Integration of fuzzy theory into Kano model for classification of service quality elements: A case study in a machinery industry of China

<p><strong><em>Purpose:</em></strong> The purpose of study is to meet customer requirements and improve customer satisfaction that aims to classify customer requirements more effectively. And the classification is focused on the customer psychology.</p> <p><strong><em>Design/methodology/approach:</em></strong> In this study, considering the advantages of Kano model in taking into account both customer’s consuming psychology and motivation, and combining with fuzzy theory which is effective to cope with uncertainty and ambiguity, a Kano model based on fuzzy theory is proposed. In view of the strong subjectivity of traditional Kano questionnaires, a fuzzy Kano questionnaire to classify the service quality elements more objectively is proposed. Furthermore, this study will also develop a mathematical calculation performance according to the quality classification of fuzzy Kano model. It’s more objective than traditional Kano model to realize the service quality elements classification. With this method, the accurate mentality can be fully reasonable reflected in some unknown circumstances. Finally, an empirical study in Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group Co., Ltd, the largest manufacturing industry in China, is showed to testify its feasibility and validity.</p> <p><strong><em>Findings:</em></strong><strong> </strong>The calculation results indicate that the proposed model has good performance in classifying customer requirements. With this method, the accurate mentality can be fully reasonable reflected in unknown circumstances and it is more objective than traditional Kano model to classify the service quality elements.</p> <p><strong><em>Originality/value: </em></strong>This study provides a method to integrate fuzzy theory and Kano model, and develops a mathematical calculation performance according to the quality classification of fuzzy Kano model.