CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS AND SERVICE DELIVERY: ARE SME’S AWARE OF THE SERVICE QUALITY STANDARDS GAP?

Abstract

Competition among small businesses are high, as small businesses compete for market share which larger business do not engage with. A definite competitive advantage that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can rely on is service quality (Kasul & Motwani in Anuar & Yusuff 2011:328; Tseng & Wu 2014:77). SMEs do not necessarily understand service standards and how to ensure that the service standard is implemented. The research utilised a quantitative research design whereby the data was collected by means of a 5-point Likert scale survey known as the SERVQUAL model. The results indicate that there are discrepancies between dimensions those owners feel should be adhered to and the extent to which they perceive their businesses to adhere to these dimensions.