Enhancing the assessment of tangible service quality through the creation of a cleanliness measurement scale

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is two‐fold: to enhance the tangible quality construct by considering cleanliness as a customer service quality dimension; and to assess customers' opinions on cleanliness by gender and education.Design/methodology/approach – The population under study is the general adult population of a Southwestern US city. The subjects voluntarily participate through a link to an anonymous online survey provided on a university's daily electronic news medium. Reliability and factor analyses are used to determine if the 32 criteria will in fact become an effective analysis measurement scale for cleanliness and multivariate analysis is used for the segmentation.Findings – The results indicate that customers have made decisions to select, stay or return to an establishment based upon cleanliness. The results are meaningful because they suggest a scale that is reliable and valid and can be used to measure customer perceptions of cleanliness in a service organization. The results also co...

[1]  Atìla Yüksel,et al.  Measurement of tourist satisfaction with restaurant services: A segment-based approach , 2003 .

[2]  Haemoon Oh,et al.  Diners' Perceptions of Quality, Value, and Satisfaction , 2000 .

[3]  Robert Johnston,et al.  Identifying the critical determinants of service quality in retail banking: importance and effect , 1997 .

[4]  B. Almanza,et al.  Older Americans' Dining Out Preferences , 2003 .

[5]  Charles E. Pettijohn,et al.  An Evaluation of Fast Food Restaurant Satisfaction: Determinants, Competitive Comparisons and Impact on Future Patronage , 1997 .

[6]  W. Kim,et al.  Influence of institutional DINESERV on customer satisfaction, return intention, and word-of-mouth , 2009 .

[7]  Kisang Ryu,et al.  DINESCAPE: A Scale for Customers' Perception of Dining Environments , 2008 .

[8]  Jessica Santos.  From intangibility to tangibility on service quality perceptions: a comparison study between consumers and service providers in four service industries , 2002 .

[9]  R. Johnston.  The determinants of service quality: satisfiers and dissatisfiers , 1995 .

[10]  Samir S. Patel,et al.  Climate science: A sinking feeling , 2006, Nature.

[11]  HYGIENE FACTORS INFLUENCING CUSTOMERS' CHOICE OF DINING‐OUT UNITS: FINDINGS FROM A STUDY OF UNIVERSITY ACADEMIC STAFF , 2007 .

[12]  L. W. Turley,et al.  Measuring the Affective Evaluations of Retail Service Environments , 1999 .

[13]  Victor P. Lau,et al.  Service quality in restaurant operations in China: Decision- and experiential-oriented perspectives , 2007 .

[14]  Nusser A. Raajpoot.  TANGSERV: a multiple item scale for measuring tangible quality in foodservice industry , 2002 .

[15]  M. Clark,et al.  Consumer loyalty in the restaurant industry ‐ a preliminary exploration of the issues , 1998 .

[16]  Haemoon Oh.  Service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer value: A holistic perspective , 1999 .

[17]  Nelson A. Barber.  How self-confidence and knowledge effects the sources of information selected during purchase situations , 2008 .

[18]  James C. Anderson,et al.  STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING IN PRACTICE: A REVIEW AND RECOMMENDED TWO-STEP APPROACH , 1988 .

[19]  A. Parasuraman,et al.  SERVQUAL: A multiple-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality. , 1988 .

[20]  Nick Johns,et al.  Consumer behaviour in the food service industry: a review , 2002 .

[21]  David W. Gerbing,et al.  An Updated Paradigm for Scale Development Incorporating Unidimensionality and Its Assessment , 1988 .

[22]  Howard B. Lee,et al.  A first course in factor analysis , 1973 .

[23]  S. Andaleeb,et al.  Service quality perceptions and patient satisfaction: a study of hospitals in a developing country. , 2001, Social science & medicine.

[24]  Uolevi Lehtinen,et al.  Two Approaches to Service Quality Dimensions , 1991 .

[25]  Carol C. Bienstock,et al.  Organizational citizenship behavior and service quality , 2003 .

[26]  J. Hair.  Multivariate data analysis , 1972 .

[27]  Bonnie J. Knutson,et al.  Lodgserv: A Service Quality Index for the Lodging Industry , 1990 .

[28]  B. Knutson,et al.  Dineserv: A Tool for Measuring Service Quality in Restaurants , 1995 .

[29]  R. E. Milliman,et al.  Atmospheric Effects on Shopping Behavior: A Review of the Experimental Evidence , 2000 .

[30]  Stanislav Ivanov.  Quality as a Competitive Advantage of Travel Agents , 2008 .

[31]  Neil Salkind,et al.  Using SPSS for Windows and Macintosh : Analyzing and Understanding Data , 2004 .

[32]  Martin O'Neill,et al.  Survey timing and consumer perceptions of service quality: an overview of empirical evidence , 2001 .

[33]  Nelson A. Barber,et al.  The Importance of Wine Bottle Closures in Retail Purchase Decisions of Consumers , 2009 .

[34]  Joseph O. Rentz,et al.  A measure of service quality for retail stores: Scale development and validation , 1996 .

[35]  J. J. Cronin,et al.  Some New Thoughts on Conceptualizing Perceived Service Quality: A Hierarchical Approach , 2001 .

[36]  Perran Akan,et al.  Dimensions of service quality: a study in Istanbul , 1995 .

[37]  T. Lockyer,et al.  Hotel cleanliness—how do guests view it? Let us get specific. A New Zealand study , 2003 .

[38]  Ozlem Atalik,et al.  A Study to Determine the Effects of Customer Value on Customer Loyalty in Airline Companies Operating: Case of Turkish Air Travellers , 2009 .

[39]  P. Kotler.  Atmospherics as a Marketing Tool , 1974 .

[40]  Mary Jo Bitner,et al.  Servicescapes: The Impact of Physical Surroundings on Customers and Employees: , 1992 .

[41]  Rex B. Kline,et al.  Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling , 1998 .

[42]  A. Parasuraman,et al.  A MULTIPLE-ITEM SCALE FOR MEASURING CUSTOMER PERCEPTIONS OF SERVICE QUALITY , 1988 .

[43]  G. A. Marcoulides,et al.  Advanced structural equation modeling : issues and techniques , 1996 .

[44]  R. Kline.  Principles and practice of structural equation modeling, 2nd ed. , 2005 .

[45]  Gilbert A. Churchill.  A Paradigm for Developing Better Measures of Marketing Constructs , 1979 .