Title: A DEA approach for comparative analysis of service quality dimensions with a case study in hotel industry

Authors: Hadi Shirouyehzad; F. Hosseinzadeh Lotfi; Arash Shahin; Mir. B. Aryanezhad; Reza Dabestani

Addresses: Department of Industrial Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. ' Department of Mathematics, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. ' Department of Management, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran. ' Department of Industrial Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. ' Department of Management and Economics, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract: During the last two decades, the subject of service quality has been widely recognised due to its vital contribution to customer satisfaction improvement. Service quality is also crucial in hospitality industry since hotels can improve their market share and profitability with appropriate quality of services. Respectively, it seems important to measure delivered services quality based on customer's point of view. In this paper, data envelopment analysis has been applied to identify the most critical service quality dimensions, based on the difference between customer's perceptions and expectations. The case study includes three four-star hotels in Isfahan. The findings imply that price, reliability and tangibles are the most important service quality dimensions.

Keywords: service quality dimensions; efficiency; hospitality industry; comparative analysis; data envelopment analysis; DEA; hotels; decision making units; DMUs; sensitivity analysis; Iran; price; reliability; tangibles; pricing.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOM.2012.047622

International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 2012 Vol.12 No.3, pp.289 - 308

Published online: 23 Aug 2014 *

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