ISSN: 2347-7474
International Journal Advances in Social Science and Humanities
Available online at: www.ijassh.com
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Changes in Perceptions of Service Quality Corresponding to
Population Growth
Adrian C. Mitchell
McNeese State University
Abstract
Basic service sector employment is often viewed as incorporating a large percentage of low skilled labor
or labor that is new to the job market. In times of economic growth and population growth, demand for
labor, at all levels, increases. This increase in labor demand also increases labor mobility, as employees
are encouraged to find better employment when they gain a more competitive level of skills and
experience. This is a concern for employers in the service industries. It is feared that rapid turnover in
their workforce will affect the ability of service providers to assure quality in the service delivery. This
report is the first step in a proposed longitudinal study that will attempt to measure changes in
perceptions of service quality after a period of strong economic growth and population increase.
Keywords: Service quality, Population growth, Labor mobility, Entry level employment.
Introduction
In many of the world’s industrialized
nations, the service industry has become a
critical contributor to economic development.
For several decades, this sector of the
economy of many western nations has grown
at rates greater than that of the production
sector [1, 2]. It may even be argued that as
an economy matures and as the standard of
living of that economy increases, there is a
general shift from production to service as a
key driver of economic activity. Because of
the importance of the service sector, many
studies have been conducted regarding
service quality and perceptions of quality in
service delivery [1, 3-9].
One area of study regarding the service
sector yet to be examined is that of potential
changes to service quality during times of
economic growth and population growth.
Anecdotal expectations by community and
business leaders tend to assume that
economic growth and population increases
will increase the level of labor mobility. As
jobs become more readily available,
experienced employees will take advantage
of the growing market
Adrian C. Mitchell | January 2016 | Vol.4 | Issue 01 |62-69
and
move
toward
better
career
opportunities. In addition, economic activity
leading to lower unemployment is expected
to increase the level of “churn” or speed at
which entry level employees can be
considered eligible for better employment.
Those employers who depend on entry level
employees are often concerned that their
ability to provide a quality service
experience to customers will decline as their
experienced employees are replaced by
lesser skilled workers. This study is the first
part of a longitudinal survey to determine if
these expectations are correct, and to
examine consumer perceptions of service
quality during a period of population growth
and economic expansion.
Labor and Economic Sectors
A nation’s economy can be divided into five
basic sectors for the purpose of categorizing
labor and work activity.
They are 1)
Primary, 2) Secondary, 3) Tertiary, 4)
Quaternary, and 5) Quinary. Work in the
primary sector extracts or harvests products
from the earth. This sector includes the
62
Available online at: www.ijassh.com
production of raw materials and basic foods.
Activities associated with the primary sector
include agriculture, mining, forestry, fishing
and quarrying.
The packaging and
processing of the raw material associated
with this sector is also considered to be part
of this sector. Work in the secondary sector
manufactures finished goods.
All of
manufacturing, processing, and construction
lies within the secondary sector.
This
includes automobile production, chemical
and engineering industries, energy utilities
and construction. The tertiary sector of the
economy is the service industry. This sector
provides business-to-business and businessto-consumer services [10].
Activities
associated with this sector include retail and
wholesale
trades,
transportation
and
distribution, entertainment, restaurants,
clerical services, media, tourism, insurance,
banking,
healthcare,
and
law.
The
quaternary sector consists of intellectual
activities. Activities associated with this
sector include government, culture, libraries,
scientific
research,
education,
and
information technology. The quinary sector
is often considered a branch of the
quaternary sector.
The quinary sector
includes top executives or officials in such
fields as government, science, universities,
nonprofits, healthcare, and the media [10].
For the purpose of this report, the Tertiary
sector of the market is examined as the
primary sector for service based industry.
Defining Service and Service Quality
Services are unique in that they are
typically produced and consumed
simultaneously [7,8]. We usually consider
services as intangible products which
require a high level of supplier-consumer
interaction and involvement [7,8]. Concepts
of service quality are rooted in the
expectancy disconfirmation theory [11, 12].
Managers and workers producing products
in a factory can create a subjective measure
of quality based upon the output product’s
conformance to production standards.
However, because of the high degree of
customer interaction, the quality of a service
becomes a more subjective measure,
depending on both the service delivery
ability to meet specifications and the
customer’s expectations prior to the service
delivery [1, 3, 5, 7, 8]. Service quality has
been described as an attitude, similar but
not equal to satisfaction, that results from
the comparison of expectations with
performance [6, 9, 13].
Disconfirmation Theory
The Expectancy Disconfirmation Theory
(EDT) is considered by many as the primary
foundation for satisfaction models [8,12,14].
According to this theory, satisfaction is
determined by the discrepancy between
perceived performance and expectation or
desires [12, 15]. Customer dissonance
between expectations and experienced
outcomes leads to unpleasant feelings which
the customer will psychologically attempt to
resolve either through seeking recourse for
satisfaction or changing expectations service
quality [16]. The basic model of the
Expectancy Disconfirmation Theory is
provided in Figure 1.
Figure 1: The basic model of the expectancy disconfirmation theory
Expectations - Customer expectations of the
service encounter can be formed by many
factors, including previous experience with a
service provider, advertising, business
reputation, customer background, and even
Adrian C. Mitchell | January 2016 | Vol.4 | Issue 01 |62-69
the customer’s psychological condition at the
time of purchase [12, 17]. Zeithaml et al.
[18] stated that service expectation is built
on complex considerations, including prepurchase beliefs and other people’s opinions
[12].
63
Available online at: www.ijassh.com
Perceived Performance- The customers’
interpretation of the experience after the
encounter. This experience can be perceived
as better than expected, worse than
expected, or as expected [16, 19].
natural gas extraction and refinement as
well as lower prices for natural gas are now
driving economic activity for the region with
considerable growth predicted in the short to
mid-term future [10].
Satisfaction - Customer satisfaction with
products and services is an evaluation
comparing pre-purchase expectations to
subjective post-purchase experiences [12].
Kotler defined satisfaction as a person’s
feelings of pleasure or disappointment
resulting from comparing a product’s
perceived performance (or outcome) in
relation to his or her expectation [20].
Planned industry growth in Southwest
Louisiana (SWLA) includes the following
project investments [22, 23]:
Economic Growth and Service Quality
Labor mobility is often considered a “natural
characteristic” of an industrial society. It is
not unusual for individuals to first gain
skills in the tertiary and sometimes
secondary sectors of the economy. These
sectors often have positions available for
lower skilled or non-skilled workers. While
some find long-term careers in the tertiary
sector, many move to more gainful
employment in the secondary, primary,
quaternary or quinary sectors as they gain
skills, experience, and sometimes training
and education [21]. For the purpose of this
research project, it is hypothesized that
increased labor mobility, caused by a
growing economy and growing population
base, will cause a decline in overall
perceptions of service quality, as experience
by consumers.
Economic Growth: The Test Region
To determine if economic growth affects
service quality, a region of the United State
that is anticipating strong economic growth
was selected. As a test case, the five-parish
region of Southwest Louisiana consists of
Allen, Beauregard, Calcasieu, Cameron, and
Jeff Davis parishes and is a recognized
metropolitan area commonly referred to as
Southwest Louisiana (SWLA).
Though
severely damaged by Hurricane Rita in
2005, SWLA later prospered as local
reconstruction efforts helped offset national
economic declines and a collapse of the
national
housing
market.
Recent
technological breakthroughs in oil and
Adrian C. Mitchell | January 2016 | Vol.4 | Issue 01 |62-69
 Belle Savanne - $230 million capital
investment
 Big Lake Fuels - $1.3 billion capital
investment
 Boise Inc. - $113 million capital
investment
 BP Biofuels - $400 million capital
investment
 CB&I/Shaw Modula Solutions - $100
million capital investment
 Cheniere Energy - $20 billion capital
investment
 Coushatta Casino Resort - $60 million
capital investment
 Golden Nugget/Pinnacle/Ameristar - $580
million capital investment
 IFG Port Holding/New Grain Terminal $59.5 million capital investment
 Juniper GTL - $100 million capital
investment
 Lake Charles Clean Energy (Leucadia) $2.6 billion capital investment
 Lake Charles LNG (Trunkline LNG
Export) - $9 billion capital investment
 Lakes at Morganfield - $350 million capital
investment
 Leucadia
National
Corporation/LC
Cogeneration - $2.6 billion capital
investment
 Magnolia LNG - $3.5 billion capital
investment
 National Hurricane Museum - $66 million
capital investment
 SASOL Ethylene Tetramerization - $175
million capital investment
 SASOL GTL & Derivatives - $16 billion
capital investment
 Sempra/Cameron LNG - $9 billion capital
investment
 Virtual Engineering Operations VEOPS $100 million capital investment
The subtotal of projected capital investments
is over $65 billion. It is anticipated that over
64
Available online at: www.ijassh.com
31,000 construction workers will be
employed during peak construction years,
expected to end between 2018 and 2021 [22,
23]. A more specific projection of workforce
needs includes the following [22, 23]:
New Construction Jobs
New Permanent/Direct Jobs
31000+
6300+
New Permanent/Indirect Jobs
6300+
New Permanent/Induced Jobs
6200+
After construction is completed, as many as
18,000+ new permanent jobs will be added to
the primary and secondary employment
sectors to accommodate new production.
New employment opportunities typically
equate to population growth, as workers and
their families move into the area to take
advantage of the growing economy. It is
predicted that the five-parish area classified
as “Southwest Louisiana” may have as many
as 50,000 new residents by the year 2020
[24]. This region had a 2010 population of
approximately 300,000 [25], for an expected
population growth of approximately 17%
over a five to eight year period.
The Research Study: SERVQUAL and
Critical Incident Technique
To determine initial consumer opinions of
service quality in the SWLA region, this
study utilizes
the Critical Incident
Technique (CIT) to apply the SERVQUAL
scale. SERQUAL is a scale that assesses
client satisfaction based upon the difference
between client expectations and service
performance [18, 26].
Developed by
Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry [9], the
SERVQUAL model is widely used in
studying the customers’ perception of
services received from the various service
providers [27]. The model has been used in
the study of many types of services,
including hospital outpatient services [28,29]
public services [30] private healthcare [31]
library services [32] business to business
sales and services [33] information
technology [34-36] education services [37]
and logistics services [38].
The SERVQUAL model consists of five main
dimensions,
tangibility,
reliability,
responsiveness, assurance and empathy [9].
Adrian C. Mitchell | January 2016 | Vol.4 | Issue 01 |62-69
 Tangibles: physical facilities, equipment,
external appearance of store and
appearance of personnel.
 Reliability:
company’s
potential
of
performing
the
promised
service
dependably and accurately.
 Responsiveness: company’s willingness to
help customers and provide prompt
service.
 Assurance: employees’ knowledge and
courtesy levels and their ability to inspire
trust and confidence. This dimension also
includes competence, courtesy, credibility,
and security.
 Empathy:
caring
and
personalized
attention that the firm provides to its
customers. This dimension also includes
access, communication and understanding
the customer.
To apply the scale, this study utilizes the
Critical
Incident
Technique
(CIT).
Developed by John Flanagan [39], CIT is “a
set of procedures for collecting direct
observations of human behavior in such a
way as to facilitate their potential usefulness
in solving practical problems and developing
broad psychological principles. The critical
incident technique outlines procedures for
collecting observed incidents having special
significance and meeting systematically
defined criteria” [39]. CIT has shown useful
in qualitative research and provides a stepby-step approach to collecting and analyzing
information about human activities and
their significance to the people involved [40].
According to Flanagan [39] “an incident is
critical if it makes a ‘significant’
contribution, either positively or negatively
to the general aim of the activity and it
should be capable of being critiqued or
analyzed.”
In this test, respondents were randomly
chosen while at several local shopping
centers. Using CIT, they were asked to
reflect upon a recent service encounter.
First, they were asked the type of business
where this encounter occurred. Then, the
researcher read a list of questions and
recorded the response. The questionnaire
used in this study incorporated a Likert
scale of 1 to 5, with 1=No, 3=Mostly, and
65
Available online at: www.ijassh.com
5=Yes. “Not applicable” was a sixth choice,
in which case the specific item was left blank
on the study.
Survey Findings
Seventy five responses were collected. Table
1 indicates the gender and age ranges of the
respondents. The majority of respondents
were female as is expected in a typical US
shopping environment.
Demographics
Table 1: Gender and age
Gender
Male
Female
N
32
43
Age
18-30
31-45
46-55
55+
Unreported
Table 2 reports the nature of the service
encounter that each respondent was
recalling as a critical incident.
The
majority were listed as restaurant
encounters. The second largest reporting
was a rather generic term of “retail”, but it
n
44
10
7
9
5
%
58.6%
13.3%
9.3%
12.0%
.06%
is interpreted to represent an in-store retail
purchase encounter. The final category of
“other” is made up of single item encounters
that included a carwash, gas station,
museum, phone company, and plumbing
service.
Table 2: Service Encounters
Service Area
Restaurant
Retail
Banking
Mechanic Shop
Medical Office
Hair/Nail Salon
Other
%
46.6%
24.0%
14.7%
2.6%
2.6%
2.6%
6.9%
Reliability
Cronbach’s Alpha is used as a lower bound
estimate of the reliability of a psychometric
test. As a typical rule of thumb, values of
Table 3: Reliability Measures
Factor/Items
n
Tangibles
Reliability
Responsiveness
Assurance
Empathy
0.70 or higher are desired. In this survey,
all factors accept.
Cronbach’s Alpha
66
60
58
65
45
Tangibles achieved the benchmark measure
(Table 3). It is assumed at this point that the
and may arise from two basic issues. First,
given that respondents could choose any
service activity they had experienced, it is
possible that a significant number of
respondents were reflecting upon a service
encounter that did not require written
ortangible materials.
Second, it is also
possible that employee dress and/or faculty
Adrian C. Mitchell | January 2016 | Vol.4 | Issue 01 |62-69
.553
.786
.895
.811
.810
low reliability of the factor Tangibles may be
art of the nature of this particular study
attractiveness were considered issues of
concern by the respondents and in their
opinion were not part of the service
expectation. Results of the survey are
provided in Table 4. Overall, customers
appear satisfied with the service experiences
as reported via the critical incidence
technique.
66
Available online at: www.ijassh.com
Table 4:Survey Results
Factor/Items
Tangibles
Was the staff dressed appropriately?
Were the facilities attractive?
Were written material easy to understand?
Reliability
If a response was promised in a certain time, did it happen?
Was the service performed right the first time?
Was the service performed to your expectations?
Responsiveness
If there was a problem, did they respond quickly?
Did they answer your questions appropriately?
Did staff provide service in an effective and efficient manner?
Assurance
Did the staff appear to know what they are doing?
Did you feel that staff answered your questions accurately and truthfully?
Are you confident that the service provided was done correctly?
Empathy
Did the staff members have a pleasant demeanor?
Were staff ever rude or demeaning during the interaction?
Was it easy to talk with the staff members about your concerns?
When you contacted the service provider, did the staff person listen to
your problems and demonstrate understanding and concern?
In general, the factor of “Tangibles” shows
the greatest overall satisfaction with lower
variation in customer opinions. However,
the lower reliability score for the factor
“Tangibles” suggests that consumers are
likely satisfied with the business facilities,
staff dress, and written materials, but they
also may consider this of less importance
regarding their overall satisfaction of the
service experience. The remaining factors,
while overall scoring above average in
consumer
satisfaction,
also
show
considerable variation in customer opinions,
indicating a wide range of customer
experiences from very satisfied to very
unsatisfied.
Limitations and Recommendations
This is the first part of a two-part
longitudinal study to determine if economic
growth and population growth will have a
negative effect on consumer perceptions of
service quality. It is anticipated that this
study will be repeated five years after the
original survey to determine if there has
been a significant change in consumer
attitudes regarding service quality. The
methodology will be repeated but with a
Adrian C. Mitchell | January 2016 | Vol.4 | Issue 01 |62-69
different
list
volunteers.
of
N
Mean
74
74
67
4.54
4.02
4.49
.779
.890
.725
61
73
75
3.81
4.17
4.04
1.284
1.097
1.167
59
70
75
3.88
4.12
4.08
1.287
1.075
1.12
74
65
71
4.31
4.12
4.36
.890
1.053
.929
74
74
62
47
3.95
4.24
3.88
3.93
1.638
1.322
1.242
1.186
randomly
Std
Dev
selected
In general, it appears that consumers in the
Southwest Louisiana region are generally
satisfied with their current service
encounter experiences. Most service quality
measurement criteria were ranked as
average or above average.
There are several limitations regarding the
methodology and measurement instrument
used. While SERVQUAL is a well known
instrument for determining consumer
perceptions of the service quality experience,
other measurement instruments have
claimed
to
provide
more
accurate
assessments of service quality opinions.
Likewise, the critical incident technique is
well respected as a methodology for
qualitative
study.
However,
each
respondent’s recollection of a service
experience can differ as can each
respondent’s expectations for quality in the
service delivery process.
Despite limitations, the basic methodology
should provide sufficient feedback to suggest
whether the chain of events
67
Available online at: www.ijassh.com
inspired by economic growth, namely
population growth, increased labor mobility,
and an increase in hiring for non-skilled
workers into the tertiary markets will have
an overall affect on service quality. In
general, consumer opinions of service quality
in the SWLA region appear to be above
average. A second test will determine if
these opinions have changed over time.
References
1. Calabrese A, Spadoni A (2013) Quality
versus productivity in service production
systems:
An
organizational
analysis.
International
Journal
of
Production
Research. 51(22): 6594-6606.
2. Ostrom AL, Bitner MJ, Brown SW, Burkhard
KA, Goul M, Smith-Daniels V, Demirkan H,
Rabinovich E (2010) Moving forward and
making a difference: research priorities for
the science of service. Journal of Service
Research 13(1):4-36.
3. Bitner MJ, Hubbert AR (1994) Encounter
Satisfaction versus Overall Satisfaction
versus Quality. In Service Quality: New
Directions in Theory and Practice, edited by
R. T. Rust and R. L. Oliver, 72–94. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage.
4. Bolton RN, Drew JH (Í99lb) A Multistage
model of customers' assessments of service
quality and value. Journal of Consumer
Research. 17(March): 375-84.
5. Choi KS, Cho WH, Lee S, Lee H, Kim C
(2004) The relationships among quality,
value, satisfaction and behavioral intention
in health care provider choice: A South
Korean study. Journal of Business Research.
57(8): 913-21.
6. Cronin J, Taylor S (1992) Measuring service
quality: A Reexamination and Extension.
Journal of Marketing. 56(July): 55-68.
7. Gronroos C (1984) A Service quality model
and its marketing implications. European
Journal of Marketing. 18(4): 36-44.
8. McKinney V, Yoon K and Zahedi FM (2002)
the
measurement
of
web-customer
satisfaction:
an
expectation
and
disconfirmation
approach.
Information
System Research. 13(3): 296-315.
9. Parasuraman A, Zeithaml VA, Berry LL
(1985) A conceptual model of service quality
and its implications for future research.
Journal of Marketing. 49: 41-50.
10. Adrian CM (2014) Developing a simple model
for job growth in the tertiary and quaternary
sectors: predicting employment based upon
anticipated population growth. Journal of
Adrian C. Mitchell | January 2016 | Vol.4 | Issue 01 |62-69
Economics and Development Studies. 2(3):4959.
11. Collier JE, Bienstock CC (2006) Measuring
service quality in e-retailing. Journal of
Service Research. 8(3): 260-75.
12. Rao P, Sahu P (2013) Impact of service
quality on customer satisfaction in hotel
industry. Journal of Humanities and Social
Science. 18(5): 39-44.
13. Bolton RN, Drew JH (1991a) A Longitudinal
analysis of the impact of service changes on
customer attitudes. Journal of Marketing.
55(January): 1-9.
14. Churchill GA, Suprenant C (1992) An
investigation into the determinant of
customer satisfaction. Journal of Marketing
Research. 19: 491-504.
15. Khalifa M, Liu, V (2003) Determinants of
satisfaction at different adoption stages of
internet-based services. Journal of the
Association for Information Systems, 4(5):
206-232.
16. Elkhani N, Bakri A (2012) Review on
“expectancy disconfirmation theory” (EDT)
Model in B2C E-Commerce. Journal of
Information
Systems
Research
and
Innovation. 2(Dec): 95-102.
17. Davidow WH, Uttal B (1989) Service
companies: Focus or falter. Harvard Business
Review. July-August: 77-85.
18. Zeithaml V, Parasuraman A, Berry L (1990)
Delivering Quality Service. Free Press, New
York, NY.
19. Spreng RA, MacKenzie SB, Olshavsky RW
(1996) A reexamination of the determinants
of consumer satisfaction. Journal of
Marketing 60: 15-32.
20. Kotler P (2000) Marketing Management. 10th
ed. New Jersey, Prentice-Hall.
21. Payne G, Payne J (1983) Occupational and
industrial transition in social mobility.
British Journal of Sociology. 34(1): 72-93
22. SWLA Chamber Report (2013) compiled by
the Research Director of the Southwest
Louisiana Economic Development Alliance,
August 22, 2013.
68
Available online at: www.ijassh.com
23. SWLA Chamber Projects Report (2013) 20122019 SWLA Estimated Workforce Needs
Report, Updated 4.4.14.
24. Schmidt T (2013) Go Group Plans for
Economic Boom. KPLC TV, Posted Sept. 27,
2013.
Available:
http://www.kplctv.com/story/23553234/gogroup-plans-for-lc-economic-boom
25. U.S. Department of Commerce Census
Bureau
Available:
http://www.census.gov/easystats/
33. Gounaris S (2005) Measuring service quality
in b2b services: An evaluation of the
SERVQUAL scale vis-a-vis the INDSERV
scale. Journal of Services Marketing. 19(6):
421-435.
34. Badri MA, Abdulla M, Al-madani A (2005)
Information
technology
center
service
quality: assessment and application of
SERVQUAL. International Journal of
Quality and Reliability Management. 22(8):
819-848.
26. Nair R, Ranjigh PV, Bose S, Shri C (2010) A
Study of service quality on banks with
servqual model.
SIES Journal of
Management. 7(1): 35-45.
35. Hsiao KL, Lin JCC, Wang XY, Lu HP, Yu H
(2010) Antecedents and consequences of trust
in online product recommendations: An
empirical study in social shopping. Online
Information Review. 34(6): 935-953.
27. Carrillat F, Jaramillo F, Mulki JP (2007) The
validity of SERVQUAL and SERVPERF
scales: A meta-analytic view of 17 years of
research across five continents, International
Journal of Service Industry Management.
18(5): 472-490.
36. Iwaarden JV, Wiele TVD, Ball L, Millen R
(2003) Applying SERVQUAL to web sites: An
exploratory study. International Journal of
Quality and Reliability Management. 20(8):
919-935.
28. Hu HY, Lee YC, Yen TM (2010) Service
quality gaps analysis based on fuzzy
linguistic SERVQUAL with a case study in
hospital out-patient services. The TQM
Journal. 22(5): 499-515.
37. Sahney S, Banwet DK, Karunes S (2004) A
SERVQUAL and QFD approach to total
quality education: A student perspective.
International Journal of Productivity and
Performance Management. 53(2): 143-166.
29. Juwaheer TD (2004) Exploring international
tourists’ perceptions of hotel operations by
using a modified SERVQUAL approach-A
case study of Mauritius. Managing Service
Quality. 14(5): 350-364.
38. Baki B, Basfirinci CS, Cilingir Z, Murat I
(2009) An application of integrating
SERVQUAL and Kano’s model into QFD for
logistics services: A case study from Turkey.
Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and
Logistics. 21(1): 106-126.
30. Brysland A, Curry A (2001) Service
improvements in public services using
SERVQUAL. Managing Service Quality.
11(6): 389-401.
39. Flanagan JC (1954) The critical incident
technique. The Psychological Bulletin. 51(4):
327-358.
31. Butt MH, Cyril de Run E (2010) Private
healthcare quality: Applying a SERVQUAL
model. International Journal of Health Care
Quality Assurance. 23(7): 658-673.
32. Ahmed SMZ, Shoeb MZH (2009) Measuring
service quality of a public university library
in
Bangladesh
using
SERVQUAL.
Performance Measurement and Metrics.
10(1):17-32.
Adrian C. Mitchell | January 2016 | Vol.4 | Issue 01 |62-69
40. Hughes H, Williamson K, Lloyd A (2007)
Critical incident technique. In: Lipu, S. (ed.)
Exploring methods in information literacy
research. Topics in Australiasian Library
and Information Studies, Number 28. Centre
for Information Studies, Charles Sturt
University, Wagga Wagga, N.S.W.: 49-66.
69