Consumer-Defined Service Expectations and Post Purchase Dissatisfaction in Moderately-Priced Restaurants: A Cross-National Study

Abstract

Relatively little attention has been devoted to consumers' judgements of service quality and dissatisfaction in industries in which there is a close relationship between the service and the tangible product and/or physical environment, i.e., the so called customer services. At the same time, many service providers are catering to international customers. Therefore, the manner in which customers of differing national backgrounds evaluate product and service quality and the resulting satisfaction or dissatisfaction have become ever more important. In order to address these issues, we conducted a cross-national study on service quality and dissatisfaction in moderately-priced restaurant settings in the United States and the Netherlands. The study was also designed to meet several methodological challenges. First, it is not clear whether the dimensions of consumer-perceived service quality (e.g., SERVQUAL) can be transferred a priori to the area of customer services. Second, it is difficult to transfer certain concepts (e.g., "a moderately-priced restaurant") and Likert-type questionnaires across national boundaries, since these are by nature culturally determined. Therefore, we explored the Critical Incident Technique as a comparatively cultural-neutral method that invites consumers to define service quality and outcomes rather than indicate their perceptions in response to researcher-initiated questions. Results indicate that while staff attitude and behavior are important determinants of service quality perceptions, subtle differences between the two countries occur. Significant cross-national differences were also found between customer reactions and expected remedial action following a negative service experience. Multinational service management implications are briefly discussed.