Gap 1: Customers' expectations versus management perceptions as a result of the lack of a marketing research orientation, inadequate upward communication and too many layers of management.

Gap 2: Management perceptions versus service specifications; as a result of inadequate commitment to service quality, a perception of infeasibility, inadequate task standardization and an absence of goal setting.

Gap 3: Service specifications versus service delivery as a result of role ambiguity and conflict. Poor employee-job fit and poor technology-job fit, inappropriate supervisory control systems, lack of perceived control and lack of teamwork.

Gap 4: Service delivery versus external communication as a result of inadequate horizontal communications and propensity to over-promise.

Gap 5: The discrepancy between customer expectations and their perceptions of the service delivered as a result of the influences exerted from the customer side and the shortfalls (gaps) on the part of the service provider. Customer expectations are influenced by the extent of personal needs, word of mouth recommendation and past service experiences.

Gap 6: The discrepancy between customer expectations and employees’ perceptions; as a result of the differences in the understanding of customer expectations by front-line service providers.

Gap 7: The discrepancy between perceptions and management perceptions as a result of the differences in the understanding of customer expectations between managers and service providers.

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* Contributed by: -
Jinesh Kothari & Abhishek Raghuvanshi,
FPM-32,
IIM Lucknow.