1. Service industries are characterised by… Intangibility Heterogeneity
BS3016 Quality Management in the Public Sector 5: The SERVQUAL Questionnaire
Service industries are characterised by…
Intangibility
Heterogeneity
Inseparability of production from consumption
Services cannot be ‘stored’ in inventories
A lack of symmetry in the power relationships i.e. who can judge the work of a professional save a fellow professional ?

2. The Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry model..
BS3016 Quality Management in the Public Sector 5: The SERVQUAL Questionnaire
The Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry model..
Originally identified 10 dimensions of quality and developed a list of 97 items on a seven point scale…
After testing and subsequent refinement (i.e. factor analysis) the list was collapsed into a 22-item questionnaire covering 5 dimensions..) called SERVQUAL

3. Tangibles (environmental factors) Reliability Responsiveness Assurance
BS3016 Quality Management in the Public Sector 5: The SERVQUAL Questionnaire
Tangibles (environmental factors)
Reliability
Responsiveness
Assurance
Empathy
These factors would differ in importance from service to service e.g. reliability is more important in a bank, empathy in a hospital!

4. The questionnaire is divided into 2 main sections:
BS3016 Quality Management in the Public Sector 5: The SERVQUAL Questionnaire
Gap analysis
The questionnaire is divided into 2 main sections:
Expectations measures what is anticipated in an ideal service (on a 7-point scale)
Perceptions then measures those aspects of the service as actually delivered or experienced
Satisfaction (S) is conceptualised as the gap between expectations and perceptions
So.. S=P-E

5. How are expectations formed ?
BS3016 Quality Management in the Public Sector 5: The SERVQUAL Questionnaire
How are expectations formed ?
Frequency and length of use of the service- the gap will narrow over time
Services affect consumers differently (house repair differs from an operation for cancer)
Expectations are influenced by knowledge held by producers/consumers about what is feasible
Attitudes (formed by previous bad experiences) may indicate lower expectations
Feelings are important (e.g. at times of grief)

6. Three common mismatches are:
BS3016 Quality Management in the Public Sector 5: The SERVQUAL Questionnaire
Three common mismatches are:
Consumer expectations v. management expectations of what the service should be
Actual service delivery v. information about the service
Expected service v. perceived service

7. BS3016 Quality Management in the Public Sector 5: The SERVQUAL Questionnaire
USA General Sample [1990]
Dimension Weight Perceptions Expectations Gap
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Tangibles
Reliability
Responsiveness
Assurance
Empathy
Weighted averages [n=1936]
 (Source: calculated from from Zeithaml, Parasuraman and Berry [1990] )

8. East Midlands, UK Outpatients [July 1995]
BS3016 Quality Management in the Public Sector 5: The SERVQUAL Questionnaire
East Midlands, UK Outpatients [July 1995]
Dimension Weight Perceptions Expectations Gap
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Tangibles
Reliability
Responsiveness
Assurance
Empathy
Weighted averages [n= 72]

9. Vaasa,Finland Outpatients [Jan-Feb 1996]
BS3016 Quality Management in the Public Sector 5: The SERVQUAL Questionnaire
Vaasa,Finland Outpatients [Jan-Feb 1996]
Dimension Weight Perceptions Expectations Gap
───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Tangibles
Reliability
Responsiveness
Assurance
Empathy
Weighted averages [n= 135]

10. General problems with satisfaction scores
BS3016 Quality Management in the Public Sector 5: The SERVQUAL Questionnaire
General problems with satisfaction scores
People bring differing expectations into a situation and have different starting points
To measure quality just through a satisfaction score may have a limited value
Is it the role of e.g. public services (such as a probation service) to provide satisfaction ?

11. Applicability in the public sector
BS3016 Quality Management in the Public Sector 5: The SERVQUAL Questionnaire
Applicability in the public sector
In education it is possible that a teacher get high scores for satisfaction (whereas in practice the course was not sufficiently demanding)
In social services you could (in theory) put ‘good’ tenants in one estate and ‘undesirable’ tenants in another and this could increase the satisfaction scores (whilst being discriminatory!)

12. BS3016 Quality Management in the Public Sector 5: The SERVQUAL Questionnaire
Measurement scales…
───────┼───────────────┼─────────────────────┼──────┼─────
D C B A
we can say that the distance
__ __ __ __
AD = AB + BC + CD
If these scales are genuinely ordinal, we cannot add, subtract, multiply, divide…

13. Not as producer-led as some surveys
BS3016 Quality Management in the Public Sector 5: The SERVQUAL Questionnaire
Reactions to SERVQUAL
Used in a large number of studies and therefore some comparability over time/between studies
Not as producer-led as some surveys
BUT does need to be combined with other measures (as authors admit)
Gap analysis may map imperfectly onto quality
Some doubts remain on a technical level as to what is actually being measured

14. Calculating SERVQUAL scores… This can be done in 3 ways…
BS3016 Quality Management in the Public Sector 5: The SERVQUAL Questionnaire
Calculating SERVQUAL scores…
This can be done in 3 ways…
Manually, for small survey
Using a spreadsheet for a larger scale model
Utilise the SERVCALC program which mechanises the process (but needs the preparation of an ASCII data file first)