Journal ofRetailin 9 and Consumer Services, gol. 5, No. 4 pp.

209-222, 1998

Pergamon PII:S0969-6989(97)00037-4

1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved Printed in Great Britain 0969-6989/98 $19.00 + 0.00

Professional service quality

A step beyond other services?
Heather Stewart
University of Bradford Management Centre, Emm Lane, Bradford BD9 4JL, UK

Chris Hope
University of Bradford Management Centre, Emm Lane, Bradford BD9 4JL, UK

Alan Muhlemann
University of Bradford Management Centre, Emm Lane, Bradford BD9 4JL, UK
The management and measurement of professional service quality is particularly problematic. To enable managers of legal practices to improve service quality they must understand the service attributes their clients consider important. Drawing on a series of focus groups conducted in the UK, this study provides insights into the assessment of legal services by commercial and corporate clients. A review of literatures pertaining to the evaluation of professional service quality, the concepts of quality and value, and dimensions relating to outcome and process is presented. The results of a series of focus groups are considered in the context of continuing research. 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved
Keywords: service quality, measurement, dimensions, legal profession

Introduction
Despite the mushrooming of attention devoted by researchers to service quality in recent years little has yet focussed on professional services other than health care. There is evidence in the literature that some researchers do not clearly distinguish between the concepts of quality and satisfaction, as indicated by Oliver (1993) and Patterson and Johnson (1993). For the purpose of this paper, the distinction suggested by Oliver (1981) is accepted in that satisfaction is considered to be an emotional reaction to a transaction and is outcome specific, whereas quality is an overall evaluation of a service. Quality is a form of attitude involving a global judgement about a service (Parasuraman et al., 1988), and is concerned with the attributes of the service itself (Crompton and McKay, 1989). The management and measurement of service quality effered by professional service organisations is particularly problematic. Difficulties normally associated with its measurement are exacerbated by the highly intangible, labour-intensive nature of professional services and the fiequent presence of clients during the delivery process. IT: is important that both legal service practices and their corporate clients understand those attributes of service which clients deem important in order to improve

the management of the commercial/corporate client relationship. The client may approach the service with little knowledge of his own needs and little evaluative criteria to enable him either to prejudge the service,,or to evaluate it during or after delivery. The client has to place trust in the specialist knowledge and problem-solving skills of the service provider who brings autonomy and individualism to a service that is highly customised. Defining professional service quality is itself problematic. It is a function of both technical and outcome quality but those aspects may be viewed from different perspectives by the service provider and the client. Although many service providers may perceive outcome quality to be the most important, their clients are often unable to evaluate that aspect as no hard indices exist. Despite the difficulties, clients of professional service firms do evaluate the perceived quality and value of a service. Drawing on a series of focus groups conducted in the UK this study provides insights into the assessment of legal services by corporate clients. The concepts of both quality and value are investigated. This study "opens with a review of the relevant literatures. Outcomes and process are discussed in the context of application. The review concludes with a graphic presentation of relevant study findings. Focus group results are then 209

H. Stewart et al.

presented and the findings discussed with relevance to continuing research.

Professional services
Services have three defining attributes to a greater or lesser degree; they are relatively intangible, they tend to be produced and consumed simultaneously and they tend to involve the consumer in the production process (Maister, 1982, Bowen and Schneider, 1988). These attributes result in heterogeneity in service provision (Chase, 1978) and give rise to difficulties in the management and measurement of service quality (Parasuraman et al., 1985). These difficulties are exascerbated in the case of professional services by their highly intangible, labourintensive nature and the frequent presence of clients in the production process (Harte and Dale, 1995). Professional services have been defined as services delivered by a provider with the skills acquired by lengthy training to apply in practice, competence in a field of knowledge (Ritsema van Eck-van Peet and Broekhuis, 1991). The very heterogeneous nature of the complex problems dealt with in professional services mean that the service cannot be offered in a standardised form; the actual service is the advice, professional opinion, or the information that contributes to the problem-solving process of the client. Additional production characteristics arise from the dyadic interactive nature of production and the paradoxical relationship of the client and service provider arising from the client's participation in the production process as principal (Ritsema van Eckvan Peet and Broekhuis, 1991). The unique features of professional services are compounded by the autonomous nature of the professional whose exercise of individual judgement is not based upon rigorous systems and procedures but on intrinsic values and beliefs (Harte and Dale, 1995). The nature of professional services means that consumers may perceive the risk associated with their purchase to be higher than with the purchase of other services (Hill and Neeley, 1988). Consumption is made in the belief that by using an experienced professional, the client is buying confidence and reducing risk (Wilson, 1972; Gummesson, 1978; Bloom, 1984; Harvey, 1990). Feelings of risk and uncertainty may also be eliminated or r e d u c e d b y fosteringrelations-between the professional and his/her client to ensure mutual understanding and trust (Gummesson, 1981) and goodwill (Hill and Neeley, 1988) in interaction and social relationships. Yorke (1990) describes relational marketing as attracting, maintaining and enhancing customer relationships which is a task for which all members of the professional firm are responsible. He advocates new thinking in continually appraising clients" needs, flexibility of operation and continuing education of staff and partners. Relational marketing strategies are being actively pursued by some firms of solicitors acting for corporate clients (Beaton and Beaton, 1995). Several researchers refer to 210

the need for a favourable match of personalities or "the right chemistry" between the professional and his/her client (Webster, 1987; Hill and Neeley, 1988). Developing an appropriate definition of quality in intangible, knowledge-based services is a key problem (Livsey, 1993). Gummesson (1981) describes professional service quality as being a subjective, elusive concept. Ritsema van Eck-van Peet and Broekhuis (1991) define quality as the characteristics of a service relevant to meeting the specifications agreed by client and professional in a continuously tuned process concerning the effort and anticipated outcome, incorporating all the selfevident needs of the parties. Tensions may arise between the professional and his/her client and the professional organisation as a result of their respective differing output aims. Ritsema van Eck-van Peet and Broekhuis (1991) identify these as correctness and truth on the part of the professional versus Criteria of relevance and usefulness on the part of the client; the service process which should follow professional standards (the professional) versus the process which should be concientious, respectful, but also efficient, in time and within the budget limits (the client); the end result, particularly its usefulness (the client) versus complying with the effort contract (the organisation). Zeithaml (1981) presents services on a continuum from easy to hard to evaluate. Some services are of such a technical nature, e.g. a medical operation or legal service, that consumers may not have the knowledge to evaluate them even after consumption. Such services lie at the hard to evaluate end of the continuum and possess predominantly credence qualities. Despite the difficulties, clients of professional service firms evaluate the entire service encounter when assessing service quality (Brown and Swartz, 1989). They place a reliance on credence properties when doing so (Baker and Lamb, 1993) but may be unable to interpret, ie evaluate, them (Hill and Motes, 1995). The high degree of specialised knowledge involved may create difficulties for clients in knowing what to expect from a quality professional service (Livsey, 1993).

Outcome and process dimensions in service quality evaluation?

A consumer's evaluation of a service may be split into two parts; what is delivered which is usually evaluated after service delivery, and how the service is delivered, evaluated during delivery. Lehtinen and Lehtinen (1982), Gronroos (1982) and Berry et al. (1985) referred to these two aspects of service as "physical and interactive quality", "technical and functional quality" and "process and outcome quality", respectively. Service providers may mistakenly place greater emphasis on outcome dimensions which the customers do not have the knowledge and skill to evaluate. Instead the customer relies on the process dimensions for evaluation purposes (Baker and Lamb, 1993). Yorke (1990) stresses

Professional service quality

the need for good relations between the professional and his/her clients seeking a successful outcome to a legal service because the outcome may be difficult to assess in purely quantifiable terms. Instead, "atmosphere" between the parties may be important to ensure a satisfying long-term relationship. Although quality may be more influenced by functional rather than technical dimensions (Brogowicz et al., 1990), they may not be independent of each other (Brogowicz et al., 1990; Swartz and Brown, 1989; Blancl~ard and Galloway, 1994). Blanchard and Galloway (1994) define outcome as an achievement of some end by the customer and process as an interaction but suggest that the variability in the tangibility of a service and the presence of the customer in its production frequently ~aake it difficult to define the boundary between process and outcome dimensions. Instead process/outcome should be regarded as a single dimension rather than a dichotomy with a particular aspect of a service being l:lotted at an intermediate point between two extremes. Ritsema van Eck-van Peet and Broekhuis (1991) concur; the output of a professional service is more than an end product because aspects of the way of realising the output also form part of it. Often the desired outcome of an assignment in a professional service is incapable of definition at the outset and the way of tackling the problem has to be sought as it rans its course (Gummesson, 1978; Ritsema van Eck-van Feet and Broekhuis, 1991; McCall et al., 1994). The "':rue" or full needs of the client do not become clear until during or even after the conclusion of the service process. The client may be only vaguely aware of what to assess in terms of the outcome of the work (Livsey, 1993). McCall ei: al. (1994) argue that it is only possible to measure outcome if it is possible to use some quantifiable result, e.g. amount of damages awarded in a personal injury claim. Higgins and Ferguson (1991) report that both process aad outcome dimensions were evaluated by the clients of an accountancy service but that process dimensions may carry "an inordinate amount of weight". Although not a professional service, the customers of garages similarly do not usually have the skill to judge the technical a,spects of the service and therefore have to trust the service provider that the advice given is in the customer's best interests and that the promised maintenance will be carried out (Bouman and van der Weile, 1992). In contrast, Richard and Allaway (1993) report that both process and outcome explain more of the variation in customer choice behaviour than process measures alone in tlce case of a pizza delivery service where outcome is easy to evaluate. The literature therefore suggests that outcomes may vary by service sector.

Clients' perceptions of value

Ir. the service quality literature, quality and value are frequently treated as separate constructs (Holbrook and Corfman, 1985; Olshavsky, 1985; Zeithaml, 1988; Bolton

and Drew, 1991; Holbrook, 1994; Beaton and Beaton, 1995). Several researchers suggest that value, of which quality forms a component part, is a more comprehensive measure of an overall evaluation of a service. Zeithaml (1988) argues that value (unlike quality) represents a trade off of salient "give and get" components, both of which vary across consumers. Bolton and Drew (1991) suggest that although customers' assessments of service value are positively related to their evaluations of service quality, they are not identical constructs but they are dependent on their assessments of service quality. They argue that the customers ~ value function is more complex than a trade off between overall quality and sacrifice and that perceived service value appears to be a richer and more comprehensive measure of customers' overall evaluation of a service than service quality. Holbrook (1994) similarly contend,; that quality is a sub component of value and suggests that conceptual difficulties arise with the definitions of quality because it is defined in isolation without placing it in context as just one of the many types of customer value. Beaton and Beaton (1995) argue for a reliance on value in clients' assessments of legal services because il allows for greater specificity and thus for a more measurable variable. While quality may be a component c f value, value is not necessarily synonymous with quality (Olshavsky, 1985; Zeithaml, 1988). Olshavsky (1985) suggests that no1 all consumers want to buy the highest quality item in every category. Reeves and Bednar (1994) do not accept quality as a subcomponent of value but rather suggest that a definition of quality based on meeting and/or exceeding customers' expectations should include value considerations. Legal clients may or may not distinguish quality and value. While some elements of a legal ,;ervice relate to value, others may reflect quality. In addition, some may reflect both constructs. Zeithaml's (1988) Means End Model relating to Price, Quality, and Value suggests that price is a factor of perceived quality and, through both perceived quality and sacrifice, is also a factor of perceived value. The sacrifice components of perceived value include monetary price and non-monetary prices such as time, effort and energy expended by the consumer. She reports inconclusive results of 90 studies investigating the price/quality relationship. Similarly, Chen et al. (1994) suggest that any relationship between overall service quality and perceived price may be dependent upon the service industry under investigation. In the case of the purchase of legal services by industrial clients, Beaton and Beaton (1995) suggest that value inw~lves a trade off and that price plays an inherent part in a value evaluation. This involves a favourable comparison between quality, the "reward" component and monetary price, the "cost" component of value. Although Parasuraman et al. (1985) did not find price to be a specific dimension they identify cost as a key 211

H. S t e w a r t et al.

influence on customer expectations (Parasuraman et al., 1991). The poor management and dissemination of information about a professional firm's pricing policy may create feelings of unease and distrust for the client. Clients may be unaware of the back room elements of the service that are essential for its production. These account for a considerable part of the costs that impact on the fees charged and the fee structures themselves. However, because fees are not broken down into professional and support staff salaries and overheads, the global figure will be interpreted as an indication of quality, high or low, value for money, overcharging or fair. Failure in the invisible section which is not explained to the client may work more adversely than problems in the visible parts of the firm (Wilson, 1984). Other researchers suggest that factors other than price play a role in assessments of quality and/or value in professional services. Church et al. (1995) discuss price in the context of perceived value by the professional service client and it being reasonable for the perceptions of the services provided. They stress that the ability to provide value added services is critical to an evaluation of the quality of the service provided and of the price charged. These may include effort (Wilson, 1984) and innovation (Wilson, 1984; Stock and Zinser, 1987). Beaton and Beaton (1995) report that managers of legal firms are now looking towards fostering commitment on the part of both service provider and corporate client in long-term relationships. Commitment is defined as an implicit or explicit pledge of relational continuity between exchange partners and involves dedication to the continuation of a relationship. Liechty and Churchill (1979) suggest that the effort expended by a consumer in the production of a service with few tangible elements may make him identify with that service and overestimate its performance. Effort demonstrated during service delivery by the service provider gives a consumer some assurance of the employee's motivation. Thus, a service which successfully meets the customer's wants is evaluated even more positively if the consumer perceives it to be as a result of the service provider's effort (Folkes, 1994). In professional services in which the professional cannot guarantee that the problem will be solved, the client usually enters into an effort contract with the professional rather than a result contract (Ritsema van Eck-van Peet and Broekhuis, 1991). Effort without results may not be highly regarded but results without perceived effort will not equate in the client's views with skills, utilised time involvement or fees charged. Effort comprises both apparently trivial and major activities.

The SERVQUAL dimensions

Parasuraman et al. (1985, 1988) presented service quality as a multi-dimensional construct and SERVQUAL as an instrument for the measurement of quality across service industries. Based on their earlier research they presented 212

ten factors as the dimensions on which consumers of services evaluate quality, regardless of the nature of the service. These were subsequently refined into a set of five attributes, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles which they suggest are generic across all services. The industries chosen for both studies fall towards "the easy to evaluate" end of continuum suggested by Zeithaml (1981) and are ones with which most respondents would be familiar. While the reduced set of dimensions appear to have relevant application in some service sectors, researchers report that modification may or may not be required. This raises the issue of the potential application of these dimensions in legal services. Blanchard and Galloway (1994) argue that the Parasuraman et al. (1988) dimensions are too closely interlinked to form the basis of a rigorous analysis of a service situation and that they do not map unambiguously onto a basic classification of outcome, process and expectations. Smith (1995) suggests that the five dimensions do not adequately cover outcome or value and that the SERVQUAL instrument should be extended to include these two key variables affecting evaluation. Higgins and Ferguson (1991) consider that the original ten dimensions (Parasuraman et al., 1985) cover both process and outcome and present a classification accordingly. Reliability, competence and security are shown as outcome dimensions, responsiveness, access and courtesy as relating to process, and communication, credibility, knowing the customer and tangibles as being pertinent to both outcome and process. While Parasuraman et al. (1988) suggest that the five SERVQUAL dimensions are generic, numerous other researchers (Carman, 1990; Finn and Lamb, 1991; Swartz and Brown, 1991; Babakus and Boller, 1992; Baker and Lamb, 1993; Koelemeijer et al., 1993; Rosen and Karwan, 1994) argue that dimensions must be service or market specific. The reduced set of five may be too compressed and limiting (Fick and Ritchie, 1991; Gummesson, 1992) and may need to be tailored to fit specific situations to allow for more detailed and meaningful measurement (Baker and Lamb, 1993). Methodologically, Carman (1990), Fick and Ritchie (1991) and Taylor et al., (1993) suggest that the original ten dimensions should be retained until they have been shown to be inappropriate for individual services. These and other studies support the claim that dimensions must be industry specific. Carman (1990), Saleh and Ryan (1992), Gagliano and Heathcote (1994), Bouman and van der Weile (1992) Mersha and Adlakha (1992) and Rosen and Karwan (1994) report on studies which demonstrate that different types and numbers of dimensions are applicable to different services. Parasuraman et al. (1985, 1988) may not be incorrect in so far as the services chosen by them are not dissimilar in that they offer a standardised service involving limited interaction and customisation. The dimensions on which consumers base their evaluation may therefore be very similar (Rosen and Karwan, 1994). The five dimensions

Professional service quality

have been confirmed in several studies using the SERVQUAL instrument based in similar service settings to those chosen by its authors, e.g. long-distance phone company (Chen et al., 1994) and less than truck load carrier (Bressinger and Lambert, 1990). It appears therefore that the five dimensions suggested by Parasuraman et al. are not generic across all services. The original ten dimensions may be a better point from which to start the measurement of service quality in the legal profession. Why is there such a great divergence of findings within the literature? Haywood-Farmer (1987) provides a useful methodology to assess the empirical findings of various sludies which have used the SERVQUAL scale. Building upon his proposed classification the following model graphically presents studies in 28 services in which SERVQUAL has been used, according to the relative degrees of customisation, contact/interaction and labour intensity of the service. All the studies which have been plotted irH accordance with the Haywood-Farmer (1987) classification are listed in Table 1. The five dimensions suggested by Parasuraman et al. (1988) have been confirmed in the studies in services that lie in the quadrant relating to a low degree of customisation, of labour intensity and of customer contact/interaction. However, this is not the case in studies conducted in highly customised services with a high degree of labour it, tensity and medium/high contact/interaction with the consumer. These studies are listed in Table 2 that also shows the service setting and dimensions found to be applicable for the relevant service. In several studies, the original ten Parasuraman et al. dimensions were used and, while not a perfect fit, were fcund to form the basis of the consumer's evaluation.
High Degree of
co.tact/
interaction

Forty nine additional dimensions were generated across all the studies and although the meaning of many may overlap, there are still numerous distinctions to reflect the nuances and variations within individual service settings. Many of the studies relate to the health care environment and other professions in which the interactive dyadic relationship between the service provider and the consumer is important. Professionalism, skill, knowledge and competence, play a significant role in professional services reflecting their knowledge based nature (Walbridge and Delene, 1993; Brown and Swartz, 1989; Freeman and Dart, 1993; Dart, 1995; Haywood-Farmer and Stuart, 1988; Hedvall and Paltschik, 1991). Instilling confidence (Walbridge and Delene, 1993; Haywood-Farmer and Stuart, 1988; Reidenbach and Sandifer-Smallwood, 1990; Vandamme and Leunis, 1992), and understanding the needs of the consumer and having their best interests at heart (Hedvall and Paltschik, 1991; Freeman and Dart, 1993; Dart, 1995), also play important parts in professional service quality evaluation. Freeman and Dart (1993) found fees played a strong part in quality assessments by clients of accountants and lawyers, in terms of professionals failing to give perceived value for money and details of the appropriateness of fees. Although this classification has limitations in that modifications of the SERVQUAL instrument were used in many of the studies and the plotting has been made by the authors without detailed knowledge of the specific service setting, nevertheless it demonstrates the divergence between different service industries. The five Parasuraman et al.. dimensions appear to be too limited to capture consumers' evaluations of knowledge based services in which relationships play a key role. Although
.~ " ~7c 4e 7b ......12 ld 17

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Degree of Labour
Intensity

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Low

.~20c 27 28 Low

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Degree of Customisation

Figure 1 A Preliminary Conceptual Framework 213

H . S t e w a r t e t al.

Table 1 Studies plotted on a Haywood-Farmer (1987) Cube No Researchers Field of research Where plotted

Walbridge and Delene (1993)

Physicians perceptions of health care Medical Services Physician/Patient Medical Services

High labour intensity High customisation High contact/interaction High labour intensity High customisation High contact/interaction High labour intensity High customisation High contact/interaction (a) Medium labour intensity Low customisation Low contact/interaction (b) High labour intensity Low customisation Low contact/interaction (c) High labour intensity Medium customisation High contact/interaction (d) High labour intensity High customisation High contact/interaction (a) High labour intensity High customisation High contact/interaction (b) Low labour intensity Low customisation Medium contact/interaction (c) High labour intensity Low customisation Low contact/interaction (d) Medium labour intensity Low customisation Medium contact/interaction High labour intensity High customisation High contact/interaction (a) High labour intensity Low customisation High contract/interaction (b) High labour intensity Medium customisation High contact/interaction (c) High labour intensity Medium customisation High contact/interaction (d) High labour intensity High customisation High contact/interaction High labour intensity High customisation High contact/interaction High labour intensity High customisation High contact/interaction High labour intensity High customisation High contact/interaction High labour intensity High customisation High contact/interaction High labour intensity High customisation Medium contact/interaction High labour intensity Medium customisation Medium contact/interaction

Brown and Swartz (1989)

Haywood-Farmer (1987)

Carman (1990)

(a) Tyre Store (b) Placement Centre (c) Dental Clinic (d) Acute hospital care

Mersha and Adlakha (1992)

(a) Physician services (b) Retail banking (c) Auto maintenance (d) Colleges/Universities

Bowers et al. (1994)

Health Care Patients

Rosen and Karwan (1994)

(a) University Lecturing (b) Speciality Retail Bookstore (c) Medium price Restaurant (d) Urgent Health Care

Reidenbach and Sandifer-Smallwood (1990) Shewchuk et al. (1991)

Hospitals-Patient Care

Hospitals

10

Headley and Miller (1993)

Medical Care-Multi speciality Clinic Hospital Health Care

11

Vandamme and Leunis (1992)

12

Bojanic (1991)

Small Professional Firms

13

Freeman and Dart ( 1 9 9 3 )

Accountants--Business Clients

214

Professional service quality

Table 1 (continued)
No

14

Researchers Dart (1995)

Field of research Accountants and Lawyers

Where plolted

High labour intensity High customisation Medium contact/interaction High labour intensity High customisation Medium contact/interaction High labour intensity Medium customisation High contact/interaction High labour intensity Medium customisation High contact/interaction High labour intensity Medium customisation High contact/interaction High labour intensity High customisation Medium contact/interaction High labour intensity Low customisation Low contact/interaction High labour intensity Medium customisation High contact/interaction (a) Low labour intensity Low customisation Medium contact/interaction (b) Low labour intensity Low customisation Low contact/interaction (c) Medium labour intensity Low customisation Medium contact/interaction (d) Low labour intensity Low customisation Low contact/interaction (a) Low labour intensity Low customisation Medium contact/interaction (b) Low labour intensity Low customisation Low contact/interaction (c) Low labour intensity Low customisation Low contact/interaction (d) Low labour intensity Low customisation Low contact/interaction Low labour intensity Low customisation Medium contact/interaction (a) Low labour intensity Low customisation Medium contact/interaction (b) Medium labour intensity Low customisation Medium contact/interaction (c) Low labour intensity Low customisation Low contact/interaction (d) Low labour intensity Low customisation Low contact/interaction

15

Witt and Stewart (1996)

Solicitors

16

Hedvall and Paltschik (1991)

Pharmacies

17

LeBlanc (1992)

Travel Agencies

18

Gagliano and Hathcote (1994)

Apparel Speciality Stores

19

Kettinger and Lee (1994)

Management Information Systems Car Service Industry

20

Bouman and van der Weile (1992)

21

Saleh and Ryan (1991)

Hotels

22

Parasuraman et al. (1985)

(a) Retail Bank (b) Credit Card Company (c) Securities Brokerage (d) Product repair and maintenance

23

Parasuraman et al. (1988)

(a) Retail Bank (b) Credit Card Company (c) Product Repair and Maintenance (d) Long Distance Phone Co

24

Taylor et al. (1993)

Recreational Settings

25

Crompton and Mackay (1989)

Recreational Programmes: (a) Physical Fitness (b) Painting (c) Mens' Ics Hockey (d) Senior Trips

215

H. Stewart et al.

Table No

1 (continued)
Researchers Field of research Where plotted

26

Chen et al. (1994)

(a) Fast Food (b) Airlines (c) Long Distance Phone Co

27 28

Bressinger and Lambert (1990) Babakus and Boller (1992)

Business to Business Less than Truckload Carrier Electric and Gas Utility

(a) High labour intensity Low customisation Medium contact/interaction (b) Low labour intensity Low customisation High contact/interaction (c) Low labour intensity Low customisation Low contact/interaction Low labour intensity Low customisation Low contact/interaction Low labour intensity Low customisation Low contact/interaction

overlap may exist, each of these services has a different set of dimensions.

The dimensions appropriate to commercial/ corporate clients of legal services

Research recently undertaken by the authors forms a key stage in a major project investigating service quality in the legal profession whose service involves a high degree of customisation, labour intensity and contact and interaction with its clients. The overall objective of this work is to develop a management tool for use by solicitors to measure the level of the perceived quality of service they offer to their corporate clients. Preliminary work necessitates identification of those aspects of service that those clients deem most important. As such, issues of quality and value are investigated within the context of the previous literature review. Findings from this research will then be incorporated into a questionnaire for use in subsequent fieldwork which will comprise of a pilot study prior to a main study among U K firms of solicitors and their corporate clients. Methodology Four focus groups of commercial and corporate clients of solicitors have been held. The purpose of the sessions was to ascertain which aspects of solicitors' service they considered to be of greatest importance. Criteria for participant selection was that they should hold positions within their organisations which involve them dealing with solicitors on a regular basis. The authors were unaware, however, of the exact detail of the respective volumes of usage of legal service by the participants' organisations prior to the meetings. The objectives of the study were detailed in a briefing note provided to participants which also covered the background to the research, and the role to be played by clients and firms participating in it. A total of 18 participants attended the four meetings each of which were lead by one of the authors who gave the 216

same introduction outlining the aim of the meeting to each group and welcoming the opinions of all participants including minority views. A request was made that discussion be in general terms and not relate to specific firms. After giving a brief introduction of themselves and their usage of solicitors, the participants entered into open discussion about their views of the legal service which they received. Interventions were only made by the author if the discussion wandered, to attempt to draw out further views on particular aspects or if it began to falter towards the end of a meeting. Care was taken not to lead the discussion on these occasions. Each discussion meeting was taped and full transcriptions were made by the authors who led the groups. At the end of each meeting participants were asked to complete a form giving the name of their organisation, their position, the nature of the business and the organisation's approximate usage of solicitors, whether ongoing, every three or six months or annually. They were also asked to note and rank the aspects of service which they considered to be of the greatest importance. These notes were not referred to until after the discussions had been transcribed and preliminary content analysis completed. Preliminary analysis Initial content analysis was carried out by identifying aspects which could be grouped together in each transcript. General headings appropriate for aspects of the discussions for each meeting, e.g. costs, responsiveness, were then developed. There appeared to be considerable areas of commonality between the four groups with the recurrence of the same or similar headings for each. The transcripts were then merged according to the apparent similarities and further editing of the content to draw out greater features of commonality was carried out. Six main groupings emerged from the preliminary content analysis; commercial acumen, technical competence, responsiveness, building relationships, ability to communicate, and fees and billing. Four further groupings

Professional service quality

Table 2 Dimensions found in SERVQUAL studies in highly customised, labour-intensive services with medium/high degree of contact
Researchers Service Setting Dimensions found

1 2 3 4 5

Walbridge and Delene (1993) Brown and Swartz ( 1 9 8 9 ) Haywood-Farmer and Stuart (1988) Carman (1990) Mersha and Adlakha (1990)

Bowers et al. (1994)

7 8 9 10 11 12

Rosen and Karwan (1994) Reidenbach and SandiferSmallwood (1990) Shewchuk et al. (1991) Headley and Miller (1993) Vandamme and Leunis (1992) Bojanic (1991)

13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21

Freeman and Dart ( 1 9 9 3 ) Dart (1995) Witt and Stewart (1996) Hedvall and Paltschik (1991) LeBlanc (1992) Gagliano and Hathcote (1994) Kettinger and Lee (1994) Bouman and van der Weile (1992) Saleh and Ryan (1991)

Reliability, Assurance, Empathy, Responsiveness, Tangibles, Core Medical Service, Professionalism/skill Physician/Patient Professionalism, Auxiliary communication, Professional responsibility Medical Services Tangibles, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, Empathy, Customisation, Knowledge, Core services Hospitals Admission service, Tangible accommodation, Tangible food, Tangible privacy, nursing care, explanation of treatment, Access, Courtesy afforded to visitors, Discharge planning, Patient accounting Multi Service Physician Good attributes--Knowledge of service, Thoroughness/accuracy of service, Consistency/reliability, Willingness to correct errors, Follow up after initial service, Timely/prompt service, Observance of announced business hours, Enthusiasm/helpfulness, Courtesy, Reasonable cost, Pleasant environment, Friendliness Health Care Patients Reliability, Responsiveness, Competence, Access, Courtesy, Communication, Credibility, Security, Understanding/knowing the customer, Tangibles, Caring on the part of the physicians and nurses, Patient outcomes Urgent Health Care Assurance, Reliability, Access, Tangibles, Knowing the customer, Respon siveness Hospitals--Patient care Outpatients: Patient confidence; Emergency room: Physical appearance, Treatment quality; In patient: Treatment quality, Business competence Hospitals Tangibles, Responsiveness, Empathy, Reliability/Assurance Medical Care Dependability, Empathy, Reliability, Responsiveness, Tangibles, Presentation Hospital Health Care Tangibles, Medical responsiveness, Assurance, Assurance II, Nursing staff, Personal beliefs and values Accountants Tangibles (location, employee appearance, office appearance), Reliability (accuracy of work), Responsiveness (promptness, co-operation, responsiveness), Assurance (employee knowledge, partner knowledge, professionalism), Empathy (accessibility, personal attention Accountants--Business Tangibles, Timeliness, Assurance, Empathy, Fees, Professionalism, ExClients ceptions, Accessibility Accountants and Lawyers Tangibles, Timeliness, Assurance, Empathy, Fees, Professionalism, Exceptions, Accessibility Solicitors Communication with the ~solicitor,Communication with staff, Courtesy, Reliability/competence, Access, Tangibles Swedish Pharmacies General dimensions: Willingness to serve and Physical and psychological access Pharmacy specific dimensions: Professionalism, Commitment, Confidentiality, Milieu Travel Agencies Corporate Image, Competitiveness, Courtesy, Responsiveness, Accessibility, Competence Apparel Speciality Stores Personal attention, Reliability, Tangibles, Convenience MIS Customers Level of user knowledge and involvement, Quality of information/products, Attitudes towards staff and services, Reliability/empathy Customer kindness, Tangibles, Faith Car Service Industry Hotels Conviviality, Tangibles, Reassurance, Avoid Sarcasm, Empathy

Health Care

were discussed to a m u c h lesser extent; reliability, access, c o u r t e s y a n d tangibles. T h e g r o u p i n g s a n d the p r i n c i p a l c o m m o n items within each are set out in Table 3. C o m p a r i s o n with the m o s t i m p o r t a n t aspects of service n o t e d b y the p a r t i c i p a n t s at the end of each focus g r o u p session p r o v i d e s a test of validity. These are s h o w n in the first c o l u m n of Table 4 a n d can be b r o a d l y g r o u p e d u n d e r similar h e a d i n g s to those listed in Table 3; c o m mercial versus professional a p p r o a c h , technical c o m p e tence, responsiveness, c o m m u n i c a t i o n , fees a n d billing, a n d t r u s t / r e l a t i o n s h i p s . All the aspects n o t e d by the p a r ticipants were also covered in the g r o u p discussions. However, the discussions h i g h l i g h t e d m a n y of the p a r t i cipants" m o r e negative feelings t o w a r d s the service, p a r t i c u l a r l y in relation to costs a n d p e r c e p t i o n s of corn-

placency t o w a r d s the r e l a t i o n s h i p on the p a r t of the solicitor.

Preliminary findings
The focus g r o u p s i n d i c a t e d that c o m m e r c i a l a n d c o r p o rate clients w a n t results at a cost effective price a n d t h a t u n c e r t a i n t y over costs i m p a c t s on their objectives in a matter. Specific o u t c o m e s were n o t discussed in o t h e r terms, p e r h a p s because each m a t t e r differs a n d o u t c o m e is n o t always a p p a r e n t . A client's objectives, based on a p o t e n t i a l o u t c o m e of allowing t h e m to progress their own business, m a y alter as a m a t t e r develops. T h e definitions of o u t c o m e a n d process suggested b y B l a n c h a r d a n d G a l l o w a y (1994) seem a p p r o p r i a t e for legal services. C o m p a r i s o n s m a y be m a d e between the d i m e n s i o n s listed in Table 2 a n d the factors suggested as a p p r o p r i a t e 217

H. Stewart et al.

Table Item

3 Factors derived from transcripts of focus groups

Factor

Individual expertise Different firms for different specialisms Larger firms for risk avoidance Commercial astuteness/professionalism/role in decision making/adversarial approach Over complication Overlengthy documentation Overstandardised documentation Proactive information Succinct approach/not wasting client's time Responsiveness Communication/clear understanding Development of relationships Personal chemistry Solicitor visiting client's place of business Educating client as to who deals with what in firm Proactive information Clients made to feel valued Value Amounts Breakdown Mechanics of Billing Flexibility Efficiency/inefficiency Accuracy in following instructions Ability to "get through" to solicitor City centre location/parking Switch board hours Courtesy of staff Appearance and nature of offices

Technical competence Commercial Acumen

Responsiveness Ability to communicate Building relationships

Fees and Billing

Reliability Access Courtesy Tangibles

for the legal profession by the focus group participants, but while there are some apparent areas of overlap, e.g. fees, responsiveness, conclusions cannot be drawn without adequate knowledge of each service setting or market segment. They differ from the findings of Witt and Stewart (1996) in respect of the dimensions private clients of solicitors use in a quality evaluation. Participants regarded technical expertise of great importance but acknowledged that they were unable to assess it, confirming the findings of the literature. Their choice of legal firm reflected the level of expertise and specialism they demanded and which they assumed the chosen firm would possess. Some participants representing smaller organisations reported using smaller legal firms but all indicated that they would choose another firm for a particular specialism if their own firm did not offer it. Larger organisations tend to use larger firms of solicitors offering a breadth of skills, for risk avoidance. Although nine items relating to technical competence were noted as important by participants (refer to Table 4), discussion on these issues was limited in all the meetings. Greater significance was attached to the mutual trust in clients" ongoing relationships with their legal advisors in all discussions, following Yorke (1990). Personal chemistry is important in the development of relationships, even in larger firms where several solicitors may be acting for a client. Clients feel more comfortable speaking to a solicitor they know as it enhances their feeling of confidence. These relationships were critical for participants but their nature differs according to the volume of usage. 218

Heavy users usually viewed their solicitors as part of a team and felt an onus on themselves to give full instructions, to brief their solicitors fully "up front". They also referred to the need "to manage" the case load given to their solicitors on a regular basis. On the whole they appeared to have developed the relationship with their solicitors to a greater extent and were more satisfied than lower volume users with the service. Various factors of the service impact on this relationship and can either enhance or detract from the trust perceived by clients. Solicitors appear to have to achieve a balance in the relationship between adopting a commercial attitude and their inherent professionalism. This reflects the conflicting aims of client, professional and organisation suggested by Ritsema van Eck-van Peet and Broekhuis (1991). Perceptions that a solicitor can be over professional were highlighted several times. Solicitors are seen to take an adversarial stance even if client's perceive this to be against their interests and are considered to overnegotiate and overcomplicate issues on occasions. They are seen as "too tied into the law" and lack a sense of commercialism and commercial acumen. In other instances they are seen as over cautious. Clients want their solicitor to know their business and for there to be sufficient mutual trust in the relationship for the solicitor to give commercial, practical advice while at the same time pointing out the extent of the client's risk. Trust is implicit in allowing the solicitor to tell the client what he needs to know. It is therefore essential that the solicitor understands the client's Objectives throughout a matter.

Professional service quality

Table 4 Factors noted as important by focus group participants

Involves Effort/ Commitment

Creates Trust/ Distrust

Gives Value

Commercial versus Professional Approach

Being commercially aware of potential problems Proactive in giving advice Positive advice, not problem oriented Being prepared to give an opinion as opposed to dogma, sitting on the fence Flexibility in terms of the advice offered Ability to be flexible Be experienced enough to ask the right questions Practical advice (not legal advice) Clear appreciation of what is wanted in any situation Perception and understanding of problem/subject Practical commercial approach Commercial relationship Commercially aware Irhtellectual rigour, creative input when brainstorming Li2stening/acting on instructions Not negotiating for client after the event and introducing friction Not immediately strike an adversarial position Avoid boiler plate agreement being used slavishly Not offer "off the shelf' solutions Willingness to discuss/accept nature of the relationship

Technical Competence
Confidence and trust for correct advice Accuracy of advice Detailed knowledge of subject matter Technically competent Technical expertise Breadth of skills Depth of resource A~.tention to detail Accuracy

Responsiveness
Speed of service with update Speed of response time P:omptness of action Ability to respond quickly to any query - even if not of the ordinary Meeting deadlines Speed of response Speed Avoidance of delay Speed/responsiveness Elficient prompt service Prompt attention and efficiency Efficiency Communication Ready availability

Communication
Communication in "non-jargon" manner Ability to communicate in non legal terms Good communication C}arity/simplicity

Fees and Billing

E,;timate of costs at outset Flexibility/especially billing Costing/reporting on costs realistically Billing Value Cost-effective Cost of advice 5 Cost Cost effectiveness

T~'ust/Relationships
Personal chemistry Approachable/sense of humour Chemistry/relationship Known contacts who to speak to Trust-chemistry-integrity Honesty, character Tiust in the person you are dealing with on an ongoing basis Honesty and integrity Use of technology Proximity to business Image 219

H. Stewart et al.

commercial acumen

commercial versus professional approach technical competence ability to communicate responsiveness

~quitity
value

effort}...'" OUTCOMES

commitment

DRIVERS

Figure 2 SERVQUAL Studies Plotted According to Haywood-Farmer (1987) Classification The ability to communicate the law to clients with clarity and in simple terms is also important, particularly if a representative of the firm has to relay the effect of it upon the company's business to other members of the organisation. Issues relating to the amount of costs charged and to the poor management of billing procedures, e.g. failing to provide a full breakdown of an invoice or agree the amount of the bill with the client before delivery, arose and confirm the work of Wilson (1984) and Freeman and Dart (1993). These issues lead to feelings of distrust; "You have got to be a little distrustful sometimes of these numbers that come through because I just don't believe some of it." The phrase "the meter's running all the time," occurred several times. Views were expressed that solicitors had to stop being "arrogant" and to be responsive to the commercial world in terms of costs, e.g. to agree a fixed price for a matter. In some instances the complex and changing nature of a client's problem may make it impossible for solicitors to do so, but nevertheless they should adequately communicate the reasons to their clients. Heavy users of legal services did not express these views. Costs have to be justified in terms of value and cost effectiveness, reflecting the work of Olshavsky (1985) and Zeithaml (1988). Two participants reported changing to smaller firms with a lower charge out rate for small jobs for reasons of costs. Other clients had begun to do some work in house. Discussions produced mixed views on responsiveness but its importance was apparent from all the discussions. Some participants reported poor experiences, others had received prompt and timely advice. This may be due to smaller firms not always having the requisite specialism and having to spend time investigating an aspect of the law. Responsiveness can enhance a relationship. Conversely, failure to be responsive can damage a relationship and create impressions of inefficiency which reflect on perceptions of value. 220

Perceptions of complacency on the part of the solicitor gradually erode goodwill in a relationship and break down trust. Failure to handle any one of the aspects of the relationship may give an overall impression that the client's business is not valued. All aspects of the service tentatively relate to an overall perception of value rather than quality, supporting the findings of Beaton and Beaton (1995). However, clients do not appear to distinguish between the concepts in their evaluation of the service. Some aspects of the service appear to impinge solely on quality, some on value alone and others to relate to both concepts. A classification of the items influencing trust in a relationship, and effort and commitment on the part of the solicitor, and those that relate to value issues is also presented in columns 2, 3 and 4 of Table 4. The trust engendered in a relationship between a solicitor and corporate client appears to act as a filter through which other factors such as fees, effort and commitment on the part of the solicitor, and commercial acumen indirectly affect the perceived quality or value of the legal service. A preliminary conceptual framework is presented in Figure 2 showing the factors as drivers influencing both quality and value indirectly through trust and relationships.

Conclusions
The relationship between outcome and process dimensions used by the commercial and corporate clients of the legal profession to evaluate service has not yet been fully defined. The desired outcome follows the client's objectives that may alter over time. Comparisons for measurement purposes may be ineffective as the parameters and their relative levels of importance may also change. The ongoing nature of relationships between corporate clients and their professional advisors also changes over time and further research is needed to investigate the potentially interactive nature of the dimensions. This relationship is likely to differ from that experienced between private clients and their solicitors where transactions tend to be on a more discrete basis. Commercial and corporate clients appear to evaluate a service based upon an assessment of the value of the service to them, the extent to which it benefits them and enables them to progress their own business effectively. The assessment incorporates some quality aspects but the causal path between the two concepts remains unclear. Relationships and trust driven by other factors, play a vital role in evaluation but the nature of the relationship between the components of the conceptual model requires verification and the validity of the model itself must be tested. The results of the focus groups confirm the findings of previous research in respect of the applicability of the five SERVQUAL dimensions (Parasuraman et al., 1988) to highly customised, labour-intensive services in which the degree of contact/interaction plays a significant role. Responsiveness was the only dimension noted as of

Professional service quality

i m p o r t a n c e b y the focus g r o u p p a r t i c i p a n t s from the five, L i m i t e d reference was also m a d e in the discussions to reliability a n d t a n g i b l e factors. S o m e of the d i m e n s i o n s f r o m the original ten ( P a r a s u r a m a n et al., 1985) a p p e a r applicable. C o m m u n i c a t i o n a n d c o m p e t e n c e were n o t e d as of i m p o r t a n c e . A l t h o u g h credibility is defined by P a r a s u r a m a n et al. as i n v o l v i n g t r u s t w o r t h i n e s s , believability a n d honesty, it does n o t a p p e a r to a d e q u a t e l y describe the " p e r s o n a l c h e m i s t r y " i n v o l v e d in a r e l a t i o n s h i p between c o r p o r a t e clients a n d their solicitors. Similarly, their d i m e n s i o n of c o u r t e s y does n o t c a p t u r e the need for clients to feel v a l u e d a n d i m p o r t a n t . C o m m e r c i a l acumen, fees a n d billing o r the p a r t p l a y e d by the r e l a t i o n ship between a c o r p o r a t e client a n d their solicitor a p p e a r to be a d d i t i o n a l factors in clients" evaluations. T h e next stage of the p r o j e c t will involve using the i n f o r m a t i o n revealed b y the focus g r o u p s to design a n d d e v e l o p a q u e s t i o n n a i r e for use in fieldwork. This will involve a p i l o t s t u d y followed by a m a i n survey a m o n g firms of solicitors a n d their c o m m e r c i a l a n d c o r p o r a t e clients with the a i m of designing a generic scale to m e a s u r e clients' assessments of the service. It is felt t h a t in its p r e s e n t form the S E R V Q U A L scale is n o t suitable for m e a s u r i n g q u a l i t y in legal services. H o w e v e r , its b r o a d f r a m e w o r k w o u l d a p p e a r a p p r o p r i al:e, if b a s e d on d i m e n s i o n s a p p l i c a b l e to the legal profession. W h e n d e v e l o p i n g the scale, criticisms of the SERV Q U A L i n s t r u m e n t m a d e by researchers ( C a r m a n , 1990; B a b a k u s a n d Boller, 1992; B r o w n et al., 1993; Smith, 1995) will be n o t e d a n d their r e c o m m e n d a t i o n s m a d e to o v e r c o m e its s h o r t c o m i n g s will be a d o p t e d where they are c o n s i d e r e d a p p r o p r i a t e . A n i n s t r u m e n t d e v e l o p e d for use in the legal profession will e n a b l e solicitors to selfassess their clients' e v a l u a t i o n s of their o n g o i n g relationsl:@s with them. T h e i n f o r m a t i o n g a i n e d will allow solicit c r s to i m p r o v e the m a n n e r in which they c o n d u c t the r e l a t i o n s h i p s by e n s u r i n g t h a t aspects of service delivery a c c o r d with their client's wishes.

Bowers, M R, Swan J E and Koehler, W F (1994) 'What attributes determine quality and satisfaction in health care delivery' Health Care Management Review 1994 (4) 49-55 Bressinger, R P and Lambert, D M (1990) 'Can the SERVQUAL scale be generalized to Business to Business Services' Knowledge Development in Marketing AMA Summer Educators' Conference Proceedings

Brogowicz, A A, Delene, A M and Lyth, D M (1990) 'A synthesised service quality model with managerial implications', International Journal of Service Industry Management I (1) 27 44 Brown, W and Swartz, T A (1989) 'A gap analysis of professional service quality' Journal of Marketing 53 (2) 92 98 Brown, T J, Churchill, G A and Peter, J P (1993) 'Research note: improving the measurement of service quality' Journal of Retailing 69 (1) 127-139 Carman, J A (1990) 'Consumer perceptions of service quality: an assessment of the SERVQUAL dimensions' Journal of Retailing 66 (1) Spring 33 55 Chase, R B (1978) 'Where does the customer fit in a service operation' Harvard Business Review (November December) 137-142 Chen, I J, Gupta, A and Rom, W (1994) 'A study of price and quality in service operations' International Journal of Service Industry Management 5 (2) 23-33 Church, A H, Javitch, M and Warner Burke, W (1995) 'Enhancing professional service quality: feedback is the way to go' Managing Service Quality 5 (3) 29-33 Crompton, J L and McKay, K J (1989) 'Users' perceptions of the relative importance of service quality dimensions in selected public recreation programs' Leisure Sciences 11 367-375 Dart, J (1995) 'Small client perceptions of accounting and legal services' Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship 12 (1) 4-16 Fick, G R and Ritchie, J B R (1991) 'Measuring service quality in the travel and tourism industry' Journal of Travel Research XXX (2) 2-9 Finn, D W and Lamb, C W (1991) 'An evaluation of the SERVQUAL scales in a retailing setting' Advances in Consumer Research 18 483-490 Folkes, V S (1994) 'How customers predict service quality. What do they expect?' in Rust, R T and Oliver, R L (eds) Service Quality: New Directions in Theory and Practice Sage, Newbury Park, C A Freeman, K M and Dart, J (1993) 'Measuring the perceived quality of professional business services' Journal qf Professional Services Marketing 9 (1) 27 47 Gagliano, K B and Hathcote, J (1994) 'Customer expectations and perceptions of service quality in retail apparel specialty stores' Journal of Services Marketing 8 (1) 60-69 Gronroos, C (1982) 'An applied service marketing theory' European Journal of Marketing 16 (7) 30 41 Gummesson, E (1978) 'Toward a theory of professional service marketing' Industrial Marketing Management 7 89-95 Gummesson, E (1981) 'How professional services are bought' in Rines, M (ed) Marketing Handbook 2nd ed. Gower Press, London Gummesson, E (1992) 'Quality dimensions: what to measure in service organisations' in Swartz, T A, Bowen, D E and Brown, S W (eds)
Advances in Services Marketing and Management Research and Practice Vol 1 JAI Press, Greenwich, CT, pp 177-206

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