An Investigation of the Correlation among the Technology Mode, Service Evidence and Service Quality from a Customer Perspective

Service is a complex process that too difficult to display in written mode due to its intangibility and abstract. The 3 Ps— People, Process, and Physical evidence—which are called the “service evidence”, this research will use these 3 Ps as the dimensions to measure the service evidence. Froehle and Roth [1] presented five different types of technology role used in the process of customer contact, this research also regard these different types as the different “types of technology role”. Whether it is opportunity or threat for the service organization after the technology used in the service process will be determined by customer’ perception; therefore, this study will measure the value based on the whole perception of customers to service quality (i.e., the five dimensions of service quality for PZB). In other words, the five types of technology role will be regarded as the situational variable, the customers’ value perception to service evidence as the independent variable, and the customers’ perception to whole service quality as the dependent variable in this study. This study is a qualitative exploratory research. The data were collected through the review of mass articles and the discussion of Focus Group members, and then analyzed and inferred the data by induction and deduction methods. Some important research results as followings: 1) A conceptual model of the relationships among “types of technology role”, “service evidence”, and “service quality” is constructed; 2) There are differences existing in different types of technology role which are perceived by customers; 3) Four propositions are submitted based on the implications of the model.