Service quality and global competitiveness: evidence from global service firms

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between service quality and firms’ global competitiveness in the service industry. A set of moderating effects is formulated to further reveal how the relationship varies under different situations.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper tests the model with data collected from multiple sources such as World’s Most Admired Companies and COMPUSTAT. Two types of robust regressions for panel data are employed in the empirical model estimation.

Findings

Service quality is found to significantly drive global competitiveness. Specifically, its impact is stronger for large service firms and when the global environment is characterized as low munificence, high dynamism, or high complexity.

Practical implications

The paper provides a set of implications for managers of service firms regarding global expansion and quality management. It generates useful guidelines of maximizing the power of service quality when a firm’s global competitive advantage is considered.

Originality/value

This paper takes the first attempt to formulate service quality’s influence on firm’s global competitiveness with a consideration of specific situational factors.

Citation

Sun, W. and Pang, J. (2017), "Service quality and global competitiveness: evidence from global service firms", Journal of Service Theory and Practice, Vol. 27 No. 6, pp. 1058-1080. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-12-2016-0225