A Study of the Impacts of Service Quality on Relationship Quality in Search-Experience-Credence Services

Service quality often has relevance in the formation of an enduring buyer– supplier relationship. This study adopts the multidimensional service quality model, and attempts to find out the effects of three service quality factors—customer–employee interaction, the service environment and the service outcome—on relationship quality under search, experience and credence services. The results of empirical data analysis indicate that all three service quality factors have significant influences on trust and satisfaction of the relationship quality. Moreover, the influence of service quality on relationship quality varies based on the difference in service types. The managerial implications of this study are then discussed.

[1]  T. Hennig-Thurau,et al.  The impact of customer satisfaction and relationship quality on customer retention: A critical reassessment and model development , 1997 .

[2]  Mark S. Johnson,et al.  The Different Roles of Satisfaction, Trust, and Commitment in Customer Relationships , 1999 .

[3]  Maureen Meadows,et al.  The Application of a Relationship Marketing Perspective in Retail Banking , 2001 .

[4]  Jeannie L. Johnson Strategic integration in industrial distribution channels: Managing the interfirm relationship as a strategic asset , 1999 .

[5]  Jaishankar Ganesh,et al.  Understanding the Customer Base of Service Providers: An Examination of the Differences between Switchers and Stayers , 2000, Journal of Marketing.

[6]  Sandy D. Jap,et al.  Control Mechanisms and the Relationship Life Cycle: Implications for Safeguarding Specific Investments and Developing Commitment , 2000 .

[7]  Mary Jo Bitner,et al.  Critical Service Encounters: The Employee's Viewpoint , 1994 .

[8]  Mary Jo Bitner,et al.  Marketing Strategies and Organizational Structures for Service Firms , 1981 .

[9]  Jagdip Singh,et al.  Consumer Trust, Value, and Loyalty in Relational Exchanges , 2002 .

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

[11]  Amy L. Parsons,et al.  What Determines Buyer‐Seller Relationship Quality? An Investigation from the Buyer's Perspective , 2002 .

[12]  Takao Enkawa,et al.  Consumer evaluation perspectives of service quality: evaluation factors and two-way model of quality , 1991 .

[13]  Richard A. Spreng,et al.  How Does Motivation Moderate the Impact of Central and Peripheral Processing on Brand Attitudes and Intentions , 1992 .

[14]  Michael R. Solomon,et al.  Predictability and Personalization in the Service Encounter , 1987 .

[15]  Richard E. Fetter,et al.  An empirical examination of the involvement to external search relationship in services marketing , 2001 .

[16]  K. Narasimhan Services Marketing: People, Technology, Strategy , 2004 .

[17]  J. McAlexander,et al.  Service quality measurement. , 1994, Journal of health care marketing.

[18]  P. Nelson Information and Consumer Behavior , 1970, Journal of Political Economy.

[19]  Thomas H. Brush,et al.  Toward a contingent resource‐based theory: the impact of information asymmetry on the value of capabilities in veterinary medicine , 1999 .

[20]  Pamela W. Henderson,et al.  Improving the Store Environment: Do Olfactory Cues Affect Evaluations and Behaviors? , 1996 .

[21]  Lisa R. Klein Evaluating the Potential of Interactive Media through a New Lens: Search versus Experience Goods , 1998 .

[22]  Mary Jo Bitner,et al.  The Development and Emergence of Services Marketing Thought , 1994 .

[23]  J. Dietz Satisfaction: A Behavioral Perspective on the Consumer , 1997 .

[24]  Jeremiah Sullivan,et al.  What are the functions of corporate home pages , 1999 .

[25]  Christian Grönroos,et al.  From Marketing Mix to Relationship Marketing: Towards a Paradigm Shift in Marketing , 1994 .

[26]  J. Carman,et al.  Patient perceptions of service quality. Combining the dimensions. , 2000, Journal of management in medicine.

[27]  M. M. Espinoza Assessing the cross‐cultural applicability of a service quality measure A comparative study between Quebec and Peru , 1999 .

[28]  Amy L. Ostrom,et al.  Consumer Trade-Offs and the Evaluation of Services , 1995 .

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

[30]  T. Huston,et al.  The Dyadic Trust Scale: Toward Understanding Interpersonal Trust in Close Relationships. , 1980 .

[31]  Glenn B. Voss,et al.  The Influence of Multiple Store Environment Cues on Perceived Merchandise Value and Patronage Intentions , 2002 .

[32]  Kenneth L. Bernhardt,et al.  Comments on Christian Grönroos' Strategic management and marketing in the service sector , 1984 .

[33]  Jc Ko de Ruyter,et al.  On the complex nature of patient evaluations of general practice service , 1998 .

[34]  A. V. D. Ven,et al.  Measuring And Assessing Organizations , 1980 .

[35]  Katherine N. Lemon,et al.  Dynamic Customer Relationship Management: Incorporating Future Considerations into the Service Retention Decision , 2002 .

[36]  Christian Grönroos,et al.  Service Management and Marketing: Managing the Moments of Truth in Service Competition , 1992 .

[37]  Chandrasekharan Rajendran,et al.  Customer perceptions of service quality: A critique , 2001 .

[38]  A. Parasuraman,et al.  A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and Its Implications for Future Research , 1985 .

[39]  S. Hunt,et al.  The Commitment-Trust Theory of Relationship Marketing , 1994 .

[40]  Banwari Mittal,et al.  The role of personalization in service encounters , 1996 .

[41]  R. Teas,et al.  Expectations, Performance Evaluation, and Consumers’ Perceptions of Quality , 1993 .

[42]  Joseph P. Cannon,et al.  An Examination of the Nature of Trust in Buyer–Seller Relationships: , 1997 .

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

[44]  Prem Shamdasani,et al.  Determinants of Relationship Quality and Loyalty in Personalized Services , 2000 .

[45]  R. Rust,et al.  Service Quality: Insights and Managerial Implications from the Frontier , 1994 .

[46]  John O. Summers,et al.  Relationship Marketing Activities, Commitment, and Membership Behaviors in Professional Associations , 2000 .

[47]  L. Berry Relationship marketing of services—growing interest, emerging perspectives , 1995 .

[48]  Hung-Chang Chiu,et al.  A study on the cognitive and affective components of service quality , 2002 .

[49]  Lawrence A. Crosby,et al.  Relationship Quality in Services Selling: An Interpersonal Influence Perspective: , 1990 .

[50]  David T. Wilson An integrated model of buyer-seller relationships , 1995 .

[51]  Neng-Pai Lin,et al.  Investigating the relationship between service providers’ personality and customers’ perceptions of service quality across gender , 2001 .

[52]  Dai Hai-qun,et al.  On relationship marketing , 2005 .

[53]  F. Webster The Changing Role of Marketing in the Corporation , 1992 .

[54]  Mels Gerhard,et al.  The Dimensions of Service Quality: The Original European Perspective Revisited , 1997 .

[55]  Sandy D. Jap The Strategic Role of the Salesforce in Developing Customer Satisfaction Across the Relationship Lifecycle , 2001 .

[56]  C. Grönroos A Service Quality Model and its Marketing Implications , 1984 .

[57]  L. M. Capella,et al.  An examination of perceived risk, information search and behavioral intentions in search, experience and credence services , 1999 .

[58]  Barbara Bund,et al.  Winning and Keeping Industrial Customers: The Dynamics of Customer Relationships , 1985 .

[59]  Neng-Pai Lin,et al.  Virtual factory and relationship marketing - a case study of a Taiwan semiconductor manufacturing company , 2002, Int. J. Inf. Manag..

[60]  Jonathan D. Hibbard,et al.  Examining the Impact of Destructive Acts in Marketing Channel Relationships , 2001 .

[61]  O. Ferrell,et al.  The Management of Customer-Contact Service Employees: An Empirical Investigation , 1996 .

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

[63]  Michael D. Hartline,et al.  Brand equity: is it more important in services? , 2001 .

[64]  Maria Holmlund,et al.  The D&D Model - Dimensions and Domains of Relationship Quality Perceptions , 2001 .

[65]  M. Darby,et al.  Free Competition and the Optimal Amount of Fraud , 1973, The Journal of Law and Economics.