RESQUAL: 레스토랑의 서비스 품질 척도개발

Abstract

RESQUAL: Scale Development for Measuring Service Quality in Restaurants

Kwang-Ji, Kim

Department of Statistics, Graduate School, Pukyong National University

Abstract

As competition in every field of restaurant intensifies, service quality began to be focused in order to acquire dominant position in competition via service differentiated from competitors. However, clear definition of service quality in restaurant and research on development of the service quality standard for restaurants that reflect current state of restaurant industry accurately remain meager. Due to these problems, this study aims to develop the tool to measure the service quality of restaurant, RESQUAL, and the procedure of developing this method was based on previous research. First, in order to develop items to be measured for evaluation of service quality, 47 items were deduced by investigative research, focus group interview, and interview of customers and workers. Testing on 47 items to assess reliability and validity showed physical environment quality of = .887, interaction quality of =.921, and outcome quality of =.931, and 46 out of 47 items for evaluation of RESQUAL service quality were chosen. Exploratory factor analysis showed that factor loading and eigenvalue for physical environment quality, interaction quality, and outcome quality are higher than standard value, confirming the validity of the method. Next, confirmatory factor analysis secured convergence validity and discriminant validity in physical environment quality, interaction quality, outcome quality, and overall RESQUAL service quality (=46.214, d.f.=24, p=.004, GFI=.938, AGFI=.884, NFI=.936, RMR=.047). Also, in the assessment of secondary reliability based on the result of confirmatory factor analysis, physical environment quality was =.858, interaction quality was =.878, and outcome quality was =.908, indicating satisfiable level. As a result of testing, total of 33 final RESQUAL items to be measured with sufficient reliability and validity were determined: 12 items for physical environment quality (3 items for social factor, 6 items for design, 4 items for surrounding environment), 9 items for interaction quality (3 items for attitude, 3 items for behavior, 3 items for specialty), and 12 items for outcome quality (3 items for waiting time, 6 items for tangibility, 3 items for customers' emotions). This study has several theoretical suggestions. First, service quality of restaurants could be measured more elaborately by using the newly suggested tool for measurement of service quality in the restaurants, RESQUAL. Second, analysis on importance of methods to measure the service quality tested weights of each dimension of service quality. Third, by classifying the restaurants into fast food restaurant, family restaurant, and dining restaurant and analyzing the difference between average weight and expectation for each dimension, this study enabled recognition of different weights of service quality factors in each type of restaurant. This study also has several suggestions in terms of actual work. First, development of methods to evaluate the importance of service quality in restaurants and analysis of weights on each dimension are expected to provide restaurants with efficient competitive power. Second, analysis of the difference between each dimension of service quality and outcome could provide information about which part of service needs to be actually improved. Third, because newly suggested RESQUAL accurately reflects current trend for restaurants, this method could help easy and convenient analysis of customer needs. However, this study also has some limits and topics for further research. First, this study could not prove fitness or excellence of the newly developed method compared to pre-existing methods for measurement of service quality such as SERVQUAL, SERVPEPF, or DINESERV model. Second, this study depended only on non-probability convenience sampling, and cross-sectional design. Following research is expected to compensate these problems. Key Word : Restaurants, Service Quality, Scale development