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This study aims to describe the development and validation of a student survey instrument to assess academic advising services. The instrument was based on the SERVQUAL scale, a well-known instrument for service quality.

A quantitative methodology was used. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire using a survey instrument adapted from SERVQUAL. Survey responses were collected from 457 students at a large public university in the USA. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to validate and develop the assessment instrument.

A validated assessment scale for academic advising services was generated, which consists of three distinct advising service dimensions: information resources, reliability and empathy. For the study participants, information resources and empathy were found to significantly influence satisfaction with advising.

This study describes the development and validation of a concise nine-item survey instrument that may be used by practitioners to evaluate three distinct dimensions of advising service quality: information resources, reliability and empathy.

This research develops and validates a survey instrument to assess academic advising services based on the SERVQUAL scale using structural equation modeling.

Service quality is becoming more critical for banks to maintain their market shares. This paper develops a modified SERVQUAL for measuring service quality in the United Arab Emirates commercial banks. The instrument includes thirty items that belong to the five dimensions of SERVQUAL. The developed instrument was tested for reliability and validity and the results indicated that the instrument had only three dimensions. This paper also investigates the difference in significance between the instrument's dimensions. This is supposed to help managers focus their attention on the service quality dimension that matters most to customers.

The choice between SERVQUAL and SERVPERF metrics for service quality measurement is subjective and the research literature lacks evidence on whether these instruments differ in their outcomes significantly or concur with each other. Hence, empirical investigation regarding the concurrence or difference of the two instruments is the purpose of this paper.

The research is qualitative (meta‐analysis of service quality literature) and quantitative (application of standard statistical procedures to test hypothesis). A pilot test of 35 students was conducted followed by a stratified random sampling of 84 students each for SERVQUAL and SERVPERF. Data collection was through a self‐administered questionnaire.

The empirical study proves that there is a significant difference in the outcomes of the two metrics. The implications of the study are based on the combined use of the two instruments. The research identified that tangibles and reliability are the two dimensions of higher service quality satisfaction, whereas empathy and assurance are the dimensions of least satisfaction in a higher education sector.

Even though the sample size is adequate, the study outcome cannot be generalized completely as it is based on a research focused on a specific service.

The paper gives a methodical approach to apply both SERVQUAL and SERVPERF metrics and draw implications on the combined basis. The strengths and weaknesses thus identified would facilitate the service providers in implementing total quality management.

Social responsibility is a key issue to be addressed by higher educational institutes and the implications of this research contribute to it strengthening.

Research inferences are based on the primary data obtained from service receivers of higher education and the inferences would add value to the body of knowledge of service quality literature, as the two most prominent instruments of service quality are empirically investigated for concurrence.

The purpose of this paper is to confirm the factorial structure of SERVPERF based on an exploration of its dimensionality among Syrian universities’ students. It also aimed at assessing the perceived service quality offered at these universities.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted targeting students at Syrian universities. Using a pilot sample of 40 students, the authors developed their hypotheses. Thereafter, based on a sample of 259 students, the hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling and one-sample t-test.

The findings revealed that SERVPERF in the Syrian universities’ context was a three-factor instrument consisting of the three dimensions: faculty-individualized attention, support staff helpfulness, and support staff empathy. Moreover, the findings showed that students at Syrian universities hold negative perceptions toward all of the three service quality dimensions provided by their universities.

Given the imperative need for universities to monitor and improve the quality of their services, this study can help Syrian universities’ administrations understand the perceptions of their students toward services offered, which can help them formulate effective marketing strategies.

This paper came to be one of the first studies that attempted to assess the perceived quality of services offered through the Syrian higher education system. Additionally, this study pioneered through drawing a factorial picture for SERVPERF at the Syrian Arab context.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the development of a scale for the evaluation of the perceived quality of services provided to students with disabilities by Special Vocational Education (SVE) institutions in Greece.

SVE service quality was approached on the basis of the performance-only model. The participatory research paradigm was followed, engaging students with disability and specifically with intellectual disability in several stages of the instrument development. The methodological design included two phases for the establishment and testing of the reliability and validity of the scale.

The findings of the study support a multifactorial construct of SVE service quality consisting of five factors: responsiveness, surroundings, personalization, training and facilities adequacy.

Generalization of results should be attempted with concern. The type and severity of disability should be considered in future use of the scale. The construct of training for students with disability needs to be further investigated.

SVE-Service-Quality Scale may be used in SVE settings highlighting areas of improvement or as an instrument for the assessment of implemented interventions.

Participatory research may serve as an empowerment opportunity for students with disability, whose active engagement in the research design allows for a small-scale yet valuable social impact, promoting emancipation for people with disability.

The study draws attention on the field of SVE service quality where research is scarce, introducing SVE in the discussion about educational service quality assessment.

This paper proposes a different approach to, and definition of, service quality. Service quality is framed as being dependent on composite results that a service provider and its systems offer a customer. In contrast to the approach that depicts service quality as a discrepancy construct, this paper frames the concept as a fulfilment‐oriented construct. The premise of the paper is that each services sector should have service quality criteria that specifically fit its features and characteristics. To implement a context‐dependent services quality instrument, it is argued that managers could use a service quality grid to classify firms according to their outcomes and dominant service‐encounter interactions. Three kinds of dominant interactions are introduced: customer‐to‐staff, customer‐to‐technology, and customer‐to‐product/services. Three central recommendations are proposed. First, it is important for managers to define their services in terms of the dominant service interactions. Second, managers should develop their service‐quality instruments around the dominant interactions of their particular sector. Third, managers should develop service‐quality question items using the paired criteria approach to capture customer experiences during service interactions.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the performance of five alternative measures of service quality in the high education sector – service quality (SERVQUAL), importance‐weighted SERVQUAL, service performance (SERVPERF), importance‐weighted SERVPERF, and higher education performance (HEdPERF).

Data were collected by means of a structured questionnaire containing perception items enhanced from the SERVPERF and HEdPERF scales and expectation items from the SERVQUAL scale, modified to fit into the higher education (HE) sector. The first draft of the questionnaire was subject to a pilot testing through a focus group and an expert evaluation. Data were gathered from a sample of 360 students of a Portuguese University in Lisbon. Scales were compared in terms of unidimensionality, reliability, validity and explained variance.

It can be concluded that SERVPERF and HEdPERF present the best measurement capability, but it is not possible to identify which one is the best.

Since the study only examined the measurement capabilities of the five instruments at a single faculty, the collection of more data in other institutions is required in order to provide more general results.

The current results do make available some important insights into how the five alternative instruments of service quality in an HE context compare with one another.

The paper attempts to develop insights into comparative evaluations of five measuring instruments of service quality in an HE setting.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the applicability of electronic service quality instrument, E-S-QUAL, in e-commerce industry in India. Additionally, the efficacy of the instrument is also examined for two sub-groups of users based on frequency of usage.

Field research was conducted with a modified version of the instrument. The data collected were analyzed using multivariate techniques.

The study confirms the validity of the four dimensions (efficiency, fulfillment, system availability, and privacy) of E-S-QUAL instrument. All four dimensions were found to be significant predictors of perceived value. Efficiency and fulfillment were significant predictors of overall perceived quality. Perceived value had a positive and significant relationship with loyalty. The two relationships were further examined for two sub-groups of web users based on the frequency of usage. For heavy users of websites, all four dimensions were significant predictors of perceived value. For predicting perceived value in respect of light users of website, efficiency, fulfillment, and privacy were important determinants. The relationships among latent constructs were checked using structural equation modeling and the model was found to be acceptable. The result showed that electronic service quality affected perceived value, which, in turn, affected loyalty toward a website.

This paper makes an attempt to replicate the four dimensions structure of E-S-QUAL instrument on online shopping sites in India thus enhancing its external generalizability. Additionally, the paper investigates the association of the four aforesaid dimensions with perceived value and overall perceived quality for two sub-groups of users: frequent and non-frequent. The cornerstone of this particular study is to examine the frequency of usage as deterministic parameter for perceived value and overall perceived quality.

The research presented in this study replicates and extends the QSport-10 scale proposed by Rial, Varela, Rial and Real in their 2010 study, by incorporating the Programme dimension into the original measurement of service quality in Physical Activity and Sports Centres (PSCs). The objective of this research is to examine the dimensionality of the QSport-10 scale and extend it to capture the additional Programme service quality dimension. Study results confirmed the dimensionality of the service quality measurement offered by the QSport-10 scale and presented strong empirical support for the existence of Programme, Installations and Staff dimensions. Programme dimension was considered the most important factor for the largest consumer segment in the study.

Purpose: We examined whether the five-service quality dimensions described by SERVQUAL (SQ) and SERVPERF (SP) are consistent with perceived dimensions of management accounting (MA) service quality and we compared responses from users and providers.

Design/methodology/approach: We surveyed experienced providers and users of MA services to learn their perceptions and expectations of accounting service quality using SQ/SP adapted to an MA context. We used principal components analysis (PCA) to investigate service quality dimensions.

Findings: Participant responses identified three dimensions of MA service quality. There was a high degree of correspondence in dimensions of service quality between users and providers, but with notable differences in service priorities. A performance-only (SP) approach seems to provide a better measure of overall service quality than performance minus expectations (SQ).

Research limitations/implications: Participants self-selected to participate. Respondents were not matched by organization. The SQ/SP instrument may not capture important organization specific attributes. Our approach may serve as a guide for future studies of accounting service quality.

Practical implications: SP may be more useful to managers who wish to evaluate overall service quality. SQ may be more useful to identify specific gaps between user perceptions and expectations. SQ/SP assessments may help to improve the quality of MA service delivery and provider-user communications.

Originality/value: This is the first empirical study to our knowledge that reports on MA service quality dimensions using both the SQ and SP instruments. This study investigated perceptions and expectations of MA service users and providers. Our sample is a cross-section of experienced professionals.