Service guarantees and consumers’ evaluation of services

Abstract

Realization of the long-term goals of any organization ultimately must revolve around customer satisfaction. This is particularly true in restaurants, where failure to satisfy customers will quickly lead to an early termination of the business. General levels of consumer dissatisfaction with service quality at restaurants are very high -in 1995 over 50 percent of restaurant patrons surveyed cited no aspect of service as being excellent. This finding is consistent with the high levels of failure among restaurants. Given the intense competition and demanding consumers, a reasonable concern revolves around what restaurants can do to maintain customer satisfaction. This paper is focussed on one suggested approach to the problem -the offering of service guarantees. Recently, service guarantees have been offered by an increasing number of industries. These include cable television providers, long distance providers, banking, health care and dental services. We address the issue of the role that service guarantees may fill in demonstrating to potential customers that the restaurant delivers a satisfying dining experience. For example, would a guarantee of satisfaction serve to overcome any doubts of consumers caused by bad dining experiences in the past?There are two basic streams of relevant literature that begin to address the issue of consumer perceptions of service guarantees in restaurants. First are studies of what choice criteria customers use in choosing restaurants. Second are studies of the theoretical role of service guarantees on satisfaction. Restaurant choice criteria studiesA few published studies have been done investigating the key criteria used by customers in choosing restaurants.

The effect of service convenience on post‐purchasing behaviours

“…Thus, unlike previous studies that have treated service guarantees as explicit operation strategies or activities used to credibly signal high quality to customers (Tucci and Talaga, 1997) and studies that have mainly focused on such guarantees' direct effect in promoting service offerings (McDougall et al, 1998;Hays and Hill, 2001;Marmorstein et al, 2001), this paper aims to explore the role of perceived service The effect of service convenience guarantee strength as an implicit moderating variable in the relationship between service convenience and customer satisfaction. In other words, this paper treats service guarantee strength as implicit and perceived by customers no matter whether there is an explicit service guarantee expressed (Hays and Hill, 2006).…”

The Impact of Service Guarantees on Consumers' Assessments of Service Providers

“…A11'examination of existing service showed that they are a multidimensional construct and not unidimensional as previously suggested (Tucci & Talaga, 1997). Specifically, guarantees can var; with respect to two main aspects.…”

Should a lower-price service offer a full-satisfaction guarantee?

“…They are considered an important and effective means of presenting clear standards for consumers, supporting service development, signalling quality, increasing quality perception, reducing perceived risk, decreasing the perceived likelihood of service failure, attracting and retaining customers, enhancing customer satisfaction, increasing purchase intentions, encouraging positive word-of-mouth recommendations, and gaining market share through differentiation (Boulding & Kirmani, 1993;Evans, Clark, & Knutson, 1996;Hart, 1988;Hart et al, 1992;Hill, Hays, & Naveh, 2000;Kashyap, 2001;Kirmani & Rao, 2000;Lidén & Sandén, 2004;McDougall et al, 1998;Ostrom & Iacobucci, 1998;Tucci & Talaga, 1997;Wirtz & Kum, 2001;Wirtz et al, 2000). Numerous studies also have demonstrated that the provision of a service guarantee improves the expected service quality, reduces perceived risk, and increases the willingness to buy (Boshoff, 2003;Ostrom & Iacobucci, 1998;Wirtz et al, 2000).…”