Measuring Service Quality Using a Hierarchical Model: An Application of Engineering Consulting Services in China

Engineering consulting service (ECS) plays an increasingly crucial role in construction projects since the service results greatly affect the projects. In this context, providing efficient and high-quality service is of great significance to both owner and engineering consulting enterprises. However, due to the complexity of consulting service, ECS quality is difficult to evaluate and only little research has been done on such subject. In order to measure and analyze owner' perceptions of ECS effectively, this study attempts to develop a multi-level and multi-dimensional evaluation model for measuring ECS quality. This model consists of three primary dimensions (environment quality, interaction quality, and outcome quality) and ten sub-dimensions (brand reputation, valence, etc.) that are measured from the aspect of reliability, responsiveness, and empathy. The model is tested in three engineering consulting firms by applying AHP method, and evaluation results closely conform to the actual consulting performance results. It demonstrates that the model and the method are effective and feasible in the evaluation of ECS quality.