On-going research in recent years has shown quality of product and service, as perceived by customer, relative to competition, to be the single most important factor contributing to organizational well-being. Quality of product and service also presents one of the most significant opportunities for corporate differentiation. A major requirement for the successful management of quality is therefore effective measurement. In the case of physical goods, progress has been made over a long period. However, in the case of services, real advances have only occurred within the past decade. The importance of service quality is also highlighted by the fact that most businesses today are losing customers due to its inadequacy, rather than poor products. Indeed, from the customer's point of view, services and products probably do not exist in a dichotomy, but, rather, along a spectrum. Therefore, the measurement of service quality is critical, not only in traditional service organizations, but in manufacturing situations as well. The development of the SERVQUAL questionnaire in 1988, offered researchers, perhaps for the first time, an apparently reliable and valid instrument for the measurement of service quality. However, to date the instrument has not been subjected to rigorous testing for reliability and validity in South Africa, across a range of service organizations, within a typology. In this study, the SERVQUAL instrument was used to measure service quality across a range of firms within the Larsson-Bowen contingency framework, under South African conditions. Its main objectives were to assess its reliability and validity in these circumstances. It was found that SERVQUAL performed well across all organizations within the Larsson-Bowen framework, under South African conditions, with regard to reliability, convergent and nomological validity. Its construct validity proved to be less sound, and it was not found to possess discriminant validity. It is suggested that this is less attributable to South African circumstances than to the nature of the organizations. In cases of low diversity of demand, the instrument appears to capture the essence of service quality less effectively. Means of overcoming this in future studies are suggested, as well as other directions for research in the area of service quality measurement

National Dairy Equipment (Pty) Ltd (NDE) is a privately owned stockist and distributor of stainless steel products and is a respected player in the South African stainless steel industry. NDE operates from within all four major cities in South Africa namely, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, and Durban. The organisation, with its wide range of corrosion resistant products, serves industries such as the architecture and construction, automotive, catering, and food and beverage industry. With the stainless steel industry growing in terms of the number of competitors, NDE performs a number of functions in order to achieve customer satisfaction. The general purpose of the study was to indentify the attributes that would act as drivers of customer satisfaction at NDE. Five attributes were identified namely, Service quality, Trust and commitment, Product quality, Commercial aspects and Reliability. The results of this study could assist managers at NDE in improving service delivery to customers. The literature study provided an overview of overall customer satisfaction and possible measurement models for customer satisfaction. Measurement models included, SERVQUAL, SERVPERF, the Two-factor theory, the Kano model and the Three-factor model. The latter proved to be of particular importance to the study as the model was used to classify the identified drivers into basic, performance and excitement factors. Furthermore, a literature review was provided based on each of the identified potential drivers of customer satisfaction. The empirical data needed to complete the study was collected by means of a survey, using a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed by sales representatives at NDE. A total of 320 useable questionnaires were received. The study revealed the following: each of the five proposed attributes had a positive relationship with overall customer satisfaction,thus all five attributes were confirmed as drivers of customer satisfaction at NDE. Commercial aspects and Reliability were classified as basic satisfiers. Trust and commitment was classified as a performance satisfier, and Service quality was identified as the only excitement satisfier. Product quality did not receive any classification. All importance mean scores were higher than the corresponding satisfaction mean scores. This study contributed to the existing body of literature and is seemingly the first of its kind in the South African stainless steel industry. The study is also the first to attempt the measurement of overall customer satisfaction levels at NDE. The methodology used in the current study can be applied to stainless steel industries internationally, in order to verify whether the confirmed drivers would also act as drivers of satisfaction in a similar industry elsewhere in the world.

The container terminals play an increasingly important role in the economy of many countries. In today’s global competitive environment delivering quality service is considered as an essential strategy for success and survival. In the very competitive container terminals, service quality is important in attracting and retaining customers. The shipping companies are interested in speed and reliability from the terminals. The time a ship stays in a port must be minimised, and, therefore, the handling of containers must be executed in a fast and reliable way. The importance of customer service as a competitive strategy in container terminal has long been recognised. The growth in container volumes and higher productivity by Ngqura Container Terminal has created greater demand than before from its customers in the shipping business. The current growth in container volumes and increased customer demand has made the situation at NCT less encouraging at times, due to additional traffic of vessels awaiting to dock at the port creating congestion problems; resulting in unplanned lengthy dock occupation by vessels and the current status quo is affecting NCT strategy in terms of arrival docking and providing a quick response to customers. The Ngqura terminal is under increasing pressure from its customers and stakeholders to demonstrate that their services are customer-focused and that continuous performance improvement is being delivered. Therefore, a literature study and questionnaire survey forms the main input for this research combined with interviews with terminal managers. The purpose of this research is to examine the service quality concepts and offer an operational approach for the measurement of the quality of Ngqura Container Terminal services. The main research problem in this study was to identify customer service strategies that could be applied by Ngqura Container Terminal in order to maintain and exceed its business growth as well as customer expectations? The study employed the SERVQUAL model as a measuring tool in establishing the customers’ general expectations of a service and their perceptions of the service received at Ngqura Container Terminal. The five elements of SERVQUAL, which are tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy, were used to deal with and solve the main problem. Below are the sub-problems that have been identified in order to investigate and develop a research strategy: What is the customer’s perception of service quality at NCT?; What are the specific customer service requirements of NCT’s customers?; Does NCT’s service operations performance enable it to fulfill its customer service requirements?; How can the performance gap between customer service requirements and service operations performance be bridged?; Which service quality elements are important to customers for container terminals? This study wants to concentrate on the customers’ perception and evaluation toward service performance in Ngqura Container Terminal.

The best service providers assure the highest levels of service quality. Frontline service providers need organizational commitment, emotional intelligence, and employee satisfaction to provide excellent service delivery. The research study reviews emotional intelligence, organizational commitment, and employee satisfaction within a Business to Business service organization. A literature review provides a theoretical base of constructs. A survey is used to measure the entire frontline organization, seeking results to support the hypothesis that higher service quality is related to emotional intelligence, organizational commitment, and employee satisfaction. The study offers future research potential on the role of frontline service providers to service quality. A review of the results, limitations, and future research implications are discussed.

The diploma thesis deals with customers’ satisfaction analysis with service quality focus on financial services. Based on the theoretical knowledge about customer satisfaction and methods of service quality research, the aim of this diploma thesis is to analyze current level of customer satisfaction with service quality in the selected company and to recommend possible proposals for its improvement.

Thesis (MTech (Business Administration))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2019 / The delivery of exceptional services is vital to organisations’ sustained competitive advantage in today’s setting. When organisations are able to provide high quality services, they are able to meet customer expectations and satisfy them. Employees employed at service-orientated organisations frequently interact with consumers during which they represent both the organisation and the service provided. Satisfied consumers and motivated employees are of great importance in ensuring that government departments and municipalities meet their obligations. The objective of the study was to determine how employee motivation influences service delivery. The study found a positive association between employee motivation and service quality, leading to the conclusion that motivated employees deliver quality services. Thus, it is important for executives of organisations to ensure that employees are continuously motivated. The findings and conclusion lead to recommendations towards improving employee motivation to ensure improved service delivery.

To streamline and improce their service delivery systems, service organizations have much to learn from their manufacturing counterparts in the use of quality and process improvement tools. The purpose of this article is to present a practical framework which integrates these tools in order to enhance the efficiency and customer orientation of service delivery systems. Two examples are used to illustrate the application of the framework. Also practical guidelines to facilitate the implementation of the proposed framework are offered.

A service recovery performance model is proposed and tested with data from frontline bank employees in Turkey. The model is derived from Bagozzi's (1992) reformulation of attitude theory. The empirical results suggest that top management commitment to service quality, as manifested by frontline employees' appraisal of training, empowerment, and rewards, has a significant effect on their perceptions of service recovery performance. The influence of management commitment to service quality on service recovery performance is mediated by frontline employees' affective commitment to their organization and job satisfaction. Implications of the results and further research avenues are discussed.

By employing a multi-stage, multi-phase, and multi-sample approach, this paper reports on the construction of a service quality scale. Customer perceptions of service quality of retail banks in Northern Cyprus serve as the study setting. The parsimonious 20-item four-dimensional scale consisting of service environment (four items), interaction quality (seven items), empathy (five items), and reliability (four items) exhibits sound psychometric properties. Scale development procedures and managerial applications of the derived scale are discussed.

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.