Service Quality

Service quality is a term that describes a comparison of expectations with performance. A business with high service quality will meet customer needs whilst remaining economically competitive. Improved service quality may increase economic competitiveness. This aim may be achieved by understanding and improving operational processes; identifying problems quickly and systematically; establishing valid and reliable service performance measures and measuring customer satisfaction and other performance outcomes.

Service quality is a business administration term used to describe achievement in service. It reflects both objective and subjective aspects of service. The accurate measurement of an objective aspect of customer service requires the use of carefully predefined criteria. The measurement of subjective aspects of customer service depends on the conformity of the expected benefit with the perceived result. This in turn depends upon the customer's imagination of the service they might receive and the service provider's talent to present this imagined service. Pre-defined objective criteria may be unattainable in practice, in which case, the best possible achievable result becomes the ideal. The objective ideal may still be poor, in subjective terms. Service quality can be related to service potential (for example, worker's qualifications); service process (for example, the quickness of service), and service result (customer satisfaction).

Criteria of service quality

A customer will have an expectation of service determined by factors such as recommendations, personal needs, and past experiences. The expectation of service and the perceived service result may not be equal, thus leaving a gap.

Ten determinants that may influence the appearance of a gap were described by Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry.

Competence is the possession of the required skills and knowledge to perform the service. For example, there may be competence in the knowledge and skill of contact personnel, knowledge and skill of operational support personnel, and research capabilities of the organization.

Courtesy refers to factors such as politeness, respect, consideration, and friendliness of the contact person; consideration for the customer's property and a clean and neat appearance of contact personnel.

Credibility refers to factors such as trustworthiness, believability, and honesty. It involves having the customer's best interest at heart. It may be influenced by company name, company reputation, and the personal characteristics of the contact personnel.

Security represents the customer's freedom from danger, risk, or doubt including physical safety, financial security, and confidentiality.

Access refers to approachability and ease of contact. For example, the waiting time is not excessive and there are convenient hours of operation and a convenient location.

Communication means both informing customers in a language they are able to understand and also listening to customers. A company may need to adjust its language for the varying needs of its customers. Information might include, for example, an explanation of the service and its cost, the relationship between services and costs, and assurances as to the way any problems are effectively managed.

Knowing the customer means making an effort to understand the customer's individual needs, providing individualized attention, recognizing the customer when they arrive, and so on.

Tangibles are the physical evidence of the service, for instance, the appearance of the physical facilities, tools, and equipment used to provide the service; the appearance of personnel and communication materials, and the presence of other customers in the service facility.

Reliability is the ability to perform the promised service in a dependable and accurate manner. The service is performed correctly on the first occasion, the accounting is correct, records are up to date, and schedules are kept.

Responsiveness refers to the willingness of employees to help customers and to provide prompt timely service, for example, mailing a transaction slip immediately or setting up appointments quickly.

Later, the determinants were reduced to five: tangibles; reliability; responsiveness; service assurance, and empathy.

Measuring service quality

Measuring service quality may involve both subjective and objective processes. In both cases, it is often some aspect of customer satisfaction that is being assessed. However, customer satisfaction is an indirect measure of service quality.

• Measuring subjective elements of service quality - Subjective processes can be assessed in characteristics (assessed by the Servqual method); in incidents (assessed in Critical Incident Theory) and in problems (assessed by 'Frequenz Relevanz Analyse' a German term. The most important and most used method with which to measure subjective elements of service quality is the Servqual method.

• Measuring objective elements of service quality - Objective processes may be subdivided into primary processes and secondary processes. During primary processes, silent customers create test episodes of service or the service episodes of normal customers are observed. In secondary processes, quantifiable factors such as numbers of customer complaints or numbers of returned goods are analyzed in order to make inferences about service quality.