The importance of cross-cultural expectations in the measurement of service quality perceptions in the hotel industry

Early service quality research posited that service quality is the gap or difference between " perceptions and expectations" (Parasuraman et al., 1988, J. of Retailing 64(1), 12-40). Recent research by Parasuraman et al. (1994, J. of Marketing 58, 111-124) has argued that "expectations" measurement is necessary in the measurement of the service quality construct. While Cronin and Taylor (1994, J. of Marketing 58, 125-131) have argued the reverse that one need not measure "expectations" to measure service quality. Evidence presented by Cronin and Taylor (1994; op. cit.) was collected in the American context and no cross-cultural samples were involved. This research paper examines the impact of "expectations" on service quality perceptions in the Hong Kong hotel industry which involved cross-cultural samples. Data were collected from hotel guests from different cultures in three major Hong Kong hotels using the SERVQUAL instrument to measure service quality. The study found that significant "expectations" differences exist between cultural groups and that "expectations" did not improve the validity of SERVQUAL.