Service quality dimensions: an examination of Grönroos’s service quality model

Abstract

Service quality researchers to date have paid scant attention to the issue of the dimensions of service quality. Much of the earlier work accepted the content measured by the SERVQUAL instrument. Following the argument that SERVQUAL only reflects the service delivery process, the study empirically examines the European perspective (i.e. Grö nroos' model) suggesting that service quality consists of three dimensions, technical, functional and image, and that image functions as a filter in service quality perception. The results from a cell phone service sample revealed that Grö nroos' model is a more appropriate representation of service quality than the American perspective with its limited concentration on the dimension of functional quality.

Perceived Quality and Corporate Image in Mobile Services: The Role of Technical and Functional Quality

“…Since corporate image is defined as perception of a firm's presentation in the customer's mind, additional perceptions customers gain through the assessment of technical (Schneider and Bowen 1995) and functional (Cronin and Taylor, 1992) quality will be directly related to the formulation of perceived image (LeBlanc and Nguyen, 1996;Nguyen and LeBlanc 2001). Furthermore, as recommended by Grönroos (1984) and further evaluated by Nimako et al (2012), Kang and James (2004) perceived that corporate image will impact the overall quality assessment and will serve as a filter and carrier (Andreassen and Lindestad, 1998) of the effect of technical and functional quality on the overall quality assessment. Based on the outlined theoretical framework and the review above (see Figure 1), we hypothesize: H1: Perceived mobile service provider's corporate image is positively influenced by perceived (a) technical and (b) functional service quality.…”

“…In contrary, both the SERVQUAL and SERVPERF models are dominantly focused on functional (process) quality measurement (Richard and Allaway 1993). Although Parasuraman et al (1985), under the influence of European scholars, accept ideas about the importance of technical quality (service output quality), their model still reflects the functional aspect only (Kang and James 2004). In this study, we also use SERVPERF for conceptualization of the functional quality dimension, as well as perceptions for all other constructs from the original Grönroos model (1984).…”

“…A study conducted in the USA measures technical quality dimensions through network coverage, voice service quality and un-established calls, price plans and the content of individual services (Lim, 2005), while a study conducted for mobile services in South Korea took into account only the "voice" service for defining technical quality (Kang and James, 2004). Other research conducted in Hong Kong showed that the most important factors for customers include network coverage and transmission quality, since they are a pre-requisite for using other services (Woo and Fock, 1999).…”

“…Previous studies analyzed technical quality (e.g. Nimako et al 2012;Kang 2006;Kang and James 2004) as an overall (uni-dimensional) construct. Since the mobile services industry has advanced significantly in recent years, its core technical service should be assessed in a more in-depth approach.…”

“…First, in a similar manner as Kang and James (2004), we apply Grönroos's model to the mobile service industry, but now focusing on a developing country setting. Our application of the model is unique since it (1) focuses on the customer perceptions for all elements in the model and (2) allows all dimensions of technical and functional service quality to be related to the outcomes in the model in order to better understand the differential effects of different dimensions.…”