SERVQUAL


SERVQUAL is a multi-dimensional research instrument, designed to capture consumer expectations and perceptions of a service along the five dimensions that are believed to represent service quality. SERVQUAL is built on the expectancy-disconfirmation paradigm, which in simple terms means that service quality is understood as the extent to which consumers' pre-consumption expectations of quality are confirmed or disconfirmed by their actual perceptions of the service experience. When the SERVQUAL questionnaire was first published in 1985 by a team of academic researchers, A. Parasuraman, Valarie Zeithaml and Leonard L. Berry to measure quality in the service sector, it represented a breakthrough in the measurement methods used for service quality research. The diagnostic value of the instrument is supported by the model of service quality which forms the conceptual framework for the development of the scale. The instrument has been widely applied in a variety of contexts and cultural settings and found to be relatively robust. It has become the dominant measurement scale in the area of service quality. In spite of the long-standing interest in SERVQUAL and its myriad of context-specific applications, it has attracted some criticism from researchers.

SERVQUAL

SERVQUAL is a multidimensional research instrument, designed to measure service quality by capturing respondents’ expectations and perceptions along the five dimensions of service quality. The questionnaire consists of matched pairs of items; 22 expectation items and 22 perceptions items, organised into five dimensions which are believed to align with the consumer's mental map of service quality dimensions. Both the expectations component and the perceptions component of the questionnaire consist a total of 22 items, comprising 4 items to capture tangibles, 5 items to capture reliability, 4 items for responsiveness, 4 items for assurance and 5 items to capture empathy. The questionnaire is designed to be administered in a face-to-face interview and requires a moderate to large size sample for statistical reliability. In practice, it is customary to add additional items such as the respondent's demographics, prior experience with the brand or category and behavioural intentions. Thus, the final questionnaire may consist of 60+ items and typically takes at least one hour, per respondent, to administer. The length of the questionnaire combined with sample size requirements contribute to substantial costs in administration and data analysis.
The instrument which was developed over a five-year period; was tested, pre-tested and refined before appearing in its final form. The instrument's developers, Parasuman, Ziethaml and Berry, claim that it is a highly reliable and valid instrument. Certainly, it has been widely used and adapted in service quality research for numerous industries and various geographic regions. In application, many researchers are forced to make minor modifications to the instrument as necessary for context-specific applications. Some researchers label their revised instruments with innovative titles such as EDUQUAL, HEALTHQUAL and ARTSQUAL.
DimensionSample expectations itemSample perceptions item
ReliabilityWhen excellent telephone companies promise to do something by a certain time, they do soXYZ company provides its services at the promised time
AssuranceThe behaviour of employees in excellent banks will instill confidence in customersThe behaviour of employees in the XYZ bank instils confidence in you.
TangiblesExcellent telephone companies will have modern looking equipmentXYZ company has modern looking equipment
EmpathyExcellent banks will have operating hours convenient to customersXYZ bank has convenient operating hours
ResponsivenessEmployees of excellent telephone companies will never be too busy to help a customerXYZ employees are never too busy to help you

The SERVQUAL questionnaire has been described as "the most popular standardized questionnaire to measure service quality." It is widely used by service firms, most often in conjunction with other measures of service quality and customer satisfaction. The SERVQUAL instrument was developed as part of a broader conceptualisation of how customers understand service quality. This conceptualisation is known as the model of service quality or more popularly as the gaps model.

The model of service quality

The model of service quality, popularly known as the gaps model was developed by a group of American authors, A. Parasuraman, Valarie A. Zeithaml and Len Berry, in a systematic research program carried out between 1983 and 1988. The model identifies the principal dimensions of service quality; proposes a scale for measuring service quality and suggests possible causes of service quality problems. The model's developers originally identified ten dimensions of service quality, but after testing and retesting, some of the dimensions were found to be autocorrelated and the total number of dimensions was reduced to five, namely - reliability, assurance, tangibles, empathy and responsiveness. These five dimensions are thought to represent the dimensions of service quality across a range of industries and settings. Among students of marketing, the mnemonic, RATER, an acronym formed from the first letter of each of the five dimensions is often used as an aid to recall.
Businesses use the SERVQUAL instrument to measure potential service quality problems and the model of service quality to help diagnose possible causes of the problem. The model of service quality is built on the expectancy-confirmation paradigm which suggests that consumers perceive quality in terms of their perceptions of how well a given service delivery meets their expectations of that delivery. Thus, service quality can be conceptualised as a simple equation:
SQ = P- E
When customer expectations are greater than their perceptions of received delivery, service quality is deemed low. When perceptions exceed expectations then service quality is high. The model of service quality identifies five gaps that may cause customers to experience poor service quality. In this model, gap 1 is the service quality gap and is the only gap that can be directly measured. In other words, the SERVQUAL instrument was specifically designed to capture gap 1. In contrast, Gaps 2-5 cannot be measured, but have diagnostic value.
GapBrief descriptionProbable Causes
Gap 1
The Knowledge Gap		Difference between the target market's expected service and management's perceptions of the target market's expected service
  • Insufficient marketing research
  • Inadequate upward communications
  • Too many layers of management
Gap 2The standards GapDifference between management's perceptions of customer expectations and the translation into service procedures and specifications
  • Lack of management commitment to service quality
  • Employee perceptions of infeasibility
  • Inadequate goal setting
  • Inadequate task standardisation
Gap 3 The Delivery GapDifference between service quality specifications and the service actually delivered
  • Technical breakdowns or malfunctions
  • Role conflict/ ambiguity
  • Lack of perceived control
  • Poor employee-job fit
  • Poor technology- fit
  • Poor supervision or training
Gap 4 The Communications GapDifference between service delivery intentions and what is communicated to the customer
  • Lack of horizontal communications
  • Poor communication with advertising agency
  • Inadequate communications between sales and operations
  • Differences in policies and procedures across branches or divisions of an entity
  • Propensity to overpromise

Development of the instrument and model

The development of the model of service quality involved a systematic research undertaking which began in 1983, and after various refinements, resulted in the publication of the SERVQUAL instrument in 1988. The model's developers began with an exhaustive literature search in order to identify items that were believed to impact on perceived service quality. This initial search identified some 100 items which were used in the first rounds of consumer testing. Preliminary data analysis, using a data reduction technique known as factor analysis revealed that these items loaded onto ten dimensions of service quality. The initial ten dimensions that were believed to represent service quality were:
  1. 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.
  2. Courtesy is the consideration for the customer's property and a clean and neat appearance of contact personnel, manifesting as politeness, respect, and friendliness.
  3. Credibility includes factors such as trustworthiness, belief and honesty. It involves having the customer's best interests at prime position. It may be influenced by company name, company reputation and the personal characteristics of the contact personnel.
  4. Security enables the customer to feel free from danger, risk or doubt including physical safety, financial security and confidentiality.
  5. Access is approachability and ease of contact. For example, convenient office operation hours and locations.
  6. 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, explanation of the service and its cost, the relationship between services and costs and assurances as to the way any problems are effectively managed.
  7. 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. This in turn helps to delight the customers by rising above their expectations.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. Responsiveness is the readiness and willingness of employees to help customers by providing prompt timely services, for example, mailing a transaction slip immediately or setting up appointments quickly.
Further testing suggested that some of the ten preliminary dimensions of service quality were closely related or autocorrelated. Thus the ten initial dimensions were reduced and the labels amended to accurately reflect the revised dimensions. By the early 1990s, the authors had refined the model to five factors which in testing, appear to be relatively stable and robust.
  1. Reliability: the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately
  2. Assurance: the knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence
  3. Tangibles: the appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel and communication materials
  4. Empathy: the provision of caring, individualized attention to customers
  5. Responsiveness: the willingness to help customers and to provide prompt service
These are the five dimensions of service quality that form the basis of the individual items in the SERVQUAL research instrument. The acronym RATER, is often used to help students of marketing remember the five dimensions of quality explicitly mentioned in the research instrument. It is these five dimensions that are believed to represent the consumer's mental checklist of service quality.
Nyeck, Morales, Ladhari, and Pons stated the SERVQUAL measuring tool “appears to remain the most complete attempt to conceptualize and measure service quality”. The SERVQUAL measuring tool has been used by many researchers across a wide range of service industries and contexts, such as healthcare, banking, financial services, and education.

Criticisms of SERVQUAL and the model of service quality

Although the SERVQUAL instrument has been widely applied in a variety of industry and cross-cultural contexts, there are many criticisms of the approach. Francis Buttle published one of the most comprehensive criticisms of the model of service quality and the associated SERVQUAL instrument in 1996 in which both operational and theoretical concerns were identified. Some of the more important criticisms include:
In spite of these criticisms, the SERVQUAL instrument, or any one of its variants, dominates current research into service quality. In a review of more than 40 articles that made use of SERVQUAL, a team of researchers found that “few researchers concern themselves with the validation of the measuring tool”. SERVQUAL is not only the subject of academic papers, but it is also widely used by industry practitioners.