A client-centric approach to service quality: The moderating role of gender in the audit firm-client relationship

This study addresses the weak translation of service quality investments into client loyalty in Big Four auditing, proposing client gender as a critical yet overlooked contingency. Using survey data from 234 Spanish executives and partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with multi-group analysis, we test whether client gender moderates the expectation→perception→loyalty chain. Results reveal a pronounced asymmetry: male executives readily convert quality perceptions into loyalty, whereas female executives demonstrate no significant conversion path. This decoupling of the perception–loyalty link for female clients indicates that standard SERVQUAL models fail to capture the decision calculus of nearly one-third of audit committee members. For male-led boards, practitioners should prioritize technical excellence (SLA compliance, zero-defect reporting); for female-led or mixed-gender boards, relational excellence becomes non-negotiable, requiring emotional-intelligence staffing and proactive communication protocols. The study empirically establishes client gender as a boundary condition in professional service quality, offering a precision-segmentation blueprint that addresses the persistent 5%–12% client defection rates observed across major audit firms.