After SERVQUAL was published as a measure of perceived service quality, several arguments have been made against its validity and some competing measures have been developed. This paper reviews those controversies. Particularly, it compares the concep...
After SERVQUAL was published as a measure of perceived service quality, several arguments have been made against its validity and some competing measures have been developed. This paper reviews those controversies. Particularly, it compares the concept of expectation in the research of service quality with that in the research of satisfaction, and suggests the authors opinion. In addition, the paper suggests sequential causal relations among expectation, perceived performance and perceived service quality in the perspective of social judgment theory. In the framework of these causal relations, it proposes that perceived performance is assimilated or contrasted with expectation, depending on the involvement and knowledge levels. Finally, additional comments are made for future research.