Service Quality: Research Perspectives

Citation

Narasimhan, K. (2005), "Service Quality: Research Perspectives", Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, Vol. 15 No. 2, pp. 209-210. https://doi.org/10.1108/09604520510585389

Dr Benjamin Schneider is a distinguished academic and a well‐known author in the field of service quality and organisational climate and culture. He has also consulted with numerous international companies such as the IBM, Prudential, and American Express. Dr Susan White has worked extensively in the area of service climate and quality and works as research scientist with Washington DC, Office of Personnel Decisions Research Institute, Inc.

This book is neither a comprehensive textbook on service quality, nor a quick guide for managers faced with service quality problems. It is an excellent book aimed at researchers interested in the field of service quality, and as such deals with conceptual and empirical researches based on different service quality perspectives (marketing, operations management, and organisational studies).

The book comprises five chapters. Chapter 1, introduces the topic of services and service quality in terms of technical outcomes and functional dimensions of service, the nature of services (relative intangibility, inseparability, and heterogeneity), and the different approaches to defining quality. The importance of the service function in an organisation's success and the concept of service profit chain (internal service quality → employee satisfaction → employee loyalty → external service quality) are also covered.

Chapter 2 is devoted to the conceptualisation and measurement of service quality based on marketing perspectives. The SERVQUAL approach and the Gap Model are briefly discussed and ideas for tailoring surveys to different contexts, conducting focus groups, and developing service quality surveys are dealt with.

Operations management perspective of services and the role of customers in the service delivery process, and their effect on the quality form the topic of Chapter 3. Chase's (1978) classification of services based on a customer's involvement in the service delivery, and Lovelock's (1983) classification based on the direct recipient of the service (people or things) and the degree of tangibility of the service act are covered in some depth. Also covered are the potential benefits of involving customers in the production of services and managing variability through focussing on the customer and facility.

In Chapter 4, attention is turned towards the authors’ field of specialism, organisational behaviour (OB), and they focus on an organisation's employees and the organisational climate. First, the concept of organisational climate is introduced, which is followed by a discussion of the research on climate of service structured around the service profit chain concept introduced in Chapter 1. Finally, they conclude that not only the leader must focus on service quality, but also that the human resource management (HRM) practices and policies (the reward systems, performance management systems, and training) should be consistent with the market segment the organisation wishes to serve.

In the final chapter, first they explore in some detail how the different fields (marketing, operations management and OB/HRM) treat customers and service quality. Then they outline a series of lessons learned, before presenting six key research questions that integrate the three fields covered in the earlier chapters.

This concise book gives a brief, yet a comprehensive, coverage of the field of service quality and is a valuable resource for researchers in the field of managing services as well as total quality management.