QUICKSERV: a service quality assessment tool for the quick-service restaurant industry

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to empirically develop and validate a practical, consistent and specific scale to assess perceived service quality at the service encounter at quick-service restaurants (QSRs).Design/methodology/approachDevelopment and validation of the scale involved a five-stage process. Data were collected from 430 customers of a QSR belonging to an international brand located in Barcelona. Surveys were applied immediately after the service encounter, using the face-to-face method. The scale development procedure involved exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses.FindingsThe results suggest a specific and parsimonious measurement scale, whose structure comprises 14 items in four dimensions. In contrast to previous studies, this study identified the appropriateness of splitting the interaction quality dimension into two single dimensions, one focusing on the interaction time and other on staff–customer interaction. Furthermore, these indicate that a speedy service, pleasant treatment and food quality are the most valued attributes in QSR.Practical implicationsThis scale is a useful instrument to administer and assure service quality standards within QSR management systems. Its practical approach and short survey length ease data collection, considering that customers spend short amounts of time in this type of restaurant. Furthermore, it could also be used by franchisors and restaurant operators as a tool to monitor continuing compliance with service quality standards.Originality/valueThe resulting scale introduces a novel four-factor structure with high goodness of fit to effectively measure customers' perceived service quality in QSRs, where the ease of use and speed of gathering client responses are a key factor for successful implementation.

New insights into the measurement model of a new scale for evaluating restaurant service quality during major infectious disease outbreaks

“…This study confirmed that the REP-SERV scale could provide valuable and contributing research results for the measurement of restaurant service quality during an epidemic. A review of the previous literature found that the DINESERV scale provides a common criterion for service quality evaluation in the restaurant industries (Knutson et al , 1996; Wu and Mohi, 2015; Chen et al , 2015; Cheng et al , 2019; Mendocilla et al , 2021; Cheng et al , 2021). Not only that, other hospitality service quality scales (e.g.…”

“…Not only that, other hospitality service quality scales (e.g. GRSERV, LORSERV, service quality scale for green lodging, QUICKSERV and service quality scale for the online food delivery industry and more) can also extract common criteria for service quality evaluation in specific hospitality industries (Knutson et al , 1996; Chen et al , 2015; Lee and Cheng, 2018; Cheng et al , 2019; Mendocilla et al , 2021; Cheng et al , 2021). Therefore, the above scales have high research value and contribute to service quality evaluation in different restaurant industries.…”

“…To effectively evaluate restaurant service quality, Stevens et al (1995) used the SERVQUAL scale to develop the DINESERV scale. Previous scholars have pointed out that although the DINESERV scale may not be a fully effective measure of the service quality of all types of restaurants, it can still be used as a common criterion for measurement or for developing a new restaurant service quality scale (Wu and Mohi, 2015; Chen et al , 2015; Cheng et al , 2019; Mendocilla et al , 2021; Cheng et al , 2021). Since then, the DINESERV scale has become a common criterion for the development of various restaurant service quality scales, including a service quality scale for fast-food restaurants, GRSERV, LORSERV and the service quality scale for the quick-service restaurant industry scale (Chen et al , 2015; Wu and Mohi, 2015; Cheng et al , 2019; Mendocilla et al , 2021).…”

“…The service quality scale of dinner service (DINESERV scale) is an important tool used by previous scholars to evaluate restaurant service quality (Knutson et al, 1996;Kim et al, 2003). Although previous scholars have pointed out that the DINESERV scale may not be a fully effective measure of service quality for all types of restaurants, it can still be used as a common rule for evaluating the service quality of other types of restaurants or as a basis for developing various restaurant service quality scales (Chen et al, 2015;Wu and Mohi, 2015;Cheng et al, 2019;Mendocilla et al, 2021), which shows that the DINESERV scale provides common criteria for various restaurant service quality measurements. However, whether during the SARS or the COVID-19 epidemic period, safety factors are issues to which customers attach great importance when dining in restaurants (Hsu, 2006a;Tse et al, 2006;Kim and Lee, 2020;Sirimongko, 2021;Li et al, 2022); therefore, the service attributes of restaurant epidemic prevention will be valued by customers.…”

“…Literature review 2.1 Epidemic prevention service quality in the restaurant industry Parasuraman et al (1985) defined service quality as the difference between the customers' perceived service and the expected service based on the fifth gap (the expected serviceperceived service gap) in the PZB model. The difference between the customers' perceived service and the expected service in the PZB model has often been used by scholars to define the service quality of various restaurants (Markovic¨et al, 2010;Cheng et al, 2019;Mendocilla et al, 2021). Therefore, this study defined the epidemic prevention service quality in restaurants as the difference between the customer's perceived epidemic prevention services and the expected epidemic prevention services during an epidemic, based on the fifth gap in the PZB model.…”