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Journal of Service Research

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Widely considered the world’s leading service research journal, the Journal of Service Research (JSR) is a must read to keep up with the latest in service research. Practical and readable, JSR offers the necessary knowledge and tools to cope with an increasingly service-based economy. JSR features articles by the world’s leading service experts, from both academia and the business world.

The Journal of Service Research offers an international and multidisciplinary perspective on the best management practices in:

• Service marketing
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• Service human resources
• Economics of service
• Service information systems
• Customer satisfaction and service quality
• Global issues in service

JSR is sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Service at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. This journal is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

The mission of the Journal of Service Research is to be the leading outlet for the most advanced research in service marketing, service operations, service human resources and organizational design, service information systems, customer satisfaction and service quality, electronic commerce, and the economics of service. The journal is constructed to be international in scope, in keeping with the increase globalization of business; multidisciplinary, in keeping with how the best management is done; and relevant to the business world in a majority of its articles.

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A literature review of service research since 1993

2010, Journal of Service Science

The history of any field of study is an important topic, but few authors have taken on the task of writing the history of service research since the early 1990s. We attempt to fill this gap by providing a comprehensive account on the general course of the service literature from 1993 to now. We propose an extension of the evolutionary metaphor originally proposed by Fisk et al. (1993). Drawing on an extensive multidisciplinary literature, we paint a portrait of the evolution of the service literature over three new stages termed Racing Ahead (1993–1999), Looking Back and Moving Forward (2000–2003), and Airborne (2004–Now). Within each era, we first identify key observations that make it distinguishable from the other stages, and then specifically highlight the major contributions that were made. We also underscore and provide some recommendations for further consideration by interested thinkers in the field for moving it forward.

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Journal of Service Management

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International Journal of Research in Marketing

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Werner H Kunz

The authors investigate the intellectual pillars of service marketing and its evolution through key subareas during 1992-2009 using a citation-based approach. They thereby derive insights for the most promising research directions. The results reveal dynamics influences of different research topics on service marketing. In a graphical representation, the authors further show that the main topics largely have changed their research orientation over time. For example, online service and technology infusion literature reveal an increasingly operational and customer orientation. A citation-based measure of the importance of research opportunities and its comparison to the topics found in recent literature reviews indicates that research into managing business-to-business services and service infusion, complaint handling and service recovery, and enhancing and managing the service value chain are promising topics. These results assist academics and practitioners by revealing what we know about service research and what we need to know in the future.

Service Business

Olivier Furrer

This article analyzes service research published in marketing journals between 1993 and 2003. Two levels of analysis of the dynamics and evolution of the service marketing literature are distinguished: first, the dynamics of specific themes of the service marketing literature, and second, the structural evolution of these themes. Through a content analysis, we study the dynamics of individual themes in the service marketing literature as well as the relationships between these themes. Multiple correspondence analysis provides maps of themes and of the most frequent contributors, and a framework to track the structural dynamics and structural evolution of this literature over time. An evaluation of past predictions about the dynamics and evolution of service research is also provided with a discussion of its future.

Raymond Fisk

Philipp Klaus

Nancy Sirianni

Journal of Service Theory and Practice

Chatura Ranaweera , Marianna Sigala

SUMMARY This position paper describes the evolutionary stages of the services field in two eras. The first era is the evolution of the services marketing literature that occurred across three stages labeled Crawling Out, Scurrying About, and Walking Erect, respectively. These labels are based on metaphors from biological evolution. The second era has witnessed the rapid expansion of the services field beyond its origins in service marketing. This era is marked by three stages as well - Making Tools, Creating Language, and Building Community. These new stages are based on metaphors from social evolution. Finally, the "big tent" and "T-Shaped People" metaphors are examined and extended to describe a social networks approach that we believe is needed for the future of the service field.

Charles Hofacker

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A Review on Quality of Service and SERVQUAL Model

• Conference paper
• First Online: 10 July 2020
• Cite this conference paper

• Zhengyu Shi 10 &
• Huifang Shang 10  

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 12204))

Included in the following conference series:

• International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction

8202 Accesses

8 Citations

In field of service design, the research and application of service quality plays an important role in the development and competition of enterprises by establishing brand image and generating market effect. Therefore, experts in management and marketing have studied it and found that the quality of service in the industry has a great impact on consumer satisfaction, consumer experience and brand loyalty. Based on the research and development of the concept of service quality, PZB, a famous American marketing expert team, established SERVQUAL (SQ) model through the test of retail cases, and constantly revised and improved it, which was applied to multiple service industries. Through literature review, this paper analyzes the application of SERVQUAL model in China and abroad, mainly involving retail industry, medical service industry, e-commerce industry, tourism service industry and other service fields. The study found that SERVQUAL model plays a guiding role in evaluating the management of emerging enterprises, consumers’ preference for services, and resource allocation of service industries in developing countries. In addition, this paper compares the application of SERVQUAL (SQ) model and its derivative SERVPERF (SP) model in the service field, and finds that SP model is mainly a result-oriented quality of service study, while SERVQUAL model is mainly a result-oriented quality of service study based on process dynamic change. In the multi-field studies, it is found that SERVQUAL model, as a common basic model, combines the Fuzzy theory, Functional quality deployment and Kano model to comprehensively evaluate the service quality in the application field and provide decision support for enterprise development. Finally, this article discusses and summarizes the study of service quality, revises and improves the research model, and looks forward and proposes future service quality studies to provide more market and social value to service industry.

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Is SERVQUAL Reliable and Valid? A Review from the Perspective of Dimensions in Different Typical Service Industries

Multi-factor service design: identification and consideration of multiple factors of the service in its design process.

Research on Evaluation Method of Service Quality

• Service quality
• SERVQUAL model
• Quality evaluation

1 Introduction

In the early 1970s, as the economic recovery in western countries gradually emerged, the service industry also developed and inspired many research teams to explore. In the development process, researchers in economics mainly focused on the nature of services, while those in management paid more attention to the application of theories, during which the concept of quality was introduced into field of services.

Professor Gronroos (1982) first proposed the concept of Customer Perceived Service Quality [ 1 ]. Gronroos held that quality of service was a subjective category, which depends on the comparison between consumers’ expectation of quality of service and the actual perceived level of service. Subsequently, more scholars carried out researches on service quality. Lehtinen (1982) et al. identified service quality as three components: interaction quality, entity quality and company quality [ 2 ]. Lewis and Booms (1983) believed that service quality was a tool which measured whether enterprise service level meet consumers’ expectations [ 3 ]. Gronroos (1984) divided quality of service into two parts, then defined them as technical quality and functional quality [ 1 ]. Parasuraman (1988) holds that quality of service is the difference between the level of quality of service actually perceived by consumers and the level of quality of service expected [ 4 ]. Leblanc and Nguyen (1988) listed service quality as five components, namely corporate image, internal organization, physical support of service production system, employee/customer interaction and customer satisfaction [ 5 ]. Hedval and Paltschik (1989) defined the quality of service as two dimensions, namely the willingness and ability to serve, the physical and psychological accessibility [ 6 ].

International Standardization Organization (ISO) defined service quality and formed the concept of service quality [ 7 ]: In the process that price competition in the market gradually changes to service quality competition, service quality becomes more and more important in the consumption process and becomes the first production factor of service enterprises. Service quality should meet the needs of consumers and the interests of other beneficiaries, so service providers need to consider more from the perspective of consumers and other beneficiaries. Service enterprises need to improve service quality and generate more added value through scientific management, development and utilization of new technologies.

Based on literature review and research, this paper concludes that service quality is generated by the actual contact between service providers and consumers, expressing consumers’ subjective feelings on the process of service experience. Service providers improve the quality of services through internal management and support systems.

This paper takes SERVQUAL model as the entry point to research service quality. It finds that the impact of service quality on consumers is mainly reflected in psychology, behavior, satisfaction, loyalty and other aspects, while the impact on service providers is mainly reflected in service equipment, technical support, employee behavior, corporate culture, product functional quality and after-sales service. According to the development of service industry in China and abroad, service enterprises are facing the problems and opportunities of service quality management. In this paper, through the modification of the service quality model by domestic and foreign scholars, combined with the theoretical method of engineering system, the structure of the service quality model is optimized, and the research and development of service quality are discussed and prospected.

2 SERVQUAL Model

2.1 introduction to servqual model.

SERVQUAL (SQ) is the abbreviation of “Service Quality”. The model is an evaluation system that reflect consumers’ perceptions and expectations of the received services, and is applied to the measurement and marketing management of service quality. SERVQUAL model theory was formally proposed by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (PZB), three American marketing experts, in 1988, to measure consumers’ service perception. Its core theory is “service quality gap model”. Specifically, it’s the gap that between consumers’ actual perception of service quality and their expectation of service quality. SERVQUAL model is mainly composed of five dimensions and 22 items, namely, tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy.

2.2 Development of SERVQUAL Model

SERVQUAL model theory was founded by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (PZB) in 1985, mainly used in the field of marketing. PZB research team established 10 measurement dimensions of service quality gap model to study consumers’ evaluation on the quality of services provided by service providers [ 8 ]. The 10 dimensions are reliability, sensitivity, convenience, competence, politeness, communication, trustworthiness, security, danger and empathy.

PZB (1988) three researchers conducted a comprehensive qualitative study on the meaning of service quality, and determined that service quality is the gap between consumers’ perception of service and service expectation [ 4 ] (as shown in Fig.  1 ), namely SQ (Service Quality) = P (Perception of Service) − e (Expectation of Service).

Service quality assessment process

For further research and development of SERVQUAL model, PZB research team has found through many experiments that in the marketing service industry, the improvement of consumers’ service perception mainly includes the following five aspects:

Tangible: The physical structure of the equipment provided by the service, the associated service facilities and the appearance of the service personnel.

Reliability: Service providers provide consumers with the reliability and consistency of quality services and the ability to accurately fulfill service commitments.

Responsiveness: Service providers can provide services and responses to consumers in a timely manner.

Assurance: Service providers build rapport with consumers and consumer trust in the services provided.

Empathy: The extent to which service providers provide emotional care and extended emotional support to consumers.

Since consumers’ expectation of service quality will change over time, SERVQUAL model is used to track the dynamic change of service quality on a regular basis to reflect the trend of service value. PZB (1991) obtained that the five dimensions of SERVQUAL had a certain correlation through factor analysis, further optimized the SQ model, and then put the model into five independent customer samples for testing [ 9 , 10 ]. The results show that SERVQUAL model is universal. Therefore, PZB established SQ as the core and standard of service quality measurement.

In the following researches, scholars repeated used SERVQUAL model and verified the applicability. Carman (1990) conducted scale tests in four scenarios: dental school patient clinic, business school placement center, tire shop and emergency hospital, and found that reliability, tangible and safety accounted for a high proportion of consumers’ service perception [ 11 ]. Cronin and Taylor (1994) conducted a survey on people using hospital services within 45 days, and used SERVQUAL scale to determine the relationship between customer satisfaction and service quality [ 12 ]. Finally, five dimensions and 22 variables were confirmed.

2.3 Use of SERVQUAL Model

SERVQUAL model typically contains five dimensions and 22 items. The distribution of the 22 project problems is as follows: Tangibility contains 4 project problems, Reliability contains 5 project problems, Assurance contains 4 project problems, Responsiveness contains 4 project problems, and Empathy contains 5 project problems. Each item contains an item question and item options on a Likert scale of order 7 or 5.

After the SERVQUAL test model passed the reliability and validity tests, questionnaires were distributed to the subjects. After the end of the test, the questionnaire was collected to study the collected effective data and carried out statistical calculation. The formula is as follows:

In the formula above, k represents the kth service element, n represents a total of n service elements, \( {\rm{W}}_{\rm{k}} \) represents the weight of the kth service element, i represents the ith problem, m represents a total of m problems, \( \overline{{{\rm{P}}_{\rm{i}} }} \) represents the average sensory index value of the ith problem, \( \overline{{{\rm{E}}_{\rm{i}} }} \) represents the expected mean value of the ith problem, and SQ represents the final evaluation of service quality.

3 Application of SERVQUAL Model

3.1 application status.

With development of the service industry, consumers pay more and more attention to service quality. Therefore, more and more scholars study service quality through the application of SERVQUAL model in service industry.

Through the research in ISI Web of Science (WOS) database, Taiwanese scholars Ya Lan WANG, Tainyi LUOR, Pin LUARN and Hsi Penglu (2015) discussed and analyzed 367 SCI and SSCI journal articles of SERVQUAL model in the past 15 years (1998–2013). The results showed that the research on application of SERVQUAL model was on the rise, and under influence of economic growth and government policies, applications in business management and corporate decision-making accounted for the largest proportion, followed by information systems and data management, then leisure and entertainment services, and finally health care services [ 13 ].

3.2 International Application of SERVQUAL Model

While applying SERVQUAL model, international researchers modified SERVQUAL model with the change of application field, and sorted out, extended and expanded the research results. The application of the model gradually expanded from business management to banking, library information management, medical care and other fields.

By using SERVQUAL model, the research team explored the development status of the industry, understood consumers’ preferences and behavioral intentions, and predicted future development trends. Baker and Crompton (2000) established hypotheses through a structural equation model and analyzed experimental data, and concluded that the perceived performance quality of the tourism industry had a greater impact on consumers’ behavioral intention than satisfaction [ 14 ]. Dabholkar, Shepherd and Thorpe (2000) used SERVQUAL model to conduct a longitudinal study of service design, and to understand and predict the dynamic change of service quality in the retail industry by establishing a chronological framework [ 15 ]. In the e-commerce industry, Devaraj, Ming and Kohli (2002) studied consumer satisfaction and preference in B2C e-commerce channels by establishing technology acceptance model, transaction cost analysis model and service quality model [ 16 ].

In addition, research team used SERVQUAL model to test consumers’ perception of service quality, and the results provided guidance for service providers in terms of service quality and service decision-making. Neha (2013) conducted a service evaluation test on consumers with the help of SERVQUAL model, and verified whether retail stores could improve service quality according to the gap between consumers’ expectations and perceptions [ 17 ]. Mobarakeh and Ghahnavieh (2015) used SERVQUAL model to study the customer service quality of a travel agency and proposed relevant service strategies to narrow the gap between service expectation and perception [ 18 ]. Palese and Usai (2018) used SERVQUAL model to collect social data to measure the service quality of community shopkeepers and help them to provide service strategies [ 19 ].

Research teams tested SERVQUAL model’s universality in service quality testing by using it in different industry domains. Arpita, Ceeba and Reena (2010) used SERVQUAL model to study the applicability of service quality evaluation of retail stores in northern India [ 20 ]. Vassiliadis, Fotiadis and Tavlaridou (2014) used SERVQUAL model to classify medical services provided by a public hospital in Greece, proving the universality and effectiveness of SERVQUAL model in measuring the quality of medical services [ 21 ]. Three scholars, Bansal, Gaur and Chauhan (2016), based on SERVQUAL model, researched the tourism items provided by e-commerce services and verified the universality of SERVQUAL model in evaluating the service quality of e-commerce providers [ 22 ].

In terms of resource allocation, research teams used SERVQUAL model to evaluate the service quality in the industry field, so as to reasonably and effectively invested and used resources for small and medium businesses and developing countries. Chakravarty (2011) conducted a service study on outpatient hospitals in India. Considering that the service operation of hospitals is limited by resources, SERVQUAL model was adopted to measure the service perception of consumers and provide targeted decisions for hospital service management [ 23 ]. Meesala and Paul (2016) used SERVQUAL model to evaluate the service quality of patients in 40 different private hospitals in Hyderabad, India, to provide service management strategies and guidelines for the better survival and development of their medical service enterprises [ 24 ].

3.3 Application of SERVQUAL Model in China

In this paper, the application of SERVQUAL model in China is summarized through the retrieval of Cnki database. 1651 articles collected in the past 20 years (1998–2019) were retrieved in the database, as shown in Fig.  2 :

SERVQUAL model application paper publishing data graph

According to the data graph, the application of SERVQUAL model increases gradually and tends to be flat. Its research fields are mainly business economy, business administration, quantitative economy and library information management. By searching the database of Cnki, this paper divides the applied articles into industry fields. The specific data are shown in Fig.  3 :

SERVQUAL model applies the paper category data graph

According to the data graph, SERVQUAL model is mainly applied in business economy management and digital information management in China, among which business economy and business administration account for the highest proportion, accounting for 17% and 16% respectively. The applied research in other service fields is not as extensive as in other countries. Through literature review and analysis, study believes that the reason is that China’s research on service quality starts late and China is in a developing country, which requires more resources to be invested in economic construction and information management. Therefore, the management of service quality in those area take relatively large proportions. In addition, due to the rise of the knowledge age and the Internet age, education services and e-commerce services are increasingly valued by people, and the demand and requirements for their service quality are also higher and higher, so the proportion of articles in this field is also increasing.

In Chinese literature, Zhisheng Hong et al. (2012) published “Study on the Research of Service Quality Management” [ 25 ], which was cited for 224 times, mainly introduced the research field of service quality and the application of SERVQUAL model, as well as the prospect of future dynamic changes of service quality and service management in the market.

Through the cited data in this paper, the study indicates that SERVQUAL model applies to different service fields in China. Li Cui (2010) et al. used SERVQUAL model to conduct data investigation and analysis on Chinese commercial Banks, discussed service quality issues, and put forward suggestions for improvement [ 26 ]. Meihong Zhu (2011) et al. adopted the modified SERVQUAL model to study the service quality of Chinese express delivery enterprises, and improved competitiveness of enterprises by improving service quality and strengthening service management [ 27 ]. Based on the background of sharing economy, Wenming Zuo (2018) et al. adopted the modified SERVQUAL model to study the service quality of online ride-hailing, and finally proposed management suggestions [ 28 ].

According to the literature data, SERVQUAL model also has been applied in other fields, and it has a large space for application. This model can provide service improvement directions for service providers with limited resources and help enterprises make management decisions and improve service quality.

4 SERVPERF Model

4.1 introduction of servperf model.

With the increasing number of researches on the SERVQUAL model, SERVQUAL model is modified and optimized constantly, but the model still has some shortcomings: For example, measuring consumers’ expectation and perception of quality of service over the same time period lacks comparability, using the gap model to measure service perception results in the double calculation of quality of service expectations, SERVQUAL model needs to measure the perceived value and expected value of consumers, and the operation process is complicated.

Based on the shortcomings of SERVQUAL model, professor Cronin and Taylor (1992) further proposed SERVPERF (SP) model based on SERVQUAL model by testing and studying the four service industries including bank service, Agricultural pest control, dry cleaning service and fast food service [ 29 ]. In their study, the two professors showed that SERVPERF model was superior to SERVQUAL model in reliability and validity, and believed that the theoretical basis of SERVQUAL model was confused with the concept of customer service satisfaction, so service expectation in SERVQUAL model should be abandoned and service perception should be directly used to measure service quality.

Subsequently, many scholars also studied the service quality model and came to the conclusion that service expectation is weakened and service perception of consumers is used to represent service quality. Boulding (1993) et al. developed a behavior model of perceived quality of service through the Yebess framework, and found that different expectations had a negative effect on quality of service through the results of two tests, and service perception had a positive effect on its quality [ 30 ]. Hartline and Ferrell (1996) developed and tested the service employee management model, and the results showed that consumers’ perception of employee service was a direct factor affecting service quality [ 31 ]. The above scholars have shown that service perception can measure the support of service quality through researches.

SERVPERF model mainly measures quality of service through service performance, while SERVQUAL model mainly measures quality of service by the gap between consumers’ perception of service and their expectation of service. On basis of projects, SERVPERF model still maintains the five dimensions of SERVQUAL model and the system of 22 projects, but directly uses perception of consumers receiving services in practice as evaluation criteria.

4.2 Application of SERVPERF Model

Validated by many research, SERVPERF model has been proved to be practical and reliable in the service field. Compared with SERVQUAL model, SERVPERF model does not need to measure service expectations and is more convenient to use. Marshall and Smith (2000) discussed the application of SERVPERF model in community public services, and measured the experience and evaluation of community consumers on purchasing services through the scale coefficient of SERVPERF model [ 32 ]. Hossain and Islam (2013) studied the service performance of four private university libraries in Bangladesh through SERVPERF model [ 33 ]. Tan Le and Fitzgerald (2014) studied the service quality of two public hospitals in Vietnam through SERVPERF model, and concluded that assurance and empathy were the key factors for the service quality of hospitals [ 34 ]. Mahmoud (2015) used SERVPERF model to discuss the quality of service in Syrian universities [ 35 ].

The above studies show that SERVPERF model is widely used in many fields, has high validity and reliability, and can quickly and effectively analyze the factors of service quality.

4.3 Conclusion of Model Application

As for the evaluation of SERVQUAL model, PZB (1994) pointed out that SERVQUAL model measures consumers’ perceptions and expectations [ 36 ], and contains more information about service quality in the measurement process, which is more abundant than the SERVPERF model in terms of content and predicts the service trend. In addition, with the change of time, enterprise managers can understand the reasons for the change of consumers’ preference for services through the experimental data of SERVQUAL.

According to the corresponding research purposes, SERVPERF model can be selected for the current purposeful service quality test (results-oriented). SERVQUAL model can be used to study the dynamic change of quality of service (process-oriented).

5 Comprehensive Evaluation of Service Quality

5.1 service quality evaluation based on fuzzy theory.

Fuzzy theory was first put forward in 1965 [ 37 ], which is used to satisfy people’s thinking process, provide relatively stable description, and define multiple, complex and ambiguous phenomena, mainly aiming at a number of management problems involving uncertainty in various industrial fields.

In SERVQUAL model, research tests usually adopt multi-order Likert scale, which uses clear and definite values to represent the feelings of subjects. However, in the process of actual service quality evaluation, consumers are based on fuzzy memory of service perception, combining subjective information with intangible feelings, and cannot flexibly and accurately provide certain values [ 38 , 39 ]. So a more realistic approach to language assessment is used instead of clear Numbers.

The combination of SERVQUAL model and fuzzy theory conforms to the fuzziness of evaluators’ subjective judgment and can better provide improvement strategies for enterprise management. Wu wanyi (2004) et al. used fuzzy language framework and SERVQUAL measurement scale to effectively link the market position and service quality strategies of five large hospitals in Tainan [ 40 ]. Aydin and Pakdil (2008), through the combined application of fuzzy theory and SERVQUAL model, measured and summarized the expectation and perception of international airline passengers for service quality, and provided enterprise decision makers with improvement projects and suggestions for service [ 41 ]. Braendle, Sepasi and Rahdari (2014) established an improved 7-order fuzzy SERVQUAL scale to measure the service quality of Banks by issuing questionnaires to their bank customers, measuring the weight of the bank’s service items, perceived performance and expected performance [ 42 ].

According to most literature studies, the combination of SERVQUAL model scale and Fuzzy theory is applicable in many service industries, and can describe consumers’ perceptions and expectations of service quality more accurately, which is conducive to improving the effectiveness of enterprise management.

5.2 Service Quality Evaluation Based on QFD

Quality function deployment (QFD) is mainly through listening for the voice and opinions of consumers, taking consumer demand as the main factor of service organization, and expanding service quality into products, processes and production systems, so as to realize the full deployment of quality functions for services [ 43 ]. This functional system converts consumer demand information into actions and designs to maximize consumer satisfaction [ 44 ]. The main feature of QFD is that it can reduce the design cost and time. Through a multi-level process transformation, the voice of consumers can be transformed into specific service contents [ 45 ].

Through SERVQUAL model, researchers obtain the service demand of consumers and establish the basis for QFD model. QFD model summarizes the service characteristics of consumers through consumer demand, lists the service requirements and service characteristics into a relational matrix, and discusses the strength of the relationship between consumer demand and service characteristics. Yildirim, Ozcan (2019) et al. conducted a study on the quality of public service in Ardahan [ 46 ], evaluating the quality of service and providing improvement strategies through the gap between local citizens’ actual experience perception and expectation of service area.

QFD model takes the weight ratio of competing companies to consumer demand as a reference to further obtain important service characteristics. By using SERVQUAL model and fuzzy quality function deployment, scholars Zai Zai, Youzhen Jin and Zhongguo Quan (2016) studied the consumer services of Samsung and LG’s electronics companies and proposed improvements [ 47 ].

Through research of most literatures, the combination of SERVQUAL model and QFD method can provide a deeper understanding of the service demand characteristics of consumers. Research uses SERVQUAL model to obtain the service demand of consumers and converts it into service characteristics through QFD, which improves the efficiency of service design and improvement.

5.3 Service Quality Evaluation Based on Kano Model

Professor Noriaki Kano (1984), from Tokyo institute of technology, formally proposed Kano model [ 48 ], which classified and prioritized service demands according to the objective functions of product service and the subjective experience of consumers. Through the influence of product quality attributes of different categories on consumer satisfaction, professor Noriaki Kano divided the product service quality characteristics into five categories: basic demand, expectation demand, charm demand, indifference demand and reverse demand.

Research through the five dimensions of SERVQUAL model and 22 project measures of consumer demand, again after induction of Kano model, through the perspective of service quality for service requirements in terms of classification, draws service priority arrangement and the weight ratio of the project, the last modification design for the high priority services.

Vassiliadis, Tavlaridou and Fotiadis (2014) surveyed the service quality evaluation of Greek public secondary hospitals by patients [ 49 ], obtained the key attributes of patient satisfaction and behavioral intention and reasonably allocated limited resources for the service quality of hospitals.

Tingyi Jiang and Hongpeng Yang (2018) established a hybrid model, mainly combines SERVQUAL model, Kano model and Refined Kano model [ 50 ]. The team proposed differentiated service strategies by studying the owner services of property companies. This strategy can effectively solve the problem of communication and cognition of property disputes and maintain the competitiveness of property companies to a certain extent.

In the above studies, SERVQUAL model and Kano model were combined to conduct questionnaire experiments, and the service types and quality attributes of consumers were classified to obtain the most influential service items. Based on this, strategy improvement and resource allocation of enterprise services were carried out.

6 Summary and Discussion

6.1 service quality research model.

Through literature review and practical case studies, this paper improves and modifies the previous research model of service quality, as shown in Fig.  4 :

Service quality research model

First of all, according to the psychology and behavior of consumers, the research obtains the service requirement of consumers, which determines the content of relevant services, and service mechanism emerges accordingly. In the process of interaction between services and consumers, actual quality of services is reflected by quality of functions and technologies, and affects psychological and behavioral characteristics of consumers. Secondly, after receiving the service, consumers have a psychological evaluation of their service, generate satisfaction and define the quality of the service, and set expectations for receiving similar services. Its satisfaction will affect consumers’ loyalty to the service and affect to consumers’ behavior and characteristics. In the end, this paper studies the gap between consumers’ service expectation and actual service perception to obtain the service quality evaluation, and then applies the research method of engineering system to obtain the key factors in the service, so as to improve the service items in the functional quality and technical quality.

6.2 Study Quality of Service from the Angle of Science and Service Content

SERVQUAL model is developed based on the marketing domain and then applied to various service domains. This model mainly uses psychological experiment method to carry on the empirical surveys, uses structural equation, multi-level linear regression equation and so on mathematical model to carry on the statistics. In the process of service design and system optimization, SERVQUAL model is integrated with fuzzy mathematics, system simulation, DEA and other system engineering methods, providing reference for improving service quality.

In database search statistics, SERVQUAL model has developed from traditional enterprises to new service industries. Most of the research focus on e-commerce services, tourism services, logistics services, medical services, education services, catering services, hotel services and government management, and are gradually expanding. In different service fields, SERQUAL model is evaluated according to service content, service requirement and service quality, providing enterprise managers with comprehensive consideration of resource management.

6.3 Relationship Between Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction, Behavior and Loyalty

Service quality and customer satisfaction have different structural concepts, but they are interrelated. Because consumer satisfaction is formed through the perception of service quality and provides a basis for the improvement of service quality. However, in contrast, service quality is considered to be a relatively high content of actual service cognition, while consumer satisfaction tends to be more emotional. In the process of research, it is found that service quality is one of driving factors influencing consumer satisfaction, and different levels of service quality have different influences on satisfaction, while consumer satisfaction will lead to changes in attitude and purchase intention.

Consumers’ loyalty is caused by the synergy of perceived service quality, personal willingness and social influence. Therefore, the improvement of customer loyalty should be considered from various aspects. Research find that improving service quality and increasing consumption interaction can promote consumer behavior, indicating that consumer behavior is positively correlated with service quality.

There is a certain correlation between service quality and customer satisfaction, behavior and loyalty. In different research fields and service contents, discussion and research can be conducted according to cultural differences, education level, age, income level and other factors of consumers. In order to further deepen the relationship between the four, it is necessary to explore dynamic change of new and old consumers on service quality, influence between service quality and other factors, and change of perceived difference of service quality.

6.4 Comprehensive Evaluation of Extended Service Scale

In service quality evaluation, many researchers use total quality management system (TQM), system simulation, critical incident technique (CIT), quality function deployment (QFD) and other methods to evaluate quality. Although SERVQUAL model is still the main method in study of service quality. But in China, the comprehensive development and expansion are few, so study of service quality model needs further innovation. In future exploration, quality of service model and engineering system model are developed universally, the structure of quality of service model can be unified, and the key factors of quality of service research can be studied by using conventional enterprise indicators.

According to different regions and national conditions, research on service quality has potential value. In regions with limited resources, research can guide small and medium-sized enterprises to make effective investment in service quality and provide decision planning for enterprise leaders. In developing countries, the study provides recommendations for improving service quality in different service sectors, provides policy guidelines for governments, and provides more value for market and society.

6.5 Conclusion

According to the development of service quality research, this paper takes SERVQUAL model as the entry point to expand its application in service field. Based on relevant literature on service quality, this study finds that relevant factors affecting service quality mainly include the psychology, behavior and satisfaction of consumers, as well as the functional and technical services of service providers. Through collecting literature data from domestic and foreign databases, it indicates that SERVQUAL model is widely used in the field of business management and digital information. By comparing the applications of SERVQUAL and SERVPERF models, it finds that SERVQUAL model is more informative and can influence the development trend of service field. Through the research of SERVQUAL model combined with engineering system model, it is found that the integrated model can effectively evaluate service quality, guide service enterprises to make reasonable management decisions and resource investment.

This paper summarizes the research of SERVQUAL model on service quality, and finds that SERVQUAL model is universal, scientific and instructive in application. SERVQUAL model can intuitively evaluate the service perception of consumers and reflect the key factors influencing service quality. Through data observation, the test reliability and validity of SERVQUAL comprehensive model are very high, and scientific theories are used to conduct data statistics and analysis to help service enterprises accurately find service demand points. In applied research in different regions and countries, SERVQUAL model can guide small and medium-sized enterprises to make effective investment, provide reasonable resource allocation strategies and service management policies for national governments.

Above all, service quality and SERVQUAL model has application value for service companies and government agencies, has a guiding value for the development of economy and social management. In the future research development, comprehensive research on service quality can give full play to greater potential and value in various service industries.

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Shi, Z., Shang, H. (2020). A Review on Quality of Service and SERVQUAL Model. In: Nah, FH., Siau, K. (eds) HCI in Business, Government and Organizations. HCII 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12204. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50341-3_15

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Quality in Customer Service and Its Relationship with Satisfaction: An Innovation and Competitiveness Tool in Sport and Health Centers

José Álvarez-garcía.

1 Financial Economy and Accounting Department, Faculty of Business, Finance and Tourism, University of Extremadura, 10071 Cáceres, Spain; se.xenu@zeravlaepep

Encarnación González-Vázquez

2 Business Management and Marketing Department, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain; se.ogivu@zelzge

María de la Cruz Del Río-Rama

3 Business Management and Marketing Department, Faculty of Business Sciences and Tourism, University of Vigo, 32004 Ourense, Spain

Amador Durán-Sánchez

4 Economy Department, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Extremadura, 06071 Badajoz, Spain; se.xenu@nasnarudma

The objective of this research was to analyze the influence of the dimensions that enable the rating of service quality perceived by users of sport and health centers in the satisfaction they experience from the service received. In order to present the working hypothesis, a bibliographic review on the concept and dimensions of perceived service quality was carried out, as well as its relationship with satisfaction. The rating scale sports organizations (EPOD) was used as a measurement instrument. The application of a regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. As a prior step, the measurement scales were validated and an exploratory factor analysis was applied to determine the structure of the variables considered. The regression models proposed show the joint influence of the dimensions used by the users to rate perceived service quality in their satisfaction. The results enabled us to observe that the dimensions considered in the model explained 75.7% of satisfaction, with the facilities and material, together with communication and activities, having the most significant influence on satisfaction. Meanwhile, dimensions that had less impact were the monitor and the staff. It is clear that there is a strong correlation between perceived quality and satisfaction with service.

1. Introduction

Currently, research shows that success and competitiveness in the management of sport and health centers requires more efficient management. In this sense, quality management, as one of the 25 most-used management tools [ 1 ], is essential [ 2 ]. Quality management is understood from two perspectives: The internal perspective (objective quality), focused on the standards of the service, and the external perspective (subjective quality), focused on quality as satisfaction of users’ expectations. The latter is currently the most-followed perspective in the service sector [ 3 ].

Thus, innovation and quality are the two key factors for business success [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ]. Both concepts are linked in the sense that innovation is a part of continuous improvement [ 10 ] which, in turn, forms a fundamental part of quality. Porter [ 11 ] stated that the competitiveness of a country and, therefore, of its industrial and economic fabric, depends on the capacity to innovate and improve. With respect to organizations, innovation allows for economic sustainability and for their growth by generating competitive advantages [ 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ].

Innovation is not exclusively associated with creativity and the generation of new products and services, but also refers to new forms of management and processes [ 17 , 18 ]. One of the most widely used definitions of innovation is provided by the Oslo Manual [ 19 ], which defines it as “the introduction of a new or significantly improved product (good or service), of a process, of a new organizational or marketing method, in the internal practices of the company, the organization of the workplace or external relationships”. Therefore, several types of innovation are distinguished: Product, process, organizational, and marketing innovation.

In this sense, the implementation of quality management systems is part of organizational innovation [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ], since it involves the implementation of new organizational methods in the business. Therefore, the quality and, consequently, the implementation of quality management systems and the processes that are derived from it, become a tool for innovation and competitiveness in sport and health centers.

In the context of sports organizations, reference is made to service quality as “a differentiation strategy to increase productivity and profitability, as well as to improve the company’s image and achieve user loyalty” [ 25 ] (p. 250). In addition, service quality also enables knowledge of users’ perception of the quality of the service received, which is necessary to improve user satisfaction, as well as improve the competitiveness and viability of organizations. It should not be forgotten that satisfaction in the academic literature is considered a precedent for trust, mouth-to-ear communication [ 26 ], complaints [ 27 ], and loyalty [ 28 ].

In this research, carried out in the context of sport and health centers, the external perspective of quality is considered in which the client becomes the central axis of sports organizations. Therefore, it focuses on the concept of “perceived quality” of services, which is the way to conceptualize the predominant quality in the field of services.

In this sense, it must be taken into account that “a service is of quality to the extent that it meets or exceeds clients’ expectations” [ 29 , 30 , 31 ] and the concept is operationalized in practice by users comparing their expectations of the service with the perception that is formed once it is received [ 32 ]. In this way, quality ceases to be something objective (it focuses on the producer’s perspective) and instead becomes subjective, focusing on what the consumer says it is [ 29 ], as “only consumers judge quality: all other judgments are essentially irrelevant” [ 31 ] (p.18).

Research carried out on quality in sports services and consumer satisfaction has become important in recent years. According to Calabuig [ 33 ], it is mainly developed from three points of view in the sports sector: Psychosocial, the economic-business perspective, and the marketing perspective, focused on the consumer (studies based on SERVQUAL and alternative studies). This research follows the marketing perspective, whose research focuses, according to Pérez [ 34 ] (p.128), on “how to improve quality perception and the sense of satisfaction”.

Although several studies have been carried out following this perspective [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 ], authors such as Tsitskari et al. [ 49 ] and Arías-Ramos et al. [ 50 ] (p.106) state that these types of studies are not sufficient; “there are many issues to be addressed, lines of research to be continued and uncertainties to be resolved on the assessment of perceived quality and user satisfaction in sports organizations”.

In this context, this research is aimed at analyzing the influence of the dimensions that enable the rating of the quality of service perceived by users in the satisfaction they experience with it, which enables to us observe whether the perceived quality of a sports service is directly related to the satisfaction level. The empirical study was carried out in a sport and health center with a sample of 206 clients. The measurement instrument known as the rating scale sports organizations (EPOD) was used.

This article is structured as follows. After the introduction, where the subject matter of the study is contextualized, the study is justified and the objective is presented. Section 2 contains the theoretical reference framework (concept of perceived quality of the service and its relationship with satisfaction) and the work hypotheses are presented. The methodology used (target population, measurement questionnaire, and data analysis) is described below. The results are collected in Section 4 , and finally, the conclusions obtained are discussed and presented.

2. Review of the Literature

2.1. perceived service quality concept.

The starting point to define the concept of “perceived service quality” is defining the terms “service” and “service quality”. In this sense, the definition of service provided by Grönroos [ 30 ] is one of the first definitions and delimits service as that activity or series of activities of a more or less intangible nature that normally, but not necessarily, take place through interactions between the client and the employees of the service company who try to solve the consumer’s problems.

This definition, together with the one provided from a different approach by Lovelok, approach the perceived service quality concept by taking into account the satisfaction of expectations. Lovelok [ 51 ] (p.491) understands customer service as activities aimed at a task that includes interactions between clients and the organization and seeks the mutual satisfaction of the expectations of both, so it must be designed with two objectives in mind: Customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.

With regard to the service quality term, its definition is very complex since the intrinsic characteristics of the services means, on the one hand, that the quality practices applied must be different from those for tangible products [ 49 , 52 ] and, on the other hand, a greater difficulty is involved when evaluating the quality of a service. In this sense, Parasuraman et al. [ 32 ] (p.36) states that “the difference between the evaluation of the quality of a service and that of a good by a consumer is not in the process, but in the nature of the characteristics on which the evaluation is performed”.

These characteristics were specified by Parasuraman et al. [ 32 ]: Intangibility, inseparability of production and consumption, or simultaneity, heterogeneity, or variability, expiration. In Parasuraman et al. [ 32 ] and Grönroos [ 53 ], a broad discussion of the differences between services and physical goods can be seen. According to Zeithaml [ 54 ] and Stanton et al. [ 55 ], the intangible aspects are difficult to identify and quantify and make it difficult to establish precise specifications to standardize their quality. On the other hand, they are susceptible to different evaluations by clients, which makes the measurement and evaluation of quality difficult [ 55 ]. The inseparability in the services of production and consumption, as well as the perishable nature and the potential heterogeneity or variability in the performance, make the precision of quality difficult [ 32 ] (p.35).

In this context, as already mentioned, there are many definitions in this regard [ 54 , 56 , 57 , 58 ] and their review provides two different views or approaches when defining the service quality term: Objective and subjective quality [ 53 ] (p.38). On the one hand, the objective quality or internal vision of quality focuses on the technical aspects [ 59 ] from the producer’s perspective, as well as the subjective quality or external vision of quality in which clients’ requirements are emphasized, thus emerging the “perceived quality” concept. This last concept was introduced by Gönroos [ 58 ] when considering the idea that clients compare their expectations with the service received, with the result of this process being the perceived quality of the service. This concept was developed later, both methodologically and empirically, by Parasuraman et al. [ 32 , 60 ]. An important aspect to mention is that these two visions gave rise to two schools of thought: The Nordic School and the North American School.

In the case of the Nordic School, its main representatives Grönroos [ 61 , 62 , 63 ], Gummesson [ 64 ], and Lehtinen and Lehtinen [ 65 ], focus on the concept of service quality from the point of view of the product, with efficiency being the basic objective for which standards are used for its control [ 65 ]. The Grönroos Service Quality Model [ 58 ] established two dimensions for service quality which interact between each other: Technical quality or design of the service, referred to as “what” service the client receives (result), being susceptible to be measured by the company and evaluated by the consumer; and the functional quality or performance of the service, which deals with “how” customer service (process) is provided. Both dimensions are compared with previous expectations by the client, which are influenced by the result of the service, by the way it is received, and by the corporate image [ 58 ]. Subsequently, this conceptual model of Grönroos, in which perceived quality is defined as a result of the comparison between the expected and received service, was moved to the United States and developed by Parasuraman, giving rise to the emergence of the North American School.

Bearing in mind that this last perspective is the one that best fits sports services, which is the scope of study in this research, it is the one that was developed in more detail. Thus, Parasuraman et al. [ 66 ] (p.3) defined perceived service quality by the client, as an overall assessment of the consumer regarding the superiority of the service resulting from the comparison made by clients between the expectations and perceptions regarding the performance of the service received. This definition of perceived quality became the most widely used way to conceptualize quality from the perspective of services and is the basis of the theoretical and methodological approach of Parasuraman et al. [ 32 ], in which the quality process in services is explained.

These authors posed the question of “What is service quality?” in their initial investigation. Thus, the concept of perceived quality [ 32 ] arised. They also determined the dimensions used by clients to rate services [ 66 ]. Finally, they developed a conceptual and empirical model to measure service quality: The SERVQUAL model, represented graphically by Zeithaml et al. [ 67 ] (p.26), and defined as “a summarized multiple-scale tool with a high level of reliability and validity that companies can use to better understand the expectations and perceptions that customers have regarding the service received”.

As shown, the two factors that determine perceived service quality are expectations and perceptions [ 66 ]. Expectations are defined by Parasuraman et al. [ 66 ] (p.17) as clients’ desires or needs and they are determined, as reflected in the conceptual model, by previous experiences, clients’ current needs and demands, the company’s external or formal communications, mouth-ear communication between clients, and the corporate image. Perceptions are defined as consumers’ beliefs regarding the service received, which will be determined by the dimensions which clients consider in order to rate the service.

In this regard, in the literature on the subject, there are divergences regarding these dimensions and there is no consensus. Garvin [ 68 ] consider eight dimensions (performance, characteristics, reliability, attachment, durability, service aspects, aesthetics, perceived quality), Lehtinen and Lehtinen [ 65 ] consider three dimensions (physical, corporate, and interactive quality), and Grönroos [ 58 ] takes into account the technical or result dimension, the functional or process dimension, and the corporate image.

However, the most-considered multidimensionality of service quality by researchers in this field is the one proposed by Parasuraman et al. [ 32 ], who consider that perceived quality is made up of 10 dimensions: Tangible elements, “appearance of physical facilities, equipment, staff and communication materials”; reliability, “ability to implement the service promised reliably and carefully”; responsiveness, “willingness to help customers and provide them with a quick service”; professionalism, “having the required skills and knowledge of the process of providing the service”; courtesy, “attention, consideration, respect and helpfulness of the contact staff”; security, “no dangers, risks or doubts”; credibility, “veracity, belief, honesty in the service provided”; accessibility, “accessible and easy to contact”; communication, “keeping clients informed using a language they can understand, as well as listening to them”; and understanding the client, “making the effort to know the clients and their needs” [ 67 ] (p.24). Subsequent research by these authors [ 66 ] reduced them to five dimensions: Tangible elements, reliability, responsiveness, security (including professionalism, courtesy, credibility, and security), and empathy (including accessibility, communication, and understanding of the user).

In summary, the concept of perceived service quality is a complex variable, with several definitions in this regard. This was observed by Díaz and Pons [ 69 ] (p.53), who, after analyzing the literature on perceived service quality, proposed two perspectives when defining the concept: From the perspective of customer perception [ 54 , 70 , 71 ] and from the perspective of customer expectations and perceptions [ 32 , 72 , 73 ]. However, in recent years, the most recurring perceived quality concept has been one which contextualizes quality in the field of services from the client’s perspective and is conceptualized by comparing the client’s expectations with the perceptions about the service received. According to Zeithaml et al. [ 31 ] (p.18), “only consumers judge quality: all other judgments are essentially irrelevant”.

The research conducted by Grönroos [ 58 ] and Parasuraman et al. [ 32 , 66 ], aimed at defining the concept of perceived quality, gave rise to two schools and their corresponding models of perceived service quality. As Gómez [ 74 ] (p.53) states, “to have a more complete vision and to finish understanding the concept of perceived service quality, it is necessary to know the different theoretical models based on this construct”. In the case of the North European or Nordic School, its integral models are the following: Models of quality of service or image [ 58 ], the Quality Model of Grönroos and Gummerson [ 53 ], augmented service offering [ 53 ], “Servuction” Model by Eiglier and Laneard [ 75 ], and the three-component model [ 76 ]. The North American School integrates six models: The SERVQUAL Model [ 32 ], Augmented Quality Service Model [ 77 ], SERVPERF Model [ 78 ], Multidimensional, Hierarchical Model [ 79 ], service quality model of Bolton and Drew [ 80 ], and Bitner service quality model [ 81 ].

2.2. Relationship between Service Quality and Consumer Satisfaction

In the previous section, the concept of perceived quality was broadly discussed, so the starting point of this section is to define the term “consumer satisfaction”. Two major lines of research in recent years, the cognitive model [ 82 ] and emotional model [ 83 ], have been integrated, leading us to consider satisfaction as a post-consumer response or assessment [ 84 ] susceptible to change in each transaction [ 85 ].

There is a great similarity between the concepts of perceived quality and satisfaction [ 86 ]. However, most researchers suggest that both concepts are different constructs and that service quality is a broader concept than satisfaction. Thus, Parasuraman et al. [ 66 ] refer to the differences between both concepts in relation to durability. Thus, perceived quality refers to an enduring attitude related to the superiority of a service, while satisfaction is a transitional assessment of a specific transaction in which a comparison is made with what was expected [ 85 ]. To Oliver [ 87 ], the differences are that when the consumer assesses the perceived quality, the predominant dimensions are those of a cognitive nature and, in the case of satisfaction, they are emotional in nature.

These differential characteristics, which are discussed in the literature, led Zeithaml et al. [ 86 ] to propose that the difference between both concepts is based on the fact that satisfaction involves an assessment made by the client for a specific transaction [ 88 ] and requires previous experience, since this assessment depends on the consumer’s previous expectations [ 76 , 89 ], whereas service quality can be perceived without the need for a direct experience with it [ 66 ].

There are many who affirm the existence of a relationship between both concepts [ 54 , 66 , 78 , 90 ]. However, they do not reach a consensus regarding the causal relationship between both concepts. Thus, Iacobucci et al. [ 91 ] state that there are two clearly differentiated positions: Those that support the idea that satisfaction is a consequence of perceived quality [ 66 , 78 , 92 , 93 , 94 , 95 ] and research that supports the inverse relationship, considering satisfaction as an antecedent of service quality [ 59 , 80 , 81 , 96 , 97 ]. However, there is also an intermediate position, in which satisfaction is considered both an antecedent and a consequence of the perceived quality of service. Representatives of this position are Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry [ 98 ], Rust and Oliver [ 76 ], and Martínez-Tur, Peiró and Ramos [ 85 ].

In this context, the following working hypotheses were proposed:

H1: The service quality dimensions have a positive influence on the satisfaction experienced by the users of sport and health centers.

H2: The service quality dimensions have a positive influence on the satisfaction with the facilities experienced by the users of sport and health centers.

H3: The service quality dimensions have a positive influence on the satisfaction with the organization of activities that the users of the sport and health centers experience.

H4: The service quality dimensions have a positive influence on the satisfaction with the activities experienced by the users of sport and health centers.

3. Methodology

3.1. universe, sample, and questionnaire.

The research was designed by organizing the collection of data in order to comply with the proposed objective through a structured questionnaire addressed to users of a sport and health center. To calculate the representativeness of the sample, only the subscribers were taken into account. Users who use the service occasionally, which represent a very small percentage, were excluded. Thus, the target population was made up of 1512 subscribers, and 206 users responded to the questionnaire (incomplete questionnaires were discarded), which represents a response rate of 13.62% and a margin of error of 6.35%, taking into account a 95% confidence level (Z = 1.96 p = q = 5).

The questionnaire was structured in three parts. First, to measure the perceived service quality, the rating scale sports organizations (EPOD) was created by Nuviala et al. [ 99 ], adapted to the sport and health centers where the study was carried out (29 items). This scale “is a tool for practical and direct application on the perception that users of sports services have of the sports organization and the services it provides” [ 99 ] (p.10). The original scale consists of 28 items grouped into four dimensions: Sports experts, facilities and material resources, activities, and image of the organization.

The second part of the questionnaire included the scale to measure user satisfaction with the service, which was divided into three dimensions: Satisfaction with the facilities (five items [ 100 ]) satisfaction with the organization (three items [ 99 ]), and satisfaction with the development of the activity (four items [ 101 ]). The last part of the questionnaire included the data that enabled us to define the sample profile. Five-point Likert measurement scales were used (1–totally disagree to 5–totally agree and 1–not at all satisfied to 5–very satisfied).

Regarding the profile of the user of the sport and health center, the user is between 18- and 40-years-old (77.6%), male (66.99%), student occupation (32.4%), or works in the private sector (31.07%), with a secondary education level (49.51%). This user usually attends the sport and health center three days a week (43.69%) on average, preferably in the afternoon (55.83%). The reasons for being a user of the center are: Proximity to home or work (20.55%), because of the treatment received (10.84%), and because of the range of activities desired (9.22%). The main reason for sports is entertainment in 40.29% of cases and for aesthetic reasons in 31.07% of cases.

3.2. Data Analysis Techniques

The statistical program SPSS 19.9 (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA) (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) was used to perform the data analysis and was carried out in two phases. First, a descriptive study of the sample (mean and standard deviation) was carried out and the measurement scales were validated, taking into account the psychometric properties of reliability, validity, and unidimensionality [ 102 ]. To evaluate the reliability and delimit the number of items that measure each scale, Pearson’s item-total correlation coefficients were considered (they should not exceed 0.3 according to Nunnally [ 103 ]) and Cronbach’s α [ 104 ] was estimated (must be greater than 0.7).

The analysis of the unidimensionality enabled to us to find the structure of dimensions of the proposed scales. Prior to its performance, it was found that the data were adequate to perform the exploratory factor analyses: Analysis of the correlation matrix, Bartlett’s Sphericity test (χ 2 high and sig. > 0.05), the Kaiser-Meyer-Oklim (KMO) measure (>0.7, median: >0.8, good and 1> = KMO > 0.9, very good), and the sample adequacy measure were acceptable (unacceptable for values lower than 0.5, small values should be removed from the analysis). Unidimensionality was tested through the percentage of variance explained and the factor loadings of each indicator, for which an exploratory factor analysis of main components with varimax rotation was carried out [ 105 ].

Second, the multiple regression analysis was applied to contrast the hypotheses proposed. This process enabled us to study the relationship between a dependent variable (satisfaction) and its independent or predictive variables (dimensions of perceived service quality) through the estimation of the regression coefficients that determine the effect that the variations of the independent variables have on the behavior of the dependent variable. Prior to the regression analysis, the underlying assumptions on which this type of analysis is based were verified (linearity, independence, homoscedasticity, normality, and noncollaterality).

4.1. Validation of Measurement Scales

First, the internal consistency of the scale that measures the perceived quality of the service was analyzed through reliability analysis (item-total correlation and Cronbach’s α). Taking into account the item-total correlation, it was not necessary to eliminate any items, since all of them were above the recommended minimum of 0.3. Cronbach’s α that measures the reliability of each factor is higher than the recommended minimum 0.7 [ 103 ].

In order to analyze the unidimensionality of the scales, an exploratory factor analysis was carried out, which enabled us to group the items and identify five factors or dimensions that explain 70.28% of the total variance (it exceeds the minimum requirement of 50%) ( Table 1 ). The application of this analysis involved the elimination of the item “with this activity I obtain the results I expected” since the factor loading was less than 0.5 [ 106 ].

Perceived service quality: Descriptive statistics and exploratory factor analysis.

* N = 206; Likert scale = 1= least important /5 = most important; 1 Tests that show that the data obtained through the questionnaire were adequate to perform the factor analysis (requirements: Bartlett’s Sphericity Test χ 2 (sig. > 0.05), KMO > 0.7 median, MSA = unacceptable for values below 0.5); 2 S.D: Standard deviation; Source: Authors’ own data.

In the case of the satisfaction scale, the factor analysis resulted in three factors that were denominated (“satisfaction with the facilities”, “satisfaction with the organization of activities”, and “satisfaction with the activity”), which explain 73.77% of the total variance ( Table 2 ). The analysis of the item-total correlation did not involve eliminating any items, since they were higher than 0.3 in all cases.

Satisfaction: Descriptive and factorial exploratory analysis.

* N = 206; Likert scale = 1 = least important /5 = most important; 1 Tests that show that the data obtained through the questionnaire were adequate to perform the factor analysis (requirements: Bartlett’s Sphericity Test χ 2 (sig.> 0.05), KMO > 0.7 median, MSA = unacceptable for values below 0.5); 2 S.D: Standard deviation; Source: Authors’ own data.

From the results of the analyses carried out to corroborate reliability once the item “with this activity I obtain the results I expected” was eliminated in the scale that measures the perceived quality of the service, it can be concluded that the proposed scales are highly reliable, thus being free of random errors, and are able to provide consistent results.

4.2. Regression Analysis

Four multiple regression analyses were proposed in order to corroborate the objectives set. The models included six independent/predictive variables that corresponded to the dimensions included in the scale, enabling us measure the perceived quality of the service (monitor, facilities and material, activities, communication, and staff) with each of the dimensions of satisfaction that have been considered (dependent variable or criterion variable): Overall satisfaction, satisfaction with the facilities, satisfaction with the organization of activities, and satisfaction with the activities. Two control variables were incorporated into the model: Users’ sex and age.

First, the results obtained between the analysis variables in the correlation matrix were analyzed ( Table 3 ). Regarding the control variables, although no significant differences were found and the correlation coefficients are weak, it is observed that the age variable negatively affects the satisfaction with the facilities and with the organization and positively affects the satisfaction with the activities and overall satisfaction. The correlation coefficients allow us to affirm that the dimensions of the perceived quality of the service have a positive relationship with satisfaction (H1, H2, H3, H4), with strong and significant correlation coefficients at the p < 0.01 level.

Measurement scale correlations of the perceived quality of service and user satisfaction.

Note: * p < 0.001. Bilateral test; Source: Authors’ own data.

Prior to the regression analysis, the underlying assumptions on which this type of analysis is based were verified (linearity, independence, homoscedasticity, normality, and noncollaterallity). For the assumption of independence of residuals, the Durbin-Watson statistics was obtained, which, in the three regression models built, gave values between 1.5 and 2.5 ( Table 2 ). In all cases, it gave values lower than 2, which indicates positive autocorrelation.

In the case of collinearity, its diagnosis provided tolerance values between 0.302 and 0.556, which indicate noncollinearity. Therefore, none of the independent variables have correlations greater than 0.9. Moreover, it is possible to assume residual normality, since this tendency could be verified in the analysis of histograms and, in addition, it was confirmed by calculating the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Finally, regarding the homoscedasticity assumption, for each value of the independent variables in the scatterplot ( Figure 1 ), the residuals are distributed in a similar way (no relationship was observed between the forecasted values and the residuals).

Standardized waste. Source: Authors’ own data

In the regression analyses carried out, the measure of the goodness of fit of the model was estimated using the multiple correlation coefficient and the coefficient of determination, which is the square of the previous multiple correlation efficient and expresses the proportion of the variance of the dependent variable explained by the regression model. It is observed that the proposed models have an adequate goodness of fit. In this sense, the explanatory variables contained in the model explain 75.7% of overall satisfaction, 53.4% of the satisfaction with the facilities, 56.1% of the satisfaction with the organization of activities, and 56.0% of the satisfaction with the activity ( Table 4 ). In addition, the F statistic, which enables us to decide whether there is a significant relationship between the dependent variable and the set of independent variables taken together, provides a good adjustment to the point cloud (sig 0.000, indicates that there is a significant linear relationship).

Result of the regression analysis for the dimensions of the perceived quality of the service and satisfaction of the users.

Note: Cell entries are standardized coefficients; * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.001. Bilateral test; Source: Authors’ own data.

Second, the partial correlation coefficient of each explanatory variable was estimated, which indicates the specific relationship of the variable with the dependent variable assuming that the other independent variables remain constant. The sign of the correlation coefficient β makes it possible to determine the direction of the relationship and the F statistic, as well as the goodness of fit of the regression. The p -value (> or < that 1) indicates the significance level with the dependent variable.

The results obtained in the regression together with the correlations enable us to observe that in the case of “general satisfaction”, the dimensions of perceived service quality contribute significantly to explain satisfaction with high and significant β values at a p < 0.001 level. All dimensions, except for the monitor dimension ( p < 0.05), explain satisfaction at a p < 0.001 level. In this sense, the higher the perceived quality of each of the dimensions, the higher the satisfaction experienced by the users.

In this same line, the other three models of multiple regression were proposed with the objective of identifying which dimensions of perceived quality affect the satisfaction that users experience regarding the facilities, organization, and the activities, and to what extent. In the case of satisfaction with the facilities, it is observed that the monitor, the activities, and the staff do not contribute significantly to explain satisfaction (sig > 0.05). As expected, communication significantly contributes to explain satisfaction (β = 0.160, p < 0.05), along with the facilities dimension (β = 0.540, p < 0.001).

The regression model, which explains the satisfaction with the organization of activities, is significantly influenced by the organization of activities (β = 0.399, p < 0.001), staff (β = 0.180, p < 0.001), and communication (β = 0.149, p < 0.001), while the relationship with the facilities and the monitor is not significant (sig > 0.05). Finally, in the last model, which refers to satisfaction with the activities, all the variables are significant at the p < 0.001 level (communication and staff) or p < 0.05 level (monitor and facilities) except for the activities dimension.

Taking the results into account, the hypothesis H1 and, partially, H2, H3, and H4, are corroborated, since not all dimensions positively and significantly influenced satisfaction.

5. Discussion

First, note the results obtained related to the dimension structure of the scale, which enables us to measure the perceived quality of the service. In this research, the rating scale sports organizations (EPOD), developed by Nuviala et al. [ 99 ], was used. Since it was applied to a sample of users of an organization that provides sports services, but with different characteristics from the sample of the original scale, its reliability and unidimensionality were analyzed and studied.

In the case of reliability, Cronbach’s α, which measures the reliability for the total scale, is 0.962, which is very similar to that obtained by Nuviala et al. [ 99 ] of 0.916. If each one of the dimensions is taken into account, it is higher than 0.8 in all cases, corroborating the results obtained by Nuviala et al. [ 99 ] that obtained values between 0.799 and 0.885. Therefore, it was concluded that the scale is reliable.

Regarding the structure of dimensions in this investigation, the items were grouped into six dimensions: Monitor (six items), facilities (five items), sports equipment (four items), activities (nine items), communication (three items), and staff (three items). However, in research by Nuviala et al. [ 99 ], items were grouped into five dimensions (activities, sports experts, spaces, materials, image). The scale measuring satisfaction was divided into three factors or dimensions: Satisfaction with the facilities, with the organization, and with the activity, which correspond to the three scales proposed by Wicker et al. [ 100 ], Nuvialia et al. [ 99 ], and Graupera et al. [ 101 ], and which refer to satisfaction with three aspects or different areas of the sports center, corroborating its reliability.

Once the structure of the considered scales was discussed, the results obtained in this research were discussed relating to the four hypotheses that enabled us to observe the relationships with the quality they perceive and their satisfaction. According to the results, Hypothesis H1 was corroborated, which considered the positive relationship between the dimensions of perceived service quality and overall satisfaction (H1). It was confirmed that the relationship exists (in all cases, the standardized correlation coefficients are significant at the p < 0.001 level). These results, in the case of the relationship with overall satisfaction, are corroborated by empirical studies conducted by Bisschoff and Lotriet [ 107 ], Kyle et al. [ 108 ], Murray and Howat [ 94 ], Shonk and Chelladurai [ 109 ], and Nuviala et al. [ 110 ], which state that a greater level of quality service perception results in greater satisfaction.

Finally, in order to reinforce the validity of the hypotheses and study the relationship structure, different regression models were proposed, which included the perceived service quality dimensions as independent variables and overall satisfaction, satisfaction with the facilities, with the organization, and with the activities as dependent variables, with the purpose of evaluating the joint effects of the independent variables on satisfaction.

The first model showed that the hypothesis H1 was corroborated. All the dimensions of the perceived quality scale influenced satisfaction positively and significantly (on overall satisfaction, p < 0.001), with the variables included in the model explaining 75.7% of satisfaction. This clearly shows that the quality dimensions are closely related to satisfaction, with the most influential variables being facilities and material (β = 0.325, p < 0.001), followed by communication and activity (β = 0.225 and 0.214; p < 0.001). The least influential variables were to HR, monitor, and staff (β = 0.105 and 0.162, p < 0.001). Studies of a quantitative nature corroborate this result. For example, the study carried out by Nuviala et al. [ 110 ], included the perceived value, with 55.6% of satisfaction explained by their model, in addition to the perceived quality dimensions. On the other hand, the dimensions “activities and sports experts” were the most relevant in the regression equation, with β values of 0.347 and 0.266, respectively, with the “value and material” variables being the least important, with a β value of 0.074. These results differ from those obtained in this study. On the contrary, other in the study conducted by Mañas et al. [ 44 ], as well as in this study, it was found that tangible elements are important predictors of user satisfaction.

On the other hand, hypotheses H2, H3, and H4 were partially corroborated. It was observed that in the case of satisfaction with the facilities (H2), the facilities dimension (β = 0.540, p < 0.001) together with communication (β = 0.160, p < 0.05) were the only two dimensions that influenced satisfaction and explained 53.4%. These results show that a center interested in in improving its users’ satisfaction with its facilities must comply with the requirements and expectations of its clients regarding cleanliness, safety, temperature, and sports equipment. In addition, it should pay special attention to the communication mechanisms implemented in its organization. In this sense, the client expects the center to have a procedure of complaints and suggestions, and all those channels necessary to achieve adequate communication with its users.

If the regression model explaining satisfaction with the organization of activities is observed, the independent variables that positively and significantly influenced satisfaction were activities (organization and development), staff, and communication. The users did not consider the dimensions monitor and facilities and material when forming their satisfaction. In the case of satisfaction with the activities, four of the five dimensions influenced satisfaction to a greater or lesser extent, with the exception of the activity dimension, which was not significant (β = 0.095, p > 0.05), while the communication dimension was the most important. The comparison of these results with other studies is complex due to the differences between the measurement instruments used and the dimensions evaluated.

In short, it is observed that the dimensions of perceived quality related to HR (monitor and staff) were the least influential in the satisfaction experienced by the users of the sport and health center, with the dimension facilities and material the most important together with activities and communication, which show a very similar influence. The comparison of these results with other studies is complex due to the differences between the measurements used and the dimensions evaluated.

6. Conclusions

Before starting the presentation of the conclusions, note that this research work is novel since it aims, on the one hand, to fill a gap in research carried out in the sports organizations sector. In this sense, the relationship between perceived service quality and satisfaction has been studied extensively, and this has been corroborated [ 94 , 107 , 108 , 109 ]. However, there is still no consensus on the causality of the relationship, so it is necessary to continue conducting research in this regard [ 91 ].

There are many investigations that develop measurement scales of perceived quality. However, there are very few investigations that analyze which quality dimensions are the most important to form the client’s satisfaction. This research takes into account what was discussed by Szabó [ 111 ] and Tsitskari et al. [ 49 ], who state that the study of quality in the sports industry is in its early stages, so it is essential to continue doing research and deepening knowledge in this area [ 111 ]. In this sense, this research allowed the analysis and reinforcement of some of the conclusions already obtained in other studies.

The results of this investigation have significant academic implications and are of great interest to organizations that provide sports services, enabling the observation of how they jointly affect the dimensions of perceived service quality in the formation of their users’ satisfaction, becoming a key strategic element for any organization. In this sense, it is important to bear in mind that sport and health centers, like any other organization, must improve the quality of the services they provide in order to satisfy their users, and it is necessary to listen to users and measure their satisfaction. This will enable these organizations to adjust their service to the existing demand and to anticipate and adapt to the changes in users’ tastes since, as stated by Súarez et al. [ 112 ] (p. 30), “who determines the quality of a service is the user through his/her satisfaction”.

The first limitation of this study that the study was carried out in a single sport and health center. In future research, the studies should be extended to other sport and health centers, so the results should be extrapolated with caution. Another limitation of this study is its cross section.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Formal Analysis, Writing-Original Draft Preparation and Writing-Review & Editing, J.Á.-G., E.G.-V., M.d.l.C.d.R.-R. and A.D.-S.; Project Administration and Supervision, J.Á.-G. and M.d.l.C.d.R.-R.

This research received no external funding.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Viewpoint: service marketing research priorities

Journal of Services Marketing

ISSN : 0887-6045

Article publication date: 3 April 2020

Issue publication date: 19 June 2020

This paper aims to emphasize two key research priorities central to the domain of service marketing.

Design/methodology/approach

Reflections based on conceptual analysis of the current level of knowledge of service as an offering and of the nature of service marketing in the literature.

It is observed that research into marketing and into service as an object of marketing, or as an offering, has been neglected for two decades and more. It is also shown that to restore its credibility, marketing needs to be reinvented. Furthermore, the point is made that if a proper understanding of service as an object of, for example, innovation, design, branding and development is lacking, or even only implicitly present, valid research into those and other important topics is at risk.

Research limitations/implications

This paper discusses two neglected topics within the domain of service research. Other important areas of future research are not covered. However, the paper offers directions for service marketing research fundamental to the development of the discipline.

Originality/value

In earlier discussions of service and service marketing research priorities, the observation that service and marketing are neglected topics that need to be studied and further developed has not been made. The paper emphasizes that service marketing research also needs to return to its roots and suggests possible directions for future research.

• Service delivery
• Customer participation
• Service design
• Service marketing research priorities
• Service marketing

Grönroos, C. (2020), "Viewpoint: service marketing research priorities", Journal of Services Marketing , Vol. 34 No. 3, pp. 291-298. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSM-08-2019-0306

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Christian Grönroos.

Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial & non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

The purpose of this paper is to discuss two neglected but central topics within the domain of service marketing that, in my view, need urgent attention in service research. Because these topics are of such fundamental importance to the understanding of service marketing, I consider them just as important, if not more important, as any of the significant service research priorities that have been suggested in the literature. These topics are service and marketing . First, I discuss the research into these topics that exist, and then I suggest directions that, in my view, would enable further fruitful research into these topics.

State of current knowledge

Service innovation and design, transformative service research, service branding, accountability, service logic, digitalization and other topics have been suggested as important research priorities ( Ostrom et al. , 2015 ). These are, of course, central research topics in the field of service marketing today. However, there are two more fundamental aspects of service marketing that have been neglected in service marketing research and where solid service-focused models are missing, namely, service and marketing.

Rathmell (1974 , p. 7) made the following comment about service marketing research: “definitions, classifications, data, and concepts are lacking, noncomparable, or unreal from a marketing perspective.” He continued,

[…] moreover as one attempts to integrate marketing terms, concepts, and practices with firms, institutions and professions having their own traditions, customs, and practices which are quite foreign to conventional marketing (and much older), the linkage appears awkward and even improper (p. 7).

He also observed that service firms do not have one contact point with their customers covered by conventional marketing, but two – namely, marketing and production. The interactions between buyers/consumers and sellers/service providers that take place in the latter contact point are relevant to marketing in service firms (p. 6). Three years after Rathmell, Shostack (1977 , p. 73) observed that:

[…] merely adopting product marketing’s labels does not resolve the question of whether product marketing can be overlaid on service businesses. Can corporate banking really be marketed according to the same basic blueprint that made Tide a success?

Her conclusion was that “new concepts are necessary if service marketing is to succeed” (p. 73). My question is, how far has research into service marketing reached since these early days of modern service research? The sad answer is that it has not reached very far.

In a conference paper presented at one of the American Marketing Association’s service marketing conferences in the 1980s, I made the rather obvious remark about the development of service as an offering that “one of the most essential cornerstones in developing something is a thorough understanding of the phenomenon to be developed” ( Grönroos, 1987 , p. 81). In an article published six years later together with Hans Åke Sand, Chief Executive Officer of an innovative and successful car rental enterprise, we noted that “there is no generally accepted conceptual model […] of services as products, i.e. as objects to be developed, produced and marketed” ( Grönroos and Sand, 1993 , p. 45). Again, my question is, how far has research into service as an object of marketing or as an offering reached since those early days of service research? Again, the answer is equally saddening. During the past 15 years, service as a phenomenon has been discussed as part of the research into service as logic ( Vargo and Lusch, 2004 ; Grönroos, 2011 ). Recently, I have defined service as a phenomenon as providing help to another person’s or organization’s relevant processes in a way valuable to this person or organization ( Grönroos, 2019 ). However, since the 1980s and 1990s, very little has been published on service as an offering – that is, as an object to be innovated, developed, designed, produced, delivered and marketed. Studies on innovation, design and development of services are abundant, but the object of such research is seldom discussed and specified explicitly.

As marketing has been a driving force of modern service research and its dominating subareas, the conceptual development of service marketing should be a central research priority. As marketing of services cannot be understood conceptually without an understanding of what service as an object of marketing consists of, conceptual development of service as an offering or an object to be marketed should be another self-evident research priority in service research. Service and marketing are so central to service research that I will focus on them in the present article. First, marketing will be discussed and then service.

There were attempts to develop service marketing models, but what happened?

In the early days of modern service research, several conceptual models of service marketing were developed. In the 1970s and early 1980s, four models, in particular, were published: Eiglier and Langeard’s servuction model ( Eiglier and Langeard, 1975 ; Langeard and Eiglier, 1987 ), Shostack’s molecular model ( Shostack, 1977 ), Grönroos’s interactive marketing model ( Grönroos, 1978 ; Grönroos, 1982 ) and Booms and Bitner’s 7P model ( Booms and Bitner, 1982 ). In addition, Berry (1983) introduced the idea of relationship marketing , emphasizing the long-term timeframe of service marketing. Following the classification provided in Berry and Parasuraman’s (1993) analysis of the service marketing field, the servuction model represents the French school, the interactive marketing the Nordic school, and the 7P model the American school. of service marketing. The molecular model includes elements of both the first and second schools. These models are genuinely geared toward characteristics of service firms, predominantly the process nature of services and the impact of interactions between providers and customers, but they are based on somewhat different approaches. The servuction model is based on resources active in the service (production) process; the interactive marketing model is geared toward Rathmell’s observation that both conventional marketing and production processes influence customers and thus have marketing implications and take, at least partly, a process approach to marketing. The 7P model takes conventional marketing’s four decision-making areas as the starting point and adds three more Ps representing decision-making areas relevant to service firms. Basically, this model is a decision category model, but it includes process as one of the new service-specific decision-making categories. The molecular model emphasizes that to market services successfully, a number of other resources and processes influencing customers have to be taken into account in addition to conventional marketing activities. In various ways, all these models go beyond conventional models by including aspects related to service production and interactions between customers and service providers. As shown in Berry and Parasuraman (1993) , there were a large number of publications on service marketing in the 1980s and 1990s ( Zeithaml et al. , 1985 ; to mention but one), but the field was really not developed further. Then service research turned to other topics.

Enter service quality, exit service marketing

Following my, and to a larger extent Berry, Parasuraman and Zeithaml’s articles on service quality in the 1980s ( Grönroos, 1982 , 1984 ; Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry, 1985 ; Zeithaml et al. , 1988 ), an interest in service quality grew almost exponentially among service researchers. At the same time as this explosion of service quality studies took place in the late 1980s and 1990s ( Cronin and Taylor, 1994 ; Boulding et al. , 1993 ; Teas, 1993 ; Brady and Cronin, 2001 ), studies of service marketing more or less died out. Why did this happen? In my view, service marketing requires genuinely new approaches, which did not fit the conventional and dominating marketing mix management paradigm and kept researchers from continuing the studies of marketing in service firms. The conventional paradigm offered a too-heavy straitjacket to allow for boundary-spanning research approaches. However, service quality enabled researchers to still study how service firms could approach their customers to make them satisfied – a theme central to marketing – without having to place it in the marketing domain and challenge established marketing “truths.” Studies of service quality became a surrogate for studying marketing. Without putting it into a marketing framework and without having to move marketing as marketing into inconvenient directions geared to the characteristics of service, the production and interaction-related aspects could still be studied, but in a service quality domain. Whether this happened consciously or unconsciously can be debated.

As far as my early publications ( Grönroos, 1982 , 1984 ) labeled “service quality” were concerned, the goal was never to initiate research into the quality of services. Everything was a mistake ( Grönroos, 2001 ). In reality, I was interested in how customers perceive service as an offering or object of consumption. I was looking at the features of service offerings that customers perceived and appreciated as a starting point for further research on how to conceptualize service as an object of production, delivery and marketing. I just happened to choose the label “perceived service quality” for such perceptions. In hindsight, I should have called it “perceived service features” instead. Once the fast-spreading interest in service quality research occurred (and I was, of course, not its only initiator), it was too late to stop it. And service quality research did offer new insights into quality; for example, the observation that quality is not what firms produce and offer, but what customers perceive.

In conclusion, instead of exploring the nature of marketing in service firms and developing models of service marketing further, the service research community devoted itself to studying other service-related topics. Service quality was especially the topic of interest, as I understand it, as a surrogate for studying marketing issues directly, where researchers did not have to challenge the steadfast grip of the conventional marketing mix management view. As I said before, perceived service quality relates directly to the aspects of the servuction, molecular, interactive marketing and 7P models unique to service.

When the interest in service quality faded away toward the end of the 1990s, with the new focus on service as a perspective or logic on business and marketing, value and how value is created and co-created became key topics in service research ( Vargo and Lusch, 2004 ; Grönroos, 2011 ). However, the same thing as with service quality happened. This field of research exploded and, although it has been claimed that it is about a new logic for marketing, attempts to conceptualize marketing are largely lacking. At the same time, other topics of importance, such as design, innovation, customer experience, customer engagement, transformative service, service branding and digitalization have also drawn the attention of the research community. In none of these areas has conceptualizing marketing been of central interest.

How serious is this?

An absolute key research priority in service research is to finally continue the research into service marketing that took place in the early days of modern research into the service field. Unless a valid and acceptable model (or models) of marketing relevant to service is developed and found useful, none of the advances made in designing, innovating and digitalizing services, to mention just a few topics, can be fully used, or used at all. Marketing has to reinvent itself. Its credibility and use in firms has been in decline for a long time. In a section of a 2005 issue of the Journal of Marketing labeled “Marketing Renaissance,” supposedly devoted to reinventing marketing, Stephen Brown reported a study among top executives of major service-oriented firms associated with the Center for Services Leadership at Arizona State University. He wrote, “notably, none of the executives mentioned marketing as being responsible for the customer.” The executives indicated that “marketing and sales often have a major role in making promises to customers and in generating new business. However, the keeping of promises and building customer loyalty is typically considered the responsibility of others in the enterprise ” ( Brown, 2005 , p. 3, italics added). In the same section, these observations are reinforced by Sheth and Sisodia (2005 , p. 11), who note that “many strategically important aspects of marketing […] are being taken away by other functions in the organization.” The only other important observations for reinventing marketing from the 12 papers in this marketing renaissance section, in my view, are the general conclusion that there is “[a] weak linkage between marketing scholarship and marketing practice” ( Brown, 2005 , p. 3), and Sheth and Sisodia’s(2005 , p. 12) concluding remark:

Can marketing’s reputation be redeemed? Not unless it resolves the fundamental contradiction at its core: Marketing claims to be about representing the customer to the company, but it remains mostly about representing the company to the customer, using every trick in its bag to make customers behave in the company’s best interests.

Since then, the development of digitalization has strengthened the position of the customers, but the conventional marketing models have had difficulties handling this.

The observations presented above should be taken seriously. Marketers do not honestly have customers’ best interests in mind, in parallel with the firm’s interest. Moreover, employees other than the marketers are responsible for keeping customers and, therefore, for making customers feel satisfied with how the firm serves them and also for their continued patronage to the firm. For the research community, it should be a wake-up call drawing researchers’ interest to study how marketing can be reinvented to fit today’s customer communities and business practices. So far, neither service researchers nor marketing scholars, in general, have reacted. As a consequence, marketing continuously becomes less relevant to firms and top management, and only tactical, if anything, and marketing as an academic discipline loses credibility as part of the management and business administration field.

Reinventing marketing through promise theory

Keeping Sheth and Sisodia’s criticism of contemporary marketing as not representing the customers to the firm in mind, the ultimate goal of marketing should be to make the firm relevant to its customers ( Grönroos, 2015 ; italics added). Conceptualizing marketing should be founded on this requirement. Furthermore, marketing is a process that includes many elements, such as creating interest in the firm and its offerings, making customers who have bought the offerings feel satisfied with them and creating enduring relationships with customers. In a service context, the offering, the service that is consumed, is a process and to a varying degree, it emerges in interactions between the service provider and the customer. Moreover, as emphasized by customer-dominant logic, the customer puts offerings into their customer ecosystems and, based on that, they determine the importance and value to them of such offerings ( Heinonen and Strandvik, 2015 ). All this needs to be incorporated in attempts to conceptualize service marketing.

For me, promise theory , already introduced in marketing in the 1980s by Calonius (1986) , offers solid ground to build upon. It pinpoints and elaborates on the very problem of marketing demonstrated in Stephen Brown’s contribution to the marketing renaissance discussion, namely, that marketing has reverted to promise-making and lost control of actions and processes that secure customer satisfaction and loyalty. As Bitner (1995 , p. 246), inspired by Calonius, proposed in the title of a promise-related article, “it is all about promises.” As Calonius formulated promise theory as a foundation of market behavior:

[a] promise is a more or less explicitly expressed conditional declaration of assurance made to another party, or to oneself, with respect to the future, stating that one will do […] some specific act. […] The action or intentional activity called forth by a promise […] will occur with some probability in the near or more distant future ( Calonius, 2006 , p. 422).

This simply means that marketers should make promises to their customers that can be kept and then keep these promises, thereby fulfilling the expectations among customers created by the promises made. If such promises relate well to the customers’ life situations, activities and needs – in other words, to their customer ecosystems – this behavior should make the firm relevant to them and marketing should achieve its ultimate goal.

Developing marketing models based on promise theory requires that marketing is conceptualized as a promise management process, where making and keeping promises are integrated. Instead of being a rather static marketing conceptualization based on decision categories, such as the 4P model, this would be a dynamic marketing-as-a-process conceptualization. However, the promise-making/promise-keeping dichotomy is not new to marketing. The 4P model includes the product variable, which is clearly thought to fulfill the promise-keeping requirement. The problem is that the promise-keeping capacity of the product variable is only inherent in the model, and not explicitly emphasized or even pointed out. Furthermore, as the product is frequently given to the marketers, the promotion, price and place variables of the model take over, and they are all geared toward promise-making. As a conclusion, marketing mentally and factually becomes a promise-making issue, where the product is thought to keep promises made more or less automatically.

In a service context, this does not function, because in service there are no products as pre-produced, tangible artifacts. Service is a process-based business ( Edvardsson et al. , 2005 ), where promises are made of processes taking place in the future and promises are kept through how well such processes function to a smaller or larger extent in interactions with the customers. This changes things immensely. Promise-keeping cannot be taken for granted anymore. For the firm’s marketing, keeping a promise does not happen automatically, as conventional models of marketing assume. The process that the customers experience must be managed in a customer-focused manner – that is, in a way that has the marketing effect of making the customers satisfied and willing to engage with the firm in the future as well. Moreover, what is “the firm’s marketing?” We are used to thinking of marketing as a separate function alongside other business functions, often managed by a marketing department of full-time marketers. As the process of keeping promises is outside the immediate responsibility and control of those in the firm who make promises about this process – that is, the full-time marketers – marketing as promise-keeping extends marketing beyond those who, according to conventional marketing models, are considered the marketers .

Conceptualizing service marketing as promise management

Marketing as promise management means that three separate processes need to be studied and developed, namely, a process of promise-making, a process of promise-keeping, and, in addition, a process of promise-enabling. In conventional marketing, relying on a marketing department of full-time marketers, those responsible for marketing activities are thought to be marketing professionals. However, the service or frontline employees interacting with customers in the service (production) process are employed in other non-marketing business functions. Primarily their job is to make sure that the process functions well from a technical point of view. However, as part-time marketers , to use a term introduced by Gummesson (1991) , they fulfill a key marketing function when interacting with customers. As Gummesson (1995) also notes, there normally are many more part-time marketers than full-time marketers, and they meet customers at the very point of service production and consumption. In creating customer satisfaction and loyalty, and in generating resales, their role is critical. To make sure that the part-time marketers are prepared and willing to fulfill their role in the promise-keeping part of the total marketing process, activities and processes labeled internal marketing ( Grönroos, 2015 ) in the service literature are needed. Through internal marketing, it is assured that promises can be made and kept successfully, such that customers buy and become satisfied with what they have bought. This is promise-enabling.

In an article published in 2006, I draw guidelines for the development of marketing and suggest an overarching marketing definition based on the promise management approach:

Marketing is a customer focus that permeates organizational functions and processes and is geared towards making promises through value proposition, enabling the fulfilment of individual expectations created by such promises, and fulfilling such expectations through support to customers’ value-generating processes, thereby supporting value creation in the firm’s as well as its customers’ and other stakeholders’ processes ( Grönroos, 2006 , p. 407).

These guidelines point out that, when conceptualizing service marketing, one needs to distinguish between those resources and activities that take responsibility for making promises and those that take responsibility for keeping promises. The former resources are probably mainly full-time marketers, whereas the latter are part-time marketers as well as other resources and systems – physical and digital – that the customers interact with or are exposed to in some other way. The servuction, molecular, interactive marketing and 7P models of the early days of service research include such resources as well as processes active in such interactions in various ways. In addition, the role of the customers themselves as a resource in service marketing is emphasized in some of these models and in early service research. Furthermore, the promise management definition emphasizes that promises made create individual expectations among customers and that those responsible for marketing in the promise-keeping phase must be prepared to take this into account when interacting with customers. This is part of internal marketing as the promise-enabling process.

The promise management guideline and overarching definition offer many opportunities for service researchers to conceptualize service marketing and develop more detailed models of service marketing and, for example, of the various sub-processes of promise management.

What is “the firm’s marketing”?

Earlier, I raised the question of what is meant by “the firm’s marketing.” What is included in the marketing process of a firm? Conventional marketing thought assumes that marketing is a separate function frequently managed by a marketing department. In the literature, “marketing department” is often used as a synonym of “marketing function.” However, when the product is replaced by the service process, and frontline service employees, who are part of other functions in the firm, take on the role of part-time marketers, marketing cannot be viewed in the traditional, rather simplistic manner anymore. As Wilkie (2005 , p. 9) concluded his analysis in the discussion of the renaissance of marketing, “in brief, we need a larger conception of marketing.” Furthermore, marketing cannot be organized in traditional ways. As the promise management guideline and definition imply, because frontline employees/part-time marketers belong to several functions, marketing permeates several organizational functions. An obvious conclusion is that marketing can only be partly organized ( Grönroos, 2015 ). The promise-making process can in most cases be organized in a separate department, but the promise-keeping process is spread throughout the organization. Therefore, it cannot be organized in any conventional structures. Instead, in the context of promise-keeping, marketing must be instilled as a customer-focused mindset ( Grönroos, 2015 ). Instilling this mindset demands internal marketing efforts. How to ensure that marketing functions well in the promise-keeping sub-process without organizing it offers an abundance of important and interesting research opportunities. However, this requires that researchers move out of their comfort zone of studying marketing issues through traditional lenses. As Webster (2005 , p. 6) formulates it, to develop marketing “we must tolerate work that bursts through and redefines the currently accepted boundaries of our intellectual domain.”

What about the term “marketing”?

When developing service marketing, a word about the term “marketing” is warranted. When people outside of marketing’s traditional boundaries become part of marketing, and when business functions other than marketing become part of the firm’s total marketing process, it becomes doubtful whether “marketing” signifies the phenomenon we are talking about very accurately. It is a matter of something much larger than getting out into the market. Employees who have different background and training easily find marketing inherently unacceptable and resist being part of it. In 1999, I suggested that dropping the term may serve the introduction of marketing into service firms better than using it ( Grönroos, 1999 ). It is also a matter of marketing’s credibility among employees, customers and top management. Twenty years later, this suggestion still seems to be too controversial to be picked up in any serious research into marketing. However, in the discussion of a renaissance for marketing, Sheth and Sisodia (2005 , p. 12) make the point that “the word ‘marketing’ has lost so much credibility that companies would be better off using the designation of chief customer officer rather than CMO.” Clearly, they too find the term “marketing” problematic.

In conclusion, key research priorities for future service research that relate to the marketing domain include the nature, scope, boundaries and content of service marketing, how to organize for service marketing and even whether “marketing” is a term that enables the successful introduction of service marketing in firms or whether a different term is needed.

What should be marketed is also missing in service research: the service offering

Product is a key marketing variable in the conventional 4P model. Without an understanding of the product to be marketed, successful product marketing outcomes cannot be expected. This is, of course, also true for service marketing. How can the object to be marketed be understood and conceptualized in the context of services? This is critical for other research areas besides marketing within the service domain as well. For example, innovation, design, branding and transformative service have drawn extensive attention from service researchers. The Journal of Service Research has published special issues on service design (February 2008) and transformative service research (August 2015). The articles published in these issues develop new thoughts, concepts and models largely based on an understanding of customers and their processes, which, of course, is important. However, what also is important is an explicit understanding of what constitutes the service that is innovated, designed and branded, and which the customers purchase and consume. Models or conceptualizations or even discussions of this are lacking. In an overview article of service innovation, Helkkula et al. (2018) define four archetypes of innovation in the extant research, namely, output-based, process-based, experiential and systemic archetypes. Here, too, service as an object of innovation is not explicitly present.

Given the amount of research on the many subfields of service that has been published, it is, in my view, worrying that there is no clear model or models of service as an object or offering to be produced, marketed and consumed. This object is a process ( Edvardsson et al. , 2005 ), and as a phenomenon, it is something that aims to help, for example, customers to achieve goals that are valuable to them ( Grönroos, 2019 ). However, what features or elements constitute this object? In the following paragraphs, I use the term “service offering” for such an object.

In the 1970s and 1980s, some publications on service included observations about service offerings. It was noted that they included two types of services – namely, core and auxiliary services ( Normann, 1984 ) – as part of a service package ( Sasser et al. , 1978 ; Normann, 1984 ). In the context of their servuction model, Langeard and Eiglier (1987) discuss an offering system. In the context of service development, Edvardsson (1996) made the point that customers have what he termed primary needs, which are fulfilled by a set of core and auxiliary service elements – such as guest rooms, booking, check-in service, and breakfast service in a hotel context – and secondary needs, which relate to how these services function as processes. The words “primary” and “secondary” are not used to indicate any difference in nature or importance; he emphasized that both types of customer needs have to be acknowledged.

Edvardsson’s model was partly based on a conference paper from 1987 ( Grönroos, 1987 ), where I pointed out the need to distinguish between two layers in a service offering, namely, a basic package of service elements and an augmentation of this package. This augmentation makes the service process part of the service offering. In this model, the augmentation includes three variables: accessibility of the service; interactions between the customer and the many service provider resources; and finally the customer’s ability to participate in the service process, termed customer participation ( Grönroos , 1987, 2015 ). Later, in the context of digital services, together with Kristina Heinonen and other colleagues ( Grönroos et al. , 2000 ), we suggested that the accessibility and interaction variables merge into one information variable. In the same conference paper, I also emphasized that auxiliary services added to a core service (lodging, in the hotel example) in a service package are of a different nature and fulfill different purposes. For example, booking and check-in services in the hotel example are mandatory services. If they are missing or not accessible, the customer cannot use the core service. However, breakfast service is not mandatory in the same sense. The purpose of such a service is to enhance the service offering, whereas the purpose of the former types of services is to enable the use of the core service. Hence, for the understanding of the service package, it is important to distinguish between the core service, offering-enabling services and offering-enhancing services ( Grönroos, 1987 ; terminology as in Grönroos, 2015 ).

Conceptualizing service as an object or offering

When developing a model of service offering – that is, of services as objects for production, marketing and consumption – a critical starting point is that services are not product-like objects but processes that lead to an outcome. As demonstrated by the perceived service quality model ( Grönroos, 1984 ), both the outcome and the process influence the customers’ perceptions. Furthermore, the distinction between customers’ primary needs and secondary needs, as suggested by Edvardsson (1996) , should be taken into account. To fulfill primary needs, the service model must include service elements, such as guest rooms and booking, check-in and breakfast services in the hotel example used earlier. To fulfill secondary needs, the service model must also include process-related aspects of the service, which guarantee that the service elements function in a customer-focused manner. The service elements form the service package, but this package is not the service as an object or offering. They only make sure that the service’s intended outcome is achieved. In perceived service quality terms ( Grönroos, 1984 ), they ensure that the technical outcome quality can be delivered. The role of the process-related aspects is to guarantee that the service elements of the service package also function in a desired manner, such that a satisfying service emerges. In perceived service quality terms, they ensure that the functional process quality requirement is achieved. When conceptualizing services, however it is done, both service package elements and service process-related aspects must be included.

When developing the elements of the service package, it is also essential to observe that they may fulfill different purposes, such as mandatory elements enabling the use of the core service and optional elements enhancing the perception of the service. Most service elements can be both enabling and enhancing. To use a car rental example ( Grönroos and Sand, 1993 ), the core service is transportation by a rented vehicle. Access to a wanted vehicle is a purely enabling service element, whereas, for example, the reservation system, information about terms and conditions, vehicle return system and payment system can be both enabling and enhancing service elements. Complaints handling and service recovery are examples of purely enhancing service elements.

In my 1987 model, I proposed that accessibility, interaction and customer participation variables are used to augment the service package and cover the process-related aspect of services ( Grönroos, 1987 ); and in 2000 study, my colleagues and I suggested that information and customer participation variables can be used to conceptualize the augmentation of digital services ( Grönroos et al. , 2000 ). These are only research-based examples from the literature of ways of conceptualizing the service package and of augmenting the elements of this package. This “augmented service offering” approach offers an abundance of opportunities to further conceptualize service as an offering or object. However, regardless of how models of services as objects or offerings are conceptualized, both service elements and the process-related augmentation of such elements need to be taken into account. Otherwise, the model will not be conceptualized in a way that meets the customers’ view of what constitutes services.

Concluding remarks

In the present article, I have made the point that marketing and service as objects of marketing or offerings are neglected research topics within the domain of service marketing and that these topics should be highly prioritized in service research. This does not mean that other suggested research priorities are less important – on the contrary. However, the need to study service and marketing again has not been voiced for decades. Therefore, it is essential to draw the service research community’s attention to these topics very fundamental to our field and to emphasize the urgent need to study them. Moreover, service and marketing form the very foundation of our domain, and without proper understanding of them, the development of other current and future service topics may generate less valid results.

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Zeithaml , V.A. , Parasuraman , A. and Berry , L.L. ( 1985 ), “ Problems and strategies in services marketing ”, Journal of Marketing , Vol. 49 No. 2 , pp. 33 - 46 .

Further reading

Bitner , M.J. , Booms , B.H. and Tetrault , M.S. ( 1990 ), “ The service encounter: diagnosing favourable and unfavourable incidents ”, Journal of Marketing , Vol. 54 No. 1 , pp. 71 - 84 .

Journal of Service Research ( 2015 ), “ Special issue on transformative service research ”, Vol. 18 , No. 3 .

Journal of Service Research ( 2018 ), “ Special issue on service design ”, Vol. 21 , No. 1 .

Marketing renaissance: opportunities and imperatives for improving marketing thought, practice, and infrastructure ( 2005 ), Journal of Marketing , Vol. 69 , pp. 1 - 25 .

Corresponding author

About the author.

Christian Grönroos is a Professor Emeritus of Service and Relationship Marketing at Hanken School of Economics, Finland. He is a pioneer developing the academic field of service marketing and Co-founder of the Nordic School of Service Marketing Research. He has published extensively on service marketing and service management topics. His most recent activity is a set of short video lectures on “Principles of Service Management” on YouTube. In 2013 he was selected Legend in Marketing by the Sheth Foundation.

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