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 or RATER is a service quality framework. SERVQUAL was developed in the mid
eighties by Zeithaml, Parasuraman & Berry.

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SERVQUAL was originally measured on 10 aspects of service quality: reliability,
responsiveness, competence, access, courtesy, communication, credibility, security,
understanding or knowing the customer and tangibles. It measures the gap between customer
expectations and experience.

By the early nineties the authors had refined the model to the useful acronym RATER:

 Reliability
 Assurance
 Tangibles
 Empathy, and
 Responsiveness

SERVQUAL has its detractors and is considered overly complex, subjective and statistically
unreliable. The simplified RATER model however is a simple and useful model for qualitatively
exploring and assessing customers' service experiences and has been used widely by service
delivery organizations. It is an efficient model in helping an organization shape up their efforts in
bridging the gap between perceived and expected service.

Nyeck, Morales, Ladhari, and Pons (2002) stated the SERVQUAL measuring tool ³remains the
most complete attempt to conceptualize and measure service quality´ (p. 101). The main benefit
to the SERVQUAL measuring tool is the ability of researchers to examine numerous service
industries such as healthcare, banking, financial services, and education (Nyeck, Morales,
Ladhari, & Pons, 2002). The fact that SERVQUAL has critics does not render the measuring tool
moot. Rather, the criticism received concerning SERVQUAL measuring tool may have more to
do with how researchers use the tool. Nyeck, Morales, Ladhari, and Pons (2002) reviewed 40
articles that made use of the SERVQUAL measuring tool and discovered ³that few researchers
concern themselves with the validation of the measuring tool´ (p. 106).

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Francis Buttle critiques SERVQUAL in the article "SERVQUAL: review, critique, research
agenda" on a number of theoretical and operational bases. He particularly notes that
SERVQUAL's 5 dimensions (Reliability,Assurance,Tangibility,Empathy,Responsiveness) are
not universals, and that the model fails to draw on established economic, statistical and
psychological theory. Although SERVQUAL's face and construct validity are in doubt, it is
widely used in published and modified forms to measure customer expectations and perceptions
of service quality.

Luis Lages and Joana Fernandes in the article "The SERPVAL scale: A multi-item instrument
for measuring service personal values" suggests that consumer final decisions are taken at a
higher-level of abstraction. Similarly to the SERVQUAL scale, the Service Personal Values
(SERPVAL) scale is also multi-dimensional. It presents three dimensions of service value to 1)
peaceful life, 2) social recognition, and 3) social integration. All three SERPVAL dimensions are
associated with consumer satisfaction. While service value to social integration is related only
with loyalty, service value to peaceful life is associated with both loyalty and repurchase intent.