MARKETING OF SERVICES
SERVICE ENCOUNTER
SE is one human being interacting with another.
Inseparability (and involvement) of consumers from (into) the production creates this phenomenon.
SEs condition even the whole society affecting the quality of everyday life.
SEs (human interactions based on sets of assumptions) are:
- purposeful (the contact is goal-oriented);
- not altruistic (except a few special cases [which ones?], servicing is a job);
- prior acquaintance is not required;
- the scope of interchange is quite focused (self-disclosure follows norms);
- task-related information exchange dominates (barber shop – 10% of info is cause related; airline
ticket purchase – 90%, however the cause conditions the form);
- client and provider roles are well defined (at least assumed);
- a temporary status differential occurs (e.g. high-status person [lawyer] may work for clients of
lower social status).
Interaction theories (on dyadic exchanges) can provide insights about how to design and improve
service encounters (e.g. interdependence theory and role theory).
Dimensions of a SE (characteristics, that form small sets of homogeneous services).
Differing expectations regarding the content of client and provider roles that consumers have about
service encounters and consequent outcomes is hypothesized here to be a function of:
- client perceptions,
- provider characteristics and
- production realities.
Client perceptions of a service (set of expectations).
- Character of a service:
- purpose (pleasure/function);
- motivation (election/necessity);
- result (positive contribution/negative reduction);
- salience (important/unimportant);
- involvement (personal identification in terms of ego involvement).
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Marketing of Services. Lecture. Service encounter
- Cost (expectations are affected by perceived relative cost).
- Reversibility (affect salience and role expectations brought to the service).
- Risk (related to cost and reversibility).
Provider characteristics.
- Expertise (function of credentials or training, and also of experience, insight, creativity, or pure
craftsmanship; plus, ability of the provider to exercise discretion (suiting to circumstances) in
applying his or her expertise to the task).
- Attitude (difficult to measure traits as helpfulness, openness, friendliness, warmth, concern, etc.;
this concept is a function of the inherent personality of the provider, client’s perception, clientprovider interaction, and the given situation).
- Demographic characteristics (e.g. help in a restaurant is frequently uniformly young).
Production realities (basic structural components of a service).
- Time factor (frequency and duration are related to the form of interaction).
- Technology (human vs. mechanical or electronic; provider is an attendant or participant of the
production process; delivery of the service is human or mechanical).
- Location (clients vs. provider’s site; personal or via telephone or mail).
- Content (physical, cognitive, emotional [all three can be present simultaneously]).
- Complexity (number of activities performed and the interrelationships among those activities;
both physical or mental. Note, back room operation may be highly complex, yet service delivery
may be structured to minimize decision steps and encourage routinized, “mindless” activity at
the point of the actual service encounter).
- Formalization (allowed variation; the greater the standardization, routinization, and codification,
the greater the formalization).
- Consumption unit (individuals or groups, e.g. a surgeon or an actor; transaction encounters differ).
Model of a service encounter (for the SE evaluation and specifying a “good” encounter).
Outcomes of a service encounter can be assessed from three perspectives:
- the service provider,
- the customer,
- and the organization.
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Marketing of Services. Lecture. Service encounter
SPECIFYING A GOOD SERVICE ENCOUNTER
Organizational evaluations.
Managers desire that encounter encourages repeat purchases, behavioral compliance, or perhaps
positive word-of-mouth communications. Further, managers are interested in encounters that yield
the organization a competitive edge, whether through the added value they bring to the basic service
offering or through their ability to differentiate the offering. Finally, encounters should encourage
employee motivation and retention.
Client evaluations.
Quality, satisfaction (and other dimensions) refer to 2 elements:
1. Actual functional service.
2. Manner in which the service is performed or delivered.
Comments:
- functional service quality is always paramount; no amount of transaction encounter satisfaction
can compensate for the service never performed;
- encounter satisfaction can overcome only small deficiencies in functional-service quality;
- a service client’s perceptions of functional-service quality can be affected by satisfaction with
the encounter, but encounter satisfaction cannot be affected by the satisfaction with functionalservice quality.
(In effect, this says that clients are better able to independently judge the quality and satisfaction of
human interactions than the quality of functional services).
Provider evaluations.
From provider perspective a key element of the encounter must relate to the provision of the service
or a sale. (This element is of long-run importance).
Service providers are genuinely concerned that their clients receive good service and are frustrated
when organizational limitations, policy, or lack of concern diminish their ability to provide such
service. (Primary rewards (such as pay, promotion, and recognition) are generally dependent on the
basis of this outcome).
In addition to task-oriented evaluations, however, interpersonal elements contribute to provider
satisfaction with the encounter and, through this mediating variable, with the job. (While it is
possible to some extent to separate behavior on the job from personal feelings and life, there are few
who can long tolerate a great disparity between the two).
Also, situations, placing clients and providers in zero-sum opposition may force personal
interactions to a low level, for example.
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Marketing of Services. Lecture. Service encounter