A modified weighted SERVQUAL method and its application on elder care house in Taiwan

Abstract

SERVQUAL (SERVice QUALity) instrument is a self-completion questionnaire, containing five dimensions and twenty-two items presented in the form of seven-point Likert scale, is considered the appliance that the most complete to measure service quality. This research proposed a modified weighted SERVQUAL analysis, based on statistical principle, which is able to explore customers’ satisfaction combined with importance evaluation on attribute level. The effectiveness of this modified weighted analysis is validated with a comparison of the results of SERVQUAL and weighted SERVQUAL analysis applied to a nursing home study in Taiwan. The results derive from SERVQUAL and weighted SERVQUAL are exactly identical. “Suitable temperature at elderly rooms”, “Feel safe and feel at home” and “Medical treatment and doctor visiting are well scheduled” are the first three gap score among all attributes. By applying our modified weighted SERVQUAL analysis, the importance of each attribute could be taken into consideration. “Nurses understand elderly’s needs” and “The employees solve the elderly’s problem sincerely” are promoted to first two and three gap score, due to their high importance ranking (top 84 and 90% respectively). Our modified weighted analysis demonstrated the usability and discriminatory power of service quality evaluation than original weighted SERVQUAL method. Finally, a number of recommendations and insights to address these shortfalls have been proposed to managers. Service quality cannot be overemphasized because of its strong link to higher customer satisfaction, repurchase, customer loyalty and leads to higher profitability in modern competitive business environment.