SERVQUAL
(Zeithaml Parasuraman Berry)

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Comparing service quality performance with customer service quality needs. Explanation of SERVQUAL Methodology of Zeithaml, Parasuraman, and Berry. ('88)

Contributed by: Paul Fedoroff


  

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SERVQUAL Gaps ModelWhat is SERVQUAL? Description

The SERVQUAL method from Valarie A. Zeithaml, A. Parasuraman, and Leonard L. Berry is a technique that can be used for performing a gap analysis of an organization's service quality performance against customer service quality needs.

 

SERVQUAL is an empirically derived method that may be used by a services organization to improve service quality. The method involves the development of an understanding of the perceived service needs of target customers. These measured perceptions of service quality for the organization in question, are then compared against an organization that is "excellent". The resulting gap analysis may then be used as a driver for service quality improvement.

SERVQUAL takes into account the perceptions of customers of the relative importance of service attributes. This allows an organization to prioritize. And to use its resources to improve the most critical service attributes.

The data are collected via surveys of a sample of customers. In these surveys, these customers respond to a series of questions based around a number of key service dimensions.

The methodology was originally based around 5 key dimensions:

  1. Tangibles. Appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and communication materials.
  2. Reliability. Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately.
  3. Responsiveness. Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service.
  4. Assurance. Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence.
  5. Empathy. The firm provides care and individualized attention to its customers.

This has been adapted later by some to cover:

  1. Tangibles. Appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and communication materials.
  2. Reliability. Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately.
  3. Responsiveness. Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service.
  4. Competence. Possession of required skill and knowledge to perform service.
  5. Courtesy. Politeness, respect, consideration and friendliness of contact personnel.
  6. Credibility. Trustworthiness, believability, honesty of the service provider.
  7. Feel secure. Freedom from danger, risk, or doubt.
  8. Access. Approachable and easy of contact.
  9. Communication. Listens to its customers and acknowledges their comments. Keeps customers informed. In a language which they can understand.
  10. Understanding the customer. Making the effort to know customers and their needs.

Origin of SERVQUAL. History

The authors conducted a qualitative study, from which they concluded that customers ranked the importance of two SERVQUAL dimensions consistently. Regardless of service industry. Reliability is the most important contributing factor to service quality and tangibles is the least important.

 

Usage of SERVQUAL. Applications

  • SERVQUAL is widely used within service industries to understand the perceptions of target customers regarding their service needs. And to provide a measurement of the service quality of the organization.
  • SERVQUAL may also be applied internally to understand employees' perceptions of service quality. With the objective of achieving service improvement.

Steps in SERVQUAL. Process

The method essentially involves conducting a sample survey of customers so that their perceived service needs are understood. And for measuring their perceptions of service quality for the organization in question.

Customers are asked to answer numerous questions within each dimension that determines:

  • The relative importance of each attribute.
  • A measurement of performance expectations that would relate to an "excellent" company.
  • A measurement of performance for the company in question.

This provides an assessment of the gap between desired and actual performance, together with a ranking of the importance of service criteria. This allows an organization to focus its resources. To maximize service quality whilst costs are controlled.
 

Strengths of SERVQUAL. Benefits

Most users would agree that a comprehensive and thorough examination of service needs and service quality provides an invaluable approach to improving service quality. SERVQUAL provides detailed information about:

  • Customer perceptions of service (a benchmark established by your own customers)
  • Performance levels as perceived by customers
  • Customer comments and suggestions
  • Impressions from employees with respect to customers expectations and satisfaction

Limitations of SERVQUAL. Disadvantages

There have been a number of studies that doubt the validity of the 5 dimensions. And of the uniform applicability of the method for all service sectors. According to an analysis by Thomas P. Van Dyke, Victor R. Prybutok, and Leon A. Kappelman, it appears that the use of difference scores in calculating SERVQUAL contributes to problems with the reliability, discriminant validity, convergent validity, and predictive validity of the measurement. These findings suggest that caution should be exercised in the use of SERVQUAL scores and that further work is needed in the development of measures for assessing the quality of information services.

 

Assumptions of SERVQUAL. Conditions

  • The results of market surveys are accurate. The validity of the model is based around the results of empirical studies. A number of academics have since performed further empirical studies that appear to contradict some of the original findings.
  • Customer needs can be documented and captured, and they remain stable during the whole process.

Book: Zeithaml Parasuraman Berry - Delivering Quality Service: Balancing Customer Perceptions and Expectations. -

Journal: Parasuraman, Berry, and Zeithaml (1988) - SERVQUAL: A multiple-item scale for measuring customer perceptions of service quality - Journal of retailing 64 (1) Spring. 12-40 -

Journal: Parasuraman, Berry, and Zeithaml (1991) - Refinement and reassessment of the SERVQUAL scale - Journal of retailing 67 (4) Winter. 420-450 -

Journal: Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1985) - A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research - Journal of marketing 49 (4) Fall. 41-50 -

Journal: Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1994) - Alternative scales for measuring service quality: A comparative assessment based on psychometric and diagnostic criteria - Journal of marketing 70 (3) Fall. 201-230 -

 

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Recent User Comments
 - Kuwait Weighted and Unweighted Average SERVQUAL Scores? "If the unweighted average SERVQUAL score is 1.312, and the average weighted score is 30.606 what does that mean? I'm using the average discrepancy between a customer's expectations and the customer's perceptions for 5 SERVQUAL dimensions, likert-type scale were used for ranking the statements anchored 1 to 7 with “strongly disagree” and “strongly agree”, using 22 questions in total for 100 surveyed users. Please help?"    1
 - Kuwait SERVQUAL in IS System "I just completed my research, measuring the service quality of (DIMS system and it’s support services within our organization) using SERVQUAL module as the discrepancy across five dimensions (Tangibles, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, Empathy ) between employee/users expectations for a service offering and the employee/users perceptions of the service received by IT have been measured and analyzed to identify areas of improvements. I would like to seek others/organizations (who is willing and interested) opinions/ feedback on my report and evaluate my work accordingly) and if it’s applicable to be published. Any recommendations? "    0
Alfred - Rwanda Thesis on Challenges of Customer Service in Hotel Enterprises "I have difficulty using the qualitative method to measure data which I collected by just unstructured interviews and observations. How do I do the rating when my sample was only a focus group of ten people?"    0
leah Yabut - Philippines SERVQUAL in Fast Food Restaurants "I am proposing a research study on the applicability of SERVQUAL to measuring service quality in Fast Food Restaurants. Where should food quality, taste fall under the service dimensions enumerated by SERVQUAL? Thanks.."    0
Sumit Arora - India SERVQUAL in Software Services "Can the SERVQUAL model be applied to software services?"    4
Best User Comments
Tess - USA Calculating SERVQUAL "I am working on my thesis and I am using the SERVQUAL method to calculate the variations in expectations among hotel personnel. Where can I find more information on how to calculate the results from the surveys?"    51
 - Brazil Servqual "I am working on my thesis using Servqual applied to students as client of Distance Education of a university. If someone has any information about it will be very welcome."    28
Mangesh - India Validity test of servqual "I am working on measuring customer satisfaction in two wheeler service industry. But I have a problem: how can we calculate the validity of the servqual model? please help me"    17
AB - UK Extra Servqual Dimensions "The five key dimensions form the base - just like the 4Ps and the extended Ps do for the Marketing Mix. Depending upon the context there can be the need to add one or more variables or factors to Servqual, it makes the utility optimal."    16
Younes Mazlumi - Iran Product Quality "There is no pure service. The Gaps model is better to include product quality as well."    12
Theresa - S-Africa Change in perceptions "Service quality perceptions and expectations may change over time. How can Servqual deal with the dynamics of changing customer expectations?"    12
Paul MBA - UK Gap 5 in servqual model "It is relevant to note that the difference between the expected service by the customer and the perceived service by the customer (= gap 5) in the SERVQUAL model equals the sum of the gaps 1 + 2 + 3 + 4. As a result, gap 5 can only be influenced indirectly by management; by changing the gaps 1 to 4."    11
 - Germany Alternative Models "Can somebody help me to find alternative models to the SERVQUAL model? Thanks!"    10
Sarah - U.K. SERV QUAL "Can you adopt the SERV QUAL model to B2B organisations? I.e. Do the dimensions such as tangible, responsiveness etc measure the advantages of using only one outsourced business. It's just I'm doing an assignment on stakeholder marketing and I have used the SERVQUAL to show advantages of long term relationships in terms of B2B organisation."    9
Debra - Zimbabwe Is Servqual the same as the Grönroos model? "Have seen that the servqual explanation is closely related to the explanation of the Grönroos model. Can someone please explain if they are different and if so how?"    5
Rodgers N. Kazembe - Zambia Lodging Quality Index "I'm working on my dissertation on Critical Success Factors for Lodges in Zambia, have adopted to use lodging Quality Index by Getty (2003), that seems to be flexible in dimensions, but I do not know which model of SERVQUAL was used/adapted for conceptual framework. Was it Parasuraman? And what scale to test the validity?"    3
Clark - Philippines Servqual "I think the SERVQUAL method will serve as an excellent tool, particularly for those in the service business to improve their services for the benefit of the client. I believe an impressed and satisfied customer will drive business growth. I will hang this method on my wall."    3
Don - USA Profitable Value Added Services "In the HBR of May 2008 there is an article from Werber Reinartz and Wolfgang Ulaga about how manufacturing companies can sell value added services more profitably. Four steps to developing a profitable services capability are mentioned:
1. Recognize that you already have a services company. Charge for services
2. Industrialize the back office. Exploit new technologies
3. Create a service-savvy sales force. From cost-plus pricing to value-based pricing
4. Focus on customers' processes."		    3
Daminda - Sri Lanka Service Quality in Insurance "How is the SERVQUAL model used in the insurance industry?"    1
Peter Viljoen - S Africa New Model Required "When doing my dissertation of Expectations versus Expectations, it concerned me that the 22 point questionnaire was clustered according to dimensions. I randomised the questions. In addition, when testing the weightings of importance, I could not get many people to sum to 100 correctly and I abandoned this method - opting to use a likert scale and to test the validity, a forced ranking from 1 to 5. I also used an orthogonal rotation of data to load up the factors and came up with very different dimensions. I do not agree that SERVQUAL is generic - especially over time..."    1
M.Yaseen Khan - India Validity in Retail "How SERVQUAL could be authentic in Retail specially in indian market?"    1
A. Bhattacharya - India Marketing Models "I believe the dimensions relating to service quality are culture specific. Therefore, the dimensions considered for the Western society may not be relevant for India which is remarkably different from West in respect of culture. In fact, same set of dimensions may not hold good even for all regions in India, the reason being that India is highly heterogeneous in respect of its culture."    0
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SERVQUAL Education & Events


 

Compare with SERVQUAL: Relationship Marketing  |  Customer Relationship Management  |  Operational CRM  |  Extended Marketing Mix (7-Ps)  |  Customer Satisfaction Model  |  Two Factor Theory  |  Total Quality Management  |  Quality Function Deployment  |  3rd Party Logistics (3PL)  |  Service Profit Chain

 

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Copyright 2009 12manage - The Executive Fast Track. V10.4 - Last updated: 11/7/2009. All names tm by their owners.

  ●  (Netherlands) Add it as a View "Did you know you can publish your report on 12manage in the form of a "View"? Just go to your personal page and click "Add a View", You find it at the left bottom of your personal page. Your report will be published instantly on the web. Automatically a link to your personal page will be added. 12manage is soooo cool."
  ●  (Kuwait) SERVQUAL in IS System "Thank you , your comments was very helpful and yes I agree with you 12manage is soooooooooo coooooooooool :)"



  ●  (Kuwait) SERVQUAL in Software Services "I'm proposing SERVQUAL module for measuring the quality of service provided by software application and its services where the discrepancy between user expectation for services offering and the user perception of the service recived will be analyzed to identify area of improvements."

  ● Abdul Kambagha (Tanzania) Calculation of Variation in Hotel Personnel "This will depend on the quality of your questionnaire and the tool of analysis which you intend to use. For example, if your questionnaires are well designed and completed, SPSS Version 10 or above will do every thing for you."
  ● Aleksandra (Macedonia) SERVQUAL "I used it in my MBA thesis, and also used SPSS, but I found that I couldn't group the items into the dimensions so that I can perform the relevant analysis, therefore, i first summed up and found the means in each dimension using MS excel, and then entered the results again in SPSS."
  ●  (Nigeria) Calculating Servqual Scores "Can anybody educate me better on how to calculate the difference between perception of service and actual service within a given organisation?"
  ● Hossam Hassan (Egypt) Calculating Servqual Scores "Are you still in need of help????? if you reached to an answer please help me."
  ●  (USA) Calculating Servqual Scores "With regard to calculating the difference between perception of service and actual service, I believe you must first be clear on the value delivered from the service. But to be more clear, "Value" comes in many forms - tangible, reliability, cost, etc. but still remains somewhat vague in general context. The quality of the up-front analysis to scope, design, deliver, and support the service is, I believe, critical to later understanding the perception gap. In the context of my IT Helpdesk, I use a survey to capture "sentiment" but also capture key metrics that describe the quality, timeliness, completeness, cost (in time per unit and overall), and perception "by incident". I compare the details by incident (average and distribution) to the annual survey results on sentiment. When there is a gap, I feel I have enough information to take appropriate next steps to identify the cause."


  ● Abdul Kambagha (Tanzania) Validity Test of SERVQUAL in Wheeler Service Industry "Does the industry understand the customer requirements and specifications? If so, the industry should produce the services to meet the customer's test and deliver the service to them (customers). By doing so, the customers will definitely be satisfied."

  ●  (usa) Adding SERVQUAL Dimensions "You mentioned that you may add dimensions to your survey instrument in addition to the 22 SERVQUAL questions, can these be qualitative questions?"
  ● Jos (The Netherlands) Adding Variables "I did a thesis in a B2B situation. Therefore I needed to add variables tot make the model apllicable. I did a factor analysis for 300 resp. and discovered the model works brilliantly in a B2B situation and extra dimensions can add valus. The queations were all quantatative"


  ● Melvin (South Africa) Change in perceptions "It is absolutely true that perceptions and expectations may change over time - and they should for the better - however the opposite is often true - in dealing with the dynamics look at what the gap analysis is saying - where does the opportunity for improvements reside in a specific gap or gaps - apply the PARETO principle - identify what the 20% is and how it is create 80% of the gap(s) - i'm busy piloting and developing SERVQUAL modified"

  ● Kambagha Abdul (Tanzania) Gap 5 in servqual model ""I agree with the comments from Paul, because if the management of a service organization treats their employees well in terms of pay, job satisfaction, recognizing their role and future advancement and caring, they will definitely serve the company's customers well. The opposite of these will definitely lead to customer dissatisfaction and hence poor performance of the company."
  ● John G (USA) Gap scores "Yes, the impact of the first 4 gaps also impact gap 5. The extended SERVQUAL model actually measures the impact of these interactions, however very few use it. Most find it easier to use the Gap 5 model but offers little in the way of actionable information. This is a "bounded rationality" approach to reduce complexity but is ill advised in a complex social context where 1 + 1 does not always = 2 due to synergistic forces which are better assessed using systems-view approaches. One cannot use difference scores of the RATER dimensions for expectations and perceptions batteries unless the extracted factors are the same. It is also better to confirm scales using SEM before using them for decision-making. In addition, SEM analyzes all the endogenous and exogenous variable relationships simultaneously which MVA (a subset of SEM) cannot do. Lastly, many applications of the SERVQUAL model fail to assess rigorous data screening methods for MV applicability which can affect data usefulness. "
  ● Dr.G.Raghuraman (United Kingdom) How to Measure and Evaluate SERVQUAL Gaps 1-4? "I am a bit puzzled as to how to evaluate the gaps other than Gap 5. Gap 5 assessment seems to be the easiest to evaluate in comparison to others. I have not seen any literature to show or demonstrate how the other gaps are evaluated. Can someone enlighten me on this please?"

  ● Nuno Albarran (Portugal) Service Quality Models "You can find other models in google academic, just type in "service quality" and you'll l get a bunch of them. I recommend that you use a filter on the type of channel to be measured (offline or online)."


  ●  (Netherlands) Grönroos model "Go here for some info on CRM / Grönroos."