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The purpose of this paper is to evaluate service quality in a UK privately funded alcohol treatment clinic.

Data were gathered via interviews with two groups of participants using the SERVQUAL questionnaire. The first group comprised 32 patients and the second 15 clinic staff. The SERVQUAL instrument measures service quality expectations and perceptions across five service dimensions and identifies gaps between service expectations and perceptions of what was delivered.

Patients' service quality expectations were exceeded on four of five dimensions. However, staff members felt services fell below expectations on four of five dimensions with the “reliability” service dimension emerging as the common service element falling below expectations for both participant groups. It was concluded that achieving consistent service delivery and increasing empathy between staff and patients improves overall service quality perceptions.

The paper relies on self‐report methods from a relatively small number of individuals.

There have been limited research studies measuring alcohol treatment service quality in the private sector.

The purpose of this paper is to explore cultural sources of variation on consumers’ expectations and evaluations of service quality within local emerging markets.

The authors employ a multi-method approach. The multi-method research design utilizes: first, netnography to examine foreign consumers’ blogs and online communities; second, interviews with local and foreign consumers to unveil critical incidents in service encounters; and third, an online survey of 139 foreign consumers living in Chile and 460 Chilean consumers to map differences in their expectations and evaluations of services.

A general analysis of local and foreign consumers living in an emerging market reveals that these two groups do not differ significantly in their expectations of service quality. The authors also find that differences in expectations and evaluations of service quality within a local emergent market are only partially explained by aggregating consumers according to their country or region of origin. Finally, the findings demonstrate that examining cultural differences at the individual level generates a better understanding of how cultural factors impact consumer expectations and evaluations of service quality within emerging markets.

The research is limited to one emerging market (Chile) and focusses largely in one industry (banking). Further research should be conducted to examine the findings in other contexts, including developed markets, and to identify how other cultural differences (e.g. language mastery) within local markets may impact consumer expectations and evaluations of services.

Service companies operating in emerging markets should account for cultural differences when determining service standards and protocols. These differences may cut across the local-foreign divide and suggest that profiling foreign customers depending on their country of origin is not the most adequate approach for providing excellence in service and enjoying the benefits that follow.

Foreign consumers living in a local market are frequently considered a homogeneous group distinct from local consumers, and are treated as such by public and private service providers. The study demonstrates that foreign consumers may be more or less similar to local consumers depending on their cultural values, and should not be considered as a uniform group.

The findings extend research on consumer expectations and evaluations of service quality to account for cultural diversity within local emerging markets. The authors demonstrate that a cluster-approach to examining consumer expectations and evaluations of service quality better accounts for variations due to cultural values within local markets.

The purpose of this study is to measure the gap and compare the quality of services provided by the Central Library of the University of Tehran and Allameh Tabataba'i University and identify the components of service that need improvement in these libraries.

In this study, a descriptive survey method is used for data collection. The study sample contains 205 people selected out of 31,000 members of Tehran University and 100 people out of 15,000 members at Allameh Tabataba'i University. The LibQual tool is used to measure different levels of users' perceptions of library service quality.

Based on the findings of the study, the level of service received at the University of Tehran was higher than the minimum expected level, and at Allameh Tabataba'i University, the level of service received was lower than the minimum level of expected, which indicates users' satisfaction at this index at the University of Tehran and users' dissatisfaction at Allameh Tabataba'i University. In the index of information control and library as a place in Tehran University, the level of service received was higher than the minimum level and in Allameh Tabataba'i University, the level of service received was lower than the minimum level, which indicates the satisfaction of users in this index at the University of Tehran and users' dissatisfaction at Allameh Tabataba'i University.

Service quality, or quality of service, is the measurement and comparison of the size of service provided with users' expectations. The following principles illustrate the dimensions of service quality: Quality of service is much more difficult to measure than the quality of goods. The quality of service is based on users' expectations. Quality of service varies in status, meaning that the quality of a service is measured against the customer's initial expectations of that service (Parasuraman et al., 1985).

Being the first performance evaluation, community synchronization, economic justification, user satisfaction and customer orientation are the values of the present study.

Reported studies on call centers emphasize efficiency and control, with possible implications for service priorities, customer orientation and service quality. However, there is little empirical research to test assumptions from the customer’s perspective. This study aimed to establish whether customers expected (predicted) low levels of service from a call center, how this level compared to the minimum level they considered adequate, and whether the perceived customer orientation of the call center was related to service quality expectations. Data were collected in Australia from two sources: end consumers (n = 289) of an insurance provider, and business customers (n = 325) of a bank. Key findings were similar for both samples. First, customers had very high levels of adequate (minimum) expectations, and adequate expectations behaved independently from predicted (forecast) expectations. Second, customer orientation was associated with predicted expectations but not adequate expectations. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research and managerial implications.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between Canadian and Indian consumers' national cultural orientations and banking service quality expectations. Using two of Hofstede's five cultural dimensions operationalized at the individual level, and five dimensions of service quality from Parasuraman et al.'s SERVQUAL scale, the aim is to develop and test hypotheses relating national culture values to service quality expectations.

The study is quantitative in nature, using surveys (online and written) from respondents in Canada and India. Data were analyzed using dummy variable regression and structural equation modeling.

The results show that the importance of various SERVQUAL dimensions is related to Hofstede's power distance and individualism cultural dimensions both at the individual and national levels. More specifically, consumers low on power distance expect highly responsive and reliable service. High power distance customers attach higher importance to tangible service attributes. Consumers high on individualism expect lower empathy and assurance from service providers. Furthermore, Indian consumers attach higher importance to tangible attributes, whereas Canadian consumers find service reliability more important. However, differences in overall service quality expectations are not significantly different across the two countries.

The results suggest that managers must be aware of the cultural values of the buyer/client in order to fully understand the most effective means of establishing and nurturing the service delivery process and, consequently, establishing service quality expectations. Banks will be more successful when service delivery is in tune with cultural imperatives, particularly sub‐group cultural imperatives.

The study provides an original insight into the manner in which national culture impacts on service quality expectations. Furthermore, the study identifies individual sub‐cultural influences that shape service quality expectations.

Explores the segmentation by service marketers of the consumer market on the basis of service quality expectations. Measures consumer expectations and various quality dimensions for three commonly purchased professional and three non‐professional services. Evaluates the effect of various consumers′ demographic characteristics on service quality expectations. Concludes with a discussion of research and managerial implications.

The paper's aim is to compare experienced and potential US medical tourists' foreign health service‐quality expectations.

Data were collected via an online survey involving 1,588 US consumers engaging or expressing an interest in medical tourism. The sample included 219 experienced and 1,369 potential medical tourists. Respondents completed a SERVQUAL questionnaire. Mann‐Whitney U‐tests were used to determine significant differences between experienced and potential US medical tourists' service‐quality expectations.

For all five service‐quality dimensions (tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy) experienced medical tourists had significantly lower expectations than potential medical tourists. Experienced medical tourists also had significantly lower service‐quality expectations than potential medical tourists for 11 individual SERVQUAL items.

Results suggest using experience level to segment medical tourists. The study also has implications for managing medical tourist service‐quality expectations at service delivery point and via external marketing communications.

Managing medical tourists' service quality expectations is important since expectations can significantly influence choice processes, their experience and post‐consumption behavior. This study is the first to compare experienced and potential US medical tourist service‐quality expectations. The study establishes a foundation for future service‐quality expectations research in the rapidly growing medical tourism industry.

This study aims to explore the influence of the individual student profile of Hofstede’s Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, Collectiveness and Long-Term Orientation on student service quality expectations in higher education.

Data is collected via a survey consisting of items from a standard Hofstede and a higher education adapted SERVQUAL questionnaire. The survey sample includes 128 students who represent the entire population of a taught postgraduate course in Finance at a UK Higher Education Institution (HEI). Descriptive statistics and bivariate correlation analysis are used to describe and identify the relationship between student individual cultural values and student service quality expectations. Multiple regression analysis is applied to estimate the relationship between SERVQUAL constructs and items with respect to Hofstede’s cultural determinants.

The findings of this study suggest that individual culture can influence student service quality expectations in higher education.

In a context of a prospective quality management approach, there is value for HEIs to explore the individual cultural profile of their students as a way of understanding and actively managing student service quality expectations.

To the authors’ best knowledge, no previous study combines the SERVQUAL and Hofstede models in exploring the impact of cultural values on student service quality expectations in higher education.

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the development of a conceptual model of service quality in airports by conducting an empirical investigation into passengers' expectations for this service industry.

The paper is a qualitative exploration of the airport experience from the passengers' perspective was combined with a review of relevant literature to identify variables, to clarify basic concepts and to generate a conceptual model of airport service quality expectations. The paper's quantitative research was used to develop a self‐report scale to measure passenger expectations of airport service quality, to test dimensionality and to evaluate scale reliability and validity.

Qualitative and quantitative research on nearly 1,000 airport users provided results suggesting that passengers' expectations of airport service quality is a multidimensional, hierarchical construct that includes three key dimensions: function, interaction and diversion.

By bringing together different literatures and research paradigms to conceptualize service quality in a novel environment, the study contributes to the ongoing extension of service quality research. It is limited insofar as efforts to define a global expectations construct may have “homogenized” results.

This paper builds on the extant literature on service quality to propose an approach for measuring passengers' expectations of airport service quality that can serve as a foundation of a concise and easy‐to‐administer self‐report measure for identifying and managing airport service quality strategies.

The paper shows that by going beyond traditional service performance measures used in the airport industry and by introducing new variables to the service quality literature, such as Csikszentmihalyi's taxonomy of activity, this study broadens and enriches both practice and theory.

Provides insight into the concept of quality in the service market by investigating possible influences on consumer expectations of quality and how these expectations may be better met. Reports on a study examining the effects of certain stimuli on expectations regarding different types of service. Discovers that significant differences were found regarding the nature of the expectations as the stimuli werevaried, differences which remained after involvement and the removal of personal need effects. Offers recommendations to service providers and includes an explanation of the methodology used in the study.