A comparison of service delivery processes of different complexity

Abstract

How service evaluations are influenced by the complexity of the service delivery process has not been adequately studied. Therefore, this study investigates three types of service processes: a hotel stay, a day conference and a restaurant visit, which represent different levels of complexity. Cumulative satisfaction was measured for each service attribute and their subattributes along the path of the service process. In addition, overall satisfaction, service quality, disconfirmation of expectations and likelihood to recommend and return were measured after completion of the service delivery. Both similar and dissimilar patterns of overall and cumulative evaluations were found across the three processes. In terms of the relative importance of process attributes and subattributes, both common and core attributes across the three processes exhibited similar importances.

Citation

Danaher, P.J. and Mattsson, J. (1998), "A comparison of service delivery processes of different complexity", International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 9 No. 1, pp. 48-63. https://doi.org/10.1108/09564239810199941