Customer Service Quality: A Case Study

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2.2.4 Using SERVQUAL to Measure Service Quality
SERVQUAL model was introduced in 1985 to measure the service quality on customer satisfaction. This model was developed by Valarie Zeithaml, A. Parasuraman & Leonard Berry (1985) to measure quality in the service sector (Idea Group Inc (IGI), 1998). However prior to this model they presented gap model which was later refined as SERVQUAL. In the Gap model there were five gaps that can be used to examine the difference between service expected by the customer and perception of Customer Expectation. These gaps, as shown in Figure 2.1, are identified as:
Gap 1: Not Knowing What the Customers Expect
The gap between management perceptions of consumer's expectations and expected service, (Parasuraman …show more content…

Originally these three authors identified ten dimensions of service quality: Tangibles, Responsiveness, Courtesy, Security, Communication, Reliability, Competence, Credibility, Access and Understanding the Customer. But in later work, these were collapsed into five factors - reliability, assurance, tangibles, empathy and responsiveness. This service evaluation method has been proven consistent and reliable by some authors (Brown et al., …show more content…

However there are some drawback as well in the SERVQUAL model. The major one being, the five service quality dimensions are not general and cannot be applied to all service industries. Further Buttle (1996) cited on Aborampah 2010 argues that there is a little proof that customers evaluate the quality of service on the basis of the difference between perception and expectation.
Based on a review of the literature, many studies have proven that the quality of service has been recognized as the key strategic value to organizations, and may have an impact on customer satisfaction and customer retention, cross-selling opportunities , reduce costs and increase profit margins and business performance, and the development of customer relationship - time value of life (Adil,

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