Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You and Your Team.

Learn More →

Applying importance‐performance analysis to assess service delivery performance Evidence from Greek insurance

Applying importance‐performance analysis to assess service delivery performance Evidence from... Purpose – The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the potential of importance‐performance (IP) analysis as a decision‐making tool for service management, employing IP analysis to assess the performance of Greek insurance in delivering quality services. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected in a two‐stage survey. In both stages, respondents were asked to provide importance and performance scores, in identical seven‐point Likert scales, for the 25 service attributes identified for Greek insurance. In order to qualify for the sample, individuals had to be over the age of 25 and have at least one insurance policy and one service encounter with their insurers within the previous three months. The two methodological streams of IP analysis, “gap analysis” and IP maps, were employed to analyse the data. Findings – The value of importance‐performance analysis as a tool for managerial decision making in services was reaffirmed. Contrary to previous findings on insurers' reluctance to respond to their customers' quality requests, Greek insurance was found to have adequate reflexes in this respect. In stage one, the dimensions Responsiveness and Assurance were positioned in the “keep up the good work”, Reliability in the “concentrate”, Empathy in the “low priority” and Tangibles in the “possible overkill” quadrants of the importance‐performance map. In stage two, the industry was found to have taken actions towards keeping‐up with its customers' requirements. Research limitations/implications – The main limitations of this study are that it was based on a single service industry and that convenience sampling was used. However, its methodology and results are valid for various industries in the service sector and provide a solid basis for future research. Originality/value – Service managers can exploit the approach taken by this study to improve service management. Greek insurers have to keep considering the needs and wants of their customers regarding service delivery. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png EuroMed Journal of Business Emerald Publishing

Applying importance‐performance analysis to assess service delivery performance Evidence from Greek insurance

Evangelos Tsoukatos
EuroMed Journal of Business , Volume 3 (2): 19 – Jul 18, 2008
Download PDF
19 pages
Read Article

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/applying-importance-performance-analysis-to-assess-service-delivery-A30Sp93gdn
Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
ISSN
1450-2194
DOI
10.1108/14502190810891209
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the potential of importance‐performance (IP) analysis as a decision‐making tool for service management, employing IP analysis to assess the performance of Greek insurance in delivering quality services. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected in a two‐stage survey. In both stages, respondents were asked to provide importance and performance scores, in identical seven‐point Likert scales, for the 25 service attributes identified for Greek insurance. In order to qualify for the sample, individuals had to be over the age of 25 and have at least one insurance policy and one service encounter with their insurers within the previous three months. The two methodological streams of IP analysis, “gap analysis” and IP maps, were employed to analyse the data. Findings – The value of importance‐performance analysis as a tool for managerial decision making in services was reaffirmed. Contrary to previous findings on insurers' reluctance to respond to their customers' quality requests, Greek insurance was found to have adequate reflexes in this respect. In stage one, the dimensions Responsiveness and Assurance were positioned in the “keep up the good work”, Reliability in the “concentrate”, Empathy in the “low priority” and Tangibles in the “possible overkill” quadrants of the importance‐performance map. In stage two, the industry was found to have taken actions towards keeping‐up with its customers' requirements. Research limitations/implications – The main limitations of this study are that it was based on a single service industry and that convenience sampling was used. However, its methodology and results are valid for various industries in the service sector and provide a solid basis for future research. Originality/value – Service managers can exploit the approach taken by this study to improve service management. Greek insurers have to keep considering the needs and wants of their customers regarding service delivery.

Journal

EuroMed Journal of Business – Emerald Publishing

Published: Jul 18, 2008

Keywords: Customer services quality; Insurance; Greece

References

  • Importance‐performance analysis for improving quality of campus food service
    Aigbedo, H.; Parameswaran, R.
  • Quality, self‐regulation, and competition: the case of insurance
    Anderson, F.; Skogh, G.
  • A comparison of approaches to importance‐performance analysis
    Bacon, D.R.
  • The Service Provider Switching Model (SPSM): a model of consumer switching behaviour in the service industry
    Bansal, H.S.; Taylor, S.F.
  • Discovering the Soul of Service: The Nine Drivers of Sustainable Business Success
    Berry, L.L.
  • Marketing Services: Competing through Quality
    Berry, L.L.; Parasuraman, A.
  • The service quality puzzle
    Berry, L.L.; Parasuraman, A.; Zeithaml, V.A.
  • Identifying latently dissatisfied customers and measures for dissatisfaction management
    Bloemer, J.; Brijs, T.; Swinnen, G.; Vanhoof, K.
  • Some new thoughts on conceptualizing perceived service quality: a hierarchical approach
    Brady, M.K.; Cronin, J.J. Jr
  • Performance‐only measurement of service quality: a replication and extension
    Brady, M.K.; Cronin, J.J.; Brand, R.R.
  • SERVQUAL: review, critique, research agenda
    Buttle, F.
  • Measuring airline's service quality: SERVQUAL or SERVPERF?
    Chang, D.; Lim, S‐B.; Jean, S.; Ji, H.; Seo, H.
  • Marketing your community: image analysis in Norfolk
    Chon, K.; Weaver, P.A.; Kim, C.
  • Service quality and marketing performance in business‐to‐business markets: exploring the mediating role of client satisfaction
    Chumpitaz, R.; Paparoidamis, N.G.
  • An investigation of the relative efficacy of four alternative approaches to importance‐performance analysis
    Crompton, J.L.; Duray, N.A.
  • Measuring service quality: a reexamination and extension
    Cronin, J.J. Jr; Taylor, S.A.
  • Persistency in UK long‐term insurance: customer satisfaction and service quality
    Diacon, S.; O'Brien, C.
  • Service quality measurement and the disconfirmation model: taking care in interpretation
    Drew‐Rosen, L.; Karwan, K.R.; Scribner, L.L.
  • Insurance industry faces shrinkage margins and must re‐engineer its businesses to stay profitable
    Drury, S.
  • Forging relationships with services: the antecedents that have an impact on behavioural outcomes in the life insurance industry
    Durvasula, S.; Lysonski, S.; Mehta, S.C.; Tang, B‐P.
  • Management Research: An Introduction
    Easterby‐Smith, M.; Thorpe, R.; Lowe, A.
  • Importance‐performance analysis and the measurement of service quality
    Ennew, C.T.; Reed, G.V.; Binks, M.R.
  • Formulating and evaluating tourism policy using importance‐performance analysis
    Evans, M.R.; Chon, K.
  • Total Quality Control
    Feigenbaum, A.
  • Beliefs, Attitudes, Intentions, and Behavior: An Introduction to Theory and Research
    Fishbein, M.; Ajzen, I.
  • Service Management Operations, Strategy, and Information Technology
    Fitzsimmons, J.A.; Fitzsimmons, M.J.
  • A national customer satisfaction barometer: the Swedish experience
    Fornell, C.
  • The relationships between culture and service quality perceptions: basis for cross‐cultural market segmentation and resource allocation
    Furrer, O.; Liu, B.S‐C.; Sudharshan, D.
  • Importance‐satisfaction analysis: a diagnostic tool for organizational change
    Graf, L.A.; Hemmasi, M.; Nielsen, W.
  • Strategic Management and Marketing in the Service Sector
    Grönroos, C.
  • A service quality model and its marketing implications
    Grönroos, C.
  • Service Management and Marketing: A Customer Relationship Management Approach
    Grönroos, C.
  • The perceived service quality concept – a mistake?
    Grönroos, C.
  • Survey Errors and Survey Costs
    Groves, R.M.
  • Measuring service quality for strategic planning and analysis in service firms
    Hemmasi, M.; Strong, K.; Taylor, S.
  • Service Breakthroughs: Changing the Rules of the Game
    Heskett, J.L.; Sasser, W.E.; Hart, C.W.L.
  • Use of importance‐performance analysis to evaluate state park cabins: the case of the West Virginia state park system
    Hollenhorst, S.; Olson, D.; Fortney, R.
  • Distinguishing service quality and customer satisfaction: the voice of the consumer
    Iacobucci, D.; Ostrom, A.; Grayson, K.
  • Customers' perception of electronic service delivery in the UK retail banking sector
    Ibrahim, E.E.; Joseph, M.; Ibeh, K.I.N.
  • Private insurance – market study
    ICAP
  • Quality Management and Quality Assurance – Vocabulary
    ISO
  • Brand loyalty vs repeat purchasing behaviour
    Jacoby, J.; Kyner, D.B.
  • An exploratory study on the use of banking technology in the UK
    Joseph, M.; Sekhon, Y.; Stone, G.; Tinson, J.
  • Service quality: a study of quality dimensions
    Lehtinen, U.; Lehtinen, J.R.
  • Service quality: recent developments in financial services
    Lewis, B.
  • The marketing aspects of service quality
    Lewis, R.C.; Booms, B.H.
  • Using importance‐performance analysis to evaluate e‐business strategies among small businesses
    Magal, S.R.; Levenburg, N.M.
  • Importance‐performance analysis
    Martilla, J.A.; James, J.C.
  • Exploration of SERVQUAL's efficacy via the diagnosis and improvement of service quality in Kenya's insurance industry
    Marwa, S.M.
  • The industry speaks: results of the WFIC insurance survey
    Moore, J.F.; Santomero, A.M.
  • Revisiting importance‐performance analysis
    Oh, H.
  • Quality evaluation in on‐line service environments: an application of the importance‐performance measurement technique
    O'Neill, M.; Wright, C.; Fitz, F.
  • A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research
    Parasuraman, A.; Zeithaml, V.A.; Berry, L.L.
  • SERVQUAL: a multiple‐item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality
    Parasuraman, A.; Zeithaml, V.A.; Berry, L.L.
  • Product quality, cost position and business performance: a test of some key hypotheses
    Phillips, L.D.; Chang, D.R.; Buzzell, R.
  • Learning from customer defections
    Reichheld, F.F.
  • Zero defections: quality comes to services
    Reichheld, F.F.; Sasser, W.E.
  • The mall intercept: a social norms marketing research tool
    Rice, R.; Hancock, L.
  • On insurer generosity
    Roos, C.M.
  • The nature of the importance‐satisfaction relationship in ratings: evidence from the normative data of the Noel‐Levitz student satisfaction inventory
    Roszkowski, M.J.
  • Return on quality (ROQ): making service quality financially accountable
    Rust, R.T.; Zahorik, A.J.; Keiningham, T.L.
  • From the psychometrics of SERVQUAL to sex‐measurements of tourist satisfaction
    Ryan, C.
  • The performance‐importance response function: observations and implications
    Sampson, S.E.; Showalter, M.J.
  • E‐services and offline fulfilment: how e‐loyalty is created
    Semeijn, J.; van Riel, A.C.R.; van Birgelen, M.J.H.; Streukens, S.
  • Sources of dissatisfaction in end‐user support: an empirical study
    Shaw, N.C.; DeLone, W.H.; Niederman, F.
  • Diagnosing information systems success: importance‐performance maps in the health club industry
    Skok, W.; Kophamel, A.; Richardson, I.
  • The importance‐performance matrix as a determinant of improvement priority
    Slack, N.
  • The relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction – a factor‐specific approach
    Sureshchandar, G.S.; Chandrasekharan, R.; Anantharaman, R.N.
  • Quality is more than making a good product
    Takeuchi, H.; Quelch, J.A.
  • Customer behaviour, service quality and the effects of culture: a quantitative analysis in Greek insurance
    Tsoukatos, E.
  • Path analysis of perceived service quality, satisfaction and loyalty in Greek insurance
    Tsoukatos, E.; Rand, G.K.
  • Cultural influences on service quality and customer satisfaction: evidence from Greek insurance
    Tsoukatos, E.; Rand, G.K.
  • An integrated framework for service quality, customer value, satisfaction: evidence from China's telecommunication industry
    Wang, Y.; Lo, H‐P.; Yang, Y.
  • Meeting planners' perceptions of hotel‐chain practices and benefits: an importance‐performance analysis
    Weber, K.
  • Examining a Singapore bank's competitive superiority using importance‐performance analysis
    Yeo, A.Y.C.
  • Consumer perceptions of price, quality, and value: a means‐end model and synthesis of evidence
    Zeithaml, V.A.
  • The behavioural consequences of service quality
    Zeithaml, V.; Berry, L.; Parasuraman, A.
  • Delivering Quality Service: Balancing Customer Perceptions and Expectations
    Zeithaml, V.A.; Parasuraman, A.; Berry, L.L.
  • A service quality refresher
    Zemke, R.