Confirmation and disconfirmation in the field of personal interaction quality
Journal
Tourism
ISSN
1332-7461
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2003
Author(s)
Abstract (De)
In the service literature, personal interactions between individual service-providing staff members and individual customers are traditionally considered to be the main contribution to service quality experience. Service interaction quality is often supposed to outweigh any other service process experiences and results. Personal interaction is also one of the key contribu-tors to trust. This paper is one of the results of an integrated research project that deals with the quality and productivity of personal service in the hospitality industry (restaurants). The focus of the research project was on the discovery of the main quality drivers and dimensions from the customers' perspective. This paper concentrates on the identification of the dimensions of personal interaction quality and the interrelation between expectations and the assessment of interaction quality (critical attitude). Methodically, the paper is based on a case study approach, including customer surveys conducted with customers of four different hotels/restaurants for the above-mentioned research project. Overall, a positive appearance and attitude, the empathy of service staff, round-the-clock care, an apparent motivation of service staff and a relaxing atmosphere turned out to be most important explanatory variables for interaction quality. Important insights could be gained, such as the importance of leadership concepts for the quality of personal interaction, as well as a customer's identification with a certain hotel and the perceived quality level of that hotel. This paper aims to contribute to the empirical analysis of service interaction quality in the hospitality sector. Key words: service quality, personal interaction quality, expectations, performance quality, satisfaction.
Language
German
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
No
Publisher
Institute for Tourism
Publisher place
Zagreb
Volume
51
Number
4
Start page
355
End page
370
Pages
16
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
13884