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Service Quality Evaluation Models Determined by Online Consumer

Perception and Satisfaction

Article in Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences · January 2014

DOI: 10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.12.629

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Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 109 (2014) 1303 – 1308

2nd World Conference On Business, Economics And Management - WBEM 2013

Service quality evaluation models determined by

Online consumer perception and satisfaction

Maria-Cristiana MUNTHIU a *, Bogdan Călin VELICU b, Mihaela TUȚĂ c, Adina Iulia

ZARA d
abcd
Academy of Economic Studies, no. 6, Piața Romană Street, Bucharest R0-010374, Romania

Abstract

Since the 1980s, service quality has represented a reference point for marketers, being considered essential for companies’
differentiation strategy. Having its conceptual and empiric support the specialty literature, this paper focuses on service quality
dimensions and emphasizes the existing models for evaluating online service quality. Even if the existing literature offers various
models for service quality evaluation, there does not yet exist an agreement on the model unanimously accepted by all
researchers and which is in concordance with all their theories. It is therefore obvious that marketing managers of service
companies should know the existing online service quality evaluation models and use them to adjust their strategies and to target
their market with specifically adapted offers.

© 2014 The
Selection andAuthors. Published
peer review underby Elsevier Ltd.ofOpen
responsibility Prof.access
Dr. Gülsün A.BY-NC-ND
under CC Başkan license.
Selection and peer review under responsibility of Organizing Committee of BEM 2013.
Keywords: service quality, perception, satisfaction, evaluation model;

1. Introduction

Service quality has always represented for marketers a point of strong debate and interest, being considered an
essential aspect for companies differentiation. Nowadays, clients are much more unwilling to accept inefficient or
unpleasaant services due to the fact that they benefit from better and better services, which trigger their continuously
growing expectations. No client would return to a place where he heas been neglected or treated unappropiatedly
(poor service quality, unfair price/service rapport); moreover, he would share his dissatisfaction with his friends and
acquintances (Zeithaml et al., 2013).

2. Service evaluation models

Marketing specialists have always been interested in identifying the most important factors on which the service
evaluation models are based. At the same time, the importance of services on the international market has been
increasingly growing. Therefore, there exists an urgent need to understand more clearly the service evaluation
models or the way consumers actually evauate services they benefit from.

*
Corresponding Author: Maria-Cristiana MUNTHIU. Tel.: +4-073-066-4181
E-mail address: [email protected]

1877-0428 © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
Selection and peer review under responsibility of Organizing Committee of BEM 2013.
doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.12.629
1304 Maria-Cristiana Munthiu et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 109 (2014) 1303 – 1308

Christian Gronroos (1983) defines two types of qualities: technical quality, which represents the result of the service
provision (responds to the question What?) and functional quality, which represents the way in which the service is
delivered to the client (responds to the question How?). Due to the fact that during the consumer-service provider
interaction, the service provider has the opportunity to demonstrate the quality of his service, from the client’s
viwepoint the functional quality is as important or even more important than the technical quality of the provided
service.

Figure 1. Service quality model – Christian Gronroos

Expected Service Perceived Service

Perceived Service Quality

Traditional marketing activities:

Advertising, personal selling,
Corporate
public relations, pricing, external
Image
influence by traditions, ideology,
and word of mouth

Technical Quality: Functional Quality:

• Knowledge • Attitudes
• Machines • Internal relations
• Behavior
• Computarized Systems
• Employee Techincal • Service mindedness
Ability • Appearance
• Technical Solutions • Accessibility
• Consumer contacts

What?
How?

Source: Gronroos, Ch. 1983. Strategic Management and Marketing in the Service Sector, Report no. 83-104, Marketing Science
Institute, Cambridge, MA, 1983., p. 35 in Brogowicz et al., 1990. A synthetized service quality model with managerial
implications, International Journal of Service Industry Management, 1 (1), Service Quality Institute, Western Michigan
University, SUA, p. 28.

Zeithaml, Parasuraman and Berry (1990) define ten dimensions representing evaluative criteria that clients make use
of regarding service quality: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, competence, courtesy, credibility, security,
access, communication, understanding the consumer. The SERVQUAL model used to measure service quality
includes five of these dimensions considered the most important: reliability, assurance, tangibles, empathy and
responsiveness. According to Shoemaker, Lewis and Yesawich (2007): “These dimensions lead to the acronym
RATER. All dimensions together result in the total experience the customer takes away.” Cronin and Taylor
(1992) argued that using SERVPERF to measure service quality is better than SERVQUAL in terms of validity,
reliability and forecasting. According to Lovelock and Wirtz (2004), service quality has different meanings for
customers and it also depends on service delivery perception.
 Maria-Cristiana Munthiu et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 109 (2014) 1303 – 1308 1305

Brogowicz et al. (1990) present a synthetized service quality model, based on both the Nordic School (Christian
Gronroos, Evert Gummerson etc.) and the North-American School (Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry etc.), having
as aim presenting the main dimensions of service quality in close relationship with managerial functions of
planning, implementation and control in order to guide companies’ efforts of improving their services.

Figure 2. A synthetized service quality model

External
Company Traditional marketing
influences
image activities

Service quality
expectations

Service
quality gap

Perceived quality expectations

Service offerings

Service offering specifications

Plan, implement and control

marketing strategies

Determine company, mission and

objectives
1306 Maria-Cristiana Munthiu et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 109 (2014) 1303 – 1308

Source: Brogowicz, Andrew A., Delene, Linda M & Lyth, David M., 1990. A synthetized service quality model with managerial
implications, International Journal of Service Industry Management, 1 (1), Service Quality Institute, Western Michigan
University, SUA, p. 36.

Lapierre et al. (1996) study the service quality evaluation from various perspectives based on studies done bu
Gronroos (1983) and Parasuraman et al. (1985). Lapierre et al. (1996) distinguish between professional services
and standard services, by considering the professional service as being „an art or an representation offered by a
person with qualified experience to a third party that disposes of a code of ethics and which represents the object of
high quality control standards.” A standard service is „any other tertiary activity, a temporal experience, an art or a
representation in which propriety cannot be transfered, it is intangible and usually presupposes a personal
interaction between client and service provider.”

Cetină (2009) considers that a well-delivered service is a profitable strategy for the company which offers
concomitantly a greater satisfaction to the customer. A high quality service results in attracting new clients, an
enlarged business portfolio with current customers and new potential customers. The quality is the main element
which creates loyal customers, customers satisfied with the choice they made regarding a company and its
services, customers that will therefore use its services in the future and recommend them to their friends and
acquintances.

Brady et al. (2005) researched the way consumers understand, perceive and evaluate delivered services and also
how these factors influence the consumer service buying behavior. One of the main purposes of the authors has been
to elucidate which is the standard and generally used service evaluation model by making a detailed analysis of
already known models. Therefore, there have been chosed four different models of service evaluation which are
often used to describe relations factors which determine behavioral intentions. Each model is based on the attitude
theory having as central dominant element: the perceived value, quality, satisfaction and comprehension. The
carried research show that the comprehensive model includes all other and confirm the fact that service quality
determines customer satisfaction and has therefore consequences on behavioral intentions. This order is specific also
for the satisfaction model, which is the second from the point of view of its relevance in this study.

Figura 3. Comprehensive model of service evaluation

Source: Brady, Michael K., Knight, Gary A., Cronin, J. Joseph G. Jr., Hult, Tomas M. & Keillor, Bruce D. 2005, Removing the
contextual lens: A multinational, multi-setting comparison of service evaluation models, Journal of Retailing, 81 (3), p. 218.
SAC – sacrifice, SQ – service quality, VAL – perceived value, SAT – satisfaction, BI – behavioural intentions

The results of this research challenges managers to consider perceived value and consumer satisfaction as being two
important factors that should be taken into account when elaborating the strategic objectives of the company.
Nevertheless, service quality is more difficult to evaluate as product quality due to the intangible character of
services (Brady et al., 2005, Cetină, 2009).
 Maria-Cristiana Munthiu et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 109 (2014) 1303 – 1308 1307

According to Zeithaml, Bitner and Gremler (2013), the relationship and the interconnectedness between customer
satisfaction and service quality are evinced by the following figure:

Figure 4. Customer Perceptions of Quality and Customer Satisfaction

Reliability Service
Situational factors
Quality
Responsiveness
Product
Quality Customer Customer
Assurance Satisfaction Loyalty

Empathy
Price
Personal factors
Tangibles
Source: Zeithaml, Valarie A., Bitner, Mary Jo and Dwayne D. Gremler. 2013. Services Marketing. Integrating
Customer Focus across the Firm, 6th Edition, New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin. p. 79

Parasuraman et al. (2005) developed E-S-QUAL scale which considers that the main factors which influence online
service quality are: efficiency, system availability, fulfillment and privacy. In contradistinction to the difference
made by Gronroos between technical and functional dimension of services, Fassnacht si Koese (2006) consider that
there are three dimensions of e-SQ, i.e.: the environment quality, the service delivery quality and the service results
quality. The service results quality is determined by three sub-dimensions: reliability/trustworthiness, functional
benefits and emotional benefits.

Figure 5. Model of e-SQ and its consequences

EASE OF
ACCESS
e-Satisfaction RP1

FLEXIBILITY
E-SQ
Recco

RELIABILITY Perceived Value

Notes: e-SQ- e-Service Quality; Recco: Positive recommendations intentions; RPI: Repurchase intentions

Source: Gera, R. 2011. Modelling e-service quality and its consequences in India. A SEM approach, Journal of
Research in Interactive Marketing, 5 (2/3), p. 216.

Gera (2011) considers as key attributes of e-SQ: ease of access, flexibility and reliability. The web site experience of
the consumer is also important for positive evaluation and behavioral response, therefore, web site design and its
interactive features are the most important aspects for customers to develop favorable perceptions of their service,
thus influencing their online consumer behavior and e-satisfaction.
1308 Maria-Cristiana Munthiu et al. / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 109 (2014) 1303 – 1308

3. Conclusions

There is a great theoretical basis in the field on service quality research which offers to the representants of this field
the possibility to obtain information necessary for analysing the existing online and offline service evaluation
models and to develop new ones.
Marketers should always bear in mind the fact that service quality evaluation presupposes not only the appreciation
of the final result, but also of the service delivery process. In this business sector, service quality cannot be separated
from the delivery activity (Cetină, 2009).Therefore, managers of service organizations should adapt their strategies
to better correspond with the characteristics of their targeted clients and to specific offers existing on the market.

Acknowledgements

This work was cofinaced from the European Social Fund through Sectoral Operational Programme Human
Resources Development 2007-2013, project number POSDRU/107/1.5/S/77213„ Ph.D. for a career in
interdisciplinary economic research at the European standards”.

References

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