Uncertainty Avoidance as a Moderator of the Relationship between Perceived Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction

The extent to which members of different cultures vary in their reactions to uncertainty can have a major impact on how perceived service quality affects customer satisfaction. This article addresses the issue of cultural differences in the context of business-to-business relationships. A study invo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of service research : JSR 2008-08, Vol.11 (1), p.63-73
Main Authors: Reimann, Martin, Lünemann, Ulrich F., Chase, Richard B.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cultural differences
Customer satisfaction
Marketing
Quality of service
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Summary:The extent to which members of different cultures vary in their reactions to uncertainty can have a major impact on how perceived service quality affects customer satisfaction. This article addresses the issue of cultural differences in the context of business-to-business relationships. A study involving 303 Spanish, German, and Swedish business-to-business customers reveals that clients from cultures with a high degree of uncertainty avoidance were less satisfied than low-uncertainty avoidant clients when, as a result of a service defect, their service expectations were not met. In light of the tolerance zone concept, the finding suggests a narrower range of acceptable outcomes for high-uncertainty avoidance cultures. Important management implications of this study relate to service quality efforts, which should be explicitly designed to reflect intercultural differences in operations planning and training of service personnel.
ISSN:1094-6705
1552-7379
DOI:10.1177/1094670508319093