IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/proeco/v135y2012i2p800-812.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Service productivity and service quality: A necessary trade-off?

Author

Listed:
  • Calabrese, Armando

Abstract

This paper is about service productivity and perceived service quality. Both a high service productivity and a high customer perceived quality are two main drivers of good performances in service companies and they simultaneously occur as a consequence of a synergy of several drivers such as employees' competences and motivation, organizational efficiency, technical devices availability, information technologies employment, etc. In scientific literature a trade-off between productivity and perceived service quality is asserted and several cases derived both by market observations and academic research could bear such trade-off out. But, is it possible to state that, under some circumstances, such a trade-off between productivity and perceived service quality could be avoided? And if yes, why such certified substitution should not work?

Suggested Citation

  • Calabrese, Armando, 2012. "Service productivity and service quality: A necessary trade-off?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(2), pages 800-812.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:proeco:v:135:y:2012:i:2:p:800-812
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpe.2011.10.014
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925527311004440
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ijpe.2011.10.014?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kets de Vries, Manfred, 2004. "Organizations on the Couch:: A Clinical Perspective on Organizational Dynamics," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 183-200, April.
    2. Leete, Laura, 2000. "Wage equity and employee motivation in nonprofit and for-profit organizations," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 423-446, December.
    3. Oded Stark, 1990. "A Relative Deprivation Approach to Performance Incentives in Career Games and Other Contests," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(2), pages 211-227, May.
    4. Collins, Frank, 1982. "Managerial accounting systems and organizational control: A role perspective," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 107-122, April.
    5. Clark, Andrew E. & Oswald, Andrew J., 1996. "Satisfaction and comparison income," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 359-381, September.
    6. Babakus, Emin & Boller, Gregory W., 1992. "An empirical assessment of the SERVQUAL scale," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 253-268, May.
    7. Smith, Anne M., 1999. "Some Problems When Adopting Churchill's Paradigm for the Development of Service Quality Measurement Scales," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 109-120, October.
    8. Brady, Michael K. & Cronin, J. Jr. & Brand, Richard R., 2002. "Performance-only measurement of service quality: a replication and extension," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 17-31, January.
    9. Gronroos, Christian & Ojasalo, Katri, 2004. "Service productivity: Towards a conceptualization of the transformation of inputs into economic results in services," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 57(4), pages 414-423, April.
    10. Levine, David I., 1991. "Cohesiveness, productivity, and wage dispersion," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 237-255, March.
    11. Chang, Yu-Hern & Yeh, Chung-Hsing, 2002. "A survey analysis of service quality for domestic airlines," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(1), pages 166-177, May.
    12. Bitner, Mary Jo & Brown, Stephen W., 2008. "The service imperative," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 39-46.
    13. repec:bla:kyklos:v:43:y:1990:i:2:p:211-27 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Buzacott, John A., 2000. "Service system structure," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 15-27, October.
    15. John Boudreau & Wallace Hopp & John O. McClain & L. Joseph Thomas, 2003. "On the Interface Between Operations and Human Resources Management," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 5(3), pages 179-202, September.
    16. Frey, Bruno S., 1993. "Shirking or work morale? : The impact of regulating," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 1523-1532, December.
    17. Frey, Bruno S., 1997. "On the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic work motivation1," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 15(4), pages 427-439, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Panagiotis Mitropoulos & Ioannis Mitropoulos, 2020. "Performance evaluation of retail banking services: Is there a trade‐off between production and quality?," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(7), pages 1237-1250, October.
    2. Tetiana Kniazieva & Anna Shevchenko & Hanna Radchenko & Olena Komova & Liliia Pankova, 2021. "The Impact Of Transnationalization On The Global Consumer Market," Baltic Journal of Economic Studies, Publishing house "Baltija Publishing", vol. 7(5).
    3. Jayanath Ananda & Nicholas Pawsey, 2019. "Benchmarking service quality in the urban water industry," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 51(1), pages 55-72, February.
    4. Mikko Pynnönen & Jukka Hallikas & Paavo Ritala & Karri Mikkonen, 2014. "Analyzing systemic customer value in scalable business services," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(14), pages 1154-1166, October.
    5. Robert Frost & Kelly Lyons, 2017. "Service Systems Analysis Methods and Components: A Systematic Literature Review," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 9(3), pages 219-234, September.
    6. Cui-Hua Zhang & Peng Xing & Jin Li, 2018. "Optimal Strategy of Social Responsibility and Quality Effort in Service Supply Chain with Quality Preference," Asia-Pacific Journal of Operational Research (APJOR), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 35(03), pages 1-43, June.
    7. Zhang, Cuihua & Xing, Peng, 2015. "A research on service quality decision-making of Chinese communications industry based on quantum game," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 432(C), pages 9-15.
    8. Sharifah Rahama Amirul & Khairul Hanim Pazim & Sharifah Milda Amirul & Rasid Mail & Jakaria Dasan, 2022. "Developing and validating the qualitative labour productivity measurement in service industry," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 2853-2874, August.
    9. Akter, Shahriar & Wamba, Samuel Fosso & D’Ambra, John, 2019. "Enabling a transformative service system by modeling quality dynamics," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 210-226.
    10. Greco, Marco & Cricelli, Livio & Grimaldi, Michele, 2013. "A strategic management framework of tangible and intangible assets," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 55-66.
    11. Christoph Pross & Christoph Strumann & Alexander Geissler & Helmut Herwartz & Nadja Klein, 2018. "Quality and resource efficiency in hospital service provision: A geoadditive stochastic frontier analysis of stroke quality of care in Germany," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(9), pages 1-30, September.
    12. Ajay Kumar Behera & Narayan C. Nayak & Harish C. Das, 2016. "Performance of Indian Service Industries Due to IT Adoption," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 17(5), pages 1073-1093, October.
    13. Kyuwan Choi & Jinkwon Kim, 2024. "Measuring Hotel Service Productivity Using Two-Stage Network DEA," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-24, October.
    14. Kanghwa Choi & DonHee Lee & David Olson, 2015. "Service quality and productivity in the U.S. airline industry: a service quality-adjusted DEA model," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 9(1), pages 137-160, March.
    15. Alemayehu, Fikru K. & Kumbhakar, Subal C. & Landazuri Tveteraas, Sigbjørn, 2022. "Estimation of staff use efficiency: Evidence from the hospitality industry," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    16. Meng Qu & Kai Zhao & Renhui Zhang & Yuan Gao & Jing Wang, 2022. "Divergence between Willingness and Behavior of Farmers to Purchase Socialized Agricultural Services: From a Heterogeneity Perspective of Land Scale," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-21, July.
    17. Mackelprang, Alan W. & Jayaram, Jayanth & Xu, Kefeng, 2012. "The influence of types of training on service system performance in mass service and service shop operations," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(1), pages 183-194.
    18. Hallikas, Jukka & Immonen, Mika & Pynnönen, Mikko & Mikkonen, Karri, 2014. "Service purchasing and value creation: Towards systemic purchases," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(PA), pages 53-61.
    19. Umer Mukhtar & Suleman Anwar, 2016. "Outcome, interaction, environment and relationship quality in service quality interfaces gaps and supply chain competitiveness: a conceptual framework," International Journal of Business Forecasting and Marketing Intelligence, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 2(3), pages 248-268.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Leete, Laura, 2000. "Wage equity and employee motivation in nonprofit and for-profit organizations," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 423-446, December.
    2. Tortia, Ermanno C., 2008. "Worker well-being and perceived fairness: Survey-based findings from Italy," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 2080-2094, October.
    3. Ermanno Tortia, 2006. "Worker satisfaction and perceived fairness: result of a survey in public, and non-profit organizations," Department of Economics Working Papers 0604, Department of Economics, University of Trento, Italia.
    4. Tortia, Ermanno, 2014. "L'impresa come bene comune," AICCON Working Papers 131-2013, Associazione Italiana per la Cultura della Cooperazione e del Non Profit.
    5. Ermanno C. Tortia, 2011. "The firm as a common. The case of accumulation and use of common resources in mutual benefit organizations," Department of Economics Working Papers 1112, Department of Economics, University of Trento, Italia.
    6. Maurizio Carpita & Silvia Golia, 2012. "Measuring the quality of work: the case of the Italian social cooperatives," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 46(6), pages 1659-1685, October.
    7. Carlo Borzaga & Ermanno Tortia, 2004. "Worker involvement in entrepreneurial nonprofit organizations. Toward a new assessment of workers' perceived satisfaction and fairness," Department of Economics Working Papers 0409, Department of Economics, University of Trento, Italia.
    8. Chandra Mahapatra, Subas & Bellamkonda, Raja Shekhar, 2023. "Higher expectations of passengers do really sense: Development and validation a multiple scale-FliQual for air transport service quality," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    9. Pablo Gutiérrez Rodríguez & José Vázquez Burguete & Roger Vaughan & Jonathan Edwards, 2009. "Quality dimensions in the public sector: municipal services and citizen’s perception," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 6(1), pages 75-90, June.
    10. Joseph Lanfranchi & Mathieu Narcy, 2022. "How do prosocial motivation and performance‐related pay interact in the workplace context? Evidence from the non‐profit sector," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(3), pages 436-455, August.
    11. Joseph LANFRANCHI & Mathieu NARCY, 2008. "Différence De Satisfaction Dans L'Emploi Entre Secteurs À But Lucratif Et À But Non Lucratif: Le Rôle Joué Par Les Caractéristiques D'Emploi," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 79(2), pages 323-368, June.
    12. Stark, Oded & You Qiang Wang, 2002. "A Theory of Self-Segregation as a Response to Relative Deprivation," Royal Economic Society Annual Conference 2002 168, Royal Economic Society.
    13. Kuhn, Michael & Gundlach, Erich, 2006. "Delegating budgets when agents care about autonomy," Thuenen-Series of Applied Economic Theory 69, University of Rostock, Institute of Economics.
    14. Delfgaauw, Josse & Dur, Robert, 2007. "Signaling and screening of workers' motivation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 62(4), pages 605-624, April.
    15. Brady, Michael K. & Cronin, J. Jr. & Brand, Richard R., 2002. "Performance-only measurement of service quality: a replication and extension," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 17-31, January.
    16. Nikhil Chandra Shil & Bhagaban Das, 2012. "Satisfaction management in retail financial services: an analysis of gap in perceived quality," International Journal of Financial Services Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 5(3), pages 256-271.
    17. Liou, James J.H. & Hsu, Chao-Che & Yeh, Wen-Chien & Lin, Rong-Ho, 2011. "Using a modified grey relation method for improving airline service quality," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1381-1388.
    18. Stark, Oded, 2006. "Inequality and migration: A behavioral link," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 91(1), pages 146-152, April.
    19. Babic-Hodovic Vesna & Arslanagic-Kalajdzic Maja & Imsirpasic Amina, 2017. "Perceived Quality and Corporate Image in Mobile Services: The Role of Technical and Functional Quality," South East European Journal of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 12(1), pages 114-125, April.
    20. Joseph Lanfranchi & Mathieu Narcy, 2012. "Effort and Monetary Incentives in Nonprofit and For-Profit Organizations," Working Papers halshs-00856261, HAL.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:proeco:v:135:y:2012:i:2:p:800-812. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ijpe .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.