Measurement of service quality from the customer's perspective - An empirical study

Total Quality Management is an integrated approach to management that continuously improves the quality of products and services to achieve customer satisfaction. Even though researchers throughout the world have developed various models to measure service quality in service organizations, the instrument SERVQUAL formed the basis for all the models. After a careful analysis of SERVQUAL, it has been found that certain important aspects of service quality were not covered in it. Hence, this research work proposes a conceptual framework and an instrument for measuring the customer-perceived service quality. The instrument has been designed with specific reference to the automobile service sector. Data have been collected from the customers of various automobile service stations. The proposed instrument has been empirically tested for convergent validity, unidimensionality and reliability using a confirmatory factor analysis approach. A conceptual framework for service quality has been proposed based on the results and findings of the research work.