Researching Service

Success and Failure

 Objectives
1. To emphasize the importance of researching
service success and failure
2. To examine why service success is so difficult
to achieve
3. To discuss methods for researching services
4. To explore creating a service quality
information system
 Outline
I. Introduction
II. Why Is Researching Service Success and Failure
Necessary?
III. Why Is Service Success So Difficult to Achieve?
IV. Research Methods for Services
V. Creating a Service Quality Information System
VI. Summary and Conclusion
 Why Is Researching Service
Success and Failure Necessary?

• Determining success or failure is a key focus of

service performance measurement.
• Success or failure information can be used to
reward excellent performance, set priorities
among process improvement options, and
preempt customer switching behavior.
• In cases of extreme dissatisfaction and
satisfaction, the customer is often very vocal.
 Why Is Service Success
So Difficult to Achieve?
• Service success is difficult because:
– Services are dynamic and experiential in nature.
– Services exist only when they are rendered.
– Services occur in real time.
• The same forces contributing to unpredictable
service quality complicate investigating services
using traditional research methodologies.
• Measure service performance using a
combination of methods, thereby offsetting the
limitations of any single method.
 Research Methods
for Services
• Observational Techniques
• Mystery Shopping
• Employee Reports
• Survey Methods
• Focus Groups
• Experimental Field Testing
• Critical Incident Technique
• Moments of Truth Impact Analysis
 Research Methods
for Services (cont’d)

• Mystery shopping
– an unobtrusive method of gathering data in which
people pose as bona fide shoppers to observe and
collect information about an organization's service
performance.
 Research Methods
for Services (cont’d)

• The Critical Incident Technique

– research method especially useful to study the
service experiences of customers and frontline
employees.
Research Methods
for Services (cont’d)
Research Methods
for Services (cont’d)
 Creating a Service Quality
Information System
• What to Measure
– Use service blueprints as guides to structure
questions, make direct observations, and ensure
that all essential aspects of the service
experience are covered
• What to Do with the Information
– Uncover problem areas
– Adjust service standards
– Decide which activities need the highest priority
 Creating a Service Quality
Information System (cont’d)
 Supplemental Slides
• Why Observational Research for Services?
• The Research Process
– Identify and Formulate the Problem
– Determine Data Needs and Sources
– Choose Research Design
– Design the Sample
– Develop Data Collection Forms
– Collect the Data
– Process and Analyze the Data
– Report Preparation
• Chapter Web Sites
 Why Observational
Research for Services?
• Services are dynamic, experiential processes
• Survey or experimental methods are not capable
of fully capturing these dynamic, experiential
processes
• Observation offers naturalistic insights into
service phenomena
• Direct human observation does not rely on the
service participants’ recall or verbal capabilities,
nor does it require their cooperation
The Research Process
The Research
Process
(cont’d)
 1. Identify and Formulate
the Problem
• Most important research step
– Can also be most difficult research step
• Problems are not always what they appear to be
• State as a question
• Don’t label symptoms of the problem as the
problem
• The researcher also must determine why the
research is needed
 2. Determine Data Needs
and Sources

• Identify the information needs for this

problem
• Is secondary data available?
– Internal
– External
• Secondary data should always be sought.
– Saves time & money
 3. Choose Research Design
• Survey
• Experimental
• Observational
 4. Design the Sample
• Key goal is representativeness
• Kind of sample
– Probability – known chance
– Nonprobability – unknown chance
• Sample size
 5. Develop Data Collection Forms
• Four basic methods:
– Self-administered
– Telephone
– Personal
– Electronic
 6. Collect the Data
• Pretesting of the main study
• Field work
• Supervision of interviewers
 7. Process and Analyze the Data
• Process – Editing, coding, tabulating
• Analysis – Statistical interpretation via
computer
 8. Report Preparation
• Form of report
– Written
– Oral
• Explain the research process
• Interpret findings
• Summary section
 Web Sites
• Hertz
(http://www.hertz.com), p. 174
• Mary Kay
(http://www.marykay.com), p. 174
• Southwest Airlines
(http://www.southwest.com), p. 174
• BizRate
(http://www.bizrate.com/), p. 180
• Marriott Hotels
(http://www.marriott.com), p. 181
 Web Sites (cont’d)
• McDonald’s
(http://www.mcdonalds.com), p. 181
• Citibank
(http://www.citibank.com), p. 181
• Olive Garden
(http://www.olivegarden.com), p. 181
• Skype
(http:// www.skype.com), p. 185