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Alternative indexes for monitoring customer perceptions of service quality: A comparative evaluation in a retail context

Alternative indexes for monitoring customer perceptions of service quality: A comparative... Customer satisfaction and service quality measures obtained through consumer surveys invariably have skewed distributions. As such, researchers have questioned the appropriateness of the popular approach of using the mean rating to summarize such data. However, no detailed study on this topic has yet been conducted. In two independent studies, the relative validity of the various indexes that can be used to summarize consumer’s service quality ratings (e.g., mean, median, mode, kurtosis, skewness, top/bottom-tail percentiles) are examined. In Study 1, using typical commercial survey data from a fast-food/convenience retail chain, both the mean and top-box percentiles are found to be the best indicators of service quality, based on their correlation with customer-driven business performance measures. In Study 2, the results are further confirmed by an extensive simulation that varies factors such as the shape of the underlying distribution of customer ratings and the strength of the relationship between customer ratings and business performance measures. The article concludes with a discussion of the findings and implications for future research. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science Springer Journals

Alternative indexes for monitoring customer perceptions of service quality: A comparative evaluation in a retail context

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References (52)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of Marketing Science 1998
Subject
Economics / Management Science; Business/Management Science, general; Marketing; Social Sciences, general
ISSN
0092-0703
eISSN
1552-7824
DOI
10.1177/0092070398263003
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Customer satisfaction and service quality measures obtained through consumer surveys invariably have skewed distributions. As such, researchers have questioned the appropriateness of the popular approach of using the mean rating to summarize such data. However, no detailed study on this topic has yet been conducted. In two independent studies, the relative validity of the various indexes that can be used to summarize consumer’s service quality ratings (e.g., mean, median, mode, kurtosis, skewness, top/bottom-tail percentiles) are examined. In Study 1, using typical commercial survey data from a fast-food/convenience retail chain, both the mean and top-box percentiles are found to be the best indicators of service quality, based on their correlation with customer-driven business performance measures. In Study 2, the results are further confirmed by an extensive simulation that varies factors such as the shape of the underlying distribution of customer ratings and the strength of the relationship between customer ratings and business performance measures. The article concludes with a discussion of the findings and implications for future research.

Journal

Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science – Springer Journals

Published: Jun 1, 1998

Keywords: Service Quality; Customer Satisfaction; Business Performance; Shopping Behavior; American Customer Satisfaction Index

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