GAPS MODEL

OF SERVICE
QUALITY
Learning Objectives
 Introduce the
framework, called the
gaps model of service
quality.
 Demonstrate that the
gaps model is a
useful framework for
understanding service
quality in an
organization.
 Demonstrate that the
most critical service
quality gap to close is
the customer gap, the
difference between
customer expectations
and perceptions. 2
Learning Objectives
 Show that four
gaps that occur in
companies, which
we call provider
gaps, are
responsible for the
customer gap.

 Identify the factors

responsible for
each of the four
provider gaps.

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 The Customer Gap

 The Provider Gaps:

Gap 1 – The Listening Gap

 not knowing what customers expect

Gap 2 – The Service Design and Standards Gap

 not having the right service designs and standards

Gap 3 – The Service Performance Gap

 not delivering to service standards

Gap 4 – The Communication Gap

 not matching performance to promises

 Putting It All Together: Closing the Gaps

2-4
The Customer Gap

EXPECTED
SERVICE

CUSTOMER GAP

PERCEIVED
SERVICE

2-5
CUSTOMER GAP
 Customer expectations

Standards or reference points that customers bring into the service experience

Often consists of what customer believes should or will happen

The sources of customer expectations are marketer controlled factors as well as factors
that marketer has limited ability to control

 Customer perceptions

Subjective assessments of actual service experience

CUSTOMER GAP
 Customer satisfaction and customer focus are critical to a firm’s competitiveness.

 Consumer evaluation processes differ for goods and services

 It’s the goal of service marketing to bridge the gap between customer expectation &
perceptions.
Key Factors Leading to the
Customer Gap

Customer Customer
Gap Expectations

 Provider Gap 1: Not knowing what customers expect

 Provider Gap 2: Not selecting the right service designs and standards

 Provider Gap 3: Not delivering to service standards

 Provider Gap 4: Not matching performance to promises

Customer
Perceptions
2-8
Provider Gap 1
CUSTOMER

Customer
expectations

Perceived
Service

COMPANY

Gap 1:
The Listening Gap Company
perceptions of
customer
expectations

2-9
Key Factors Leading to Provider Gap 1

2-10
GAP 1
 Inadequate customer research orientation :
 Traditional & innovative market research
techniques to be used

 Lack of upward communication:

 Relationship Marketing
 Move away from transaction marketing
 Use technology to churn data
GAP 1

 Service recovery strategies

 Well defined complaint handling
 Empowered employees
 Fix the failure
 Service guarantee

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jn2_nZrivQ
Provider Gap 2
CUSTOMER

COMPANY Customer-driven
service designs and
standards
Gap 2: The Service Design
and Standards Gap
Company
perceptions of
customer
expectations

2-13
Key Factors Leading to Provider Gap 2

2-14
GAP 2
 A recurring theme in service companies is the difficulty experienced in translating
customer expectations into service quality standards that employees can understand and
execute.

 Customer driven standards are different from the conventional performance standards
that companies establish

 Operations standard are set to correspond to customer expectation and priority rather
than company concerns of productivity and efficiency.
GAP 2
o Inherent variability in services and an assumption that customer’s expectation are
unrealistic leads firms to erroneously not set standards. Technology is particularly
helpful in closing this gap.

o The quality of service delivered by employees are critically influenced by the standards
against which they are evaluated and compensated.

o Physical evidence communicates and affects consumer behavior.

o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebGFZeuW5Rk
Provider Gap 3
CUSTOMER

COMPANY Service delivery

Gap 3: The Service
Performance Gap
Customer-driven
service designs and
standards

2-17
Key Factors Leading to Provider Gap 3

2-18
GAP 3
 The firm must have systems, processes, and people in place to ensure that service
delivery actually matches the designs and standards in place.

 HR strategies are critical.

 Channel management is imperative.

 Demand capacity mis match to be minimized.

Provider Gap 4
CUSTOMER

Gap 4: The Communication Gap

External
COMPANY Service delivery communications to
customers

2-20
Key Factors Leading to Provider Gap 4

2-21
GAP 4
 The discrepancy between actual and promised services can widen service gap.

 Interactive marketing is an issue: Real Time

 Effectively coordinating actual service delivery with external communications narrows

this gap.

 Concept of Fair Price is critical.

Gaps Model of Service Quality

Gap Model of Service Quality 2-23

Ways to Use Gap Analysis
Overall Strategic Assessment

How are we doing overall in meeting or exceeding customer

expectations?

How are we doing overall in closing the four company gaps?

Which gaps represent our strengths and where are our weaknesses?

2-24
Ways to Use Gap Analysis
Specifi c Service Implementation

Who is the customer? What is the service?

Are we consistently meeting/exceeding customer expectations with

this service?

If not, where are the gaps and what changes are needed? (Examine
gaps 1-4 for this particular service.)

2-25
Service Quality
Excellent service quality is a high standard of
performance that consistently meets or exceeds customer
expectations.

Consumers’ repurchase intentions are influenced by

their general beliefs about the service quality of the
firm at the time of their next purchase decision.

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Customer Satisfaction
versus
Service Quality

 Customer satisfaction is an evaluation of a single consumption

experience, a fleeting judgment, and a direct and immediate response
to that experience.

 Service quality refers to relatively stable attitudes and beliefs about a

firm, which can differ significantly from satisfaction.

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Dimensions of Service Quality

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Measuring Service Quality
 Valarie Zeithaml and her colleagues developed a survey instrument called
SERVQUAL

 SERVQUAL is seen as a generic measurement tool that can be applied across a

broad spectrum of service industries.

 Respondents answer 21 questions measuring their expectations of companies

in a particular industry on a wide array of specific service characteristics

 Can be customized to suit different service situations

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 The SERVQUAL Scale (1 of 2)

 The SERVQUAL scale includes five dimensions -- Tangibles, Reliability, Responsiveness,

Assurance and Empathy.
Within each dimension, several items are measured. There are many different formats in use, and
we show the most basic 21 items for ideal perceptions below. The statements are accompanied by
a seven-point scale, ranging from “strongly disagree = 1” to “strongly agree = 7”.

 The firm’s performance is measured by rewording the same items (e.g., for item 1 in the table
below: “XYZ firm has modern-looking equipment”). The difference between the scores for each
item, dimension and for overall service quality is the computed and used as an indicator of a
firm’s level of service quality.

 If measuring both ideal (or expected) and actual performance perceptions is not possible due to
time constraints during the interview, both measures can also be combined by using the same 21
items (e.g., “modern looking equipment”) and scale anchors “Lower than my desired service
level”, “The same as my desired service level”, and “Higher than my desired service level”.

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The SERVQUAL Scale (2 of 2)

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Thank you

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