服务质量方面的优先次序外文翻译.docx

服务质量方面的优先次序外文翻译.docx

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服务质量方面的优先次序外文翻译

标题：

Prioritizingservicequalitydimensions

原文：

Inthe“ageofcustomer”deliveringqualityserviceisconsideredanessentialstrategyforsuccessandsurvivalintoday’scompetitiveenvironment（DawkinsandReichheld,1990;Parasuramanetal.,1985;ReichheldandSasser,1990;Zeithamletal.,1990）.Whatconstitutesservicequalityhasattractedtheattentionofresearchersallovertheworld.Thedebatecontinues.

Evenasresearcherscontinuetodebatethedeterminantsofservicequalityafewimportantissuesremainunanswered.Isthereauniversalsetofdeterminantsthatdeterminetheservicequalityacrossasectionofservices?

Doestheservicecharacteristicgetsreflectedinwhatcustomersexpectoutofdeliveryofaparticularservice?

Isthereaninherentdifferenceinservicesbecausetheymustbedeliveredinaparticularwayanddoesthathaveabearingonwhatbecomesimportantforthecustomer?

Practitionerscontinuetolookforadviceandsuggestionastowhatconstituteservicequalityfortheiroffersandfurthermore,iftheytendtorepositiontheiroffersbyvaryingsomecharacteristicsoftheiroffers,forexample,byincreasingorreducingtangibilityorcustomercontact,etc.Whataretheoperatingcharacteristicsofdeterminantsastheytogetherconstitutetheservicequality?

Thispaperisanattempttogenerateevidenceifdifferenceinservicesthatresultintopeculiarservicecharacteristicsreturnscustomerswithauniquesetofexpectations–thosedifferentfromotherservicetypes.Thepaperalsointendstoexamineifthedeterminantsofservicequalityshowsomepredictablebehaviorasservicetypetendtodifferbasedonsomecriterion.Thispaperthereforefirst,goesthroughthediscussionondeterminantsofservicequalityandthen,thereisasmalldiscussiononserviceclassificationswhichcanserveasbasisfordifferenceinservicenature.

Johnston（1995）suggeststhatoneofthepressingissuesbeforeservicesresearchconcernstheidentificationofthedeterminantsofservicequality.Thisshouldbeacentralconcernforservicemanagementacademicsandpractitioners,astheidentificationofthedeterminantsofservicequalityisnecessaryinordertobeabletospecifymeasure,controlandimprovecustomerperceivedservicequality.

Earlystudiesduring1980sfocusedondeterminingwhatservicequalitymeanttocustomersanddevelopingstrategiestomeetcustomerexpectations（Parasuramanetal.,1985）.TheearlypioneersofservicesmarketinginEurope,especiallytheNordicSchool,arguedthatservicequalityconsistsoftwoorthreeunderlyingdimensions.LehtinenandLehtinen（1985）referredtophysicalandinteractivequalitywhileGro¨nroos（1984）identifiedatechnicaldimension,afunctionaldimensionandthefirm’simageasathirddimension.Inlateryears,Parasuramanetal.（1988）publishedempiricalevidencefromfiveserviceindustriesthatsuggestedthatfivedimensionsmoreappropriatelycapturetheperceivedservicequalityconstruct.BuildingonthepioneeringworkoftheNordicSchoolofservicesmanagementandparticularlyChristianGronroos,theyestablishedservicequalityasthecoreofservicesmarketing.Theirlandmarkarticlein1985conceptualizedservicequalityasagapbetweenconsumers’expectationsandperceptions（Parasuramanetal.,1985）andinspiredmanyotherresearcherstoexaminetheservicesqualityconstructwithinamarketingpremise（Berryetal.,1985）.However,theircontributionhasnotgoneunchallenged.Muchofthisinteresthascenteredonthecontroversygeneratedbytheirservicequalitygapsmodel（Parasuramanetal.,1985）,andparticularlytheSERVQUALinstrumentdevelopedtomeasureservicequality（Parasuramanetal.,1988）.ManyresearcherswhohaveusedtheSERVQUALinstrumenthavebeencriticalofitsparadigmaticfoundation,itsconvergentanddiscriminantvalidity,theuseofdifferencescoresandtheuseofnegativelyphraseditems（Carman,1990;BabakusandBoller,1992;Peteretal.,1993;Buttle,1995）.

Variationsfromunidimensionality（CroninandTaylor,1992）totwo,three,four,sixandeightfactorstructureshavebeenreported（BabakusandBoller,1992;BrensingerandLambert,1990;Carman,1990;CliffandRyan,1994;Schneideretal.,1992）.SprengandSingh（1993）havehintedatthepossiblecombinationofsomeofthefivedimensionsduetohighinter-correlations.JohnstonandSilvestro（1990）wentontoaddthecustomer’sperspectivetothe12servicequalitycharacteristics.Thisledtotheidentificationofanadditionalfiveservicequalitydeterminants:

attentiveness/helpfulness,care,commitment,functionality,integrity;italsoledtoarefiningofsomeoftheotherdefinitions.Anumberofotherauthorshavealsopostulatedtheirowndeterminantsofservicequality,thoughinsomecasestheyappeartohavebeenbasedonBerryetal.’s（1985）wellpublicizedwork.

Lately,eventhedevelopersoftheinstrumenthaveproducedevidenceconfirmingthedoubtsexpressedaboutthefive-dimensionalconfiguration.Thus,despitethe“many”studieswhichhaveanalyzedthedimensionsmeasuredbySERVQUAL,“thereisnoclearconsensusonthenumberofdimensionsandtheirinterrelationships.”ThisuncertaintyhampersourunderstandingofservicequalityandcastsdoubtsovertheuseoftheSERVQUALinstrumentinfutureresearch.ItalsoshowsthataconsiderableamountofresearchstillneedstobedoneconcerningthedimensionalityofperceivedservicequalityingeneralandSERVQUALinparticular,ascalledforbyitsdevelopers（Parasuramanetal.,1994）.

ChowdharyandPrakash（2001）havesuggestedatwofactors’theory–thatamoredetailedapproachisrequiredwhereineachfactorneedstobeconsideredindependentlyandnotasanaggregatedimension.Theyreportevidencetosupporttwo-factortheoryforservicesthatwasdiscardedbyearlierresearchers.Theyarguetodifferentiatebetweenthefactorsandtheoutcomeofperformancealongthesefactors.Thestudydescribesthetwofactorsas“vantagefactors”and“qualifyingfactors.”Marketersneedtobeselectiveinthatcertainfactorsbehaveasvantagefactorswhileothersasqualifyingfactors.Thetwoaredifferentinnatureandrequireadifferentialtreatment.

Relativeimportanceofdimensions

Parasuramanetal.（1988）haveobservedthattheirinstrument（SERVQUAL）canbeusedtoevaluatetherelativeimportanceofthedimensionsofqualityininfluencingcustomers’overallperceptionsofaservice.Therelativeweightthatcustomersseemtogivetoeachqualitydimensioncanbedetermined.Oneoftheimportantresultsthathavebeenreportedintheearlystudiesofrelativeimportanceisthatcustomersarequiteconsistentinboththeirimputedandtheirdirectrankingsoftheimportanceoftheservicequalityattributes.Inonekeystudy（Parasuramanetal.,1988）,reliabilitywasdemonstratedtobethemostimportantdimensionandempathy（acompositeofunderstandingandaccess）theleastimportantacrossaseeminglywidearrayofservicetypes.Zeithamletal.（1990）alsoreport,usingavariationofSERVQUALthattangiblesprovestobeconsistentlyunimportant.Apertinentquestionhereisthatwhethersuchageneralizationispossible.Chowdhary（2000）suggestthatgeneralizationsaredifficulttomakebecauseofvariationinthebasicnatureofservices（labororcapitalintensity）andthatthetypeofindustryaffectthedesignofservice.Itwasseenthatempathyandresponsivenesswerefoundtobemoreimportantforlaborintensiveindustrywhiletangiblesandreliabilityaffectedtheassessmentofqualitydimensionsincaseofcapitalintensiveservices.Thiswasalsoconfirmedbytheresultsfromasimilarstudydonefor“ManagementEducation”wherethesinglemostimportantdimensionwastheknowledgeoftheteacher（assurance）.

Servicesuniquesellingpropositioncanbewovenarounddifferentcriteria（tangibility,customization,laborintensity,etc.）.Thiscriterioninturncouldbethekeyperformancedimension.Differentusergroupscanseeeachtypeofserviceinturnasperformingonanumberoffactorsacrossdifferentdimensions.Fromamongthesefactors,somearethekeyfactors（KFs）andarerelativelymoreimportantfortheconsumer.AnumberoftheseKFscouldbesimultaneouslyimportantfortheseusergroups,thoughtherelativeimportanceofthesedimensionsmayvaryfromoneusergrouptoanother.Theremayalsobeageneralshiftinconsumerpreferenceforadimension,forexample,from“medical-care”through“patient-care”to“hospital-care,”incaseoftheconsumersofhealthcare.Theirimportancemayalsovaryfromoneconsumertoanother.

Servicetypes

Serviceclassificationshavebeenofferedsinceearly1980s.Differentauthorshavesuggesteddifferenttaxonomiesbasedondifferentcriterions.Ofthesefourarenotworthy–Chase（1978）,ChaseandTansik（1983）,Schmenner（1986）,Wemmerlov（1990）andLovelock（1983）.Chasesegmentsbytheextentofcustomercontactinthedeliveryoftheservice.Schmennerclassifiesservicesusingtwodimensions,withthedegreesofinteraction（generalizedfrom“contact”）andcustomizationononeaxisandthedegreeoflaborintensityontheother.Wemmerlov（1990）morerecentlyproposedaclassificationschemewherethevariablesofdifferentiationarethedegreeofroutinizationoftheprocess,the“object”oftheserviceprocess,andcustomercontact.HisoperationalizationofcontactdiffersfrombothChaseandSchmennerinthathe

redefinesittobe“direct”“indirect”or“no”contactwiththecustomer,ratherthansimplyas“high”or“low”.Lovelock（1983）hassuggestedcategorizingservicesintofourdistinctivecategoriesbasedonwhataserviceorganizationisactuallyprocessingandhowdoesitperformthattask.Aservice