The ability to attract and retain customers through providing excellent service quality is a necessity for any business in every field. However, before a firm can expect to consistently provide high quality service, it must first know how to measure and identify areas of needed improvement. While service quality research has been conducted in most of the major sectors of the economy, the residential real estate brokerage industry is only beginning to incorporate existing knowledge of service quality management. This is especially disconcerting given that real estate is such a large part of local and national economies around the world. The purpose of this thesis is to identify the best instrument that can be used to measure service quality in the residential real estate brokerage industry. The findings reveal that the reliability, responsiveness and empathy dimensions significantly lead to increases in the overall evaluation of service the firm provides. The empathy dimension also significantly causes homebuyers to recommend the firm to others. Additionally, empathy significantly causes the client to use the firm again. Finally, as hypothesized, overall satisfaction leads to both repeat uses of the firm and recommending the firm to a friend. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

伴隨著台灣的經濟活動轉型以及國人的飲食習慣改變，「咖啡」己經成為國人日常生活中不可或缺的重要文化。而台灣的連鎖咖啡店在市場上的競爭者眾多，因此，了解消費者的認知，並投其所好及提升服務品質，進而促使提高消費者再次消費的意願，連鎖咖啡業者將能在眾多競爭中佔有一席之地。 　　本研究主要目的是應用PZB設計以「服務品質缺口管理模式」之「期望與認知缺口」，搭配IPA效能分析，作為研究架構。並搭配"DINESERV"量表，以問卷調查方式探討台灣咖啡連鎖業者－85度C之服務品質認知。藉由IPA效能分析，可將顧客期望與感受85度C所提供之服務水準，由傳統單點測量模式擴充為二行評量模式，能確切深入探討顧客不滿意之因素、了解85度C服務品質優弱勢、排列與管理須改善之服務品質順序並找尋改善途徑，明確提供組織服務品質管理方向。 　　本研究結果顯示： 一、整體服務品質期望重視度大於知覺滿意度，此咖啡業者首要就是針對顧客最不滿意屬性：「清潔的洗手間」、「服務人員穿著整潔」、「服務人員重視您的需求」、「選購產品的美味感受」和「能夠提供迅速的服務」去檢討改進。 二、反應性、有形性構面:清潔的洗手間、用餐環境舒適且吸引人影響月收入高的消費者滿意度，而根據分析結果：月收入高的消費者每月消費次數高達2~3次以上，符合RFM矩陣中的頻率型顧客，且在忠誠度上也比其他顧客高，未來希望能透過改善將這群顧客提昇為最佳型。顧客的教育程度影響產品面的滿意度，而內湖江南店顧客多為大學學歷以上，未來在產品的的美味感受、包裝及攜帶性都要持續做審視，才有進步的空間。 三、而在連鎖經營型態中，加盟及直營兩種不同的經營模式，會造成總部對於分店的管理及掌握程度落差，進而間接影響到顧客對品牌所認知及實際體驗的滿意度。故企業總部在思考整體商業模式時，長期品牌的口碑累積以及短期加盟金回收的實際利益，兩者之間的取捨，對於企業後續發展以及佈局策略影響長遠。

The broad aim of this research program was to advance theoretical and practical knowledge of service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty intentions. This was achieved by refining existing models or concepts, testing relationships between constructs that have not previously been examined, or applying constructs that have been well understood in a specific academic domain, in a service industry context. The current research program began in 2003 with the first published output appearing in 2004. The program was completed in 2007. It consists of nine peer reviewed publications that have been classified into three distinct phases. In many respects it was an evolutionary process, in that earlier findings identified the questions for proceeding research, and while service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty intentions were of primary concern, other constructs were also examined. These were cultural values, work values, consumption emotions, mood and destination image. The unit of analysis in all of the articles was individuals, as opposed to organisations, and as such, the theories and concepts that were examined and tested throughout the research program have their origins in psychology. As a consequence, the research findings have implications not only for the tourism industry, but any service that involves an interaction between people.

<p>In recent years, large efforts have been put on enhancing effectiveness in organizations. No resources are dispensable, and a dollar saved is a dollar earned. This is probably something that is rather easy to compute and control within the production sector. However, the service sector is another thing, how do we squeeze everything out of the resources in service organizations? This question caught our interest, and made us want to investigate the subject in the context of the airline business, and especially in its interaction with passengers.</p><p> </p><p>We have asked 100 respondents of their opinions of interaction with the airline when traveling by air – from the booking step to disembarking of the aircraft. The respondents were asked about what different attributes they thought were important in every step, and in relation how their real experience really was. By comparing these two factors, we can present the differences between desired and perceived levels of service quality, regarding the interaction with airlines.</p><p> </p><p>Six hypotheses were stated prior to our work. The results were rather expected, with a few exceptions. Our regression analysis told us that we could statistically verify almost everything we had assumed, but falsify parts of some hypotheses. For instance, friendliness in interaction is extremely appreciated throughout the entire process. How is that observed in reality and to who is that necessary? Read the study to find out.</p>

<p>Title: The Influence of Culture and the Level of Acculturation on the Perceptions of Service Quality. A Study of Thai – born Customer Segment in the Swedish Banking Industry in Sweden</p><p>Problem Statement: How important is the customers’ ethnic background, culture and level of acculturation when choosing a provider of financial services?</p><p>Purpose: The main purpose of this research is to find out how a service company can measure Thai customer satisfaction and which factors to consider in order to improve their service qualities with respects to cultural dimensions.</p><p>Theory and Method: The research is based on the quantitative approach in the form of questionnaires. The structure is developed in accordance to the Service Quality Gap of measuring Thai customer satisfaction by comparing their expectation and perception of service during and after service approach.</p><p>Conclusion: From elaborate results of the distributed questionnaires, Thai customers are flexible and have integrated into the Swedish culture; therefore the current level of bank service approach is appropriate to their needs.</p> / Tobias Eltebrandt

<p><p><strong>Title:</strong> The Influence of Culture and the Level of Acculturation on the Perceptions of Service Quality.</p><p><strong>Problem Statement: </strong>How important is the customers’ ethnic background, culture and level of acculturation when choosing a provider of financial services?<strong> </strong></p><p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The main purpose of this research is to find out how a service company can measure Thai customer satisfaction and which factors to consider in order to improve their service qualities with respects to cultural dimensions.<strong></strong></p><p><strong>Theory and Method: </strong>The research is based on the quantitative approach in the form of questionnaires.  The structure is developed in accordance to the Service Quality Gap of measuring Thai customer satisfaction by comparing their expectation and perception of service during and after service approach.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>From elaborate results of the distributed questionnaires,<strong> </strong>Thai customers<strong> </strong>are flexible and have integrated into the Swedish culture; therefore the current level of bank service approach is appropriate to their needs.</p></p> / Tobias Eltebrandt

<p>Date: May 29, 2009</p><p>Course: Master thesis, EFO705</p><p>Authors: Uliana Kovaleva, 830906, Karolina Turbak, 850710</p><p>Tutor: Tobias Eltebrandt</p><p>Title: The Influence of Culture and the Level of Acculturation on the Perceptions of Service Quality among the Customers with Swedish, Polish and Russian Backgrounds.</p><p>Strategic question: How important is the customers’ ethnic background, culture and level of acculturation when choosing a provider of financial services?</p><p>Research questions: If customers with Polish and Russian origin differ in their perceptions of the service quality attributes from Swedish customers, what kind of influence do culture and the level of acculturation have on their perceptions of service quality?</p><p>Method: Apart from secondary data, the questionnaire results were collected as a source of the primary data. The study was conducted using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The questionnaire results were analysed in SPSS by applying T-tests, and the answers for the open-ended questions were analysed additionally.</p><p>Theoretical Framework: The theories which were used include service quality dimensions, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and the level of acculturation. The results of previous studies addressing the cultural influences on the service quality were applied extensively. The theories were chosen according to the purpose of the study and used in analysis in a comprehensive way.</p><p>Conclusions: According to the study culture and the level of acculturation have influence on the perceptions of service quality. The Polish and Russian customers with the low and medium levels of acculturation have lower overall service quality perceptions compared to the highly acculturated customers with foreign background and Swedish. In particular, the perceptions of assurance and empathy dimensions are significantly different between the studied groups.</p><p> </p> / “The impact of cultural recognition on service‐consumtions among customers in Sweden with foreign background.”

<p>The assurance of customer satisfaction is an increasing challenge for airline companies.</p><p>Bridging the gap between passenger expectations and the perceived image of service quality</p><p>is a permanent problem that is in the need to be optimized. Therefore, it is indispensable for</p><p>the company to identify these gaps and develop strategies to increase customer satisfaction.</p><p>Thus, the purpose of this study is to identify gaps between perceived and required service</p><p>quality, and strategies to increase customer satisfaction. Consequently, the customer as well as</p><p>the company perspective shall be considered carefully. The theoretical foundation for this</p><p>dissertation can be referred to the service quality model of Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry</p><p>(1985). To illustrate the coherencies and provide actual data from the reality, the cases of the</p><p>airline companies Air Berlin, TUIfly and Lufthansa are chosen. By conducting a survey,</p><p>quantitative data was collected from the customer. In order to collect data about the company</p><p>perspective, qualitative methods like an interview and secondary information from the</p><p>companies’ homepages are used.</p><p>Based on the cases of the three airlines, specific gaps are identified. From this, concrete needs</p><p>for action and strategies on the part of the companies can be derived. The findings of this</p><p>study show that core and secondary service quality attributes can be identified. Consequently,</p><p>the improvement of certain attributes can be more important than the improvement of other</p><p>attributes to increase customer satisfaction. These priorities depend also on the size of a</p><p>service quality gap and on the access to company resources.</p>

<p>Service quality and customer satisfaction are very important concepts that companies must understand in order to remain competitive in business and hence grow. It is very important for companies to know how to measure these constructs from the consumers’ perspective in order to better understand their needs and hence satisfy them. Service quality is considered very important because it leads to higher customer satisfaction, profitability, reduced cost, customer loyalty and retention.</p><p><strong>Purpose</strong> – The main purpose of this study theoretically is finding out how applicable the SERVQUAL model is in the context of grocery stores and empirically, describe how consumers (students) perceive service quality and whether they are satisfied with services offered by these stores in Umea.</p><p><strong>Design/methodology/approach</strong> – A self-completion questionnaire was developed from the SERVQUAL instrument and distributed using a convenience sampling technique to students in the Umea University campus to determine their perceptions of service quality in grocery stores.</p><p><strong>Findings</strong> – From the analysis carried out, it was found out that, the SERVQUAL model was not a good instrument to measure service quality because some of the items under the dimensions overlapped and regrouped under different dimensions from the factor analysis carried out. It also showed some items associated to more than one component.</p><p>Some dimensions showed a reliability scale of less than 0.7 which could have been as result of the wordings used in the questionnaires or the number of items used under each dimension. Also, it was found that the overall service quality perceived by consumers was not satisfactory meaning expectations exceeded perceptions and all the dimensions showed higher expectations than perceptions of services.</p><p><strong>Research implications</strong> – Theoretically, from the findings, it implies that the SERVQUAL model is not the best tool to use measure service quality in grocery stores because the dimensions do not best measure the construct in that context. Practical implications suggest that grocery stores in Umea are not providing the level of service quality demanded by customers. The findings suggest that grocery stores need to improve all the dimensions of service quality from the gap analysis carried out.</p><p><strong>Originality/value</strong> – This study contributes to the already existing studies examining service quality in grocery stores using the SERVQUAL model and also provides empirical results that could guide management dealing with retail activities to take corrective actions that lead to growth in the company.</p>

<p>The ‘Hierarchical structure for airport service quality expectations’ model originally comes from theory of service quality assessment and was created by Fodness and Murray in 2007 after a study at six U.S. airports. It reveals the most important factors that comprise service quality. This thesis tested the model in a Swedish context with an empirical study among passengers at two Swedish airports; Arlanda and Umeå. With the help of literature, the empirical study, and reasoning, the original model has been modified by the authors of this thesis. There are minor modifications but the three main factors remain as they were in the original model, namely function, interaction, and diversion.</p>