This document discusses the concept of service loyalty and its importance for maintaining long-term customer relationships. It argues that service loyalty, defined as a firm's commitment to providing consistently superior quality service, precedes customer loyalty. To achieve service loyalty, firms must exceed customer expectations, develop emotional connections with customers through employees, and innovate service continuously. The position of quality in services has shifted from a peripheral value-add to the core of the service promise. Firms that can offer loyal service will gain an advantage in fulfilling current needs and anticipating future needs to surprise and delight customers.

1. TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT, VOL. 9, NO. 6, 1998, 431 ± 443
Service quality to service loyalty: A
relationship which goes beyond customer
services
JAY K ANDAMPULLY
Commerce Division, Lincoln University, Canterbur y, New Zealand
Abstract The premise of `quality of ser vice’ as the competitive edge in gaining market leadership
has been well recognized both in academic research and by leading ser vice organizations. However,
it has become increasingly important for organizations to ® nd ways, not only to reach the top, but to
maintain that leadership in an ever increasing competitive market-place. In order to protect their
long-ter m interest, ser vice organizations are seeking ways to forge and to maintain an on-going
relationship with their customers. This paper presents the changing focus of ser vice quality from a
mere competing instrument to that of the basic core of the ser vice concept in meeting and exceeding
customer expectations. It is argued that long-ter m super iority of a ser vice ® r m is dictated by the
organization’s ability to maintain their relationship with the customer by oþ ering `ser vice loyalty’ : a
demonstration of the organization’s commitment to maintain the ser vice promise. The thesis here
argues that ser vice loyalty precedes customer loyalty. This paper outlines how a ® rm’s ser vice
employees develop the emotional connection with customers which leads to exceptional ser vice and the
ability to exceed customer expectations. It is proposed that oþ er ing loyal ser vice gives an organization
the advantage, not only to be able to ful® l customers’ present needs, but also the ability to anticipate
their future needs. This ability to anticipate presents the ® rm with the opportunity to sur prise and
delight customers on a consistent basis thereby reinforcing to the customer, the ® r m’s ser vice loyalty
and subsequently eþ ecting a responsive and sustained patronage.
Introduction
One of the greatest challenges facing organizations today is the ever-growing com petition,
the continuous increase in custom er expectation ( Joseph & Walker, 1988; Leonard & Sasser,
1982; Takeuchi & Quelch, 1983) and customers’ subsequent demands as service improves
(Ettorre, 1994). M oreover, customers are becoming increasingly critical of the quality of
service they experience (Albrecht & Zemke, 1985a). Custom er demand and competition are
forcing ® rms to cut loose from the traditional customer satisfaction paradigm, to adopt
proactive strategies which will assist them to take the lead in the market-place.
One strategy which has gained momentum, in services, is the concept of quality and
quality management. According to Berry et al. (1988), service quality has become a
great diþ erentiator and the most powerful competitive weapon which many leading service
Correspondence to Jay Kandam pully (Tel: 006 4 3 325 2811, ext. 8453; Fax: 006 4 3 325 3847).
0954 ± 4127 /98/060431-1 3 $7.00 199 8 Carfax Publishing Ltd

2. 432 JAY KANDAMPULLY
organizations possess. Service business success has been associated with the ability to deliver
superior service (Gale, 1990; Rudie & Wansley, 1984). Delivering superior service by
maintaining high quality is a prerequisite for success (Parasuraman et al., 1988). Leading
service organizations strive to m aintain a superior quality of service in an eþ ort to gain
customer loyalty (Zeithaml & Bitner, 1996); thus, a service organization’ s long-term success
in a market is essentially determined by its ability to expand and maintain a large and loyal
customer base. M oreover, the yardstick by which an exceptional service organization may be
measured is its returning customer ratio: the loyal customer base. Evaluating the impact of
service quality through customer retention will help companies to gauge the ® nancial impact
of service quality (Zeithaml et al., 1996).
W hile service organizations aim to gain customers’ loyalty, customers, on the other
hand, seek an organization’s service loyalty (the assurance of a consistent and superior quality
of service) as proof of the organization’ s commitment to oþ ering superior service, for both
the present and the long term. Berry (1987) proposed the idea of earning loyalty by being
loyal. While gaining loyalty from the customer has been a topic of study in the past, this
study proposes the concept of loyalty being oþ ered by a service organization to its customers.
Thus, the purpose of this study is to initiate the development of a conceptual model for
`service loyalty’ and to ascertain strategies which will assist companies to retain their
customers. It is argued here that service loyalty precedes customery loyalty, and, hence, it is
imperative that service organizations convince their customers of their commitment to
superior quality of service now, and in the future. The criteria for future success will
subsequently be determined by organizations’ ability to oþ er loyalty: to ful® l their customers’
present needs, to anticipate their prospective needs and to enhance on-going relationship.
The author suggests that `loyalty’ should be perceived as a verb not as a noun; customer
loyalty is tim e-speci® c and thus non-permanent. Organizations must, therefore, constantly
strive to develop and maintain their customer’ s loyalty or, as is true in the majority of
relationships, risk losing it to someone else.
Service quality: A changing philosophy
The primary objective of the service provider is identical to that of the tangible goods
producer, i.e. to develop and provide oþ erings that satisfy custom er needs, thereby ensuring
their own economic survival. To achieve this objective, service providers will need to
understand how customers evaluate the quality of their service oþ erings, how they choose
one organization in preference to another and on what basis they give their long-term
patronage.
Service quality is one of the most dominant themes of research in services (Fisk et al.,
1993). During its infancy, service quality research based its foresight on consumer behaviour
and the con® rmation/discon® rmation paradigm (Gronroos 1992). According to this para-
digm, as customers consume a product, they compare the quality they have experienced to
that of their prior expectations (Swan and Comb, 1976), which leads to an emotional
reaction manifested in the satisfaction/dissatisfaction with the products or services purchased
(Woodruþ et al., 1983).
Thus, instead of using quality concepts from manufacturing, services marketing research-
ers based their work on developing a service quality concept on models from consumer
behaviour (Brown et al., 1992). Following extensive research on the so-called perceived
service quality model, it has been recognized that customers evaluate service quality by
comparing the service provider’s actual perform ance `perceptions’ with what they believe

3. SERVICE QUALITY TO SERVICE LOYALTY 433
service performance would be `expectations’ in their service experience (Gronroos , 1982;
Lehtinen & Lehtinen, 1982; Lewis & Booms, 1983; Lindqvist, 1987; Parasuraman et al.,
1985; Zeithaml et al., 1988).
According to Lewis and Booms (1983), service quality is a measure of the degree to
which the service delivered matches customer expectations. Delivering quality service means
conform ing to customer expectations on a consistent basis. Extensive study on service
quality conducted by researchers Parasuraman, Berry and Zeithaml have proposed the
notion that service quality can be measured (Parasuraman et al., 1988, 1991b, 1994)
using the SERVQUAL instrument and managed using expectationsÐ the perform ance gap
model (Zeithaml et al., 1988; Zeithaml & Bitner, 1996). Despite criticisms of the general
applicability of the perceived service quality model (SERVQUAL instrument) by Cronin
and Taylor (1994), this instrument is a concise multiple-item scale with good reliability
(Lewis & Mitchell, 1990) and has been widely accepted as a valid instrument (Carman,
1990; Clark et al., 1992; Finn & Lamb, 1991; Fisk et al., 1993) in the measurement of
service quality.
D elivering superior quality of service has been recognized as the most eþ ective means of
ensuring that a company’s oþ erings stand out from a crowd of look-alike competitive oþ erings
(Parasuraman et al., 1991a). Furthermore, it constitutes a weapon which many leading
organizations possess (Berry et al., 1988). Research speci® c to these issues has repeatedly
demonstrated the strategic advantage of superior quality in contributing to pro® t and market
share (Buzzell & Gale, 1987; Gale, 1992; Koska, 1990; Zeithaml et al., 1996).
The customer’s perception of quality of service is based on the degree of concordance
between expectations and experience. Where comparability is apparent, the customer is
deemed to be satis® ed; however, in many cases, this will not be enough to create a competitive
advantage. M ore and more, there is a need to oþ er superior service (Parasuraman, 1995)
and to exceed customer expectations (Berry & Parasuraman, 1991; Klose, 1993; W ren,
1988) to delight the customer, as opposed to merely satisfying his/her needs (Brown et al.,
1992; Timmers & van der Wiele, 1990).
Customers will remain loyal to a service organization if the value of what they receive is
determined to be relatively greater than that expected from competitors (Zeithaml & Bitner,
1996). W hile service quality has proved to be an essential ingredient to convince customers
to choose one service organization over another, many organizations have realized that
maintaining excellence on a consistent basis is imperative if they are to gain customer loyalty.
This long-term perspective has created a strong shift in orienting service strategy towards a
service promise (Albrecht, 1988; Albrecht & Zemke, 1985b; Hart, 1990). M oreover, in the
present competitive setting, if one were to understand the lifetime value of a customer
(Zeithaml & Bitner, 1996), developing a long-term customer relationship is param ount
(Gronroo s, 1990b, 1991; Peters, 1988) to an organization’ s survival.
Customers commonly desire personalized and close relationships with service providers
(Parasuraman et al., 1991c); moreover, custom ers value the bene® ts of maintaining the
relationship (Zeithaml et al., 1996). It has become increasingly important for service
organizations’ vision to conceptualize the service concept beyond the short-term ® nancial
goal to the long-term `relational value’ . The relational value paradigm (between: customer
and employee; customer and service organization; employee and service organization;
service provider and service intermediaries) has now become more important than ever
before. A remarkably clear changing philosophy behind service quality is lucidly apparent
from almost all leading service organizations. The concept of loyalty and the interdependent
partnership has gained notable recognition among both academics and leading service
organizations.

4. 434 JAY KANDAMPULLY
Research outline
Here, it is suggested that today’s proactive service ® rms operate on two fundam ental
strategies:
(1) To exceed the expectations of customers by anticipating their needs and subsequently
surprising and/or delighting them.
(2) To maintain a long-lasting relationship with customers by oþ ering loyal service.
Numerous studies have been conducted in an attempt to determine the essential nature and
development of loyalty, i.e. how organizations can create and enhance customer loyalty
through products and services. Recognizing its importance, previous researchers examined
the many facets of loyalty: brand loyalty (Bloom , 1981; Carman, 1970; Cooper & Inoue,
1996; Cunningham, 1967; Day, 1969; Frank, 1967; Jacoby, 1971; Olson & Jacoby, 1971;
Zeithaml, 1981); store loyalty (Langrehr & Rinne, 1987; Samli & Sirgy, 1981); customer
loyalty (Fredericks & Salter, 1995; Lowenstein, 1993; M aruca & Halliday, 1993; O’ Brien &
Jones, 1995; Ostrowski et al., 1993; Reichheld, 1993); repeat business (Collis, 1990;
Crowford, 1993; Lynch, 1995; Sellers, 1989; W iersem a & Thompson, 1991).
Research addressing loyalty within the context of the service industry has traditionally
focused on the m eans by which loyalty may be acquired. Snyder (1986) studied how
customers’ loyalty to a service organization m ay be measured accurately. Czepiel and Gilmore
(1987) proposed a model showing the development of customer loyalty in services. Gremler
and Brown (1996) argued that the loyalty of the service customer is a multi-dim ensional
construct, comprising three dimensions: behavioural loyalty, attitudinal loyalty and cognitive
loyalty.
The focus of this research is on `service loyalty’ : a service organization’s commitm ent to
its customers, which is manifested in activities undertaken by the organization for the
development of a long-term relationship with the customer, eþ ecting loyal service, every
time, all the time.
The concept of ser vice innovation and the position of quality
Customer satisfaction no longer constitutes the convincing focus for success, it has been
replaced by customer delight (Brown et al., 1992). In today’s competitive environm ent,
customers’ expectations and technological innovation demand that service leaders distinguish
themselves from the competition by truly delighting the customer (Kandampully, 1997).
According to Timmers and van der W iele (1990), satisfying the customer is not enough:
there is a compelling need to delight the customer if a competitive advantage is to be
achieved. Exceptional service which delights customers requires that organizations undertake
continuous service innovation. Service innovation, as de® ned here, is a process involved with
the transformation of an organization’s dormant assets (service elements which include
technology, service processes, environment and people) into something of substantially
greater value to both the custom er and the organization.
Customers’ perception of exceptional service is often associated with the personal
interaction of the employees (Kandampully, 1993). Services management literature has
repeatedly emphasized the importance of the hum an element in the delivery of superior
service (Crosby & Stephens, 1987; Gronroos , 1990b; Parasuraman et al., 1985; Solomon
et al., 1985). Moreover, the human propensity for the delivery of superior service is greatly
enhanced by continuous service innovation. Indeed, technological im plementation and the
subsequent changes in the service process not only has the potential to aþ ect em ployee±

5. SERVICE QUALITY TO SERVICE LOYALTY 435
Figure 1. In¯ uences on the delight factor.
customer interaction positively, but may actually augment the importance of the human
element as an organization’s competitive edge (see Fig. 1).
Service excellence is now an integral part of any superior service (Berry & Parasuraman,
1992), it is not the value-adding peripheral but actually constitutes the core of the service
promise (Kandampully, 1996). In other words, quality was introduced to many ® elds of
industry as an elem ent designed to eþ ect competitive advantage (Berry et al., 1988; Berry &
Parasuraman, 1991; Brunell et al., 1992; Peters & Waterman, 1982). Quality was thus
conceived as a peripheral value-adding com ponent of a service (Parasuraman et al., 1991b).
However, the position of quality, from a customer’s point of view, has moved from a value-
adding perspective to that of an uncompromisable component of the service promise
(Kandampully, 1996). Hence, I argue that quality in services has moved from the peripherals
to the core (see Fig. 2).
This perceived repositioning of the quality element has major rami® cations for service
management. This new position of quality within the service package demands that service
managers reconsider and subsequently redesign the services they oþ er.
Exceeding expectations through em otional relationships
We now live in a service economy where relationships are becoming more important than
physical products (Albrecht & Zemke, 1985a), in terms of both our business and our personal
lives. Business is nothing but relationship (M cCormic, 1988) and, within service industries,
this relationship is an interactive process (Booms & Bitner, 1981). Services are commonly
Figure 2. Q uality as the core ser vice.

6. 436 JAY KANDAMPULLY
oþ erings designed to assist, serve or ful® l customers’ personal needs, where the customer
commonly seeks to establish and maintain a relationship; with the service provider (Parasura-
man et al., 1991c). Customer satisfaction and subsequent desire to develop a relationship
emanates from the em otional connection to the service provider (Stauss, 1996). In many
services, emotion is an element of the service delivery process (Kandampully, 1993) and
plays an important role in shaping the customer’s perception of service quality. This emotional
element of the service process is indeed that which subsequently constitutes the genesis of
the all-important relationship. This emotional bond leads the customer to buy repeatedly or
exclusively from that service provider (Butz & Goodstein, 1996).
The challenge for today’ s organizations is not merely to reach the top, but to stay there.
If that is an organization’ s aim, its primary focus should be not m erely to attract customers,
but to obtain their loyalty and, thus, their patronage, not only for the present, but also for
the long term. This loyalty, however, is the end result of an on-going, long-term relationship.
Such relationships are founded on an organization’s ability to maintain and extend its
relationships with customers (Gummesson, 1994). According to Levitt (1983), buyer± seller
interaction is similar to a marriage; the quality and duration, however, depends predominantly
on the eý cacy with which the organization manages the relationship. Customer± supplier
relationships are central to exceeding customer expectations (Parasuraman et al., 1991c). It
is, indeed, the progressive, responsive relationship with the customer which manifests in
`service loyalty’ and, ultimately, gives an organization service superiority.
Almost all business interactions are conceived as relationships between the ® rm and the
customer; m aintaining this long-term relationship is the true indicator of the ® rm’s success.
However, in most business situations, it is not common to see a long-term relationship
between the service provider and the customer. M ost of these relationships tend to be
surprisingly short term in nature. On the assumption that they will lose a number of their
customers, ® rms strive to attract more customers than those with whom they realistically
expect to forge a relationship. By this very process, the ® rm establishes a system which
accordingly ensures that only half of its customers succeed in receiving services commensurate
with their expectations, while the other half become dissatis® ed and subsequently leave.
Customers seek a business interaction on the tacit understanding that they will receive
the service they require; they neither desire nor expect to receive mediocre service or the
experience dissatisfaction. Further, in reality, customers are inherently loyal and seek a
loyal relationship; when customers seek service, they are essentially seeking to establish a
relationship. Customers have a greater need to maintain a relationship with the service ® rm
because of the unique features inherent in services, namely intangibility, inseparability of
production and consumption, heterogeneity and perishability. The customer’s desire for a
relationship is, thus, founded on the tacit understanding that this will proþ er a guarantee of
service reliability and ful® l not only the custom er’s present but also his/her future needs.
Thus, it is apparent that customers cannot `try out’ services; they purchase a service
prior to experiencing it and must trust the ® rm to deliver the perceived service promise
(Berry & Parasuram an, 1992). W hile service ® rms attract their customers through their
promise, the customer’s decision to purchase is founded on the trust that the ® rm will ful® l
his/her needs. Moreover, the human interaction evident during the service delivery process
commonly reinforces the customer trust (Evans & Crosby, 1988), and eþ ectively strengthens
the relationship (M cKenna, 1991). Bell (1993) is of the view that customers are loyal to
service providers who trust them. According to him, it essentially communicates one-half of
a partnership reaching out to the other half. Customers acknowledge and reward such
partnerships by manifesting allegiance: transient sampling transpires into long-term relation-
ships. Once customers receive con® rmation that such trust is warranted, they desire and seek
to maintain that relationship loyalty.

7. SERVICE QUALITY TO SERVICE LOYALTY 437
Gummesson (1987) identi® es two dimensions of relational quality in the service interface.
He de® nes them as professional relations and social relations. The professional relationship
is grounded on the service provider’ s demonstration of competence; the social relationship is
based on the eý cacy of the service provider’s social interaction with the customer. Researchers
such as Crosby et al. (1990) and Lagace et al. (1991) studied many aspects of relationship
quality, and perceive it as a buyer’s trust in a salesperson and satisfaction in the relationship.
Additionally, research conducted by Bejou et al. (1996) concludes that custom er± salesperson
relationship quality is an important prerequisite to a successful long-term relationship.
Let us consider, as an example, the number of times we seek to change our dentist,
hairdresser, accountant or doctor. Our aim is to create an emotional connection with them;
transference, however, becomes evident only when they fail to live up to their promise.
According to Berry et al. (1990), breaking the service promise is the single most im portant
way in which service com panies fail their customers.
Firms are established on the premise of oþ ering and delivering good service and the
creation of satis® ed customers. However, it is apparent that, despite the comparability of the
consumer’ s and producer’ s aspirations, the system implemented to ensure the ® rm’s survival
engenders the reason behind its demise. We commonly ® nd that management’s predominant
concern is to market continuously: to increase awareness and to attract more customers to
choose the ® rm’s products or services. Management has failed to understand that the true
purpose of marketing is to build and maintain strong relationships (bridge) between the
producer and the customer, thus reinforcing the producer’ s promise and, ultimately, the
bond between the producer and the customers.
Christopher et al. (1991) express the view that there has been a change in the focus of
marketing: transactional marketing emphasizes the individual sale, whereas relationship
marketing is designed to eþ ect a long-term, on-going relationship. Gronroo s (1990b) argues
that developing and maintaining long-term relationships is of paramount importance to a
® rm’s competitiveness. Gummesson (1996), similarly, proposes that ful® lment of the service
promise may inspire a long-term relationship, positively aþ ecting long-term customer reten-
tion and sustainm ent, and subsequently reduce the likelihood of customer defection. Accord-
ing to Gummesson, relationship marketing, in principle, encourages retention marketing ® rst
and attraction marketing (attracting new customers) second. M oreover, companies that focus
extensively on attracting new customers may fail to understand the changing needs and
expectations of their existing customers (Zeithaml & Bitner, 1996).
From a customer’ s perspective, a strong relationship with the supplier constitutes the
® rm’s accessibility in the event of something going wrong. In professional services such as
medical and legal services, this emotional bond is frequently esteemed more highly, by the
customer, than the service itself. In many service business situations, this emotional bond is
created through personal interaction with the service provider (employee) and constitutes a
primary and eþ ective marketing medium. It is often witnessed that a ® rm’s customers exhibit
more loyalty to the service providers than to the ® rm itself and, conversely, according to
Parkington and Schneider (1979), front-line employees are sometimes more loyal to their
customers than to their m anagement. Parkington and Schneider’ s ® ndings reinforce the fact
that loyalty is instigated and developed between the service provider and the customer.
Service ® rms have many opportunities to utilize creatively the relationships established
between service personnel and their customers. However, service ® rms continue to rely on
traditional management functions, notably non-personal marketing techniques. A good
example from the airline industry is the `frequent ¯ ier’ programme. In this case customers
are often not loyal to the service ® rm, as they are essentially attracted into forming a
relationship based on sentiment associated neither with the service provider nor with the

8. 438 JAY KANDAMPULLY
organization, but are attracted solely by the evident potential material bene® ts. This type of
forced relationship does not manifest as a loyal relationship; it tends to be short term in
eþ ect, since it will not prevent the customer’ s exit to a competing organization. According to
Czepiel and Gilmore (1987),market loyalty often results in repeat purchase behaviour. The
true bene® t of loyalty is not only continued patronage, but a willingness to voice dissatisfaction
and to give time to improve the ® rm’s shortcomings, as opposed to exit. Once custom ers
have experienced service loyalty and developed a bonding relationship with a company, it
renders a competing ® rm’s comparable oþ erings less attractive.
A sim ilar view is expressed by Hirchman (1970). According to him, the presence of
loyalty makes exit less likely. He indicates that, when exit is possible, one of the principle
determinants of readiness to resort to voice, by the customers, is clearly due to their special
attachmentÐ their loyaltyÐ to the ® rm. Thus, he adds that, even with a given estimate of
one’s in¯ uence, the likelihood of voice increases with the degree of loyalty. A customer with
a considerable attachment to an organization will often seek ways to make him self/herself
in¯ uential, particularly when the ® rm moves in the wrong direction. This constitutes the
true purpose of the ® rm’s customer feedback system, m arket research and other market
communication channels.
However, many ® rms have failed to understand the essential genesis of the loyal
relationship. In their haste to improve the eý ciency of the relationship, they have directed
their attention towards measurement of the relationship, as de® ned by customer satisfaction
and perceived quality. Stauss (1996) proposes a qualitative satisfaction model which results
in ® ve diþ erent qualitative satisfaction types comprising diþ ering patterns of emotions,
cognitions and intentions. Citing various examples, he goes on to argue that a global
satisfaction score fails to constitute the only valid indicator for custom er loyalty.
Here, it is argued that, although it may prove to be one of the factors favouring the
growth of a relationship, customer satisfaction alone is insuý cient for the fruition of a loyal
relationship. Thus, in order to create a loyal relationship, it is not suý cient to study
and measure satisfaction/dissatisfaction. In fact, organizations should, instead, focus on
understanding the cause of strong or poor relationships: the factors in¯ uencing the origin of
relationships, their development and the means through which they may be maintained.
The most successful service companies emphasize employees’ personal attention as the
pre-eminent factor for service delivery (Berry et al., 1990). A ® rm’s relationship with its
customers is instigated and established by the service personnel who interact with the
customer day in and day out. It is the service personnel’s commitm ent to seamless, consistent
and superior service that enables the ® rm to create the emotional, lasting, loyal relationship
with the customer in which personal interaction assumes centre stage. Gummesson (1993)
is of the view that contribution to relational quality is created through direct contact with the
customer, which, in most cases, is through service personnel. Direct contact with the
customer, on an intimate level, enables employees to develop the emotional connection
through which they are able to understand and anticipate the unexpressed needs of the
customer.
Here, it is argued that, while customer services aim to satisfy the expressed needs of the
customer, service loyalty, on the other hand, enables the ® rm to understand, and commonly
to anticipate, customers expressed and unexpressed needs. According to M artin (1986),
eþ ective anticipation requires that service consistently remain one step ahead of the customer’ s
needs. It is apparent, therefore, that products and services should be provided before the
need has been identi® ed by the customer; services cannot be deemed superior if they become
evident only upon request.
Thus, referring to Fig. 3, the service personnel (human element) in an organization are

9. SERVICE QUALITY TO SERVICE LOYALTY 439
Figure 3. Model for ser vice loyalty.
crucial to the em otional connection and development of a long-term relationship with the
customer. In many service situations the service personnel’ s interaction with the customer
has been recognized as a critical determinant of satisfaction (Surprenant & Soloman, 1987)
and, in many cases, this person essentially epitomizes or de® nes the service to the customer
(Boom s & Nyquist, 1981; Lewis & Entwistle, 1990). Parasuram an et al. (1991c), in their
research, found evidence substantiating customers’ desire for a closer relationship with service
providers. As previously indicated, Parkington and Schneider’s (1979) study concluded that
a ® rm’s employees show a tendency to develop close relationships with the customer. This
ability to anticipate and delight customers constitutes the foundation on which organizations
exhibit and con® rm their service loyalty. Delivering loyal service establishes and maintains
the long-term relationship, commonly de® ned as customer loyalty.
Conclusions
This study adds a new dimension to the existing body of knowledge in the ® eld of service
quality and relationship management. In conclusion, the author proposes that a true, loyal
relationship between a ® rm and its customer is created by the organization’s ability to connect
emotionally and forge along-term bond with the customer. In fact, a custom er’s loyalty and
trust is gained by the service personnel’s commitment to seamless, consistent and superior
service, which manifests itself, to the customer, as `service loyalty’ . Thus, he argues that
service loyalty precedes customer loyalty.
I suggest that, regardless of the rhetoric or sincerity of intention, if customer trust is
limited or absent there is no foundation for a permanent and successful relationshipÐ hence
no loyalty. Thus, service loyalty is a prerequisite in today’ s competitive environment if an
organization is to maintain market leadership. It is through service loyalty that an organization
achieves customer delight and customers’ honest participation (custom er voice) in the
relationshipÐ this is, indeed, the key to continuous improvement and sustained superiority.
Some of the important issues identi® ed from this study for future research are:
(1) How service loyalty assists service organizations to sustain a superior quality of
service as customers’ expectations maintain a dynamic momentum.
(2) The eþ ects of service loyalty and how it enhances service promotion through word
of mouth.

10. 440 JAY KANDAMPULLY
(3) The changes required in the service design process if quality is to be maintained as
the core oþ ering.
As an extension of this study, the author has undertaken two empirical research projects
to study further some of the issues identi® ed in this research. The ® rst, which is presently
under way, is a study of 200 service organizations designed to identify those factors which
aþ ect an organization’s ability to maintain service quality, i.e. those factors which assist a
service organization to maintain a superior quality of service on a consistent basis. The
second study undertaken examines how service loyalty positively in¯ uences world-of-mouth
and referral promotion in services.
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