Business Research Assignment

ServQual

Submitted by:
Submitted to:
Utsav Gahtori
Dr. R J R Swamy
80011314014

SERVQUAL is a multi-item scale developed to assess customer perceptions of service quality in

service and retail businesses (Parasuraman, 1988). The scale decomposes the notion of service quality
into five constructs as follows:
Tangibles - physical facilities, equipment, staff appearance, etc.
Reliability - ability to perform service dependably and accurately
Responsiveness - willingness to help and respond to customer need
Assurance - ability of staff to inspire confidence and trust
Empathy - the extent to which caring individualized service is given
SERVQUAL represents service quality as the discrepancy between a customer's expectations for a
service offering and the customer's perceptions of the service received. This is measured by taking
answers from respondents regarding questions about both their expectations and their perceptions.
SERVQUAL is an attitude measure that is related to, but not the same as, satisfaction.

THE RESEARCH PROCESS

A research process typically consists of six phases. These are:
1. Clarifying the Research Question.
2. Research Proposal.
3. Research Design.
4. Data Collection and Preparation.
5. Data Analysis and Interpretation.
6. Research Reporting
Once all the above steps are executed, the decision maker can make an informed decision and arrive
at a well-researched conclusion. Mapping these six phases with the development phase of
SERVQUAL will be described as below.
Clarifying the Research Question
1. Management Dilemma
The dilemmas that lead to development of SERVQUAL could be explained as
follows:
a. Service Quality is an abstract concept meaning that whats good for one customer
may not be good for another. This concept is relative.
b. For a product to be successful, delivering superior service quality is a must.
2. Management Question
Making service quality measurable and tangible is the aim of SERVQUAL. It must be noted
that SERVQUAL aims to measure quality as perceived by the customer, not necessarily,
actual service quality.

3. Research question
To develop a multiple item scale for measuring customers perception of service
quality.
Research Proposal
As described above, SERVQUAL aims measures the perceived service quality. The
dimensions taken into account for designing the scale are as follows:

Perceived vs. objective quality.

Quality as an attitude.

Quality vs. satisfaction.

Designing the Research Project

Items representing various facets of the 10 service quality dimensions were generated to form the
initial item pool. Parameters representing the various facets of service quality were pooled into total
of 10 items consisting of total 97 questions.
The questions developed were divided into two categories one to measure the expectations about the
quality of services in the specific industry in general and second to measure the perception about
particular firm in general.

Half of the questions were worded positively and half negatively thus making the scale
very effective.

A seven point Likert scale was developed, ranging from Strongly Agree (7) to
Strongly Disagree (1).

Data Collection and Interpretation

Once the scale was developed, both pilot testing and data collection was done in overlapped phases.
Based on the data, the scale was purified.
Stage 1
For the initial refinement of the 97 items question a sample was done on 200 adult respondents (Age >
25) in a shopping mall in metropolitan area. The sample population was fairly divided between male
and female and was spread across different service categories: appliance repair and maintenance,
retail banking, long distance telephone securities brokerage and credit cards. The respondents were
chosen after a careful screening process. To qualify for the study, the respondents had to use the
service for at least 3 months. They were then given a two-part questionnaire, the first part had
respondents were asked to indicate the level of service they were expecting and the second part asked

them to name a choice of their firm, which they were using and were familiar with. They were asked
to describe their perception of the firm.
Further refinement of this instrument was done. As this was a multi-dimensional survey, Cranach
variable was computed separately for all the ten dimensions. The values of co-efficient alpha ranged
from 0.55 to 0.78. Based on this the items with lowest score and repetitive questions were dropped,
which resulted in a set of 54 questions.
The iterative sequence of obliquely rotating items was preformed several times leading to final pool of
34 items and decreasing of total pools from 10 to 7.
Stage 2
To further evaluate the 34-item scale; data was collected pertaining to the service quality of four
nationally known firms: a bank, a credit-card company, a firm offering appliance repair, and a
telephone company. The respondent must have used the service for at least 3 months. To evaluate the
effectiveness and robustness of this stage, data collected from each of the samples were analyzed
separately to obtain alpha values along with item to correlation. The items with still a low correlation
score were dropped and final questionnaire of 22 items was formed and named SERVQUAL.

CRITICISMS OF SERVQUAL
Despite its growing popularity and widespread applications, SERVQUAL has been subject to a
number of criticisms. A few of them are briefly described below.

There is little evidence that customers access service quality in terms of Perception
Expectation gaps.

SERVQUAL focuses on the process of service delivery, not the outcomes of the
service encounter.

SERVQUALs five dimensions (RATER) are not universally applicable everywhere.

SERVQUAL fails to measure absolute SQ expectations. Customers assessments of SQ

may vary from time to time.

The SERVQUAL fails to recognize the changing expectations with time. A score of 7 today
may not remain 7 forever.

Some of the good items relevant to some industry may have been dropped during the
pilot testing.

Two administrations of the same test cause boredom, confusion and ultimately
incorrect test results.

The implicit assumption in positive and negative questions about symmetry may not always be
correct.

A Sample Questionnaire using ServQual has been given below:

Consider the service quality of LGs Air Conditioners is being measured. The customer has recently
bought an Air Conditioner from the company. The service representative has come for the first time
service after purchase.
1) Name: _______________________
2) Age: ______________________
3) Occupation: __________________________
4) Types of Customers: Business ____ Residential _____
Tangible Dimension

Strongly
Disagree

Disagree Moderately
Agree

Agree

Strongly
Agree

Proper cleaning of Air Conditioner

Service Rep was well dressed

Service Rep was well behaved

Ability to answer all your queries

Responsiveness

Had all the necessary equipments to repair

Reliability Dimension

Strongly
Disagree

Disagree Moderately
Agree

Agree

Strongly
Agree

Was the rep able to fix the issue?

Rep was able to explain you the issue?

Rep had a clear idea of the issue?

Rep came at a time that you had specifically asked 1

for?
His/her ability to understand your concern
1

Responsiveness Dimension

Strongly
Disagree

Disagree Moderately
Agree

Agree

Strongly
Agree

Promptness in responding

Clear mind as to when he/she has to come for repair

Conveyed you an approx time to be taken for 1

repair/service
Told you the issue and what repair work he is going to 1
do

Assurance Dimension

Strongly
Disagree

Disagree Moderately
Agree

Agree

Strongly
Agree

Rep was able to solve the issue

Reps behavior has instilled confidence in me

Rep had complete knowledge of their products

Rep clearly stated the service agreement

Empathy Dimension

Strongly
Disagree

Rep was attentive to my queries

Disagree Moderately
Agree

Agree

Strongly
Agree

Rep promised me to get back to me in case of 1

unanswered queries
Rep has get back to me on unanswered queries
1

The service timings are convenient to me

Overall Service Quality Dimension

Strongly
Disagree

Disagree Moderately
Agree

Agree

Strongly
Agree

The service quality was satisfactory

The issue has been resolved in time

Ill continue using LGs products

Ill continue using LGs services

I shall recommend LGs products and service quality 1

to family and friends