ABSTRACT
Although researchers and companies in the era of quality were eager to find ways to measure service quality, insufficient research had been conducted to begin measurement. Early writing on the topic of consumer perceptions suggested that service quality results from a comparison of what customers feel a service provider should offer with how the provider actually performs. In the empirical analysis, three of the original ten dimensions remained intact in the final set of five dimensions. These three dimensions were tangibles, reliability, and responsiveness. The remaining seven original dimensions were clustered into two broader dimensions. As a comprehensive frame-work for viewing all strategies and tactics necessary for understanding and delivering quality service, it has been an endless source of ideas for research. Virtually all services marketing strategies fall somewhere in the four provider gaps, as do service operations and human resource strategies.
