“Customer Satisfaction and Service Quality: Two Constructs or One?”
Abstract: Researchers agree that customer satisfaction and service quality are both important tools for creating competitive advantage. However, there is a lack of consensus on whether the two are separate constructs and how they should be measured. This paper presents a number of conceptualizations of customer satisfaction and service quality based on disconfirmation, a transactional versus global view, and the inclusion of cognitive and/or affective factors. Measurement issues regarding the separation/overlap and causal links between the two constructs are also discussed. Possible antecedents and consequences of both constructs are examined and suggestions for future conceptualization and measurement of the constructs are provided.
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