International Journal of Service Industry Management

Peter J. Danaher; Vanessa Haddrell

1996 International Journal of Service Industry Management

doi: 10.1108/09564239610129922

Many different scales have been used to measure customer satisfaction. These scales can be divided into three main groups, being those measuring performance, disconfirmation and satisfaction. Reports on the design and execution of a study of hotel guests in which they were asked to rate the key service attributes of their stay using all three of these measurement scales. Repurchase intention and word‐of‐mouth effects were also measured. Compares the scales on the basis of reliability, convergent and discriminant validity, predictive validity, skewness, face validity and managerial value for directing a quality improvement programme. Shows the disconfirmation scale to be superior to both the performance and satisfaction scales on all these criteria except for predictive validity. In addition, the performance scale was generally better than the satisfaction scale on a number of these criteria.

Roger Hallowell

1996 International Journal of Service Industry Management

doi: 10.1108/09564239610129931

Presents the findings of a study performed on data from a large bank’s retail‐banking operations. Illustrates the relationship of customer satisfaction to customer loyalty, and customer loyalty to profitability, using multiple measures of satisfaction, loyalty, and profitability. An estimate of the effects of increased customer satisfaction on profitability (assuming hypothesized causality) suggests that attainable increases in satisfaction could dramatically improve profitability.

Curtis P. McLaughlin; James A. Fitzsimmons

1996 International Journal of Service Industry Management

doi: 10.1108/09564239610129940

International trade in services is growing rapidly despite many barriers to trade. Consumer services are being established world wide and increasingly business services are becoming globalized in much the same way that manufacturing is outsourcing overseas. The manager of a service organization can no longer ignore international competition in services, especially the globalization of back‐room operations. Service managers need a framework in which to develop a global service strategy. Addresses two questions which managers face when developing a global service strategy: what are the factors that we can use to classify services in terms of their potential for moving globally; and how do these factors translate into strategies for the globalization of specific services? The most common dimensions for classifying service operations include consumer involvement and customization, complexity of inputs and outputs, and labour intensity. Examines five generic strategies: multi‐country expansion; importing customers; following your customers; service unbundling; and beating the clock.

F. Ian Stuart; Stephen S. Tax

1996 International Journal of Service Industry Management

doi: 10.1108/09564239610129959

Studies focusing on service quality management suggest that service firms spend too little effort on planning for service quality. The ensuing costs associated with poor service quality planning lead to lower profitability as part of the “cycle of service failures”. Examines how a quality planning technique (quality function deployment) (QFD) can be modified and adapted for use in a service environment to help prevent service failures. Illustrates the potential for the quality function deployment process as an effective tool at both the strategic planning level and the tactical level using the front‐desk activities in a hotel as an example. Also discusses the potential application of the QFD process to other design and planning challenges.