Service Quality Dynamics: A Study on Indian Hotel Industry

Abstract

The significance of assessing service quality for business performance has been acknowledged in various service marketing studies due to its direct influence on customer satisfaction and its indirect implications for customer loyalty. Despite the recognition of service quality and its measurement, very few studies have empirically examined the precursors and consequences of service quality after Covid-19 pandemic which has had a colossal structural impact on the world and from Indian context. In this study we gauge the antecedents and consequences of service quality pre and post the Covid-19 pandemic. The present study endeavors to ascertain whether all the dimensions of SERVQUAL carry equal weight in terms of their impact on overall service quality before and after the pandemic. Additionally, the study intends to evaluate whether the ranking of the SERVQUAL dimensions remains consistent before and after the pandemic. The study further empirically determines whether there exists a disparity in the total service quality score between the pre-Covid and post-Covid periods. The empirical findings suggest that all service quality dimensions are not of equal importance and exhibit a significant difference in their impact on the total service quality score during the post-Covid period. Consequently, in the study we conclude that ranking of five dimensions remains consistent in terms of their effect on the total service quality score during pre- and post-Covid periods.