Linking process and outcome to service quality and customer satisfaction evaluations

Purpose To examine precisely how service process and service outcome are related to service quality and customer satisfaction evaluations, and to look for consistent patterns in the relationships between these four concepts. Design/methodology/approach A theoretical framework is proposed to suggest links between the four concepts. The study is conducted in the real estate industry, and the focus is on home sellers' evaluations of the real estate agent's service. In‐depth interviews and a short survey are used to collect the data. A combination of content analysis and statistical tests is used to look for patterns in the data. Findings As proposed, process factors are closely linked with service quality, and outcome factors are closely linked with customer satisfaction. Also, as proposed, service quality evaluations precede customer satisfaction for normal service evaluations, but the opposite causal order is found for extreme service evaluations. Research limitations/implications The study is conducted in the USA and is based on a relatively small sample, but sufficient for qualitative (and simple statistical) analysis. The differential links proposed and found between the four concepts advance researchers' understanding of the basis for service evaluations. Practical implications Managers can focus more on either service process or service outcome based on their specific objectives and/or resource constraints in different situations. Originality/value It is the first study to propose and empirically support the idea that service process is closely linked with service quality evaluations, whereas service outcome is closely linked with customer satisfaction evaluations.