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As conceptualizations of expectations in consumer evaluations continue to evolve, researchers have been exploring multiple levels of expectations in satisfaction and service quality evaluations. In 1993 Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuraman proposed that consumers use both desired and adequate expectations in service quality evaluations and a “zone of tolerance” separates these levels. This study extends the Zeithaml et alwork by investigating the zone of tolerance as it relates to consumer experience with the service provider, perceived competitive choice opportunities, and the essentialness of differing service dimensions. Results indicate that consumers readily distinguish between desired and adequate expectation levels; and understanding both expectation levels is important. Although perceptions of what a firm should offer remain relatively stable, perceptions of acceptable performance vary by service dimensions and as consumers acquire experience. In comparison with the traditional SERVQUAL framework, this multiple expectation conceptualization offers service marketers the opportunity to fine‐tune resource allocations.

The purpose of this paper is to use a longitudinal analysis of the zone of tolerance to reconcile the growing divide between the acceptance of the theoretical model and the lack of empirical support for it.

A combination of simple linear regression and piece‐wise regression is used on a data set of 699 observations of a training program from the telecommunications industry.

This study demonstrates that the zone of tolerance model is a significantly better predictor of changes in customer satisfaction than the traditional linear model. Furthermore, the study supports early zone of tolerance propositions regarding the effect of negative quality perceptions.

The findings of this study resolve the apparent disconnect between the acceptance of the zone of tolerance theory and the lack of empirical research support for it.

By demonstrating that customers are willing to accept some heterogeneity in service delivery, this research demonstrates to practicing managers that they do not need to micro‐manage service delivery. Furthermore, by validating an early zone of tolerance proposition regarding the relative magnitude of the effect of poor service quality, this research shows the importance of preventing service failures.

This research is the first to use a longitudinal methodology to investigate a growing research stream, namely, the zone of tolerance theory. This unique methodology allows us to explain the apparent divide between the conceptual theory and previous academic research.

Briefly reviews some of the literature on service quality and in particular the zone of tolerance – the zone of acceptable or expected outcomes in a service experience. Uses the zone of tolerance to explore the relationships between customers′ satisfaction with individual transactions, or service encounters, and their satisfaction with the overall service. Provides nine propositions which identify how customers′ perceptions of the quality of a service can be influenced and how the thresholds of the zone of tolerance can be adjusted during the process of service delivery. Also considers some of the design implications of the propositions.

Aims to address the concept of the “zone of tolerance” in judgments of hotel service quality. The present study describes the zone of tolerance for customers’ service expectations and determines the customer satisfaction level in Northern Cyprus hotels – which is a new emerging market as an island destination.

The sample of the study consisted of customers visiting four‐star, five‐star, and resort hotels located in the Gazimağusa and Kyrenia regions of Northern Cyprus in June and July 2004. The questionnaire was based on service expectations and perceptions. As a result of the pilot study with 50 customers, the instrument was reworded for measuring service quality and the zone of tolerance for hotels. This modified instrument became the “HOTELZOT” instrument, which was used to measure customers’ service expectations and service perceptions. Psychometric properties of the scale (such as reliability) were tested, and the dimensionality of the scale was confirmed through an exploratory factor analysis.

The conceptual model (HOTELZOT) presented here, and the results of this study, demonstrate that evaluation of services can be scaled according to different types of expectations – “desired” and “adequate” – and that customers use these two types of expectations as a comparison standard in evaluating hotel services. The findings reveal that the customers visiting Northern Cyprus hotels have a narrow zone of tolerance in services provided by the hotels. The results also indicate that the HOTELZOT instrument presented here is two‐dimensional. The results with respect to gap analysis reveal that there was a shortfall in the service quality provided by the hotels in the sample, with the largest gap being found in intangibles.

First, the sample in this study is small and is limited to a relatively specific group of tourists. Second, measurement of customer satisfaction was carried out using a single‐item scale, and it was therefore not possible to estimate its reliability. Finally, this study examined the influence of two factors on customers’ zones of tolerance for hotels. As proposed by Zeithaml et al., there might be other factors that determine the width of the zone of tolerance.

This study is necessary, useful, and relevant because: it focuses on service quality in island destinations (which have received little attention in the past); Northern Cyprus is both an island and a virgin market in the Mediterranean where quality of hotels is a significant strategic issue for increasing the competitiveness in the international tourism market; and the study explores service quality in terms of the zone of tolerance in the hospitality industry.

A number of models of consumer behaviour, or of the influences on consumer behaviour, imply non‐linearity and non‐reversibility. These include the order winning/qualifying criteria model from manufacturing strategy, and the satisfier/dissatisfier and zone of tolerance models from the field of service quality. This paper demonstrates that these models share a commonality with the physical sciences’ hysteresis model, and that hysteresis can be used as a valid and informative model of a number of aspects of consumer behaviour. The application of this pre‐existing model unifies a number of previously disparate and even contradictory elements and suggests a common pattern of behaviour over a wide range of activities. The implications of this for operations strategy, service quality and further research are discussed.

The purpose of this article is to develop and empirically test an extension to the three‐column format SERVQUAL instrument to evaluate passenger rail service quality.

This article combines the literatures of service quality and rail transport quality to develop the conceptual framework. Three new transport dimensions (comfort, connection, and convenience) are added to the original five SERVQUAL dimensions (assurance, empathy, reliability, responsiveness, and tangibles). The instrument was tested on a passenger line in Wellington, New Zealand. Valid responses to 340 questionnaires were statistically analyzed.

High Cronbach alpha values supported the reliability of the instrument. Content and construct validity are demonstrated also. Regression analysis identified assurance, responsiveness and empathy as the quality factors that had significant effects on overall service quality. In addition, customers indicated that reliability and convenience were also very important factors. Service quality “zones of tolerance” were identified for each dimension and attribute.

There are not many published studies to confirm or compare the results of the three‐column SERVQUAL instrument, either in the general service literature or in the rail passenger literature. Although the five original SERVQUAL dimensions have been tested quite extensively, the three new rail transport dimensions require further development and testing, particularly since the sample was drawn from a single passenger line in New Zealand. More development and empirical testing are required to refine this measure.

Based on the eight dimensions, the practical use of the “zones of tolerance” for identifying areas of quality shortfall and managing quality are illustrated in this paper.

This paper provides one of the few empirical applications of the three‐column SERVQUAL instrument and extends it to make it more suitable for evaluating rail passenger service quality.

Focuses on proposing a new method for capturing the customer′s zone of tolerance for service quality. Interprets the zone of tolerance as a kind of inertia regarding behavioural responses to disconfirmation of expectations. Gives a predicted example in which adequate and desired expectations are operationalized by conjoint analysis. Explores the relationship between expectations, service quality, and service value. Gives examples of the kinds of result which one can obtain using the proposed method.

This study compares the applicability of the zone of tolerance and importance-performance analysis (IPA) techniques in the evaluation of convention delegates’ perceptions of products and services. Overall, 217 cases out of 400 were used for analysis, a response rate of 54 percent. The study results indicate that although an IPA technique is still useful in assessing the service performance of a convention facility, IPA should be employed with caution, concrete criteria, and clear goals. The study results also show that the zone of tolerance is practically applicable into business practice to assess service performance item by item.

The purpose of this research is to develop an index for assessing service capability when the customer considers satisfactory a certain range of service performance, the so‐called zone of tolerance.

Literature on service research and statistical process control (SPC) was used to develop a conceptual approach that is later worked out for implementation. Some of the quality function deployment principles are used in the approach to articulate customer perceptions and expectations with parameters of service performance.

It is demonstrated that traditional capability indices do not cope properly with service performance characterized by a zone of tolerance and that the new capability index, proposed by the authors, is more than adequate to deal with the specific features of services.

It was assumed that performance levels within the zone of tolerance are not perceived as different by customers and that service performance could be considered as normally distributed. Further research is clearly needed, not only to test the assumptions in different service environments, but also to assess the robustness of the proposed index when the assumptions are violated.

Improvement efforts of the organizations can be better allocated if the relation between customer expectations and service performance is understood and characterized.

A new approach to understand the relationship between customer expectations and perceptions and service performance is launched. The approach led to the development of a service capability index and might constitute a contribution to all researchers and practitioners that intend to spread SPC principles within the service sector.