| Abstract: | This research presents the development of an instrument for measuring the service content (the degree of intangibility, perishability, simultaneity, and heterogeneity) characterizing a firm's output. Service characteristics are acknowledged to be important strategic variables, and the characteristic of intangibility has been studied extensively. The scale presented here is an improvement over previous methods. In contrast to previous methods that have relied on various categorizations, or that have examined only intangibility or service quality, the scale presented here can provide a numerical measure of all four of the most important service characteristics. This can be used in future research efforts to examine the influence of service characteristics on firm internationalization, firm strategies, and performance. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. |
