Linking process and outcome to service quality and customer satisfaction evaluations

Abstract

Purpose -To examine precisely how service process and service outcome are related to service quality and customer satisfaction evaluations, and to look for consistent patterns in the relationships between these four concepts. Design/methodology/approach -A theoretical framework is proposed to suggest links between the four concepts. The study is conducted in the real estate industry, and the focus is on home sellers' evaluations of the real estate agent's service. In-depth interviews and a short survey are used to collect the data. A combination of content analysis and statistical tests is used to look for patterns in the data. Findings -As proposed, process factors are closely linked with service quality, and outcome factors are closely linked with customer satisfaction. Also, as proposed, service quality evaluations precede customer satisfaction for normal service evaluations, but the opposite causal order is found for extreme service evaluations.Research limitations/implications -The study is conducted in the USA and is based on a relatively small sample, but sufficient for qualitative (and simple statistical) analysis. The differential links proposed and found between the four concepts advance researchers' understanding of the basis for service evaluations. Practical implications -Managers can focus more on either service process or service outcome based on their specific objectives and/or resource constraints in different situations. Originality/value -It is the first study to propose and empirically support the idea that service process is closely linked with service quality evaluations, whereas service outcome is closely linked with customer satisfaction evaluations.

The role of customer contact employees as external customers: A conceptual framework for marketing strategy and future research

“…Although conceptual frameworks (e.g., Dabholkar, 1995;Iacobucci et al, 1995) have convincingly argued that the causal links between perceived service quality and customer satisfaction may be reversed under certain contingencies, empirical evidence shows that in the majority of situations, customer satisfaction is a consequence of perceived service quality (Brady and Robertson, 2001;Dabholkar and Overby, 2005).…”

Customer satisfaction and qualities in public service: an intermediary customer perspective

“…The five quality attributes of SERVQUAL were originally developed from the analyses of four industries where the moment of truth in the human encounter was emphasized. As such, the relevant research on SERVQUAL has mostly focused on the process quality of the human encounter (Dabholkar & Overby, 2005;Kang, 2006;Powpaka, 1996;Richard & Allway, 1993). Some researchers point out that the reliability of SERVQUAL is close to outcome quality (Brady & Cronin, 2001;Hui, Zhao, Fan, & Au, 2004), while some measurement items for the responsiveness of SERVQUAL are conceptually indistinguishable between the processes or outcome quality (Llosa, Chandon, & Orsingher, 1998).…”

“…Brady & Robertson, 2001;Lee, Lee, & Yoo, 2000;Roberts, Varki, & Brodie, 2003;Shemwell et al, 1998). While customer satisfaction generally includes affective, emotional, and cognitive responses (Oliver, 1997), most empirical studies generally address satisfaction only as an affective and emotional construct (Dabholkar & Overby, 2005). In addition, while customer satisfaction is a comprehensive evaluation of entire service, service quality is different in that it is perceived through an evaluation of a variety of individual attributes (Oliver, 1997).…”

“…Bigné, Moliner, & Sánchez, 2003;Brysland & Curry, 2001). The SERVQUAL model was originally developed as a quality model for measuring process quality in private service, where human encounters are crucial to deliver quality service to customers (Dabholkar & Overby, 2005;Parasuraman, Zeithaml, & Berry, 1988;Powpaka, 1996). However, the sources of quality in public service are not confined to service encounters, but extended to policy development and service design where the service contents are determined, and the inter-organizational relationships in the delivery of public service (Rhee & Rha, 2009).…”

A customer perspective on product eliminations: how the removal of products affects customers and business relationships

“…The quality concept of Grönroos (1983Grönroos ( , 1984 and related work (e.g., Bell, Auh, and Smalley 2005;Dabholkar and Overby 2005) suggest that when assessing a firm's behavior during the implementation of an elimination, a customer draws on perceptions of the quality of the implementation process, or the degree to which the firm acts in an adequate manner, and on perceptions of the quality of the implementation outcome, or the degree to which the firm offers an appropriate compensation. In our study, the two constructs include and structure a variety of Homburg / Fürst / Prigge A Customer Perspective on Product Eliminations 8 criteria that a customer uses to evaluate an eliminating firm's behavior.…”