Quality Model: Parasuraman's Model Of Service Quality

Service quality is referred to a valuation of how good a delivered service meets the customer’s expectation. Upper management

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

Brandy and Cronin (2001) introduced their own dimensions of service quality which are 1.) service environment, 2.) customer-employee interaction, and 3.) service outcome. These dimensions are considered the sources of quality of a service. Different dimensions of service quality have been introduced and accepted in past researches and studies but the 5 dimensions of Zeithaml et al., (1988) were proved to be the most reliable and credible. One of the most important strategies service providers can use to position themselves effectively in a competitive environment, and to distinguish themselves from competitors, is to provide and improve service quality to ensure the customer satisfaction (Cronin & Taylor,

When the competition was growing in service sector the demand for service quality was understood. At this time a new question was emerged, if it is possible to apply the principles of TQM in service industry. The literatures and viewpoints of different researchers made the latest moderations to TQM concepts and made TQM adaptable for service sector also.(2) Today, customers have a wide choice of service providers and they would choose only the best service providers in terms of quality, reliability, and profitability and who are at par with international standards. Therefore, the quality of service plays a dominant role and is a primary factor in ensuring the survival of the service provider in the global market. The whole focus is now concentrated on providing services to customer beyond his expectations. This concept is applicable to all service industries and has given birth to the concept of TQM in service

Excellence in customer service is the objective of all organisations wishing to be successful. However, there is often a gap between customer expectations and management perceptions of customer expectations. Organisations often fail to get close to their customers and correctly read their expectations.

Carman, J. M. (1990). Consumer perceptions of service quality: An assessment of the SERVQUAL dimensions. Journal of Retailing, 66 (1), 33-55.

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

Perceived service quality as customer-based performances measure is also known as SERVQUAL Model. This study empirically examines organizational barriers to delivering high-quality service performance as measured by customer perceptions and expectations. Using the extended service-quality model developed by Zeithaml, Berry, and Parasuraman (Journal of Marketing, 52, 35-48) as a conceptual framework, five specific propositions implied by the model and by earlier studies contributing to its development were tested. Such testing required a complex research design involving five service companies as well as samples of customers, contact employees, and managers from each company. The results have

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

Customer expectations are a dynamic feature that flows regularly in accordance with a wide range of factors. However, when expectations are not met, customer satisfaction will ultimately decline. The quality of customer service is almost wholly determined by our ability to

Service quality has become a main idea for student academic to study in many industries especially in hospitality industry. In Wilson et al (2008), service can be discussed in the terms of below four characteristics:

Sureshchandra, Rajendran and Anantharaman (2002) identified five critical aspects of service quality from the customers point of view namely core service/service product, human element of service delivery, systematisation of service delivery, tangibles of service and lastly social responsibility in order to conceptualise service quality. Table 1 will further provide an explanation to the five critical aspects of service quality as outlined by Sureshchandra et al (2002).

According to the definition of the expectation, in order to understand the need and wants of customer, combination of research and market experience is necessary. There are number of exogenous factors including their previous services experience and expectation of the brand which provide cues about the level of service. This is what being referred as customer expectation. Moreover, in order to understand the expectation of guests, the complex issues because of service transaction which is known as moment of truth, are social acts between individual employees and guests (NORMAN, 1991). This is considered as management perception service quality gap. In addition service quality is linked with expectation. If the employees have been asked to fulfill the expectation of the customer by providing them with the quality of service, unfortunately with the lack of training skills in their staff management and they are unable to interpret because of the complex guidelines. This is the reason of the bad quality of service. Customer satisfaction is co-related to customer expectation, perception and service quality because it is the responsibility of the employee to reduce the stress of the customer. If they will not do so then they will have to face the problem with the bad reviews towards their hotel, restaurants, motels, etc. If they create a pleasant experience of their customers by satisfying them with overall feeling of contentment with a interaction by solving their