Tourism service quality improvement - 'the early bird catches the worm'

The purpose of this study is to build an integrated important-performance and gap analysis-quality function deployment (IPGA-QFD) model with outperforming service quality improvement capabilities in (1) identifying key service failures and (2) seeking the most effective recovery solutions that can h...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Total quality management & business excellence 2015-08, Vol.26 (7-8), p.793-810
Main Authors: Lin, Shu-Ping, Yang, Chen-Lung, Ho, Thao-Minh
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Brand loyalty
Competitive advantage
Failure
importance-performance and gap analysis
IPGA-QFD model
quality function deployment
Quality improvement
Quality of service
Questionnaires
service quality improvement
Studies
Tourism
Travel agencies
travel agency
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Summary:The purpose of this study is to build an integrated important-performance and gap analysis-quality function deployment (IPGA-QFD) model with outperforming service quality improvement capabilities in (1) identifying key service failures and (2) seeking the most effective recovery solutions that can handle numerous existing key failures to meet customer demands at the highest level regarding travel agencies' internal management, network service, and local tour leaders. For data collection, survey questionnaires were sent to customers in Northern Taiwan using modified versions of the SERVQUAL, E-S-QUAL, and E-RecS-QUAL measurement scales. 305 valid responses of 400 distributed questionnaires were obtained (76.25%). The findings effectively point out key service failures and the most efficient improvement solutions. Travel agencies should take these findings into account when attempting to enhance overall performance and customer loyalty. This study is the first to integrate and modify the IPGA and QFD concepts to provide academicians and practitioners with an innovative method and useful guidelines for promoting service quality and sustainable competitiveness.
ISSN:1478-3363
1478-3371
DOI:10.1080/14783363.2014.886371