Service gap deployment: a framework to link quality gaps to service activities Online publication date: Mon, 11-Dec-2017
by Fiorenzo Franceschini; Luca Mastrogiacomo
International Journal of Services and Operations Management (IJSOM), Vol. 29, No. 1, 2018
Abstract: This paper presents the service gap deployment (SGD), a new method to prioritise crucial to quality activities of a service that does not completely satisfy customer expectations. In the SGD, service activities (SAs) are related to gaps between customer expectations and perceptions so as to identify SAs that may need a redesign or improvement in order to satisfy customer needs. The method, which expands the gaps model of service quality by Parasuraman et al. (1985), supports the design of evolutionary and sustaining improvements of the service parts that generate customer dissatisfaction. Specifically, the SGD introduces three major contributions: 1) it creates a map relating service dimensions to SAs; 2) it highlights crucial to quality activities; 3) it allows a focused improvement of the analysed service. The description is supported by an excerpt from a real application example, concerning the prioritisation of crucial to quality SAs of an airport luggage delivery service.
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Services and Operations Management (IJSOM):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:
Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.
If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com
Our Blog 
Follow us on Twitter 
Visit us on Facebook