Improving the Discrimination of SERVQUAL by using Magnitude Scaling

INTRODUCTION

The SERVQUAL survey instrument is one of the most widely utilised techniques for deriving a measure of the quality of service industries (Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry, 1985,1988; Zeithaml, Parasuraman and Berry, 1990). It has been extensively used, principally in the USA, for obtaining quantitative measures of consumer satisfaction. The instrument invites consumers to indicate the extent to which they agree with a series of statements which are designed to measure those elements of a service which consumers would expect as ideal (the Expectations score) and then those elements of a service that they have recently experienced (the Perceptions score) Satisfaction is then measured as the simple arithmetic ‘gap’ between Perceptions and Expectations (S=P-E). The scale is a composite of five dimensions (Tangibles, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance and Empathy). These dimensions will differ in salience as between different industries. In addition, consumers...