Cultural Sensitivity to Satisfaction and Service Quality Measures

This study uses a dental setting to test cultural sensitivity to several existing scales for measuring satisfaction and service quality. Expected level of service and performance were controlled and manipulated by using a two by two experimental design. Hispanics, specifically Mexican-Americans, were chosen as the ethnic group to test cultural sensitivity. The sample consisted of 378 adult respondents primarily from metropolitan El Paso, Texas. Findings indicate that the satisfaction and service quality scales tested were indeed culturally sensitive, with Mexican-Americans indicating significantly higher levels of satisfaction expressed and service quality perceived at the .05 level than Anglos in the same service situation.

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