Bitner et al.’s 1994 article examined differences between groups so it was
necessary to undertake a new analysis to examine with-group differences. The
rationale for the current analysis is that categories where there is no statistically
significant difference between frequencies of employee and customer responses
will be suitable for use in measuring employee-based assessments of service
quality. The chi square analysis shows that only in Group 3 is there a statistically
significant difference between frequencies of employee and customer reports on
satisfactory and unsatisfactory service encounters. The p value for Group 2 is
reasonably close to the 0.05 cut-off reflecting the discrepancy between
frequencies of customer and employee reports of Satisfactory critical service
encounters that fall into the Group 2 category. There is no statistically significant
difference, however, between employee and customer reports in Group 2’s
Dissatisfactory category.
Based on these analyses, it was decided to use the individual classifications found
in Groups 1 and 2 of Bitner et al.’s (1990, 1994) studies. The specific service
encounters reported by employees and customers that were classified into Groups
1 and 2 are as follows:
Group 1. Employee Response to Service Delivery and System Failures
- To unavailable service
- To unreasonably slow service
- To other core service failures
Group 2. Employee Response to Customer Needs and Requests
- To ‘special needs’ customers
- To customer preferences
- To admitted customer error
- To potentially disruptive others
These service encounters were adapted for this study by altering the wording in
an attempt to present a clear concept of the type of situation each of the service
encounters refers to. The item wordings are described in Figure 5 - 13 and the
order of items follows the descriptions of Group 1 items 1 to 3 and Group 2 items
4 to 7 above.
One shortcoming of this approach to measuring service quality is that is based on
the frequency that each respondent is able to deal with each type of service
failure / negative situation while maintaining customer satisfaction. Of course, it