7 Conclusions and Implications
7.2 Conclusion
To conclude, we have been able to discover the need of establishing a process that helps identifying performance gaps in service interactions that influence customer satisfaction. By identifying major problems during the service process, performance gaps can be improved to provide a better customer experience, thus, increase customer satisfaction.
The purpose of this thesis was to identify performance gaps that influence customer satisfaction. Thus, personnel involved in customer service interactions can be aware of the gaps before they negatively influence customer satisfaction. We found that through the use of the Service Concept model (Goldstein et al., 2002), the Principles for great customer satisfaction (Watkinson, 2013), and the PDCA model (Chien et al., 2002) described in this thesis’ conceptual framework those performance gaps can be identified. Additionally, continuous improvement can be implemented by implementing the PDCA cycle (Chien et al., 2002) oriented to customer satisfaction and knowledge trainings on topics like customer experience.
In our case company the most important gaps identified were:
- Definition and handling of customer expectations – Market Information Gap (GAP 1 in GAPS Model by Parasuraman et. al., 2004)
- Definition of quality and objectives for customer interactions – Service Quality Gap (GAP 5)
- Alignment of service strategy intent with execution – Service Standards Gap (GAP 2) and Service Performance Gap (GAP 3)
- Training on customer satisfaction topics
- Personnel motivation and engagement to provide a good customer experience – Service Performance Gap (GAP 3)
- Sharing of customer feedback
For further research we suggest to involve the other three sub-systems of the service concept: Customers, Physical and Technical Environment, and Organization and Control. These areas will provide a wider insight on the topics affecting customer satisfaction and the integration among them. Additionally, since this thesis focused on a single service provider the longitudinal case can be done to expand and compare results. Also, similar research could be done for product providers as well.
8
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Appendix
9.1Interview Guide
To get most out of the interview sessions, the plan is to structure the questions to cover the three identified levels (as explained in the Method chapter); each level covers Managers, Back-Office employees and Front-End employees respectively. As explained in the Method chapter, the interviews follow a semi-structured fashion to gather as much insight as possible from the personnel without restricting their comments; however, a line of inquiry is always followed to avoid deviation from the thesis research topic.
The following are open-ended interview questions that guide the conversation. Consequently, in some cases an opening question is made and as the interviewee developed her answer, more clarification could have been asked for during the conversation.
The interview started with a clarification of the research intentions and the ethical aspects concerning the provided information. The desire is to create a rich dialogue that brings up evidence useful for the research. Also, as Yin (2008) suggests the investigator should be a good listener, adaptive and flexible to situations, avoid preconceptions, and knowledgeable about the topic.
The guiding questions were developed taking into account the literature framework covering the aspects needed to answer the research question. The questions were formulated so that relationships with the frameworks could be explored with information from the interviewee’s answers. By discovering relationships or missing links, mistakes and flaws could be identified during the service processes and detect early warnings of possible unmet expectations.
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Interview Guide:
1. What are the goals or objectives for customer service interaction for you as a service provider?
2. When do you consider the customer service interaction starts and ends? 3. How are quality and expectations defined with customers?
4. How do you enhance the quality work internally to meet customer expectations? 5. How is stress prevented during customer interactions?
6. How do you support your team’s work during customer service interactions? 7. How are employees motivated to deliver good customer experience?
9. How do you monitor that service interactions goals are being executed? a. How do you prevent / detect non-satisfied customers?
b. How do you encourage / detect satisfied customers? How do you encourage those cases?
10. How do you make sure that customers’ needs get fulfilled?
11. What are the relationships between managers, back-office, and front-end employees and how do they communicate with each other during the customer service interaction?
12. Is there any formal process to share the customer feedback with employees in subsequent service interactions?
13. How are ideas to improve customer service interactions from employees taken into account?
14.
How often are you trained in customer satisfaction topics?9.2List of Interview respondents
Name Date Front-End A April 29th, 2014 Front-End B May 1st, 2014 Front-End C May 3rd, 2014 Back-Office A April 30th, 2014 Back-Office B April 30th, 2014 Back-Office C May 2nd, 2014 Back-Office D May 11th, 2014 Manager A April 30th, 2014 Manager B May 6th, 2014 Manager C May 7th, 2014 Manager D April 30th, 2014 Manager E May 12th, 2014 Manager F May 10th, 2014