Assessing The Fit And Stability Of Alternative Measures Of Service Quality

Abstract

Despite continued research, no single approach to assessing service quality has emerged as a standard, and reconciliation of the differences among these approaches remains quixotic. This paper focuses on the empirical assessment of different approaches to measuring service quality. Furthermore, this work examines the stability of these approaches by comparing the different measures among three companies within the same industry. Two of these approaches (difference scores and perceptions only) are discussed in the existing literature. The third approach (log of the ratio) is introduced in this work because of its potential quantitative advantage for assessing service quality while preserving the comparison between perceptions and expectations. A fourth approach (ratio) is included for completeness. Despite the proposed advantages of the log of the ratio approach, results suggest that the different score performs the best. Moreover, the five-factor solution originally posited by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1988) provides a better fit than the one-factor solution advanced by Cronin and Taylor (1992). While these findings substantiate Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berrys approach, the strength of the model fit still suggests a need for continued development of measure to effectively assess service quality.