SERVQUAL Model and Service Quality Gaps: Singapore Airlines
This paper examines the SERVQUAL model as a framework for evaluating service quality, with Singapore Airlines as the case study context. Drawing on a review of foundational literature by Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry, as well as critical analyses by Buttle (1995) and Shahin, the paper outlines SERVQUAL's ten original components, its five generic dimensions (tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy), and the seven major service quality gaps. The paper also presents theoretical and operational criticisms of the SERVQUAL instrument and concludes with findings on the model's utility for assessing the gap between customer expectations and perceived service delivery in the airline industry.
- Introduction: Study purpose and SERVQUAL overview
- Background and Scope: SERVQUAL's history and broad industry use
- Literature Review: SERVQUAL Framework: Ten components, five dimensions, and scoring methods
- Criticisms of the SERVQUAL Model: Theoretical and operational critiques of the instrument
- Service Quality Gap Model: Seven gaps between expectations and delivery
- Findings: Summary conclusions on SERVQUAL applicability
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What makes this paper effective
- Clearly situates the SERVQUAL instrument within a broad academic context, citing its wide application across industries from healthcare to hospitality.
- Systematically presents both the theoretical foundations and the operational mechanics of SERVQUAL, including data analysis methods and item-level scoring.
- Balances description of the model with a structured critique, demonstrating awareness of the instrument's limitations alongside its strengths.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective use of a literature-based methodology to evaluate the applicability of an established measurement instrument. Rather than conducting primary research, the author synthesizes multiple generations of scholarship — from the original 1985 Parasuraman et al. framework through subsequent refinements — to build a coherent argument about SERVQUAL's relevance to airline service quality assessment. This approach is appropriate for conceptual or framework-evaluation papers.
Structure breakdown
The paper follows a clear academic structure: an introduction establishing the research focus, a background section justifying the instrument's relevance, a methodology note, an extended literature review covering SERVQUAL's dimensions and gaps, and a findings section that synthesizes key takeaways. The findings section functions as an integrated summary rather than a separate analytical conclusion, which is typical of shorter literature-based papers at the undergraduate level.
Introduction
This paper examines the SERVQUAL model as it applies to a case study of Singapore Airlines with regard to service quality and the application of a conceptual model of service quality. The study additionally explains the gap in service quality between the firm and the customer.
Background and Scope
Prayag and Dookhony-Ramphul (2010) report that the SERVQUAL model "is still the most widely used scale for measuring service quality. The SERVQUAL scale has been applied to airlines, hotels, financial services, health care, and the public sector" (p. 3). Buttle (1995) reports that SERVQUAL provides a technology "for measuring and managing service quality (SQ). Since 1985, when the technology was first published, its innovators Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry have further developed, promulgated, and promoted the technology through a series of publications" (p. 8).
The ABI/Inform database Global Edition records service quality as a keyword in approximately 1,447 articles published between January 1992 and April 1994, and these publications "incorporate both theoretical discussions and applications of SERVQUAL in a variety of industrial, commercial, and not-for-profit settings" (Buttle, 1995, p. 8). The studies published span tire retailing, dental services, hotels, travel and tourism, car servicing, business schools, higher education, hospitality, business-to-business channel partners, accounting firms, architectural services, recreational services, hospitals, airline catering, banking, apparel retailing, and local government. A great many unpublished SERVQUAL studies have also been noted.
The scope of this study is the use of the SERVQUAL instrument in evaluating customer service for Singapore Airlines. The methodology is qualitative in nature, conducting a review of literature to determine the appropriateness of using SERVQUAL for this evaluation.
Bibliography
Buttle, F. (1995). SERVQUAL: Review, critique, research agenda. European Journal of Marketing, 30(1).
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1985). A conceptual model of service quality and its implications. Journal of Marketing, 49(Fall), 41–50.
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1986). SERVQUAL: A multiple-item scale for measuring customer perceptions of service quality (Report No. 86-108). Marketing Science Institute.
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1988). SERVQUAL: A multi-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality. Journal of Retailing, 64(1), 12–40.
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1991). Refinement and reassessment of the SERVQUAL scale. Journal of Retailing, 67, 420–450.
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1993). Research note: More on improving service quality measurement. Journal of Retailing, 69(1), 140–147.
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1994). Reassessment of expectations as a comparison standard in measuring service quality: Implications for future research. Journal of Marketing, 58, 111–124.
Prayag, G., Dookhony-Ramphul, K., & Maryeven, M. (2010). Hotel development and tourism impacts in Mauritius: Hoteliers' perspectives on sustainable tourism. Development Southern Africa, 27(5), 697–712.
Shahin, A. (n.d.). SERVQUAL and model of service quality gaps: A framework for determining and prioritizing critical factors in delivering quality services. Retrieved from http://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/deveza/v27y2010i5p697-712.html
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