The 1st Annual Emerald/EFMD Outstanding Doctoral Research Awards 2005

Citation

(2006), "The 1st Annual Emerald/EFMD Outstanding Doctoral Research Awards 2005", International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 17 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijsim.2006.08517aaf.001

The 1st Annual Emerald/EFMD Outstanding Doctoral Research Awards 2005

International service management

Sponsored by International Journal of Service Industry Management

Winner:

Dr Tracey DaggerUQ Business School, University of Queensland, Australia

“Perceived service quality: proximal antecedents and outcomes in the context of a high involvement, high contact, ongoing service”

This research challenges the conventional wisdom that the outcomes of service evaluation are primarily economic and provides insights into the proximal antecedents that drive service quality perceptions. Specifically, the research examines the nature, content and structure of perceived service quality and the impact of service quality perceptions on both economic and social outcomes. Interest in examining these issues reflects a call for the development of comprehensive theories of service evaluation, the refinement of measurement models and for further consideration of the relationship between service quality and service outcomes. Given that service quality research has been described as “divergent”, “unresolved” and “far from conclusive”, this research was well justified. Indeed, few new models of service evaluation have been forwarded, despite theorists agreeing that service quality results in significant gains for the organisation. Likewise, interest in examining the social and economic outcomes of service evaluation reflects a broadening of the discipline's orientation to understand the contribution of marketing to both organizational performance and societal welfare. Although marketing seeks to deliver desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than competitors in a way that contributes to quality of life, examination of the economic outcomes of marketing prevails in the literature. Thus, a service-centred view of marketing, which comprises a series of economic and social processes, is forwarded in this research. These issues are examined within the context of a high involvement, high contact, ongoing service. Specifically, the research investigates customers' service quality perceptions and integrates the impact of service quality and two aspects of customer service satisfaction on both economic and social outcomes, namely behavioural intentions and quality-of-life. The research model was validated using two random samples involving 1,118 customers of intensive health services. The results indicate that customers evaluate service quality at multiple levels of abstraction and that quality conforms with a multidimensional hierarchical structure. It was found that the dimensions, when modelled as proximal antecedents to service quality, had a differential impact on service quality perceptions. Moreover, service quality and service satisfaction each contributed differently to economic and social outcomes. By examining these issues, this research contributes to advancing the science and practice of marketing. It adds to what one knows and changes how one should practise marketing.