Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the extent of congruence between service providers’ perceptions of customer satisfaction and customer-reported satisfaction in the context of optometric services. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected via mail surveys from a sample of German optometrists and their customers. Usable responses were obtained from 388 optometrists and 2,237 customers. Findings – Results show that the underlying configurations of satisfaction attributes decompose into eight factors in the case of optometrists and five factors in the case of customers. The extent of congruence between the two groups is weak. Research limitations/implications – Replications among other optometrist and customer samples are needed to validate the current findings. Also to gain more pointed insights into the similarities and disparities between service providers’ perceptions of their customers’ satisfaction and customer-reported satisfaction, extension of research to other service sectors would be fruitful. Practical implications – The overall inconsistencies between the optometrists and customers underscore the need for accurate assessment of customer perceptions for business success. For stronger business performance, service providers should be trained to look at satisfaction from the perspective of customers by using customers’ definitions. Originality/value – The study used a dyadic approach in collecting the data. The factor congruency technique was employed to determine the extent of similarities and disparities between the two groups. A general lack of customer knowledge has implications for service providers.

This study first investigates the extent of congruence between service providers' perceptions of customer satisfaction with various aspects of optometric services and customer-reported satisfaction with these services, and then examines whether a high degree of congruence results in better business performance. A survey of optometricians and customers of optometric services in Germany serves as the study setting. Results are presented and their implications are discussed. Avenues for futures research are offered. This study first investigates the extent of congruence between service providers' perceptions of customer satisfaction with various aspects of optometric services and customer-reported satisfaction with these services, and then examines whether a high degree of congruence results in better business performance. A survey of optometricians and customers of optometric services in Germany serves as the study setting. Results are presented and their implications are discussed. Avenues for tuture research are offered.

Purpose - The purpose of this article is to present one example of how the strategies of total quality management (TQM) and continuous improvement are being used by US health care providers to meet the challenges of the future. Design/methodology/approach - This article presents an application utilizing the strategies of TQM and continual and rapid improvement in the area of assessing internal customer satisfaction in the health care arena. Satisfaction information concerning internal processes is critically important to the health care provider, and this article presents the development and application of an instrument designed to provide timely and relevant internal customer satisfaction information to individual health care providers. This provides information on problem identification and improvement opportunities for a world-class continuous improvement program. Findings - The article finds that customer satisfaction is increasingly being recognized as an appropriate measure for determining how well a particular organization is accomplishing its mission and, while customer satisfaction surveys provide valuable information and may be used to improve the entire operation, they provide limited insight into the details of the inner workings of each cost center. Each of the measures discussed in this article is potentially equally insightful and may provide more directly usable information when applied to internal customers. Originality/value - This article provides useful information on providing customer satisfaction in the health care arena.

This study investigates the effect of customer satisfaction with leisure services on tourists' positive word-of-mouth and revisit intentions. The study is carried out within the context of visitors to the SantaPark in Rovaniemi, Finland. In this study, customer satisfaction is measured via a multi-attribute approach. Study results and their implications are discussed.

In the face of increasing pressure to improve patient satisfaction, the health-care industry must continue to seek improved methods to measure the effects of its continuous improvement efforts. While measurement instruments in this area abound, most are global in perspective and inflexible in form, sometimes leading to less than optimally germane outputs. Patient satisfaction information is critically important to the health-care provider, and this paper presents the results provided by an instrument that was locally designed to provide the most utile aggregation and presentation of patient satisfaction information for individual health-care providers. These results provide substantial evidence to support the notion that local, rather than global, measurement instruments are needed to provide the most relevant and useful results when assessing patient satisfaction as part of a continuous improvement effort.

This study compared the longitudinal performance of two groups of toddlers with palatal clefts and an age-matched group of children without palatal clefts on measures of elicited symbolic play at 18, 24, and 30 months. The results indicated that the group with isolated cleft palate differed significantly from both the cleft lip and palate group and the noncleft group on all but 1 play measure. Correlational analyses for each group indicated significant positive correlations between a number of the play variables at 18 months and productive vocabulary and MLU at 24 and 30 months of age. The findings suggest that assessment of early play gestures may assist clinicians in identifying children with clefts who are at risk for later language impairment.

The health care industry can expect an expanding need to measure and report the quality of performance and related outcomes. This article presents a flexible application operationalizing the strategies of total quality management and continual and rapid improvement in the area of assessing patient satisfaction. Mountain States Health Alliance established seven strategic criteria for the Outcomes Assessment Strategy and Information System (OASIS) design based on its own strategic initiatives and quality improvement principals. These initiatives are supported by the software application referred to as ContAct. Substantial process improvements have resulted. As pressures from stakeholders continue to mount, it will become increasingly important that patient satisfaction information be used to improve processes. The system presented provides one piece of an overall approach that will result in a rise to world-class status for the health care industry.

The service sector is the fastest growing segment of the economy, responsible for 75% of the GNP, and still growing. Its success is important to the global economy. Nonetheless, throughout the 20-year evolution of services marketing literature, research that guides theory, methodology, and practice for service success has remained underrepresented. Published research regarding the effect of customers' justice perceptions on customer satisfaction is primarily experimental and focuses only on service recovery after a service failure, providing insufficient information about how the justice experienced in a service encounter affects a customer's satisfaction level. Proactive and reactive service recovery research abounds; service failures have overshadowed service success. This is the first empirical research to investigate across service outcomes the effects 1) of interactional, distributive, and procedural justice on overall justice and customer satisfaction and 2) of overall justice on customer satisfaction. The theoretical model of the customer's path to loyalty adapts previous models of the service profit chain, customer satisfaction with service failure and recovery, and complaint handling relationships. It is a simplified version of the author's in-work conceptual model. The theoretical model has conceptual and practical value to researchers and service company executives. It considers all possible service encounter types and the heterogeneity of outcomes. It is supported by attribution and equity theories (the underpinnings of customer's justice judgments) and by behavioral intentions research. A cross-sectional written survey was used to gather data relevant to the eight hypotheses proposed and shown on the measurement model. Sixty percent of the 302 respondents recalled satisfying service encounters and 40% recalled dissatisfying service encounters. MANOVA testing supported the hypothesis of a positive relationship for extant prior experience to each of the justice constructs. The tested path analysis model showed direct and positive effects for the justice constructs on overall justice and customer satisfaction and for overall justice on customer satisfaction. When providers fairly address the people, outputs, and processes in service transactions, expectations are more likely to be met, delight is possible, and trust and commitment, possibly even loyalty, may arise. Disappointment and disconfirmation resulting from gaps in performance expectations can lead to non-attritive defection and lost profits. This research provides practical information that can lead to a better understanding of customers' evaluation methods and be used to guide the formation of improved service strategies that provide justice, a key to satisfaction. / Ph. D.

Abstract Customers are the main reason behind every companies’ survival in the market. And winning their interest has now become the concern for company owners and managers as well. However, many factors can affect the customer's satisfaction in the marketing environment. Among the determinants, service quality takes the most substantial part. Many Scholars have also identified the underlying relationships between these two constructs. Notably, the perception-expectation gap is a useful cue to determine their link. Thus, this research mainly relies on uncovering the customer's perception of service quality. As a result, the study is conducted in one of the biggest chain restaurant named Pizza Hut. And the author chooses the research location to be in Uppsala. Purpose This study has a two-fold research purpose in that it aims at measuring the perception of customers in the restaurant industry and examining the validity of DINESERV in Sweden's cultural context. Design/Methodology/approach The author has employed a convenience sampling technique to conduct the research and pre-developed questionnaires from the so-called DINESERV instrument. Additionally, factor analysis and Cronbach's alpha were used to check the validity and reliability of the model, respectively. The gap score was also computed using the means. Then finally, a spearman's correlation coefficient was calculated to test the strength of the relationship between the customer's satisfaction and service quality dimensions. Finding The analysis carried out proved that DINESERV is a valid instrument to measure customer's perception of service quality in Sweden's cultural context. Besides, the correlation between service quality dimension and customer satisfaction were validated using a spearman's rho. Lastly, the result from the gap score indicates that the two dimensions (i.e., responsiveness & reliability) were perceived as inferior by the customers. Research implications The theoretical finding suggests that DINESERV is the right instrument to measure the service quality of restaurants in Sweden's context. And the practical implication approves that pizza hut in Uppsala has two inferior dimensions that need continuous improvement. Lastly, the demographic characteristics of the respondents show that most of the customers are categorized under the younger age group (i.e., 18-36), and this information can be used for marketing purposes by the company. Key Words – DINESERV, Service quality, Customer satisfaction, Restaurant

La calidad del servicio en la actualidad es indispensable para las empresas que quieran ser exitosas, sobre todo, en tiempos donde una noticia viral puede catapultar o hundir a una compañía en cuestión de días. Dicha realidad nos motivó a estudiar este caso aplicando una herramienta de medición de calidad. La tesis propone evaluar la calidad del servicio de instituciones dedicadas a la enseñanza del idioma francés, un idioma hablado por más de 300 millones de personas en todos los continentes y que ha alcanzado un evidente desarrollo en los últimos años. Mediante la herramienta SERVQUAL se estudiarán las brechas entre las expectativas y percepciones de los alumnos activos para que a través de los resultados y conclusiones las instituciones dedicadas a la enseñanza del idioma francés puedan plantear estrategias para mejorar su servicio. Las aplicaciones de este método de medición de la calidad servirán para futuras evaluaciones de las instituciones. / The quality of service today is essential for companies that want to be successful, especially, in times where viral news can catapult or sink a company in a matter of days. This reality motivated us to study this case by applying a quality measurement tool. The thesis proposes to evaluate the quality of the service of the institutions dedicated on the teaching of French languages, a language spoken by more than 300 million people in all continents and that has had an evident development in recent years. Through the SERVQUAL tool, the gaps between the expectations and perceptions of active students will be studied so that through the results and conclusions, the institutions dedicated on teaching the French language can propose strategies to improve their service. The applications of this quality measurement method will work for future evaluations of the institutions. / Tesis