The Application of Servqual in the Hospitality Industry - Literature review Example

SERVQUAL in Hospitality industry Servqual has been said to be very effective tool in measuring service quality and many researchers have used the tool to measure service quality in specific situations. They found that amongst the hotel customers, the most important service quality dimensions are: assurance, reliability and tangibles. Many further studies (Saleh & Ryan 1999, pp. 324-343; Fick & Ritchie 1991, pp. 2-9) suggested the absence of any significant differences among the rankings of any of the five dimensions. The application of SERVQUAL to two fine dining restaurants revealed the emergence of assurance, and reliability as importance expectations of the customers, and tangibles as the least important (Lee & Hing 1995, pp. 293-310). Gabbie and O’Neill (1997, pp: 43-49) in their research in the hotel sector found that reliability and assurance were the most important customer expectations, while tangibility and empathy were the lowest. The various attributes that have been perceived important by hotel guests are Cleanliness (Atkinson 1988; Knutson 1988; Gundersen, Heide and Olsson 1996), security and safety (Atkinson, 1988; Knutson, 1988; Gundersen et al. 1996), employees’ empathy and competence (Atkinson 1988; Knutson 1988; Barsky and Labagh 1992; Gundersen, Heide and Olsson 1996; Choi and Chu 2001; Markovic 2004), convenient location (Knutson 1988; Barsky and Labagh 1992), value for money (Atkinson 1988; Gundersen, Heide and Olsson 1996; Choi and Chu 2001) and physical facilities (Choi and Chu 2001; Markovi ´c 2004). Alternate models SERVQUAL has been a popular instrument among researchers to examine the expectations of the consumers of the service provided by a hotel, but other instruments have been developed for the hospitality industry such as LODGQUAL, LODGSERV,DINESERV, HOLSAT and GROVQUAL (Komppula 2006). SERVQUAL still remains the standard tool used. They found the tool to be a viable and reliable instrument (Babakus & Boller 1992, pp. 253-268; Carman 1990, pp. 33-55). Cronin and Taylor (1992) argued that the expectancy-disconfirmation theory (Oliver, 1980, 1981) intervenes in the customer’s perceptions of the service quality as compared to defining them. They claimed that performance rather than expectations should be used to measure customer’s perception of service quality. The model “SERVPERF” was developed on the basis of the adequacy-importance model and represents customers’ perception of service quality through the same. The authors tested the tool in four industries and found that it is more effective than servqual in finding service quality variations. The approach to use performance to measure service quality has been used by various authors. The model was used by Choi and Chu (2001) to measure travelers’ perceptions of hotel attributes in Honk Kong Hotels; by Juwaheer (2004) to measure the same in Mauritius’s hotels; and by Poon et al. (2005) in Malaysian hotels. Studies have suggested that SERVPERF is a better tool to analyze empirical variance as compared to the SERVQUAL (Cronin and Taylor 1992, pp. 55-68; Boulding et al. 1993, pp. 7-27). At the same time, studies have also suggested that the scores on the basis of expectancy-disconfirmation model are more effective than scores from adequacy-importance models (Bolton and Drew 1991, pp. 375-384). Knutson et al. (1990, pp. 277-284) used an adapted version of the SERVQUAL instrument to measure service quality in the lodging industry. They used only the expectation items to measure the customers’ expectations from a hotel. It was found that reliability is the most important factor which is followed by Assurance, Responsiveness, Tangibles and Empathy. A similar kind of adapted version was used by Stevens et al (1995, pp.56-60) in restaurants. The study revealed that the most important factor is the reliability which is then followed by tangibles, assurance, responsiveness and empathy respectively. Lodgserv was developed to measure the service quality in the lodging industry Knutson, Stevens, Patton, & Thompson, 1992; Knutson, Stevens, Wullaert, & Patton, 1991; Knutson, Stevens, Wullaert, Patton et al., 1991). The researchers used the SERVQUAL instrument on the restaurant industry, and refined the same on the basis of their experience. The model had five original servqual dimensions of tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy; and had 40 items. The researchers used confirmatory factor analysis to ascertain the five dimensions of service quality. It was found that reliability was the most important of the five dimensions followed by assurance, responsiveness, tangibles, and empathy (empathy (Knutson, Stevens, Wullaert, Patton and Yokoyama, 1990). Later, Knutson et al. (1990) evaluated the statistical methodology itself by comparing the use of confirmatory analysis and factor analsysis in index testing and refinement. The tool was used by Knutson et al. (1992) to study customer expectations of service quality in mid-price and luxury hotels. It was found that the five dimensions maintained the same ranking positions and the customer service quality expectation increases with increase in the prices. The tool was also translated into other languages and was run in five different cultures (Patton et al., 1994). The tool was able to ascertain its high validity level across all the five cultures. Lodgqual and holserv are other models that have been developed by researchers through adaptions to the SERVQUAL. Lodgqual was developed by Getty and Thompson (1994) and had three dimensions: tangibles, reliability and contact. Holserv on the other hand used the five original servqual dimensions and contained 27 statements. Stevens, Knutson and Patton (1995) adapted the SERVQUAL model to measure service quality in restaurants. This model called dineserv had 29 items and was based on the five servqual dimensions. The model was used to conduct surveys at periodic intervals and measure the changes in perceptions that arise because of changes in the normative expectations and the changes in service quality delivered. The tool has been used in a variety of settings in the restaurant business including airport restaurants (Heung, Wong, & Qu, 2000), fine dining restaurants (Knutson, Steven, & Patton, 1995), casual dining restaurants (Knutson, Steven, & Patton, 1995; Kim, McCahon & Miller, 2000; Wu, Hoover, & Williams, 2000), mid-price Chinese restaurant (Wu, Goh, Lin, & Poynter, 1999), quick service restaurants (Knutson, Steven, & Patton, 1995; Huang, 2000), and assisted living facilities (Patnaude & Graves, 2000). The diveperf model developed by O’Neill et al. (2000) was developed to measuring the perceived service quality of diving services. The model had 27 items and made use of the five servqual dimentions Ecoserv, developed by Khan (2003) was used to measure the service quality expectations of customers in eco-tourisms. The tool was based on the five servqual dimensions and had 30 line items. Uran (2004) made use of the basic servqual model and developed the model for measurement of internal service quality – INSQPLUS. The authors proposed the existence of five gaps: Positioning Gap; Specification Gap; Service Delivery Gap; Commmunication Gap and the Rating Gap. Conclusion SERVQUAL has been a very useful tool for providing a framework for measuring the service quality in the hospitality sector. The literature review of the application of the SERVQUAL model in the hospitality industry suggests that although providing a solid basis for measuring service quality in hotels, researchers have often used various adaptations of the model to suit their particular research requirements. References Atkinson, A. 1988. Answering the eternal question: What does the customer want? The Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly 29 (2): 12–14. Barsky, J. D., and R. Labagh. 1992. A strategy for customer satisfaction. The Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly 35 (3): 32– 40. Choi, T. Y., and R. Chu. 2001. Determinants of hotel guests’ satisfaction and repeat patronage in the Hong Kong hotel industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management 20 (3): 277–297. Fick, G. R., Ritchie, J. R. (1991). Measuring service quality in the travel and tourism industry. Journal of Travel Research, 30, 2, pp. 2-9. Gabbie, O., O’Neill, M. (1997). SERVQUAL and the Northern Ireland hotel sector: a comparative analysis – part 2. Managing Service Quality, 17, 1, pp. 43-49. Getty, J., and K. Thomopson. 1994. A procedure for scaling perceptions of lodging quality. Hospitality Research Journal 18 (2): 75–96. Gundersen, M. G., M. Heide, and U. H. Olsson. 1996. Hotel guest satisfaction among business travelers: What are the important factors? The Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly 37 (2): 72– 81. Heung, V., Wong, M.Y., & Qu, H. (2000). Airport foodservice in Hong Kong: A study of tourists’ perceptions, satisfactions, and likelihood of their recommendations to others. Proceedings of the Fifth Annual Graduate Education and Graduate Students Research Conference in Hospitality & Tourism, 19-30. (January 6-8, 2000). Juwaheer, T. D. 2004. Exploring international tourists’ perceptions of hotel operations by using a modified servqual approach: A case study of Mauritius. Managing Service Quality 14 (5): 350–364. Kim, H. J., McCahon, C., & Miller, J. (2000). Service quality in Korean casual dining restaurants. Proceedings of Fifth Annual Graduate Education and Graduate Students Research Conference in Hospitality & Tourism, 312-314. (January 6-8, 2000) Knutson, B., Stevens, P., & Patton, M. (1995). DINESERV：Measuring service quality in quick service, casual/theme, and fine dining restaurants. Journal of Hospitality & Leisure Marketing. Vol (3/2), 35-44. Knutson, B., Stevens, P., Patton, M., & Thompson, C. (1992). Consumers' expectations for service quality in economy, mid-price and luxury hotels. Journal of Hospitality and Leisure Marketing, 1(2), 27-43. Knutson, B., Stevens, P., Wullaert, C., & Patton, M. (1991). Service expectation index: a discussion of confirmatory analysis and factor analysis as methods of index texting and refinement. Hospitality Research Journal, 14(2), 413-419. Knutson, B., Stevens, P., Wullaert, C., Patton, M., & Fumito, Y. (1991). LODGSERV: A service quality index for the lodging industry. Hospitality Research Journal, 14(2), 177-284. Knutson, B., Yokoyama, F., Patton, M., & Thompson, C. (1990). Service expectation index: a comparison of confirmatory analysis and factor analysis as methods of index testing and refinement. Hospitality Research Journal, 14(2), 413-420. Knutson, B. 1988. Frequent travellers: Making themhappy and bringing them back. The Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly 29 (1): 83–87. Lee, Y. L., Hing, N. (1995). 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Patton. 1995. dineserv: A tool for measuring service quality in restaurants. The Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly 36 (2): 56–60. Source: Uran, M. (2004): Model INSQPLUS – a model for evaluating internal service quality, Tourism and hospitality industry 2004, no. 1, pp. 1019 – 1027. Wu, C. K., Goh, B.Y., Lin, K., & Chen P. (1999) Measuring service quality in restaurant operations: an application of the dineserv instrument. Proceedings of the conference on Graduate Education and Graduate Students Research, 626-634. (January 4-6,1999) Wu, K., Hoover, L., & Williams, C. (2000). Measuring customer satisfaction level in a casual dining restaurant. Proceedings of Fifth Annual Graduate Education and Graduate Students Research Conference in Hospitality & Tourism, 269-272. (January 6-8, 2000) Read More