Explore the differences between perceived service quality and customer satisfaction based on customer expectation of service attributes

Customer expectation is the basic construct and has drawn more attention in service marketing, which is the evaluation criterion of customer satisfaction and perceived service quality, and has important influence on customer satisfaction and perceived service quality. This paper, starting with service attribute, compares the differences between perceived service quality and customer satisfaction from customer expectation perspective. First, making clear about the definition of customer expectation and referring to Kano model, we have three kinds of expectation. Choosing catering industry as the empirical background, by MTMM and path analysis, we find that deserved attribute expectation and proper attribute expectation have much influence on perceived service quality, and desired attribute expectation is the biggest influencing factor on customer satisfaction. Lastly, the management directions of expectation, service quality and customer satisfaction are given.