Service Quality Dimensions

In 1988 Parasuraman, Valarie Zeithaml and Len Berry developed SERVQUAL service quality model. They found ten elements of service quality as follows:

1. Competence is the possession of the required skills and knowledge to perform the service. For example, there may be competence in the knowledge and skill of contact personnel, knowledge and skill of operational support personnel and research capabilities of the organization.

2.Courtesy is the consideration for the customer's property and a clean and neat appearance of contact personnel, manifesting as politeness, respect, and friendliness.

3.Credibility includes factors such as trustworthiness, belief and honesty. It involves having the customer's best interests at prime position. It may be influenced by company name, company reputation and the personal characteristics of the contact personnel.

4.Security enables the customer to feel free from danger, risk or doubt including physical safety, financial security and confidentiality.

5.Access is approachability and ease of contact. For example, convenient office operation hours and locations.

6.Communication means both informing customers in a language they are able to understand and also listening to customers. A company may need to adjust its language for the varying needs of its customers. Information might include for example, explanation of the service and its cost, the relationship between services and costs and assurances as to the way any problems are effectively managed.

7.Knowing the customer means making an effort to understand the customer's individual needs, providing individualized attention, recognizing the customer when they arrive and so on. This in turn helps to delight the customers by rising above their expectations.

8.Tangibles are the physical evidence of the service, for instance, the appearance of the physical facilities, tools and equipment used to provide the service; the appearance of personnel and communication materials and the presence of other customers in the service facility.

9.Reliability is the ability to perform the promised service in a dependable and accurate manner. The service is performed correctly on the first occasion, the accounting is correct, records are up to date and schedules are kept.

10.Responsiveness is the readiness and willingness of employees to help customers by providing prompt timely services, for example, mailing a transaction slip immediately or setting up appointments quickly.


By the early 1990s, the ten elements were collapsed into five factors where the authors had refined the model that created the acronym RATER:


1. Reliability:
ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately;


2. Assurance:
knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence;

3. Tangibles:
appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and communication materials;


4. Empathy:
the caring, individualized attention the firm provides its customers.

5. Responsiveness:
willingness to help customers and provide prompt service;