International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to analyse empirically the causal relationships between quality management, service quality and business success in German logistics companies.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper develops a measurement instrument of logistics service quality by combining conceptual approaches from service marketing with quality indicators from operations management. This measure is verified through factor analysis on a sample of 229 German logistics providers. Relationships between logistics service quality, quality management and business success are investigated in a structural equation model.

Findings – The results support measuring logistics service quality by the three dimensions: service potential, process and outcome. The effect of quality management on these constructs is confirmed. Likewise, the positive effect of service quality on business success is confirmed, with the notable exception of outcome quality.

Research limitations/implications – This research only involves German logistics service providers. Further studies in other countries are needed to generalise the results.

Practical implications – Logistics service providers should devote more attention to quality management than they currently do. To enhance quality, they should focus their efforts on service potential and the service process. The paper offers them a way to measure these quality dimensions.

Originality/value – Research into logistics services has so far been mostly descriptive. The present study is the first to validate empirically a measure of logistics service quality and relate it to other phenomena. The relationship between quality management, service quality and business success found by structural modelling helps to understand the role of quality in logistics services.