A confirmation perspective on perceived

service quality
Lawrence O. Hamer
Department of Marketing, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Abstract
Purpose – The paper seeks to provide a theoretical and empirical investigation of the relationship between consumer expectations and consumer
perceptions of service quality.
Design/methodology/approach – The theory of cognitive reference points, adaptation-level theory, and assimilation-contrast theory are used to
formulate hypotheses concerning the relationships between perceived service quality, consumer expectations, and perceptions. These hypotheses were
empirically investigated through an experiment that manipulated expectations and perceptions while measuring perceived service quality.
Findings – The principal finding is that consumer expectations are positive predictors of perceived service quality (i.e. higher expectations lead to
higher perceptions of quality). Another finding is that the relationship between expectations and perceived service quality is much stronger than prior
literature suggests.
Practical implications – The practical implication of this study is that practitioners should seek to actively manage their customers’ expectations to
increase those expectations.
Originality/value – This paper is valuable to practitioners who are seeking to use expectations to achieve higher perceptions of quality among their
customers. It is also valuable to researchers who are seeking to understand the relationship between expectations and quality perceptions.

Keywords Customer services quality, Services marketing, Expectation, Perception

Paper type Research paper

An executive summary for managers can be found at
the end of this article.
One of the primary goals of service marketers is to
maximize consumers’ perceptions of the service encounter
and the firm-consumer relationship. To this end, research in
the area of services marketing has examined the process by
which consumers evaluate the quality of the service they
receive and the components of this evaluation process. The
advice given to practitioners by the service literature is to
make sure the service performance received by consumers
exceeds their expectations. This paper presents evidence
that following this advice will ensure that consumers’
perceptions will not be maximized, as the advice is based
upon a faulty conceptualization of the service quality
formation process.
The current conceptualization of the service quality
formation process has its roots in the service quality
studies of Parasuraman et al. (1985) that led to the gap
conceptualization of service quality and the development of
the SERVQUAL instrument. The gap conceptualization of
perceived service quality (PSQ), and the related
disconfirmation conceptualization of consumer satisfaction/
dissatisfaction, have been the basis for a great deal of work
on consumers’ evaluations of service (for recent examples,
see Durvasula et al.’s (1999) study of the applicability of
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
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Journal of Services Marketing
20/4 (2006) 219– 232
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 0887-6045]
[DOI 10.1108/08876040610674571]
SERVQUAL business-to-business settings, and Kopalle and
Lehmann’s (2001) study of individual consumer differences
in the degree to which disconfirmation effects perceptions
of satisfaction). Both the gap and disconfirmation
conceptualizations posit that evaluations are a function of
the distance between perceived performance and
expectations. High evaluations are thought to result from
consumers perceiving the delivered service as being better
than expected, and low evaluations are thought to result
from consumers perceiving the delivered service as being
worse than expected. The managerial implications of these
formulations include the practice of “under-promising and
over-delivering”. In other words, firms should seek to lower
consumers’ expectations (i.e. under-promise) in order to
ensure they can exceed those expectations (i.e. over-
deliver).
This paper suggests that rather than being a function of the
gap between expectations and performance, service quality
perceptions result from a process of confirmation. The
managerial implications of a confirmation conceptualization
suggest that under-promising (i.e. lowering consumers’
expectations) will result in lower quality perceptions;
moreover, high expectations of service performance will be
associated with high perceptions of service quality. Thus,
rather than trying to maximize the delivered service-
expectations gap, practitioners who seek to maximize their
clients’ perceptions of quality should attempt to eliminate this
gap through the raising of expectations. To develop the
argument of this expectation-perceived service quality (PSQ)
relationship, we first discuss the constructs relevant to the
formation of service quality perceptions. Next, the gap
conceptualization will be reviewed and its limitations
discussed. We then present and discuss the confirmation
conceptualization that more completely delineates the role of
expectations in the formation of PSQ.

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 A confirmation perspective on perceived service quality
Lawrence O. Hamer
Perceived service quality constructs
Discussions of the conceptualization and measurement of
PSQ center around three constructs:
1 expectations;
2 perceived performance; and
3 disconfirmation (see, for example, Parasuraman et al.,
1988; Bolton and Drew, 1991).
Expectations
Expectations are beliefs about the level of service that will be
delivered by a service provider, and they are assumed to
provide standards of reference against which the delivered
service is compared (Zeithaml et al., 1993). Although service
quality researchers originally viewed expectations as strictly a
normative standard (e.g. Parasuraman et al., 1985, 1988),
more recent studies suggest at least two additional types of
expectations (Boulding et al., 1993; Zeithaml et al., 1993).
Thus, three types of expectations are discussed below:
1 normative;
2 predictive; and
3 minimal.
Normative expectations
Normative expectations are conceptualized as the level of
service that would be expected from an excellent service
provider (Zeithaml et al., 1990). The normative standard has
been variously operationalized as the wished for level of
performance (Miller, 1977), the level at which the consumer
wants the product to perform (Swan and Trawik, 1980), what
the customer thinks should happen in their next encounter
(Boulding et al., 1993), the optimal product performance for
which a consumer would ideally hope (Tse and Wilton,
1988), and how a brand should perform in order for the
consumer to be completely satisfied (Prakash, 1984).
Empirically, normative expectations have been found to be
negatively related to service evaluations. Using correlation
analysis, Tse and Wilton (1988) found normative
expectations to have an indirect (through perceived
performance which will be discussed later) and negative
effect on satisfaction (r ¼ 20:24, p , 0:05). Boulding et al.
(1993) found normative expectations to have a negative effect
on perceptions of the service (the standardized regression
coefficient was 20.17, p , 0:05). Babakus and Boller (1992)
found the correlation between normative expectations and
PSQ to be negative, but not statistically significant
(r ¼ 20:01). Thus, empirical evidence suggests that
normative expectations are negatively correlated with
perceptions of service quality yielding coefficients ranging
from approximately 0 to approximately 2 0.20.
Predictive expectations
Predictive expectations are conceptually defined as the level of
service that consumers expect to receive from a given service
provider in a given situation. Consumers’ predictive
expectations are generally lower than their normative
expectations (Boulding et al., 1993). However, predictive
and normative expectations might be equal if consumers
believed that the service provider with whom they are
interacting is an excellent service provider. Predictive
expectations have been variously operationalized as the
expected standard (Miller, 1977), predictive expectations
(Swan and Trawik, 1980; Prakash, 1984), a product’s most
likely performance (Tse and Wilton, 1988), and will
expectations (Boulding et al., 1993).
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Predictive expectations have been found to be positively
related to service evaluations. Tse and Wilton (1988) found the
correlation between predictive expectations and satisfaction to
be 0.39 (p , 0:01). Boulding et al. (1993) reported the
predictive standard to have a standardized regression coefficient
of 0.38 (p , 0:01). Voss et al. (1998) found that predictive
expectations had a positive effect on perceived performance and
satisfaction (standardized structural coefficients of 0.51 and
0.23, respectively). Thus, the empirical evidence suggests that
predictive expectations are positively related to PSQ with a
correlation coefficient of approximately 0.40.
In studies that have included both a predictive and
normative operationalization of expectations, predictive
expectations have been found to be better predictors of
PSQ than have normative expectations. See, for example,
Boulding et al. (1993) who found predictive expectations to
have regression coefficients of 0.38 and 0.87 (both with
p , 0:01) over two periods of a longitudinal study when used
as a predictor of service evaluations. The coefficients for
normative expectations over the same time periods, however,
were 20.17 (p , 0:05) and 20.24 (p , 0:01).
Adequate expectations
Adequate expectations represent consumers’ perceptions of
the lowest acceptable level of service. Adequate expectations
have been conceptualized as the lowest level of service
consumers expect to receive (Zeithaml et al., 1993) and
minimum tolerable expectations (Miller, 1977). A lack of
empirical research leaves the issue of whether adequate
expectations are positively or negatively related to PSQ open
to further investigation.
Perceived performance
Perceived performance represents consumers’ subjective views
of the level of service they receive in service encounters
(Parasuraman et al., 1985; Brown and Swartz, 1989; Cronin
and Taylor, 1992; Teas, 1993). Perceived performance has also
been called “perceptions” and “performance” in the service
quality literature (Boulding et al., 1993; Zeithaml et al., 1988).
Perceived performance represents the stimuli each consumer
perceives in the service encounter. The consumer then
evaluates the service encounter by comparing the perceived
stimuli (i.e. perceived performance) to the stimuli they expected
to perceive (i.e. expectations). In other words, perceived service
quality (i.e. an evaluation of a service encounter) results from a
consumer comparing their perception of the service encounter
(i.e. perceived performance) to what they expected to have
happen during the encounter (i.e. expectations).
Perceived performance has consistently been found to be
strongly and positively related to service evaluations. Using
regression, Bolton and Drew (1991) found perceived
performance to be a significant predictor of service
evaluations (the performance variable in their regression
equation had a standardized coefficient of 0.55, p , 0:005).
Cronin and Taylor (1992) and Babakus and Boller (1992)
both found perceived performance and PSQ to be highly
correlated (R2 ¼ 0:60 and 0.66 respectively). More recently,
Ferrell et al. (2001) defined 12 types of employee
performance behaviors that were each positively related to
PSQ. Similarly, Brady and Cronin (2001) defined nine types
of perceptions that impacted PSQ in a hierarchical manner.
Thus, empirically, perceived performance has been shown to
have a strong, positive relationship with PSQ.
 A confirmation perspective on perceived service quality
Lawrence O. Hamer
Disconfirmation
Disconfirmation represents the relationship between
expectations and perceived performance. If perceived
performance exceeds expectations, disconfirmation is said to
be positive. If perceived performance falls short of
expectations, disconfirmation is said to be negative.
Empirical evidence for the importance of disconfirmation
on PSQ is mixed. Studies that find a significant relationship
between disconfirmation and PSQ typically find the
relationship to be weaker than that between perceived
performance and PSQ (Babakus and Boller, 1992). Bolton
and Drew (1991) found disconfirmation to be a significant
predictor of PSQ (regression coefficient ¼ 0:16, p , 0:05),
but they found the regression coefficient for perceived
performance to be 0.56. These results have led some
researchers to believe that the relationship between
disconfirmation and PSQ is an artifact of the relationship
between perceived performance and PSQ (Babakus and
Boller, 1992; Cronin and Taylor, 1992). Thus, the theoretical
importance of disconfirmation to perceptions of quality has
not been empirically validated. Interestingly, Kopalle and
Lehmann (2001) demonstrated that the sensitivity to
disconfirmation varied across consumers as some consumers
attach more importance to disconfirmation than do others
during the process of evaluation. These individual differences
offer a possible explanation of the inconsistent relationship
between disconfirmation and PSQ.
The gap conceptualization
The gap conceptualization conceptualizes PSQ as “the extent
of discrepancy between customers’ expectations and their
perceptions (perceived performance)” (Zeithaml et al., 1990,
p. 19). This conceptualization implies that a consumer who
perceives a positive disconfirmation (i.e. a consumer who
perceives performance as being greater than what was
expected) would perceive the service provider as being
higher in quality than a consumer who perceives a negative
disconfirmation. Increases in positive disconfirmation are
thought to correspond with equivalent increases in PSQ.
Conversely, increases in negative disconfirmation are thought
to correspond with equivalent decreases in PSQ. In other
words, a liner relationship between disconfirmation and PSQ
is implicitly assumed (see Figure 1). Exceeding expectations,
therefore, is viewed as invariably preferable to meeting or
Figure 1 Alternative views of PSQ
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failing to meet expectations. Additionally, exceeding low
expectations is thought to result in the same level of quality
perceptions as exceeding high expectations.
Theoretical foundations and measurement
From their observations of an extensive series of focus groups
dealing with a variety of services, Parasuraman et al. (1985)
concluded that PSQ was a function of the “gap” between
perceived performance and expectations. Hence, the findings
of this research team have come to be known as the “gap
conceptualization”.
Parasuraman et al. (1985, 1988) developed the
SERVQUAL instrument as an indirect measure of
disconfirmation. The SERVQUAL instrument is
administered in two sections; one for the measurement of
expectations and the other for the measurement of perceived
performance. Each section consists of 22 items representing
five dimensions of service quality. The disconfirmation score
on each dimension is obtained by taking the average
difference of the perceived performance and expectations of
the items for each of the dimensions. Alternatively, the
disconfirmation on each of the 22 items can be measured
directly (Parasuraman et al., 1991)[1] by asking respondents
to express the discrepancy between perceived performance
and their expectations (i.e. respondents are asked on a nine-
point scale where 1 is “lower than expected” and 9 is “higher
than expected” to respond to statements such as “Compared
to my expectations, ABC’s service performance is. . . ”).
Whether disconfirmation is measured indirectly or directly,
PSQ is defined as an importance-weighted average of the
disconfirmation score of each dimension. In other words,
PSQ is operationally defined as the equivalent of the
difference between perceived performance and expectations.
This operational definition of PSQ implicitly assumes that
perceived performance and expectations are equally
important in the formation of PSQ.
Gap conceptualization limitations
Comparing the gap conceptualization with the empirical
findings about PSQ constructs (as discussed earlier) reveals
that the gap conceptualization has a limited ability to account
for several key empirical findings:
.
The gap conceptualization asserts that expectations have a
negative effect on PSQ (Parasuraman et al., 1988).
However, predictive expectations have been found to have
 A confirmation perspective on perceived service quality
Lawrence O. Hamer
a strong, positive relationship with PSQ. Moreover, the
fact that normative expectations have been found to have a
contradictory effect (i.e. a weak, negative effect) on PSQ
cannot be explained by the gap conceptualization.
.
The gap conceptualization views disconfirmation as the
key construct in the formation of PSQ. However,
empirical studies have found the relationship between
disconfirmation and PSQ to be weak or non-significant.
.
The gap conceptualization and the SERVQUAL
instrument assume that perceived performance and
expectations are equal in terms of the size of the effect
they have on PSQ. However, empirical evidence suggests
perceived performance has a stronger relationship with
PSQ than do expectations (Bolton and Drew, 1991;
Babakus and Boller, 1992; Boulding et al., 1993; Cronin
and Taylor, 1992). The relationship between perceived
performance and PSQ is so strong that some researchers
have suggested that PSQ can be best predicted by
measuring perceived performance alone (i.e. by omitting
the measurement of expectations) (Babakus and Boller,
1992; Cronin and Taylor, 1992).
The confirmation conceptualization
The confirmation conceptualization is offered as an
alternative explanation of the PSQ formation process, and is
consistent with the available empirical evidence. The
confirmation conceptualization builds upon the gap
conceptualization by developing a more complete
explanation of the key role played by expectations in the
PSQ formation process.
The confirmation conceptualization’s view of
expectations
Expectations as reference points
The services literature considers expectations to be reference
points of comparison[2] in the service evaluation process
(Gronroos, 1982; Lewis and Booms, 1983; Parasuraman et al.,
1985). The confirmation conceptualization builds upon
reference-point theories (namely the theory of cognitive
reference points, adaptation-level theory, and assimilation-
contrast theory) to more fully delineate the role expectations
play in the service quality formation process. These theories
were chosen because of their proven ability to explain
consumers’ evaluations of marketing stimuli (Monroe et al.,
1991)[3].
Multiple levels of expectations
Adaptation-level and assimilation-contrast theories suggest
that individuals make judgments by comparing new stimuli to
internal reference ranges consisting of multiple reference
points (Sherif and Hovland, 1961; Helson, 1964). Reference
points may represent the typical value of the stimulus, the
aspiration value of the stimulus, or a value from the
consumer’s personal experience (Della Bitta and Monroe,
1973; Klein and Oglethorpe, 1987). This concept of reference
ranges provides theoretical support for multiple expectation
levels (e.g. Boulding et al.’s (1993) “should” and “will”
expectations), and suggests that while the effects of the
various levels of expectations can be modeled separately the
multiple levels of expectations are individual parts of a single
reference range.
Assimilation-contrast and adaptation-level theories further
suggest that within the reference scale, there is a preferred
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(major) anchor for the judging of new stimuli. The endpoints
of the reference scale (e.g. normative and adequate
expectations) are likely to act as anchors when consumers
are inexperienced with the stimuli category (Monroe et al.,
1991). Experienced consumers are likely to use a reference
point between the endpoints of the scale (e.g. predictive
expectations) because their experience allows a more
entrenched idea of the service they are likely to receive.
Here again, these theories are capable of explaining empirical
findings from the service quality literature. Most service
quality studies use respondents who have experience with the
service category being studied and find predictive
expectations to be more highly correlated with perceived
quality than other levels of expectations (e.g. Hamer et al.,
1999). Normative and adequate expectations, if viewed as the
endpoints of the expectations range, are less likely to be the
major anchors in a service quality study because respondents
usually are experienced consumers of the given service
category. Adaptation-level and assimilation-contrast theories
indicate that the strength of the predictive expectation-PSQ
relationship is due to the effects of experience on the
expectations construct. Therefore, assuming most consumers
of a given service category have prior experience with that
service category:
H1. Predictive expectations will have the largest effect on
service quality judgments.
Perceived service quality conceptualization
PSQ is considered a dynamic phenomenon that changes with
the receipt of various types of information (most notably
delivered service) (Boulding et al., 1993; Hamer et al., 1999).
The quality perceptions held by consumers after any given
service delivery (i.e. revised quality) result from revising the
quality perceptions consumers held prior to a given service
delivery (i.e. initial quality) (Bolton and Drew, 1991). Initial
quality is determined by past experience with a service
provider, word-of-mouth, advertisements, tangible cues, etc.
Consumers use these same information sources to construct
expectations of service providers (Zeithaml et al., 1993).
Therefore, it is logical to conclude that expectations are
equivalent to initial PSQ (i.e. high (low) expectations of a
service provider would indicate high (low) prior perceptions
of quality of the service provider). In other words,
expectations are antecedents of service quality perceptions,
and after delivery PSQ leads to a revision of consumers’
expectations. This view of the relationship between
expectations and initial PSQ is similar to Cronin and
Taylor’s (1992) conclusion that expectations and perceived
quality are equivalent in the absence of perceived
performance.
If expectations are equivalent to PSQ before perceived
performance there is no evidence for assuming that
expectations become neutral after performance is perceived.
In fact, adaptation-level and assimilation-contrast theories
suggest that the evaluation of new stimuli results from the
reference range being displaced in the direction of the new
stimuli (Monroe et al., 1991). Rather than being neutral
elements in the PSQ formation process, adaptation-level and
assimilation-contrast theories both suggest that expectations
are either positive or negative before service delivery and they
will be either positively or negatively valenced after being
revised based on PSQ. Further, PSQ is likely to be positively
correlated with the range of expectations of the service
 A confirmation perspective on perceived service quality
Lawrence O. Hamer
provider (i.e. high expectations will be associated high levels
of PSQ). Thus, we have the following hypotheses:
H2. Consumers with high expectations will perceive higher
levels of service quality than consumers with low
expectations.
Upon delivery of the service, initial perceptions of quality (i.e.
expectations) are revised in the direction of perceived
performance. Consumers whose perceptions of performance
exceed their expectations will adjust their perceptions of
quality upward. Consumers whose perceptions of
performance fall short of their expectations will adjust their
perceptions of quality downward. In other words, there is a
positive relationship between perceived performance and PSQ
as higher (lower) levels of perceived performance tend to
result in higher (lower) levels of PSQ.
The adjustment process posited by the confirmation
conceptualization is similar to the service quality formation
process posited by the gap conceptualization. However, the
two paradigms differ in that the confirmation
conceptualization accounts for the pre-existing relationship
between expectations and PSQ while the gap
conceptualization does not. By accounting for the pre-
existing relationship between expectations and PSQ, the
confirmation conceptualization more fully captures the effects
of expectations on service quality judgments than does the
gap conceptualization.
The PSQ curve
The applicability of prospect theory (specifically the work of
Kahneman and Miller, 1986) to service quality studies has
been noted in previous studies (Parasuraman et al., 1994).
Prospect theory suggests that a new stimulus (e.g. perceived
performance) is viewed as a gain (i.e. the stimulus is better
than expected) or a loss (i.e. the stimulus is worse than
expected) relative to a reference stimulus (e.g. expected
quality) (Kahneman and Tversky, 1979). And, the utility (e.g.
PSQ) associated with the new stimulus is a function of
whether the change from the reference point is perceived to be
a gain or a loss.
Prospect theory also suggests that people evaluate gains
differently than losses. Specifically, the absolute value of the
utility associated with a gain will be less than the absolute
value of the utility associated with a loss, assuming that the
gain and the loss are equal in magnitude (Kahneman and
Tversky, 1979). In other words, a function whose segments[4]
have two different slopes can characterize the relationship
between the stimuli (e.g. perceived performance) and the
evaluation of the stimuli (e.g. PSQ). In the area of losses (i.e.
when expectations exceed performance), the curve would
have a relatively steeper slope compared to the area of gains
(i.e. when performance exceeds expectations). Consumers’
expectations would be the reference point that separates the
function into gains and losses. Thus:
H3. Expectations moderate the relationship between
perceived performance and PSQ. More specifically,
perceived performance has a relative larger impact on
PSQ when perceived performance falls short of
expectations compared to when perceived
performance exceeds expectations.
The gap conceptualization, with its assumption of a negative
relationship between expectations and PSQ and its
assumption that expectations and perceived performance are
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equally related to PSQ, implies the relationship between
disconfirmation and PSQ can be represented by a
monotonically increasing function. However, the
confirmation conceptualization suggests increases in
perceived performance lead to relatively smaller increases in
quality perceptions when performance is viewed as a gain and
relatively larger decreases in quality perceptions when
performance is viewed as a loss (see Figure 1).
Methodology
Some of the implications of the confirmation
conceptualization have received support from previous
empirical research. However, other implications have not
been empirically tested. Thus the research objectives were:
.
to test the hypotheses that are unique to the confirmation
conceptualization; and
.
to replicate previous research findings in this area.
Including replication hypotheses permitted an assessment of
the convergent validity of this study with previous research.
Finding consistent results for the replication will provide
evidence of the internal and external validity of the study and
increase the level of confidence for the empirical results
bearing on the unique hypotheses.
The hypotheses developed in the previous section were
tested using data gathered from a 2 ðexpectationsÞ £
3 ðperformanceÞ between-subjects experimental design. A
total of 143 respondents, drawn from a pool of
undergraduate business majors at a large midwestern
university, participated in the experiment with sample size
of the individual cells ranging from 25 to 31.
Procedure
Extensive pretesting was used to select the service category to
be used for the experiment, and to determine those attributes
consumers use to judge the service. Film developing was
chosen as the service. The attributes used to judge the film
developers were determined to be the amount of time it took
to develop the film, clarity of the pictures, and friendliness of
the firm’s employees. Each respondent was presented with a
self-administered questionnaire containing a scenario in
which the respondent had two service encounters with a
film developer. The first of the two encounters was used to
manipulate expectations (discussed in the following section)
and familiarize respondents with the type of scales that were
being used. The second encounter was used to manipulate
performance.
Manipulations
Expectations
The expectation construct was manipulated at two conditions
(high and low) by providing respondents with information
about the past performance and current price of the focal firm
and two competitive firms. As presented in Figure 2, the
manipulation involved presenting respondents with
information concerning the past performance of the firms
obtained through word-of-mouth communications with
friends of the respondent. Expectations were further
manipulated through written scenarios that led respondents
through an initial encounter with the focal firm in order to
strengthen the expectation manipulation. The effectiveness of
the expectations manipulation was assessed by measuring
respondents’ expectations after this initial encounter (note:
 A confirmation perspective on perceived service quality
Lawrence O. Hamer
Figure 2 Manipulation of expectations (high expectation condition)
the method by which expectations were measured is described
in the “Measures” section). This measurement revealed that
the expectations of respondents in the “high” condition
exceeded the expectations of respondents in the “low”
condition across all levels of expectations. More specifically,
means for the levels of expectations across high and low
expectations conditions were 8.69 and 7.18 for normative
expectations, 7.77 and 3.50 for predictive expectations, and
6.42 and 2.74 for adequate (all p-values ,0.000). Thus, the
expectation manipulation was deemed effective.
Performance
Performance was manipulated at three levels (high, medium,
and low) by showing respondents a bar graph that represented
the level of service that they received on the three attributes of
the service. The lengths of the lines corresponding to each of
the three attributes represented the service provider’s
performance (ranging from “Poor Service” to “Excellent
Service”) on the attributes. The performance manipulation is
reproduced in Figure 3.
Measures
Expectations
Three levels of expectations were measured:
1 normative;
2 predictive; and
3 adequate expectations (see Figure 4).
Normative expectations were operationalized as the level of
service respondents thought they should receive from an
excellent film developer. Predictive expectations were
operationalized as the level of service respondents thought
they would actually receive from the focal firm. Adequate
expectations were operationalized as the lowest level of service
respondents would find barely adequate.
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Figure 3 Objective performance manipulation
For each of the three attributes of the service and for the
service overall, respondents were asked to indicate their
normative, predictive, and adequate expectations on separate
nine-point scales. In other words, three nine-point scale items
(one for each level of expectations) were used to measure each
of four aspects of the service[5] for a total of 12 measures of
the expectations construct. A principal components factor
analysis with Varimax rotation was conducted to assess the
dimensionality of the 12 items. Three factors were extracted
(one factor for each level of expectations) and each of the 12
items loaded on the expected factor. Therefore, for each level
of expectations, the four items measuring that level were
averaged to obtain the respondents’ scores on each level. The
Cronbach’s alpha values for normative, predictive, and
adequate expectations were 0.97, 0.99, and 0.99, respectively.
Perceived performance
The respondents’ perceptions of the service they received
from the provider were measured with four nine-point scales
(one for each attribute of the service and one for the service
overall). Factor analysis was used to assess the internal
consistency of the scale. As expected, all four items loaded on
a single factor. The mean of the four items was taken as the
measure of each respondent’s perceived performance.
Cronbach’s alpha for the scale was 0.99.
Perceived service quality
PSQ was measured in a manner similar to that used to
measure perceived performance. Specifically, respondents
were asked “Given everything that you have been exposed to
up to this point (such as your friends’ opinions about Omega,
your expectations of Omega, the level of service you received
from Omega, etc.), please indicate you opinion of the quality
of Omega”. Respondents then indicated their opinion of
Omega’s quality for each of three attributes and for the overall
service on nine-point scales anchored with the descriptors
“Poor Quality” (1) and “Excellent Quality” (9). The internal
consistency of the PSQ items was assessed using factor
analysis, and all of the items were found to load on a single
factor. The mean of the items was taken as the measure of
PSQ, and Cronbach’s alpha for the scale was 0.98.
 A confirmation perspective on perceived service quality
Lawrence O. Hamer
Figure 4 Measurement of expectations
Analysis and results
The results of the tests for each of the hypotheses is
summarized in Table I, and discussed in detail below.
The relationship between expectations and PSQ
The confirmation conceptualization hypothesized
expectations and PSQ to be positively related (see H2). The
results of an ANOVA, with the expectation manipulation as
the independent variable and PSQ as the dependent variable,
revealed that respondents in the high expectation condition
had significantly higher service quality perceptions than
Table I Summary of hypotheses tests
Hypothesis
H1. Predictive expectations will have the largest effect on service
quality judgments
H2. Consumers with high expectations will perceive higher levels of
service quality than consumers with low expectations
H3. Expectations moderate the relationship between perceived
performance and PSQ. More specifically, perceived performance
has a relative larger impact on PSQ when perceived performance
falls short of expectations compared to when perceived
performance exceeds expectations
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respondents in the low expectation condition (mean of
PSQ ¼ 6.07 and 5.19, respectively; F df ¼142 ¼ 7:49,
p , 0:007). This result supports H2, that respondents with
higher expectations had higher perceptions of service quality
than respondents with low expectations. Thus, the data
support the hypothesized positive relationship between
expectations and PSQ.
Expectations as moderators of the perceived
performance-PSQ relationship
Expectations were hypothesized to moderate the relationship
between perceived performance and PSQ (see H3). An
Support/non support
Supported (see “Analysis and results” and Tables II and III)
Supported (see “The relationship between expectations and PSQ”)
Supported (see “Expectations as moderators of the perceived performance-
PSQ relationship” and Figure 5)
 A confirmation perspective on perceived service quality
Lawrence O. Hamer
ANOVA, with PSQ as the dependent variable and
expectations and objective performance manipulations as
independent variables, indicated a statistically significant
interaction between expectations and perceived performance
(F df ¼2;137 ¼ 7:99, p , 0:001). This outcome confirms that
PSQ is a function of the relationship between expectations
and perceived performance.
The presence of a significant interaction supports the
hypothesized moderating role of expectations. Linear
regression was used to further investigate the relationships
between and among expectations, perceived performance,
and PSQ. The data set was split into two groups: one group
consisted of the three experimental cells where the mean
perceived performance score exceeded the mean predictive
expectation score (i.e. positive disconfirmations), while the
other group consisted of the three experimental cells where
the mean predictive expectation score exceeded the mean
perceived performance score (i.e. negative disconfirmations).
Because predictive expectations were hypothesized to be the
major anchor for quality judgments, disconfirmation was
based upon perceived performance’s relationship with
predictive expectations rather than normative or adequate.
Regression analyses with perceived performance as the
predictor of PSQ were performed on the split data sets.
The results of the regression analyses supported the
hypothesis that expectations moderate the relationship
between perceived performance and PSQ as the
standardized coefficient for perceived performance differed
across the analyses (0.64 for the negative disconfirmation data
set and 0.50 for the positive disconfirmation data set).
Graphing the regression equations shows support for the
hypothesis that the slope of the negative disconfirmation line
is steeper than the slope of the positive disconfirmation line
(see Figure 5). Thus, the data support the hypothesized
moderating role played by expectations in the perceived
performance PSQ relationship. Further, the data support the
hypothesis that performance has a weaker relationship with
perceived quality when performance is viewed as a gain rather
than as a loss.
Figure 5 The relationship between perceived performance and PSQ
under conditions of negative and positive disconfirmation
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Volume 20 · Number 4 · 2006 · 219 –232
Multiple levels of expectations
The confirmation conceptualization also hypothesizes that
multiple levels of expectations are related to PSQ and that
predictive expectations are will have the largest effect on
service quality judgments (see H1). These hypotheses were
tested using correlation and regression analyses. Because the
previous analysis demonstrated that expectations are
moderators in the service quality formation process, the
split data set was used for this analysis as well.
The correlations among the various levels of expectations
and PSQ (see Tables II and III) reveal that multiple levels of
expectations are related to PSQ under both negative and
positive disconfirmation conditions. Under conditions of
negative disconfirmation, predictive expectations and
adequate expectations are significantly related to PSQ
(r ¼ 0:69 and 0.58, p 2 value ¼ 0:000 and 0.000,
respectively). Normative expectations, however, were not
significantly related to PSQ (p . 0:05). Under conditions of
positive disconfirmation, all three levels of expectations are
significantly related to PSQ as correlation coefficients for
normative (0.42), predictive (0.63), and adequate (0.50)
expectations all have p-values ,0.000. So, the data support
the hypothesis that multiple levels of expectations are related
to PSQ.
Regression analysis was used to test the hypothesis that
predictive expectations will have the largest effect on service
quality perceptions. The standardized coefficients among the
various levels of expectations and PSQ (see Tables II and III)
reveal that only predictive expectations are significantly
related to PSQ under both negative and positive
disconfirmation conditions. So, the data do support the
hypothesis that predictive expectations have the largest effect
on PSQ as the standardized coefficients within each
regression equation can be interpreted as indicators of
relative effect size.
Perceived performance as the major predictor of PSQ
As discussed previously, many empirical studies have found
perceived performance to be the major predictor of PSQ.
However, the confirmation conceptualization offers an
alternative hypothesis that expectations are a more
significant predictor of quality perceptions than is perceived
performance. To test this alternative, perceived performance
and predictive expectations were used as predictors of PSQ in
regression analyses using the split data set. The results of the
analyses indicate that the predictive level of expectations was a
better predictor of PSQ under conditions of both negative and
positive disconfirmation (see Table IV). Because these results
contradict previous empirical studies, a third regression
analysis using perceived performance and predictive
expectations as predictors of PSQ for the entire data set was
conducted (i.e. negative and positive disconfirmations were
analyzed together). The results of this analysis revealed
perceived performance (b ¼ 0:780) to be a better predictor
than predictive expectations (b ¼ 0:372) when all cases are
analyzed together. Therefore, using data pooled across
disconfirmation conditions gives results consistent with
previous empirical studies that found perceived performance
to be a better predictor of PSQ than expectations. However,
the results of the present study indicate pooled data analyses
mask the moderating role of expectations and therefore
underestimate the strength of the expectation-PSQ
relationship.
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Lawrence O. Hamer Volume 20 · Number 4 · 2006 · 219 –232

Table II Relationship between expectations and PSQ: correlation matrix

Normative expectations Predictive expectations Adequate expectations PSQ
Normative expectations 1.00
Predictive expectations 0.40/0.64 (0.000)/(0.000) 1.00
Adequate expectations 0.40/0.57 (0.000)/(0.000) 0.84/0.87 (0.000)/(0.000) 1.00
Perceived service quality 0.16/0.42 (0.179)/(0.000) 0.69/0.63 (0.000)/(0.000) 0.58/0.50 (0.000)/(0.000) 1.00
Note: Numbers in parentheses represent standardized regression coefficients; negative disconfirmations (n ¼ 75)/positive disconfirmations (n ¼ 68)

Table III Relationship between expectations and PSQ: standardized regression coefficients for expectations as predictors of PSQ

Negative disconfirmations (n = 75)

R2 = 0.485
ð20:143Þ normative þ ð0:720Þ predictive þ ð0:25Þ adequate
PSQ ¼
p ¼ 0:133 p ¼ 0:000 p ¼ 0:875
Positive disconfirmations (n = 68)
R2 ¼ 0:402
ð0:44Þ normative þ ð0:768Þ predictive þ ð0:195Þ adequate
PSQ ¼
p ¼ 0:725 p ¼ 0:000 p ¼ 0:323
Total data set (n = 143)
R2 ¼ 0:101
ð20:104Þ normative þ ð0:559Þ predictive þ ð20:259Þ adequate
PSQ ¼
p ¼ 0:280 p ¼ 0:001 p ¼ 0:127
Note: Numbers in parentheses represent standardized regression coefficients

Table IV Ability of perceived performance and predictive expectations
to predict PSQ
Negative disconfirmation conditions (R2 = 0.61)
PSQ = (0.421) perceived performance + (0.495) predictive expectations
Positive disconfirmation conditions (R2 = 0.49)
PSQ(0.336) perceived performance(0.517) predictive expectations
Entire data set (R2 = 0.68)
PSQ = (0.780) perceived performance + (0.372) predicitve expectations
Note: Numbers in parentheses represent standardized regression
coefficients
Discussion
Multiple levels of expectations
Using assimilation-contrast and adaptation-level theories,
multiple levels of expectations were hypothesized to be
related to PSQ. This hypothesis was partially supported by
the present data set as three levels of expectations (normative,
predictive, and adequate) were significantly correlated with
PSQ. Finding significant relationships between multiple levels
of expectations and PSQ is a partial replication of previous
service quality studies that reported similar findings (e.g.
Boulding et al., 1993). However, the present study adds to the
literature by empirically investigating a third level of
expectations – adequate expectations – and finding it to be
significantly correlated with PSQ. The observation that the
effects of normative and predictive expectations in the present
study are consistent with the effects of these two expectation
standards reported in previous studies lends credibility to the
methodology of the reported study.
The findings of the present study suggest that expectations
exist on a continuum with normative and adequate
expectations as opposite endpoints and predictive
expectations lying in between. This continuum acts as a
reference range during the service quality formation process.
While the results of the present study are similar to the work
of Zeithaml et al. (1993), there is a major point of
differentiation. The present study views predictive
expectations as a point along the expectation range, while
Zeithaml et al. (1993) conceptualized predictive expectations
as an antecedent of adequate expectations. Viewing predictive
expectations as a point along the continuum is consistent with
assimilation-contrast and adaptation-level theories that
suggest each reference point is a subset of a ubiquitous
reference range.
Predictive expectations as the major anchor for service
quality judgments
In addition to hypothesizing that multiple levels of
expectations are related to PSQ, assimilation-contrast and
adaptation-level theories were used to hypothesize predictive
expectations as the major anchor in the PSQ formation
process. The results of the present study support this
hypothesis as a regression analysis using all three levels of
expectations as predictor variables revealed predictive
expectations to be the only significant predictor of PSQ.
Additionally, the results of the present study successfully
replicated the findings of past service quality studies (e.g.
Boulding et al., 1993). This finding is particularly significant
in light of the manner in which PSQ traditionally has been

227
 A confirmation perspective on perceived service quality
Lawrence O. Hamer
measured. PSQ has most often been measured using the
SERVQUAL instrument that operationalizes expectations at
the normative level. If practitioners wish to limit
measurements to only one level of expectations, the results
of this study suggest they should measure consumers’
predictive expectations.
The PSQ formation process
The present data support the notions that expectations are
positively related to PSQ and antecedents of service quality
evaluations. Expectations can be considered as equivalent to
pre-encounter perceptions of service quality. These pre-
encounter perceptions are then adjusted, in light of perceived
performance, and become post-encounter perceptions of
quality. This relationship between expectations and PSQ
contradicts the gap conceptualization which views PSQ as the
discrepancy between perceived performance and
expectations.
The results of the present study suggest that services
marketing practitioners would maximize PSQ if their
consumers expected high levels of service and received
service that matched their expectations. Encouraging
consumers to have low expectations lowers the starting
point for consumers’ evaluations of the service. Exceeding
expectations will result in a raising of the consumers’
evaluations, but the evaluations will not necessarily increase
substantially (see Figure 5). If consumers expect terrible
service they will perceive (pre-encounter) the service firm as a
relatively low quality service provider. Service firms could
exceed consumers’ expectations and still be perceived (post-
encounter) as low quality providers of the service. On the
other hand, if consumers expect great service they will
perceive (pre-encounter) that the service firm is a high-quality
service provider. Service firms that tend to meet consumers’
expectations in this instance will be perceived as high-quality
service providers (post-encounter), even if there is little or no
gap between expectations and performance.
The gap and the confirmation conceptualizations both
hypothesize perceived performance to have a positive effect on
PSQ, and this hypothesis is supported by the present study.
This suggests that PSQ is maximized when both expectations
and perceived performance are high. This relationship is
consistent with Speng et al. (1996), who found raised
expectations may lead to higher perceptions of performance,
and the work of Dawar and Pillutla (2000), who found that
consumers engage in “hypothesis confirmation” as they tend
to perceive information that is consistent with their
expectations. The present data support the confirmation
conceptualization’s notion that perceived performance leads
to an adjustment in perceptions of service quality. That is,
pre-encounter perceptions of service quality are adjusted in
the direction of perceived performance and become post-
encounter perceptions of service quality.
Prospect theory was used to hypothesize that expectations
moderate the relationship between perceived performance
and PSQ. The results of this study support the moderating
expectations hypothesis as changes in perceived performance
had a greater impact on PSQ under conditions of negative
disconfirmation than under conditions of positive
disconfirmation. From a practitioner’s point of view, this
conclusion means that the consequences of failing to meet
customer expectations are profound as perceptions of service
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Journal of Services Marketing
Volume 20 · Number 4 · 2006 · 219 –232
quality deteriorate quickly if perceived performance is below
expectations.
The folly of “under-promising and over-delivering”
The present study, along with other studies in the services
literature (e.g. Boulding et al., 1993), demonstrates that
service quality perceptions result from a dynamic process.
Expectations and perceived performance are used to form
perceptions of quality, which are then used to revise
expectations. If a firm delivers a level of service that exceeds
consumers’ initial expectations in encounter n, consumers will
revise their expectations upward. As these revised
expectations are the starting point for quality perceptions of
encounter n þ 1, the delivery of the same level of perceived
service in encounter n þ 1 will be associated with higher levels
of perceived quality than encounter n. In this manner, over
time expectations will be revised to levels that meet the level
of service a company delivers and quality perceptions will be
maximized at that point. However, “under-promising”
interferes with the expectation revision process, and
prevents expectations from being raised to the level that is
most beneficial to a firm. Thus, “under-promising” is likely to
result in lower levels of PSQ.
The confirmation conceptualization’s view of the
relationship between expectations and PSQ has clear
implications for services marketing practitioners. The
strategy of service firms should be to encourage consumers
to expect the highest level of service that the company can
consistently deliver. Advertising campaigns, company
brochures, and salespeople should attempt to communicate
accurately to customers the level of service the company
delivers (i.e. the level of service the customer will receive).
Practitioners who are attempting to maximize service quality
perceptions should remember that it is better to meet high
expectations than to exceed low expectations. Promising less
than the company will deliver will unnecessarily limit the level
of service quality customers will perceive. Promising more
than the company will deliver will result in sharply
downgraded perceptions of service quality. Thus, instead of
“under-promising and over-delivering”, service practitioners
should seek to “realistically promise and consistently deliver”.
The measurement of PSQ
The service quality literature currently bases the measurement
of PSQ on the gap conceptualization. Thus, the gap between
perceived performance and expectations is taken as a measure
of PSQ. The gap can be obtained by measuring performance
and expectations separately and taking the arithmetic
difference as a measure of PSQ (e.g. SERVQUAL) or by
directly measuring the degree to which performance exceeds
or falls short of expectations.
The findings of the present study suggest that the gap
between perceived performance and expectations is not the
appropriate measure of PSQ. Rather, PSQ is a weighted
average of perceived performance and expectations. The term
“weighted average” is used to imply that perceived
performance and expectations have different impacts upon
PSQ, and thus should be “weighted” differently. Therefore,
expectations and perceived performance should be measured
separately and then averaged (using appropriate weights for
each of the two constructs) to obtain a measure of PSQ.
Further, the weights assigned to each of the constructs when
computing the average should vary according to whether
 A confirmation perspective on perceived service quality
Lawrence O. Hamer
performance exceeds or falls below expectations. The weight
assigned to perceived performance in instances of negative
disconfirmations should exceed the weight assigned to
perceived performance in instances of positive
disconfirmation. Varying the weights assigned to perceived
performance will allow the measurement of PSQ to allow for
the differential slopes of the service quality curves for
positively and negative disconfirmations.
Limitations
Perhaps the most noticeable limitation of this study is the use
of a student sample. While care was taken to select a product
category with which students had familiarity, students have
been criticized as inherently inferior to “real” people for the
purposes of consumer research (see, for example, Wells, 1993;
Winer, 1999). However, Lynch (1999) argues that the use of
students does not inherently limit the external validity of a
study. Rather, external validity is limited if some background
variable held relatively constant by the study interacts with
some internally valid effect. The background variables that
were likely to be relatively constant due to the use of students
as respondents in the present study include age, education
level, geography, involvement and earned income. The
internally valid effects found in this student are the effect of
expectations on quality perceptions, the effect of perceived
performance on quality perceptions, and the interactive effect
of expectations and perceived performance on quality
perceptions. The author knows of no research that would
suggest that any of the background variables listed above
interact with any of the internally valid effects. One possible
exception is presented by involvement which, intuitively,
could have an effect on the experiment’s effects. However, as
the experiment investigates an information processing
phenomenon that would seem to operate automatically, the
use of relatively uninvolved students would not seem to be
problematic (Lynch, 1999).
The generalizability of the findings of the present research
study is limited by the use of a laboratory setting. The
laboratory setting is of course an artificial setting and the
respondents were reacting to artificial situations that were
presented to them via written scenarios. The respondents may
have reacted differently if they were actually experiencing the
situations in a real-world setting.
The generalizability of the present research study may also
be limited by the study’s experimental design. First, the
experiment used a single service category. Although there is
no reason to believe that the process by which consumers
evaluate the service provided by film developers is different
from the process by which consumers evaluate other types of
services, it is unknown whether the results of this study will
hold across all service categories. Second, the present study’s
experimental manipulations attempted to manipulate the
expectations construct as a whole, rather than attempting to
manipulate each level of expectations independently. Despite
this limitation, the relationship between the levels of
expectations and perceived quality found in the present data
set are consistent with the same relationships that were found
in other research studies that did manipulate the levels of
expectations separately.
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Summary and future research
The confirmation conceptualization makes important
managerial, theoretical, and operational contributions to the
service quality literature. Managerially, the confirmation
conceptualization suggests that service practitioners should
place increased focus on raising their customers’ expectations
in order to raise their customers’ perceptions of quality. To
accomplish this objective, research is needed to determine
effective ways to increase consumers’ expectations. Existing
research (e.g. Zeithaml et al., 1993) suggests that service firms
have control over several variables that can be used to increase
consumer expectations. These variables include advertising,
salesperson communications, price, etc. However, there is no
empirical evidence in PSQ research concerning the relative
effectiveness of these different variables.
Theoretically, the confirmation conceptualization
contributes to the service quality literature by applying
consumer decision making theories to service quality
judgments. Thus, the confirmation conceptualization
provides a theoretically grounded and empirically supported
explanation of the service quality formation process. The
application of consumer decision making theories has also led
to a more complete understanding of the role played by
expectations in the formation of service quality perceptions.
The confirmation conceptualization suggests that the various
levels of expectations are parts of a single reference range.
However, more research that views expectations as a range
rather than discrete points is needed. Further, while the
confirmation conceptualization is supported by the present
data set, replications of the present study using a different
methodology may provide insight into the external validity of
the findings.
The present study offers considerable evidence of the
significant role played by expectations in the formation of
service quality perceptions. However, the work of Dawar and
Pillutla (2000) suggests that role of expectations is amplified
when consumers are presented with ambiguous stimuli. As
the present study’s experimental manipulation was designed
to present material in an unambiguous manner, the
methodology used may have resulted in an underestimate of
the impact of expectations on service quality perceptions.
Thus, a survey methodology may result in data that suggest
the role of expectations is more significant than implied by the
present data.
Operationally, the confirmation conceptualization suggests
that PSQ should not be measured as the arithmetic difference
between performance and expectations. Rather, perceived
performance and expectations should be averaged to measure
PSQ. While this change is theoretically significant, it is
computational from a measurement point of view. Traditional
administration of existing instruments (e.g. SERVQUAL) can
be used to effectively measure perceptions of quality.
However, expectations and perceived performance should
be measured separately (as opposed to a direct measurement
of disconfirmation) and their scores should be averaged rather
than subtracted.
Notes
1 Measuring the disconfirmation directly avoids the
problems associated with difference scores (for a
thorough discussion of the limitations of difference
 A confirmation perspective on perceived service quality
Lawrence O. Hamer
scores, see Peter et al., 1993), but raises some other issues
associated with variance restriction.
2 A reference point is a stimulus that other stimuli are seen
“in relation to” (Rosch, 1975).
3 These three theories have been used to explain and
understand the phenomenon of reference prices in the
pricing literature.
4 The function would have two segments; one representing
instances where performance exceeds expectations and the
other representing instances where performance falls short
of expectations.
5 The four aspects of the service were three attribute-level
aspects (e.g. normative/predictive/adequate expectations
of attribute “X”) and one overall level aspect (e.g.
normative/predictive/adequate expectations of the service
overall).
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Delivering Quality Service: Balancing Customer Perceptions
and Expectations, The Free Press, New York, NY.
Corresponding author
Lawrence O. Hamer can be contacted at: lhamer@depaul.edu
Executive summary and implications for
managers
This summary has been provided to allow managers and executives
a rapid appreciation of the content of the article. Those with a
particular interest in the topic covered may then read the article
in toto to take advantage of the more comprehensive description of
the research undertaken and its results to get the full benefit of the
material present.
A confirmation perspective on perceived service quality
“If you don’t expect too much you’ll never be disappointed”
may be a pessimistic approach to life, but it is one which some
firms seem to have adopted as part of their business strategy.
The basic idea being that if you deliberately lower the
expectations of your potential customers you’ll give them a
pleasant surprise when it turns out your service is better than
they thought.
A clever marketing ploy? Well, many people seem to think
so, and service literature does advise practitioners to make
sure the service performance exceeds customers’
expectations. However, Lawrence O. Hamer says that
following such advice will ensure that consumers’
perceptions will not, in fact, be maximised as it is based on
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Volume 20 · Number 4 · 2006 · 219 –232
a faulty conceptualization of the service quality formation
process. He argues that service firms’ strategy should be to
encourage consumers to expect the highest level that the
company can deliver, and that advertising campaigns,
company brochures and salespeople should attempt to
communicate accurately to customers the level of service
the company delivers.
High evaluations of service are thought to result from
consumers perceiving the delivered service as being better
than expected, and low evaluations from perceptions of the
service being worse than expected with the consequent
temptation to “under-promise and over-deliver”.
Different types of consumer expectations have been
identified – including normative, predictive and minimal –
and all have their different characteristics. The normative
standard is generally defined as the level at which the
customer wants the product to perform or the service to be
delivered – a sort of “wished for” result.
However, these tend to have a negative effect on
perceptions of the received service or product performance.
In other words people are wishing for more than they can
realistically expect. Predictive expectations are of the level of
service consumers expect to receive from a given service
provider in a given situation (and tend to be lower than
normative expectations) and have been found to have a
positive relationship with the service evaluations. In other
words many people have a pretty good idea of what service
they’re likely to get in given circumstances. Minimal
expectations represent the consumers’ perceptions of the
lowest acceptable level of service.
Lawrence O. Hamer says that rather than being a function
of the gap between expectations and performance, service
quality perceptions result from a process of “confirmation”.
The managerial implications of a confirmation
conceptualization suggest that lowering consumers’
expectations will result in lower quality perceptions and high
expectations of service performance will be associated with
high perception of service quality. Consequently, rather than
trying to maximize the gap between the delivered service and
expectations, practitioners should attempt to eliminate this
gap by raising expectations.
If a firm delivers a level of service that exceeds consumers’
initial expectations, consumers will revise their expectations
upwards and those revised expectations become their starting
point for quality perceptions of the next encounter. If, in the
following encounter, the same delivery of service is
perceived, it will be associated with higher levels of
perceived quality than the first encounter. In this manner,
over time, expectations will be raised to levels that meet the
level of service a company delivers and quality perceptions
will be maximized at that point. However, “under-
promising” interferes with the expectation revision process
and prevents expectations from being raised to the level that
is most beneficial to a firm. Therefore “under-promising” is
likely to result in lower levels of perceived service quality
(PSQ).
The confirmation conceptualization’s view of the
relationship between expectations and PSQ has clear
implications for services marketing practitioners.
Practitioners who are attempting to maximize service quality
perceptions should remember that it is better to meet high
expectations than to exceed low ones. Promising less than the
company will deliver will unnecessarily limit the level of
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Lawrence O. Hamer Volume 20 · Number 4 · 2006 · 219 –232

service quality customers will perceive. Promising more than
the company will deliver will result in sharply downgraded
perceptions of service quality. So, instead of “under-
promising and over-delivering”, service practitioners should
seek to “realistically promise and consistently deliver”.
In highlighting the significant role played by expectations in
the formation of service quality perceptions, the author
concludes: ”Managerially, the confirmation conceptualization
suggests that service practitioners should place increased
focus on raising their customers’ expectations in order to raise
their customers’ perceptions of quality. To accomplish this
objective, research is needed to determine effective ways to
increase consumers’ expectations”.
(A précis of the article “A confirmation perspective on perceived
service quality”. Supplied by marketing Consultants for Emerald.)

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