Perbaikan Pelayanan dengan Model “SERVQUAL”

Concept

The SERVQUAL service quality model was developed by a group of American authors, ‘Parsu’ Parasuraman, Valarie Zeithaml and Len Berry, in 1988. It highlights the main components of high quality service. The SERVQUAL authors originally identified ten elements of service quality, but in later work, these were collapsed into five factors – reliability, assurance, tangibles, empathy and responsiveness – that create the acronym RATER.

Businesses using SERVQUAL to measure and manage service quality deploy a questionnaire that measures both the customer expectations of service quality in terms of these five dimensions, and their perceptions of the service they receive. When customer expectations are greater than their perceptions of received delivery, service quality is deemed low.

In additional to being a measurement model, SERVQUAL is also a management model. The SERVQUAL authors identified five Gaps that may cause customers to experience poor service quality.

Gap 1: between consumer expectation and management perception

This gap arises when the management does not correctly perceive what the customers want. For instance, hospital administrators may think patients want better food, but patients may be more concerned with the responsiveness of the nurse. Key factors leading to this gap are:

• Insufficient marketing research
• Poorly interpreted information about the audience’s expectations
• Research not focused on demand quality
• Too many layers between the front line personnel and the top level management

Gap 2: between management perception and service quality specification

Although the management might correctly perceive what the customer wants, they may not set an appropriate performance standard. An example would be when hospital administrators instruct nurses to respond to a request ‘fast’, but may not specify ‘how fast’. Gap 2 may occur due to the following reasons:

• Insufficient planning procedures
• Lack of management commitment
• Unclear or ambiguous service design
• Unsystematic new service development process

Gap 3: between service quality specification and service delivery

This gap may arise through service personnel being poorly trained, incapable or unwilling to meet the set service standard. The possible major reasons for this gap are:

• Deficiencies in human resource policies such as ineffective recruitment, role ambiguity, role conflict, improper evaluation and compensation system
• Ineffective internal marketing
• Failure to match demand and supply
• Lack of proper customer education and training

Gap 4: between service delivery and external communication

Consumer expectations are highly influenced by statements made by company representatives and advertisements. The gap arises when these assumed expectations are not fulfilled at the time of delivery of the service. For example, the hospital printed on the brochure may have clean and furnished rooms, but in reality it may be poorly maintained, in which case the patients’ expectations are not met. The discrepancy between actual service and the promised one may occur due to the following reasons:

• Over-promising in external communication campaign
• Failure to manage customer expectations
• Failure to perform according to specifications

Gap 5: between expected service and experienced service

This gap arises when the consumer misinterprets the service quality. For example, a physician may keep visiting the patient to show and ensure care, but the patient may interpret this as an indication that something is really wrong.

By the early 1990s, the authors had refined the model to five factors that enable the acronym RATER:

1. Reliability: the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately
2. Assurance: the knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence
3. Tangibles: the appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel and communication materials
4. Empathy: the provision of caring, individualized attention to customers
5. Responsiveness: the willingness to help customers and to provide prompt service

The simplified RATER model allows customer service experiences to be explored and assessed quantitatively and has been used widely by service delivery organizations.