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TOWARD A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF SERVICE QUALITY IN B2B PROFESSIONAL SERVICES XAVIER WALTHOFF-BORM YVES VAN VAERENBERGH BART LARIVIERE
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TOWARD A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF SERVICE QUALITY IN B2B PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
XAVIER WALTHOFF-BORMYVES VAN VAERENBERGHBART LARIVIERE
THE RELEVANCE OF THIS STUDY
Lehtinen and Lehtinen (1982)
Grönroos (1984)
Berry et al., (1985) Parasuraman et al. (1985)
Physical quality
Technical quality
Outcome quality
Interactive quality
Functional quality
Process quality
PERCEIVED SERVICE QUALITY
What How
SERVICE QUALITY HAS BEEN STUDIED FOR A LONG TIME IN B2C SETTINGS
(De Keyser and Larivière, 2014, JOSM)
THE UNDERSTANDING OF SERVICE QUALITY IN B2B PROFESSIONAL SERVICES STILL REMAINS VAGUE
(JOM – CALL FOR RESEARCH 2014)
BUT
Service encounter•Brief or long•Negotiation restricted
Relationship •Brief or long
Transactions •Small or Large scale
Decision making process•Primarily emotional
Marketing•Influential
Servicecape•Influential
Service encounter•Brief or long•Negotiation
Relationship•Brief or Long
Transactions •Small or Large scale
Decision making process•Primarily rational •Trust based•Different roles
Marketing•Limited power•Limited credibility
Servicecape•Limited power
B2B B2C
B2B IS DIFFERENT THAN B2C
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES ARE DIFFERENT THAN REGULAR SERVICES
REGULAR SERVICES
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY
WHICH SERVICE QUALITY DIMENSIONS ARE MOST EFFECTIVE IN PRODUCING DESIRED CUSTOMER LOYALTY BEHAVIORSIN B2B PROFESSIONAL SERVICE FIRMS?
RESEARCH QUESTION
RESEARCH DESIGN
Identification of professional services dimensions of SQ Interviews
Interdisciplinaire Literature Review
Measurement of SQ model
Identification of key dimensions and their link to customer loyalty
Questionnaire
Path analysis
STAGE1
STAGE2
LITERATURE REVIEW AND INTERVIEWS
CONCEPTUAL MODEL – OPERATIONS BASED – CLIENT PERSPECTIVE
KNOWLEDGE DISSEMINATIO
N
PEOPLEFACTOR
VALUE FOR MONEY
INFORMATIONQUALITY
SERVICERECOVERY
REPURCHASEINTENTIONS
RECOMMENDING
INTENTIONS
OVERALL SERVICEQUALITY
DIMENSIONSCUSTOMER
LOYALTY
+
+
+
++
+
+
PEOPLE FACTOR
Service Management Research
People Factor has the strongest effect on perceived service quality in financial services(Larivière, 2008)
Professional Standards
Quality is defined in terms of competence and objectivity.
Quotes from managers“Planning and operations efficiency are of an essence since professional services are performed during maintenance or commissioning.”(Divisional manager - Vinçotte)
Quotes from business clients
“Scheduling and timing of inspections are highly important to us and our clients” (ERA - residential real estate industry)
COMPETENCEtechnical and
interpersonal skills
objectivity
TIMELINESSprocess time
WILLINGNESSflexibility
RESPONSIVENESSwaiting time
LITERATURE REVIEW
EXPLORATORY INTERVIEWS
Note:BLACK – LITERATURE BASED FACTORRED – INTERVIEW BASED FACTOR
KNOWLEDGE DISSEMINATION
Service Quality Research
Corporate reputation is a key success factor in professional services.(McLachlin, 2000)
Service Management Research
Reputation equity is not only build through services but also through information offering.(Grönroos, 2000)
Service Marketing Research
Knowledge dissemination has a small positive effect on affective commitment.(Gruen et al., 2000)
Quotes from managers
“Knowledge dissemination builds corporate reputation as well as competence for professionals.”(Technical manager - Vinçotte; Senior Consultant Element61)
Quotes from business clients
“PSFs should provide information on new regulations and standards.” (Orbid – services industry,Arcelor-Mittal – steel industry)
LITERATURE REVIEW
EXPLORATORY INTERVIEWS
INFORMATION ON REGULATIONS AND
STANDARDS
Service Management Quality Research
Martinez and Martinez (2010) suggest to include price since quality is a function of price and performance.
Quotes from managers
“Price is important in the buying process, however, the assurance of service quality is perceived higher when prices are high.” (ex-senior associate - BCG)
Quotes from business clients
“Price is an important element in the decision making process, yet quality performance is as well.”(Elia - electric power transmission industry;Fluxys - transport stockage and terminalling of natural gas)
VALUE FOR MONEY
LITERATURE REVIEW
EXPLORATORY INTERVIEWS
PRICE SATISFACTION
WITH THE SERVICE DELIVERED
Note:BLACK – LITERATURE BASED FACTORRED – INTERVIEW BASED FACTOR
Service Quality Research
Service providers should know what type of information clients need, when and how they has to delivered it. (Berry & Parasuraman, 1997)
Management Information System Research
The information should be contextual (relevant, complete, and appropriate in terms of amount) and representational (the information is interpretable, easy to understand, and represented concisely and reconsistently) (Lee et al., 2002)
Quotes from business clients
“The content of the audit report should be prioritized.”(NMBS, railway industry)
INFORMATIONQUALITY
LITERATURE REVIEW
EXPLORATORY INTERVIEWS
SATISFACTION WITH THE FORM OF
REPORTING
SATISFACTION WITH THE MANNER
OF REPORTING
Service Management ResearchHeskett et al. (1990) believe that an effective response to service failure will effect the long term success of the organization.
Bitner et al. (1990) found that service recovery systems have become a source of satisfaction.
Van Vaerenbergh et al. (2012) found that communicating service recoveries increases customer loyalty behavior.
Quotes from managers
“As business clients pay a premium price, we are obliged to guarantee premium quality.” (CEO – Vinçotte; senior associate – BCG)
Quotes from business clients.
“I was extremely pleased with the effective response to an issue and the improvement of the service thereafter.”(Eandis, utilities industry)
SERVICE RECOVERY
LITERATURE REVIEW
EXPLORATORY INTERVIEWS
SATISFACTION WITH COMPLAINT
MANAGEMENT
CONCEPTUAL MODEL – OPERATIONS BASED – CLIENT PERSPECTIVE
KNOWLEDGE DISSEMINATIO
N
PEOPLEFACTOR
VALUE FOR MONEY
INFORMATIONQUALITY
SERVICERECOVERY
REPURCHASEINTENTIONS
RECOMMENDING
INTENTIONS
OVERALL SERVICEQUALITY
DIMENSIONSCUSTOMER
LOYALTY
+
+
+
++
+
+
PROCESS
PROCESS
OUTCOME
OUTCOME
OUTCOME
QUANTITATIVE STUDY
QUESTIONNAIRE in BELGIUM (REGION FLANDERS) – VALIDATED ITEMSCLIENT DATABASE OF A NOTIFIED BODYRESPONDENTS – HSEQ MANAGERS31% RESPONSE RATE = 275 FIRMS
DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
EMPIRICAL MODEL
NO DISCREMINANT VALIDITY FOR SERVICE RECOVERY FACTOR – FACTOR REMOVED
NFI = 0.98CFI= 0.98 RMSEA =0.069 SRMR =0.039
b) CFA χ2/df = 1,956***
a) EFA
Model Fit
✔+
+
+
+
+
+
RESULTS
SERVICE QUALITY DIMENSIONS EXPLAIN TO A LARGE EXTENT THE VARIATION IN RECOMMENDING INTENSIONS
R2=0.72
R2=0.70
R2=0.26+
+
+
+
+
+
Note: The Bayesian estimates are posterior means. The Bayesian p-values are based on one-
sided tail probabilities that the parameter exceeds 0 truncated to the classical cut-points of:p
< .1, *p < .05, **p < .01, ***
THE DIRECT AND INDIRECT EFFECTS OF QUALITY DIMENSIONS ON CL OUTCOMES
DISCUSSION
SERVICESCAPE IS NOT IMPORTANT IN THE B2B PROFESSIONALSERVICES SETTING
CONCLUSION
PEOPLE FACTOR IS LESS IMPORTANT IN THE B2B PROFESSIONAL SERVICE SETTING
ONLY MARGINAL INDIRECT EFFECT ON RECOMMENDING INTENTIONS
A HOLISTIC MODEL ON SQ FROM OPERATIONS BASED - CLIENT PERSPECTIVE
THE OUTCOME OF THE PROCESS IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE PROCESS ITSELF
MANAGERS SHOULD FOCUS ON INFORMATION QUALITY TO INCREASE RECOMMENDING INTENSIONS.
MANAGERS SHOULD PRIMARILY PROMOTE THE VALUE FOR MONEY TO INCREASE CUSTOMER LOYALTY BEHAVIOR.
MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS
