The present study explored the relationship between cultural norms and customers’ expectations for service by means of a pancultural factor model of restaurant service expectations. A survey instrument was developed in a three-stage process using input generated from focus groups in both the United States and Hong Kong. The service encounter was the level of measure and the instrument emphasized the behavioral components of service. Data were collected from comparable samples in the United States and Hong Kong. A six-dimensional model of service expectations was generated. Subsequent analyses indicated that the two groups differed significantly in their assessments of importance for each of the six dimensions. The results provide meaningful implications for managing service quality and training customer contact employees.
Adler, N. J., & Graham, J. L. (1989, Fall). Cross-cultural interaction: The international comparison fallacy?Journal of International Business Studies, 515-537.
2.
Ashford, B. E., & Humphrey, R. H. (1993). Emotional labor in service roles: The influence of identity. Academy of Management Review, 18(1), 88-115.
3.
Babakus, E., & Boller, G. (1992). An empirical assessment of the SERVQUAL scale. Journal of Business Research, 24, 253-268.
4.
Babakus, E., & Mangold, W. G. (1992). Adapting the SERVQUAL scale to hospital services: An empirical investigation. Health Services Research, 26(6), 767-786.
5.
Barrington, M. N., & Olsen, M. D. (1987). Concept of service in the hospitality industry. Journal of Hospitality Management, 6(3), 131-138.
6.
Beatty, S. E., Jeon, J., Albaum, G., & Murphy, B. (1994). A cross-national study of leisure activities. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 25(3), 409-422.
7.
Bitner, M. J. (1995, Fall). Building service relationships: It’s all about promises. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 23, 246-251.
8.
Bitner, M. J., Booms, B. H., & Mohr, L. A. (1994, October). Critical encounters: The employee’s viewpoint. Journal of Marketing, 58, 95-106.
9.
Bitner, M. J., Booms, B. H., & Tetreault, M. S. (1990, January). The service encounter: Diagnosing favorable and unfavorable incidents. Journal of Marketing, 54, 71-84.
10.
Bojanic, D. C., & Rosen, L. D. (1994). Measuring service quality in restaurants: An application of the SERVQUAL instrument. Hospitality Research Journal, 18(1), 3-14.
11.
Bond, M. H. (1988). Finding universal dimensions of individual variation in multicultural studies of values: The rokeach and Chinese value surveys. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55(6), 1009-1015.
12.
Bowen, D., & Schneider, B. (1985). Boundary-spanning-role employees and the service encounter: Some guidelines for management and research. In Czepiel, Soloman, & Surprenant (Eds.), The service encounter. Lexington, MA: Heathe and Company.
13.
Brown, T. J., Churchill, G. A., & Peter, J. P. (1993). Improving the measurement of service quality. Journal of Retailing, 69(1), 127-139.
14.
Carman, J. M. (1990, Spring). Consumer perceptions of service quality: An assessment of the SERVQUAL dimensions. Journal of Retailing, 66, 33-55.
15.
Cronbach, L. J. (1951, October). Coefficient alphas and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16, 297-334.
16.
Cronin, J. J., & Taylor, S. A. (1992, January). Measuring service quality: A re-examination and extension. Journal of Marketing, 56, 55-68.
17.
Cronin, J. J., & Taylor, S. A. (1994, January). SERVPERF versus SERVQUAL: Reconciling performance-based and perceptions-minus-expectations measurement of service quality. Journal of Marketing, 58, 125-131.
18.
Czepiel, J. A. (1990). Service encounters and service relationships: Implications for research. Journal of Business, 20, 13-21.
19.
Fick, G., & Ritchie, R. B. (1991). Measuring service quality in the travel and tourism industry. Journal of Travel Research, 30(2), 2-9.
20.
Finn, D. W., & Lamb, C. W. (1991). An evaluation of the SERVQUAL scales in a retail setting. In R. H. Holman & M. R. Solomon (Eds.), Advances in consumer research. Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research.
21.
Hofstede, G. (1983a). The cultural relativity of organizational theories. Journal of International Business Studies, XIV(2), 75-90.
22.
Hofstede, G. (1983b). National cultures in four dimensions: A research-based theory of cultural differences among nations. International Studies of Management & Organizations, 13(1-2), 46-74.
23.
Hofstede, G., & Bond, M. H. (1988). The Confucius connection: From cultural roots to economic growth. Organizational Dynamics, 16(4), 4-21.
24.
Keaveney, S. M. (1995, April). Customer switching behavior in service industries: An exploratory study. Journal of Marketing, 59, 71-82.
25.
Knisely, G. (1979). Listening to consumer is key to consumer of service marketing. Advertising Age, 50, 54-60.
26.
Knutson, B. J., Stevens, P., Wullaert, C., Patton, M., & Ypkoyama, F. (1990). LODSERV: A service quality index for the lodging industry. Hospitality Research Journal, 14(2), 277-284.
27.
Langeard, E., Bateson, J., Lovelock, C., & Eiglier, P. (1981). Service marketing: New insights from consumers and managers. Cambridge, MA: Marketing Science Institute.
28.
Lee, Y. L., & Hing, N. (1995). Measuring quality in restaurant operations: An application of the SERVQUAL instrument. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 14(3/4), 293-310.
29.
Leung, K., & Bond, M. H. (1989). On the empirical identification of dimensions for cross-cultural comparisons. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 20(2), 133-151.
30.
Mittal, B., & Lassar, W. M. (1996). The role of personalization in service encounters. Journal of Retailing, 72(1), 95-109.
31.
Parasuraman, A., Berry, L. L., & Zeithaml, V. A. (1991, Winter). Refinement and reassessment of the SERVQUAL scale. Journal of Retailing, 67, 420-450.
32.
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1985, Fall). A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research. Journal of Marketing, 49, 41-50.
33.
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1988). SERVQUAL: A multiple item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality. Journal of Retailing, 64(1), 12-37.
34.
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1994, January). Reassessment of expectations as a comparison standard in measuring service quality: Implications for further research. Journal of Marketing, 58, 111-124.
35.
Ralston, D. A., Gustafson, D. J., Elsass, P. M., Cheung, F., & Terpstra, R. H. (1992). Eastern values: A comparison of managers in the United States, Hong Kong, and the People’s Republic of China. Journal of Applied Psychology, 77(5), 664-671.
36.
Shames, G. W., & Glover, G. (1989). World class service. Yarmouth, ME: Intercultural Press.
37.
Slattery, P. (1996). International development of hotel chains. In R. Kotas, R. Teare, J. Logie, C. Jayawaedena, & J. Bowen (Eds.), The international hospitality business (pp. 30-37). London: Cassell Wellington House.
38.
Snyder, C. A., Cox, J. F., & Jesse, R. R. (1982). A dependent demand approach to service organization planning and control. Academy of Management Review, 7(3), 455-466.
39.
Stevens, P., Knutson, B., & Patton, M. (1995). DINESERV: A tool for measuring service quality in restaurants. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 36(2), 56-60.
40.
Willey, A. (1995). Disneyland Paris (Euro Disney): Frequently asked questions. England: Sygnus Software Development.
41.
Zeithaml, V. A., Berry, L. L., & Parasuraman, A. (1993). The nature and determinants of customer expectations of service. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 21(1), 1-12.
42.
Zeithaml, V. A., Parasuraman, A., & Berry, L. L. (1988). Communication and control processes in the delivery of service quality. Journal of Marketing, 52, 35-48.
43.
Zeithaml, V. A., Parasuraman, A., & Berry, L. L. (1990). Delivering quality service: Balancing customer perceptions and expectations. New York: Free Press.
44.
Zerbe, W., & Falkenberg, L. (1989). The expression of emotion in organizational life: Differences across occupations. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Administrative Science Association of Canada, 10(5), 87-96.
