MRKT 55030: SERVICES MARKETING

WEEK 3: Service Quality and the Gaps Model:

Assessing an Organizations Service Delivery Strategy

Dr. Okey Peter ONYIA

TODAYS OUTLINE:

Service Quality defined Perspectives of Service Quality Dimensions of Service Quality The Gaps Model of Service Quality

Closing the Service Quality Gaps

Assessing Service Delivery Strategy Service Quality Gaps Audit Group Discussions & Exercise Measures of Service Quality

First in-class Quiz

Next lecture pre-work.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs):

At the end of this session, you should be able to:
Demonstration a good understanding of Service Quality (SQ).

Discuss the perspectives and dimensions of Service Quality.

Evaluate service quality gaps and how companies endeavour to close their service gaps. Appraise how companies assess their service delivery strategies.

Analyze the measures of service quality and how companies evaluate their service quality components in line with specified standards and customer perceptions/expectations.

What is Service Quality?

Service Quality is the perceived outcome of a service experience as defined by the customer after a service encounter

Dimensions of Service Quality

Tangibles Reliability Responsiveness Assurance Empathy Appearance of physical elements Dependable and accurate performance Promptness; helpfulness Competence, courtesy, credibility, security

Easy access, good communication, understanding of customer

Different Perspectives of Service Quality

Transcendencebased:
Quality = Excellence. Recognized only through experience

Manufacturingbased:
Quality is total conformance to the firms developed specifications.

User-based:
Quality lies in the eyes of the beholder (the customer).

Value-based:
Quality is the tradeoff between price and value.

The Gaps Model of Service Quality

Source: Lovelock and Wirtz (2011)

The Gaps Model of Service Quality

A. The Service-provider Gaps:

Gap 1 The Listening Gap:
Difference between customer-expectations and
managements perceptions of customers expectations.

Gap 2 The Service Design and Standards Gap:

The difference between managements perceptions of
customer-expectations and the companys translations of those perceptions into the right service designs, standards, and quality specifications.
Sources: Adapted from Zeithaml et al. (2013) and Lovelock & Wirtz, 2011)

The Gaps Model of Service Quality contd.

Gap 3 The Service Performance Gap:
The difference between the companys service
designs/ standards /quality specifications and the The Gaps Model actual service performance (standards/quality) of Service Quality they deliver.

Gap 4 The Communication Gap:

The difference between the company's
marketing communications/promises to customers and their actual service performance.
Sources: Adapted from Zeithaml et al. (2013) and Lovelock & Wirtz, 2011)

The Gaps Model of Service Quality contd.

B. The Customer Gaps:

Gap 5 The Perceived Service Gap:
The difference between the customers perception of the
companys services (based on the companys marketing communications/promises) and the actual service performance (standards/quality) delivered by the company.

Gap 6 The Customer Expectation Gap:

The difference between a customers perception of the
companys services (based on the companys marketing communications/promises) and his/her service expectation (based on past experiences/ personal needs/word of

mouth).
Sources: Adapted from Zeithaml et al. (2013) and Lovelock & Wirtz, 2011)

Closing the Service Quality Gaps:

Assessing Service Delivery Strategy

Closing the Gaps:

Service companies can close their gaps by conducting a service quality gaps audit an analysis of their service promises, performance-specifications, standards, and actual service quality in two ways:

Assessment of Overall Service Strategy Assessment of Specific Service

Implementation

Closing the Service Quality Gaps:

Service Quality Gaps Audit

1. Overall Service Strategy Assessment:

How are we doing overall in meeting or exceeding

customer expectations?

How are we doing overall in closing each of our four

service-provider gaps?

Which gaps represent our strengths and where are

our weaknesses?

Closing the Service Quality Gaps:

Service Quality Gaps Audit

2. Specific Service Implementation Assessment: Who is our customer? What is our service?

Are we consistently meeting/exceeding our

customers expectations with this service?

If not, where are the gaps and what changes do

we need to make?

Have we closed gaps 1-4 for each particular

service?

Article Reading & Group Discussions/Exercise:

In your small groups, read and discuss the article on pages 42/43 of the textbook, titled Technology

Spotlight: Technologys Critical Impact on the Gaps Model of

Service Quality.

Each group is to come up with two questions for two

other groups in the class.
(20 minutes)

Also, read and discuss the Service Quality Gaps Audit template on pages 46/47 of the textbook. Select a real service company of your choice, and assess their service quality by grading their gap-closing performances with the template (points 1 10).
(25 minutes)

Measures of Service Quality

Service quality measures can be bunched up in two broad categories: Soft SQ measures

Hard SQ measures

Measures of Service Quality

Soft Measures
Performance/quality factors not easily observed, but
must be collected by talking to customers, employees and others (opinions, feelings, evaluative thoughts, etc.)

They provide direction, guidance, and feedback to

employees on ways to achieve customer satisfaction

They can be quantified by measuring customer

perceptions and beliefs of numerous customers.

Examples: SERVQUAL scale, qualitative surveys, and

customer advisory panel discussions.

Measures of Service Quality

Hard Measures
Those performance/quality factors that can be counted, timed, or measured through numerical audits. They are typically operational processes with procedure and desired outcome specifications. They are standards often set with expected frequency/percentage of occasions on which a particular measure is achieved.

In-class Quiz 1
Answer all 20 multiple-choice questions on the Scantron cards supplied
(30 minutes)

Next class pre-work:

Topic: Customer Expectations and Perceptions of Service Offerings.

Read up all of: chapters 3 and 4 of the textbook.