Relying on a Bayesian-like framework, the authors develop a behavioral process model of perceived service quality. Perceptions of the dimensions of service quality are viewed to be a function of a customer's prior expectations of what will and what should transpire during a service encounter, as well as the customer's most recent contact with the service delivery system. These perceptions of quality dimensions form the basis for a person's overall quality perception, which in turn predicts the person's intended behaviors. The authors first test this model with data from a longitudinal laboratory experiment. Then they develop a method for estimating the model with one-time survey data, and reestimate the model using such data collected in a field study. Empirical findings from the two tests of the model indicate, among other things, that the two different types of expectations have opposing effects on perceptions of service quality and that service quality perceptions positively affect intended behaviors.

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The goal of this preface is to describe how the special section on customer relationship management (CRM) was developed. In May 2003, Richard Staelin, Executive Director of the Teradata Center for Customer Relationship Management at Duke University, proposed that Journal of Marketing ( JM) publish a special section. The proposal included activities that were designed to promote interactions among marketing academics and practitioners; the goal was to stimulate dialogue and new research on CRM. I found the proposal attractive because CRM is a broad-based topic that interests many marketers. After extensive discussion, the American Marketing Association (AMA) and the Teradata Center formally agreed to cosponsor the special section. Subsequently, there was a conference on Relationship Marketing and Customer Relationship Management (cochaired by Michael Ehret, Wesley Johnston, Michael Kleinaltenkamp, and Lou Pelton) that took place at Freie Universität Berlin in the summer of 2003; 1 a conference on Customer Management (cosponsored by the Marketing Science Institute and the Teradata Center) that was held at Duke University in March 2004; and two special sessions on CRM that were featured at the AMA Winter Educators' Conference held in San Antonio, Tex., in February 2005. The conferences provided many opportunities for dialogue, and the response from marketers who attended these events was enthusiastic. I also invited Richard Staelin and William Boulding (Executive Codirector of the Teradata Center) to work with me as consulting editors for the special section, and they agreed. A call for papers requested that authors submit their manuscripts to JM by May 2004. The consulting editors and I evaluated every submission with the assistance of an expert panel that included Leonard Berry, John Deighton, Michael Ehret, Christian Grönroos, Sunil Gupta, Wayne Hoyer, Wagner Kamakura, Wesley Johnston, Donald R. Lehmann, Charlotte Mason, Carl Mela, Scott Neslin, Roland Rust, Michel Wedel, and Valarie Zeithaml. All submissions underwent JM's standard double-blind review process, and members of JM's editorial review board served as reviewers. I would like to express my appreciation to everyone who participated in the development of the special section. The culmination of our work together is a set of nine articles and two essays that advance the science and practice of CRM. I hope that these articles stimulate new intellectual discoveries. —Ruth N. Bolton