Service level objective

About: Service level objective is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 7894 publications have been published within this topic receiving 218701 citations.

Determinants of Relationship Quality and Loyalty in Personalized Services

Abstract: The study adopts a relationship perspective to examine and better understand customers' interactions with service firms' contact personnel, physical environment and customer environment and their influence on the relationship quality, that is trust and satisfaction, and consequently loyalty. The conceptual model, which integrates relational and evaluative perspectives, is validated in the Asian context of personalized service through findings from a survey of 325 respondents. The findings at the aggregate level indicate that while the physical environment is an important determinant of both trust and satisfaction in personalized service encounters, the customer environment influences only satisfaction but not trust. Service contact personnel's friendliness and knowledge of customers strongly influence relationship quality; while expertise, similarity and disclosure influence trust but not satisfaction. Both relationship trust and satisfaction were found to significantly influence loyalty to the service provider. At the disaggregate level, trust was found to be a stronger predictor of loyalty for high-end service providers while satisfaction was a stronger predictor of loyalty for low-end service providers. The implications for high-end and low-end service providers to enhance loyalty by strategically leveraging on key customer-firm antecedents of relationship trust and satisfaction are discussed.

Service quality, trust, commitment and service differentiation in business relationships

Abstract: Purpose – While service quality, trust and commitment are frequently cited as critical to achieving important firm outcomes, the role of service differentiation in this framework is largely unknown. Yet, differentiation is important because a firm's distinctiveness is linked to client‐perceived value, competitive advantage, and a target market focus. Thus, the purpose of this study is to examine the role of service differentiation in business‐to‐business relationships.Design/methodology/approach – Hypotheses were tested using a sample of business clients from a large European financial services firm. The senior primary contact in each client firm was contacted by phone/e‐mail to arrange for completion of the survey. Using the survey instrument, respondents provided information on their relationship with the provider organization.Findings – Results indicated that service quality had an impact on trust, differentiation and relationship outcomes. Trust was found to drive service differentiation. Differentiat...

Perception Gaps in Customer Expectations: Managers Versus Service Providers and Customers

Abstract: Two new gaps are added to the 5-gap model proposed by PZB. These new gaps reflect the differences in the understanding of customer expectations by manager and front-line service providers and in customer expectations and service providers' perception of such expectations. Using room service as the object for investigation, the present study provides empirical evidence indicating the existence of these gaps which have negative impact on overall service quality. The findings also disclose that the gap between customer expectations and managers' perception of such expectations is much larger than the gap between customer expectations and service providers' understanding of such expectations.

Services Management: An Integrated Approach

Abstract: PART ONE: THE NATURE OF SERVICES. 1. The Nature of Services. 2. Defining the Service Concept. 3. Servitisation: The Blurring Boundaries Between Manufacturing and Services. 4. Services in a World Economy. PART TWO: CUSTOMER LOGIC. 5. Relationship Marketing. 6. Promoting Services. 7. Pricing Services. 8. Measuring Customer Satisfaction. 9. Service Guarantees and Service-level Agreements. 10. Complaint Management. PART THREE: HUMAN RESOURCES IN SERVICE ORGANISATIONS. 11. The Role of Human Resource Practices in Service Organisations. 12. Competencies and Service Organisations. 13. Collaboration: Integrating Work and Learning. 14. The Role of Empowerment in Service Organisations. PART FOUR: OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT IN SERVICE ORGANISATIONS. 15. Capacity Management. 16. Facilities Management. 17. IT Developments and their Impact on Services. PART FIVE: AN INTEGRATED APPROACH. 18. Performance Measurement Systems in Service Firms. 19. Managing Innovation in a Service Environment. 20. Managing Services Across National Boundaries. 21. Defining a Service Strategy. 22. Technical Notes.

The impact of service provider emotional intelligence on customer satisfaction

Abstract: Purpose – This study seeks to examine whether higher emotional intelligence displayed by service providers leads to greater customer satisfaction.Design/methodology/approach – A community sample of 150 participants viewed video clips depicting a service provider displaying three different levels of emotional intelligence in high or low service difficulty transactions.Findings – Higher emotional intelligence displayed by the service provider led to greater reported satisfaction with the service transaction. Further, there was an interaction between emotional intelligence of the service provider and transaction difficulty. In the low transaction difficulty condition there was progressively more satisfaction at each higher level of emotional intelligence of the service provider. In the high transaction difficulty condition, there was low satisfaction in the low service provider emotional intelligence condition, but no significant difference in satisfaction between the high and medium levels of service provid...