A quality system’s impact on the service experience

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the interplay between technical and social systems within an organization that potentially affect the service experience, as perceived by end customers.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper explores the potential impact of an integrated service quality system on the service experience. A conceptual model is presented, accompanied by a detailed development of the hypotheses. Two samples (Study 1: n=474, Study 2: n=225) of consumers are used to empirically test the proposed model.

Findings

The analysis reveals the impact a technical system has on employees’ inherent abilities (i.e. the social system), which, in turn, affect the overall assessment by customers. Additionally, the situation in which an employee works (i.e. operating environmental conditions) results in differences in the model.

Research limitations/implications

This paper’s main implication is this paper employs established theory to develop a model that is empirically tested to show that implementing and maintaining a quality-oriented service system can positively influence the overall customer experience. The limitations are based primarily on the methodology in which individual employees assessed all aspects of both the social and technical systems.

Practical implications

Managers should be diligent in their design and implementation of the quality components as these affect the work setting in which employees operate.

Originality/value

Prior research has neither explored an integrated service quality system’s impact on the service experience nor employed an established theoretical framework. This work accomplishes both with the results providing contributions to both theory and practice.

Citation

Smith, J., Anderson, S. and Fox, G. (2017), "A quality system’s impact on the service experience", International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 37 No. 12, pp. 1817-1839. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-12-2015-0737