The dynamics of the service delivery process : a value-based approach

Recent research linking service quality and service satisfaction has raised issues which require conceptual and empirical elaboration. Among these are the formation of satisfaction during the service delivery process and the role of customer value. In this article, the focus is on how different stages in the service delivery process can be profiled in terms of three axiological value dimensions and how each stage relates to an overall satisfaction judgement. The results of a cross-cultural study are reported in which the museum visit was chosen as the service delivery process. Our findings suggest that the museum visit can be broken down into a number of distinct stages and that the influence of the individual stages on overall satisfaction depends on the combinations of stages that are encountered by museum visitors.