Added by Chanaka.j, 37 weeks ago

• Location: somewhere

Service encounter quality is an area of growing interest to researchers and managers alike, yet little is known about the effects of face-to-face
service encounter quality within a business-to-business setting. In this paper, a psychometrically sound measure of such service encounter quality
is proposed, and consequences of this construct are empirically assessed. Both a literature review and a dyadic in-depth interview approach were
used to develop a conceptual framework and a pool of items to capture service encounter quality. A mail survey of customers was undertaken, and
a response rate of 36% was obtained. Data analysis was conducted via confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Findings
reveal a four-factor structure of service encounter quality, encompassing professionalism, civility, friendliness and competence dimensions.
Service encounter quality was found to be directly related to customer satisfaction and service quality perceptions, and indirectly to loyalty. The
importance of these findings for practitioners and for future research on service encounter quality is discussed