Deals with three issues in the area of perceived service quality. First, it compares the gap model with the performance model. Second, it investigates the direction of causality between service quality and satisfaction. Finally, it examines whether the influences of some dimensions of service quality vary across service industry types. Three service firms were selected and respondents were interviewed in each firm. As hypothesized, the performance model appeared to be superior to the gap model. In addition, the result shows that perceived service quality is an antecedent of satisfaction, rather than vice versa. Finally, tangibles appeared to be a more important factor in the facility/equipment-based industries, whereas responsiveness is a more important factor in the people-based industries. Managerial implications and future research directions are discussed.