GAPS MODEL OF SERVICE

QUALITY
 The Gaps Model of Service Quality
▪ 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 Gaps Model of Service Quality
▪ 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.
▪ 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.
The Customer Gap

2-6
 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
 Gaps Model of Service Quality
▪ Customer Gap:
▪ difference between customer expectations and
perceptions
▪ Provider Gap 1 (Listening Gap):
▪ not knowing what customers expect
▪ Provider Gap 2 (Service Design & Standards Gap):
▪ not having the right service designs and standards
▪ Provider Gap 3 (Service Performance Gap):
▪ not delivering to service standards
▪ Provider Gap 4 (Communication Gap):
▪ not matching performance to promises
Provider Gap 1

CUSTOMER

Customer
expectations

Perceived
Service

COMPANY

Gap 1:
The Listening Gap Company
perceptions of
customer
expectations
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?
Ways to Use Gap Analysis

▪ Specific 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.)
 Questions
▪ Think about a service that you receive. Is there a gap
between your expectations and customer perceptions of
service? What do you expect that you do not receive?
▪ Which of the four provider gaps do you believe is hardest to
close ? Why?
 Perception
The process by which an individual selects,
organizes, and interprets stimuli into a
meaningful and coherent picture of the world

How we see the world around us

Customer Perceptions of Quality and Customer
Satisfaction
 Selectivity in perception of environment by
individuals depend on 2 major factors

▪ Expectation in the case of first experience with

service and previous experience in the case of
repeat purchases as it influences expectation.
▪ The motives (need, desires, etc.) at that
particular point in time
 Factors Influencing Customer Satisfaction

▪ Product/service quality
▪ Product/service attributes or features
▪ Consumer Emotions
▪ Attributions for product/service success or
failure
▪ Equity or fairness evaluations
 Service Quality
▪ The customer’s judgment of overall excellence
of the service provided in relation to the quality
that was expected.
▪ Process and outcome quality are both
important.
 What is SERVQUAL

▪ SERVQUAL is a multi-dimensional research

instrument, designed to capture consumer
expectations and perceptions of a service along
the five dimensions that are believed to
represent service quality.
▪ It has become the dominant measurement
scale in the area of service quality
How Customers Judge the Five Dimensions of Service Quality
 SERVQUAL Attributes
ASSURANCE
Employees who instill confidence in
customers
Making customers feel safe in their
transactions
RELIABILITY Employees who are consistently courteous
Employees who have the knowledge to
Providing service as promised answer customer questions
Dependability in handling customers’
service problems EMPATHY
Performing services right the first time Giving customers individual attention
Providing services at the promised time Employees who deal with customers in a
Maintaining error-free records caring fashion
Having the customer’s best interest at heart
Employees who understand the needs of
RESPONSIVENESS their customers
Keeping customers informed as to Convenient business hours
when services will be performed TANGIBLES
Prompt service to customers Modern equipment
Willingness to help customers Visually appealing facilities
Readiness to respond to customers’ Employees who have a neat,
requests professional appearance
Visually appealing materials
associated with the service
 Customer Expectations of Service

▪ Customer expectations are beliefs about service delivery

that serve as standards or reference points against which
performance is judged.
▪ Because customers compare their perceptions of
performance with these reference points when evaluating
service quality, thorough knowledge about customer
expectations is critical to service marketers.
 Customer Expectations of Service

▪ What types of expectations do customers hold about

service?
▪ What factors most influence the formation of these
expectations?
▪ What role do these factors play in changing expectations?
▪ How can a service company meet or exceed customer
expectations?
 The meaning and types of expected service
▪ Expectations are reference points against which service
delivery is compared is only a beginning
▪ The level of expectation can vary widely depending on the
reference point the customer holds.
▪ The idea of customer expectations is extremely critical to
evaluation of service
Possible Levels of Customer Expectations

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 Two Types of Service Expectations
The highest expectations can be termed Desired service: the
level of service the customer hopes to receive—the “wished
for” level of performance.
Desired service is a blend of what the customer believes “can
be” and “should be”.
In general, customers hope to achieve their service desires
but recognize this is not always possible.
This is called the threshold level of acceptable service or
adequate service
Adequate service—the minimum level of service the
customer will accept
 Desired Service Expectations
Desired service expectations are influenced by explicit
service promises, implicit service promises, word-of-mouth
communication, and past experience.
 The Zone of Tolerance
Services are heterogeneous in that performance may vary
across providers, across employees from the same provider,
and even with the same service employee.
The extent to which customers recognize and are willing to
accept this variation is called the zone of tolerance.
The zone of tolerance is the range in which customers do not
particularly notice service performance.
When it falls outside the range (either very low or very high),
the service gets the customer’s attention in either a positive
or negative way.
 The Zone of Tolerance
This tolerance zone, representing the difference between
desired service and the level of service considered adequate,
can expand and contract for a given customer.
An airline customer’s zone of tolerance will narrow when she
is running late and is concerned about making her plane. A
minute’s delay for anything that occurs prior to boarding the
plane seems much longer, and her adequate service level
increases.
On the other hand, a customer who arrives at the airport
early may have a larger tolerance zone, making the wait in
line far less noticeable than when he is pressed for time
 FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS OF SERVICE

Personal Needs-are those states or conditions essential to

the physical or psychological well-being of the customer and
are pivotal factors that shape what customers desire in
service.
Personal Service Philosophy -the customer’s underlying
generic attitude about the meaning of service highest
expectations and the proper conduct of service provider.
Derived Service Expectations-which occur when customer
expectations are driven by another person or group of
people.
 Sources of Adequate Service Expectations
A different set of determinants affects adequate service, the
level of service the customer finds acceptable. In general,
these influences are short-term and tend to fluctuate more
than the factors that influence desired service.
Perceived service alternatives- are other providers from
whom customers can, or perceive they can, obtain service.
If customers believe they have multiple service providers to
choose from, or if they can provide the service for
themselves their levels of adequate service are higher than
those of customers who believe it is not possible to get better
service elsewhere.
 Sources of Adequate Service Expectations
Situational Factors
Levels of adequate service are also influenced by situational
factors that are generally considered contemporary in nature
Uncontrollable situational factors- tornado
Personal situational factors- consist of short-term, individual
factors that make a customer more aware of the need for
service.
 Predicted Service

Predicted Service -the level of service that customers

anticipate they are likely to get.
Predicted service is typically an estimate or a calculation of
the service that a customer will receive in an individual
transaction rather than in the overall relationship with a
service provider.
Sources of Both Desired and Predicted Service Expectations

Explicit service promises are personal and nonpersonal

statements about the service made by the organization to
customers
Implicit service promises are service-related cues, other
than explicit promises, that lead to inferences about what the
service should and will be like.
Word-of-mouth communication-carries particular weight as
an information source because it is perceived as unbiased
Past experience, the customer’s previous exposure to
service that is relevant to the focal service, is another force
in shaping predictions and desires
Factors That Influence-Desired and Predicted Service

Explicit Service
Promises

Implicit Service
Promises

Desired Service Word-of-Mouth

Zone
Past Experience
of
Tolerance
Predicted
Adequate Service Service
Factors Influencing Customer Satisfaction
▪ Product quality
▪ Service quality
▪ Price
▪ Specific product or service features
▪ Consumer emotions
▪ Attributions for service success or failure
▪ Perceptions of equity or fairness
▪ Other consumers, family members, and coworkers
▪ Personal factors
▪ Situational factors
 Exercise to Identify Service Attributes
In groups of five, choose a services industry and spend 10 minutes
brainstorming specific requirements of customers in each of the
five service quality dimensions. Be certain the requirements reflect
the customer’s point of view.

Reliability:

Assurance:

Tangibles:

Empathy:

Responsiveness:
 The Service Encounter
▪ is the “moment of truth”
▪ occurs any time the customer interacts with the firm
▪ can potentially be critical in determining customer
satisfaction and loyalty
▪ types of encounters:
▪ Remote encounters, phone encounters, face-to-face
encounters
▪ is an opportunity to:
▪ Build trust
▪ Reinforce quality
▪ Build brand identity
▪ Increase loyalty