Dimensions of service quality in developed and developing economies: multi‐country cross‐cultural comparisons

Abstract

Purpose -Despite the rapid growth and internationalization of services, marketers of services realize that to successfully leverage service quality as a global competitive tool, they first need to correctly identify the antecedents of what the international consumer perceives as service "quality." This paper aims to examine the differences in perception of service quality dimensions between developed and developing economies. Design/methodology/approach -Parasuraman et al. proposed a framework consisting of ten determinants or dimensions of service quality: reliability, access, understanding of the customer, responsiveness, competence, courtesy, communication, credibility, security, and tangible considerations. The authors propose 14 hypotheses emphasizing differences in the perception of these dimensions between developed and developing economies by linking these with economic and socio-cultural factors. Extensive survey data are collected in the context of banking services from three countries: USA, India, and the Philippines and statistically tested using multivariate analysis of variance. Findings -Of the 14 hypotheses, 13 were supported (five partially) in that the results for the USA were systematically and significantly different from those for India and the Philippines in the predicted direction. Research limitations/implications -While almost all of the hypotheses are supported, future research should look at multiple service sectors and include alternative service quality models to further validate this study. Practical implications -Despite limitations, current results have significant implications for international marketing in service strategy formulation, service development, pricing, communications, and service delivery. Originality/value -International service managers need to understand the value of environmental differences between countries in terms of economic development and cultural value system and accordingly emphasize the various dimensions of service quality differentially.

The influence of social capital on service quality evaluation

“…Bourdieu"s (1984) perspective concurs in some respects with the, earlier mentioned, study by international marketing researchers Malhotra et al (1994Malhotra et al ( , 2005, who similarly assert that an increase in economic developmental status (i.e. economic capital) results in consumers being less active in evaluating service provider-customer interactions (i.e.…”

“…In conclusion, the body of evidence on social relations within Taiwan suggests that the transformative consequences of a modern developed economy are more complex than suggested by Bourdieu (1984) and Malhotra (2005). Taiwan consumers have not forsaken their extensive social networks as key influences upon their service consumption.…”

“…Imrie, 2005). In the only cross-national study of its type Malhotra et al (2005) discuss how economic development, individual needs, and national values may influence service quality evaluation. In their study of banking consumers in USA, India, and the Philippines they conclude that as nations become more developed consumers exhibit less of an emphasis upon evaluating service provider-customer interactions and more of an emphasis upon technology.…”

Measuring Commuters’ Perception on Service Quality Using SERVQUAL in Public Transportation

“…Liu and McClure (2001) focused their research in studying cultural differences in consumer behaviour and found similar outcomes. Malhotra, Ulgado, Agarwal, and Baalbaki, (1994); Malhotra, Ulgado, Agarwal, Shainesh, and Wu, (2005) has proved that there is a difference of perception on service quality among customers in developing and developed nations, they have identified ten factors related to social, cultural and economic environment which play role on customers assessment of service quality perception. The pioneering study done by Hofstede (1991) in which he had studied about national cultures in line with four service quality dimensions of competence, communication, credibility and courtesy.…”

Functional Service Quality Satisfaction of Islamic and Conventional Credit Card Users in Malaysia

“…More studies employ Servqual or modified Servqual to measure banking service quality compared to other measurement tools (Newman & Cowling 1996;Othman & Owen 2001;Han & Baek 2004;Arasli et al 2005a;Muslim & Zaidi 2008;Wong et al 2008;Kanning & Bergmann 2009;Kumar et al 2009;Ladhari 2009;Osman et al 2009;Sadek et al 2010). However, criticisms of the Servqual (Blanchard & Galloway 1994;Gounaris 2005) resulted in the creation of alternative models such as Servperf (Cronin & Taylor 1992;Angur et al 1999;Abdullah et al 2004), Bankserv (Avkiran 1994) and other models (Levesque & McDougall 1996;Stafford 1996;Johnston 1997;Bahia & Nantes 2000;Lassar et al 2000;Aldlaigan & Buttle 2002;Cui et al 2003;Malhotra et al 2005;Mukherjee & Nath 2005;Petridou et al 2007;Guo et al 2008).…”