SUMMARY PAPERS SERVICES MARKETING
Paper lecture 3 + 4:
Measuring Service Quality: A Reexamination and Extension
The authors investigate the conceptualization and measurement of service quality and the
relationships between service quality, consumer satisfaction, and purchase intentions. A literature
review suggests that the current operationalization of service quality confounds satisfaction and
attitude. Hence, the authors test (1) an alternative method of operationalizing perceived service
quality and (2) the significance of the relationships between service quality, consumer satisfaction,
and purchase intentions. The results suggest that (1) a performance-based measure of service quality
may be an improved means of measuring the service quality construct, (2) service quality is an
antecedent of consumer satisfaction, (3) consumer satisfaction has a significant effect on purchase
intentions, and (4) service quality has less effect on purchase intentions than does consumer
satisfaction. Implications for managers and future research are discussed.
Paper lecture 5:
LADDERING THEORY, METHOD, ANALYSIS, AND INTERPRETATION
This article reviews and illustrates the technique of laddering both as an interviewing process and
through subsequent analysis. It demonstrates the technique’s usefulness in developing an
understanding of how consumers translate the attributes of products into meaningful associations
with respect to self-defining attitudes and values. The underlying theory behind the method, Means-
End Theory, is discussed, as well as the elements of the means-end chains representing the cognitive
levels of abstraction: attributes, consequences, and values. The interview environment necessary for
laddering to take place is given special attention along with the particular probing techniques
employed in the qualitative process of laddering. Basically, the respondent has to feel as if on a
voyage of self-discovery and that the object of the trip is to revisit every day, commonplace
experiences and examine the assumptions and desires driving seemingly simple choice behavior.
Several specific interviewing devices are described for eliciting product distinctions from respondents
that serve to initiate the laddering process, among them the use of triads, exploring preference-
consumption differences, and examining how consumption differs by occasion. The value of the
occasional context, providing a concrete frame of reference to generate meaningful distinctions, is
emphasized. Other techniques ~or moving the laddering interview upward when blocking occurs are
also discussed and illustrated. The analysis of laddering data is detailed noting the critical difference
between this methodology and more traditional qualitative research, namely, the primary output
being (structurally) quantitative in nature in the form of a hierarchical value map (HVM). In this vein,
the content analysis of ladder elements is positioned as an important step in this “crossing over”
from the qualitative to quantitative. Detailed attention is paid to the construction of the HVM from
the implication matrix, which represents the number of direct and indirect linkages between the
qualitative concepts elicited during the laddering process. Five types of relations among elements are
discussed, and their respective implications for constructing a HVM are illustrated. Having the HVM
to work with, the next step in transforming the output of laddering into useful information for
marketing decision-making is to determine the dominant perceptual orientations. That is, all
potential pathways (connections among elements) must be examined to determine their relative
strength of association. Two primary considerations are specified with examples, namely, the
number of relations among elements within the chain and the extent to which all elements are
interconnected. Lastly, the issue of applications is discussed referencing the key research problems of
Paper lecture 3 + 4:
Measuring Service Quality: A Reexamination and Extension
The authors investigate the conceptualization and measurement of service quality and the
relationships between service quality, consumer satisfaction, and purchase intentions. A literature
review suggests that the current operationalization of service quality confounds satisfaction and
attitude. Hence, the authors test (1) an alternative method of operationalizing perceived service
quality and (2) the significance of the relationships between service quality, consumer satisfaction,
and purchase intentions. The results suggest that (1) a performance-based measure of service quality
may be an improved means of measuring the service quality construct, (2) service quality is an
antecedent of consumer satisfaction, (3) consumer satisfaction has a significant effect on purchase
intentions, and (4) service quality has less effect on purchase intentions than does consumer
satisfaction. Implications for managers and future research are discussed.
Paper lecture 5:
LADDERING THEORY, METHOD, ANALYSIS, AND INTERPRETATION
This article reviews and illustrates the technique of laddering both as an interviewing process and
through subsequent analysis. It demonstrates the technique’s usefulness in developing an
understanding of how consumers translate the attributes of products into meaningful associations
with respect to self-defining attitudes and values. The underlying theory behind the method, Means-
End Theory, is discussed, as well as the elements of the means-end chains representing the cognitive
levels of abstraction: attributes, consequences, and values. The interview environment necessary for
laddering to take place is given special attention along with the particular probing techniques
employed in the qualitative process of laddering. Basically, the respondent has to feel as if on a
voyage of self-discovery and that the object of the trip is to revisit every day, commonplace
experiences and examine the assumptions and desires driving seemingly simple choice behavior.
Several specific interviewing devices are described for eliciting product distinctions from respondents
that serve to initiate the laddering process, among them the use of triads, exploring preference-
consumption differences, and examining how consumption differs by occasion. The value of the
occasional context, providing a concrete frame of reference to generate meaningful distinctions, is
emphasized. Other techniques ~or moving the laddering interview upward when blocking occurs are
also discussed and illustrated. The analysis of laddering data is detailed noting the critical difference
between this methodology and more traditional qualitative research, namely, the primary output
being (structurally) quantitative in nature in the form of a hierarchical value map (HVM). In this vein,
the content analysis of ladder elements is positioned as an important step in this “crossing over”
from the qualitative to quantitative. Detailed attention is paid to the construction of the HVM from
the implication matrix, which represents the number of direct and indirect linkages between the
qualitative concepts elicited during the laddering process. Five types of relations among elements are
discussed, and their respective implications for constructing a HVM are illustrated. Having the HVM
to work with, the next step in transforming the output of laddering into useful information for
marketing decision-making is to determine the dominant perceptual orientations. That is, all
potential pathways (connections among elements) must be examined to determine their relative
strength of association. Two primary considerations are specified with examples, namely, the
number of relations among elements within the chain and the extent to which all elements are
interconnected. Lastly, the issue of applications is discussed referencing the key research problems of
