5 Gap Model of Service Quality With Examples. Gaps Model. Service Quality Gap Model Example. Gap Model of Customer Satisfaction.
Gap Model of Service Quality
The gap model of service quality refers to the five gaps model that describes gaps in service quality of the organization’s customer experiences and service quality. In 1985, four scholars, namely A. Parasuraman, Valarie Zeithaml, and Leonard L. Berry, introduced the gap model of service quality in the Journal of marketing manuscript titled “A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and Its Implications for Further Research.” It is also known as the service quality gap model.
This model articulates the gap between customers’ expectations and the organization’s service. It assists service-providing companies in identifying customer satisfaction in different stages of the service delivery process. The service quality will be high when the customers’ perception meets the expectation, but the quality is low when the customer’s perception cannot meet the expectation. The five-gap model of service quality ensures the organization’s total quality management thoroughly.
Servqual Gap Model
SERVQUAL model evaluates the gaps between clients’ expectations and perceptions of service quality with five major service dimensions: reliability, assurance, tangibles, empathy, and responsiveness. The Servqual model of service quality assesses the customers’ expectations and perceptions; therefore, many scholars call it the Servqual gap model. Hence, many service-providing companies utilize the gaps model to identify and improve clients’ satisfaction. The Servqual gap model or the five gap model of service quality represents a customer-satisfaction framework. However, the Survqual model is also known as the five service quality dimensions.
5 Gap Model of Service Quality
The 5 Gaps in Service Quality are
- Knowledge Gap
- Policy Gap
- Communication Gap
- Delivery Gap
- Customer Gap
5 Gap Model of Service Quality With Examples
Gap- 1. Knowledge Gap
The knowledge gap in service quality refers to the gap between customers’ expectations of the company and its action of providing that service. It identifies what customers want from the industry and what the company typically offers to the customers. This gap can grow if management doesn’t focus on the customer’s expectations thoroughly.
Many reasons can increase the knowledge gap, for example:
Firstly, the knowledge gap in service quality increases when the industry does not carefully focus on what customers expect. Secondly, the knowledge gap increases due to a lack of upward communication and customer interaction. Thirdly, the preliminary market analysis also raises the knowledge gap.
The additional reasons for increasing the knowledge gap:
- Less focus on relationships.
- Failure to understand customer complaints.
- Lack of interaction between management and customer.
Example of the Knowledge Gap in Service Quality
The user of Netflix wants to see the upcoming movie trailers on the Netflix official website. However, Netflix shows only the movie list on the site without knowing the customer’s expectations. So, Netflix would suffer this gap if it did not provide upcoming movie trailers on the site. Netflix’s change management fulfills the gap between customer perception and expectation to achieve competitive advantages.
Gap 2: Policy Gap
The policy gap is the difference between management perceptions of customer needs and the translation of those perceptions into service delivery policies and standards. This policy gap appears because of the dissimilarity between what the customer wants and what management provides for the customers.
Many reasons can grow the policy gap, for instance:
Firstly, the policy gap in service quality rises when the company is not committed to service quality. Secondly, the lack of task standardization extends the policy gap. Moreover, the lack of goal setting raises this gap.
The additional reasons for increasing the policy gap:
- Shortness of customer service standards.
- Inadequately described service levels.
- Failure to continually update service level standards.
Example of the Policy Gap
Netflix will suffer from the policy gap if it uploads the upcoming movie trailers after releasing the movie. People want to watch the movie trailer before releasing the film. So, Netflix should be more responsive to the customers and commit to uploading the film trailer soon.
Gap 3: Delivery Gap
The delivery gap is the dissimilarity between the standard of the company’s service delivery policies and the service’s actual delivery. The delivery gap in service quality arises when the company cannot maintain the standard of products and services provided to customers. This gap may occur because of the communication gap, poor technology, and inappropriate supervisory on productions in the industry.
This gap occurs because of many reasons in the industry, for example;
Firstly, the lack of teamwork to deliver services or products triggers an increasing delivery gap. Secondly, the employee’s lack of knowledge about the product or service grows the delivery gap. Thirdly, insufficient human resources extend this gap.
The additional reasons for increasing the policy gap:
- Role ambiguity and role conflict are unsure of your remit and how it fits others.
- Poor employee or technology fit – is the wrong person or system for the job.
- Inappropriate supervisory control or lack of perceived control – too much or too little control.
Example of Delivery Gap
Netflix may experience this gap if it uploads a lower video-quality film. Customers prefer to watch movies with high-quality regulations like HDR. However, Netflix streams films with 4K at 2160p, which reduces the delivery gap.
Gap 4: Communication Gap
The communication gap refers to the difference between what the company advertises about the products and what the customer delivers. It occurs when the company cannot provide services or products according to the commitment. It is an essential dimension to maintain because it may lead to customer disappointment.
This communication gap occurs because of many reasons in the industry, including;
- Over-commitment.
- Lack of integration between communication and production department.
- Inadequate communications between the advertising teams and the operations department.
Example of Communication Gap
Netflix may suffer this gap if it cannot telecast the HDR video it promised to offer. So, Netflix should not commit to customers if they cannot stream HDR video on the site.
Gap 5: Customer Gap
The customer gap is the difference between customer expectations and perceptions of the service. This customer gap might appear if customers cannot understand the importance of the services and products. The customer gap also arises when clients misunderstand the service quality. Many organizations are unaware of this gap, losing many customers overnight. Customer gap in Survqual model
Conclusion
The five gaps in service quality are Knowledge, Policy, Communication, Delivery, and Customer. The five gaps model of service quality is known as the gap model. The gap model of service quality analyzes gaps and problems between organizations and their customers. Customer gratification will come out if the industry adopts the gap model diagram, which is a significant factor for continual improvement as well as the business. Therefore, the service provides industries like hospitals, hotels, restaurants, entertainment & recreational companies, and education and tourism agencies focus more on the gap model to improve customer satisfaction. For example, the Global Assistant Education Consultant concentrates on the gap model to gratify prospective and existing customers.
