Management perception of service quality in the hospitality industry

2.2
 
Factors that determine Service Quality 
As it is now quite clear, from the customer perspective, service quality is determined by 
the result between customer expectations and customer experience during service 
delivery, what is not yet clear is what is affecting the two. 
Grönroos (1990, 41) indicated that for each element of perceived service quality 
(Expectations vs. Experience) there are underlying factors influencing the outcome of 
the two; perceived service quality. 
First of all, as can be seen from figure 3, expected quality is derived from external 
factors which together create a picture of 
what
is to be expected and 
how
this is to be 
expected. As seen these factors derive from external communication from a company 
to the customer through marketing campaigns and programs, the image create by 
communication from peers from word to mouth including social platform 
communication and lastly completed by the needs of the customer itself. 
Figure 3. Total perceive quality. (Grönroos, 1990, 41) 

---

18 
2.2.1
 
Factors relating to expected quality 
Market communication
includes all that a marketing department can do to reach the 
customer and persuade them to purchase their product or services, which includes 
advertising, direct mail, public relations and sales campaigns which are fully controlled 
by the company itself. 
This indicates that a part of what the customer expects is created by the company 
itself. 
Word of mouth
is a factor which is highly influenced by what previous consumers of the 
service or products being sold have said or are saying, which can either be good or bad 
depending on whether the expectations of these previous customers have been met or 
not. This then means that a company has partial influence on what is being said about 
it, in the sense that whether, the expectations of their customers are met or not directly 
influences the positivity or negativity of what their customers are saying. This is the 
same for 
Image
.

Customer needs
is based on the gravity of the need itself, meaning how important is the 
need of a customer. For example, if a customer is looking for a hotel, in this case the 
service which is needed is a room to stay in, the higher the need, the more is expected 
and vice versa. 
Total expected quality can then be understood as that what the customer expects of 
the service by what he or she has heard from friends, colleagues or family but also by 
how much effort and efficiency the company has put to successfully reach the intended 
target segment and is highly influenced by the image an organization has.