Cultural influences on service expectations

Abstract

This study investigates cross-cultural differences of service expectations among business students of two different cultures. By using Parasuraman et al’s conceptualization of service quality, the study compared the differences between US and South Korean undergraduate business students’ expectations from their schools in terms of factors like tangibles, responsiveness, reliability, empathy, and assurance. Four out of six hypotheses were supported, revealing that cultural factors exert significant influence on business students’ expectations. The implications of the research findings for academics as well as practitioners are discussed. © 2015 AIBE.