Importance of Service Quality across Different Services Types: An Exploratory Study of Australian and Chinese Consumers

Service quality has attracted major attention from practitioners and academic researchers over recent decades, due to its significant role in business performance and the maintenance of customer loyalty. Nevertheless, very few studies have linked consumers’ cultural orientations to service quality dimensions, especially in a non-Western context. This paper attempts to fill this gap in the literature by conducting an exploratory study to examine whether Australian and Chinese consumers have different perceptions about service quality dimensions. Our five propositions argue that cultural orientations may lead consumers to place different levels of importance on different service quality dimensions, across different service types. This study advances theoretical development in international services marketing, enriching crosscultural research, and providing important implications for business practitioners.