Download to read offline
Uploaded byXavier Walthoff Borm
2014FRONTIERS°IN°SERVICE
The study explores service quality dimensions that most effectively influence customer loyalty in B2B professional service firms, highlighting differences between B2B and B2C contexts. Key findings suggest that the 'people factor' significantly impacts perceived service quality, while 'value for money' and 'information quality' are crucial for enhancing customer loyalty behaviors. A holistic model from an operations-based client perspective indicates that the outcomes of services are more important than the processes involved.
2014FRONTIERS°IN°SERVICE
- 1. TOWARD A BETTERUNDERSTANDING OF SERVICE QUALITY IN B2B PROFESSIONAL SERVICES XAVIER WALTHOFF-BORM YVES VAN VAERENBERGH BART LARIVIERE
- 2. THE RELEVANCE OFTHIS STUDY
- 3. Lehtinen and Lehtinen(1982) Grönroos (1984) Berry et al., (1985) Parasuraman et al. (1985) PERCEIVED SERVICE QUALITY What How Physical quality Technical quality Outcome quality Interactive quality Functional quality Process quality (De Keyser and Larivière, 2014, JOSM) SERVICE QUALITY HAS BEEN STUDIED FOR A LONG TIME IN B2C SETTINGS BUT THE UNDERSTANDING OF SERVICE QUALITY IN B2B PROFESSIONAL SERVICES STILL REMAINS VAGUE (JOM – CALL FOR RESEARCH 2014)
- 4. B2B B2C Serviceencounter •Brief or long •Negotiation restricted Relationship •Brief or long Transactions •Small or Large scale Decision making process •Primarily emotional Marketing •Influential Servicecape •Influential Service encounter •Brief or long •Negotiation Relationship •Brief or Long Transactions •Small or Large scale Decision making process •Primarily rational •Trust based •Different roles Marketing •Limited power •Limited credibility Servicecape •Limited power B2B IS DIFFERENT THAN B2C
- 5. PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AREDIFFERENT THAN REGULAR SERVICES REGULAR SERVICES PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
- 6. THE PURPOSE OFTHIS STUDY
- 7. RESEARCH QUESTION WHICHSERVICE QUALITY DIMENSIONS ARE MOST EFFECTIVE IN PRODUCING DESIRED CUSTOMER LOYALTY BEHAVIORS IN B2B PROFESSIONAL SERVICE FIRMS?
- 8.
- 9. Identification of professional services dimensions of SQ Interdisciplinaire Literature Review Interviews Measurement of SQ model Identification of key dimensions and their link to customer loyalty Questionnaire Path analysis S T A G E 1 S T A G E 2
- 10. LITERATURE REVIEW ANDINTERVIEWS
- 11. CONCEPTUAL MODEL –OPERATIONS BASED – CLIENT PERSPECTIVE PEOPLE FACTOR KNOWLEDGE DISSEMINATIO N VALUE FOR MONEY INFORMATION QUALITY SERVICE RECOVERY REPURCHASE INTENTIONS RECOMMENDIN G INTENTIONS OVERALL SERVICE QUALITY DIMENSIONS CUSTOMER LOYALTY + + + + + + +
- 12. PEOPLE FACTOR ServiceManagement Research People Factor has the strongest effect on perceived service quality in financial services (Larivière, 2008) Professional Standards Quality is defined in terms of competence and objectivity. Quotes from managers “Planning and operations efficiency are of an essence since professional services are performed during maintenance or commissioning.” (Divisional manager - Vinçotte) Quotes from business clients “Scheduling and timing of inspections are highly important to us and our clients” (ERA - residential real estate industry) COMPETENCE technical and interpersonal skills objectivity TIMELINESS process time WILLINGNESS flexibility RESPONSIVENESS waiting time LITERATURE REVIEW EXPLORATORY INTERVIEWS Note: BLACK – LITERATURE BASED FACTOR RED – INTERVIEW BASED FACTOR
- 13. KNOWLEDGE DISSEMINATION ServiceQuality Research Corporate reputation is a key success factor in professional services. (McLachlin, 2000) Service Management Research Reputation equity is not only build through services but also through information offering. (Grönroos, 2000) Service Marketing Research Knowledge dissemination has a small positive effect on affective commitment. (Gruen et al., 2000) Quotes from managers “Knowledge dissemination builds corporate reputation as well as competence for professionals.” (Technical manager - Vinçotte; Senior Consultant Element61) Quotes from business clients “PSFs should provide information on new regulations and standards.” (Orbid – services industry, Arcelor-Mittal – steel industry) LITERATURE REVIEW EXPLORATORY INTERVIEWS INFORMATION ON REGULATIONS AND STANDARDS
- 14. Service Management QualityResearch Martinez and Martinez (2010) suggest to include price since quality is a function of price and performance. Quotes from managers “Price is important in the buying process, however, the assurance of service quality is perceived higher when prices are high.” (ex-senior associate - BCG) Quotes from business clients “Price is an important element in the decision making process, yet quality performance is as well.” (Elia - electric power transmission industry; Fluxys - transport stockage and terminalling of natural gas) VALUE FOR MONEY LITERATURE REVIEW EXPLORATORY INTERVIEWS PRICE SATISFACTION WITH THE SERVICE DELIVERED Note: BLACK – LITERATURE BASED FACTOR RED – INTERVIEW BASED FACTOR
- 15. Service Quality Research Service providers should know what type of information clients need, when and how they has to delivered it. (Berry & Parasuraman, 1997) Management Information System Research The information should be contextual (relevant, complete, and appropriate in terms of amount) and representational (the information is interpretable, easy to understand, and represented concisely and reconsistently) (Lee et al., 2002) Quotes from business clients “The content of the audit report should be prioritized.” (NMBS, railway industry) INFORMATION QUALITY LITERATURE REVIEW EXPLORATORY INTERVIEWS SATISFACTION WITH THE FORM OF REPORTING SATISFACTION WITH THE MANNER OF REPORTING
- 16. Service Management Research Heskett et al. (1990) believe that an effective response to service failure will effect the long term success of the organization. Bitner et al. (1990) found that service recovery systems have become a source of satisfaction. Van Vaerenbergh et al. (2012) found that communicating service recoveries increases customer loyalty behavior. Quotes from managers “As business clients pay a premium price, we are obliged to guarantee premium quality.” (CEO – Vinçotte; senior associate – BCG) Quotes from business clients. “I was extremely pleased with the effective response to an issue and the improvement of the service thereafter.” (Eandis, utilities industry) SERVICE RECOVERY LITERATURE REVIEW EXPLORATORY INTERVIEWS SATISFACTION WITH COMPLAINT MANAGEMENT
- 17. CONCEPTUAL MODEL –OPERATIONS BASED – CLIENT PERSPECTIVE PEOPLE FACTOR KNOWLEDGE DISSEMINATIO N VALUE FOR MONEY INFORMATION QUALITY SERVICE RECOVERY REPURCHASE INTENTIONS RECOMMENDIN G INTENTIONS OVERALL SERVICE QUALITY DIMENSIONS CUSTOMER LOYALTY + + + + + + + PROCESS OUTCOME OUTCOME OUTCOME PROCESS
- 18.
- 19. QUESTIONNAIRE in BELGIUM(REGION FLANDERS) – VALIDATED ITEMS CLIENT DATABASE OF A NOTIFIED BODY RESPONDENTS – HSEQ MANAGERS 31% RESPONSE RATE = 275 FIRMS DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
- 20. EMPIRICAL MODEL ModelFit + a) EFA ✔ b) CFA χ2/df = 1,956*** NO DISCREMINANT VALIDITY FOR SERVICE RECOVERY FACTOR – FACTOR REMOVED NFI = 0.98 CFI= 0.98 RMSEA =0.069 SRMR =0.039 + + + + +
- 21. RESULTS R2=0.26 + R2=0.72 R2=0.70 + + + + + SERVICE QUALITY DIMENSIONS EXPLAIN TO A LARGE EXTENT THE VARIATION IN RECOMMENDING INTENSIONS
- 22. THE DIRECT ANDINDIRECT EFFECTS OF QUALITY DIMENSIONS ON CL OUTCOMES Note: The Bayesian estimates are posterior means. The Bayesian p-values are based on one-sided tail probabilities that the parameter exceeds 0 truncated to the classical cut-points of:p < .1, *p < .05, **p < .01, ***
- 23.
- 24. CONCLUSION A HOLISTICMODEL ON SQ FROM OPERATIONS BASED - CLIENT PERSPECTIVE THE OUTCOME OF THE PROCESS IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE PROCESS ITSELF SERVICESCAPE IS NOT IMPORTANT IN THE B2B PROFESSIONALSERVICES SETTING PEOPLE FACTOR IS LESS IMPORTANT IN THE B2B PROFESSIONAL SERVICE SETTING ONLY MARGINAL INDIRECT EFFECT ON RECOMMENDING INTENTIONS
- 25. MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS MANAGERSSHOULD PRIMARILY PROMOTE THE VALUE FOR MONEY TO INCREASE CUSTOMER LOYALTY BEHAVIOR. MANAGERS SHOULD FOCUS ON INFORMATION QUALITY TO INCREASE RECOMMENDING INTENSIONS.
- 26. QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS XAVIER.WALTHOFFBORM@UGENT.BE
Editor's Notes
- #2 In this study we want to give you an inside perspective of service quality in B2B professional services from an operations perspective.
- #4 The applicability of current SQ models is possibly limited because of different reasons.
- #5 How is B2B different than B2C? The primarily differences are on decision making level. The people that experiencing service are not always the person who has the decision making power. Moreover, managers are more rational based that customers.
- #6 Services is performed at the client on side, the interaction with the customer is limited, since the interaction is limited, the service is often opaque and finally the service is mandotory because of regulation.
- #8 From a managerial point of view it is important to know, which dimensions of service quality contribute most to customer loyalty. Especially, it times when price competition on the market is high.
- #10 To answer our RQ we applied a mixed design method. To achieve holistic service quality we performed an interdisciplinary literature review combined with interviews with service managers and business clients. Consequently we developed a questionnaire and performed Baysian statistics to identify the key service dimensions in performing desired customer loyalty behaviors.
- #12 The ability to identify key dimensions would improve customer loyalty behavior. Which is of course important since highly loyal customers have higher intensions to collaborate.
- #13 What for us was important to have interaction with clients and service managers in order to understand the definition and dimensions of service quality
- #14 More importantly the information has to be customized
- #15 3
- #16 4
- #17 5
- #18 The ability to identify key dimensions would improve customer loyalty behavior. Which is of course important since highly loyal customers have higher intensions to collaborate.
- #21 All indices are sufficient to fit the model
- #22 Recommendations are more important than repurchasing intentions since the frequency of purchase is on a long term basis. IMPORTANT – LIFT FOR EXAMPLE SHOULD ONLY BE INSPECTED ONCE A YEAR
- #23 Is het niet vreemd dat repurchase intentions / information quality een indirect effects heeft en het totaal effect groter is, niettegenstaande geen direct significant effect? Zelfde voor knowledge dissemination -> weglaten?
- #25 Difference FOR THESE REASONS WHY THE INVERENMENT IS DIFFERENCE MODEL IS OPERATIONS BASED – (e.g. demonstrating EFFECTIVENESS, IMPLEMENT GOOD PRACTICES, WEBSITE CONTENT DEVELOPMENT, FREE INSPIRATION SESSIONS, ...)
- #26 IN THIS CONTEXT IT WOUL BE INTERESTING to EXPLORE TO what extent information technology CAN Be INTEGRATED IN THE DELIVERY SYSTEM e.G. ERP SYSTEMS OF BUSINESS CLIENTS. THIS WAS AN EYEOPENEN TO PSF BECAUSE THEY THOUGHT THAT THE PEOPLE FACTOR WAS THE MAIN DRIVER OF LOYALTY.