Service quality and satisfaction: An international comparison of professional services perceptions

Journal of Services Marketing

Volumn 21, Issue 6, 2007, Pages 410-423

  Ueltschy, Linda C ^a   Laroche, Michel ^b   Eggert, Axel ^c   Bindl, Uta ^c  

^a BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b John Molson School of Business   (Canada)

^c ANHALT UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES   (Germany)

Author keywords

Competitive advantage; Cross cultural studies; Customer satisfaction; Customer services quality; Professional services

Indexed keywords

EID: 34848813260     PISSN: 08876045     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1108/08876040710818903     Document Type: Article

References (93)

1. Anderson, E.W., Fornell, C. and Rust, R.T. (1997), "Customer satisfaction, productivity and profitability: Differences between goods and services", Marketing Science, Vol. 16 No. 2, pp. 129-45.
2. Anderson, J.C. and Gerbing, D.W. (1988), "Structural equation modeling in practice: A review and recommended two-step approach", Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 103, May, pp. 411-23.
3. Babakus, E., Bienstock, C.C. and Van Scotter, J.R. (2004), "Linking perceived quality and customer satisfaction to store traffic and revenue growth", Decision Sciences, Vol. 35 No. 4, pp. 713-37.
4. Babin, B.J., Lee, J.-K., Kim, E.-J. and Griffin, M. (2005), "Modeling customer satisfaction and word-of-mouth: Restaurant patronage in Korea", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 19 No. 3, pp. 133-9.
5. Bang, H.-K., Ryamond, M.A., Taylor, C.R. and Moon, Y.S. (2005), "A comparison of service quality dimensions conveyed in advertisements for service providers in the USA and Korea: A content analysis", International Marketing Review, Vol. 22 No. 3, pp. 309-26.
6. Barnes, J.G., King, B.R. and Breen, G.A. (2004), "The almost customer: A missed opportunity to enhance corporate success", Managing Service Quality, Vol. 14 No. 213, pp. 134-46.
7. Bentler, P.M. (1995), EQS Structural Equations Program Manual, Multivariate Software, Encino, CA.
8. Bitner, M.J. (1992), "Servicescapes: The impact of physical surroundings on customers and employees", Journal of Marketing, Vol. 56, April, pp. 57-71.
9. Bitner, M.J. and Hubbert, A.R. (1994), "Encounter satisfaction and overall satisfaction versus quality: The customer's voice", in Rust, R.T. and Oliver, R.I. (Eds), Service Quality: New Directions in Theory and Practice, Sage Publications, London.
10. Boshoff, C. and Gray, B. (2004), "The relationships between service quality, customer satisfaction and buying intentions in the private hospital industry", South African Journal of Business Management, Vol. 35 No. 4, pp. 27-37.
11. Bowen, D.E. and Hallowell, R. (2002), "Suppose we took service seriously? An introduction to the special issue", Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 16 No. 4, pp. 1-5.
12. Brady, M.F. and Cronin, J.J. Jr (2001), "Some new thoughts on conceptualizing perceived service quality: A hierarchical approach", Journal of Marketing, Vol. 65, July, pp. 34-49.
13. Brady, M.F., Cronin, J.J. Jr and Brand, R.R. (2002), "Performance-only measurement of service quality: A replication and extension", Journal of Business Research, Vol. 55 No. 1, pp. 17-31.
14. Brouthers, K.D. and Brouthers, L.E. (2001), "Explaining the national cultural distance paradox", Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 32 No. 1, pp. 177-89.
15. Brown, T.J., Churchilll, G.A. and Peter, J.P. (1993), "Improving the measurement of service quality", Journal of Retailing, Vol. 69, spring, pp. 127-39.
16. Browne, M.W. and Cudeck, R. (1993), "Alternative ways of assessing model fit", in Bollen, K.A. and Long, J.S. (Eds), Testing Structural Equation Models, Sage, Newbury Park, CA, pp. 136-62.
17. Byrne, B. (1994), Structural Equation Modeling with EQS and EQS/Windows: Basic Concepts, Applications and Programming, Sage, Newbury Park, CA.
18. Calder, B.J., Phillips, L.W. and Tybout, A.M. (1981), "Designing research for applications", Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 8, September, pp. 197-207.
19. Catlin, L.B. and White, T.F. (2001), International Business: Cultural Sourcebook and Case Studies, South-Western Publishing, Cincinnati, OH.
20. Choi, K.-S., Lee, H., Kim, C. and Lee, S. (2005), "The service quality dimensions and patient satisfaction relationships in South Korea: Comparisons across gender, age and types of service", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 19 No. 3, pp. 140-9.
21. Choi, Y.K. and Miracle, G.E. (2004), "The effectiveness of comparative advertising in Korea and the United States", Journal of Advertising, Vol. 33 No. 4, pp. 75-87.
22. Chow, I., Holbert, N., Kelley, L. and Yiu, J. (1997), Business Strategy: An Asia-Pacific Focus, Prentice Hall, Singapore.
23. Church, A.T., Ortiz, F.A., Katigbak, M.S., Avdeyeva, T.V., Emerson, A.M., Vargas, J.J. and Ibañez, J. (2003), "Measuring individual and cultural differences in implicit trait theories", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 85 No. 2, pp. 332-47.
24. Churchill, G.A. and Surprenant, C. (1982), "An investigation into the determinants of customer satisfaction", Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 19, November, pp. 491-504.
25. Clark, T. (1990), "International marketing and national character: a review and proposal for an integrative theory", Journal of Marketing, Vol. 54 No. 4, pp. 66-79.
26. Cronin, J.J. Jr and Taylor, S.A. (1992), "Measuring service quality: A reexamination and extension", Journal of Marketing, Vol. 56, July, pp. 55-68.
27. Crosby, L.A. and Stephens, N. (1987), "Effects of relationship marketing on satisfaction, retention and prices in the life insurance industry", Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 24, November, pp. 404-11.
28. Dabholkar, P.A. and Overby, J.W. (2005), "Linking process and outcome to service quality and customer satisfaction evaluations", International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 10-27.
29. Eskildsen, J., Kristensen, K., Juhl, H.T. and Ostergaard, P. (2004), "The drivers of customer satisfaction and loyalty. The case of Denmark 2000-2002", Total Quality Management, Vol. 15 Nos 5-6, pp. 859-68.
30. Ferley, S., Lea, T. and Watson, B. (1999), "A comparison of US and Canadian consumers", Journal of Advertising Research, September/ October, pp. 55-65.
31. Ferraro, G.P. (2006), The Cultural Dimension of International Business, 5th ed., Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ.
32. Fornell, C. and Larcker, D.F. (1981), "Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error: algebra and statistics", Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 18 No. 3, pp. 382-8.
33. Gallagher, K., Parsons, J. and Foster, K. (2001), "A tale of two studies: Replicating advertising effectiveness and content evaluation in print and on the web", Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 41 No. 4, pp. 71-82.
34. Grönroos, C. (1982), "A service quality model and its marketing implications", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 18 No. 4, pp. 35-42.
35. Hall, E.T. (1977), Beyond Culture, Anchor Press, Garden City, NY.
36. Halstead, D., Hartman, D. and Schmidt, S.L. (1994), "Multisource effects on the satisfaction formation process", Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 114-20.
37. Hellier, P.K., Geursen, G.M., Carr, R.A. and Richard, J.A. (2003), "Customer repurchase intention: A general structural equation model", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 37 Nos 11/12, pp. 1762-800.
38. Hofstede, G. (1980), Cultural Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values, Sage, Beverly Hills, CA.
39. Hofstede, G. (2001), Culture's Consequences, 2nd ed., Sage Publications, London.
40. Hofstede, G. and Bond, M. (1988), "The Confucius connection: From cultural roots to economic growth source", Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 16, spring, pp. 4-21.
41. Homburg, C., Koschate, N. and Hoyer, W.D. (2005), "Do satisfied customers really pay more? A study of the relationship between customer satisfaction and willingness to pay", Journal of Marketing, Vol. 69, April, pp. 84-96.
42. Homburg, C., Kuester, S., Beutin, N. and Menon, A. (2005), "Determinants of customer benefits in business-to-business markets: a cross-cultural comparison", Journal of International Marketing, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp. 1-31.
43. Hong, S.-C. and Goo, Y.J. (2004), "A causal model of customer loyalty in professional service firms: An empirical study", International Journal of Management, Vol. 21 No. 4, pp. 531-40.
44. Horn, H. and Shy, O. (1996), "Bundling and international market segmentation", International Economic Review, Vol. 37, pp. 51-69.
45. Jiang, P. and Rosenbloom, B. (2005), "Customer intention to return online: Price perception, attribute-level performance, and satisfaction unfolding over time", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 39 Nos 1/ 2, pp. 150-74.
46. Kim, D., Pan, Y. and Park, H.S. (1998), "High- versus low-context culture: A comparison of Chinese, Korean and American cultures", Psychology and Marketing, Vol. 15 No. 6, pp. 507-21.
47. Kim, Y.-P., Lee, S.-H. and Yun, D.-G. (2004), "Integrating current and competitive service-quality level analyses for service-quality improvement programs", Managing Service Quality, Vol. 14 No. 4, pp. 288-96.
48. Kwok, C.C. and Tadesse, S. (2006), "National culture and financial systems", Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 37, pp. 227-47.
49. Kwok, S. and Uncles, M. (2005), "Sales promotions effectiveness: the impact of consumer differences at an ethnic-group level", Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 170-86.
50. Laroche, M., Ueltschy, L.C., Abe, S., Cleveland, M. and Yannopoulos, P. (2004), "Service quality perceptions and customer satisfaction: evaluating the role of culture", Journal of International Marketing, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 58-85.
51. Lewis, B.R. and Mitchell, V.W. (1990), "Defining and measuring the quality of customer service", Marketing Intelligence and Planning, Vol. 8 No. 6, pp. 37-51.
52. Lim, S., Goh, J. and Sriramesh, K. (2005), "Applicability of the genetic principles of excellent public relations in a different cultural context: The case study of Singapore", Journal of Public Relations Research, Vol. 17 No. 4, pp. 315-40.
53. Malhotra, N.K., Ulgado, F.M., Agarwal, J., Shainesh, G. and Wu, L. (2005), "Dimensions of service quality in developed and developing economies: Multi-country cross-cultural comparisons", International Marketing Review, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 257-78.
54. Mattila, S.A. and Cranage, D. (2005), "The impact of choice on fairness in the context of service recovery", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 19 No. 5, pp. 271-9.
55. Maurer, T.J., Raju, N.S. and Collins, W.C. (1998), "Peer and subordinate appraisal measurement equivalence", Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 83, pp. 693-702.
56. Morgan, N.A., Anderson, E.W. and Mittal, V. (2005), "Understanding firms' customer satisfaction information usage", Journal of Marketing, Vol. 69 No. 3, pp. 131-51.
57. Mukherjee, A. and Nath, P. (2005), "An empirical assessment of comparative approaches to service quality measurement", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 19 No. 3, pp. 174-84.
58. Nakata, C. and Sivakumar, K. (2001), "Instituting the marketing concept in a multinational setting: The role of national culture", Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 29 No. 3, pp. 255-75.
59. O'Connell, J. (Ed.) (1997), Blackwell Encyclopedia Dictionary of International Management, Blackwell Publishing, Malden, MA.
60. Oliver, R.I. (1996), "Varieties of value in the consumption satisfaction response", in Corfman, K.P. and Lynch, J.G. (Eds), Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 23, Association for Consumer Research, Provo, UT, pp. 143-7.
61. Oliver, R.I. (1997), Satisfaction: A Behavioral Perspective on the Consumer, McGraw Hill, New York, NY.
62. Parasuraman, A. (1994), "Reassessment of expectations as a comparison standard in measuring service quality: Implications for future research", Journal of Marketing, Vol. 58, January, pp. 111-24.
63. Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. and Berry, L.J. (1985), "A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research", Journal of Marketing, Vol. 49 No. 4, pp. 41-50.
64. Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. and Berry, L.J. (1988), "SERVQUAL: A multiple-item scale for measuring customer perception of service quality", Journal of Retailing, Vol. 64, spring, pp. 12-37.
65. Pornpitakpan, C. (2004), "Cross-cultural differences in the effect of ad repetition and ad size: Experiments with Americans, Germans and Singaporeans", Journal of Euromarketing, Vol. 13 Nos 2/3, pp. 49-83.
66. Porter, M.E. (1998), On Competition, Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston, MA.
67. Reimer, A. and Kuehn, R. (2005), "The impact of servicescape on quality perception", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 39 Nos 7/ 8, pp. 785-808.
68. Roccato, M. and Ricolfi, L. (2005), "On the correlation between right-wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation", Basic and Applied Social Psychology, Vol. 27 No. 3, pp. 187-200.
69. Rokeach, M. (1973), The Nature of Human Values, Free Press, London.
70. Roseman, I.J. (1991) "Appraisal determinants of discrete emotions", Cognition and Emotion, Vol. 5, pp. 161-200.
71. Sheth, J., Newman, B.I. and Gross, B.L. (1991), "Why we buy what we buy: A theory of consumption values", Journal of Business Research, Vol. 22, pp. 159-70.
72. Shiu, E.C.C. and Dawson, J.A. (2004), "Comparing the impacts of internet technology and national culture on online usage and purchase from a four-country perspective", Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Vol. 11 No. 6, pp. 385-94.
73. Smith, J., Bausch, S.M. and Kettman, J.D. (2004), "Factor structure of the Smith Irrational Beliefs Inventory: Results of analyses of six independent samples", Psychological Reports, Vol. 95 No. 2, pp. 696-704.
74. Spreng, R.A., MacKenzie, S.B. and Olshavky, R.W. (1996), "A re-examination of the determinants of customer satisfaction", Journal of Marketing, Vol. 66, July, pp. 15-32.
75. Steenkamp, J.B. and Baumgartner, H. (1998), "Assessing measurement invariance in cross-national consumer research", Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 25, June, pp. 78-90.
76. Sun, T., Horn, M. and Merritt, D. (2004), "Values and lifestyles of individualists and collectivists: A study on Chinese, Japanese, British and US consumers", Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 21 No. 5, pp. 318-31.
77. Tam, J.L.M. (2004), "Customer satisfaction, service quality and perceived value: An integrative model", Journal of Marketing Management, Vol. 20, pp. 897-917.
78. Taylor, C.R., Franke, G.R. and Maynard, M.L. (2000), "Attitudes toward direct marketing and its regulation: A comparison of the United States and Japan", Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 228-37.
79. Teas, R.K. (1993), "Expectations, performance evaluation and consumers'; perceptions of quality", Journal of Marketing, Vol. 57 No. 4, pp. 18-34.
80. Terpstra, V., Sarathy, R. and Russow, L. (2006), Global Environment of Business, North Coast Publishers, Garfield Heights, OH.
81. Triandis, H.C. (2004), "The many dimensions of culture", Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 18 No. 1, pp. 88-93.
82. Tse, K.K. and Wilton, P.C. (1988), "Models of consumer satisfaction formation: An extension", Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 25, May, pp. 204-12.
83. Ueltschy, L.C. and Krampf, R.F. (2001), "Cultural sensitivity to satisfaction and service quality measures", Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Summer, pp. 14-31.
84. Ueltschy, L.C., Krampf, R.F. and Yannopoulos, P. (2004), "A cross-national study of perceived consumer risk towards online (internet) purchasing", Multinational Business Review, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 59-82.
85. Vilares, M.J. and Coelho, P.S. (2003), "The employee-customer satisfaction chain in the ECSI model", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 37 Nos 11/12, pp. 1703-22.
86. Voss, C.A., Roth, A.V., Rosenzweig, E.D., Blackmon, K. and Chase, R.B. (2004), "A tale of two countries' conservatism, service quality and feedback on customer satisfaction", Journal of Service Research, Vol. 6 No. 3, pp. 212-30.
87. Voss, G.B. and Parasuraman, A. (1995), "Prepurchase preference and postpurchase satisfaction in service exchange", working paper, Report Number 95-113, Marketing Science Institute, October.
88. Watson, J.J. and Wright, K. (2000), "Consumer ethnocentrism and attitudes toward domestic and foreign products", European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 34 Nos 9/10, pp. 149-67.
89. Weekes, D.J., Scott, E.M. and Tidwell, P.M. (1996), "Measuring quality and client satisfaction in professional business services", Journal of Professional Services Marketing, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 25-37.
90. Winstead, K.F. (1997), "The service experience in two cultures: A behavioral perspective", Journal of Retailing, Vol. 79 No. 3, pp. 337-60.
91. Yavas, J., Benkenstein, M. and Stuhldreier, U. (2004), "Relationships between service quality and behavioral outcomes", The International Journal of Bank Marketing, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 144-57.
92. Zeithaml, V.A. (1988), "Consumer perceptions of price, quality and value: A means-end model and synthesis of evidence", Journal of Marketing, Vol. 52, July, pp. 2-22.
93. Zhou, N. and Belk, R. (2004), "Chinese consumer readings of global and local advertising appeals", Journal of Advertising, Vol. 33 No. 3, pp. 63-76.