s

complaint individually but could lead to
perception of unfairness.
 Systematic response uses a protocol to handle
complaints but needs prior identification of critical
failure points and continuous updating.
 Early intervention attempts to fix problem before
the customer is affected.
 Substitute service allows rival firm to provide
service but could lead to loss of customer.

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 THE END

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