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Measuring Service Quality: The Opinion of Europeans about Utilities

Author

Listed:
  • P. A. Ferrari

    (University of Milan)

  • S. Salini

    (University of Milan)

Abstract

This paper provides a comparative analysis of statistical methods to evaluate the consumer perception about the quality of Services of General Interest. The evaluation of the service quality perceived by users is usually based on Customer Satisfaction Survey data and an ex-post evaluation is then performed. Another approach, consisting in evaluating Consumers preferences, supplies an ex-ante information on Service Quality. Here, the ex-post approach is considered, two non-standard techniques - the Rasch Model and the Nonlinear Principal Component Analysis - are presented and the potential of both methods is discussed. These methods are applied on the Eurobarometer Survey data to assess the consumer satisfaction among European countries and in different years.

Suggested Citation

  • P. A. Ferrari & S. Salini, 2008. "Measuring Service Quality: The Opinion of Europeans about Utilities," Working Papers 2008.36, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
  • Handle: RePEc:fem:femwpa:2008.36
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Geoff Masters, 1982. "A rasch model for partial credit scoring," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 47(2), pages 149-174, June.
    2. Fiorio, Carlo V. & Florio, M. & Salini, S. & Ferrari, P.A., 2007. "Consumers' Attitudes on Services of General Interest in the EU: Accessibility, Price and Quality 2000-2004," Privatisation Regulation Corporate Governance Working Papers 12195, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    3. Sendhil Mullainathan & Marianne Bertrand, 2001. "Do People Mean What They Say? Implications for Subjective Survey Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 67-72, May.
    4. Lee Cronbach, 1951. "Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 16(3), pages 297-334, September.
    5. Tenenhaus, Michel & Vinzi, Vincenzo Esposito & Chatelin, Yves-Marie & Lauro, Carlo, 2005. "PLS path modeling," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 159-205, January.
    6. Green, Paul E & Srinivasan, V, 1978. "Conjoint Analysis in Consumer Research: Issues and Outlook," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 5(2), pages 103-123, Se.
    7. Gatta, Valerio & Marcucci, Edoardo, 2007. "Quality and public transport service contracts," European Transport \ Trasporti Europei, ISTIEE, Institute for the Study of Transport within the European Economic Integration, issue 36, pages 92-106.
    8. Pieralda FERRARI & Paola ANNONI & Silvia SALINI, 2005. "A comparison between alternative models for environmental ordinal data: Nonlinear PCA vs Rasch Analysis," Departmental Working Papers 2005-12, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    9. David Andrich, 1978. "A rating formulation for ordered response categories," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 43(4), pages 561-573, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Silvia FIGINI & Ron S. KENETT & Silvia SALINI, 2010. "Integrating operational and financial risk assessments," Departmental Working Papers 2010-02, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Service Quality; Eurobarometer; Non Linear Principal Component Analysis; Rasch Analysis; Conjoint Analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • C35 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Discrete Regression and Qualitative Choice Models; Discrete Regressors; Proportions
    • C43 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Index Numbers and Aggregation
    • L94 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Electric Utilities
    • L95 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Gas Utilities; Pipelines; Water Utilities
    • L96 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Telecommunications

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