Comparative service quality: German and American ratings across service settings

Marketing services internationally requires that companies become familiar with consumer attitudes in different service settings across different cultures. Using items from established measures of service quality, this study compared ratings of banks, medical care, retail clothing stores, postal facilities, and restaurants in Germany and the United States. The German respondents had lower service expectations, and generally lower perceived service outcomes, than did the American subjects. Five dimensions of service — reliability, empathy, responsiveness, assurance, and tangibles — explained 56 % of overall service quality in the German sample and 69 % in the American sample. Other important differences and some similarities between the samples appeared when service factors were examined across settings