What is Customer Service Quality - Essay Example

?2. Service Quality 2 What is Service Quality? service includes a series of factors connected to the skills and knowledge of staff to meet the requirements of customers in an effort to meet their needs and ensure they continue doing business with the company. For Lucas (2005, p.4), customer service means the employees’ capacity to provide both their external and internal clients such satisfactory products and services. Once customers are satisfied by the products and services of the company, Lucas (2005, p.4) added that it leads to convincing word – of – mouth which then causes a good business return. In terms of having a customer service of quality, quality of service is defined by Parasuraman et al. (1985) as a satisfaction outcome between the actual service rendered by a certain organization and the expected desired service of the customer from the company. In the event of assessment of the quality of service, Parasuraman et al. (1985) added that this is subjected not only on the final outcomes of actual service but it also depends during various operations of the company’s service. Meanwhile, from the point of view of the customers, the service quality is shaped by five elements namely service delivery, physical aspects of service, service delivery system, service product or primary service, and social responsibility (Sureshchandar et al., 2001, p 113). 2.2 Examining the Notion of Service Quality The important outcome of different elements like customer retention, performance as well as cost – effectiveness is what we know as quality of service. According to Parasuraman et al. (1988), the quality of service is one among the different mechanisms applied by a lot of institutions to achieve success. Given the satisfaction of the customer with the company, it is more likely that that particular customer will transact with that specific company once more. In particular, it is the case that companies may possibly apply the parameter of quality of service as a defensive marketing scheme through lowering costs which results to customer retention (Parasuman & Grewal, 2000, p14). Apart from that, service quality can also be used by businesses as an offensive marketing approach through gaining bigger market share (Parasuman & Grewal, 2000, p14). Service quality is the end product of competition among companies to fulfill customers’ needs successfully. It is suggested that how quality of service is perceived by customers is more often that the not, the major cause for his or her return (Lucas, 2005 p. 342). Given this, companies should create a quality system to attend the needs of customers in order to yield success in the market competition (Berry & Parasuraman, 1997, p.66). Meanwhile, in terms of quality of service, there are three kinds of customers which are internal, external and competitors’ customers (Berry & Parasuraman, 1997). They have engaged in a debate that an integrated information system based on all three customer categories helps in achieving high quality service and facilitates decision - making activities of different organizations. On the one hand, Berry and Parasuraman (1997, p.66) claimed that measuring the expected service, emphasis on the quality of information, describing the words of clients, connecting the performance of services to the business results, and also reaching all staff members of the company are the parameters to meet the prerequisites of quality of service. On the one hand, Parasuraman et al. (1985, p.7) stated that goods are easier to evaluate than the service quality because it is heterogeneous and intangible and same with the fact that product and consumption are two inseparable entities. Berry (1980) agreed with Parasuraman et al. (1985). As Berry (1980) pointed out, the difficulty of measuring services is due to work environment that renders service like building and office decor. Meanwhile, the most significant key determining factors of quality of service are identified by Parasuraman et al. (1985). However, according to their research investigation, these important elements are gaps in obtaining a quality service. First, the negative satisfaction rating on quality of service is due to the difference between the management and customers’ expectations. Second, point of view of clients regarding quality of service is affected when there is a disparity existing between the actual service rendered by businesses and the perceptions of clients and the management itself. This second gap is probably caused by the staff’s contradictory skills and ability to render satisfactory customer service needs. Third, the customer’s impression on the quality of service is shaped by the mismatch between the actual service offered to the customers and the specifications of product as well as the quality itself. This can be observed through not actually fulfilling the customer expectations that have come up from advertising. Fourth, what affects the considerations of quality of service offered to the clients is the inequality that exists involving the actual service performance and their claims regarding services. Last, there is the gap existing amid the perceived service as well as the expected service. This is referred to as degree of service quality. There is higher quality of service when gap is lowered while there is lower quality when otherwise. 2.3 Rationalization of Service Quality Researches have been undertaken to help measure the quality of service, based on a number of factors. Parasuraman et al. (1985) recognized a number of elements of quality of service. The quality of service can be determined by the degree to which the organization satisfies these determinants. First is reliability. This means the ability of the company to supply the service to its clients given a specific period of time. Likewise, the company must satisfy to its clients the made promises and commitments. For example, the bill should be accurate, and data recorded and detailed. Second is responsiveness. This is referred to the capacity of the company to rapidly attend to the needs and demands of the customer based on what is expected. Third is competence. The institution must be composed of highly skilled team members in terms of technical as well as communication skills. Fourth is access. It is important for the customers to easily contact the organization in a number of ways. The company must be accessible through different channels such as email, social media, website, telephone and others. Apart from that, service quality is also influenced by waiting time. Fifth is courtesy. It is a must to be respectful and appreciative for the staff of company regardless of where he or she is based in the office or even if he or she is a customer representative answering inquiries through hotlines. Likewise, smart personal appearance is important in terms of personal contact with clients. Sixth is communication. The company’s ability to communicate with clients clearly matters. Aside from that, communication between two parties should be easy to comprehend. Most especially, the staffs of the company must courteously communicate with customers. Other factors have also been identified as impacting the assessment of service quality. The components in the evaluation of quality of service include the following: first, the feeling of security that the company gives to its customers; second, the credibility of company; and knowing and meeting the needs of the clients. Underpinned by factor analysis, Parasuraman et al (1988) subsequently condensed these ten factors into only five service quality components. In their SERVQUAL framework, the elements of service quality consist of empathy, responsiveness, reliability, tangibles and assurance. On the one hand, a tool for measuring both experience and expectations is created using the five components of service quality. Successful organizations are taking the initiatives in offering their clients services of high quality instead of doing this as a reaction to certain conditions, such as complaints from customers (Gerson, 1993). A similar view is taken by Lucas (2005 p.52), who lists exhibit seven elements of customers’ desires. First is personal recognition through giving birthday cards, appreciation notes and thank-you cards. Second is timeliness of service. The customer values time. This means, a short waiting time is what they expect from the company. Nevertheless, if the client is made to wait for such a long time due to different grounds, then customer happens to be dissatisfied with their rendered service. Third is professionalism. It is a must for the customer service staffs to be professional at all times when dealing with their clients regardless of whatever concerns they raise to the staffs. Fourth is empathy. To achieve a quality service, it is also a requirement for the company staffs to understand the wants and needs of customer. It is the obligation of the staff to adjust if for example, the client cannot communicate well in English. Fifth is courtesy. Customers of course like the staffs to treat them courteously through saying worlds like “thank you” or “please”. Apart from it, being courteous prevents troublesome encounter with clients. Sixth is patience. Despite the fact that clients can be annoyed regardless of any reason during the conversation with customer service representatives, the staff should be patient enough to stay calm when dealing with clients. Seventh is enthusiastic service. The satisfaction of customers on quality of service improves with enthusiastic staffs in attending their problems and needs as well as when they carefully and attentively listen to their sides. These elements together may be viewed to overlay with the dimensions of the SERVQUAL framework. Responsiveness and professionalism to assurance components of SERVQUAL model resembles the timeliness of service. Nonetheless, despite the case that the service of high quality rendered by different institutions affects business success, this parameter alone is not enough to yield successful returns in business. In terms of managing quality, Edvardsson et al (1994, p.2) suggested that the concept of right quality is much more useful than using the term high quality. Also, it is the case that it is argued by Lucas (2005, p. 342) that listening skills must be enhanced in order to qualify a better service professional. Given this, a question is raised on how to obtain feedback on customer satisfaction as well as quality of service for the encouragement of customer retention. Therefore, since the SERVQUAL model (Parasuraman et al, 1988) is associated with a measurement instrument, which has been widely used and is adaptable to a variety of contexts, it will be taken as a basis for measuring service quality in this study. 3. Customer Satisfaction: 3.1 Customer Satisfaction: An Elaborative Definition There is a noted difference between a customer and a consumer. It is stated that a customer can be a business entity or an individual itself who purchases and pay for a product (Parasuraman & Grewal 2000, p. 10). On the one hand, a consumer is defined by Parasuraman and Grewal (2000, p. 10) as the product consumer or product user. In addition, there are classifications of customers and the determinants of good customers from the viewpoint of companies. Meanwhile, Patterson and Marks (1992, p. 17) identified the characteristics that make up a good customers. First, they definitely know what their wants are. Second, they must spend money. Third, they should always come back to that particular business. Fourth, they must give suggestions or feedback. Fifth, they should be parts of advertisement through recommending to others their services or products. Hennig-Thurau and Klee (1997) indicated that studies and writing about customer satisfaction began during the middle years of 1970s. Nevertheless, the recent definitions of the term are as follows. Gerpott et al. (2001) described customer satisfaction as the degree of meeting the needs of customer against with his or her expected service to be provided by the company. In the telecommunications industry, satisfaction of customers is the perceived overall performance of a company through the areas of loyalty, value for money, satisfactory provision of service and same with the management of relationship (Athanassopoulos & Iliakopoulos 2003, p. 226). It is a must for the companies to meet the customers demand so that clients will be satisfied on their products as well as services (Disney, 1999). In some cases, even policies of the company must be changed just to meet the requirements of the clients in order to satisfy their customers. Hence, Tesco, a company in United Kingdom, is an example for it adjusted its policies to the demands of clients like providing open parking while guaranteeing products of high quality in order to yield good satisfaction ratings from customers (Disney, 1999). In addition to that, cultural values of customers serve as the basis for these needs. More often than not, these values function as strong determinants of the needs of customers and at the same time, it also affects the decision – making processes in purchasing (Lucas 2005, p. 209). However, it is important to note that these values do change based on the customer’s culture, religion, beliefs, attitudes as well as the other factors (Lucas 2005, p. 209). On the overall, satisfaction of customers is their overall assessment rating with regards to the performance of a product or even service (Gustafsson et al. 2005, p. 210). Being satisfied in all parameters results to a strong positive impact on customer retention (Gustafsson et al. 2005, p. 210). This creates loyal clients (Gustafsson et al. 2005, p. 210). Hence, it is significant to note that in the evaluation of the degree of performance as well as productivity, the satisfaction of customers is a key driver across all sectors. On the one hand, Gerpott et al. (2001) claimed that different institutions consider customer satisfaction since it leads to loyalty of customers, hence, customer retention. This makes satisfaction of customers a very important element for businesses to have loyal clients (Lucas 2005, p. 340). Thus, it happens to be a tool for making productive as well as profitable businesses (Lucas 2005, p. 340). In this regard, companies work out for satisfying their customers given the strong competition in the market. Moreover, it is of relevance to the company to concentrate on what the needs of customers are in order to meet these particular needs (Flanagan & Fredericks, 1993). Doing so will result to satisfying the customers. However, if the customer needs are not given attention, companies just do waste their resources like money and time (Flanagan & Fredericks, 1993). The businesses have an edge of captivating a bigger market share over the others when they can figure out the level of customer satisfaction of their clients. 3.2 An Existing Relationship between Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction Brady and Robertson (2001) stated that there are a number of theories concerning how quality of service is related to satisfaction of customers. One of those claimed that there is a direct existing relationship between the quality of service and the satisfaction of customers. This relationship complements the level of superiority as well as excellence. The other theory assumes satisfaction of customers serves as a precursor to quality of service. Apart from these, the other perspective claimed that the quality of service is an element that determines how satisfied the customers are. Some of the studies conducted on telecommunications companies for example confirmed the existence of such a relationship. In a case study of Telekom Malaysia Behead by Khatibi et al. (2002), they confirmed the relationship that exists between the quality of service and satisfaction of customers. Likewise, satisfaction of customers is also found to be correlated with retention of customers. This is supported by Gerpott et al. (2001). They found out that satisfaction of customers directly impacts their loyalty to the company (Gerpott et al. 2001, p. 253). Besides, this loyalty serves as a key element of retaining customers (Gerpott et al. 2001, p. 253). In addition to that, quality of service is found out to be linked with satisfaction of customers as well as their behavior like buying habits (Brady & Robertson, 2001). Even though the literatures suggested how the quality of service is connected with the satisfaction of clients, the relationship varies in a number of factors. On the one hand, there are many components that differentiate the quality of service from the satisfaction of customers including the specific aspect that brings about the judgments of quality, quality perceptions, and same with quality itself (Taylor & Baker, 1994 p. 165). In this review of how satisfaction of customer may be related with quality of service, it can be said that there are wide – ranging aspects on which they can be possibly linked. However, generally, the literatures suggested that quality of service influences how satisfied or dissatisfied from a company a customer can be. Read More