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Mystery shopping, a form of participant observation, uses researchers to act as customers or potential customers to monitor the processes and procedures used in the delivery of a service. In the UK, mystery shopping is used quite extensively by organisations in financial services, retailing, motor dealerships, hotels and catering, passenger transportation, public utilities and government departments [Lehman, 1997]. However, although a number of articles on mystery shopping have appeared in the trade press [Miles, 1993; Newton, 1994; Cramp, 1994; Burnside, 1994; McNeil, 1994; Dwek, 1996], published academic research has been limited to a small number of papers. Dawson and Hillier [1995] discussed the ethics of mystery shopping, Morrison et al. [ 1997] researched the cognitive processes of shoppers, the remainder have tended to focus on its use in specific sectors [banking: Leeds, 1995; Dorman, 1994; Morrall, 1994; consumer protection: Brown et al., 1997] This paper aims to extend this literature by reporting on a programme of exploratory research which examines the role of mystery shopping in the measurement and management of the service delivery process across a number of service sectors.
PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION AND MYSTERY SHOPPING
The use of participant observation, where the researcher interacts with the subject or subjects being observed stems from the field of cultural anthropology. Anthropologists would take part in a tribe's daily life in order to understand the norms, attitudes and behaviours that were neither documented or communicable via language. Such observation also allowed the researcher to overcome some of the potential weaknesses of interviewing and survey research. These are highlighted by Friedrichs and Ludtke [1975]:
There is often a discrepancy between real and reported behaviour. Occasionally statements are made in interviews which are not in accordance with the factual behaviour of the interviewed persons. 2. Often facts are brought to light by means of natural settings only. The interviewee is not conscious of them and they are therefore not easy to get at by questioning.
3. The verbal capabilities of the interviewed person can limit the quality and quantity of information gathered.
In the services context, observational methods are able to provide information on the service experience as it unfolds [Grove and Fisk, 1992]. In particular, participant observation helps to develop a richer knowledge of the experiential nature...