Performance-only measurement of service quality: a replication and extension

The research described in this study replicates and extends the Cronin and Taylor [Cronin JJ, Taylor SA. Measuring service quality: a reexamination and extension. J Mark 1992:55-68 (August).] study suggestion that service quality be measured using a performance-only index (SERVPERF) as opposed to the gap-based SERVQUAL scale. The intent of the research was to examine the ability of the performance-only measurement approach to capture the variance in consumers' overall perceptions of service quality across three studies. For the first study, the original Cronin and Taylor data were obtained and a replication of their study was undertaken using a recursive form of their non-recursive model in an effort to avoid the abnormal parameter estimates they reported. The replication successfully duplicated their finding as to the superiority of the performance-only measurement of service quality. The second and third studies included new data in which different measures of the constructs examined in Cronin and Taylor were employed in order to enhance the validity of the findings. The results from these two studies lent strong support again for the superiority of the performance-only approach to the measurement of service quality. In addition, both the replication and the two new studies were used to extend Cronin and Taylor's investigation of the service quality-consumer satisfaction relationship. The results of all three studies indicate that service quality is properly modeled as an antecedent of satisfaction. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.