Background: The Service Quality Models

Background: the service quality models

The context of service quality has not been perceived uniformly. Cullen (2001) for instance portrayed two sets of quality context: objective, and perceived quality; the first focuses on the standards and guidelines being set up by professional bodies, while the second pertains to customers' perceptions. Similarly, Gronroos (1984) abstracted the service quality into technical and functional. By and large, literature on service quality has been lined up behind the latest category while maintained a level of disintegration with the first. On the other hand, scholars have endeavored to improve service quality. Their models that conceptualize service quality improvement included the disconfirmation, perceived quality, SERVQUAL, and Six Sigma (Kasper, Helsdingen, and Gabbott, 2006:183). Additionally, Ahmed and Rafiq (2002:13) spelled out two other models namely Berry's model and Grönrros' model, but placed them within the context of the internal marketing theory. However, the preceding models perceived service quality from a narrow perspective; none have had a holistic view of quality. This explains the inconsistency in conceptualizing service quality where the perceived service quality endured to measure customers' satisfaction in particular.

Also, scholars have postulated different service quality dimensions. For instance, Hedvall and Paltschik (1989) went to identify two measured dimensions namely ‛willingness and ability to serve’, and ‛ physical and psychological access’; Lehtinen and Lehtinen (1982) articulated three dimensions: interactive, physical, and corporate quality embraced; Gagliano and Hathcote (1994) — citied in Fogarty and Gatts and Forlin (2000) — embraced four structural...

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... its performance, or to provide a statistical signal when sporadic causes take place. Nevertheless, the endeavors of charting perceptions /exceptional attributes for analysis were demonstrated by a few scholars. For instance, Kadir, Abdullah and Agus(2000) plot charted P-E on a 4 quadrants (P-E matrix), and maintained that this approach would produce a guide of the service quality level. Also, Donthu (1991) recognized the inadequacy of published works in handling the problem of service quality control and proposed an instrumental approach called expectation/perception control chart. And in order to justify its validity and reliability he accounted a large sample— a contradiction with the legitimate use of X-bar chart, however. In contrast to Donthu's method, the paper revitalized the SERVQUAL scale, utilized a reduced constructs, and embraced small sample size.