The role of customer service in a highly tangible business-to-business market.

Abstract

Defining and measuring the quality of customer service has been a major challenge for business-to-business marketers. This research addresses the question whether an established instrument for consumer markets (SERVQUAL) can be used for understanding the role of customer service in the European nylon intermediates industry. To accomplish this objective, an in-depth literature review is accomplished followed by several expert panels adopting the instrument slightly. Based on a survey sample of 110 industry members collected with the ¿drop and collect technique¿ the appropriateness of the tool to verify the anticipated structure is examined using reliability tests as well as exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The findings suggest that even though various criteria for reliability and validity are met, the five-dimensional structure of the instrument cannot be recovered. The research questions the usefulness of the instrument for the European nylon intermediates industry despite it being originally anticipated to be applicable. However, the research emphasises that the instrument is a useful indicator for understanding the role of customer service based on individual items rather than on the instrument¿s dimensionality. It is demonstrated how the implementation in the nylon intermediates industry enables an organization to develop a greater awareness of customer service quality and how an enterprise gains an initial instrument to comprehend and improve this element of the offering. The thesis concludes by linking the results of the research with the discussion on service-dominant logic.