Title: Comparative analysis of the viewpoints of customers, employees and managers based on the developed model of service quality gaps - with a case study in the travel agents at the centre of the city of Tehran

Authors: Arash Shahin; Zahra Mahdavi; Faramarz Shahmohammadi

Addresses: Department of Management, University of Isfahan, Hezarjarib St., 81746-73441, Isfahan, Iran ' Industrial Management Institute, Tehran, Iran ' Industrial Management Institute, Tehran, Iran

Abstract: The aim of this article is to develop a model of service quality gaps for identifying gaps from the viewpoints of travellers, employees and managers of travel agents at the centre of the city of Tehran. Findings indicate that there is a difference between the viewpoints of travellers and service providers. From the viewpoint of travellers, the highest gap value is related to the dimensions of reliability and assurance, then responsiveness and afterwards, the dimensions of tangibles and empathy; while employees have identified the high gap values in the dimensions of reliability, responsiveness, tangibles, assurance and finally empathy. From the viewpoint of managers, the highest gap value is also related to the dimensions of responsiveness and assurance and then, dimensions of tangibles and empathy, and the lowest gap value is related to reliability.

Keywords: Servqual; service quality gaps model; service quality dimensions; customer satisfaction; travel agents; case study; Tehran; Iran; travellers; travel agent employees; travel agent managers; reliability; assurance; responsiveness; tangibles; empathy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPQM.2017.083284

International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management, 2017 Vol.21 No.1, pp.97 - 111

Received: 20 May 2015
Accepted: 05 Dec 2015

Published online: 23 Mar 2017 *

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