Final answer:
The Gaps model of service quality identifies four key gaps: Knowledge gap, Standards gap, Delivery gap, and Communication gap that affect customer satisfaction. Addressing these gaps can help improve service quality and lead to greater customer loyalty.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question refers to the Gaps model of service quality, which identifies four key gaps that can contribute to the disparity between customer expectations and their perception of the service received. To understand and address these gaps, it is essential for businesses to recognize each one:
- Knowledge gap: This is the difference between customer expectations and the company's perception of those expectations. Companies need to research and understand what customers truly want.
- Standards gap: This gap exists when there is a discrepancy between the company's perception of what customers want and the quality specifications that it sets for service delivery.
- Delivery gap: Occurs when the service delivered falls short of the company's quality specifications. It involves the actual service delivery process and the employees' performance.
- Communication gap: This represents the difference between the service promised by the company in its communications (advertising, sales pitches) and the service actually provided.
Addressing these gaps is crucial to improving service quality and enhancing customer satisfaction. For E-Readiness, it is important to minimize the knowledge gap, which is also related to technological stratification and can impact an individual's or a group's ability to engage effectively with technology.