ServQual

1
ServQual
Customer Service(Quality of Service Servqual)
(after Parasuraman)
2
SERVICE(Johne, A and Storey, C. (1998) New
Service Development a review of the literature
and annotated bibliography. European Journal of
Marketing, vol 32, no 314. Pp184-251.)

• Service product
• The predominantly intangible core attributes
  which customers purchase.

3
WHY BOTHER TO IMPROVE?(Rounthwaite, T. 1994.
Partnerships in the Public Sector. Managing
Service Quality, vol 4, no 3. pp46-48.)

• Were in the business of service.
• Service . . .
• cannot be stored
• comprises a series of moments of truth that
  influence the customers perceptions of quality
• And . . .
• the customer is present at the production site
• the customer can participate in the production of
  a service
• a network is essential for most types of service
  organization, as there are no direct channels of
  distribution for a service.

4

• Pure Service
• Teaching
• House cleaning
• Plumbing repair
• Restaurant
• Made to measure clothing
• New car
• Radio
• Soft drinks
• Salt
• Pure Commodity

5
A DIFFERENTIATION STRATEGY . . .

• is one in which the product offering is different
  from that of one or more competitors in such a
  way that is valued by the customers or in some
  way affects customer choice. Effective
  strategies need to be valued by the customer and
  should not be easily copied.

DIFFERENTIATION STRATEGIES CAN . . .

• also be based on brand awareness, brand
  associations, a customer orientation, brand
  loyalty, product features, peripheral services,
  technical superiority, distribution channels and
  product-line breadth.

6
QUALITY AT SHERATON(Walker, D. 1989. At
Sheraton, the Guest is Always Right. Adweeks
Marking Week, 23 October, pp20-21)

• Employee goals
• Hiring
• Training
• Measurement
• Ongoing meetings
• Rewards
• Advertising slogan Little things mean a lot.

7
SERVICE FEATURES

• Core
• a clean hotel room with a comfortable bed

• Peripheral
• hotel elaborate lobby, garden or swimming pool
• salad bar in restaurant
• airline club for high-volume travellers
• software house advice selecting hardware.

8
HAYWOOD-FARMER MODEL(Haywood-Farmer, J. 1988.
A Conceptual Model of Service Quality.
International Journal of Operations and
Production Management, vol 8, no 6. pp19-29)
Professional Judgement
Peoples behaviour
Physical Process
9
(Parkinson, S T and Baker, M J, with Moller, K.
1994. Organizational Buying Behaviour,
Purchasing and Marketing Management Implications.
ISBN 0-333-39351-1)

• . . A customer active approach to innovation
  holds out the best prospect for successful new
  product development.

10
(Levine, S and White, P E (1973) Exchange as a
Conceptual Framework for the Study of
Inter-Organizational relationships.
Administrative Science Quarterly, 5, March.
pp583-601)

• The parties to the exchange
• Organisational characteristics, eg, size,
  prestige and structure
• The kinds and qualities of exchange
• Consequences of decision
• The agreement underlying the exchange
• All agreements are seen as contingent on prior
  agreement, either implicit or explicit.

• NB The direction of the exchange
• (1) unilateral
• (2) reciprocal
• (3) joint.

11
(Silvestro, R and Johnson, R. 1990. The
Determinants of Service Quality Hygiene and
Enhancing Factors. Warwick Business School.)

• Hygiene factors
• (satisfaction v dissatisfaction)
• Enhancing factors
• (presence increases customer satisfaction
  absence does not necessarily cause
  dissatisfaction)
• Dual threshold factors
• (failure increases customer dissatisfaction
  delivery above threshold enhance customer
  perception, leading to satisfaction).

12
ASPECTS AFFECTING CUSTOMERS PERCEPTIONS(Edvards
son, B, Gustavsson, B O and Riddle, D I. 1989.
An expanded model of the service encounter with
emphasis on cultural context. Sweden)

• Technical quality
• skills of service personnel
• Design of service system
• Integrative quality
• Ease of fit between different parts of the
  quality system
• Functional quality
• Style
• Environment
• Availability
• Outcome quality
• Fit between specifications and customer
  expectations.

13
PROFILE OF A CUSTOMER-DRIVEN ORGANISATION
14
THEORY OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION(Cicerone, B.
(1998) Keeping customers back A model and job
aid for creating loyal customers. Performance
Improvement, vol 37, no 6. pp57-62)

• Customer
• satisfaction

Knowledge of customer needs
Customer service statement
Customer friendly systems
Customer focused employees
15
DESIGN AND SERVICE DEVELOPMENT(Hollins, G and
Hollins, B. (1991) Total Design, Managing the
Design Process in the Service Sector. London,
Pitman)

• Services are
  products
• Products need to be
  designed
• Design is a
  process
• Processes must be
  organised
• Organisation is the job of management.

16
VALUE ADDEDNESS(EFFECTIVENESS)

• Value-added features
• Service performance
• Communication

• Customer requirements
• Service expectations
• Service quality

Degree of Matching
17
ECONOMIC MODEL
Increase delight factors.
Increase satisfiers
Revenue
Reduce dissatisfiers
0
Investment
Reduce cost of non-conformance.
Cost
Reduce cost of non-conformance
18
(Coulson-Thomas, C J. 2002. Transforming the
Company.)

• . . . key business winning issues . . .
  include
• understanding the factors the customer considers
  when purchasing a product or service,
• developing person-to-person relationships with
  potential customers, and
• understanding the business environment in which a
  customer operates.

19
SERVQUAL(Parasuraman, A, Zeithaml, V A and
Berry, L L. 1994. Alternative Scales for
Measuring Service Quality A Comparative
Assessment Based on Psychometric and Diagnostic
Criteria. Journal of Retailing, vol 70, no 3.
pp201-230)

• Service expectations (E)
• Customers should be able to trust bank
  employees
• Banks should have up-to-date equipment
• Strongly agree . . . . Strongly disagree
• 1 2 3 4 5 6
  7

• Perceptions (P)
• I can trust the employees of my bank
• My bank has up-to-date equipment
• Strongly agree . . . . Strongly disagree
• 1 2 3 4 5 6
  7

20
Ten Components of Service Quality (Servqual)

• Reliability
• Responsiveness
• Security
• Tangibles
• Understanding/ Knowing the customer.

• Access
• Communication
• Competence
• Courtesy
• Credibility

21
Ten Components of Service Quality
22

• 4 Competence
• Possession of the required skills and knowledge
• 4 Courtesy
• Politeness, respect, consideration and
  friendliness
• 4 Credibility
• Trustworthiness, believability, honesty
• 4 Security
• Freedom from danger, risk or doubt.

C O M P O N E N T S

• 1 Tangibles
• Physical evidence of the service, eg, tools,
  equipment and appearance of personnel

• 2 Reliability
• Consistency of performance

• 5 Access
• - Approachability and ease of contact
• 5 Communication
• - Keeping customers informed in language they
  can understand and listening to them
• 5 Understanding the Customer
• - Making the effort to understand the customers
  needs.

• 3 Responsiveness
• Willingness of employees to provide service

23
Dimensions of customer perceived service quality
(Parasuraman, A, Zeithaml, V A and Berry, L L.
1994. Alternative Scales for Measuring Service
Quality A Comparative Assessment Based on
Psychometric and Diagnostic Criteria. Journal
of Retailing, vol 70, no 3. pp201-230)
Empathy 14 Giving customers individual
attention 15 Employees who deal with customers
in a caring fashion 16 Having the customers
best interest at heart 17 Employees who
understand the needs of their customers 18
Convenient business hours.
Reliability 1 Providing services as promised 2
Dependability in handling customers service
problems 3 Performing services right the first
time 4 Providing services at the promised time 5
Maintaining error-free records.
Responsiveness 6 Keeping customers informed
about when services will be performed 7 Prompt
service to customers 8 Willingness to help
customers 9 Readiness to respond to customers
requests.

• Tangibles
• 19 Modern equipment
• 20 Visually appealing facilities
• 21 Employees who have a neat, professional
  appearance
• 22 Visually appealing materials associated with
  the service.

Assurance 10 Employees who instil confidence in
customers 11 Making customers feel safe in their
transactions 12 Employees who are consistently
courteous 13 Employees who have the knowledge to
answer customer questions.
24
Dimensions of customer perceived service quality
(Parasuraman, A, Zeithaml, V A and Berry, L L.
1994. Alternative Scales for Measuring Service
Quality A Comparative Assessment Based on
Psychometric and Diagnostic Criteria. Journal
of Retailing, vol 70, no 3. pp201-230)

• Reliability
• 1 Providing services as promised
• 2 Dependability in handling customers service
  problems
• 3 Performing services right the first time
• 4 Providing services at the promised time
• 5 Maintaining error-free records.

25
Dimensions of customer perceived service quality
(Parasuraman, A, Zeithaml, V A and Berry, L L.
1994. Alternative Scales for Measuring Service
Quality A Comparative Assessment Based on
Psychometric and Diagnostic Criteria. Journal
of Retailing, vol 70, no 3. pp201-230)

• Responsiveness
• 6 Keeping customers informed about when services
  will be performed
• 7 Prompt service to customers
• 8 Willingness to help customers
• 9 Readiness to respond to customers requests.

26
Dimensions of customer perceived service quality
(Parasuraman, A, Zeithaml, V A and Berry, L L.
1994. Alternative Scales for Measuring Service
Quality A Comparative Assessment Based on
Psychometric and Diagnostic Criteria. Journal
of Retailing, vol 70, no 3. pp201-230)

• Assurance
• 10 Employees who instil confidence in customers
• 11 Making customers feel safe in their
  transactions
• 12 Employees who are consistently courteous
• 13 Employees who have the knowledge to answer
• customer questions.

27
Dimensions of customer perceived service quality
(Parasuraman, A, Zeithaml, V A and Berry, L L.
1994. Alternative Scales for Measuring Service
Quality A Comparative Assessment Based on
Psychometric and Diagnostic Criteria. Journal
of Retailing, vol 70, no 3. pp201-230)

• Empathy
• 14 Giving customers individual attention
• 15 Employees who deal with customers in a caring
• fashion
• 16 Having the customers best interest at heart
• 17 Employees who understand the needs of their
• customers
• 18 Convenient business hours.

28
Dimensions of customer perceived service quality
(Parasuraman, A, Zeithaml, V A and Berry, L L.
1994. Alternative Scales for Measuring Service
Quality A Comparative Assessment Based on
Psychometric and Diagnostic Criteria. Journal
of Retailing, vol 70, no 3. pp201-230)

• Tangibles
• 19 Modern equipment
• 20 Visually appealing facilities
• 21 Employees who have a neat, professional
• appearance
• 22 Visually appealing materials associated with
• the service.

29
Past experience
Personal needs
Word of mouth
Expected service
Perceived service
Customer Client
External communications to customer/client
Service delivery
Transition of perception into Service Quality
specifications
Your organisation
Management perception of service
30
Internal - Gap 1
Chief Executive
UPWARD COMMUNICATION
LEVELS OF MANAGEMENT
Customer/Client
31
Internal Gap 2
Customer expectations
32
Internal Gap 3 Discrepancy between organisation
and customer
Teamwork Employee/Job fit Technology/Work
fit Supervisory Control System Role Conflict
(competing demands) Role Ambiguity (expectations
v performance evaluation/reward)
Specification for the Service
Delivery of Service
33
Internal Gap 4
Horizontal Communication
What is actually communicated to
customers/clients.
Actual service delivered.
Propensity to over promise