Bridging the gap between service provision and customer expectation

McKnight, S, 2009. Bridging the gap between service provision and customer expectation. Performance Measurement and Metrics, 10 (2), pp. 79-93. ISSN 0143-5124

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Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to serve as a reminder to all managers that they must understand their customers, from the customers’ perspective, and not make assumptions about customer needs. Design/methodology/approach: Customer Value Discovery workshops are held with undergraduate on-campus students and academic staff at Nottingham Trent University to identify customer values and irritations. Library staff participate in the workshops and vote as they expected their customers to vote. The gaps identified between staff assumptions of customer perceptions of service importance and performance serve as a catalyst for staff engagement in the change process that is necessary to deliver on the value propositions and reduce customer irritations. Findings: Library staff assumptions of customer perceptions were not always accurate. The gaps identified helped to engage staff in the change process that was necessary to improve perceptions of value and to reduce irritations. By explicitly addressing the value propositions with the aims of adding value and reducing irritation, student satisfaction with library services, as measured by two independent satisfaction surveys, improved considerably. Research limitations/implications: The research is based on two customer segments of one university library. The research should be repeated after a gap of three-four years to check if the value propositions and irritations have changed in that time. If so, the goals of the library’s operational plan would have to change to reflect the new value propositions.

Item Type: Journal article
Publication Title: Performance Measurement and Metrics
Creators: McKnight, S.
Publisher: Emerald
Date: 2009
Volume: 10
Number: 2
ISSN: 0143-5124
Identifiers:
Number
Type
10.1108/14678040911005428
DOI
Rights: © 2009 Emerald Group Publishing Ltd.
Divisions: Professional Services > Libraries and Learning Resources
Record created by: EPrints Services
Date Added: 09 Oct 2015 10:19
Last Modified: 23 Aug 2016 09:09
URI: https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/11167

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