Service quality and business ethics

Businesses manage quality to attract customers, enhance their experience, satisfy and delight them, and generate repurchase. Unethical conduct of service providers penalises customers, tarnishes their experience, causes dissatisfaction, and results in customer defection. Customers, unfortunately, are increasingly being subjected to unethical conduct by service providers. This paper discusses ethical conduct of a service provider as a determinant of service quality and attempts to move ethics as a forefront consideration in service quality management. Propositions are developed on the propensity for unethical conduct by service providers with regard to service process and industry characteristics, managerial attributes, dispersion of service outlets, and firm size. Propositions are also developed on customer expectations and effects of unethical conduct on customer satisfaction. The paper helps shape an agenda for empirical research on ethics and service quality. It discusses the implications of unethical conduct and makes managerial recommendations to further the cause of ethical conduct and creation of true value by service providers.