Cognitive mapping the topic of service quality

Cognitive mapping the topic of service quality

Joseph Kim-keung Ho

Independent Trainer

Hong Kong, China

Abstract: The topic of service quality in the subject of service operations management is complex. By making use of the cognitive mapping technique to conduct a brief literature review on the service quality topic, the writer renders a systemic image on the topic of service quality. The result of the study, in the form of a cognitive map on service quality, should be useful to those who are interested in the topics of cognitive mapping, literature review and service quality.

Key words: service quality, cognitive mapping, literature review

Introduction

As a topic in service operations management, service quality is complex. It is thus useful to employ some learning tool to conduct its study, notably for literature review purpose. As a teacher in research methods, systems thinking and management, including tourism management, the writer is specifically interested in finding out how the cognitive mapping technique can be employed to study service quality as a literature review exercise. This literature review exercise is taken up and reported in this article.

On the cognitive mapping exercise for literature review

Literature review is an important intellectual learning exercise, and not just for doing final year dissertation projects for tertiary education students. On these two topics of intellectual learning and literature review, the writer has compiled some e-learning resources. They are the Managerial intellectual learning Facebook page and the Literature on literature review Facebook page. Conducting literature review with the cognitive mapping technique is not novel in the cognitive mapping literature, see Eden and Simpson (1989), Eden, Jones and Sims (1983), Open University (n.d) and the Literature on cognitive mapping Facebook page. In this article, the specific steps involved in the cognitive mapping exercise are as follows:

Step 1: gather some main points from a number of academic journal articles on service quality. This result in the production of a table (Table 1) with the main points and associated references.

Step 2: Consolidate  the main points from Table 1 to come up with a table listing the cognitive map variables (re: Table 2).

Step 3: Link up the cognitive  map variables in a plausible way to produce a cognitive map (re: Figure 1) on the topic under review.

The next section applies these three steps to produce a cognitive map on service quality.

Descriptions of cognitive map variables on the service quality topic

From the reading of some academic articles on service quality, a number of main points are gathered. They are shown in Table 1 with explicit referencing on the points.

Table 1: Main points from the service quality literature and referencing

Main points from the service quality literature	Referencing
Point 1: "Customer expectations are pretrial beliefs about a product or service.... customers have  many sources of information that lead to expectations about upcoming service encounters  with a particular company".	Boulding, W., A. Kalra, R. Staelin and V.A. Zeithaml. 1993. "A dynamic process model of service quality: From expectations to behavioral intention" Journal of Marketing Research 30, February: 7-27.
Point 2: "Delivery of high service quality is presumed  to relate positively to the success of the firm".	Boulding, W., A. Kalra, R. Staelin and V.A. Zeithaml. 1993. "A dynamic process model of service quality: From expectations to behavioral intention" Journal of Marketing Research 30, February: 7-27.
Point 3: "Most services cannot be counted, measured, inventoried, tested, and verified in advance of sale to assure quality".	Parasuraman, A., V.A. Zeithaml and L.L. Berry. 1995. "A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and Its Implications for Future Research" Journal of Marketing  49 Fall: 41-50.
Point 4: "...services, especially those with a high labor content, are heterogeneous: their performance often varies from producer to producer, from customer to customer, and from  day to day".	Parasuraman, A., V.A. Zeithaml and L.L. Berry. 1995. "A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and Its Implications for Future Research" Journal of Marketing  49 Fall: 41-50.
Point 5: "...production and consumption of many services are inseparable..... In labor intensive services, ... quality occurs during service delivery, usually in an interaction between the client and the contact person from the service firm".	Parasuraman, A., V.A. Zeithaml and L.L. Berry. 1995. "A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and Its Implications for Future Research" Journal of Marketing  49 Fall: 41-50.
Point 6: The underlying themes of service quality include: (1) "Service quality is more difficult for the consumer to evaluate than goods quality", (2) "Service quality perceptions result from a comparison of consumer expectations with actual service  performance", and (3) "Quality evaluation are not made solely on the outcome of a service; they also involve evaluations of the process of service delivery".	Parasuraman, A., V.A. Zeithaml and L.L. Berry. 1995. "A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and Its Implications for Future Research" Journal of Marketing  49 Fall: 41-50.
Point 7: "The foundation of service quality theory lies in the product quality and customer satisfaction literature....  [The disconfirmation paradigm] suggests that quality results from a comparison of perceived with expected performance".	Parasuraman, A., V.A. Zeithaml and L.L. Berry. 1995. "A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and Its Implications for Future Research" Journal of Marketing  49 Fall: 41-50.
Point 8: "Grönroos.... identifies two service quality dimensions... Functional quality represents how the service is delivered... Technical quality reflects the outcome of the service act, or what the customer receives in the service encounter".	Parasuraman, A., V.A. Zeithaml and L.L. Berry. 1995. "A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and Its Implications for Future Research" Journal of Marketing  49 Fall: 41-50.
Point 9: "The financial benefits of quality, which had been assumed as a matter of faith in the "religion of quality" are now being seriously questioned by cost-cutting executives, who cite the highly publicized financial failures of some companies prominent in the quality movement".	Rust, R.T., A.J. Zahorik and T.L. Keiningham. 1995. "Return on Quality (ROQ): Making Service Quality Financially Accountable" Journal of Marketing 59, April: 58-70.
Point 10: There are four assumptions of the "return on quality" approach: (1) "quality is an investment", (2) "quality efforts must be financially accountable", (3) it  is possible to spend too much on quality", and (4) "not all quality expenditures are equally valid".	Rust, R.T., A.J. Zahorik and T.L. Keiningham. 1995. "Return on Quality (ROQ): Making Service Quality Financially Accountable" Journal of Marketing 59, April: 58-70.
Point 11: "It appears that the main gauge of performance in quality for service organizations is external customer satisfaction. In practice, however, an external customer  satisfaction survey is difficult to conduct".	Lee, H. and J.L. Howard. 1994. "Measuring the Quality of Services: The Use of Internal Climate" Benchmarking for Quality Management & Technology 1(3), MCB University Press: 39-51.
Point 12: "...one way of classifying service organizations is the degree of customer contact. When an organization has a low degree of customer contact, it implies that the production process of the service is quite similar to that of the manufacturing sector".	Lee, H. and J.L. Howard. 1994. "Measuring the Quality of Services: The Use of Internal Climate" Benchmarking for Quality Management & Technology 1(3), MCB University Press: 39-51.
Point 13: "Quality of service experience refers to the psychological aspects of the service experience. In tourism, quality of service experience relates  to tourists' affective responses. It is a holistic, multi-dimensional measure that assesses personal reactions and feelings in response to a tourist  service".	Schlesinger, W., A. Cervera and C. Pérez-Cabañero. 2015. "Contrasting quality of service experience for northern and southern Mediterranean tourists" EuroMed Journal of Business 10 (3), Emerald: 327-337.
Point 14: "Better understanding of  tourists' perceptions of experiences can .... improve performance in the tourism industry".	Schlesinger, W., A. Cervera and C. Pérez-Cabañero. 2015. "Contrasting quality of service experience for northern and southern Mediterranean tourists" EuroMed Journal of Business 10 (3), Emerald: 327-337.
Point 15: "Service quality is an objective measure of functional and technical aspects of a service. it usually refers to the service provider and service environment. Thus, service quality fails  to capture affective factors, which can also  help explain the overall quality of the service experience".	Schlesinger, W., A. Cervera and C. Pérez-Cabañero. 2015. "Contrasting quality of service experience for northern and southern Mediterranean tourists" EuroMed Journal of Business 10 (3), Emerald: 327-337.
Point  16: Quality of service experience evaluation is "holistic/ gestalt rather than attribute-based, and focuses on self-evaluation (internal) rather than service evaluation (external)".	Schlesinger, W., A. Cervera and C. Pérez-Cabañero. 2015. "Contrasting quality of service experience for northern and southern Mediterranean tourists" EuroMed Journal of Business 10 (3), Emerald: 327-337.
Point 17: "A large number of empirical studies have investigated the impact of service quality on outcome variables, including customer satisfaction, attitudinal loyalty, and ultimately, purchase intention".	Carrillat, F.A., F. Jaramillo and J.P. Mulki. 2009. "Examining the impact of service quality: a meta-analysis of empirical evidence" Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice 17(2)Spring, M.E. Sharpe, Inc.: 95-110.
Point 18: "High ratings of service quality occur when the customer perceives that the service provider exceeded his or her expectations. This also results in favourable attitudes toward the service and the organization and may ultimately lead to lower switching intentions".	Carrillat, F.A., F. Jaramillo and J.P. Mulki. 2009. "Examining the impact of service quality: a meta-analysis of empirical evidence" Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice 17(2)Spring, M.E. Sharpe, Inc.: 95-110.
Point 19: "Research suggests that customers develop value perceptions based on the quality of their service experience.... High value perceptions can explain why customers stay with a service provider even with the presence of lower-cost alternatives".	Carrillat, F.A., F. Jaramillo and J.P. Mulki. 2009. "Examining the impact of service quality: a meta-analysis of empirical evidence" Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice 17(2)Spring, M.E. Sharpe, Inc.: 95-110.
Point 20: "A long held debate in the service literature is whether SERVPERF or SERVQUAL is a better measure of services quality".	Carrillat, F.A., F. Jaramillo and J.P. Mulki. 2009. "Examining the impact of service quality: a meta-analysis of empirical evidence" Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice 17(2)Spring, M.E. Sharpe, Inc.: 95-110.
Point 21: "Many researchers... argue that the process of service quality evaluation is complicated: the customers, as a rule, perceive and evaluate service quality through several dimensions and by the criteria which are the most important to them".	Einasto, O. 2014. "Investigating e-service quality criteria for university library: a focus  group study" New Library World 115(1/2), Emerald: 4-14.
Point 22: "There are two main streams of research on service quality (SQ).... the Nordic school approach... defines SQ in terms of functional quality and technical quality....   The North American School researches developed the so-called 5 Gaps model, according to which the consumer perception of service quality is  based on five gaps".	Einasto, O. 2014. "Investigating e-service quality criteria for university library: a focus  group study" New Library World 115(1/2), Emerald: 4-14.

With a set of main points collected, the writer produces a set of cognitive map variables. These variables are informed by the set of main points from Table 1. These variables are presented in Table 2.

Table 2: Cognitive map variables based on Table 1

Cognitive map variables	Literature review points
Variable 1: Increased importance of service quality	-
Variable 2: Understand service  quality and related ideas	Point 1: "Customer expectations are pretrial beliefs about a product or service.... customers have  many sources of information that lead to expectations about upcoming service encounters  with a particular company". Point 4: "...services, especially those with a high labor content, are heterogeneous: their performance often varies from producer to producer, from customer to customer, and from  day to day". Point 5: "...production and consumption of many services are inseparable..... In labor intensive services, ... quality occurs during service delivery, usually in an interaction between the client and the contact person from the service firm". Point 8: "Grönroos.... identifies two service quality dimensions... Functional quality represents how the service is delivered... Technical quality reflects the outcome of the service act, or what the customer receives in the service encounter". Point 12: "...one way of classifying service organizations is the degree of customer contact. When an organization has a low degree of customer contact, it implies that the production process of the service is quite similar to that of the manufacturing sector". Point 13: "Quality of service experience refers to the psychological aspects of the service experience. In tourism, quality of service experience relates  to tourists' affective responses. It is a holistic, multi-dimensional measure that assesses personal reactions and feelings in response to a tourist  service".
Variable 3: Develop theories on service quality evaluation	Point 6: The underlying themes of service quality include: (1) "Service quality is more difficult for the consumer to evaluate than goods quality", (2) "Service quality perceptions result from a comparison of consumer expectations with actual service  performance", and (3) "Quality evaluation are not made solely on the outcome of a service; they also involve evaluations of the process of service delivery". Point 7: "The foundation of service quality theory lies in the product quality and customer satisfaction literature....  [The disconfirmation paradigm] suggests that quality results from a comparison of perceived with expected performance". Point 10: There are four assumptions of the "return on quality" approach: (1) "quality is an investment", (2) "quality efforts must be financially accountable", (3) it  is possible to spend too much on quality", and (4) "not all quality expenditures are equally valid". Point 19: "Research suggests that customers develop value perceptions based on the quality of their service experience.... High value perceptions can explain why customers stay with a service provider even with the presence of lower-cost alternatives". Point 20: "A long held debate in the service literature is whether SERVPERF or SERVQUAL is a better measure of services quality". Point 22: "There are two main streams of research on service quality (SQ).... the Nordic school approach... defines SQ in terms of functional quality and technical quality....   The North American School researches developed the so-called 5 Gaps model, according to which the consumer perception of service quality is  based on five gaps".
Variable 4: Appropriate service quality management, including evaluation	Point 3: "Most services cannot be counted, measured, inventoried, tested, and verified in advance of sale to assure quality". Point 15: "Service quality is an objective measure of functional and technical aspects of a service. it usually refers to the service provider and service environment. Thus, service quality fails  to capture affective factors, which can also  help explain the overall quality of the service experience". Point  16: Quality of service experience evaluation is "holistic/ gestalt rather than attribute-based, and focuses on self-evaluation (internal) rather than service evaluation (external)". Point 21: "Many researchers... argue that the process of service quality evaluation is complicated: the customers, as a rule, perceive and evaluate service quality through several dimensions and by the criteria which are the most important to them".
Variable 5: Evaluate and learn from service quality practices	Point 9: "The financial benefits of quality, which had been assumed as a matter of faith in the "religion of quality" are now being seriously questioned by cost-cutting executives, who cite the highly publicized financial failures of some companies prominent in the quality movement". Point 11: "It appears that the main gauge of performance in quality for service organizations is external customer satisfaction. In practice, however, an external customer  satisfaction survey is difficult to conduct". Point 17: "A large number of empirical studies have investigated the impact of service quality on outcome variables, including customer satisfaction, attitudinal loyalty, and ultimately, purchase intention".
Variable 6: Positive impacts of improved service quality	Point 2: "Delivery of high service quality is presumed  to relate positively to the success of the firm". Point 14: "Better understanding of  tourists' perceptions of experiences can .... improve performance in the tourism industry". Point 18: "High ratings of service quality occur when the customer perceives that the service provider exceeded his or her expectations. This also results in favourable attitudes toward the service and the organization and may ultimately lead to lower switching intentions".

The next step is to relate the cognitive map variables to make up a cognitive map on service quality. The cognitive map is explained further in the next section.

A cognitive map on service quality and its interpretation

By relating the variables identified in Table 2, the writer comes up with a cognitive map on service quality, as shown in Figure 1.

These cognitive  map variables, six of them altogether, are related to make up a systemic image of service quality. The links in the cognitive map (re: Figure 1) indicate direction of influences between variables. The + sign shows that an increase in one variable leads to an increase in another variable while a -ve sign tells us that in increase in one variable leads to a decrease in another variable.  If there no signs shown on the arrows, that means the influences can be positive or negative.

Concluding remarks

The cognitive mapping exercise captures in one diagram some of the main variables involved in service quality. The resultant cognitive map promotes an exploratory way to study service quality  in a holistic tone. The experience of the cognitive mapping exercise is that it can be a quick, efficient and entertaining way to explore a complex topic such as service quality in service operations management. Readers are also referred to the Literature on service quality Facebook page for additional  information on service  quality. Finally, readers who are interested in cognitive mapping should also find the article informative on this mapping topic.

Bibliography

1.      Boulding, W., A. Kalra, R. Staelin and V.A. Zeithaml. 1993. "A dynamic process model of service quality: From expectations to behavioral intention" Journal of Marketing Research 30, February: 7-27.

2.      Carrillat, F.A., F. Jaramillo and J.P. Mulki. 2009. "Examining the impact of service quality: a meta-analysis of empirical evidence" Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice 17(2)Spring, M.E. Sharpe, Inc.: 95-110.

3.      Eden, C. and P. Simpson. 1989. "SODA and cognitive mapping in practice", pp. 43-70, in Rosenhead, J. (editor) Rational Analysis for a Problematic World, Wiley, Chichester.

4.      Eden, C., C. Jones and D. Sims. 1983. Messing about in Problems: An informal structured approach to their identification and management, Pergamon Press, Oxford.

5.      Einasto, O. 2014. "Investigating e-service quality criteria for university library: a focus  group study" New Library World 115(1/2), Emerald: 4-14.

6.      Lee, H. and J.L. Howard. 1994. "Measuring the Quality of Services: The Use of Internal Climate" Benchmarking for Quality Management & Technology 1(3), MCB University Press: 39-51.

7.      Literature on cognitive mapping Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/Literature-on-cognitive-mapping-800894476751355/).

8.      Literature on literature review Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/literature.literaturereview/).

9.      Literature on service quality Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (https://www.facebook.com/Literature-on-service-quality-1876279742652761/).

10. Managerial intellectual learning Facebook page, maintained by Joseph, K.K. Ho (url address: https://www.facebook.com/managerial.intellectual.learning/).

11. Open University. n.d. "Sign graph" Systems Thinking and Practice (T552): Diagramming, Open University, U.K. (url address: http://systems.open.ac.uk/materials/T552/) [visited at April 10, 2017].

12. Parasuraman, A., V.A. Zeithaml and L.L. Berry. 1995. "A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and Its Implications for Future Research" Journal of Marketing  49 Fall: 41-50.

13. Rust, R.T., A.J. Zahorik and T.L. Keiningham. 1995. "Return on Quality (ROQ): Making Service Quality Financially Accountable" Journal of Marketing 59, April: 58-70.

14. Schlesinger, W., A. Cervera and C. Pérez-Cabañero. 2015. "Contrasting quality of service experience for northern and southern Mediterranean tourists" EuroMed Journal of Business 10 (3), Emerald: 327-337.