Professional Documents
Culture Documents
evaluation.
Gurkhetpal Bansal
DECLARATION
I, hereby declare that the research project report titled “TO STUDY An Analysis of the
Relationship between Service Quality” IN OM GRC INFOTECH PVT. LTD”. Is
my own original research work and this report has not been submitted to my University/Institute
for the award of any professional degree or diploma.
Place:- 1273889
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
It is really a matter of pleasure for me to get an opportunity to thank all the persons who
contributed directly or indirectly for the successful completion of the project report, “Service
Quality ”of Om Grc InfoTech Pvt Ltd.
First of all I am extremely thankful to my college PTU GZS CAMPUS for providing me with
this opportunity and for all its cooperation and contribution. I also express my gratitude to my
Project mentor and guide Ms Bindu Rana(in charge of training dept.). I am highly thankful to
our respected project guide for giving me the encouragement and freedom to conduct my project.
I am also grateful to all my faculty members for their valuable guidance and suggestions for my
entire study.
I would also like to thank the Om GRC team for extending their valuable time and cooperation.
Gurkhetpal Bansal
Roll No.1273889
PREFACE
As a part of the Two years degree course of M.B.A, we need to undergo Summer Training for 6
weeks in the beginning of 3rd kmlmlmlmlkml. But in our training period we are more involved in
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1) Acknowledgement 4
2) Introduction 22
Service quality 22
SERVICE QUALITY Model 23
Customer Loyalty 27
3) Need of the study 35
4) Review of Literature 38
5) Objectives of the project 47
6) Scope of the project 51
7) Research Methodology 57
8) Analysis and interpretation 65
9) Conclusion 71
10) Annexure 77
11) Bibliography 85
12) Questionnaire 89
Information technology
The Information technology industry in India has gained a brand identity as a knowledge
economy due to its IT and ITES sector. The IT–ITES industry has two major components: IT
Services and business process outsourcing (BPO). The growth in the service sector in India has
been led by the IT–ITES sector, contributing substantially to increase in GDP, employment, and
exports. The sector has increased its contribution to India's GDP from 1.2% in FY1998 to 7.5%
in FY2012.. According to NASSCOM, the IT–BPO sector in India aggregated revenues
of US$100 billion in FY2012, where export and domestic revenue stood at US$69.1 billion
and US$31.7 billion respectively, growing by over 9%.
Bangalore is leading IT exporter. Export dominate the IT–ITES industry, and constitute about
77% of the total industry revenue. Though the IT–ITES sector is export driven, the domestic
market is also significant with a robust revenue growth. The industry’s share of total Indian
exports (merchandise plus services) increased from less than 4% in FY1998 to about 25% in
FY2012. According to Gartner, the "Top Five Indian IT Services Providers" are Tata
Consultancy Services, Infosys, Cognizant, Wipro and HCL Technologies.
The industry continues to be a net employment generator - expected to add 230,000 jobs in
FY2012. Generally dominant player in the global outsourcing sector. However, the sector
continues to face challenges of competitiveness in the globalized world, particularly from
countries like China and Philippines. The recent global financial crises have deeply impacted the
Indian IT companies as well as global companies. As a result hiring has dropped sharply, and
employees are looking at different sectors like the financial service, telecommunications, and
manufacturing industries, which have been growing phenomenally over the last few
years. India's IT Services industry was born in Mumbai in 1967 with the establishment of Tata
Group in partnership with Burroughs. The first software export zone SEEPZ was set up here way
back in 1973, the old avatar of the modern day IT park. More than 80 percent of the country's
software exports happened out of SEEPZ, Mumbai in 80s.
The Indian Government acquired the EVS EM computers from the Soviet Union, which were
used in large companies and research laboratories. In 1968 Tata Consultancy Services—
established in SEEPZ, Mumbai by the Tata Group—were the country's largest software
producers during the 1960s. As an outcome of the various policies of Jawaharlal Nehru the
economically beleaguered country was able to build a large scientific workforce, third in
numbers only to that of the United States of America and the Soviet Union. On 18 August 1951
the minister of education Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, inaugurated the Indian Institute of
Technology at Kharagpur in West Bengal. Possibly modeled after the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology these institutions were conceived by a 22 member committee of scholars and
entrepreneurs under the chairmanship of N. R. Sarkar.
Relaxed immigration laws in the United States of America attracted a number of skilled Indian
professionals aiming for research. By 1960 as many as 10,000 Indians were estimated to have
settled in the US. By the 1980s a number of engineers from India were seeking employment in
other countries. In response, the Indian companies realigned wages to retain their experienced
staff.
$10.17
TCS 254,076 2012 Mumbai
billion
Cognizant Technology $7.05
185,045 2012 Chennai
Solutions billion
$5.73
Wipro 140,569 2012 Bangalore
billion
$6.69
Infosys 153,761 2012 Bangalore
billion
$4.3
HCL Technologies 85,335 2012 Noida
billion
Major IT Hubs
Rank City Description
Company Profile:
GRC InfoTech Pvt. Ltd., is professional web development, Industrial Training and Consultancy
company based in Chandigarh (India). We focus the needs of our clients to provide 100%
satisfaction. Our company is involved in providing web design and web development services,
software design and development and Search Engine Optimization. We are prepared and
educated to better provide a face for your business on the Internet. GRC India based Website and
Development Company in India providing job oriented software training and Live projects for
MBA , MCA, BCA, B-TECh, M.TECH, MSC-IT and BSC-IT Students. Industrial Training
Services in:
Six Weeks Industrial Training for B.Tech and MBA Students.
Six months Industrial Training for B.Tech and MBA Students.
GRC is providing education & Training to the B-Tech students and MBA students evaluate them
during their 6 weeks and 6 months and then shortlist the deserving students for recruitment in
Our Company and other companies in India. Diversified range of latest technologies from
software (ASP.NET, Java, C/C++,Php ,CCNA and Networking).
Development Services in:
Web Designing
Web Development
Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Marketing
Google Indexing
www.icseindia.org
www.dpsyamunanagar.com
www.gowthcatalyst.in
www.pacl.clanteam.com
www.aryanworldwideholidays.com
www.frenzytechnologies.com
www.zevraatjewellry.com
www.thesinglacomputers.com
www.bittusatoz.com
www.pbplaygame.com
C is one of the most widely used programming languages of all time,and C compilers are
available for the majority of available computer architectures and operating system.
The initial development of C occurred at AT&T Bell Labs between 1969 and 1973 according to
Ritchie, the most creative period occurred in 1972. It was named "C" because its features were
derived from an earlier language called "B", which according to Ken Thompson was a stripped-
down version of the BCPL programming language.
The origin of C is closely tied to the development of the UNIX operating system, originally
implemented in assembly language on a PDP-7 by Ritchie and Thompson, incorporating several
ideas from colleagues. Eventually they decided to port the operating system to a PDP-11. B's
inability to take advantage of some of the PDP-11's features, notably byte addressability, led to
the development of an early version of C.
The original PDP-11 version of the UNIX system was developed in assembly language. By
1973, with the addition of strict types, the C language had become powerful enough that most of
the UNIX kernel was rewritten in C. This was one of the first operating system kernels
implemented in a language other than assembly. (Earlier instances include the Multics system
(written in PL/I), and MCP (Master Control Program) for the Burroughs B5000 written in
ALGOL in 1961.) Circa 1977, further changes to the language were made by Ritchie and
Stephen C. Johnson to facilitate portability of the Unix operating system.
Johnson's Portable C Compiler served as the basis for several implementations of C on new
platforms. Many later languages have borrowed directly or indirectly from C,
including C#, D, Go, Rust, Java, JavaScript, Limbo, LPC, Perl, PHP,Python, and Unix's C shell.
The most pervasive influence on these languages (excluding Python) has been syntactical, and
they tend to combine the recognizable expression and statement syntax of C with underlying type
systems, data models, and semantics that can be radically different. C++ started as a preprocessor
for C and is currently nearly a superset of C.
Creater of c++
Bjarne Stroustrup, a Danish and British trained computer scientist, began his work on "C with
Classes" in 1979.The idea of creating a new language originated from Stroustrup's experience in
programming for his Ph.D. thesis. Stroustrup found that Simula had features that were very
helpful for large software development, but the language was too slow for practical use, while
BCPL was fast but too low-level to be suitable for large software development. When Stroustrup
started working in AT&T Bell Labs, he had the problem of analyzing the UNIX kernel with
respect to distributed computing. Remembering his Ph.D. experience, Stroustrup set out to
enhance the C language with Simula-like features. C was chosen because it was general-purpose,
fast, portable and widely used. Besides C and Simula, some other languages that inspired him
were ALGOL 68, Ada, CLU and ML. At first, the class, derived class, strong typing, inlining,
and default argument features were added to C via Stroustrup's C++ to C compiler, Cfront. The
first commercial implementation of C++ was released on 14 October 1985.
The definition of an extensive standard library makes a difference to the way C++ concepts can
be presented. As before, this book presents C++ independently of any particular implementation,
and as before, the tutorial chapters present language constructs and concepts in a ‘‘bottom up’’
order so that a construct is used only after it has been defined. However, it is much easier to use a
well-designed library than it is to understand the details of its implementation. Therefore, the
standard library can be used to provide realistic and interesting examples well before a reader
can be assumed to understand its inner workings. The standard library itself is also a fertile
source of programming examples and design techniques.
The domain name net is a generic top-level domain (gTLD) used in the Domain Name System of
the Internet. The name is derived from network, indicating its originally intended purpose was
for organizations involved in networking technologies, such as Internet service providers and
other infrastructure companies. However, restrictions were never enforced and the domain is
now a general purpose name space. It is still popular with network operators, and is often treated
as an alternative to com.
net is one of the original top-level domains (the other five being com, edu, gov, mil, and org)
despite not being mentioned in RFC 920, having been created in January 1985. As of 2011, it is
the third most popular top-level domain, after .com and .de.
Verisign, the operator of net after acquiring Network Solutions, held an operations contract that
expired on 30 June 2005. ICANN, the organization responsible for domain management, sought
proposals from organizations to operate the domain upon expiration of the contract. Verisign
regained the contract bid, and secured its control over the net registry for another six years. On
30 June 2011, the contract with Verisign was automatically renewed for another six years. This
is because of a resolution approved by the ICANN board, which states that renewal will be
automatic as long as Verisign meets certain ICANN requirements.
PHP development began in 1994 when the developer Rasmus Lerdorf wrote a series of Common
Gateway Interface (CGI) Perl scripts, which he used to maintain his personal homepage. The
tools performed tasks such as displaying his résumé and recording his web traffic. He rewrote
these scripts in C for performance reasons, extending them to add the ability to work with web
forms and to communicate with databases and called this implementation "Personal Home
Page/Forms Interpreter" or PHP/FI. PHP/FI could be used to build simple, dynamic web
applications. Lerdorf initially announced the release of PHP/FI as "Personal Home Page Tools
(PHP Tools) version 1.0" publicly to accelerate bug location and improve the code, on the
comp.infosystems.www.authoring.cgi Usenet discussion group on June 8, 1995. This release
already had the basic functionality that PHP has today. This included Perl-like variables, form
handling, and the ability to embed HTML. The syntax was similar to Perl but was more limited
and simpler, although less consistent. A development team began to form and, after months of
work and beta testing, officially released PHP/FI 2 in November 1997.
Zeev Suraski and Andi Gutmans rewrote the parser in 1997 and formed the base of PHP 3,
changing the language's name to the recursive acronym PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor.
Afterward, public testing of PHP 3 began, and the official launch came in June 1998. Suraski and
Gutmans then started a new rewrite of PHP's core, producing the Zend Engine in 1999.
OBJECTIVES OF STUDY
The main objective of the study is first to gain some practical knowledge regarding functioning
of the organizations which is very necessary to fully understand the primary functions & hence it
fulfill the purpose of the Summer Internship under M.B.A course.
SERVICE QUALITY
What do we mean when we speak of service quality? Company personnel need a common understanding
in order to be ijjjpjpojopjpojpojpoopjoihoih
Parasuraman says, 'Service quality is determined by the differences between customer's expectations
of services provider's performance and their evaluation of the services they received.
Service quality is 'the delivery of excellent or superior service relative to customer expectations
Service quality is recognized as a multidimensional construct. While the number of dimensions
Often varies from researcher to researcher, there is some
The most popular dimensions of service quality—feature five dimensions: tangibles reliability,
responsiveness, empathy , and assurance
In the case of services, because customers are often either direct observers of the production
process or active participants, how the process is performed also has a strong influence on the
overall impression of the quality of service. A well-performed service encounter may even
overcome the negative impression caused by poor technical quality as well as generate positive
word-of-mouth, particularly if customers can see that employees have worked very hard to
satisfy them in the face of problems outside their control. Employees are part of the process,
which connects with the customer at the point of sale, and hence employees remain the key to
success at these service encounters or “moments of truth”. It is these encounters with customers
during a service that are the most important determinants of overall customer satisfaction, and a
customer’s experience with the service will be defined by the brief experience with the firm’s
personnel and the firm’s systems.
It is very important to do the service right the first time. In case a service problem does crop up,
by resolving the problem to the customer’s satisfaction, the company can significantly improve
customer retention. However, companies fare best when they prevent service problems
altogether and fare worst when service problems occur and the company either ignores them or
does not resolve them to the customer’s satisfaction.
Performing the service accurately is perhaps the most important factor in service quality
excellence. The cost of performing the service inaccurately includes not only the cost of redoing
the service but also the cost associated with negative word-of-mouth generated by displeased
customers. In case of services, the factory is the field. Again, services are intangible and hence
the criteria for flawless services are more subjective than the criteria for defect-free tangible
goods. Hence for most services, customers‟ perceptions of whether the service has been
performed correctly, and not provider-established criteria, are the major determinants of
reliability.
The word quality means different things to people. David Garvin identifies five perspectives on quality.
1. The transcendent view of quality is synonymous with innate excellence: a mark of uncompromising
standards and high achievement. This viewpoint is often applied to the performing and visual arts. It argues
that people learn to recognize quality only through the experience gained from repeated exposure. From a
practical standpoint, however, suggesting that managers or customers will know quality when they see it is
2. The product based approach sees quality as a precise and measurable variable. Differences in quality,
it argues; reflect differences in the amount of an ingredient or attribute possessed by the product. Because
this view is totally objective, it fails to account for differences in the tastes, needs, and preferences of
3. User based definitions start with the premise that quality lies in the eyes of beholder. These
definitions equate quality with maximum satisfaction. This subjective, demand oriented perspective
4. The manufacturing based approach is supply based and is concerned primarily with engineering
and manufacturing practices. (In services, we would say that quality is operations driven.) It focuses
on conformance to internally developed specifications, which are often driven by productivity and
5. Value based definitions define quality in terms of value and price. By considering the tradeoff
between performance (or conformance) and price, quality comes to be defined as “affordable excellence.”
Gap 5: Expected Service - Perceived Service Gap (or the Service Performance Gap)
• Leadership commitment
• Standardize tasks
• Communicate freely
DESCRIPTION OF SERVQUAL
The SERVQUAL method from Valarie A. Zeithaml, A. Parasuraman, and Leonard L. Berry is a
technique that can be used for performing a gap analysis of an organization's service quality
SERVQUAL is an empirically derived method that may be used by a services organization to improve
service quality. The method involves the development of an understanding of the perceived service
needs of target customers. These measured perceptions of service quality for the organization in
question, are then compared against an organization that is "excellent". The resulting gap analysis may
SERVQUAL takes into account the perceptions of customers of the relative importance of service
attributes. This allows an organization to prioritize. And to use its resources to improve the most
The data are collected via surveys of a sample of customers. In these surveys, these customers respond
materials.
confidence.
Empathy. The firm provides care and individualized attention to its customers.
materials.
Communication. Listens to its customers and acknowledges their comments. Keeps customers
Understanding the customer. Making the effort to know customers and their needs.
The authors conducted a qualitative study, from which they concluded that customers ranked the
the most important contributing factor to service quality and tangibles is the least important.
APPLICATIONS OF SERVQUAL
SERVQUAL is widely used within service industries to understand the perceptions of target
customers regarding their service needs. And to provide a measurement of the service quality of
the organization.
The method essentially involves conducting a sample survey of customers so that the perceived
service needs are understood. And for measuring their perceptions of service quality for the
organization.
Customers are asked to answer numerous questions within each dimension that determines:
This provides an assessment of the gap between desired and actual performance, together with a
ranking of the importance of service criteria. This allows an organization to focus it resources.
STRENGTHS OF SERVQUAL
Most users would agree that a comprehensive and thorough examination of service needs and service
quality provides an invaluable approach to improving service quality. SERVQUAL provides detailed
information about:
There have been a number of studies that doubt the validity of the 5 dimensions. And of the uniform
applicability of the method for all service sectors. According to an analysis by Thomas P. Van Dyke,
Victor R. Prybutok, and Leon A. Kappelman, it appears that the use of difference scores in calculating
SERVQUAL contributes to problems with the reliability, discriminant validity, convergent validity,
and predictive validity of the measurement. These findings suggest that caution should be exercised in
the use of SERVQUAL scores and that further work is needed in the development of measures for
The results of market surveys are accurate. The validity of the model is based around the results of
empirical studies. A number of academics have since performed further empirical studies that appear
Customer needs can be documented and captured, and they remain stable during the whole
process.
CUSTOMER LOYALTY
Customer Loyalty in general is the behavior which clients exhibit when they make frequent repeat
purchases of a brand.
In strategic marketing, customer loyalty is a business model in which company resources are
employed so as to increase the loyalty of customers and other stakeholders in the expectation that
corporate objectives will be met or surpassed. A typical example of this type of model is: quality of
product or service leads to customer satisfaction, which leads to customer loyalty, which leads to
profitability.
A fundamental assumption of loyalty models is that keeping existing customers is less expensive than
acquiring new ones. According to Buchanan and Gilles (1990), the increased profitability associated
The cost of acquisition occurs only at the beginning of a relationship: the longer the relationship,
Account maintenance costs decline as a percentage of total costs (or as a percentage of revenue).
Long term customers tend to be less inclined to switch and also tend to be less price sensitive. This
can result in stable unit sales volume and increases in dollar-sales volume.
Long term customers may initiate free word of mouth promotions and referrals.
Long term customers are more likely to purchase ancillary products and high-margin supplemental
products.
Long term customers tend to be satisfied with their relationship with the company and are less
likely to switch to competitors, making market entry or competitors' market share gains difficult.
Regular customers tend to be less expensive to service because they are familiar with the processes
involved, require less "education," and are consistent in their order placement.
Increased customer retention and loyalty makes the employees' jobs easier and more satisfying. In
turn, happy employees feed back into higher customer satisfaction in a virtuous circle.
offer good ratings, reviews, or testimonials. Some customers do a particular company a great service
by offering favorable word of mouth publicity regarding a product, telling friends and family, thus
adding them to the number of loyal customers. However, customer loyalty includes much more. It is a
process, a program, or a group of programs geared toward keeping a client happy so he or she will
Customer loyalty can be achieved in some cases by offering a quality product with a firm guarantee.
Customer loyalty is also achieved through free offers, coupons, low interest rates on financing, high
value trade-ins, extended warranties, rebates, and other rewards and incentive programs. The ultimate
goal of customer loyalty programs is happy customers who will return to purchase again and persuade
others to use that company's products or services. This equates to profitability, as well as happy
stakeholders.
Customer loyalty may be a one-time program or incentive, or an ongoing group of programs to entice
consumers. Buy-one-get-one-free programs are very popular, as are purchases that come with rebates
or free gifts. Another good incentive for achieving customer loyalty is offering a risk free trial period
for a product or service. Also known as brand name loyalty, these types of incentives are meant to
ensure that customers will return, not only to buy the same product again and again, but also to try
Excellent customer service is another key element in gaining customer loyalty. If a client has a
problem, the company should do whatever it takes to make things right. If a product is faulty, it should
be replaced or the customer's money should be refunded. This should be standard procedure for any
reputable business, but those who wish to develop customer loyalty on a large-scale basis may also go
above and beyond the standard. They may offer even more by way of free gifts or discounts to appease
the customer.
The key to a successful business is a steady customer base. After all, successful businesses typically
see 80 percent of their business come from 20 percent of their customers. Too many businesses neglect
this loyal customer base in pursuit of new customers. However, since the cost to attract new customers
is significantly more than to maintain your relationship with existing ones, your efforts toward
1. Communicate. Whether it is an email newsletter, monthly flier, a reminder card for a tune up, or a
2. Customer Service. Go the extra distance and meet customer needs. Train the staff to do the same.
3. Employee Loyalty. Loyalty works from the top down. If you are loyal to your employees, they
will feel positively about their jobs and pass that loyalty along to your customers.
4. Employee Training. Train employees in the manner that you want them to interact with
5. Customer Incentives. Give customers a reason to return to your business. For instance, because
children outgrow shoes quickly, the owner of a children’s shoe store might offer a card that makes
the tenth pair of shoes half price. Likewise, a dentist may give a free cleaning to anyone who has
6. Product Awareness. Know what your steady patrons purchase and keep these items in stock. Add
other products and/or services that accompany or compliment the products that your regular
customers buy regularly. And make sure that your staff understands everything they can about your
products.
7. Reliability. If you say a purchase will arrive on Wednesday, deliver it on Wednesday. Be reliable.
If something goes wrong, let customers know immediately and compensate them for their
inconvenience.
8. Be Flexible. Try to solve customer problems or complaints to the best of your ability. Excuses —
such as "That's our policy" — will lose more customers then setting the store on fire.
9. People over Technology. The harder it is for a customer to speak to a human being when he or she
has a problem, the less likely it is that you will see that customer again.
10. Know Their Names. Remember the theme song to the television show Cheers? Get to know the
A mere 5 % increase in customer retention can result in a 75% increase in customer value according to
Fred Reichheld, author of "Loyalty Rules". A great reason to pay attention to loyalty. Here are more
benefits:
improve profitability
Company Loyalty First: Customer loyalty is a 2-way street. How can you expect customer loyalty
if you don't practice company loyalty? Are you loyal to your best customers or are you giving
discounts and extra attention to new customers? Loyalty is about being fanatical with devotion to your
best customers.
Employee Loyalty Second: Any customer loyalty program must factor in the front line of the
business. It's the point of contact between customer and employee that sets the foundation of repeat
business. "Hire for attitude, train for skill. Hire nice people. As a customer, I'm always amazed when
small businesses put unfriendly, surly people in front of their customers. Loyalty is often the direct
result of the relationships your employees build and maintain," says Ben McConnell of marketing
consulting firm Wabash & Lake and co-author of "Creating Customer Evangelists."
Quench the Thirst: Consumers are thirsty for trust following corporate scandals and the general
distrust of corporations. If your business is not trustworthy, your odds of establishing customer loyalty
Finding Loyalty: Any small business wishing to start a customer loyalty initiative needs first to
identify important customers and understand their customer's behaviors. Use whatever tools, software,
and data-mining techniques to locate your repeat, regular customers. Equally vital is to know your
profit margins. Don't offer discounts until you know the impact on your bottom line.
Reward Customer Retention: The key metric to track in your customer loyalty program is customer
retention. How many customers are defecting? How many clients are retained? Measuring customer
retention is half the battle. Your staff must be rewarded for retention. Your small business doesn't have
to be like big corporations who talk retention but reward sales people for bringing in new customers
only.
Use Customer-centric Language: It's easy to think you put the customer first. However, take a closer
look at your marketing communications. How many times does your literature refer to "we" the
company versus "you" the customer? Go back and speak from the customer's perspective.
Bolster Customer Communications: Part of customer loyalty and retention are maintaining regular
contact with your most profitable customers. Communication to your best customers should take the
form of showing your appreciation and providing new learning experiences to add value to your
customer's life. Send special thank-you notes, surprise gifts, and regular communications such as
Use the Small Business Advantage: Small business will always have the advantage in connecting
with customers and building a solid relationship. Your passion for helping customers with your
products and services is difficult for large companies to replicate. As customer evangelist guru Ben
McConnell states, "Small businesses thrive on outstanding customer loyalty. It's their currency of
growth and their best differentiator. Without loyalty, small businesses are destined to compete on a
playing field with larger competitors where they are outnumbered and outwitted."
Win the customer service game by putting customer loyalty to work in your small business. Just
remember, it's more than cards and software. It's more about earning trust and relationship building.
Before you can improve a function or a result, you have to be able to measure it. To improve customer
loyalty, you first must be able to measure it, and then determine where to focus your efforts to improve
Company. His research has demonstrated convincingly that a useful measure of customer loyalty can
Notwithstanding the recognized importance of service quality there have been methodological
issues and application problems with regard to its operationalization. Quality in the context of service
industries has been conceptualized differently and based on different conceptualizations, alternative
scales have been proposed for service quality measurement. Little efforts have been made to evaluate
the diagnostic ability of the scales in providing managerial insights for corrective actions in the event
of quality shortfalls. Furthermore, minimal work has been done to examine the applicability of these
scales to the service industries in developing countries. An attempt has been made to assess the
diagnostic usefulness as well as the psychometric and methodological soundness of the two widely
customer loyalty for service industries. Their measurement involved the difference between
customers’ perceptions and expectations based on five generic dimensions: tangibles, reliability,
responsiveness, assurance and empathy. Although the SERVQUAL framework has been pursued with
some enthusiasm in various service industries, empirical support for the suggested framework has not
always been encouraging. Cronin and Taylor (1992) suggested that service quality could be predicted
adequately by using perceptions alone. In addition Carman (1990) suggested that in specific service
situations it might be necessary to delete or modify some of the SERVQUAL dimensions. The
foundation for the SERVQUAL scale is the gap model proposed by Parasuraman, Zeithmal and Berry
(1985, 1988). According to the gap model satisfaction is related to the size and direction of
difference between customer expectations and perceptions, service quality is viewed as lying along a
continuum ranging from ideal quality to totally unacceptable quality with some points along the
continuum representing satisfactory quality. Parasuraman, Zeithmal and Berry (1988) held that when
perceived or experienced service is less than expected service, it implies less than satisfactory service
quality. But, when perceived service is less than expected service, the obvious inference is that service
quality is more than satisfactory. Parasuraman, Zeithmal and Berry (1988) posited that while a
negative discrepancy between perceptions and expectations – a ‘performance gap’ as they call it -
Parasuraman, Zeithmal and Berry identified a set of 22 variables/items tapping five different
dimensions of service quality construct. Since service quality has been operationalized as being a gap
between customer’s expectations and perceptions of performance on these variables, the service
quality scale comprised of total 44 items (22 for expectations and 22 for perceptions). The higher the
perception minus expectation score, the higher is perceived to be the level of service quality.
Several issues have been raised with regard to use of (P-E) gap scores, i.e., disconfirmation
model. Validity of (P-E) measurement framework has also come under attack due to problems with the
perception (P) is definable and measurable in a straightforward manner as the consumer’s belief about
service is experienced, expectation (E) is subject to multiple interpretations and as such has been
It is because of the vagueness of the expectation concept that some researchers like Babakus
and Boller (1992), Brown, Churchill and Peter (1993), and Carman (1990) stressed the need for
developing a methodologically more precise scale. The SERVPERF scale – developed by Cronin and
Taylor (1992) – is one of the important variants of the SERVQUAL scale. For being based on the
perception component alone, it has been conceptually and methodologically posited as a better scale
than the SERVQUAL scale that has its origin in disconfirmation paradigm.
Cronin and Taylor (1992) opined that expectation component of SERVQUAL scale be discarded
and instead performance component alone be used. They questioned the conceptual basis of the
SERVQUAL scale. The superiority of performance only instrument over disconfirmation model was
corroborated by conducting research across four industries namely banks, pest control, dry cleaning
and fast food. Being a variant of the SERVQUAL scale and containing perceived performance
component alone, performance only scale is comprised of only 22 items. A higher perceived
performance implies higher service quality. Methodologically, the SERVPERF scale represents
marked improvement over the SERVQUAL scale. Not only is the scale more efficient in reducing the
number of items to be measured by 50 percent, it has also been found empirically superior to the
SERVQUAL scale for being able to explain greater variance in the overall service quality measured
Cronin and Taylor (1994) compared the two service quality models SERVPERF and SERVQUAL and
responded to concerns raised by Parasuraman, Zeithmal and Berry (1988) about the relative efficacy of
that the major concerns voiced by these authors are supported neither by a critical review of their
Jain and Gupta (2004) assessed the diagnostic power of the two service quality scales. Validity and
methodological soundness of these scales have also been probed in the Indian context - an aspect,
which has so far remained neglected due to preoccupations of the past studies with service industries
in the developed world. The study finds the SERVPERF scale to be providing a more convergent and
discriminate valid explanation of service quality construct and SERVQUAL scale to be possessing
based on the critical analysis of the literature. The review of various service quality models revealed
that the service quality outcome and measurement is dependent on type of service setting, situation,
SERVICE QUALITY
Quality has been defined differently by different authors. Some prominent definitions include
‘conformance to requirements’, ‘fitness for use’ or ‘one that satisfies the customer’ As per the
Japanese production philosophy, quality implies ‘zero defects’ in the firm’s offerings. Though initial
efforts in defining and measuring service quality emanated largely from the goods sector, a solid
foundation for research work in the area was laid down in the mid-eighties by Parasuraman et al
(1985). They were amongst the earliest researchers to emphatically point out that the concept of
quality prevalent in the goods sector is not extendable to the services sector. Being inherently and
production and consumption, services require a distinct framework for quality explication and
measurement. As against the goods sector where tangible cues exist to enable consumers to evaluate
product quality, quality in the service context is explicated in terms of parameters that largely come
under the domain of ‘experience’ and ‘credence’ properties and are as such difficult to measure and
evaluate (Parasuraman et al 1985). One major contribution of Parasuraman et al (1988) was to provide
a terse definition of service quality. There are very few precise measures of service quality.
Nevertheless, quite a few attempts have been made to assess service quality. They defined service
quality as ‘a global judgment, or attitude, relating to the superiority of the service’, and explicated it as
involving evaluations of the outcome (i.e., what the customer actually receives from service) and
process of service act (i.e., the manner in which service is delivered). In line with the propositions put
forward by Parasuraman et al (1985, 1988) posited and operationalized service quality as a difference
between consumer expectations of ‘what they want’ and their perceptions of ‘what they get.’ Based on
this conceptualization and operationalization, they proposed a service quality measurement scale
called ‘SERVQUAL.’ The SERVQUAL scale constitutes an important landmark in the service quality
literature and has been extensively applied in different service settings. Over time, a few variants of
the scale have also been proposed. The ‘SERVPERF’ scale is one such scale that has been put forward
by Cronin and Taylor (1992) in the early nineties. Numerous studies have been undertaken to assess
the superiority of two scales, but consensus continues to elude as to which one is a better scale.
Parasuraman et al. (1985) proposed that service quality is a function of the differences between
expectation and performance along the quality dimensions. They developed a service quality model
based on gap analysis. This model of service quality is derived from the magnitude and direction of
differences in service design, communications, management and delivery. The first four gaps affect
the way in which service is delivered, and the existence of these four gaps leads to the extent of gap 5.
Gap 3: Difference between service quality specifications and service actually delivered i.e. the service
performance gap.
Gap 4: Difference between service delivery and the communications to consumers about service
Gap 5: Difference between consumer’s expectation and perceived service. This gap depends on size
and direction of the four gaps associated with the delivery of service quality on the marketer’s side.
According to this model, the service quality is a function of perception and expectations and can be
modeled as:
Where:
Eij = Service quality expectation for attribute j that is the relevant norm for norm for stimulus i.
The gap model maintains that satisfaction is related to the size and direction of disconfirmation
of a person’s experience vis-à-vis his/her initial expectations. SERVQUAL is a concise multi- item
scale which was designed to access the quality of firms in a wide range of service categories.
SERVQUAL is intended primarily for identifying the key dimensions of the service quality and their
contributions to overall customer satisfaction as perceived by current and past customers of a service
firm.
As a gap or difference between customer ‘expectations’ and perceptions,’ service quality is
viewed as lying along a continuum ranging from ‘ideal quality’ to totally unacceptable quality,’ with
some points along the continuum representing satisfactory quality. Parasuraman et al (1988) held that
when perceived or experienced service is less than expected service, it implies less than satisfactory
service quality. But, when perceived service is less than expected service, the obvious inference is that
service quality is more than satisfactory. Parasuraman et al (1988) posited that while a negative
positive discrepancy leads to consumer delight. Based on their empirical work, they identified a set of
22 variables/items tapping five different dimensions of service quality construct. Since they
operationalized service quality as being a gap between customer’s expectations and perceptions of
performance on these variables, their service quality measurement scale is comprised of a total of 44
items (22 for expectations and 22 for perceptions). Customers’ responses to their expectations and
perceptions are obtained on a 5-point Likert scale and are compared to arrive at (P-E) gap scores. The
higher (more positive) the perception minus expectation score, the higher is perceived to be the level
of service quality. Brown & Swartz (1989) suggested that examination of the perceptions of both
Since 1990s loyalty topic has an increasing importance especially in marketing efforts and
management applications. Its importance is emerging from decisions of customers regarding goods
and services. Establishments that create customer loyalty have a big advantage among their rivals.
Loyalty means being loyal to someone (Milliyet, 1985, p.554). Here being loyal can be thought for
persons or for establishments, it means being loyal of customers to their establishments voluntarily.
Generally customer loyalty has a meaning of customer preferences and preference frequencies of
customers. In a different perspective, customer loyalty can be thought as reluctance of changing goods
and services. Looking to customer loyalty topic solely as preference frequency will not be enough.
When customer loyalty was examined from the establishments operating in the service sector
perspective, it can easily be seen that loyal customers prefer goods and services from the
establishments that have positive influence on them. More than other sectors, customer loyalty has a
more importance in service sector. The main differences are the difference between good demand and
service demand, the more need for interaction among individuals and the existence of perceived risk
For an establishment, customer loyalty means the most satisfied customers with five score over 5-
Likert scale. Loyal customers are over satisfied customers. They are missioners of establishments in
Here Loyal customers can be evaluated as they are aware of a “value” that is offered to them by their
establishments. In customer loyalty, establishment –customer relation is a long termed relation .In
order to have long termed relation with customers, sometimes establishments can self sacrifice from
their short term profits. Another benefit of loyal customers to establishments is “mouth to mouth
publicity” in service sector. “Mouth to mouth publicity” is sharing of positive or negative impressions
In creating customer loyalty, creating customer satisfaction is foremost provision. Customer loyalty
generally calculated with the number of repeat guests, increases in the number of cooperation
possibilities and the number of people giving references. In addition to this, examples directly
reaching to people are also important. Forming focus groups, detailed interviews, questionnaires and
feedbacks from customers can be given as examples (Murphy, 1995, p.16, 22).
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
DATA SOURCE
Primary Data:
The primary data was collected by means of a survey. Questionnaires were prepared and
customers of the IT Company were approached to fill up the questionnaires. The
questionnaire contains 20 questions which reflect on the type and quality of services provided
by the company to the customers. The response of the customer and the is recorded on a
grade scale of strongly disagree, disagree, uncertain, agree and strongly agree for each
question. The filled up information was later analyzed to obtain the required interpretation
and the findings.
Secondary Data:
In order to have a proper understanding of the service quality of the sector a depth study was
done from the various sources such as books, a lot of data is also collected from the official
websites of the IT industry and the articles from various search engines like Google, yahoo
search and answers.com.
RESEARCH DESIGN :
ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETITION
OBJECTIVE 1
MEAN OF MEAN OF
SERVICE QUALITY
ATTRIBUTES CUSTOMERS' CUSTOMERS'
(P-E)
PERCEPTION EXPECTATIONS
S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 S7 S8
S9 S10 S11 S12 S13 S14 S15 S16 S17 S18
S19 S20 S21 S22
Interpretation:
The study has tried to present the findings of assessing the expectations and perceptions of service
quality for customers by using SERVQUAL model of service quality. This model of measuring
customers regarding particular service attributes. Thus, we have measured service quality by using
the formula
According to the analysis it has been found that customers were predominantly dissatisfied with the
services provided by the hotels as their expectation exceed than their perception of performance. For
instance, customers under study didn’t find rooms to be clean and attractive.
Rooms were not pleasantly decorated and adequately illuminated according to their expectations.
Customers didn’t find employees to be courteous and helpful. Services were not prompt. The hotel
staff didn’t give personal attention to guests. The employees were not easily accessible when needed.
However, Customers find staff of four star hotels neat in appearance. Operating hours were flexible.
Express checkout was available for guests. Room rates were reasonable. The study has made an
attempt to examine the inconsistencies between customers’ expectations and experiences with
services of the hotels. Inconsistencies in expectations and experiences can have an adverse effect on
the evaluation of service performance. Once inconsistencies have been identified, strategies and
tactics for achieving more congruent expectations and experiences can be initiated. Greater
consistency would lead to a more positive service encounter and enhances the likelihood that the
OBJECTIVE 2
loyalty
Multiple regressions are used to build a relationship between service quality and customer loyalty.
Multiple regressions involve a single dependent variable and two or more independent variables.
TANGIBILTY involves
Modern equipment
ASSURANCE involves
RELIABILTY involves
RESPONSIVENESS involves
EMPATHY involves
STRONGLY 5 10 10
DISAGREE
DISAGREE 25 50 60
UNCERTAIN 16 32 92
AGREE 4 8 100
TOTAL 50 100
INTERPRETATION
Here analysis show that most of the respondents disagreed with this statement. Among the total
respondents 50% disagreed, 32% were neutral and 8% agreed. After analysis I found that majority of
the respondents think that Om GRC InfoTech PVT Ltd does not have modern looking equipments or
no hi-tech equipments.
DISAGREE 4 8 8
UNCERTAIN 29 58 66
AGREE 17 34 100
TOTAL 50 100
INTERPRETATION
From this statement I found that 17 persons agreed. 29 persons were uncertain and 4 persons
disagreed. This means 58% people were uncertain about this statement. Out of the total respondents
only 4% disagreed and no one strongly agreed or disagreed with the statement. 17% people agreed
that means physical facilities are visually appealing.
Ques.3 The Company reception desk employees are neat appearing.
DISAGREE 5 10 10
UNCERTAIN 21 42 52
AGREE 18 36 88
STRONGLY 6 12 100
AGREE
TOTAL 50 100
INTERPRETATION
Here analysis shows that majority were neutral. Among the total respondent 21 respondents
were neutral, 18 people agreed and 6 respondents strongly agreed. The rest disagreed. From analysis
I found that some respondents agreed with this statement but most of the respondents think the
employees of the company appear neat.
Ques.4 Materials associated with the service (such as pamphlets or statements are visually
appealing for the company.
DISAGREE 7 14 14
UNCERTAIN 22 44 58
AGREE 18 36 94
STRONGLY 3 6 100
AGREE
TOTAL 50 100
INTERPRETATION
Materials associated with the service are visually appealing at the company. Here 36%
respondents agreed with this statement and 6% strongly agreed with this statement. 44% were
neutral that is most and 14% disagreed. There was no respondent who strongly disagreed. Hence,
in general it can be concluded that materials associated with the services such as pamphlets or
statements are visually appealing.
RELIABILITY DIMENSION OF SERVICE QUALITY (Questions 5 to 8):
Ques.5 when the company promises to do something by a certain time, it does so.
STRONGLY 2 4 4
DISAGREE
DISAGREE 26 52 56
UNCERTAIN 5 10 66
AGREE 14 28 94
STRONGLY 3 6 100
AGREE
TOTAL 50 100
INTERPRETATION
My sample size was 50. Here analysis shows that among the total respondents 26 respondents
disagreed and 14 respondents agreed with this question. Also I found that 5 people were neutral
and 2 people strongly disagreed. Hence I concluded that majority of them disagreed that the bank
when promises to do something by certain time, it does so.
Ques. 6 when you have a problem, the company shows a sincere interest in solving it
DISAGREE 3 6 6
UNCERTAIN 14 28 34
AGREE 26 52 86
STRONGLY 7 14 100
AGREE
TOTAL 50 100
INTERPRETATION When you have a problem, company shows sincere interest in solving it.
After analyzing this statement I found that most of the respondents agreed i.e. 52% respondents
agreed. Also I found that 28% were neutral with this statement and 6% were committed with
disagree. There was no one who strongly disagreed. Hence company can be said to be reliable.
Ques.7 The company performs the service right the first time.
STRONGLY 2 4 4
DISAGREE
DISAGREE 8 16 20
UNCERTAIN 17 34 54
AGREE 17 34 88
STRONGLY 6 12 100
AGREE
TOTAL 50 100
INTERPRETATION
Total sample size was 50. Here analysis shows that among the total respondents 17 people agreed
with this statement. They think that company performs the services right the first time. 6 people
strongly agreed with this statement. Also 17 people were neutral and the rest of the respondents
disagreed and strongly disagreed.
Ques.8 The Company insists on error free records.
DISAGREE 5 10 10
UNCERTAIN 10 20 30
AGREE 23 46 76
STRONGLY 12 24 100
AGREE
TOTAL 50 100
INTERPRETATION
Company insists on error free records. Company has proved from my analysis that it surely
insists on error free records as 46% respondents agreed with this statement and 24% strongly
agreed. Only 10% respondents disagreed and no one strongly disagreed.
RESPONSIVENESS DIMENSION OF SERVICE QUALITY (Question 9
to 12):
Ques. 9 Employees in the company tell you exactly when the services will be performed.
STRONGLY 6 12 12
DISAGREE
DISAGREE 8 16 28
UNCERTAIN 13 26 54
AGREE 18 36 90
STRONGLY 6 10 100
AGREE
TOTAL 50 100
INTERPRETATION
Employees in the company tell you exactly when the services will be performed. Majority of the
respondents agreed with this statement. 26% respondents were uncertain. At the same time 16%
disagreed and 12% Strongly disagreed with this statement.
DISAGREE 5 10 10
UNCERTAIN 16 32 42
AGREE 27 54 96
STRONGLY 2 4 100
AGREE
TOTAL 50 100
INTERPRETATION
Most of the respondents agreed with this statement. According to my analysis, employees in
company give prompt service. Among the total respondents agreed respondents were 27 and
strongly agreed were 2. 16 people were neutral and 5 disagreed. There was no respondent who
strongly disagreed with this statement.
UNCERTAIN 12 24 24
AGREE 29 58 82
STRONGLY 9 18 100
AGREE
TOTAL 50 100
INTERPRETATION
Employees in company are willing to help you. With this statement no one disagreed or strongly
disagreed. Strongly agreed were 9 people i.e. 18% respondents strongly agreed, 29 people agreed
i.e. 58% respondents agreed and 24% respondents were neutral.
Ques.12 Employees in the company are never too busy to respond to your request.
DISAGREE 1 2 2
UNCERTAIN 11 22 24
AGREE 27 54 72
STRONGLY 11 22 100
AGREE
TOTAL 50 100
INTERPRETATION
Employees in company are never too busy to respond to your request. After analyzing this
statement I found that most of the respondents agreed with this statement. Among the total
respondents 22% strongly agreed and 54% agreed. 11 respondents were neutral and 1 respondent
disagreed. No one strongly disagreed.
ASSURANCE DIMENSION OF SERVICE QUALITY (Question13 to 16):
Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and confidence
DISAGREE 4 8 8
UNCERTAIN 13 26 34
AGREE 28 56 90
STRONGLY 5 10 100
AGREE
TOTAL 50 100
INTERPRETATION
The employees of the company are trustworthy. According to my findings, 54% respondents
agreed that employees at Om Grc InfoTech are trustworthy. 13% respondents were neutral and
4% respondents disagreed with this statement..
DISAGREE 28 56 56
UNCERTAIN 4 8 64
AGREE 13 26 90
STRONGLY 5 10 100
AGREE
TOTAL 50 100
INTERPRETATION
The behavior of employees in company instills confidence in you. Here analysis shows that most
of the people disagreed. Among the total respondents 28 respondents disagreed, 13 agreed and 5
strongly agreed. There was no respondent who strongly disagreed. This means 56% respondent
disagreed with this statement.
DISAGREE 5 10 10
UNCERTAIN 16 32 42
AGREE 23 46 88
STRONGLY 6 12 100
AGREE
TOTAL 50 100
INTERPRETATION
With this statement most of the respondents agreed. Among the total respondents 23 agreed with
this statement and 6 strongly agreed. 32% respondents were neutral and 10% respondents
disagreed. But there no one who strongly disagreed.
Ques.16 Employees in the company have the knowledge to answer your questions.
DISAGREE 2 4 4
UNCERTAIN 9 18 22
AGREE 26 52 74
STRONGLY 13 26 100
AGREE
TOTAL 50 100
INTERPRETATION From my analysis I found that 54% respondents agreed that employees of
company have complete knowledge to answer their questions. 26% respondents strongly agreed
to this statement and only 4% disagreed. 18% neither agreed nor disagreed.
DISAGREE 26 52 52
UNCERTAIN 12 24 76
AGREE 10 20 96
STRONGLY 2 4 100
AGREE
TOTAL 50 100
INTERPRETATION
Company is not able to give individual attention to its customers as out of the total respondents
54% disagreed with this statement. 12% of the respondents were neutral and only 12% agreed
and 2% strongly agreed. From this finding it can be concluded that it is unable to give individual
attention to its customers.
Ques.18 The Company has operating hours convenient to all its customers.
DISAGREE 2 4 4
UNCERTAIN 14 28 32
AGREE 27 54 86
STRONGLY 7 14 100
AGREE
TOTAL 50 100
INTERPRETATION
Company has operating hours convenient to all its customers. Out of 50 respondents, 27
respondents agreed with this statement and only 2 respondents disagreed. Also 7 respondents
strongly agreed that the company has operating hours convenient to its customers.
STRONGLY 3 6 6
DISAGREE
DISAGREE 5 10 16
UNCERTAIN 10 20 36
AGREE 25 50 86
STRONGLY 7 14 100
AGREE
TOTAL 50 100
INTERPRETATION
The Company has your best interests at heart. Here analysis shows that 25 respondents agreed
and 7 respondents strongly agreed with this statement. 20% were neutral and the rest disagreed
and strongly disagreed.
Ques.20 The employees of the Company understand your specific needs.
DISAGREE 5 10 10
UNCERTAIN 21 42 52
AGREE 20 40 92
STRONGLY 4 8 100
AGREE
TOTAL 50 100
INTERPREATION
Employees of Company understand specific needs. With this statement most of the respondents
were neutral. Among the total respondents 20 respondents agreed and 4 respondents strongly
agreed. 5 respondents disagreed with this statement.
MEASURING SERVICE QUALITY DIMENSIONS
Measuring the quality of a service can be a very difficult exercise. Unlike product where there are
specific specifications such as length, depth, width, weight, and colour etc. a service can have
numerous intangible or qualitative specifications.
Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1985) provide a list of determinants of service quality:
access, communication, competence, courtesy, credibility, reliability, responsiveness, security,
understanding, and tangibles. A total of five consolidated dimensions of service quality are:
Reliability (ques.5 to 8) - Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately
Responsiveness (ques.9 to 12) – Willingness to help customers and provide prompt services.
Empathy (ques.17 to 20) – (including access, communication and understanding the customer)
Caring and individualized attention that firm provides to its customer.
In order to calculate which dimension of service quality is performing well, a sample of the
questions are used in the questionnaire. Using the questionnaire, obtain the score for each of the
20 statements. After analysis of the data, Overall score to each statement is given on a scale of 1
to 5 i.e. 1 is given to strongly disagreed i.e. the lowest score, then 2= disagreed, 3= uncertain, 4=
agreed and 5= strongly agreed.
Sum the score for each dimension of service quality to obtain a final score which tells which
dimension is performing well and which dimension needs improvement.
Statement Score
1 2
Om Grc has modern looking equipment.
2 3
The Company’s physical features are visually appealing.
3 3
The Company’s reception desk employees are neat appearing.
3
4 Materials associated with the service (such as pamphlets or statements) are
visually appealing for the Company.
5 2
When the Company promises to do something by a certain time, it does so.
6 4
When you have a problem, the Company shows a sincere interest in solving
it.
7 3.5
The Company performs the service right the first time.
8 4
The Company insists on error free records.
9 4
Employees in the Company tell you exactly when the services will be
performed.
10 4
Employees in the Company give you prompt service.
12 4
Employees in the Company are always willing to help you. 4
13 Employees in the Company are never too busy to respond to your request.
14 4
The employees of the Company are trustworthy.
15 2
The behavior of employees in the Company instills confidence in you.
16 2
You feel safe in your transactions with the Company.
17 4
Employees in the Company have the knowledge to answer your questions.
18 2
The Company gives you individual attention.
19 4
The Company has operating hours convenient to all its customers.
20 4
The Company has your best interests at heart
21 3
The employees of the Company understand your specific needs.
The scores for each dimension are summed up and a final score is obtained:
11
1. TANGIBILITY (1 TO 4)
13.5
2. RELIABILITY (5 TO 8)
16
3. RESPONSIVENESS (9 TO 12)
14
4. ASSURANCE (13 TO 16)
13
5. EMPATHY (17 TO 20)
FINDINGS OF THE REPORT
The score of Tangibility dimension of service quality of Grc is the lowest. The service
quality factor tangible is defined by whether the physical facilities and materials
associated with the service are visually appealing for the Company. These are all factors
that customers notice before or upon entering the Company . Customer expectations
regarding visual appealing of the Company is very high. From my study I found that
Physical facilities and modern looking equipment are not sufficient in GRC. Respondents
were uncertain about the neat appearance of the reception desk employees. So they
should work on that and try to fulfill the gap.
In Company, the score of Responsiveness is highest so they are focusing on prompt service,
employees are willing to help the customers and say the exact time when the services will be
performed. Employees at the Company give their customers first preference and are always
ready to help them. Overall Company ‟s responsiveness dimension of service quality is the
highest.
According to the customer perception, Company is highly responsive. Customers are assured
while transacting with the Company. The reliability dimension is lower than the first to
dimension. They feel that the Company is unable to give them individual attention and its
equipments are not modern and sufficient for the Company.
There is not much gap between all the dimensions, this shows that GRC is a better service
provider in all the dimensions i.e. reliability, assurance, tangibility, responsiveness and
empathy. As a result of which, the customers are satisfied with the service offered by GRC.
We have four factors of customer loyalty i.e. word of mouth, preference, price indifference,
SERVICE QUALITY
Relationship has been ascertained with the help of statistical software ANALYSE – IT
where T stands for tangibility, A stands for assurance, REL stands for reliability, RES stands
β1 (T) 0.2344
β2 (A) -0.1167
β3 (REL) 0.05914
β4 (RES) 0.1585
β5 (E) -0.1898
R2 = 0.15
Out of the five factors of service quality i.e. tangibility, assurance, reliability, responsiveness and
empathy; tangibility has predominant impact on word of mouth which is factor of customer loyalty
i.e. word of mouth communication can be explained predominantly by tangibility. Other factor of
service quality i.e. empathy has least impact on word of mouth communication.
Coefficient of determination i.e. R2 = 0.15 means 15% of the variance in WOM communication
QUALITY
β1 (T) -0.00224
β2 (A) -0.08486
β3 (REL) -0.04658
β4 (RES) 0.08166
β5 (E) -0.01335
R2 = 0.01
Out of the five factors of service quality i.e. tangibility, assurance, reliability, responsiveness and
SERVICE QUALITY
β1 (T) -0.139
β2 (A) -0.01509
β3 (REL) 0.04971
β4 (RES) -0.002808
β5 (E) -0.02826
R2 = 0.02
Out of the five factors of service quality i.e. tangibility, assurance, reliability, responsiveness and
empathy; reliability has predominant impact on price indifference which is factor of customer
loyalty i.e. price indifference can be explained predominantly by reliability. Other factor of service
Coefficient of determination i.e. R2 = 0.02 means 2% of the variance in price indifference factor is
SERVICE QUALITY
β1 (T) -0.03419
β2 (A) 0.01489
β3 (REL) -0.1945
β4 (RES) 0.2278
β5 (E) -0.1871
R2 = 0.10
Out of the five factors of service quality i.e. tangibility, assurance, reliability, responsiveness and
loyalty i.e. dissatisfaction can be explained predominantly by responsiveness. Other factor of service
Coefficient of determination i.e. R2 = 0.10 means 10% of the variance in dissatisfaction factor is
levels of importance to service quality dimensions when evaluating service quality. Statistical tools
were used to explore the underlying dimensions that were used by customers in evaluating the
service quality. It is imperative for the Company to manage their service encounter, which involves
the direct interaction between a service operation and its customers. Service encounters, in particular
those involving front line staff typically have a high impact on consumers, and the quality of service
encounter is thus part of the overall service quality perceived and experienced by the customer.The
factors that may delight customers tend to be concerned more with the intangible nature of the service,
commitment, attentiveness, friendliness, care, and courtesy. The employees give prompt services, always
are ready to answer the questions and are trustworthy. The main sources of dissatisfaction appear to be
cleanliness, up to date technology modern equipments, and neatly dressed up employees. To satisfy these
customers, the management can take some attempts, noted earlier as recommendations. The study brings
about the areas which require urgent attention of the employees, the management, and the policy makers
of the industry. These are areas in which customers are hugely dissatisfied with the services of the
Company’s against their expectation. This high degree of dissatisfaction resulting from the services
received clearly questions the design of services or subsequent response of the Company employees.
These limitations are too serious to be avoided as these question the front-line people dealing with the
customers and the approach of the management in taking customers seriously. The management should
understand the benefits of service quality. It include increased customer satisfaction, improved customer
retention, positive word of mouth, reduced staff turnover, decreased operating costs, enlarged market
share, increased profitability, and improved financial performance. In the days of intense competition,
superior service is the only differentiator left before the Company to attract, retain and partner with the
customers. Superior service quality enables a firm to differentiate itself from its competition, gain a
sustainable competitive advantage, and enhance efficiency. Thus, improving service quality leads to the
The Tangibility dimension of service quality of Company is highly disappointing and serious steps are
needed to be taken to enhance this dimension. Customers of the Company are dissatisfied with the
empathy dimension.
The study has tried to present the findings of assessing the expectations and perceptions of service
quality for customers. The result showed that customers’ perceptions were consistently lower than
their expectations. These negative gaps indicated that the delivered service level was falling below
customers’ expectations of service quality. The larger the gap, the more serious the service quality
shortfall, from the point of view of customers. The gap analysis is critical because it may prove to be
extremely useful tool for management to identify the service problems or service fall points in the
The results of the study show that gap analysis is useful and meaningful approach to identify the
gaps between customers’ expectations and perceptions of service quality in the IT industry..
The results of the study suggest that there are four dimensions of customer loyalty that can be
identified i.e. word of mouth communication, preference, price indifference and dissatisfaction.
From factor analysis, factor loading of all the statements comes out to be greater than 0.5. Eigen
Analysis shows that Coefficient of determination (R2) is maximum for Word of mouth
communication factor that is 15% and minimum for preference factor that is 1%. R2 describes
variance in factors which is explained by introducing five independent variables of Service quality.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Reliability is an obvious place to start. Customers of the Company want to know their resources
are safe and within trustworthy institutions. A way to ensure this peace of mind would be to take
steps to ensure company employees are well trained, so each bank associate is able to offer complete
and comprehensive information at all times. Consistent policies combined with a knowledgeable staff
will foster a high degree of institutional cohesion and reliability.
Responsiveness, again when associated with a well-trained staff and timely answers to service-
related questions, would make significant inroads into causing Company be regarded as responsive.
Staff should be encouraged to present relevant options to banking customers in a manner that does
not resemble salesmanship so much as a desire to serve.
Intangibles please customers just as much as tangibles in the IT industry. Usually, this is a
location close to their home or their workplace. It is natural that customers become comfortable and
habituated to these company branches , for the same reason they develop familiarity with a
neighborhood supermarket or convenience store. It makes sense that company employees would be
encouraged to learn to recognize these regular customers, learn their names, and begin to identify
their basic service requirements.
Learning to understand customers‟ needs will allow company associates to offer enhanced
services, perhaps lowering customers‟ banking costs and increasing their investment potential. This
could also open up the possibility of increased profits for company, for when perceived as more
service and customer oriented, they will, in effect, become a useful and pleasant way to “shop.”
Keeping the company with up-to-date technologically are important factors. Modern
equipments, new improved technology should be replaced with the old ones. If the staff inside is
pleasant and well-informed, in an aesthetically pleasing environment, then customer satisfaction will
be high.
The five-dimensional structure could possibly serve as a meaningful framework for tracking a
bank‟s service quality performance over time and comparing it against the performance of
competitors. Items on some dimensions should be expanded if that is necessary for reliability.
Thus, the IT industries must continuously measure and improve these dimensions in order to
gain customers‟ loyalty.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
References
Kotler Philip, marketing management, (Pearson education, 12th edition)
Malhotra K. Naresh, marketing research (An applied orientation), Research design,
(Prentice hall of India pvt. 5th edition)
Zeithmal V. A., Grembler D.D., Bitner M.j., and Pandit A.: Service Marketing Integrated customer
Focus across the Firm” (4th Edition)
M.K. Rampal : Service Marketing
Websites
www.google.com
www.wikipedia.org
www.marketresearch.com
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service quality
.
QUESTIONNAIRE
Respected Sir/Madam
Name:
Age:
Educational Qualifications:
.
2. The Company's physical features are visually appealing.
4. Materials associated with the service (such as pamphlets or statements) are visually appealing at
the company.
6. When you have a problem, the company shows a sincere interest in solving it.
9. Employees in the company tell you exactly when the services will be performed.
(a) Strongly Disagree
(b) Disagree
(c) Neither agree nor disagree
(d) Agree
(e) Strongly Agree
12. Employees in the Company are never too busy to respond to your request.
16. Employees in the Company have the knowledge to answer your questions.
18. The Company has operating hours convenient to all its customers.