Measuring Dimensions of Service Quality

Abstract

The modern business environment is very changeable and, considering the very high pace of changes in
business, in some economic activities, apart from the factors of macro-environment, the factors from micro-circulation
can also be very significant. This is especially noticeable if we focus on service activities which, due to their
characteristics, generally have restricted range of maneuvers available if they want to differentiate themselves from the
competition. The specific characteristics of services, such as intangibility, affect the fact that service users poorly
differentiate the quality level of the same service provided by different service providers. Nevertheless, increased
competition in all service activities has led to the need to differentiate the services provided to users. This fact has
influenced the situation where service users create a certain impression of how, according to them, the ideal and
acceptable levels of service should look. The activities and intention of service providers to attract as many users as
possible move the boundaries of an acceptable level of service and thereby create a system of values that users use to
evaluate the performance of a particular service provider. This forces service companies to, in addition to improving
their service process, continuously monitor the satisfaction of their users, as well as their expectations. The
expectations of service users are subject to the influence of various factors and, therefore, the process of measuring
expectations needs to be more thoroughly analyzed.
Depending on the starting point, several types of service quality can be distinguished. The service concept is very
close to the service user so, in defining the quality of services, it is necessary to start from the user's understanding of
the quality of the service. It is important that the user recognize the difference between his expectation from a
particular service and the perception of service created by the use of it. Models that support this and are widely
accepted in scientific and professional circles, are gap quality service model and SERVQUAL quality service model.
Gap model treats the quality of the service as a function of the perception of service users, and the SERVQUAL model
is based on the comparison of the expectations and perceptions of the observed service.
The aim of this paper is to point out the importance of understanding the concept of quality of services, its dimensions
and the way of measuring dimensions. The subject of the paper is the analysis of the quality of the service through
SERVQUAL model, based on users that use the services of enterprises that conduct their activities on the territory of
the Brcko District. The methods used in the paper are methods of analysis, synthesis, generalization, surveys and
statistical methods.