EPISODIC, EXTENDED AND CONTINUOUS SERVICE ENCOUNTERS: A
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Margee Hume and Janet R McColl-Kennedy
Graduate School of Management
The University of Queensland
Abstract
The services marketing sub-discipline has developed significantly in the last three decades, from
what Brown, Fisk and Bitner (1994) termed the “crawling years”, through the “scurrying about”
and “walking erect” eras to what we have called the “advanced track and field” era. Despite the
significant increase in services marketing literature during this period, confusion still exists
regarding some of the most fundamental and widely used terms. Specifically, the terms “service
encounter” and “moments of truth” are used loosely by some researchers and interchangeably by
others. This paper therefore seeks to examine the views presented in the literature regarding these
important terms, and puts forward a theoretical framework for considering “episodic”,
“extended” and “continuous” service encounters, and the relationships between each of these
terms. Specifically, we propose three types of service encounters: (1) episodic, consisting of a
single revenue stream in a defined service duration, having a “partially discrete” exchange focus
and accommodating many or few moments of truth; (2) extended, consisting of an episodic
service encounter, but allowing for the delivery of multiple service types; and (3) continuous,
consisting of multiple revenue streams, having a relational exchange focus and an undefined
service duration, with multiple episodic or extended service encounters.
The race toward advanced track and field
Considerable advancement has been made within the sub-discipline of services marketing over
the past three decades. Brown, Fisk and Bitner (1994) suggest that we have seen three main areas
of development from the “crawling years” (1960-1980) with the exploration of the service
industry as a viable object of research and the great product versus services debate emerging
throughout the literature. Shostack (1984) made a significant contribution with her
services/product continuum. Next came the “scurrying about” years with contributions ranging
from the development of descriptive classifications for services (e.g. Lovelock 1983) to work by
Zeithaml, Parasuraman and Berry (1985) who pointed out the unique characteristics of services in
terms of intangibility, inseparability, perishability and heterogeneity. Next came the “walking
erect” or explosive years 1986 to 1994 (Brown, Fisk and Bitner 1994). Here we saw services
marketing research advance with the focus of empirical research moving toward the interaction of
customer and provider and the concepts of quality, satisfaction, involvement, service design,
customer retention and the overall service encounter. Today, we would argue that we are in what
we have called the “advanced track and field” years. Here the emphasis is increasingly placed on
theory building and a reassessment of terms.
This paper highlights one key area where there is still confusion _ that is, what is meant by the
commonly used terms “service encounter” and “moments of truth”. In particular, this paper: (1)
sets out the main arguments presented in the literature concerning these key terms; (2) seeks to
clarify the concepts; and (3) presents a theoretical framework which should be of use to
practitioners as well as researchers.
Service encounter literature review
The focus of service encounter research until now can be divided into three main areas. The first
area is the examination, measurement and management of the interaction between the customer
and the employee in the service encounter (Bateson 1985; Bitner 1995; Bolton 1998; Grönroos
1990; Singh 1991). The second area includes research on the customer as the employee, the
impact of self-service and customer involvement (Berry 1995; Bitner 1990; Bolton and Drew
1992; McColl-Kennedy 1998). Third is the role of tangible variables such as physical
surroundings, music and symbols on service delivery and customer perception and satisfaction
(Bitner 1990).
Moments of truth
Not only have researchers used the term “service encounters” loosely, they have used the terms
“service encounter” and “moments of truth” (popularised by Carlzon 1987) interchangeably.
Zeithaml and Bitner (1996) use “service encounter”, “service incident” and “moments of truth”
as interchangeable concepts. Specifically, the term they proposed for service exchange is referred
to as a “service encounter cascade”, suggesting that one “service encounter” flows on to another.
Bitner, Booms and Tetreault (1990) also use “moments of truth” and “service encounter”
interchangeably while discussing favourable and unfavourable incidents. They also refer to
service encounters as the “critical incidents” or “critical events”, using these terms
interchangeably. These “critical events” are defined as being an interaction that has a satisfactory
or dissatisfactory outcome hence contributing to the overall perception of the encounter.
However, Bitner, Booms and Tetreault (1990) limit its application to an actual service encounter,
elaborating on Carlzon’s organisational focus to include a customer provider dyad. Singh (1991)
initiated the importance of the customer’s role in the exchange process and delivery of customer
satisfaction suggesting the need for customer willingness and participation as an integral
component of the service encounter and the delivery of customer satisfaction. This concept
supports Bitner, Booms and Tetreault’s (1990) application of “moments of truth”.
Lovelock, Patterson and Walker (1998) take an even broader view, suggesting that service
encounters relate to any contact between customer and provider. Using this definition, one would
expect to have a greater number of encounters in a high contact service environment and few
encounters in low contact services. This may suggest that “moments of truth” could be regarded
as windows of opportunity for customer satisfaction. However, our knowledge of the other
variables such as physical surroundings and their impact on customer satisfaction, would suggest
this is not the case (Bitner 1990).
The concept of customer contact as the main element of a service encounter is reiterated by
Zeithaml and Bitner’s (1996) definition of encounter types. Three types of encounters are
identified, telephone, remote and face to face. Zeithaml and Bitner (1996) also suggest that not all
encounters are of critical importance to customer satisfaction. Therefore, using previous
definitions of moments of truth and service encounters, this definition could be interpreted to
mean that not all moments of truth are contributory to customer satisfaction. This scenario would
further confuse the concept of a workable definition of “service encounter”.
Service encounters defined
Notwithstanding the discrepancies in these definitions, most researchers agree that service
encounters are dyadic (McColl-Kennedy, 1998; Solomon et al. 1985), and have a beginning and
an endpoint or outcome (Berry 1983), and some form of exchange takes place (Dwyer, Schurr
and Oh 1987). Indeed, Singh (1991) argues that the service encounters can be made up of a
number of incidents, some critical to the customer satisfaction construct, and other incidents that
are critical to the process of service delivery. These incidents are perhaps best described as
“moments of truth” and are based on interactions between the customer and provider (Solomon et
al. 1985). Non-interactional encounters can be referred to as incidents or events (Dwyer, Schurr
and Oh 1987). Furthermore, most would agree that the term “service encounter” relates to a
number of events that occur between a customer and a provider in the exchange of a service:
“Not all service encounters are simple dyadic relationships. Some may involve a series of
dyadic interactions, while others are still more complex and involve a number of different
actors.” (Solomon et al. 1985, p 100)
The type and duration of service encounter will be indicative of the type of interaction required to
maximise satisfaction in the encounter relationship. Service encounters have no set time frame;
however, in their simplest form they have a beginning and an end. Price, Arnould and Tierney
(1995) appear to be the first to provide a typology of services based on key dimensions, including
duration. A service relationship or encounter that continues without a defined ending will
evidence many different dimensions. It seems a reasonable conclusion that “critical incidents”
and “moments of truth” should be regarded as being the same and therefore could be used
interchangeably.
Discrete and relational transactions
The concept of exchange warrants further discussion (Dwyer, Schurr and Oh 1987). Exchange as
a concept has been argued by many researchers to consist of four important components. First, it
involves two or more parties as discussed in the service encounter literature. Second, it defines
the social network of the parties that interact, execute and form the exchange process. Third, it
offers an environment for parties to examine the tangible and intangible objects offered in the
exchange. Fourth, it allows the evaluation of the credentials and activities of the exchange
(Dwyer, Schurr and Oh 1987).
Early in the lifecycle of services marketing research, researchers focussed on the concept of the
discrete transaction and ignored the concept of the relational exchange. The concept of a discrete
transaction is built on the exchange of some form of currency for some commodity. The initial
definition of a discrete transaction excluded any form of relational exchange. Now the concept of
“partially discrete” transactions has emerged. A partially discrete transaction is defined as having
limited or narrow relational contact and communication, and is suggestive of a one-off or
independent purchase (Dwyer, Schurr and Oh 1987). This concept of partially discrete
transactions will form the basis of our definition of an episodic service encounter (Grönroos
1995).
Relational transactions refer to the development of a service relationship over time (Berry 1995;
Bitner 1995; Gwinner, Gremler and Bitner 1998; Sheth and Parvatiyar 1995). That is, every
service incident contributes to the service encounter, and multiple service encounters over time
contribute to an ongoing complex relationship (Dwyer, Schurr and Oh 1987). The relational
exchange will be based on the dyads as well as the development of trust, courtesy and
consistency; whereas a partially discrete transaction is based on service delivery, quality, price
and the receipt of expected attributes, with minimal emphasis on relational attributes (Dwyer,
Schurr and Oh 1987). It is important for researchers to distinguish between these exchanges in
order to develop service delivery strategies for differing types of service exchanges (Grönroos,
1995). For instance, a typical partially discrete encounter is that of a restaurant transaction. Here,
the customer engages in a transaction to receive a meal that hopefully satisfies their expectations
of delivery and quality. The customer in this encounter will expect to be treated with courtesy,
but this will not form the primary focus of the relationship. On the other hand, a customer
engaging in a long-term medical relationship will be focussing on the issues of trust with regard
to advice, consistency with advice coupled with the delivery of quality treatment (Bolton 1998;
Singh 1991).
Proposed theoretical framework
Bolton (1998) proposed several variables that affect the nature of service encounter relationships.
These included first, the type of revenue stream _ multiple or singular; second, the dollar amount
of the exchange and the perceived customer value of that dollar amount; and third, the duration of
the service encounter required to adequately provide the defined service. This duration is not
defined in the measures of time but in measures of multiple encounters. These variables, coupled
with the concept of relational and partially discrete transactions, offer insight into the definitions
of episodic, extended and continuous transactions and will provide the basis for the service
encounter framework. Building on Bolton’s work we propose the following framework that
consists of three types of service encounter: episodic, extended and continuous.
Figure 1 provides a framework that sets out the relationships between the three service encounter
types. An episodic service encounter consists of a single revenue stream and requires a defined
service duration in the delivery of the service. As such, an episodic encounter has a partially
discrete exchange focus and may accommodate many or few moments of truth. An extended
service encounter also consists of a single revenue stream in a defined service duration, and has
a partially discrete exchange focus accommodating many or few moments of truth. However,
unlike an episodic encounter, an extended encounter allows for the delivery of multiple services
within the one service encounter. A continuous service encounter consists of an ongoing
revenue stream and an undefined service duration. As such, a continuous service encounter
consists of many individual possibly episodic service encounters. Unlike episodic and extended
service encounters, a continuous service encounter has multiple relational exchanges that could
be defined as “moments of truth” or “critical incidents”.
Theoretical contribution
This paper has made a contribution in that it has highlighted the inconsistencies in the literature
even today between the fundamental concepts of “service encounter”, “moments of truth” and
“critical incidents”. Furthermore, the paper has provided a framework that not only distinguishes
between the three forms of service encounters _ “episodic”, “extended” and “continuous” _ but
also shows how the three concepts are related. As such this is the first paper to attempt to sort out
this confusion, and to put forward such a framework.
Practical implications
Separating out episodic, extended and continuous service encounters is useful to industry.
Primarily, it helps them to define their product in a diagnostic form so that they can focus
activities on the fundamental elements of their service delivery and develop strategies that are
relevant to their industry rather than to a generic definition of service. In particular, for
organisations that offer an episodic service encounter such as a restaurant encounter, the focus
should be on the quality of service delivery and meeting the customer expectations to attempt to
engender positive word-of-mouth and repeat purchase (Bitner, Booms and Mohr 1994). On the
other hand, an extended service encounter, which includes the delivery of multiple services in a
defined period such as an extended hotel stay, would require focus on a mix of relational and
operational strategies (Bitner, Booms and Mohr 1994). Finally, continuous service encounter
providers, as suggested by Singh (1991) and Bolton (1998), need to focus on mainly relational
exchange attributes whilst ensuring adequate service delivery.
Figure 1. Service Encounter Framework
Moment of
truth
Moment of
truth
Moments of truth/
relational exchanges
Moment of
truth
Moment of
truth
Moments of truth/
relational exchanges
Single
revenue
Single
revenue
Multiple
revenue
stream
stream
stream
Defined service duration
Episodic service
encounter
Extended service
encounter
Undefined duration
Continuous service
encounter
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