摘要：Business organizations make considerable use of professional services.However,it has received less attention in the context of professional business services than of other consumer services in general.This study represents an empirical assessment of service quality and customer satisfaction in professional accounting firms operating in North Cyprus.The general purpose of this study was to examine the potential of SERVQUAL,an instrument frequently employed to assess the quality of consumer services,in professional accounting firms and to identify those managerial actionable factors that impact customer satisfaction.In addition,the study explored the relationship among customer satisfaction,service quality,firm image,and price of service rendered.The results of the empirical study indicate that (1) the SERVQUAL instrument with fivedimensions provides good measurement of service quality in the context of professional accounting business;only one (i.e.,empathy) out of five dimensions of SERVQUAL was statistically significant related to customer satisfaction,(2) service quality has a positive effect on customer satisfaction,(3) firm image and the price of service have positive impact on customer satisfaction,and (4) the price of service directly influences service quality.The impact on satisfaction from highest to lowest in order was,overall firm image,price compared to quality and service quality (empathy),respectively.This tells us the firm image is the most important factor to customer satisfaction,price next and service quality last from firms’ perspective.From our empirical results,we may infer that the clients believe that no matter which accounting firm they choose should have a certain degree of service quality guaranteed in the highly competitive battle field.
关键词：Business organizations make considerable use of professional services.However,it has received less attention in the context of professional business services than of other consumer services in general.This study represents an empirical assessment of service quality and customer satisfaction in professional accounting firms operating in North Cyprus.The general purpose of this study was to examine the potential of SERVQUAL,an instrument frequently employed to assess the quality of consumer services,in professional accounting firms and to identify those managerial actionable factors that impact customer satisfaction.In addition,the study explored the relationship among customer satisfaction,service quality,firm image,and price of service rendered.The results of the empirical study indicate that (1) the SERVQUAL instrument with fivedimensions provides good measurement of service quality in the context of professional accounting business;only one (i.e.,empathy) out of five dimensions of SERVQUAL was statistically significant related to customer satisfaction,(2) service quality has a positive effect on customer satisfaction,(3) firm image and the price of service have positive impact on customer satisfaction,and (4) the price of service directly influences service quality.The impact on satisfaction from highest to lowest in order was,overall firm image,price compared to quality and service quality (empathy),respectively.This tells us the firm image is the most important factor to customer satisfaction,price next and service quality last from firms’ perspective.From our empirical results,we may infer that the clients believe that no matter which accounting firm they choose should have a certain degree of service quality guaranteed in the highly competitive battle field.
