The Impact of Service Quality on Customer Satisfaction

In its contemporary conceptualization businesses with good service quality will either exceed or meet customer expectation thereby remaining top in the list of competition. The comparison between perceived performance and perceived expectations determines service quality. For businesses to increase their profitability and stay economically competitive, they must have improved service quality (Winer & Ravi, 2011). The main focus of customer care is to achieve high service quality. To enhance the quality of service focus need to be made on a quick and systematic identification of problems, improving operational processes, creating valid performance measures, and measuring customer satisfaction (Oliver, Balakrishnan & Barry, 1994).

            A customer will be disappointed when the perceived service delivery is lower than expected service. For example, upon seeking services from company X, a customer expects nothing else but satisfactory services. Company X agreed to install a bathroom suite, which was done but there were problems such as the flush did not work properly, and sink did not allow proper drainage. In this case, there was an expected service-perceived service gap, whereby the client expected a fully operational bathroom suite install which did not happen. This is the probable cause for unsuccessful service delivery (Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Berry, 1985). This is probably due to careless or speedy work done by workers on site to the extent that they did not test the performance of the bathroom.

            On the other hand, a customer will be satisfied when perceived service delivery matches with the expected service. For example, company Y was able to deliver satisfactory service since they installed an excellent bathroom suite that was adequately functional without defects. Perfect service delivery is possible when the management assesses the quality of service of their employees to ensure work is done correctly and appropriately. Follow-up and keen supervision also enable employees to perform at their best.

References

Oliver, R. L., Balakrishnan, P. S., & Barry, B. (1994). Outcome satisfaction in negotiation: A test      of expectancy disconfirmation. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision         Processes, 60(2), 252-275.

Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1985). A conceptual model of service quality             and its implications for future research. the Journal of Marketing, 41-50.

Winer, R. S. & Ravi, D.(2011). Marketing management (pp. 1-638). Boston, MA: Prentice Hall.