| This study introduces a new managerial tool for evaluating and managing service quality levels. This new approach treats service quality as an intermediate variable, not the ultimate managerial goal, and makes use of data envelopment analysis (DEA), a non-parametric technique which allows for the relative comparison of a number of comparable organizational decision making units (Sexton, 1986).;Using data from 497 customer surveys collected at 13 different grocery store locations for a major supermarket chain in the southeast region of the United States, relative efficiency scores and prescriptive guidance for improvement were generated for each store. These results were then compared to similar service quality performance evaluations generated using existing standard techniques (regression analysis, norms analysis, performance-importance mapping and control charts). The evidence suggests the data envelopment analysis technique provides a unique and much needed perspective that would help a manager to obtain optimal levels of service quality dimensions that are directly linked to critical performance outcomes for the organization. |
