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Article
Publication date: 1 March 1998

How disconfirmation, perception and actual waiting times impact customer satisfaction

Mark M. Davis and Janelle Heineke

The experience of waiting for service is often the first direct interaction between customers and most service delivery processes. The literature on satisfaction with…

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Abstract

The experience of waiting for service is often the first direct interaction between customers and most service delivery processes. The literature on satisfaction with waiting has paralleled the literature on general service satisfaction, in which the relative importance of actual performance, perceived performance, and the disconfirmation between expected performance and perceived performance has been the subject of much debate. This paper presents an empirical study of satisfaction with waiting for service in a fast food environment. The study demonstrates that actual waiting time, perceived waiting time, and the disconfirmation between expected waiting time and perceived waiting time are all related to satisfaction with the waiting experience. It further demonstrates that the relative importance of each of these variables in predicting satisfaction depends on the differences in the needs of the customers. The implications for both theory and practice are significant: the importance of the perception of the experience increases as the importance of the satisfaction measure increases. More specifically, for customers who are concerned about time, the perception of the time spent waiting is a better predictor of satisfaction than the actual waiting time.

Details

International Journal of Service Industry Management, vol. 9 no. 1
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/09564239810199950
ISSN: 0956-4233

Keywords

  • Customer satisfaction
  • Perceptions
  • Queuing
  • Services

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Article
Publication date: 1 May 1994

Understanding the Roles of the Customer and the Operation for Better Queue Management

Mark M. Davis and Janelle Heineke

Queuing, a familiar element of most service delivery systems, has thepotential for significantly affecting the customer′s overallsatisfaction with the service encounter. A…

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Queuing, a familiar element of most service delivery systems, has the potential for significantly affecting the customer′s overall satisfaction with the service encounter. A customer′s degree of satisfaction with waiting or with the service received in its entirety is dependent on the actual performance of the delivery system, the customer′s expectations regarding that performance and the customer′s perception of the service encounter. The actual operational performance of different queuing configurations has been previously addressed, as have the issues of managing customers′ expectations and perceptions regarding their queuing experiences. This earlier research has identified several factors which can affect a customer′s perception of waiting and consequently his or her satisfaction with that wait. Proposes a taxonomy based on the service manager′s ability to control the customer′s perception of the queuing experience. Defines which queuing factors can be controlled by the firm, which factors can partially be controlled by the firm and which factors are outside the firm′s control, and suggests tactics for managing queues for each category of factors.

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 14 no. 5
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/01443579410056777
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

  • Customer satisfaction
  • Modelling
  • Queuing theory
  • Service industries

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Article
Publication date: 6 February 2009

Acknowledgement of reviewers

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International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 29 no. 2
Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/ijopm.2009.02429baa.001
ISSN: 0144-3577

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