Page 199 - DMGT522_SERVICES MANAGEMENT

Services Management

Notes
Example: The ambience created in an advertising firm can help in stimulating the
creativity of its employees as well as in conveying the right image to its customers.
9.1.4 Image

A customer’s perception of the service quality is also dependent on the image of a service
organisation in the mind of the customer. Organizational image is the customer’s perception
about an organisation and this may be either at the local level or at the corporate level. A
customer who has a positive image about a company is likely to ignore some instances of poor
service. However, repeated bad experiences will damage the image of the company in the eyes
of the customer. In contrast to this, if the customer has a negative image of the service organisation
and if the organisation fails to provide proper service, it will further add to the negative image
of the organisation in the mind of the customer and result in dissatisfaction.

Note A service encounter is a period of time during which customer interact directly
with a service.

9.1.5 Price

The price of a service has an impact on customer perception of the service. The price of a service
influences customer perceptions of value, quality, and satisfaction. Due to the intangible nature
of services, customers often assume price as an indicator of quality of service. If a service
organisation prices its service low, customers may doubt its quality. On the other hand, customers
have expectations of high quality if a service is priced high. Customers may also assess the value
of a service in relation to its price after consuming the service.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
6. You enter a retail store and an on floor executive greets and assists you. This relates to the
............................ dimension.

7. The stage above your minimum level of expectation but below your desired expectation
is ............................
8. You are very hungry and want to eat pizza. This is a ............................ that may affect your
adequate service expectation.
9. The employee behaviour, the ambience, etc. are ............................ service promises.
10. The service availed from railway enquiry machines are ............................ encounters.

9.2 Service Experiences

Figure 9.1 illustrates our conception of the service encounter as a core task surrounded by the
customer’s psychological experience during the transaction. Over the past five years we have
engaged in an extensive review of the behavioural literature to see what if any concepts and
research findings seem promising to apply to service encounters. We contend that while the
impact of psychology is no doubt highest in face-to-face and phone interactions, many of the
concepts and research findings are very applicable to internet and email interactions as well.

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