Introduction
The service industry interacts with our lives on a daily basis. Services can be defined as deeds, processes and performances. When considering the differences between products and services, intangibility and the fact that a service cannot be touched, tasted, viewed or tried on are terms often used (McColl-Kennedy & Kiel 2000). Services differ from goods in essentially four ways: (1) intangibility; (2) inseparability; (3) heterogeneity; (4) perishability (Kotler, Brown, Adam, Burton, Armstrong 2006). To deliver a quality service, managers also pay attention to the importance of tangibles that support service delivery as well as service delivery blueprinting. Managers must also accept that service failures occur and be able to
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The gap between expected and perceived service is a measure of service quality. Fitzsimmons & Fitzsimmons (2001) stated that measuring this gap through the customer feedback process is standard practice for leading service companies.
The gaps model is one framework that can help the service organisation maintain service quality (Zeithaml & Bitner 1996, cited McColl-Kennedy & Kiel 2000). The core concept of this model is the fifth ‘customer gap’. The key to success in the management of service quality is to eliminate the customer gap. In order to do this the organisation must firstly eliminate four prior organisational gaps; (1) not knowing what customers expect (2) Not selecting the right service designs and standards (3) Not delivering to service standards (4) not matching service to promises made. McColl-Kennedy & Kiel (2000) propose that if gaps one to four can be kept closed, then the fifth gap, which is the customer gap, can be bridged.
The following case study has been used to explain how the gaps model can be applied. In the context of the case study the passenger is considered a ‘personalising’ customer. The passenger expected personalised customer service, recognition and satisfaction in the airline business class service that was chosen. The passenger booked a return flight to Hong Kong on Qantas Airways flying their new
The diagram above outlines the customer service gap. Customer satisfaction refers to a person’s belief on the service provided to the. It describes whether the services accorded to them was a success or was it a failure. The expected service on the other hand refers to what your consumer wants whereas the perceived services is what they feel they have received. The gap is what Nordstrom Inc. is striving to close. Business enterprises should strive to ensure that customers receive what they expect(Nordstrom & Lattin, 2008). They should lay down procedures or steps that will aid in closing up the gap that exists.
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,
| Describe the five gaps identified in the gap model of service quality that can cause problems in service delivery and influence customer evaluations of service quality. Discuss ways that marketers can close each gap.
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
• Knowledge gap – This is the difference between customer expectations and the service firm’s perception of the customer’s expectations, needs etc.
This report describes a dissatisfying service incident and analyses the incident helping to develop recommendations for the serviced provider. The report integrates the description of an incident, a critical analysis of the incident, including and examinations of the service quality gaps model. Customer gap: dimensions, types of encounters and sources of displeasure and Providers Gaps 1, 3 and 4. The objective of this report is to analyse the critical incident description and provide a comprehensive service marketers’ analysis of the critical incident. Through this report recommendations have been made for the firm in order to reduce eliminate and or/ better manage the factors that led to
Traditionally, Service quality can be portrayed as the result from client comparison between their assumptions about the service they will use and their insight about the service company. That implies that if the insight recognitions would be higher than the desired the service will be considered as fabulous, if the desires rise to the insight observations the service is viewed as great and if the desires are not met the service will be viewed as awful. For a service to be considered as good the organisation is required for making customers satisfied and service quality should be associated with customer perceptions and expectations. (Carlsson, 2010)
The gap is between service quality specifications and service delivery, where employees can improve to meet the standard set by Hyundai and leave up brand values. According to Dibb & Simkin, 2012 the specific employees dealt with, were front line staff which made customers feel that they were not welcome.
research can do the magic to get the desired outcome a service oriented business always looks
The customer gap is defined as the difference between the customer’s expectations of the service and the customer’s perceptions of the service, when the difference is negative it results in customer dissatisfaction (REFERNECE). Customer expectations are standards that customers bring into the service experience that they use as reference points to judge the performance of the service (REFERENCE), whereas customer perceptions are subjective assessments based upon the customer’s actual experience of the service (REFERNCE). The type of service encounters the customer experiences can affectively widen or narrow the customer gap (REFRENCE).
Glasgow’s Riverside Museum, home to over 3,000 items, has been hailed ‘excellent’, ‘terrific’ and ‘fab’ by TripAdvisor reviewers (TripAdvisor, 2014). The museum offers visitors a unique experience, where they can enjoy views of the River Clyde and the Tall Ship while they immerse themselves in learning about Glasgow’s historical past.
According to Ghobadian, Speller, & Jones, (1994) the service quality plays an important role in the economy and that doing things wrongly leads to increase expenses in an organization. Thus
Service quality represents a fundamental aspect of delivery, which strongly influences consumer satisfaction and, as a result, loyalty. In today’s global market a customer’s service expectation has to be met and exceeded eventually in order to retain customers as well as achieve success. Perceived quality of a product or a service is becoming one of the major competitive factors in the business world and has led to the innovation of the ‘Quality Era’ (Peeler, 1996). In simple words, the comparison of customer expectations with service performance is service quality. On the other hand, customer satisfaction is defined as a pleasurable fulfilment response toward a good, service, benefit, or reward (Oliver, 1997). Both of these