A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research

Journal of Marketing Vol. 49 (Fall 1985), 41-50.

AUTHOR:
A.Parasuraman
Valarie A. Zeithaml
Leonard L. Berry

ABSTRACT:

The attainment of quality products and services has become a pivotal concern of the 1980s. While quality in tangible has been described and measured bu marketers, quality in services is largely undefined and unresearched. The authors attempt to rectify this situation bu reporting the insights obtained in an extensive exploratory investigation of quality in four service businesses and by developing a model of service quality. Proportions and recommendations to stimulate future research abotu service quality are offered.

Directions for Future Research:

1. A need and an opportunity to develop a standard instrument to measure consumers’ service quality perceptions.
2. Consumers’ quality perceptions are influenced by a series of distinct gaps occurring on the marketers’ side.
3. Examine the nature of the association between service quality as perceived by consumers and its determinants.
4. The usefulness of segmenting consumers on the basis of their service quality expectations is worth exploring.
5. Expected service—a critical component of perceived service quality –in addition to being influenced by a marketer’s communications, is shaped by word-of –mouth communications, personal needs, and past experience.

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