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1 Introduction
Over the past two decades, a great deal of research has addressed various aspects of service quality. Service quality is generally recognised as a critical success factor in a firm's endeavours to differentiate itself from its competitors. Research has shown that good service quality leads to the retention of existing customers and the attraction of new ones, reduced costs, an enhanced corporate image, positive word-of-mouth recommendation, and, ultimately, enhanced profitability ([10] Berry et al. , 1989; [78] Reichheld and Sasser, 1990; [81] Rust and Zahorik, 1993; [25] Cronin et al. , 2000; [50] Kang and James, 2004; [93] Yoon and Suh, 2004).
Much of this research effort regarding service quality has been devoted to the development of reliable and replicable instruments for measuring the construct. Of these, perhaps the best known and most commonly used measure has been the "SERVQUAL" scale, which was originally developed by [71], [72] Parasuraman et al. (1985, 1988) and subsequently refined by [73], [74] Parasuraman et al. (1991, 1994). The SERVQUAL scale, which consists of 22 items representing five dimensions, was originally applied in five service settings: retail banking, credit card services, repair and maintenance of electrical appliances, long-distance telephone services, and title brokerage. Subsequently, the scale has been used to measure service quality in a wide variety of service environments.
Although the SERVQUAL instrument has been widely applied and valued by scholars and practising managers alike ([5] Asubonteng et al. , 1996; [15] Buttle, 1996; [60] Lam and Woo, 1997), several authors have identified potential difficulties with the conceptual foundation and empirical operationalisation of the scale ([16] Carman, 1990; [24] Cronin and Taylor, 1992; [5] Asubonteng et al. , 1996; [15] Buttle, 1996; [59] Lam, 1997; [90] van Dyke et al. , 1997; [4] Arasli et al. , 2005; [7] Badri et al. , 2005; [47] Jabnoun and Khalifa, 2005; [58] Landrum et al. , 2007). In particular, critics have questioned whether the five generic dimensions of the scale, and its psychometric properties, are generically applicable in all service contexts. As a result, adaptations and/or replacements of SERVQUAL have been suggested for various industry-specific contexts ([57] Ladhari, 2008).
Against this background, the aim of the present paper is to provide a review of 20 years (1988-2008)...