An Exploration of the Components of Service Quality

Service quality is defined as a comparison of customer expectations with service performance. The organizations with high service quality meet the customer needs and also remain most economical in terms of competition as improved service quality also makes the firm more competitive. High service quality is achieved by knowing operational process through identifying problems in service and defining measures for service performances and outcomes as well as level of customer satisfaction (Suneeta & Koranne, 2014).

Another dimension which is Technical Quality will be included along the five original dimensions in the SERVQUAL model. Technical Quality is a construct introduced by Gronroos (1984) and it measures the service outcome which is vital in the after sales service of the automotive industry. The study will only assess the perception of customers and exclude expectation as done by previous researchers such as Carman (1990), Reindenbach and Sandifer-Samllwood (1990) and Allaway (1993). These researches found the perception alone is sufficient to measure the perceived service

For different types of companies, quality might refer to quality of products or quality of service. Compares with quality of products, service quality is much more difficult to measure because service is intangible and acts and processes only existing in time. In addition, service has unique characteristic which cannot be found in products, such as customer influence, inseparability of production and consumption, heterogeneity, perishability and labor intensity (Nie & Kellogg, 1999). Even though, there are still many practitioners and academics are keen on measuring service quality because it has already emerged as a key strategic issue. Companies want to better understand service quality, and to establish methods for improving quality to achieve competitive advantage and build customer loyalty (Abdullah, 2006). Based on the importance of service quality, an increasing number of literatures and companies pay attention to measuring

The Gaps Model of Service Quality was originally developed for application in the financial service sector. The model was

The key to ensuring good quality service is meeting or exceeding what the customers expect from services. Judgements of high and low quality depend on how customers the actual service performance in the context of what they expected. Service quality, as perceived by the customers, can be defined as the extent of discrepancy but customers’ expectations or desires and their

Source : Adapted from A. Parasuraman, Valerie Zeithaml, and Leonard Berry, “A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and Its Implications for Future Research,” Journal of Marketing, 49 (Fall 1985)

Customer satisfaction and service quality are the two important components that direct anyone’s attention in every concept related to marketing, services, etc. (Spreng and Mackoy, 2006). In today’s competitive era, the success lies in

(2004, p. 363), “the total summation of difference between perceptions and expectations from the five dimensions results to the perceived quality; expectations from customers are rewarded through the ending dimension (reliability) and surpass it through the process dimension-- empathy, assurance, tangibility and responsiveness”.

Customer service is probably the most valuable intangible product that a company may sell. It may create both satisfaction and dissatisfaction. It is a process whereby a service provider offers help to the customers who need it or it may as simple as a human assistance to the customers who are dealing with the company or organization. It is a tool that an organization may use to gain loyalty from the customers besides offering good tangible products. For example, customers may expect good service when buying new apparels, but this is unlikely to be the primary factor in deciding whether to make a purchase (Businesscasestudies.co.uk., n.d.). Factors like price, comfort, style and brand are likely to be more persuasive (Businesscasestudies.co.uk., n.d.). However, a bad service can lead to dissatisfaction and discourage the buyer to make a purchase.

Nowadays, customers have been continually aware about quality of service (Soriano, 2002). Service also plays an importance role in a restaurant. A good service can attract customer purchase in their restaurants. Service quality is usually defined as the customer’s judgment of the overall excellence or superiority of the service to the customer (Zeithaml, 1988). Based on the theory, Parasuraman et al. (1988) developed SERVQUAL to measure service quality. SERVQUAL consists of five dimensions which are reliability, responsiveness, empathy, assurance, and tangibles. Customers evaluate the service quality based on these 5 distinct dimensions. Firstly the tangibility refers to appearance of physical facilities, equipment, and appearance of personnel. Reliability indicates ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately while responsiveness represents the ability to provide prompt service and willingness to help customers. Besides that, assurance is defined as an employee’s knowledge and courtesy and their talent to provide trust and confidence to the customers. Last but not list is empathy means caring, individualized attention the firm provides to its customers. According to (Andaleeb & Conway, 2006) , among the

Source: A Parasuraman, Valarie A. Zeithaml, and Leonard L. Berry, “A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and its implications for Future Research”, Journal of Marketing, Fall 1985 p44.

Based on this traditional definition of service quality, Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1985) developed the "Gap Model" of perceived service quality.

Dr. Klinger, the Chief Resident at the Metro Hospital, just bought a house and is expecting a baby soon. His most difficult patient is his moody pregnant wife. He is also teaching rounds to resident doctors at the hospital. Dr. Klinger was aware of patient non verbal cues and appeal to the emotional needs of the pregnant patient, Lila Gonzales. This behavior closes the listening gap. Gaining trust is important to patient care, patients are more likely to open up to providers if they know that they are not going to be judged. When Mr. Collins, patient with alcohol withdrawal, had some concerns about his work, Dr. Klinger used honest and compassion to create open communication instead of being blunt. He also listened to Mr. Collins’ complaints and guilt-ridden admissions. This closes the listening gap. He learned to recognize his individual patient’s needs. Clearly there is a service design gap at the Metro Hospital because Dr. Klinger does not even have time to sit down and eat. Metro Hospital should hire more physicians to meet the demand of the patients. Before performing a lumbar puncture, Dr. Klinger rush through the explanation using terms the patients cannot understand. His busy schedule has affected his service delivery and performance negatively.

Service quality represents a fundamental aspect of delivery, which strongly influences consumer satisfaction and, as a result, loyalty. In today’s global market a customer’s service expectation has to be met and exceeded eventually in order to retain customers as well as achieve success. Perceived quality of a product or a service is becoming one of the major competitive factors in the business world and has led to the innovation of the ‘Quality Era’ (Peeler, 1996). In simple words, the comparison of customer expectations with service performance is service quality. On the other hand, customer satisfaction is defined as a pleasurable fulfilment response toward a good, service, benefit, or reward (Oliver, 1997). Both of these

　　　In the literature, the service-quality construct is commonly defined as a difference score (discrepancy) between the service quality that is delivered by a firm and the service performance that customers expected to get (Gronroos, 1988; Parasuraman et al., 1985).