Managing service quality: applying utility theory in the prioritization of service attributes

The ability of a company to achieve excellence in service quality depends on the determination of service attributes and their desired levels. It depends also on the prioritization of service attributes, using appropriate quality improvement indices, in a consistent manner within the constraints of limited resources. There is a need to develop an operational procedure that would prioritize customer service attributes in a simple, inexpensive, and accurate manner. Well‐established instruments that measure service quality, such as SERVQUAL, have conceptualized the linear and symmetric relationship between service quality gaps and overall service quality. This paper investigated the asymmetric and nonlinear nature of this relationship and developed a model to advance utility theory into prioritization at the attribute level as well as at the dimensional level. In the service literature, this is a first attempt to apply utility theory in the prioritization of service attributes to help achieve quality in customer service.