Service quality has become one of the key aspects among other factors that contribute to business growth and leading position in the business environment with mass competition. Service quality also plays a significant role in service sectors since due to its untouchable nature the features cannot be spelled out for consumers to directly make judgment before decisions are made.  In order for businesses to improve and maintain a better positioning in the competitive era, it is necessary to evaluate the performance of the services rendered to their customers. In recent times, service provider companies spend a great deal of time and money in configuring high quality services to satisfy their customers. Satisfied customers in most cases are likely to become loyal to companies. Customer satisfaction can be evaluated through an assessment of the quality of service delivered by the service provider to their customers and the level of service quality can also be measured considering customers‟ expectations and perceptions.  Purpose: This study is aimed to apply the SERVQUAL instrument in assessing patients (students of Umea University) perceptions of service quality and the level of satisfaction obtained from the services rendered by the Norrlands Universitets sjukhuset. Method: The convenience sampling technique was used to obtain data from the chosen population to enable an evaluation of perceptions of service quality at the Norrlands Universitets Sjukhuset. Findings and Conclusion: The factor analysis was used to analyze finding and test validity. Meanwhile the Cronbach Alpha enabled the determination of internal consistency and reliability. The gap score between perceptions and expectations was also deliberated. Results show that items from the same dimensions fall under more than one component. Although the other dimensions had a single factor, items from one dimension are not regrouped under the same factor but are affected by the different factors except for the Empathy dimension that was grouped correctly, but Empathy dimension alone is not sufficient to determine the extent of validity of the instrument applied. In this study the overall reliability coefficient is 0,933 more than 0.9 being the standard coefficient indicating an acceptable level of internal consistency. In conclusion patients from a chosen sample size of 201 students at the NUS expressed higher expectations than what they perceived in four dimensions and expressed satisfaction in one dimension. Result shows that in all the dimensions customers‟ expectations were higher than perceptions except the dimension of tangibility score implying that although people expect quite much from the hospital they expressed a satisfactory level on the Tangibility dimension (physical facilities, equipment and appearance of personnel). This study contributes to the already prevailing knowledge and studies that have explored both the concept of service quality and customer satisfaction in the health care service sector with the help of the SERVQUAL instrument. The empirical results from this study can also help in guiding managerial operations in the health care service sectors.

The customer‘s standard of living and consciousness is demanding the importance of service quality. Service quality is mandatory to provide added value to the customers, retain and make loyal customers. This paper focuses on the customer expectation, customer perception and the gap between customer expectation and perception to measure the service quality. We have analyzed the service quality which has a great impact on customer satisfaction.

Syfte: Vi vill genom vår studie analysera de undersökningar som utförts av Linköpings kommun och Skolverket med hjälp av ServQual – modellen och Grönroos totalkvalitetsmodell som båda mäter kvalitet. Vi vill även jämföra de båda kvalitetsundersökningarnas syn på kvalitet samt hur de ser på eleven ur ett kundperspektiv. Vi vill studera om undersökningarna mäter totalkvalitet eller om de likt vi tror snarare mäter teknisk kvalitet. Frågeställningar: Är synen på vad som är kvalitet liknande mellan Skolverkets undersökningar och Linköping kommuns undersökningar? Motsvarar kvalitetsbilden/bilderna den som beskrivs i EUPAN – rapporten dvs. ServQual samt den totalkvalitetsbild som Grönroos presenterar? Vad finns det för möjligheter för kunden att utvärdera tjänsten gymnasieutbildning och är denna utvärdering relevant för kunden? Teori: Inom tjänstemarknadsföring finns många teorier avseende kvalitetsmätning. Vi har tagit fasta på två av dessa, ServQual –metoden och Totalkvalitetsmodellen. Emperi: Studien grundar sig på sekundärempiri i form av kvalitetsundersökningar hämtade från Linköpings kommun samt Skolverket. Resultat: Vi finner i våra resultat en ringa koppling mellan berörda teorier och tidigare genomförda undersökningar. Vi upplever att uppfattningen av kvalitet är liknande mellan båda undersökningarna, men att denna stämmer dåligt överrens med vad som presenteras i ServQual respektive totalkvalitetsmodellen. En stor anledning till detta är att eleven, i motsats till vår syn, inte definieras som kund i tjänstesituationen

It is obvious that customers are important stakeholders in organizations and their satisfaction is a priority to management. Customer satisfaction has been a subject of great interest to organizations and researchers alike. In recent years, organizations are obliged to render more services in addition to their offers. The quality of service has become an aspect of customer satisfaction. It has been proven by some researchers that service quality is related to customer satisfaction. Others used service quality dimensions to evaluate service quality. What about the relationship between customer satisfaction and service quality dimensions; the relationship between service quality and its dimensions?   Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between customer satisfaction and service quality in service sectors with respect to the service quality dimensions.   Method: Convenience sampling technique was used to collect quantitative data from customers of Umeå University, ICA and Forex to get their satisfaction levels and meaning of service quality which were substituted in the SERVQUAL model. Chi-square test was used to test the hypotheses separately and in a group.   Findings: The study showed distinctive results for the relationship between service quality dimensions and service quality/customer satisfaction.ICA and Forex had significant relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction; butUmeåUniversity had no significant relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction. Meanwhile the group result showed that: ´responsiveness`, empathy´ and ´reliability´ were significantly related to service quality; ´reliability` and `empathy`, were significantly related to customer satisfaction but `responsiveness` was not significantly related to customer satisfaction; meanwhile service quality was significantly related to customer satisfaction.   Implication/Contribution: The findings imply that service quality is not the only factors that could lead to customer satisfaction in service sectors; that service quality dimension varies in the different service sectors. The findings suggest that to provide quality service in order to satisfy customers, organizations in this kind of service sectors need to improve on the dimensions of service quality. Also, to provide total satisfaction to customers, the service sectors need to improve on the other factors that were given as reasons for satisfaction. This study contributes to existing theories by confirming or adding value to the relationships that are involved in customer satisfaction, service quality and SERVQUAL dimensions. It provides results that could be useful to managers in business organisations for strategic planning.

Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCO), state owned monopoly that generates, transmits, and distributes and sales electric power nationwide, has been undergoing various continued utility management practices. One of the major improvements, as part of the transformation, was the introduction of Prepayment (Metering) System, over that of the conventional metering service, which had been forcing the Corporation to follow lengthy service processes, in order to support the realization of its long term strategic vision of providing quality electric service and being competitive in an energy export. However, despite the introduction of this new type of service-prepayment customer service, the Corporation has not been able to attract more than only about five percent out of the two million total customers. Therefore, this study tried to assess and analyze the existing practice (quality) of prepayment customer service both from the employee and the Corporation’s perspectives, and thereby propose possible marketing strategies that are capable of improving the customer service quality for the subsequent adoption of prepayment service. SERVQUAL, as a methodological approach to service quality measures, was employed to measure the prepayment service quality by comparing customers’ perception of the received service against their expectations. Accordingly, the study revealed, despite its limitations, that there has been a substantial gap between customers’ expectations and perception of the service rendered, for which different possible marketing strategies were suggested for improvement.

Service quality and customer satisfaction are important concepts to grocery industry.  It is therefore important for companies to know how to measure this construct of expectations and perceptions because consumers’ expectations of service quality are increasing and people are becoming more and more critical of the quality of service they experience. The service quality model SERVQUAL is discussed in this study and how it can be applied in the context of grocery stores. The data in use were gathered from consumers in a southern Swedish town, called Växjö and the goal was to measure their expectations and perceptions of the services provided to them. After going through a significant number of articles and literature, the SERVQUAL model was altered by adding more variables (products, location, and waiting time) to its five dimensions. The aim was to find out if consumers are satisfied with the services been provided to them by grocery stores. Purpose – The purpose of the paper was to identify the dimensions influencing consumers’ perceived service quality in the grocery retailing. Method/approach – Using a sample of 200 respondents, a self-completion questionnaire was given out to consumers in Växjö, to determine their expectations and perceptions of service quality in grocery stores. Findings – The results show that expectations exceeded perceptions, denoting gaps in service quality, which means that grocery stores do not provide the level of service demanded by customers. This entails that customer satisfaction is rather low and that there is still room for grocery stores to improve on their performance. Managerial implications – The findings show that the SERVQUAL model can be a very useful instrument in measuring service quality in grocery stores. The additional variables proposed show a strong correlation to customer satisfaction, with products and waiting time being of high importance to overall service quality. Managers can use this tool to understand how customers assess service quality in grocery stores and in turn enhance their service experience. Originality/value – We introduce three new variables in the SERVQUAL model which, we believe, complete the assessment of service quality in the context of grocery stores.

Bakgrund och problematisering: Tjänsteföretag på konkurrensutsatta marknader motiveras att anpassa sina produkter utifrån kundernas efterfrågan där utvärdering och förbättring av en tjänsts kvalitet är ett tillvägagångsätt. Fallföretaget Vindsurfing.se studeras med en problembakgrund baserad på hur företag kan utvärdera kvalitet i sina tjänster och vilka positiva och negativa faktorer i produktionen av tjänsterna som går att identifiera utifrån kundernas uppfattningar. Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka den av konsumenterna upplevda kvaliteten på de nybörjarkurser som företaget Vindsurfing.se erbjuder. Detta för att identifiera olika faktorer med påverkan på kvaliteten som kan ligga till grund för utredning av hur verksamheten kan utvecklas i framtiden. Teori och modell: Litteraturgenomgång med utgångspunkt i begreppet service quality, dess definition, tillämpningar och mätinstrument. Nyckelmodeller är bl.a. Grönroos (1984) ”Service-Quality Model” och Parasuraman et al., (1985) ”Service-Gap-model”. Genomgången leder till en egen modell föreställande studiens teoretiska ramverk anpassad för fallföretaget. Metod: Elektronisk enkätundersökning av fallföretagets befintliga kunder. Enkätundersökningen är kopplad till ett antal hypoteser formulerade med stöd av litteraturgenomgången. Frågor ställdes om kursupplevelsen och i vilken grad förväntningar motsvarats eller ej. Enkätsvaren ligger senare till grund för en analytisk hypotesprövning som därefter diskuteras genom att ställa resultaten i förhållande till teorin. Resultat och slutsatser: Resultaten presenterar upptäckter om hur olika faktorer med påverkan på tjänsternas kvalitet visat sig bidra på olika sätt till det totala omdömet av kvaliteten. Analys av externa faktorer och demografiska uppgifter från enkätrespondenter leder till slutsatser av dess påverkan. Slutsatserna från undersökningen bidrar till en möjlighet till utvärdering av framtida verksamhets-utformning för fallföretaget och en generaliserande slutdiskussion diskuterar det vetenskapliga bidraget av

The purpose of this study is to analyze and evaluate the suitability of the three instruments SERVQUAL, SERVPERF and Zone of tolerance to measure service quality, from the respondents' perspective. This study has been carried out by a quantitative method in which respondents answered three questionnaires, which was based on the three instruments. The SERVQUAL instrument is a revised version based on criticism by Carman (1990). It is based on the five dimensions; reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibility, with 22 items in which each dimension is associated with a number of items. SERVPERF is the instrument most similar to SERVQUAL and is also composed of the same five dimensions. The Zone of tolerance instrument is based on a three-column format of SERVQUAL, where each items is answered in the form of respondent's minimum service level, desired service level, and the perception of SL's service performance. The Zone of tolerance questionnaire consists of eight dimensions, including three new ones (convenience, connection, comfort) and 38 items. The theoretical frame of reference that includes Grönroos model of service quality, and the three instruments form the basis of the results, analysis and conclusion. In this study, we concluded that Zone of tolerance is the most suitable instrument for measuring the quality of service in public transport according to the respondents, thus it best describes the feelings that the respondents feel about the service quality of SL. There was however no significant difference between the Zone of tolerance and the SERVPERF instrument in this regard. The Zone of tolerance instrument was the most specific of the three, but we found that the instrument may undergo additional changes to make it more suitably. Although most respondents felt that the Zone of tolerance instrument was the best descriptive of how the respondents felt regarding the service quality of SL, a large proportion of respondents (49 %) found this instrument as the one that worst describe the feelings they felt regarding the service quality of SL. A large proportion (72 %) of respondents believe that the Zone of tolerance instrument is the most difficult to understand. This may be because it includes many items and that every item must answer three times, a rather unusual format. The fact that this instrument was the last one in the scheme may have a negative effect. Since respondents in the assessment of the last instrument certainly became bored and therefore may have led to the instrument not receiving as much attention as the two previous instruments.

The service of mobile communications is customer-oriented. The service is intangible and filled with large amounts of variable. It causes the difficulty of evaluation on service quality. Therefore, understanding customer requirements and key factors of service to promote service quality, meet customer needs, retain customer loyalty and create profits is one of the important issues in mobile communications. The study mainly aimed to discuss the service quality of mobile telecommunications industry. According to the revised SERVQUAL measure table proposed by Parasuraman et al. (1991), the service quality questionnaire is designed by service characteristics of mobile telecommunications industry.The total number of the questionnaires was 162. Questionnaires were finished via web survey, discussing the influences on demographic variables and whether there were significant differences between customers¡¦ expectations and their authentic experiences. The Importance-Satisfaction model (I-s Model) and Improvement index (Ii) were also used as references to find out the priority to improve. Based on the survey consequence, there were significant differences between customers¡¦ expectations and their authentic experiences. There were 22 questions (23 questions of 5 dimensions) showing significant differences except for the good brand image of the enterprises. Therefore, the assumption that customers¡¦ expectations and their authentic experiences was significantly different in terms of service quality was partly tenable. When it comes to the expectations of quality, the results showed significant differences in tangibles (gender), responsiveness and assurance (monthly income); besides, there were also significant differences in responsiveness (age) and empathy (residence) when it comes to quality awareness. Consequently, the assumption is partly tenable. Moreover, customers¡¦ expectations are always higher than what enterprises can actually provide, which means these enterprises cannot satisfied with what customers¡¦ needs due to internal resources and social environment of the enterprises of mobile telecommunications industry. In order to improve these issues, Importance-Satisfaction model (I-S Model) and Improvement index (Ii) were used to make an improvement project listed in priority. The result shows the mobile network quality is the most important and also the most dissatisfied item for the customers. It could be provided to mobile communications as a reference to improve for promoting customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Objective: The purpose of the study is to explore the gap of service quality between pediatric therapist and family of children with disabilities. Service Quality Model and SERVQAL were used to evaluate and compare expectations and performance of service quality for pediatric therapist and family members. Based on the research results, pediatric therapist and rehabilitation department can adjust the service quality and responsiveness. Method: Pediatric therapists and family of children with disabilities from 7 hospitals or rehabilitation clinics in Kaohsiung area completed an adapted SERVQUAL questionnaire. A total of 60 SERVQUAL questionnaires from pediatric therapists and 228 questionnaires from family members were distributed. Fifty-four questionnaires from pediatric therapists and 209 questionnaires from family were returned (response rate is 90% and 91%, respectively). The collected data was analyzed with descriptive statistics, t-test, and one-way ANOVA by using SPSS Windows version 17.0. Result: (1) The dimension of assurance was ranked the most important in expectations and performance of service quality for pediatric therapists and family of children. (2)The major expectation gap between pediatric therapists and family of children is the dimension of Responsiveness, and then Empathy. (3)The major gap between expectations and performance of service quality for pediatric therapists is the dimension of Tangibles. (4)The factor influences expectation of service quality is sex of pediatric therapists and family of children, autism diagnosis, and the level of the disabilities handbook. The factor influences performance of service quality is sex of pediatric therapists, the level of hospitals where therapists work, autism diagnosis, and the level of the disabilities handbook . Conclusion: For family of children with disabilities, it is very important that pediatric therapists not only get professional knowledge but also with abundant working experience. About service quality, pediatric therapists shall maintain professional and reliable services. The study suggests the tangible quality can be improved such as facilities, assistive device, environment cleaning, and parking problem.