An assessment of the relationship between critical factors of quality management and customer perceptions of service quality

Three streams of research relevant to quality management were pulled together in this study. The primary objective of the study was to examine empirically the relationship between critical factors of quality management, organizational culture/transformational leadership, and quality performance as measured by customer perceptions of service quality. The secondary objectives were: to examine the validity and reliability of the SERVQUAL instrument; to determine the relative importance of the service quality dimensions in influencing customer satisfaction; and finally to compare financial and non-financial business units with respect to the dimensions of service quality and factors of quality management. The Critical Factors of Quality Management were found to be significantly correlated with customer perceptions of service quality (r =.42) and with organizational quality culture (r =.44). However, no significant relationship was found between customer perceptions of service quality and transformational leadership nor between transformational leadership and the Critical Factors of Quality Management. The SERVQUAL instrument was determined to be a highly reliable and valid measure of customer perceptions of service quality across a broad spectrum of service industries. The "Reliability" dimension of service quality was found to be the most significant factor influencing customer satisfaction. A significant difference was found between the 5 dimensions of service quality in financial and non-financial business units, with "Tangibles" being the most distinctive dimension separating the two groups. However, no overall significant difference was found between these two groups with respect to factors of quality management