Title: The impact of service delivery system effectiveness on service quality: a hierarchical approach

Authors: George Lodorfos; Giannis Kostopoulos; Kostas Kaminakis

Addresses: School of Strategy, Marketing and Communication, Leeds Becket University, UK ' School of Strategy, Marketing and Communication, Leeds Becket University, UK ' Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece

Abstract: This article focuses on the effectiveness of the service delivery system (SDS) and re-examines its influence on customers' perceived service quality. In this study, the influence of four specific indicators of the SDS' effectiveness (namely front line employees' role performance, their adaptability to individual customer needs, the effectiveness of their coordination and the effectiveness of the service process' control) on perceived service quality is tested. In doing so, a hierarchical approach integrating both managers' and customers' views have been taken. The results confirm the positive influence of three variables on perceived service quality (role performance, effectiveness of coordination and effectiveness of process' control). On the contrary, the influence of employees' adaptability was not found significant.

Keywords: service delivery systems; SDS; service quality; employee adaptability; system effectiveness; customer perceptions; perceived quality; front line employees; employee performance; customer needs; process control; role performance; coordination.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBPM.2015.068721

International Journal of Business Performance Management, 2015 Vol.16 No.2/3, pp.169 - 181

Received: 14 Mar 2014
Accepted: 15 Nov 2014
Published online: 10 Apr 2015 *

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