Measuring Service Quality in the Chinese Telecommunications Industry - Case Study Example

Introduction

Unlike in the manufacturing industry where products are produced as sold to customers through different chains, in the services industry customers are an important part of the production process. Within the telecommunications services, is has become increasingly necessary for the organizations operating within the industry to concentrate on enhancing the qualities of services that they provide from the perspective of the customers (Lai et al. 2009). The element of service quality in the telecommunications sector has been necessitated by the changes in technology, customer demands and increased customer awareness which creates high customer expectations. Meeting these expectations of the customers becomes the critical element which defines quality in the services industry.

The telecommunication industry is among the most important industries in the modern times through the role it plays in communication. The levels of competition in the market have resulted in a change of perspective with many players in the industry focusing on improving quality to gain a competitive advantage. Within the services industry, quality remains relevant to the customers and remains a difficult element to measure (Santos & Mathews 2015). Services are defined as deeds or actions which organisations perform as the main business operations. These actions include the economic activities which do not have a physical output. The complexity in measuring service quality if brought by the intangibility of the output by the organisation operating within industries that provide services.

Organisations operating in the service sectors, like telecommunications, pursue service quality in seeking to enhance their competitiveness within the market. Despite the struggle to achieve services quality for competitive advantage, the quality remains something that is difficult to measure as well as defining (Gupta et al. 2005). In other industries that have physical products quality can be defined as assessed through the general output. Quality has been defined in different forms including conformance to standards, defect free services and even lack of failure. These mainly apply to industries with physical products and measurement of quality in the services industry becomes complicated by the characteristics that differentiate services from goods.

Characteristics of service

The basic features of service remain the main elements which pose problems for the industry operators in seeking to determine service quality. The characteristics of services differentiate them from products and create the element of uniqueness for the organisations which produce services. Understanding these attributes becomes important for the organisation as they seek to provide services to market in a successful manner (Fitzsimmons & Fitzsimmons 1994). There are five important elements which are considered as the fundamental attributes of services differentiating them from products and which are critical to success in the service industry. The characteristics of service make service quality extremely difficult to measure as it cannot be factory engineered and stored for future use.

• Intangibility

Intangibility is a key feature which refers to the nature of services as substances that cannot be touched or counted. The perception of customers through experience becomes the major element in which the presence of services can be determined. This creates a fundamental difficult for the providers of service within the industry in understanding the ways in which the market will perceive and evaluate the quality of their services (Pleger Bebko 2000). Within the service industry, the industry standards a commonly utilised in the assessment of the quality and the intangibility of the services becomes closely linked with the satisfaction which customers get from the services.

• Heterogeneity

The heterogeneous nature of services comes from the fact that it is something that is experienced by the customers. Despite similar services being provided to a large market and number of customers, each person’s experience is different from the other person. It becomes extremely difficult for providers to present identical services to the market. The element of consistency between customers becomes relatively difficult as each individual experiences the services differently (Kuester et al. 2013). This lack of coherence and a standard way of determining how customers experience services makes it difficult to measure the quality of services. Quality, therefore, becomes subject to external factors like demand satisfaction and fulfilment of customer needs through experience.

• Inseparability

The aspect of inseparability makes reference to the elements of production and consumption which take place simultaneously in services. Once the service has been produced, the experience of the customer becomes the consumption and any bad experiences cannot be taken back for corrections. Services cannot be delivered before consumption and stored for quality assessment because of the inseparability of production and consumption (Jaw et al. 2010). The inseparability of services for the providers and consumers largely affects the distribution channels and scale of operations within the telecommunications industry. The production process has to occur where consumption occurs, and this makes service relatively difficult to deliver to the customers.

• Perishability

Perishability remains one of the most difficult characteristics that is hard to understand and control. Services are highly perishable than products, and this makes time to be extremely important in the services industry. Since services cannot be stored as inventory, when a service fails to be utilised in time, it becomes lost forever. Because of the zero inventory, the impression that a customer gets from a service provider becomes the last as a second opportunity cannot be provided (Lovelock & Gummesson 2004). Producers of services, therefore, need to present the best possible services to the market in seeking to ensure customer satisfaction. This remains crucial problems for the organisation as they require to have back-up plans for every service they provide.

• Ownership

The final distinguishing feature of services is the element of ownership which does not come with the purchase of service. Customers do not own the service once they purchase them. The customer pays only for access to the services and dissatisfaction can only result in seeking a different provider. It becomes important for service providers in the telecommunication industry to enhance their service quality in seeking to minimise the possibility of losing customers to competitors (Lehtinen & Jäärvinen 2015). The market remains relatively volatile because of this feature of non-transferable ownership of services.

Service quality

Service quality is described as the provision of services aimed at meeting the needs of the customers. It can be scientifically expressed as a comparison of the expectations and performance of a service provided by an organisation. Service quality, therefore, becomes the aspect through which organisations meet the demands or expectations of the customers while remaining competitive in the industry which they operate. While organisation focuses on providing quality in their services, this comes from first understanding the expectations of the market (Yarimoglu 2014). Although there is need to understand the needs of the market before service delivery, the consumers themselves determine the quality in a subconscious manner rather than utilisation of cognitive judgement.

Quality in services is derived from the interactions that occur between the provider and the consumer of the output. Through the interaction with customers, two types of quality have been developed in technical and functional quality. These types of quality develop from the various elements which are considered by customers in perceiving quality in services. These elements form the important features that service providers must understand in seeking to meet the expectations of the customers. Service quality is involved in the assessment of the how well the services meet the expectations of customers in a market.

Within the telecommunication industry, technical quality comes from what the customer receives from a Telecommunications Company while functional quality emanates from the mode of service delivery. Since service quality is a general assessment of the conformance of services to the expectations of customers. Technical quality becomes the fundamental focus for many operators within the telecommunications industry. This quality, however, remains extremely tough for the companies to meet because it is difficult to understand the expectations of the customers without interacting with them. Many organisations within the telecoms sector focus on the functional elements in the improving the mode of delivery with the hope of satisfying their customers.

These two types of quality play an important role in determining service quality, and they remain closely linked. The technical aspect is highly determined by the customer while the provider can control the functional element. With the two factors closely affecting each other, service quality becomes intertwined with functional and technical elements and is controlled by both the provider and consumer. Understanding these components forms the basis upon which quality improvement approaches are developed and subsequently included in the process of product development within the telecommunications industry.

Dimensions of service quality

Quality in service is derived from the interactions which occur between telecom companies and the users of their services. Service quality remains something which is highly determined by the satisfaction among the customers. There are a number of factors which affect the customer satisfaction, which is the measure of service quality among many service industries. These factors form the dimension of quality which service industry organisations must consider in the development of quality and enhancement of the standards of services. The SERVQUAL model provides some factors which affect satisfaction and developed the presumption of the satisfaction ben derived from a number of factors (Zeithaml et al. 1990). The application of this model provides operators within the industry with the major aspects that they must consider in seeking to achieve quality.

In contrast to these dimensions, Wal et al., (2002) conducted a research using a questionnaires based on the SERVQUAL model in a south African telecommunications company, and found out that these dimensions remain majorly theoretical. The customers failed to differentiate the dimensions of assurance, empathy and responsiveness which they perceived as a single factor. On the other hand, the dimensions of tangibility and reliability break down to many other factors in the minds of the customers. Ahmad et al. (2010) focusing on the SMS services realised that these dimensions form the basis upon which service quality can be assessed in the telecommunications industry.

• Tangibility

Although services are intangible products of company actions in a market, there are tangible elements which can create an element of tangibility in the services. The physical features of the service being provided like the appearance of company representatives provide the tangible aspect of service provision to the customers. Communication equipment, personnel and even the physical facilities of organisations will provide the customers with the perception of tangibility of the services in the telecommunications industry. The presence of such features is utilised by customers in seeking to develop a perception about the services provided. This can be utilised in influencing customers by presenting a tangible element in the service.

• Reliability

Reliability is the dimension that seeks to ensure that the services are provided and presented to the customers as promised. Many companies in the telecommunications industry promise their customers communication capability as all times. This promise must be kept for the customers and subscribers to be sure of the availability of the service at a time when they require the services. The promises are made through advertisements and other communications to the market. Reliability is about meeting the expectations of the customer, which are built on the information provided through marketing communications. Customer loyalty would be assured through keeping promises regarding the outcome of the services as many customers are concerned with the output of the services. Firms fail their customers when they do not provide the core services which they customers expect to get.(Fitzsimmons & Fitzsimmons 1994)

• Responsiveness

Organization in the service industry must be willing to support their customers through providing prompt services. Such actions result in the development of the dimension of responsiveness to the market demands. This requires the firms to understand the market in order to provide prompt services as expected. This does not only apply to complaints presented by customers but also meeting the market expectations when customer changes occur. This dimension emphasizes on the firms being attentive and responding quickly to request and problems by customers. It remains critical for firms to invest in market research and constant communication with customers to understand their needs. Responsiveness is an important element through which customers can develop the trust required to perceive the service quality. The ability for flexibility and customisation of services provided to customers with the aim of meeting their needs.

• Assurance

Assurance is the dimension that seeks to provide customers with the right services to build an element of trust. In seeking to build trust, the customers need assurance that firms can deliver services as they have expected. Assurance is an important dimension that is delivered by employees of an organisation to the customers through their appearance of being knowledgeable. This dimension remains particular essential for services in the telecommunication in which customers might feel organisation lack the capacity to deliver, and they are uncertain on the evaluation of such services. Employees of the organisation need to be made aware of the importance of developing trust among the customers as way of enhancing loyalty. The organisations can gain competitive advantage through the loyal customers.

• Empathy

Empathy means providing personalised or individualised services to customers of company products. The aspect of showing customers that an organisation understands their feeling and considered them as important seeks to enhance the positive perception that the customers have regarding the company. This dimension is important in supporting the dimension of assurance as it serves an important role in building trust. In the telecommunications world which remains highly competitive the requirements of customer form the basis upon which service provision is developed. It, therefore, becomes the duty of companies to maximise on the element of meeting the demands of the customers. The failure to show empathy to the customers can result in customers perceiving the firm to be provision poor quality and they can seek services elsewhere.

Factors affecting service quality

The perceptions of the consumer form some of the fundamental elements that are utilised in the determination of service quality. This makes service quality to become a subjective result of consumer experience and an outcome of the delivery process as defined by the organisation. The level of satisfaction that customers gain from the services provided by the telecommunication industry players is an important determinant of the service quality.

Service delivery process

The service delivery process refers to the aspect that can be controlled by the firm in seeking to enhance quality in services provided. The employees of the firms play an important role of providing the tangible dimension of the services. The employees who deliver the service become the service as they can be seen and interact with the customers in a more direct manner. The presence of employees provides the assurance to consumers, and the service becomes a tangible element which customers can trust to be present (Akbar & Parvez 2009). They provide the desired facilitation to provide customers with the essential support for engaging in the services provided by an organisation. The service delivery process seeks to present quality in accordance with the Japanese philosophy of fault free products through facilitating fault free calls as a measure of quality in the telecommunications industry.

Customer participation

The fundamental determinants of the presence of service quality in the service industry is determined by the customers. Service involves the interaction of employees and customers at the point of products and consumptions. Customer participation in the process becomes a key element that defines quality because the customers can only experience the service and quality cannot be assessed without use (Chan et al. 2010). The products and consumption of services occur simultaneously and this present the role of customer participation. The levels of participation become critical as customers can provide feedback, and the organisation can also measure the impacts of their production on the market. The customer comments provide an important perspective which organisation can utilise to improve the service delivery and enhance the presence of quality in the services.

Participation of consumers provides a platform upon which satisfaction can be measured which is a key indicator of service quality. Fulfilment of the needs of customers is the ultimate goal in service delivery, and it cannot be achieved without participation in the process. Unless the customers understand how to perform their roles, the outcomes of the service cannot be realised. Increased participation becomes a boosting element for the firm providing the services to increase the delivery process the service output in many cases becomes increased and improved through high levels of participation.

Customer satisfaction and expectation

Service providers make emphasis on customer satisfaction as an important factor that enhances the competitiveness and providing companies with an opportunity to increase their market share. Customer satisfaction is an important factor which is considered and remains the fundamental purpose why organisations focus on delivering quality to their market. The outcomes of the service delivery process seek to meet the expectations of the customers in the market (Paulrajan & Rajkumar 2011). Once a service has met the expectation of customers, satisfaction occurs. Satisfaction comes from the feeling that the performance of services exceeds or equals the expectations of a customer.

Customer expectations have been defined as beliefs held regarding services and are utilised in measuring the performance of the service. These are developed through the communication which organisations deliver and promises made. The expectations can also emanate from the experiences which people encounter based on personal benchmarks (Eshghi et al. 2008). Due to the differences in expectations and needs among customers, the levels of satisfactions and causes of the satisfaction become difficult to measure. Expectations of the customer become important elements which determine the quality of services as they struggle to meet the intrinsic and extrinsic needs of customers. In their research of the Indian telecommunications industry, Kushwah & Bhargav (2014), found out that the customer expectations are extremely high than the actual quality delivered necessitating improvement in service delivery to meet expectations.

The five gaps of service quality

The SERVQUAL model describes five gaps which impinge the services quality among firms operating in service industries (Zeithaml et al. 1990). The enhancement of service delivery requires minimisation of the gaps. Elimination of these elements in the service delivery process becomes the fundamental factor that causes the service quality to improve.

The first gap is the difference between the customer expectations and management understanding of the expectations. Since service in about meeting the expectations of customers, it becomes critical to understand those expectations. In many cases, the lack of market reviews and studies creates this discrepancy, and customers become dissatisfied since their expectations are poorly understood.

The second gap is the difference between the management perceptions of the expectations and series specifications. The specification of service remains one of the elements that raises and influence customer expectations and this affects the satisfaction. The management might make a mistake in the products specification and cause a discrepancy or shortfall in the service failing to meet the expectations of the customers.

The difference between the service specification and actual delivery of the service forms the third gap. This occurs as a result of the employees lacking the capabilities and capacities to deliver services in the modes and in accordance with the standards that have been set by the specification.

The fourth gap is the difference between the service delivery and external communication by the firms. This gap is created through the statements that a company makes in advertisements regarding the products that they provide. The assumption of expectations is the fundamental cause of this gap, and the organisation does not deliver on the promise that they make to employees.

The last gap is one between the expected service and the experience that customers get from the service. This mainly occurs when the customers misinterpret the message that has been communicated regarding the quality service by the organisation. This can occur when firms undertaking promotions might be perceived to be providing poor quality (Buttle 1996).

Conclusion

Service quality remains a concept which is sometimes confused with customer satisfaction. The aspect of service quality becomes difficult to measure and is commonly assessed by customer satisfaction. The element of service quality in telecommunication industry becomes largely subjective as customers are the important people who define quality. The quality is an experience of the customers on the process of service delivery, and hence there are several factors which affect service quality. The challenges faced in the measurement of service quality also emanate from a myriad of factors including the characteristics of service and the discrepancies in the definition of service quality. Since quality if a perception of the customers, they become an important part in the process of developing quality in services provided by firms in the service industry.