The Integration of performance measurement in the assessment and improvement of service quality, the service sector. Evidence from courier company in Greece

Abstract

The considerable attention that customers place in the notion of the quality of services has altered the practices which service organisations make use of, in order to assess and improve their service quality. In addition, the fierce competition extending from the inter-intra industry competitors to the unique characteristics of services has strengthened even more the challenges that service firms face. In that way, enterprises have acquired the principles of performance measurement in the service quality context, in order to examine the effectiveness and efficiency not only of their internal operations, but also the customers’ external perceptions. In this light, the current paper aims to provide the reader with an in-depth insight of the integration of performance measurement in the assessment and improvement of service quality. In that way, investigating the performance measurement system in the context which is occurred, the justification of its adoption, implementation and operation could be achieved. The current paper conducted under qualitative principles as well as documentary data were collected. Semi-structured interviews were employed in order valuable information to be gathered. Finally, questionnaires were applied to the company’s key customers, presenting a more accurate insight of the improvement of performance indicators in service quality context.

Keywords: Service Quality; Performance Measurement; Greek Postal Industry; SERVQUAL; QFD; IMSQM.