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Improve Your Customer Experience

Using the Service Blueprinting Technique

A case Study

July, 2011

Master thesis

MscBA Business Development Faculty of Economics and Business

University of Groningen The Netherlands

Name: Kingsley George Ogbeh Student Number: s1791893 Mobile:+31(0) 684 891 175 kingsleygeorge2000@yahoo.com University Supervisor: Chintan Shah Company Supervisor: Charles. U. Nwanekah

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Abstract

Customer experience in service encounter is a significant element that helps shape the perception of quality of service, the level of satisfaction which is closely related to their expectations, thus, could form the basis for relationship between a customer and service provider. Services are essentially process oriented. Several studies suggest that the process nature of services may play a critical role in customer’s evaluation of service experience than the actual service outcome. The ability of a service provider in understanding how customers evaluate those processes and how those judgments are formed is pivotal to customer experience design, execution and delivery of service offering which in turn impact on overall customer service experience. This study explores the Service Blueprinting technique - a highly effective and adaptable customer focused approach that allows firms to visualize, identify and analysis service processes involving customer contact points, underlying support processes/systems and the physical evidence related with their services all through the service firm from the perspective of the customer. This paper also suggested specific areas of improvement, including highlighting different roles customers could play in improving their service experience, for instance as a “Co-creator” of services which could be a key dimension that may help identify possible failure points and facilitate improvements in the existing service processes.

Keywords: Service Blueprinting, Customer Experience Design, New Service Development, Service Innovation, Customer Touch Points, Service failure , “Co-creator of services”.

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Acknowledgements

First, I am eternally grateful to The Lord Jesus for his mercy and grace upon my life during the period of this study. At some point, I wasn’t sure I would be able to complete this programme. Many thanks to my thesis co-coordinator Dr Cornelius Reezigt for his immense support and final approval, University supervisor Mr Chintan Shah for his guidance and constructive help throughout this report, and for the management of PHCN district offices and Edgewater Nigeria Ltd for giving me the opportunity to contribute in the research project to contribute my quota in improving the delivery of public services to the Nigerian people, and to all my lecturers, their secretaries and the university board for their understanding of my peculiar circumstances during the course of study at the university. I may not be able to mention their names individually. My profound gratitude goes especially to Marisska. J. Roze for her constant believes in me and encouragement not to “retire” in this pursuit. I am indebted to my loving wife Remilekun George-Ogbeh and my two sons Praise and Jethro George-Ogbeh who for the benefits awaiting us after the completion of this programme” endured several seasons of hardship, loneliness caused by months and years of geographical distance. This thesis is dedicated to both my late sister in-law ( Mrs Oluwaseun Toyin Dosumu) who rest in the Lord on the 5th Day of May 2011, and my late younger brother, Anderson Ogbeh ( “the

baby of the house”) who also passed on to Glory on the 12th day of June, 2011.

I feel very pained that I was unable to provide funding for your health treatment abroad. Perhaps, if it were possible, you would still be alive today. Both of you died during the period of writing this thesis with an interval of just six weeks. It was like my world was “falling apart” but I take solace in the truth that someday, we shall meet again in the bosom of The Lord where we shall part no more. ” O death where is thy sting; O grave where is thy power? You have been swallowed up in Victory “O di gba”!

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4 Table of Content 1.0. Introduction Pg5 1.1.1. Problem Statement Pg7 1.1.2. Research Objective Pg 10 1.1.3. Research Question Pg 11 1.1.4. Sub- questions Pg 11 1.1.5. Theme Pg 11 2.0. Literature Review Pg 12

2.1. The service Imperative Pg 12

2.2. Service Quality & Customer Experience In Developing

Economies Pg15

2.3. Profile of Service Experience in Nigeria Pg 22

2.4. Service Blueprinting Pg 24

2.4.1. Principles of Service Blueprinting Pg 26

2.4.2. Physical Evidence Pg 27

2.4.3. Customer Action Pg 28

2.4.4. Onstage/Visible Contact Employee Activities Pg 29

2.4.5. Backstage/Invisible Contact Employee Activities Pg 29

2.4.6. Support processes/Systems Pg 30

3.0. Conceptual Framework Pg 30

4.0. Research Methodology Pg 37

4.1. Research Design Pg 37

4.2. Data Collection and Analysis Pg 39

5.0. Case Analysis Pg 40

6.0. Discussion Pg 43

7.0. Summary and Recommendations Pg 45

8.0. Limitations and Future Research Pg 48

9.0. Literature References Pg 50

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1.0. Introduction

There is a growing believe among authors that a new dimension to marketing is emerging as a “dominant logic”. A perspective which suggests that marketing has transcend from a “materiality” focused orientation (“dominant view”), in which physical outputs, products and independent transactions were essential, to a service-centered perspective, in which “immateriality”, series of exchange activities and relationships are now the focus. ( Vargo, and Lusch, 2004). As a background, it is relevant to define what exactly a service is and to understand its concept and phenomenon? Fisk, Brown and Bitner (1993) posited that there were intense debate amongst scholars between 1950-1980 about an accepted definition of services and distinguishing services from goods. Gummesson (2000) argued that we do not seem know the differences between services and goods in a more general sense. Vargo and Lusch, (2004) confirmed that there are different definitions of services; and that no one particular definition is yet to be accepted amongst authors. However, for the purposes of this study, it is essential to adopt the broad view definition which has been considered to have a wider scope. The “broad view” definition which posited that “services are deeds, processes, and performances (or constellations of deeds, processes, and performances”) provided to customers in exchange relationships among organizations and individuals” (Zeithami,Bitner, & Gremier, 2006).The opinion of Vargo and Lusch(2004) supports the service definition above. They have argued that the central element of most service definitions is “activities or “processes” and that these two factors by implication suggest the application of something and or performance with an ultimate intention to create or add value. In fact Batista et al (2008) argued that unlike manufacturing process, service processes can become invisible and that customer interaction and experiences are key elements of services as a process. Bitner et al (2008) propose that the character of the process itself may play a greater role than the actual outcome in determining overall evaluation of services and developing an

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in-depth knowledge of the way customers experience and evaluate service. Processes in service is but one of many challenges faced by firms that undertake the design, delivery and documentation of service offering. Since services are based on – and often rely on human, interpersonal delivery systems, it suggest that more attention should be concentrated on process and experience innovation” (Bitner et al, 2008) This process and exchange orientation clearly explained how that service is generally believed to be intangible, heterogeneous, and inseparable and perishable in nature as widely suggested in the service marketing literatures.

Customer Experience

Research suggest that the quality of service and level of customer satisfaction could be actually falling below expectation as customers often receive service quality that falls well below their expectation ( Frow and Payne, 2007).Thus, customer experience in service encounter to a large extent shapes the customers perception of service quality and level of satisfaction which have both direct and indirect influence on behavioral intentions. The term customer experience has continued to receive attention both in academics, practitioners, service providers and even governments and other public service institutions. Pine and Gilmore (1998) referred to the need by practitioners and consultants to add rigorous academic value to this concept they referred to as “The experience economy”. The question now is what is meant by customer experience? Frow and Payne (2007) defined customer experience “as the user’s interpretation of his or her total interaction with the brand”. i.e. there must be an interaction between the customer and service provider necessary to create a service experience leading to a moment of truth. Meyer and Schwager (2007), posited that “customer experience is the inward and personalized reactions customers make to any “direct or indirect contact with a company”. Pine and Gilmore (1998) described successful experience as being those that a customer finds unique, memorable and sustainable over time”. Gupta & Vajic (2000),

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defined customer experience as the interaction with different elements within service exchange context created by the service provider. Meyer and schwager (2007), seems to align with this view suggesting that Customer experience encompasses every aspect of a company’s offering-the quality of customer care, also advertising, packaging, product, product and service features, ease of use and reliability. Palmer (2010) argued that an all-embracing definition of customer experience is provided by Gupta and Vajic (2000) who state that “an experience occurs when a customer has any sensation or knowledge acquisition resulting from some level of interaction with different elements of a context by the service provider”. Therefore to achieve satisfaction, a company must deconstruct it into component experiences. This is critical as mentioned earlier that services are essentially process oriented. Adequate care must be taken to ensure that customers experiences in various phases of customer interaction with the service provider leaves behind a memorably service experience.

This paper is structured as follows: Firstly, the introduction part highlights the topic of this paper, the main research question and sub-questions relevant to provide answers to the management dilemma, followed by objective of the research and then the research theme. Next is a detailed literature review, followed by the methodology of this research and a case study analysis is also provided. This is followed by discussion, summary and recommendation. Limitation of this research and suggestions for future research were made. Thereafter literature references and appendixes followed.

1.1.1 Problem Statement

Scarcity of good and quality service is obnoxiously on the increase. Several Studies, e.g., research by organizations such as Council for Better Business Bureau, suggest that quality of services and customer satisfaction are actually

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falling, (Frow and Payne, 2007).Services play a significant role in the life of individuals, organizations and governments and could be a dominant engine for growth and advancement for developing economies such as China, India, including some emerging economies in Africa ( e.g, Nigeria and South Africa, particularly in the public service domain) as it is for developed economies e.g, the US, Germany and The Netherlands. The perception of service quality, level of satisfaction viz a viz customer expectation is pivotal in building relationships with customer and customer loyalty. Government owned Public utility corporations in developing countries for instance, could leverage on innovation in services to survive in the global economy and provide quality of life to their citizens. Sadly, studies suggests that the quality of services in developing countries falls well below expectations, thus, leading to service failure and consequently negative customer experience and dissatisfaction. Customer satisfaction is basically the resultant outcomes of series of customer experiences or, one could say, the net result of the culminated experiences ,i.e., good ones minus the bad ones (Meyer and Schwager, 2007). The service management literature argues that customer satisfaction is the product of a customers’ perception of value received, where value is determined by the customer perception of the quality of service received relative to price (Hallowell, 1996).Customers perception of value to a large extent affects customer satisfaction and stands as the most important determinant, connecting both value and service quality. (Brady et al, 2002).Thus, there is need for service providers to identify ways and means of creating superior customer experiences through memorable encounters that would result in “Outstanding” customer experience (Frow and Payne, 2007) and could help influence a positive perception of service received. Customer experience cuts across every segments of a company’s offering including the quality of customer care, advertising activities, packaging, features of the product and services, flexibility of use, and how reliable the product or service is to the consumer (Schwager and Meyer, 2007).

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Globally, countries are striving to enhance their public services with a goal to create an atmosphere where investment support and public service delivery is sustained by the quality of service experience of its people, support for electoral

purposes, and consent in the event of taxation matters (Thompson W, 2003).

The blueprints for public service reforms in several developing countries has continued to place strong demand on governance requiring that public sector must be innovative in services delivery to meet the expectations and yearnings of its citizens. Several arguments support this line of reasoning. First, public corporations are frequently under attack against the service quality and level of efficiency in the provision of services, Secondly, government are very interested to show and represent a public image that will indicate a favorable business and operating environment that would be appealing to the international communality with the intention to attract foreign direct investment thirdly, government must request for votes from the public with a desire to redeem their promises made as contained in their manifesto during campaign or electioneering, principally to establish its presence in the public domain as a result of changes in public perception (Dannreuthe and Lekhi , 2000).Unfortunately the service experience of consumer at our focus organization (The revenue collection and service center of PHCN) has not been very impressive at all. Findings suggest that payment procedures are not clearly displayed and communicated, Customers do not see PHCN as an efficient organization, staff do not offer explanations for delays; There are hidden cost for services rendered, Inefficient customer complaints record systems, Services are not innovative and service process are often too complicated, PHCN office premises are not very well maintained and have a very high negative brand image etc. This situation has resulted into unimpressive customer experience, poor service quality perception and dissatisfaction amongst consumers, which is summed up graphical below.

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Figure 1.0: Graphical Representation of Problem Statement

Therefore, the Management of PHCN in conjunction with SERVICOMM Nigeria is soliciting for an independent research solution that would proffer innovative method, most appropriate to change the current situation. Some methods including Customer Activity Cycle (CAC) and Service Blueprinting were suggested as a possible technique to be adopted. While the concept of Customer Activity Cycle could be used to describe how customers use products by depicting all customer activities related to the product, e.g., Orientation, purchase, use and disposal, it is not the same as service blueprinting. Again, studies posited that service blueprinting is indeed more useful for services whether to improve existing services, evaluate new service concepts or deconstruct competitive services by focusing on the different levels of the blueprinting ;e.g., by analyzing the physical evidence, the role of contact personnel and supporting systems. Therefore, this study would focus on how to leverage on service blueprinting to improve customer experience in a public service delivery entity with concentration on PHCN district offices (Revenue collection and customer care centers).

1.1.2. Research Objective

The key objective of this paper is to highlight the importance of improving and managing customer experience in public service delivery through innovative methods, techniques and R&D practices that help organization identify and analyze failure points, provide service quality improvements, and customer experience design focused around customers. The purpose of this paper is to describe one of the most effective and highly adaptable methods - The Service Negative customer Experience

Inefficiency & Poor service quality

Lack of Service Innovativeness

Poor Physical Office Environment Hidden Service Cost

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Blueprinting technique. Basically, service blueprinting is both an analytical and visualization tool appropriate for improvements of service concepts and processes. Therefore it facilitates a concrete platform for process developments and enhancements and integrates the interest of both the customers and the service provider in any given service encounters (Fließ 2004).

1.1.3. Research Question

Therefore, the main research question would be:

How can organizations use Service blueprinting technique to improve customer experience in public service delivery?

1.1.4. Sub-questions

To answer the main research question, the following sub-questions would need to be answered as follows;

▪ Why is Service blueprinting the most preferred technique?

▪ What are the process to blueprint a service for a better experience?

▪ How are the components of service blueprinting interrelated for better result? ▪ What are the roles of customers in the blueprinting process?

▪ How does blueprinting contributes to business performance?

1.1.5 Theme

The theme of this research is service innovation. According to a report by the organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (2005), “Stimulating and facilitating innovation in services is pivotal to performance improvement in the service industry. (Bitner and Brown, 2008). Essentially, service innovation involves gradual and incremental change in either the service concept, service process or the delivery systems. Clearly, this problem requires a service innovation mandate. Service sector globally have traditionally been seen as less innovative than the manufacturing sector. Developing economies are not

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exclusive in this dilemma. One major solution would be to intensify investment into service innovation research.

2.0. Literature Review

This literature review provides theoretical background about the relevance of service sector in the global economies, its contributions to growth and development and narrowed down to discussions on the central topic of this research, The Service Blueprinting Technique in the context of service innovation and its interrelatedness in improving customer experience in services encounters.

2.1. The Service Imperative

Services are becoming more important in most of the largest world’s economies (including those of the US, Germany, and Finland) and are increasingly noticeable in the economies of developing nations as well, China and India inclusive (Bitner et al, 2008).The Service industries has been identified as a critical sector that would stimulate economic development in many countries (Audretsch et al, 2011). Despite this observation, organizations, academic intuitions and governments have not taken seriously the need to invest in service research education and innovation. (Brown and Bitner, 2008).The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2005 report suggested that encouraging innovation in services is pivotal to improving the performance of the service sector. Brown and Bitner (2008) posited that many national governments already recognize that they must be innovative in services to survive in the global economy and to provide better quality of life for their citizens. As the importance of services becomes steadily noticeable, the believe that innovation in services is also gaining momentum, to the extent that’s investment in service research is now given urgent attention it deserve from the perspective of growing innovation in services. (Audretsch et al, 2011).The private sector often view success in innovation as good practice or

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quality and as strategic platform to gain competitive advantage either in existing , new or developing markets. Meanwhile the public services, innovation makes more sense when it contributes to the efficiency, effectives and delivery in the quality of services offered to the people from the perspective of governance. (Harrley J, 2005).”Therefore, innovation in services should be a continuum for the guarantee of effective supply of good quality of service in the public domain. This is only achievable if companies, academic institutions and the government channel more attention to drive innovation in services through continuous investment in service research, education and funding and may lead to attainment of competitive advantage in the global market place. (Bintner and Brown, 2008).To realize this challenges, it was suggested that universities and education systems have enormous responsibility to perform about this “burning platform with a seemingly crisis orientation”. For example they may need to develop curriculum and encourage research that is focused on business models, productivity, quality of life, competition and innovation through service(s), cutting across disciplines including business, engineering, information technology, computer science, and the social sciences (Chesbrough & Spohrer, 2006).Governments too also have a very important role to play within the urgency for innovation in services, including amongst other factors, recognizing services as the “dominant engine” for economic development, acknowledge the current lack of funding in service research and make frantic efforts to make fund available and enhance funding mechanisms. Bintner and Brown (2008), Posited that there is hope for the future only if companies, countries and institutions collectively pay more attention to the development of service sectors and encourage constructive competition in service innovation, we will all benefit from this synergy and most importantly, people all over the world may have access to better service prospect and the potential to enjoy good quality of life.

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New Service Development

Services development may involve a totally new service concept, redesigning existing services, changes in service processes or change in the delivery systems. New service development (NSD) may involve designing and offering new services such as financial services; health care; telecommunications services etc. which may be sold either to consumers or to businesses and sometimes to both” (Johne and Storey, 1997).Shostack (1984) argues that the successful development of a service requires the participation of both customers and service provider, since both production and delivery processes are the necessary aspects of many services. Avlonitis et el (2001) proposed that the performance outcome of a new service is the result of the development process followed, which ,in turn is influenced by the innovativeness of the new service and new service development activities together with the relevant process and cross-functional activities. It is essential to state here that customer integration in the service development process is very important as studies has shown that their involvement have a positive effect in the functioning and resultant outcome of a new service performance ( Alam 2006).The development of new service tends to be somewhat far more complicated, particularly in the service concept phase than that of a new product (Johne and Storey, 1997).The service blueprinting technique has a service development structure that enables service designers and service organizations to design services integrating customer and employee experiences in the design process, with closer attention to details.

Figure 2.0: A typical Service Development Process (Adapted from Wilhelmsson and Edvardsson (1994). Idea Phase Project Formulation Phase Design Phase Implementation Phase

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A typical service development could follow the above process; from idea generation to implementation process .Though, new service development (NSD) is not the focus of this research. However, it is important to mention that blueprinting method could be used to map new service concept, reiterating the need for service organizations, academics and governments to institute structures and grant funding for the establishment of service research to enhance the quality of public service sectors.

2.2. Service quality and Customer Experience in Developing countries Two-third of the world total output is almost represented as services. (World Bank, 2002).Services generates about 75percent of the GNP in the US alone and creates over 80 percent job opportunities for its citizens making services the largest export sector of the country globally. (Czinkota and Ronkamen, 2002).In the same vein, the service sector also produce a large percentage of gross national product (GNP) in most developing countries (Kaynak 1982).For example, about 40perecnt of workforce employment in the Asian economies including that of China, Indonesia and Thailand are in the service sector, yet with a significant opportunity for expansion and growth.(Wirtz,2000).Thus, developing economies are not left out in this prospective “service sector boom” as they present a very large prospect and opportunity for growth and development in the future. Service provider that “see these future potentials” and take strategic positioning will doubtless reap bountifully. (Greenland et al, 2006).Notwithstanding the tremendous opportunity the service sector has made available potentially for the developing economies, their remain a lack of literature research on service studies in the developing economies, thus could form a kind of constraint to stimulate innovation in the service sector. (Sureshchander et al, 2003) , specifically lack of research on the quality of services and barely none in Africa (Greenland et al,2006).Nevertheless, whether indigenous or international, service providers are beginning to recognize that service quality superiority provides significant strategic advantages such as

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customer loyalty, positive response to demand, growth in market share, and enhanced productivity (Malhotra et al, 2005)). One major challenge facing developing economies is the poor quality of services they offer resulting to unsatisfied demand for services. Therefore the most important driver should be how to extend service provision offered with efficiency, effectiveness and satisfactory delivery and also enhance productivity level as well (Kaynak,1982).The only way developing countries can increase their trade activities on a sustainable basis is to increase the quality of their products and services (Djerdjour and Patel, 2000).Marketers of services realize that to successfully leverage service quality as a global competitive tool, they first need to correctly identify the antecedents of what the consumer perceives as service “quality”. (Malhotra et al, 2005). To realize these objectives, the onus would be on service providers, both private and public organizations in the developing countries to gather substantive information on the consumer perception of quality and what drives customer satisfaction? “This is only achievable if the service provider could gather consumer information from the service sector. Unfortunately, in developing countries, as mentioned earlier, information sources on service industries/organizations, such as accounting firms, banks, advertising agencies, insurance firms, are lacking and the whole research infrastructure in service organizations is very deficient, short of adequate trained personnel, organizations and institutions that are specialist ( Kaynak, 1982),including the public sector. The paucity of service literatures and information sources with respect to the services sector in developing economies is a dilemma to service marketing particularly understanding the service quality dimensions and consumer satisfaction in developing countries which is critical to enhance service innovation. Besides, quality as a phenomena and service quality in particular, is somewhat challenging to explain and complicated to analyze its value and effects (Monroe and Krishanan, 1983) .A Fundamental explanation for these complexities is the inherent characteristics

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of services including intangibility, heterogeneity and inseparability (Berry and Parasuraman et al, 1991).

From the 1990s to date, service quality and customer satisfaction have been identified as a critical strategic imperative for reinventing the public sector ( Rhee and Rha, 2009).Quality is the fundamental determinant of success in public services (Largrosen,2000). However, the service quality construct for business world is different from that for public sector organizations (Hsieh et al, 2002).A number of studies has been conducted on the service quality of public utilities and other public services. However, none of these studies provided a framework to measure the perceived services quality from a public utility services customer’s perspective (Bai et al, 2008). Although there is consensus that the perception of service quality is based on multiple dimensions, there is no general agreement as to the nature of the dimensions (Brady and Cronin, 2001).Carman (1990) suggested that the dimensions of service quality may vary depending on the “cultural and industrial context”. Bai et al, (2008) further argued that one context for evaluating the dimensions of service quality is public utility services. Generally, there are two primary conceptualizations of service quality in literature. The first one is the “Nordic Perspectives”, which defines the dimensions of service quality in global terms according to Gronroos, (1982), while Brady and Cronin (2001), suggested that this perspective consist of process and outcome quality .The second conceptualization of service quality in literature narrates the service encounter characteristics, referred as the “American Perspective” SERVQUAL model of service quality consisting of: reliability, Access, Understanding of customer, responsiveness, competence, courtesy, communication, credibility, security empathy, assurance and tangible ( Parasuraman et al 1998). However, the most recent multi-level, multi-dimensional model of service quality perceptions is the model of Brady and Cronin (2001) consisting of three primary dimension: Interaction, outcome and environment, each several sub-dimensions, like

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“attitude and expertise” represent “interaction quality” and “tangibility and valence” represents “outcome quality” (Bai et al, 2008). Although the article of Brady and Cronin (2001) has a more integrative and complete view relative to other service quality dimension model, the drawbacks is that the context of the research was limited to only US companies within four industries, requiring a different specification of sub-dimensions so as to match the unique features of public services and different culture. Crosby (1979), posited that “quality is an elusive and indistinct construct often mistaken for imprecise adjectives like “goodness, or luxury, or shininess, or weight” .

Figure 3.0: Dimensions of Service quality (Adapted from Parasuraman et al, 1985)

Research has demonstrated the strategic benefits of quality in contributing to market share and return on investment (Anderson and Zeithhaml, 1984. Regardless of the type of service, consumer used basically similar criteria in evaluating service quality. These criteria seem to fall into 10 key categories which are described as “service quality determinants” (parasuraman et al, 1985).Malhotra et al, (1994) in their article suggested that environmental

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factors can be assigned to each of the ten service quality dimensions classified into two main types: economic factors and socio-cultural factors and that these environmental perspectives could help extract the peculiar service quality dimensions of developing countries in contract to the developed countries. However, Parasuraman et al (1988) in their revised work on SERVQUAL narrowed the service quality dimensions to five factors, namely: reliability, responsiveness, empathy, assurance and tangible. Notwithstanding the paucity of literature on the services sector in developing countries, for the purposes of this research, I shall adopt the SERVQUAL studies of five dimensions of service quality introduced by Parasuraman et al (1988)all of which were part of the ten dimensional factors applied by Malhotra et al, (1994) as a basis for evaluating the service quality dimensions in developing countries because SERVIQUAL has also been “widely tested for its validity and reliability” (Babakus and Boller, 1992) and is generally accepted (Malhotra et al, 1994).This evaluation will be done against the background of environmental factors in the developing countries.

Reliability

Reliability is the ability of a service provider to offer the service “dependably and accurately” or exactly as promised (Orwig et al, 1997).Continuous improvement is the key to providing services that can be trusted and relied on. (Berry and Parasuraman, 1991). In perspective, Malhotra et al (1994) has argued that unlike developed countries, developing countries are relatively of lower financial and technological capability which affect their ability to leverage on the benefits to use advanced technology to satisfy their service needs and requirements appropriately due to limited educational level, myopic quality expectations and therefore wider zone of tolerance for ineffective services

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Responsiveness

One of the major determinants of service quality is timely and adequate response in service provision and delivery (Malhotra et al, 1994).That is the willingness to render assistance and help to customers promptly (Orwig et al, 1997). (Lane and DiStefano (1988) argued that customers of developed countries place a greater significance and value on time compared with those of developing countries. The relative timely efforts of service provider to adequately respond to a customer’s enquiry or resolve customer complaint on time to a larger extent determines the level of satisfaction and perceived service quality. Unfortunately, this has not been the case in developing countries particularly in government owned public utility organizations. Malhotra et al, (1994) further supported the argument suggesting that, these differences in responsiveness may not be unconnected to the relative importance attached to time by the consumers and service providers more in the developed countries that in the developing countries which in turn determine the perception of service quality and, thus the level of customer satisfaction.

Assurance

Assurance relates to the competencies (knowledge and skills) of the service provider employees to render quality services. Orwig et al, (1997) suggested that the dimension of assurance relates to the knowledge and courtesy of employee and their ability to convey trust and confidence. Molhotra et al (1994) argues that in developed countries “courteous services places relatively more emphasis on respecting an individual’s privacy and rights, whereas in developing countries the relative emphasis in on social norms”. Kaynak (1982) attributed this development to the lack of trained service staff ,culminating into a problem which is inhibiting the healthy growth and development of services industries in developing countries. Molhotra et al (1994) supported this argument, positing that this could result into an unimpressive perception of service quality, largely dependent on the interaction level between the service

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service employee and the customer, also, the number, appearance and behavior of employees in the service environment can either encourage “approach or avoidance behavior”.

Empathy

The amount of caring and individualized attention the firm provides its customers influences the perception of service quality. Customer focus practice, a growing concept in relationship marketing involving knowing your customer, customer information gathering, dissemination of customers information within the service organizations, integrating and designing services from the customers perspective etc. are part of exhibiting empathy to service consumers. Briefly, Berry and Parasuraman,(1991) suggested that ,there are essentially three levels of relationship marketing: the first level is based on financial incentives (e.g. price discounts),given to the customer to retain the market; the second is the combination of financial and social benefits with emphasis on close customer contacts, learning about the needs and wants of the customers, personalizing relationships and the third level relates to structural bonds to cement relationships with the customers in combination of financial and social bonds. Maholtra et al (1994) again argued that firms in developed countries are in the second or third level of relationship marketing because of their emphasis on knowing and understanding the customers which is pivotal in influencing customer perception of service quality, whereas the developing countries at best keep their marketing edge and competitiveness merely by giving financial incentives e.g. price discount which is just the first level of relationship marketing.

Tangibility

All the physical attributes that the customers can see that could determine how they perceive the quality of service being offered. (Bitner et al, 2008).These are the physical evidence, ( service facilities) ambient appearance, equipment,

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personnel and communications channels and materials, physical presentation of the service (Parasuraman et al, 1985). Both seen and unseen activities are essential in creating service experience (Hoffman and Turley, 2002).Customers in developing countries are generally satisfied with “acceptable performance of service” in terms of the core benefits it promises to offer perhaps shaped by “collectivist culture” or partly due to personality factors shaped by higher-level influences e.g. values, meanings, culture, and philosophy of life (Triandis,1995).These patterns definitely influences the service quality provided by service organizations which in turn influences the level of customer perception of service quality and to a reasonable extent level of satisfaction. These findings suggest the needs for service providers in developing countries both private and public service providers as suggested by Molhotra et al (1994) to put more emphasis extensive service research that would produce evidenced based service innovation technique such as the service blueprinting to enhance the quality services for consumers. Also ensure constant evaluation and review concerning service development strategy, customer strategy, communications strategy and overall marketing strategy for the benefits of enhancing the perception of service quality.

2.3. Profile of service experience in Nigeria

Lekki (2007), posited that pubic organizations often come under attack for the quality of their service and the level of their efficiency. This is not unconnected to the service experience of consumers. Rhee and Rha (2009), argued that improving the quality of life can be seen as the ultimate objective of public policy and public services. Sadly, public sector organizations perform poorly in many developing countries; in some cases, they barely function at all (Grindle, 1997). Kaynak (1982) argued that this has led to satisfaction imbalance between demand and supply of good service quality in developing countries. While, Thomson (2003) reported that in the Nigeria context, services do not serve people satisfactorily. i.e. services are generally not reliable, dependable

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and accurate . Mainly they are inaccessible, poor quality and indifferent to customer needs. One reason for failure in service experience performance amongst several reasons within government owned public utility organizations is that public service corporation does not seem to understand that customer perception and satisfaction are remotely related to their satisfaction. Besides, government on its own seems to be far away from its citizens, government agencies are not very accountable, resulting to poor or absence of service value chain as depicted in figure 9.0 below.

Figure 4.0: Service delivery chain and customers in public services (Adapted from Rhee and Rha, 2009)

The lack of service value chain makes it difficult if not almost impossible for public utility Corporation to have a sense of “customer responsibility”. Meanwhile, in actual sense, its citizens are supposed to be treated like every other customer in the world needing a superior service experience. The summary of the service experience in the Nigeria context reveals the following: Payment procedures are not clearly displayed and communicated, customers do not see PHCN as an efficient organizations, staff do not offer explanations for delays when one occurs, there are hidden cost for service rendered, inadequate customer complaint records and poor service recovery mechanisms, services are not innovative and service processes are too complicated. PHCN premises are not very well maintained and have a negative brand image perception etc. Thomson (2003) summarized what Nigeria customers think based on results from independent research about PHCN thus:” Generally, showed that customers have little expectations of the officials at the front line. The actions of these frontline officials are not performance based and not result

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oriented because of their complaint that they have not been empowered”. Please note that this conclusion exclude the effects of poverty, economic crisis, corruption, political instability and basic conditions of security and order which is outside the scope of this research. From the above, it’s imperative for government to begin to put research structures in place that would focus on extensive service research targeting innovation in services that would contribute to service development, service experience design, adequate and reliable service experience if it intends to change the citizen’s perception of the quality of public services. Service Blueprinting as suggested at the beginning of this research is one innovative technique that could be adopted in the interim to militate against these challenges, create a better service environment both for the employee and consumers alike targeted towards public service quality improvements. Frow and Payne (2007), agrees with this, suggesting that several tools could be utilised to create “a perfect experience” including process mapping, service blueprinting, customer activity circles and customer-firm touch point analysis. Customer experience management will come in handy also to play a significant role in achieving these objectives.

2.4. Service Blueprinting

One of the most advanced and adaptable technique to service design is a mapping method called blueprinting (Berkley B, 1996). Service blueprinting is defined as “a picture or map that accurately portrays the service system in a manner that enables an organization better understand the flow of the service system, contact point and processes and better evaluate individual actions in service delivery (Bintner and Brown, 2008).Blueprint is a process involving a mapping method initially conceived, designed and described for the first time by Shostack (1984 ) and expatiated further by Kingsman- Brundage as a technique to picture anticipated and /or real service (George and Kingsman- Brundage, 1996).It is a representation of the service processes in graphical form, consisting of Physical evidence, user activities, front line employee

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activities, off-stage employee activities and support processes/systems. The concept of service blueprinting had evolved as a dynamic phenomenon for service improvement, just as firms are gradually advancing to become more customer oriented by leveraging on this technique. A quick adaptation was the identification of service blueprinting as a process for analyzing and evaluating the customer process against the organizational structure of a service provider to identify prospective point for improvement involving further process expanded to help highlight the distinction between onstage and backstage activities (Bintner and Brown, 2008). Simply put; a blueprint is a picture of a service system. Just like a graphical representation of service process, blueprinting highlights all the visible processes that can been seen by the customer from the invisible actions that cannot be experienced by the customers but supports the service processes, and this mapping tool enable designers of services with a technique to picture contact points in service processes and to identify areas needing enhancement or further development, (Berkley, 1996).

Blueprints mapping process helps service providers identify and highlights potential failures points in the service systems and to integrate process redesign to address those failures. Bitner et al, (2008) suggested that Service blueprinting has been established as successfully producing the result for service improvement and a reliable method for creating innovation in services, improvements in service quality, customer experience design in service encounters and organizational strategy aimed at customer’s satisfaction objectives. Kingsman- Brundage and George, (1996) went further to elaborate that service blueprinting answers the questions: “who does what, to whom, how often, under what conditions?” also very effective as a marketing and communication channel, providing direction to the most appropriate variables that contributes to the satisfaction of customers and as support for managers of human resources and also as a guide to generate outline for job

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descriptions. Fließ, (2004) posited that blueprinting shows a two-dimensional graphical representation of service process. The horizontal dimension represents the order of actions exhibited both by service provider and the customer. The vertical dimension highlights the difference between action points clearly demarcated by different lines. The utilization of service blueprinting technique for various purposes over the past years has clearly identified three development stages separated by lines: Line of interaction, line of visibility and internal interaction (Bitner, et al, 2008). The components or principles of blueprinting and significance of the lines highlighted above shall be discussed next.

2.4.1 Principles of Service Blueprinting

Service blueprinting consist of five typical principles also known as component ,namely: Customer actions, Onstage/Visible contact employee Acton, backstage/invisible contact employee actions, support process and physical evidence (Bitner et al, 2008).These components are clearly separated by the line of interaction, line of visibility and line of internal interaction as depicted in figure 2.0 below.

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Physical evidence is represented at the very top of the service blueprint. Bitner et al (2008) suggested that physical evidence consist of all the visible features the consumer can see and identify with at the service environments that influence their perception of the quality of service offered. However, both visible and invisible activities and elements are critical in creating a memorable service experience (Hoffman and Turley, 2002). In the same vein, Kotler (1973) posited that “the atmosphere of a particular set of surroundings is describable in sensory terms which include perceptions that are visual, aural olfactory and tactile”. The capacity of the impact of physical evidence to influence the perception and actions of consumer towards a service experience is seen in the study results gathered from experiences in hotels, restaurants, professional offices, banks, retails stores and hospitals (Baker 1987; Bitner 1986, Booms and Bitner 1982; Kotler 1973; ).

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The framework above suggests that the perception of both customers and employees are influenced by a constellation of different factors in the organization’s service environments that ultimately determine their response both “cognitively, emotionally, and physiologically to the service environment” (Bitner 1992) research in organizational behavior suggest that physical evidence in a service environment could determine the level of satisfaction of service employee, extent of productivity and also motivation level (e.g Baker 1987). Findings in several environmental psychology research highlighting the relationships between people and their environment suggesting that to a large extent, people are influenced by the physical attributes of their environment is truly a fact. (Bitner , 1992).

2.4.3. Customer Actions

Services are process oriented; therefore, service activities cannot be completed without the involvement of customer actions and that of the service provider which may culminate a mutually beneficial service experience (Flie and Kleinaltenkamp, 2004).Customer actions consist of all activities that customers are involved in a service process (Bintner et al, 2008). The fact that the service provider relies on customer involvement for a service to take place often results in series of challenges during the service process and this could bring about difficulties in managing service processes efficiently and effectively because the service provider has limitations on the extent to which he could control the actions of the customer. (Flie and Kleinaltenkamp, 2004).However, one important distinction between blueprinting method and other flowcharting approaches is that the customer activities are pivotal to the design of the blueprint, therefore, it is important to outline those action first in a manner that would see other elements in the service system supporting the service promise or value offering around a co-creation perspective.(Bitner et al, 2008).The term customer integration or co-production of value refers to the notion that service performance implies the combination of the service

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provider’s internal resources with the external resources from the customer from both the perspective of the service provider and customer, e.g the customer in person, information data or disposal rights. (Lovelock & Young, 1979; Mills & Morris, 1986) ). It is critical that customers integration in highly implemented in the process of service design, delivery and throughout the entire service process. (Brown et al, 1994). Therefore, service blueprint maps specifically the exact points the customer’s integration would occur in the service process. The Line of interaction clearly demarcates the area involving the customer’s activities or actions from the supplier’s activities section. “above this line, we find activities, choices, needs and interaction performed by customers” (Boughnim and Yannou, 2005).

2.4.8. Onstage/Visible Contact Employee Activities

The onstage/visible contact employee actions refers to the actions of the front office (contact employee) that takes place as a one-on-one interaction with the customer during service encounter .i.e, the “onstage” area, where the customer is privy to and is directly involve in the activities leading to the service provided. (Spraragen & Chan, 2008).This s represented in figure 4.0 below.

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This stage is obviously demarcated from the area of the actions of the customers by a distinct line of interaction. Bintner et al, (2008) posited that “every time the line of interaction is crossed via a link from the customer to a contact employee (or company self-service technology), a moment of truth has occurred”. Moment of truth is that point of contact (interaction) between a customer and the service provider.

2.2.4. Backstage/Invisible Contact Employee Actions

The “backstage” section is demarcated from the onstage area by a distinct visible line. The visible line distinguishes between actions that are seen from the ones unseen from the customers. (Boughnim and Yannou, 2005).I.e everything that shows beyond the visible line is noticed by the customer, while everything below is unnoticed. Underneath the visible line are other actions and activities of the contact employees including the activities which the customer cannot see e.g telephone conversations and other activities carried out by the employee which are necessary pre-requisite to give the customer a perception of quality service experience (Bitner et al, 2008).Figure 4.o above, clearly depicts the narration.

2.2.5. Support Processes

Services are essentially process oriented as mentioned earlier in this study. Service provider requires effective support systems for its service to function effectively. Support processes are the fourth critical principle or component of service blueprinting. Separated from contact employees by the internal line of interaction, it comprises of all of the activities carried out by individuals and unit within the company who are not contact employees but that need to happen in order for the service to be delivered (Bintner et al, 2008).They are the backstage operations that needed in order for service to function and may take the form of “data bases, request systems, knowledge based systems, resource scheduling systems, or manufacturing systems” that the backstage service

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employees depend upon in order to compete the request (Spraragen and Chan, 2008). It is important to note that these components or principles of service blueprinting are often interrelated in actions during service encounters. Again, the process nature of the entire component makes it noteworthy for service provider to deconstruct the process in other to identify potential failure points during service delivery leveraging on service systems or support processes. Zeithhaml and Bitner (2000) suggested six steps which could be adopted as a case study for developing a framework for blueprinting service experiences in any organization as shown in figure 13.0 below. Step (1) requires the service firm to identify the specific processes and customer service contact points in the relationship exchange activities intended for improvements.

Figure 8.0: Steps for Developing a Service Blueprint (Adapted from Zeithaml & Bitner, 2000.p.212).

Step (2) demands that the specific segments of the customer care service be clearly defined, while step (3) suggest mapping the segments from the customers’ perspective. Step 4 and 5, Suggest that the service firm clearly defines how the internal and external activities of firm would interact and to coordinate their actions to create value for the customers in service encounter. It is important to note that it is actually the relationship exchange activities (interactions) that needs mapping and not just the ideal processes involved. Step 6 is last step i.e, the physical evidence, referring to the ambient condition Step 1 Identify the service process to be blueprinted Step 2 Identify the service segment to be examined Step 3 Map the service process from customer’s point of view Step 4 Map contact employee actions and onstage/backs tage activities with the Customer Serv processes. Step 5 Link Customer and contact person activities to support functions Step 6 Manage communicatio n &physical evidence of service environment at each customer contact

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and physical service environment where the service actually takes place.. It must be appealing and attractive to help stimulate positive service experiences. There has been a recent surge in articles on adaptations of the basic service blueprint to include new dimensions, and to simplify complex relationships (Spraragen & Chan, 2008).Polaine (2009) for example suggested the inclusion of “emotional and cost aspect” to its dimensions.

3.0. A proposed Conceptual framework

In this part, I will present a conceptual model design for this study. This model will stand as an enabler to discuss alternative blueprinting and background that will be used for the development of the redesign of the solution phase. This conceptual model will be designed from the perspective of service innovation of which I did mention that service innovation involves gradual and incremental change in either the service concept, service process or the delivery systems. Therefore, the variables are reflective of the service innovation phenomena as this project, without doubt requires a service innovation solution.

Figure 9.0: Conceptual Model for the construct of customer experience

Servicescape Management

Systems

Customer Focus Process Innovation

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The proposed conceptual model shown in figure has four main construct, starting with the concept of “servicesape”, to customer focus, process innovation and finally management systems. The basis for this proposed model is provided in below and the thus, the management implication will also be discussed in due course.

Servicescape

The concept of “servicescapes” was originality initiated by Bitner (1992) as a term to describe the physical setting and qualities of service staff in relation to the service context in which the service encounter actually took place with a strong influence on customer’s perception of services provided. Such physical facilities may include the ambient condition (music, aroma and cleanliness) or the design factors including implicit communication and credibility and staff image and behavior comprising of the level of customer orientation, credibility, competence and physical attractiveness.(Harris and Ezeh, 2008), which to a large extent determine whether a customer will patronize such organization again or look somewhere else. Other authors have also suggested that the “servicescapes” is also part of the brand factor that could influence a consumer’s emotion attachment to a brand. Knox and freeman (2006 ) for examples posited that employees must identify the values that the brand stand for, if at all they want to provide a service experience that will ultimately meet the expectations of the consumer relative to their perception of the brand. One clear difference between the concept of “servicescapes” and “Physical Evidence” is that the former goes beyond the physical settings of the service environment to include additional emphasis on staff qualities i.e competencies, staff appearance and level of customer orientation

Customer Focus

Customer focus is basically built on the practice of customer orientation. it involves gathering information about the needs and wants of customers,

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disseminating customer information within the organization and integrating customers in the design and development of services to foster better service experience that will match customer expectations. i.e establishing strong relationships, partnership. integration and direct contact with the customer, involving customers in new product design/introduction. To be customer oriented also implies identifying both the express and latent needs and wants of the customer and integrating that information into the service experience design from both the customer and service provider perspective. To achieve this, service firm for example would have to be both responsive and proactive in their customer orientation. From the perspective of public service delivery, it requires developing a customer driven government to be able to achieve an effective customer focus objectives.

Figure 10.: Customer Driven Government (Adapted from Kim 1998)

Kim (1998) suggested a customer driven government involves commitment (intentionally) to customer focus practice, involving, listening to the customer, making use of customer feedback analysis, developing service standards and may also involve re-alignment of government agency in particular for efficiency, effectiveness and delivery of good quality of service and ultimately superior customer experience.

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Process Innovation

In most service firms, between 30-50% of organizational costs are as a result of slow speed and rework. Slowness in service process are essentially cause by too many work-in-progress (WIP) which is also influenced by the increased complex nature of services (George M, 2003). Public service organizations cannot afford to allow unnecessary complexity as it adds to cost, time waste, and slow processes and reduce quality, which at the end, is expensive.The activities of the onstage and backstage personnel together with the actions of the customer should be analyzed in the implementation of any innovative process. Therefore there is dare need to invest in research on innovative methods that would improve service process. Service blueprinting is one innovative method that is relevant for service process improvement to create a lasting impression on customer experience. A lean- six sigma technique is also ideal to support the blueprinting process and for developing continuous improvement capabilities in relation to process improvements

Management Systems

Management system is a crucial element of this conceptual model. Although we have an innovative method in service blueprinting. There is need to put in place a management system. A structure driven by top management support for all service innovation and quality improvement programmes which has strong correlation with customer experience, and that supports and enhances

customer focus, continuous improvement capabilities, performance

measurement and feedback mechanism together with teamwork so as to ensure the quality of service standard is sustained throughout the organization in line with productivity improvement e.g. a quality management programme that provides a framework for continuity in the service quality and continuous improvements infrastructure. Total Quality Management (TQM) is an ideal programme for an effective management system. Kaynak (2003) defined “Total Quality Management (TQM) as a holistic management philosophy that strives for continuous improvement in all functions of an organization, and it can be achieved only if the total quality concept is utilized from the acquisition of resources to customer service after the sale”. Dean and Bowen (1994) suggested three principles of TQM: Customer focus, Continues improvement,

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and teamwork, which are implemented by a set of practices and supported by techniques.

Generally, it is accepted that there is need for a systematic method of framework necessary to put TQM into practice. However, there is no universally accepted TQM framework (Yusof and Aspinwall, 2000).Notwithstanding, different approaches have been suggested in the literature, including consultants-based frameworks (Deming 1986).These days, quality award models, such as the Malcom Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) and the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model, are frequently utilised as a guide for the effective implementation of TQM by so many organizations. Nevertheless, there is still scarcity of practical studies has established if these models exactly represents the main attributes of TQM (Bou- LIusar et al, 2009). Many organizations have resorted into adopting quality awards models such as the EFQM and use them as a guide , since no one method has been accepted universally. (Sila and Ebrahimpour, 2002). Therefore, to achieve TQM implementation (as a part of the management system initiatives) for the PHCN; I will recommend the adoption of the framework of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) Excellence Model for several reasons.

Figure 11.0: The EFQM Excellence Model (Adopted from Bou-LIusar, 2009).

Firstly, the EFQM Excellence Model is more than a accepted institution and also a useful tool for self assessment, moreso the EFQM model replicates the TQM. Secondly, several authors (e.g Yong and Wilkinson, 2001) have proposed

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that models based on quality awards fit the definition of TQM, take into account its major constituents, and could therefore be considered valid frameworks for TQM. The EFQM Excellence Model is made up of nine elements grouped under five enabler criteria (Leadership, Policy, Strategy, People, Partnerships and resources and processes) and four result criteria (People results, Customer results, society results and key performance results).These could be likened to key critical success factors to support the effectiveness of service innovation technique introduced for the enhancement of service experience.

4. Research Methodology

In this part, I shall describe and discuss the research design and method of data collection and the analyses

4.1. Research Design

Service encounters provide basis and platforms for interaction between customers and service provider that could result into market-based relationships sometimes after several repeated meetings. Each exchange relationship has its peculiar contextual characteristics across service firms. Therefore, an appropriate methodology that suits analyzing service encounters and activities involved in market-based exchange relationships (within a specific context) is most relevant for this research. Generally, literatures suggest qualitative and quantitative research as the two basic research methods. However, scholars have encouraged the use of qualitative case study research (Lewis.1998, Vos et al, 2002), because this method is most appropriately useful and relevant for testing theoretical models by applying them in real world situations (http://www.experiment resources.com).A qualitative case study is basically based on experiment and practical experience, utilizing a lot of facts and relevant information connected to a particular context from a setting that is actually existing (real world scenario) to try to find out all the facts about a particular phenomenon or subject that is of interest (adapted from Bonoma, 1985, Roth, 2007; Yin, 1994). Perry (1998)

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