Zone of tolerance for banks: a diagnostic model of service quality

Service quality has become an increasingly important factor for success and survival in the banking sector. Provision of high-quality service aids in meeting several requirements such as customer satisfaction and its consequent loyalty and market share, soliciting new customers, financial performance, and profitability (Cui, C.C., Lewis, B.R., & Park, W. (2003). Service quality measurement in the banking sector in South Korea. International Journal of Bank Marketing, 21(4), 191–201.). This paper presents the bank service quality measurement in its extended form. It deals with the concept of ‘zone of tolerance’ in judgments of service quality proposed by Zeithaml, Berry, and Parasuraman (1993, The nature and determinants of customer expectations of service. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 21(1), 1–12.). The ‘zone of tolerance’ is recognized in the service quality literature as representing a range of expectations and an area of acceptable outcomes in service interactions. The present study describes the zone of tolerance for young customers’ service expectations and determines the customer satisfaction level for banks. The study focusses only on the youth market to formulate long-term strategies because young customers tend to keep themselves up to date with latest technological developments. A conceptual model BANKZOT is presented in this study, and the results demonstrate that evaluation of services can be scaled according to different types of expectations – ‘desired' and ‘adequate’ – and that customers use these two types of expectations as a comparison standard in evaluating bank services. The findings reveal that young customers have a narrow zone of tolerance with regard to the services provided by the banks. The results with respect to gap analysis reveal that there was a shortfall in the service quality provided by the banks in the sample, with the largest gap being found in tangibles and empathy of service quality dimensions. The results of exploratory factor analysis reveal that the SERVQUAL model is found to be uni-dimensional in this study. The results, managerial implications, and future research implications are discussed in detail.     

The customer wants service: Why technology is no longer enough

In today's marketplace, the customer is presented with a myriad of products and services of greater variety and value than ever before. As competition becomes more intense, product and service providers are increasingly turning towards “service” or “service quality” as a means of achieving competitive advantage. Even in industries such as telecommunications, where significant technological advances have characterized the industry, companies are realizing that the best product no longer guarantees an advantage over the competition. The key ingredient in the formulation of a competitive service strategy is the proper measurement of service quality dimensions, as defined by the customer, and the continual monitoring of company performance along those dimensions. This article describes the process of identifying service quality dimensions as applied in two telecommunications network providers, one in Canada and one in Ireland. Results are compared and contrasted between the two countries.     

A Cornell Quarterly classic article: New tools for achieving service quality

Applying manufacturing-type process control to service operations allows employees and managers to measure and analyze the effectiveness of service processes. Although manufacturing techniques have allowed some service companies to operate with inflexible consistency, the use of certain techniques can actually foster more customization in service. Rather than apply quality control at the end of the process, managers can apply the techniques of statistical process control during the production of services. By involving employees in measurement and analysis of the impediments to service excellence, the organization can focus on creating a service process that meets or exceeds customers' needs. Techniques of statistical process control include flow charts of service processes, setting service standards, and fishbone (or cause-and-effect) analysis.     

The happy versus unhappy service worker in the service encounter:Assessing the impact on customer satisfaction

This paper assesses the impact of the service worker's display of emotions (i.e., one aspect of functional service quality) on customer satisfaction under the conditions of different levels of technical service quality by means of an experimental approach (N=600), in which display of emotions (unhappiness vs. happiness) and technical service quality (poor vs. good) were manipulated. The results indicate that the impact of the service worker's emotional display behavior on customer satisfaction is contingent on the level of technical service quality, in the sense that customer satisfaction is affected only when technical service quality is good rather than poor. Encouraging a positive display (e.g., by a smile policy), which many service firms do, is thus not a panacea for improved customer satisfaction. The moderating effect is explained in terms of service encounter congruency, which influences the mediated process by which emotional displays by service workers come to affect customer satisfaction.     

Six Sigma and Service Quality: Christian Grönroos Revisited

Grönroos' 1984 deconstruction of service quality led him to conclude that its principal components were technical quality, functional quality, and corporate image. A later model, developed by Parasuraman, Berry and Zeithaml (1985), is more widely known however, and represents the point of departure for much of marketing's extant research concerning the evaluation of services. Despite similarities between the two it is the latter which has captured both public and academic imagination and which, in the process, has determined our preconceptions regarding what service quality might be. Due in part to misinterpretation and misunderstanding, the PBZ model has helped shape a view of service quality that now over-emphasises the functional and under-represents the technical and, to a degree, has encouraged within the marketing fraternity a presumption that 'service quantity' stands proxy for 'service quality'. This paper suggests that perceptions and expectations have now taken over from reality and needs, and explains how Six Sigma service quality might be the spur that could cause us to re-address the structure and meaning of this crucial property.     

A Pragmatic View of Perceived Service Quality Measurement

Abstract

Service quality measurement has been a central issue to service quality researchers and practitioners. A review of the service quality literature yields several approaches to the measurement of service quality. These approaches each have their strengths and weaknesses, and each may be appropriate under given circumstances. The present paper seeks to offer guidance to service practitioners interested in the measurement of service quality by suggesting which approach may be appropriate in light of various measurement criteria.     

Increasing hotel customer value through service quality cues in Taiwan

The purpose of this paper is to elucidate how service quality cues and customer value are related, and explores the internal composition of this relationship. Samples were collected using a questionnaire, which had assessed the quality of the researcher's measurement efforts by investigating reliability and validity. Functional value is found to be affected mainly by reliable cues and accuracy of service quality, whereas conditional value is influenced by responsiveness of service quality. Furthermore, emotional value is found to be affected mainly by empathy of service quality, whereas social value is influenced by tangible cues of service quality. Finally, epistemic value is affected by responsiveness service quality. For future research, other external cues may influence perception of customer value with extrinsic information should be discussed. In practice, hotel managers can hone the relevant cues and optimise investments to raise service quality. Finally, this study provides a new shape of ‘structural’ relationships among five service quality cues and five types of customer value.     

Improving Customer Service

Abstract

The article presents a framework for implementing a TQM-oriented management process that can enable an organization to achieve continuous quality enhancements at minimal cost while simultaneously increasing the marketability of the service. The modeled framework demonstrates how such quality improvements can be made possible by heightening employees' sensitivity towards details pertaining to the many aspects of the service delivery process. The incidence of customer dissatisfaction resulting from sheer insensitivity towards detail during the delivery of service is established through real-world examples of actual customer experiences with numerous services. The severity of the implications of customer dissatisfaction and defection on a firm's bottom line are highlighted. The role of nonverbal communication and the many relevant forms of such communication are examined. A nonverbal communication feedback-response process model is presented that can help align the service with the expectations of the customer in high-contact services. Finally, a comprehensive set of managerial requisites for the creation of an enabling service quality culture is also identified. The framework presented also shows how performance can be enhanced, and competitive advantage gained, by effectively shaping and servicing the customer satisfaction plane.     

Superior Service Quality in Indian Cellular Telecommunication Industry

Abstract

This study deals with the measurement of service quality at cellular retail outlets in the Indian environment with a focus on perception and expectation of service quality from the customer's perspective. The research was conducted via a structured questionnaire based on the SERVQUAL model. A literature review was conducted on service quality and its potential offering competitive advantage. This study provides evidence supporting the proposition that customers distinguish between the performance cues of the customer-contact employees. Service delivery systems should create positive moments of truth by ensuring that the point of customer's contact is reduced to minimum.     

The Role of Social Integration in Service Satisfaction:

This study examines the process through which social integration contributes to service satisfaction in a nonprofit service setting. The model proposed in this study provides a context for understanding how traditional dimensions of service quality operate through social mechanisms to influence satisfaction. The model, which is based on social cognitive theory, suggests that: (1) perceptions of social support and the voice one has in an organization are important elements in determining service satisfaction; (2) the service recipient's perceptions of one's ability to function in the service organization setting (i.e., self-efficacy) is a critical element in a causal chain leading to service satisfaction; and (3) both social support and voice are determined by ''traditional'' service quality elements. Evidence in support of this model is provided through a telephone survey of church members.     

Service Encounter Conceptualisation: Employees' Service Behaviours and Customers' Service Quality Perceptions

The enhancement of service quality is an area of optimal managerial relevance that has, to date, received minimal attention in the literature. Because customers' service quality evaluations are based almost entirely upon the behaviours of frontline employees, organisations rely heavily upon these employees to improve overall service quality provision. However, much of the literature looking at service quality enhancement lacks detail when examining the impact of employee service-related behaviours on customers' service quality perceptions. As a result, this paper comprehensively conceptualises those front-line employee behaviours which are the most likely to enhance customers' service quality perceptions. This conceptualisation is grounded in an extensive review of the services marketing literature, pooling together previously disparate research strands. Formal hypotheses are presented. Implications and future research directions are also discussed.     

Service innovation: Inward and outward related activities and cooperation mode

Knowledge of how customers co-create value, the way that suppliers and providers co-produce services, and how research and development centers and universities transfer technologies is becoming increasingly important to scholars' understanding of service innovation. This paper presents an analysis of the relationship between inward and outward innovation activities in service organizations and their modes of innovation, using network innovation premises and an extended innovation model. Empirical data from retail, health and education sector service organizations show the existence of a relationship between the degree of development of the inward innovation process and the degree of development of outward innovation activities. The majority of service organizations have innovation processes with an orientation toward customers and suppliers rather than other service network members, and leading service organizations follow a path that the literature defines as oriented toward the service value network. Findings lead to implications of how innovation managers could develop their internal innovation capacity to balance inward and outward activities properly.     

Key Concepts for New Service Development

This article deals with service development from a quality perspective. Our point of departure is to build in the right quality from the start. The article presents a new frame of reference for new service development based on empirical studies in Sweden. It argues that the main task of service development is to create the right generic prerequisites for the service. This means an efficient customer process, that is to say the process must be adapted to the logic of the customer's behaviour and a good customer outcome, i.e., the service is associated with quality. We distinguish three main types of development: the development of the service concept, the development of the service system (resource structure) and the development of the service process.     

Internet service providers' service quality and its effect on customer loyalty of different usage patterns

This study attempts to investigate the dimensions of an ISP's service quality, and their effects on customer loyalty in high-tech services. Data was obtained from 1231 internet users. The analyses include segmenting ISPs' customers on the basis of their usage pattern and evaluating their perceptions of Internet service quality dimensions. Through the use of structural equation modelling and bias correct bootstrapping techniques, the study confirms that service quality dimensions can influence both attitudinal and behavioural loyalty. These effects, however, are different across different groups of ISP customers. The contribution of the present paper stems from the modelling of mediation effects and the incorporation of Internet usage that can help better explain the impact of service quality dimensions on customers' loyalty in high-tech service settings.     

Female customers' expectation of the service offering and their perception of the service quality in an emerging clothing market

Worldwide, clothing retailers that offer similar merchandise and even the same brands are flanked almost next to one another in shopping centres. Clothing retail therefore appears to be poorly differentiated, and it is not always clear why consumers prefer to patronize one store and avoid another. This study explored female consumers' expectations of the service offering and their perception of the service quality of prominent clothing retail channels in Tshwane, a major urban area in South Africa. The survey involved 243 females that were 20 years of age or older. They completed a structured questionnaire that investigated their (1) expectations of customer service in terms of tangible evidence of the service offering; and (2) perception of service quality using two different instruments by means of a direct measurement approach. Explorative factor analysis was used to reduce the data in terms of relevant dimensions of the respective measuring instruments and to determine the significance of the various dimensions of customer service and service quality in the context of this research. Contrary to what the literature proposes about consumers in an emerging economy, findings of this study suggest that females' expectations of the service offering of clothing retail stores were high. Their expectations were cognitively structured in terms of three elements of customer service, namely (1) physical facilities and product presentation; (2) personnel; and (3) store image and processes. Their perception of service quality revealed an opportunity to augment the service quality through attention to activities that are associated with personnel and the so-called supportiveness dimensions of their service offering. Findings coincided with a prior investigation of Terblanche and Boshoff, although a re-labelling of one dimension of their instrument is proposed to prevent confusion. Recommendations to augment the service quality of clothing retailers are made in terms of tangible evidence of the service offering.     

QUALITY,OPERATIONAL LOGISTICS STRATEGY,AND REPURCHASE INTENTIONS: A PROFILE DEVIATION ANALYSIS

Emerging thoughts on quality suggest that three principal sources of customer‐based value creation exist for firms operating in the online marketplace. These include a focus on delivering (1) service quality, (2) product quality, and (3) eBusiness quality. Drawing on strategic choice theory coupled with configuration theory, we conducted a profile deviation analysis among customers of online grocery firms using the “ideal” quality profile for four operational logistics strategies as the benchmark (semi extended strategy, fully extended strategy, de‐coupled strategy, and centralized extended strategy). The findings suggest that service, product, and eBusiness quality‐based fit with operational logistics strategy type are associated with customers' behavioral (repurchase) intentions. This lends support to the notion that capitalizing on the appropriately weighted quality‐focus represents a strategic vehicle to create superior outcomes in online businesses. The makeup of these ideal quality profiles that represent the strongest repurchase intentions of customers is also provided.     

Price and Quality Strategies for Services:

Developing effective price and service quality strategies requires an understanding of the effect of price and service quality on buyers' attitudes, intentions and purchase decisions. Consumer Involvement is an important variable that may interact with price and service quality, and is the focus of this research. This paper examines the influence of involvement, price and service quality on attitudes and intention to purchase automobile insurance and long-distance telephone services.     

Using fuzzy analytic hierarchy process to evaluate service performance of a travel intermediary

This study applies a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to evaluate service performance of a foreign travel intermediary (destination tour operator, DTO) through the host travel agency's vision. Service performance is a composite of various attributes, including many intangible attributes difficult to measure. Therefore, the present research adopts an AHP method and further integrates a fuzzy set theory into the service performance measurement to overcome the problem. This work collected evaluation criteria from 36 senior travel managers’ opinions, using the critical incident technique, and 56 general managers from different travel agencies to weight and rank the overall criteria by applying fuzzy AHP. Research results could help DTOs increase service performance and quality, and provide Asian travel agencies with objective standards to evaluate the most suitable business cooperators.     

基于线上线下融合的混合服务质量--内涵、维度及其测量

信息技术的进步促进了线上线下渠道的融合发展,传统服务业正在积极利用线上线下渠道改变服务的生产、传递和消费方式,线上线下融合的混合服务质量管理变得日益重要。文章基于多渠道交易过程视角,考虑顾客通过混合服务传递系统与服务企业的接触体验,全面定义和测量了线上线下融合的混合服务质量。运用访谈法、内容分析法、预调研和大样本调查分析,在中国情景下开发了线上线下融合的混合服务质量测量量表(OMO-HSQ)。通过因子分析、信度检验、效度检验和竞争模型比较分析,证明该量表有良好的心理测量学品质。研究表明,线上线下融合的混合服务质量包括了实体服务质量、电子服务质量和整合服务质量三个主维度及其十五个次级维度和对应的六十一个测量题项,混合服务质量构成维度对总体混合服务质量的相对贡献由大到小依次为整合服务质量、实体服务质量和电子服务质量,实体服务质量评价得分要依次高于电子服务质量和整合服务质量,企业类型、消费者类型和服务行业类型对混合服务质量有差异化影响。研究为测量混合服务质量提供了科学依据和工具,对混合服务企业服务质量管理有重要实践启示。     

Emotional labor in a non-isolated service encounter - The impact of customer observation on perceived authenticity and perceived fairness

Emotional labor is a frequently discussed topic in the service literature because of its varying effects on customers' evaluation processes. Previous research has primarily investigated the effects of emotional labor from an employee-customer perspective. This article considers customer copresence and argues that the observed interaction between an employee and another customer affects the focal customer's evaluation process. An extended customer-employee-customer model is presented and empirically tested in a pharmacy setting. The findings show that distinctive emotional labor affects customers' perceptions of authenticity and fairness. This study presents a more nuanced account of the effectiveness of emotional labor and provides managers with advice to enhance point-of-sale interactions.