Abstract

MOREIRA, Mara; TROCCOLI, Irene; ALTAF, Joyce  and  LUQUEZE, Maria Angelica. Customers’ perception of the intangible attributes in services encounters: a study. Rev. Portuguesa e Brasileira de Gestão [online]. 2011, vol.10, n.1-2, pp.24-36. ISSN 1645-4464.

This qualitative study aimed to identify the main factors that contribute to the unfavorable perceptions of students of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in a Brazilian relevant one, arising from their interactions with service renderers of the secretaries. Supported by bestowed references about the distinctive features of Services Marketing concepts and about the service encounters, the Critical Incident Technique (TIC) was used to investigate events that occurred in these interactions from a 180 student sample, identifying the attributes of the events that caused a negative perception. After the analysis and the categorization of those incidents using the content analysis method, they were classified into 12 categories, especially lack of attention, incompetence, unwillingness and lack of agility. The results collaborate to the understanding of the processes related to service encounters, more specifically of the impact of the front-line employees´ role to the clients´ perception of services rendering in universities or in other similar service renderers.

Keywords : Marketing Services; Customer Perception; Service Encounters; The Critical Incident Technique.

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