Quality in general, and service quality in particular, is a difficult construct to explicate and measure (Monroe and Krishnan, 1983). Evaluation of service quality becomes difficult owing to three characteristics that are inherent in services - intangibility, heterogeneity, and inseparability (Berry and Parasuraman, 1991). Despite the challenges posed, a conceptual framework of the determinants of service quality has been introduced and widely accepted (for further detailed discussion, see Parasuraman et al., 1985). This framework consists of ten determinants or dimensions of service quality: reliability, access, understanding of the customer, responsiveness, competence, courtesy, communication, credibility, security, and tangible considerations.
             In this article, these dimensions are used as a basis for a comparative evaluation of the determinants of service quality between developed and developing countries. Environmental factors can be assigned to each of the ten service quality dimensions (see Table I). These environmental considerations can account for contrasts between developed and developing countries, and can be categorized into two main types: economic factors and socio-cultural factors (following the tradition of international marketing literature, countries are being classified as developed versus developing; although not within the scope of this article, it should be noted that developed and developing represent the two points of a continuum rather than a dichotomy). The service quality dimensions of reliability, access and understanding the customer are linked to conventional economic development aspects such as levels of affluence, technology, education, competition, and communications infrastructure. The responsiveness dimension is attributed to socio-cultural influences concerning the value of time.
             The rest of the service quality determinants are associated with socio-cultural factors as discussed by Geert Hofstede...