Importance and the Zone of Tolerance of Customer Expectations of Fast Food Services

ThE FlagShIp RESEaRCh JouRnal oF InTERnaTIonal ConFEREnCE oF ThE pRoduCTIon and opERaTIonS ManagEMEnT SoCIETy Volume • Number • July - December Importance and the Zone of Tolerance of Customer Expectations of Fast Food Services Domingos Fernandes Campos UniversidadePotiguar domingos_campos@uol.com.br Kleber Cavalcanti Nóbrega UniversidadePotiguar klebercn@unp.br AbstrACt This article analyzes the relationship between the importance of atributes for service quality and the tolerance zone between the desired and the minimum acceptable levels for customer expectations. The empirical study, conducted with students, fast food customers, conirms that, as the importance of atributes increases, the tolerance zone gets closer and higher. 1. InTRoduCTIon Evaluations of service quality have pointed out limitations in the accurate measuring of customer perceptions due to the following factors customer perception variability (PArAsUrAMAN et al, ”ROWN, CHIOU et al, , and imprecise scales Y“NG et al, ”EH“R“ et al, DENG, . The service operations, which include characteristics such as heterogeneity, intangibility, production-consumption simultaneity, and customer presence, increase the need for precise instruments to identify service atributes, as well as the evaluation of the quality of services rendered GR5NROOS, N2”REG“, LOVELOCK, FITZSIMMONS, . Zeithaml et al recognize the existence of a zone of tolerance between desired service and adequate service. In this tolerance zone, the authors defend two hypotheses irst, the most important atributes for customers have narrower tolerance zones second, they also have expectation limits closer to the maximum of the scale used. “lthough these propositions by the authors represent an important contribution, they result from theoretical analysis, supported by focus group research. The authors suggest, indeed, more research in order to operationalize these domains. Other authors dealed with the problem of tolerance zone JOHNSTON, WIRTZ and M“TTIL“, Y“P and SWEENEY, N“DIRI, C“V“N“ and COR”ETT, “HMED, , but there seems to have few empirical contributions on Zeithaml et al prior propositions. The objective of the present study is to evaluate these two hypotheses defended, using fast food services in a shopping center as the object of study, and based a sample of responses by university students. The research also allows us to identify the main atributes of fast food service for the customers studied. For the purpose of this research, the deinition of “fast food” adopted was: commercial establishments that sell food and drink for immediate consumption in the locale or surrounding locale, which shares space with other fast food companies, or for consumption in any locale, usually specializing in pizza, sandwiches and chicken based foods GOY“L and SINGH, . The fast food products are distinguished from others in function of the following characteristics being low priced, served quickly, usually eaten with the hands, easily packaged, and having a short shelf life PRICE, . 2. pRECuRSoRS The idea of comparing the expected quality with the quality experienced, align with the vision of service quality as the relationship between perception and Campos, D. F., Nóbrega, K. C.: Importance and the Zone of Tolerance of Customer Expectations of Fast Food Services Journal of Operations and Supply Chain Management 2 (2), pp 56 - 71, C International Conference of the Production and Operations Management Society expectations about services ofered P“R“SUR“MAN et al, , CRONIN and T“YLOR, . The work of Parasuraman et al represent a peak in the understanding of service quality as the comparison, by the customer, of his expectations with the perception of services rendered. Even though intangibility in the services and subjectivity present diiculties, one can still look for service speciication in the operational and measureable atributes. Grönroos proposed to systematize the perceptions of customers about service in seven characteristics professionalism and capacity, atitudes and behavior, accessibility and lexibility, reliability and integrity, recuperation of service, panorama of service, and inally, reputation and credibility. Later, Parasuraman et al developed the SERVQU“L scale and condensed the determinants of quality into ive dimensions tangible aspects, reliability, responsiveness, safety and empathy. Some studies about service quality, speciically in relation to fast food, contributed to the present study. Mersha and “dlakaha in research with M”“ students in the US“, brought to light the importance of atributes for some types of services, among them fast food. The results indicated that the four main factors are speed of service, interest in correcting errors, reasonable prices and a pleasing environment. Kara et al completed a study about the factors regarding the choice of a fast food restaurant in the US“ and Canada. The data for this study were collected through self-administered questionnaires, which had been distributed to households in the US“ and in Canada. In the US“, regular customers mainly value factors such as variety, speed, and friendly staf, while occasional customers favor price and promotions. In Canada, regular customers prioritize convenience of location and availability of nutritional information, while occasional customers favored price, location and novelties. ”rady and Robertson investigated fast food consumers in Ecuador and US“. They found results indicating more afectively-orientation in Ecuadorian costumers, while US“ ones prioritize cognitive processes, looking like a more professional perception of service value. Gupta and Chen used a Likert points scale in fast food context to prioritize SERVQU“L dimensions. The respondents, classiied, in a decreasing scale of importance reliability, assurance, tangibles, responsiveness and empathy. Diferently, Johnson and Mathews , when using SERVQU“L scale to survey about should and 57 wills fast food customers expectations, did not ind reliability as the most important dimension, but security. “ccess appears as the highest will expectation. They surveyed business school undergraduate students in England. Lee and Ugaldo completed research in the US“ and South Korea, with the intention of identifying the cultural implications in the evaluation of fast food services, using questionnaires based on SERVQU“L. The data collected together with the students in administration courses in the two countries showed higher expectations for the Koreans than for the North “merican students notably in relation to physical aspects, reliability, guarantee and low prices. For Liu and Chen , social surroundings greatly afected the importance of good value for money, food taste/lavor, variety of food oferings, music and noise level, atractive décor, atmosphere and ambience, friendly and pleasant staf, and cleanliness and neatness. The common tendency is an increase in the importance of these variables as the situation changes from alone, to with friends and highest if with clients. Law et al surveyed eight quality factors afecting customer satisfaction. They found results indicating that waiting time and other service factors such as staf atitude, environment, seat availability and food quality signiicantly inluence the customers’ return frequency. Gilbert et al surveyed , fast food customers in a cross-cultural comparison evolving ive globallyfranchised fast-food chains in four countries - Jamaica, Scotland, US“ and Wales. “cademicians of these four countries trained graduate and undergraduate students to administer the customer satisfaction survey. ”aek, Ham and Yang surveyed korean students, and ilipino students, in order to identify the importance of atributes in the selection of fast food restaurants. Koreans and ilipinos viewed menu price as the most important atribute. The following atributes, in Korea, were brand, food related factors and service- and hygiene-related factors. In Philippines, the subsequent atributes were food-related factors, service- and hygiene-related factors and brand. In a study completed with consumers from a fast food chain in ”razil, Machado et al found that the atributes with the highest levels of expectation were polite staf, well prepared and cooked food, and eicient supply of supplements, adequate product temperature, tables cleared and cleaned quickly, and a well dressed staf. Goyal and Singh con- Campos, D. F., Nóbrega, K. C.: Importance and the Zone of Tolerance of Customer Expectations of Fast Food Services 58 Journal of Operations and Supply Chain Management 2 (2), pp 56 - 71, C International Conference of the Production and Operations Management Society ducted research about fast food in India, consulting university students, having as its objective the identiication of factors that inluence them in the choice of a restaurant, they found the following hierarchy variety, quality and lavor of the food, environment and hygiene, speed, price and location. Qin and Prybutok investigated the relationship among service quality, food quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions in fast-food restaurants. They surveyed US“ college students in US“. The results indicated that reliability/responsiveness, tangibles, assurance, and recovery are slightly more important than empathy. Fresh, tasty, and a variety of food and beverages remains are considered to be important criterion for satisfying customers. In this way, the model by Liljander and Strandvik introduces the relation among the acts of service and relationships. In a broadening spectrum, acts comprise episodes, which establish sequences that generate relationships. Thus, each act of service is relevant to the formation of customer perception about service. These episodes are also called the service encounters, service contacts, or moments of truth NORM“NN, ZEITH“ML and ”ITNER, FITZSIMMONS, . The importance of service contacts derives, above all, the presence of customers and the service production-consumption simultaneity. The quality of the service is perceived in service contacts, having been created in the moment of or beforehand. ”itner et al defend that service contacts provoke the consumer to evaluate the level of service provided by the organization, by its staf and even interactions with other customers during a certain period of time. For ”itner and ”rown and Harris et al , the inluence of service contacts can be divided in two main components: personal interactions with the service provider, and with the physical environment of the organization. The expectations and the quality of service are inluenced by some aspects present in the service contacts décor, smell, design, and music COX et al, COYE, . Keng et al , when investigating the impacts of service en- counters on customer experiential value in a shopping mall, in Taiwan, registered that service contacts and the value the customer gives of the experience have been studied separately, and they completed a study integrating service contacts, the consumer experience, and the behavior intentions of the consumer in the context of a shopping center. 3. METhodology The classic work of Zeithaml et al , in response to the criticism about the use of SERVQU“L methodology, recognizes the limitation of evaluating the necessities for a single value. Thus, the expectations in relation to service can be represented by a strip or zone of tolerance. These expectations vary according to the atributes evaluated and would be diferent from customer to customer. The authors point to limits of the tolerance with regard to service desired SD and adequate or minimum service SM . The irst represents the level of the service provided that the customer would like to receive the second relects the minimum level of service that the customer would tolerate. Inside these limits, in the perception of the customer, a comfort zone is established for the receipt of service. The tolerance zone can be established by the customer expectations for a determined service atribute, even if it is not delivered. When the service rendered efectively occurs, the customer evaluates the level of service received/perceived, through his or her own perceptions. The present construct being deined proposes to evaluate two airmations of Zeithaml and ”itner . In the irst, customers airm a narrower zone of tolerance for those atributes that they ind more important. That is to say, the more important the atribute to the customer, the closer the limits SD and SM will be. Second, the customers airm higher limits of tolerance for more important atributes. Thus, the more important the atribute, the closer SD and SM will be to the higher limit of the evaluation scale used. Figure illustrates these precepts of the authors, evaluated in this study, which can be established according to the following hypothesis. Campos, D. F., Nóbrega, K. C.: Importance and the Zone of Tolerance of Customer Expectations of Fast Food Services Journal of Operations and Supply Chain Management 2 (2), pp 56 - 71, C International Conference of the Production and Operations Management Society 59 Figure 1 – Relation between importance and expectations. Source: adapted from Zeithaml and Bitner (2003) H “tributes that are more important to customers have a narrower zone of tolerance. H “tributes that are more important to clients have limits of expectations closer to the maximum utilized on the scale. 4. MEaSuRIng ThE IMpoRTanCE oF ExpECTaTIonS On the one hand, the degree of the importance of the atributes can be found from the accurate measurement as expressed by the user. The tolerance zone height (Alt Z , with a relative position in relation to the expectation scale, can be calculated by its average point, i.e., the average between the values of the desired service (SD and the minimum service SM for each atribute. On the other hand, the width of the tolerance zone (Larg Z of an atribute corresponds to the diference between the level of desired service and the level of minimum service. “lgebraically, for a sample size n, the average values are determined by 5. FaST Food RESTauRanTS The evaluation of the hypothesis was based on the services ofered in fast food restaurants in the commercial and entertainment center located in the city of Natal, ”razil. The shopping center is , m , parking for , vehicles, anchor stores, supermarket and satellite stores. It hosts a cinema complex with seven screening rooms. There are restaurants. Sixteen of them it into the deinition of fast food and ofer cuisine varying from conventional sandwiches to traditional Italian and Japanese dishes. There are local companies and franchises linked to national and international chains present all over the nation. 6. MappIng ThE SERvICE CyClE and ThE aTTRIBuTES lIST Mapping the service cycle helps to identify and discover all of the important processes of an activity. Regarding an activity with high user contact, the service cycle analysis of fast food, from the customer’s arrival to his or her departure, presents a set of atributes at each step in the process. For the mapping and analysis of the activities, the authors used direct observation and tried various restaurants listed, as well as used literature basis NICK and HOW“RD, ”OJ“NIC, ”OUR“NT“ et al, . Figure shows the most important stages in the fast food service cycle. Campos, D. F., Nóbrega, K. C.: Importance and the Zone of Tolerance of Customer Expectations of Fast Food Services 60 Journal of Operations and Supply Chain Management 2 (2), pp 56 - 71, C International Conference of the Production and Operations Management Society Figure 2 - Typical fast food service cycle. Source: research For each activity in the service cycle, the atributes that the authors found relevant were listed, without any previous screening. Supported by atributes present in the studies shown in Table , a set of variables was consolidated and systematized. The consolidation relects an articulation between the analysis of the service cycle and the moments of truth. Table Sources of questionnaire atributes. Author Mersha and Adlakha (1992) Gupta and Chen (1995) Kara, Kaynak and Kucukemiroglu (1995) Johnson and Mathews (1997) Tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, credibility, competence, courtesy, communication, access, knowing the customer, recovery, security – Servqual, Likert 11 points Lee and Ulgado(1997) Tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, price, service time, location – Servqual, Likert 9 points Brady and Robertson Sacriice, overall service quality, (1999) service value, behavioural intentions – No servqual, Likert, 9 points Dimension/Attribute – Model/ Scale Reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, service time, value, ambience – No servqual, Likert 5 points Tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy - Servqual, Likert 7 points Empathy, price, service time, convenience, hygiene, novelties for children – No servqual, Likert, 5 points England (389) 11 Korea (89), USA (104) 26 Ecuador (116), USA (309) 12 Country (Sample) Number of variables USA (316) 12 USA (65) 22 Canada (141), USA (179 11 Campos, D. F., Nóbrega, K. C.: Importance and the Zone of Tolerance of Customer Expectations of Fast Food Services Journal of Operations and Supply Chain Management 2 (2), pp 56 - 71, C International Conference of the Production and Operations Management Society Liu and Chen (2000) Speed service, food, price, ambience, variety, music and noise, promotional items – No servqual, no Likert food, price, variety, ambience, service time – No servqual, Likert 5 points Reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, price, service time - No servqual, Likert 5 points Brand, price, food, service and hygiene – No servqual, no Likert Tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, food - Servqual, Likert 7 points Variety, food , ambience and hygiene, price, location - No servqual, Likert 5 points Food, service, perceived value – Servperf, Likert 7 points Law et al (2004) Gilbert et al (2004) Baek, Ham and Yang (2006) Machado et al (2006) Goyal and Singh (2007) Qin and Prybutok (2009) 61 Philippines (1365) 10 Hong Kong (106) 8 Jamaica (1581), USA (2399) Scotland (585), Wales (571) 17 Korea (303) Philippines (2329) 12 Brazil (120) 20 India (171) 7 USA (282) 40 Source: research Table presents the atributes related to each activity in the cycle. The column to the right relects the framing of each atribute according to the dimensions established by Parasuraman et al . The asterisk * on some of the atributes indicates that this same atribute can be perceived, also, in other steps in the cycle. Table STAGES Arrival/ Approach Wait in line Attendance with the receptionist Atributes identiied from the typical fast food service cycle. ATTRIBUTE • Visual attractiveness of the store • Brand strength (recognition and trust in the brand) • Level of frequency (regular or occasional frequency) • Location in relation to the food court • Availabilty of lunches and dishes, promotions * • Availability of visual information about products * • Availabilityof the entire menu of products • Clear indication of locations of attendance • Presence of an assistant receptionist in the external area • Hygiene of the installations * • Wait time in line until being attended at the cashier * • Readiness of the receptionist (ready disposition for attendance) • Courtesy and attendance of the receptionist • Presentation of the receptionist (posture and appearance) • Receptionists knowledge about products and procedures • Possibility of adding extra ingredients to the lunches* • Incorporation of new lunches/dishes to the menu DIMENSION Tangible Assurance Assurance Tangible Empathy Empathy Responsiveness Tangible Response Assurance Responsiveness Responsiveness Empathy Tangible Assurance Responsiveness Responsiveness Campos, D. F., Nóbrega, K. C.: Importance and the Zone of Tolerance of Customer Expectations of Fast Food Services 62 Journal of Operations and Supply Chain Management 2 (2), pp 56 - 71, C International Conference of the Production and Operations Management Society STAGES Attendance at the cashier Wait at the counter Receive Order Food Consumption ATTRIBUTE • Cashier readiness (ready disposition to attend to customers) • Cashier presentation (posture and appearance) • Courtesy and attentiveness at the cashier • Cashier`s knowledge about products and procedures • Form /terms of payment • Order completed as asked (without errors) • Price charged according to advertised • Food price charged * • Time spent being attended at the cashier • Availability of change • Distribution of complimentary gifts to children * • Availabilityof waiting space at the counter • Order of attendance panel • Hygiene, preparation and handling of food * • Wait time to receive food • Food delivered as ordered (type x quantity) • Availabilityof free additional sauces/seasonings * • Availabilityof wait staff to bring food to tables • Use of recyclable packaging * • Regularity of the quality of food served • Flavor of food served • Texture and cooking of the food served • Visual attractiveness of food served • Aroma of food served • Temperature of food served • Quality of ingredients of food served • Fat and calorie content of food served • Availability of information on fat and calorie content * DIMENSION Responsiveness Tangible Empathy Assurance Response Reliability Reliability Others Responsiveness Responsiveness Empathy Responsiveness Tangible Assurance Responsiveness Reliability Responsiveness Responsiveness Assurance Reliability Reliability Reliability Reliability Reliability Reliability Reliability Reliability Empathy Source: research 7. QuESTIonnaIRE The objectives of this research required that the perceptions of users regarding the importance of atributes and their expectations in relation to levels of desired service and the minimum acceptable service were found. The questionnaire was composed of three modules. In the irst, questions are related to the socioeconomic proile of the respondents, their motivations, hours and frequency of use of the restaurants. The questionnaires were applied by students who participate in projects of scientiic research in the University. The research coordinator trained these researchers, and some simulations were conducted at irst. “t the moment of the con- tact, the potential respondents were initially asked about their availability to answer the questions, as well as their frequency of using fast food restaurants. ”ased on a list of fast food restaurants present in the shopping center, the respondents were asked to mark those that they most frequented. The questions relative to the questionnaire did not follow SERVQU“L model. In the second module, they were writen in the form of a question what importance do you give to the hygiene, preparation and handling of food? In the third module, the questions were constructed in the form of an imperative on the scale, mark the value that best represents your expectation about the minimum level of quality that you would accept Campos, D. F., Nóbrega, K. C.: Importance and the Zone of Tolerance of Customer Expectations of Fast Food Services Journal of Operations and Supply Chain Management 2 (2), pp 56 - 71, C International Conference of the Production and Operations Management Society for the service of a fast food restaurant in the atributes of hygiene, preparation and handling of food. In the second module, respondents manifested their perceptions about the degree of importance of each one of the atributes presented in relation to the choice of a fast food restaurant in the shopping center. The responses were marked in a Likert scale of points, varying from zero not important to ten very important . In the third module, the expectations of the respondents regarding each of the attributes used in the irst module were found. Each respondent revealed his or her expectations about the level of quality that they would like to receive (desired level and the minimum level of quality that would be acceptable minimum level acceptable . The expectations were also found and measured by a Likert scale of points, varying from zero worse to ten excellent . Once the atributes were identiied using service cycle methodology, supported by fast food literature references, it was considered unnecessary a deep research aiming to validate the questionnaire. “lthough, a pre-test was completed with ten university students who frequented some of the fast food restaurants in the period of thirty days before that of the application. Small adjustments were made in the language, and formating was necessary, in order to facilitate comprehension. 63 . inhabitants. Respondents’ choices were not submited to pre-planned criteria of sample stratiication. Questionnaires were applied, for convenience, to the students present on campus and who volunteered to respond. The application was only completed with the university students who customarily frequented some fast food restaurants on the list of restaurants in the shopping center. The use of a group of university students as a sample is convenient from the point of view of their homogeneity young people with values associated with those held by fast food service providers, regarding eicient service, and also university students being in a category of subjects with formal education, and a sharpened critical sense JOHNSON and M“THEWS, LEE and UG“LDO, NILSSON-WITELL and FUNDIN, M“CH“DO et al, QIN and PRY”UTOK, . Most likely, people of diferent social status, ages and backgrounds, would present diferent hierarchies of service atributes related to fast food. However, the central objective of the study is not to generalize the preferences observed in a sample of the population, but to demonstrate that a hierarchy of an atribute importance scale is compatible with the position ranking and of the width of tolerance zones found independently. 9. RESulTS 8. ThE SaMplE The data were obtained using a sample of students from a local private university. The interviews were completed on three diferent campuses of the university. “lthough the three campus show diferent distances from the shopping location, it is believed the distance causes no inluence on results, once the studied shopping is the largest and most frequented in Natal, a city with approximately The results presented here relect the ascertainment of valid responses of questionnaires applied, representing a rate of . %. The statistical treatment was completed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences SPSS, . version. “ccording to the results presented in Table , the respondents are largely female . % , belonging to an age group between and years old % with a family income in the range of R$ to R$ , . %. “bout . % are exclusively students. Table 3 – distribution of the respondents by sex, age, income and occupation. Sex Age Family Income Masculine 30.8% Less than 18 1.8% Feminine 69.2% From 18 to 24 60.0% From 25 to 35 31.9% Less than R$ 930 From R$ 930 to R$ 2,325 From R$ 2,325 to R$ 4,650 6.3% Main Occupation Student 36.7% Housewife 32.6% Selfemployed Professional 66.3% 0.7% 2.7% Campos, D. F., Nóbrega, K. C.: Importance and the Zone of Tolerance of Customer Expectations of Fast Food Services Journal of Operations and Supply Chain Management 2 (2), pp 56 - 71, C International Conference of the Production and Operations Management Society 64 Total 100% More than R$ 4,650 From 36 to 45 5.4% More than 45 0.9% Total 100% 24.4% Business owner Total 100% 3.8% Employee 26.5 Total 100% Source: research They customarily eat at fast food restaurants in the shopping center at least once a month . % . Entertainment is the main circumstance in use of fast food services. “pproximately % of the respondents go only to eat in the fast food restaurants, or they frequent them when they go to the cinema or window-shopping. The majority . % customarily frequents the restaurants during lunch or dinner time, or between those meals. Table shows the details of the distribution of respondents according to the variables presented. Table 4 - distribution of the respondents by circumstance, frequency level and hour. Circumstances under which fast food is used Work in or around the shopping center Shoppers who stop to eat fast food % Frequency with which attend fast food rest. 7.0% Less than once a month % Hours in which fast food is used % 15.8% Before lunch 1.6% 18.3% Once a month 16.1% Lunch 30.7% Window shoppers who stop to eat fast food Movie goers who stop to eat fast food Those going to the bank or other services who stop to eat fast food 46.8% Twice a month 30.3% Between lunch and dinner 12.0% Once a week 21.5% Dinner 22.2% 2.9% More than once a week 16.3% After dinner 6.8% Those who go speciically to eat 9.3% Others 3.6% Total 100% Total 100% 100% Total 38.7% Source: research 10. ThE pERCEpTIon oF ThE IMpoRTanCE oF aTTRIBuTES the respondents indicated their perceptions relative to the importance of the atributes presented in Table , atributing a note of zero not important to very important to each one, in a sequential and independent manner. The nominal measures obTable Attribute Food hygiene tained varied from . level of frequency to . hygiene in preparation and food handling . “ preliminary analysis permited the assessment of what the respondents considered which atributes presented were of average importance to very important. Table presents the median values obtained in the degree of importance of the ten irst and ten last established. Degree of importance of the atributes from high to low. Measu rement Rank 9.37 1 Attribute Indication of attendance locale Measu rement Rank 7.81 36 Campos, D. F., Nóbrega, K. C.: Importance and the Zone of Tolerance of Customer Expectations of Fast Food Services Journal of Operations and Supply Chain Management 2 (2), pp 56 - 71, C International Conference of the Production and Operations Management Society Attribute Measu rement Rank Installation hygiene 9.33 2 Food lavor 9.31 Food delivery with out errors Attribute 65 Measu rement Rank Location within the food court 7.65 37 3 Staff to bring food to the table 7.65 38 9.21 4 Additional ingredients 7.5 5 39 Correct price 9.19 5 Visible product information 7.52 40 Food texture 9.14 6 Visual attractiveness of store 7.51 41 Orders with out errors 9.10 7 Receptionist presence 7.27 42 Quality of the ingredients 9.09 8 Force of brand 7.02 43 Time oingredientsreceived 8.93 9 Freegifts to children 6.46 44 Temperatureofthefood 8.89 10 Leveloffrequency 6.08 45 MEASUREMENT = Arithmetic measurement of the degree of perceptions of importance of attributes. RANK = Ranking of the attributes measured by importance. Source: research 11. ExpECTaTIon TolERanCE ZonES The same atributes that received an evaluation of importance were presented to the respondents so that they express their expectations in relation to the levels of service desired and the minimum acceptable. Each atribute was associated to two equal scales from points, varying from zero the worst to ten excellent level of service . In the irst, the respondent indicated the level of service desired (that he or she would like to receive and the second, the minimum acceptable level of service. Table For each atribute, using the algebraic expressions presented in section . , the width of the tolerance zone LargZ and its height “ltZ were calculated. The width of the tolerance zone varied from . hygiene in the preparation and handling of food to . visual atractiveness of the store . On the other hand, the height of the tolerance zone—taken by the position of its median point varied in minimum from . level of frequency to the maximum value of . hygiene in the preparation and handling of food . Table and present the atributes with the greatest and the least scores in width and height of the zone. Atributes with width from the narrowest zone and the widest zone. ATTRIBUTE LargZ RANK ATTRIBUTE LargZ RANK Food hygiene 1.38 1 Promotional lunches 2.00 36 Food lavor 1.45 2 Presence of the receptionist 2.02 37 Correct price 1.48 3 Indication of attendance area 2.03 38 Hygiene of the installations 1.50 4 Level of frequency 2.17 39 Food texture 1.51 5 Distribution of free gifts for kids 2.18 40 Delivery of food without errors 1.55 6 Visible product information 2.26 41 Food temperature 1.58 7 Menu variety 2.26 42 Campos, D. F., Nóbrega, K. C.: Importance and the Zone of Tolerance of Customer Expectations of Fast Food Services 66 Journal of Operations and Supply Chain Management 2 (2), pp 56 - 71, C International Conference of the Production and Operations Management Society ATTRIBUTE LargZ RANK ATTRIBUTE LargZ RANK Quality of the ingredients 1.60 8 Additional ingredients 2.27 43 Aroma of the food 1.61 9 Force of the brand 2.35 44 Visual of the Food 1.62 10 Visual attractiveness of the store 2.50 45 Larg Z = Width of tolerance zone. RANK = Ranking of the attributes by the width of the tolerance zone. Source: research Table Atributes with the median position of the highest and lowest zones. ATTRIBUTE Alt Z RANK Food hygiene 8.63 1 Food lavor 8.61 Correct Price ATTRIBUTE Alt Z RANK Menu variety 7.52 36 2 Fat/Calorie Information 7.49 37 8.60 3 Staff to bring food to the table 7.45 38 Hygiene of the installations 8.45 4 Presence of the receptionist 7.40 39 Food texture 8.45 5 Additional ingredients 7.39 40 Delivery of food without errors 8.45 6 Visible product information 7.38 41 Food temperature 8.43 7 Visual attractiveness of the store 7.31 42 Quality of the ingredients 8.43 8 Force of the brand 7.04 43 Aroma of the food 8.42 9 Distribution of free gifts for kids 6.83 44 Visual of the Food 8.40 10 Level of frequency 6.76 45 Alt Z = Median height of tolerance zone. Rank= Ranking of the attributes by the height of the tolerance zone. Source: research From these indings we can visually airm that among the ten best located in the ranking, in the three measurements, of the most common atributes were assigned as food hygiene, hygiene of the installations, quality of the ingredients, delivery without errors, correct price and lavor, texture and temperature of the food. Such indings ofered, supericially, indications of the existence of a correlation between the dimensions of the measurements used. 12. a CoMpaRISon oF ThE RankIng Statistically it is possible to ind the degree of the correlation between the measurements used, comparing it to the ranking generated by the three measurements used, and verifying if there is alignment between them. The alignment can then be found by the degree of the correlation that exists between the three rankings, compared two by two. “ coeicient of correlation of . would indicate a degree of % alignment, a coeficient . would indicate complete mis alignment. Cooper and Schindler point to the coeicients of correlation of spearman and Kendall as the most utilized for the comparison of series of ranked values. The test of Spearman’s correlation analyses the residues through the diferences between the hierarchical positions of each variable. Spearman’s coeicient would be equivalent to that of Pearson, applied to the rankings without, however, demanding the normal conditions of the population and the linear relation between the variables. Table shows the comparison of the three rankings obtained. The Spearman test revealed a high coeficient of correlation . among the ranking by the degree of importance conferred to the atributes with the ranking obtained by the hierarchy of the width of tolerance zones of the same atribute. Campos, D. F., Nóbrega, K. C.: Importance and the Zone of Tolerance of Customer Expectations of Fast Food Services Journal of Operations and Supply Chain Management 2 (2), pp 56 - 71, C International Conference of the Production and Operations Management Society Table 8 –Comparison of the rankings obtained by the three measurements. Attribute Food hygiene Hygiene of the installation Food lavor Delivery of food without errors Correct prices Food textures Orders without errors Quality of ingredients Time it takes to receive food Food temperature Aroma of the food Impor tance Rank Width of Zone Rank Height of Zone Rank 9.37 9.33 9.31 9.21 9.19 9.14 9.10 9.09 8.93 8.89 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1.38 1.50 1.45 1.55 1.48 1.51 1.67 1.60 1.72 1.58 1 4 2 6 3 5 12 8 14 7 8.63 8.61 8.60 8.45 8.42 8.45 8.43 8.45 8.23 8.43 1 2 3 6 9 4 8 5 13 7 8.84 11 1.61 9 8.40 Food regularity Visual of the Food Price Time at the cashier Availability of change Receptionist knowledge Receptionist courtesy/attention Cashier readiness Cashier courtesy/attention Wait time in line Use of recycleable materials Promotional lunches Receptionist readiness Receptionist presentation Cashier knowledge Order served signage Fat/Calorie content Form and time of payment Cashier presentation Incorporation of new lunches Waiting space at the counter Varied menu Free additional seasonings Fat/Calorie information Indication of attendance areas Location in the food court 8.81 8.76 8.70 8.68 8.67 8.64 8.63 8.51 8.49 8.46 8.44 8.39 8.33 8.26 8.25 8.22 8.17 8.14 8.13 8.11 8.03 7.87 7.85 7.84 7.81 7.65 10 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 1.64 1.62 1.85 1.80 1.69 1.81 1.84 1.90 1.82 1.96 1.87 2.00 1.89 1.84 1.86 1.89 1.99 1.89 1.87 1.97 1.95 2.26 1.94 1.90 2.03 1.88 11 10 20 15 13 16 18 28 17 32 22 36 27 19 21 25 35 26 23 33 31 42 30 29 38 24 8.23 8.36 7.85 8.04 8.25 7.97 7.93 8.01 7.90 7.95 7.85 7.92 7.84 7.72 7.99 7.74 7.65 7.87 7.85 7.69 7.88 7.52 7.75 7.49 7.55 7.72 14 11 26 15 12 18 20 16 22 19 25 21 28 32 17 30 34 24 27 33 23 36 29 37 35 31 67 Campos, D. F., Nóbrega, K. C.: Importance and the Zone of Tolerance of Customer Expectations of Fast Food Services 68 Journal of Operations and Supply Chain Management 2 (2), pp 56 - 71, C International Conference of the Production and Operations Management Society Attribute Staff to bring food to the table Additional extra ingredients Visible product information Visual attractiveness of the store Receptionist presence Force of the brand Distribution of free gifts for kids Level of frequency Impor tance Rank Width of Zone Rank Height of Zone Rank 7.65 7.55 7.52 7.51 7.27 7.02 6.46 6.08 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 1.97 2.27 2.26 2.50 2.02 2.35 2.18 2.17 34 43 41 45 37 44 40 39 7.45 7.39 7.38 7.31 7.40 7.04 6.83 6.76 38 40 41 42 39 43 44 45 Source: research In comparison of the ranking by the degree of importance with the ranking obtained by the hierarchy of the heights of the tolerances zones, the coeicient of correlation was still greater, with the value of . . The coeficients are signiicant to α = . . Table 9 Coeiecient of the correlations obtained by the Spearman and Pearson Tests. Ranking SpearmanTest Importance Correlation Coeficients Width of the Importance Tolerance Zone 1.00 Height of the Tolerance Zone 0.93 0.96 0.92 Width of Tolerance Zone 0.93 1.00 Altura da Zona de Tolerância 0.96 0.92 Nominal Values Pearson Test Importance Width of the Tolerance Zone Height of the Tolerance Zone Importance 1.00 - 0.85 0.97 - 0.91 Width of Tolerance Zone - 0.85 1.00 Height of Tolerance Zone 0.97 - 0.91 1.00 1.00 Source: research The results suggest, however, the conirmation of the two airmations by Zeithaml and ”itner such that atributes that are more important to customers have a narrower tolerance zone and have limits of expectations closer to the maximum in the scale used. The coeicient of . α= . shows, how corollary, which is the correlation between the orderings and the width and height of the tolerance zone atributes, i.e. atributes with a narrower tolerance zone, are positioned closer to the maximum of the measuring scale of expectations. The Pearson test applied to the nominal values of the medians obtained for importance, width and height of atribute tolerance zones reairm the alignment of the measurements. The coeicients of the negative correlations - . and - . , α = . suggest that the width of the tolerance zone has the inverse behavior to the importance of the atributes, as well as the height of the zone. “s expected, the correlation of the height of the zone with the importance of the atributes was direct . , α = . . The results of the tests of correlations are presented in Table . 13. ConCluSIonS “s theoretical implications, empirical studies involving instruments and methodologies of management help to strengthen the base of application. ”y Campos, D. F., Nóbrega, K. C.: Importance and the Zone of Tolerance of Customer Expectations of Fast Food Services Journal of Operations and Supply Chain Management 2 (2), pp 56 - 71, C International Conference of the Production and Operations Management Society its very nature, the management of service quality deals with processes of evaluation with an elevated degree of subjectivity. The appreciation of variables present in the service encounters requires instruments and scales of measuring that have the capacity to measure perceptions and expectations, both derived from complex mental processes that vary from individual to individual. Empirically conirming the hypothesis raised by the works of Zeithaml et al and Zeithaml and ”itner , this study reinforces relationships aimed at measurements, studied in the naturally expressed ield, to evaluate the subjective character of the impact of service on individuals. The empirical results of the research conirm the hypothesis developed. The coeicients of the correlation obtained reached values near or higher to . , to the level of signiicance of %. “s an underlying consequence of the study, the results allow us to identify the most important atributes of fast food service, evaluated over a sample of a population of its main consumers K“R“ et al, NICK and HOW“RD, ”OJ“NIC, ”OUR“NT“ et al, . “nd it is important to observe that, with a base in any one of the measurements importance, width and height of the zone it is possible to ind that the atributes most valued relect the essentials of fast food service the food quality of the ingredients, regularity, lavor, texture, aroma, visual and temperature , hygiene in the installations, and food prep and handling , correct registering of orders and price, correct delivery of order and time of atendance. This tendency is also observed in the study of Machado et al . “mong the least valued, on the other hand, appear attributes like the force of the brand, visual atractiveness of the store, level of frequency, distribution of complimentary gits, presence of the receptionist and availability of staf to take the lunch to the tables. As managerial implications it may be cited that companies should concentrate eforts on food, hygiene, service absent of mistakes and service speed rather than investing on brand, visual atractiveness of the store, complimentary gits, availability of staf to take the lunch to the tables these last use to be cited, in a practical sense, as of greater importance. “nother opportunity for companies is to investigate more their own customers’ point of view, as this occurred in the present study. There are limitations in the present study regarding possible generalizations of the results obtained with the levels of expectations about the atributes for the population as a whole, as this was not the central ob- 69 jective of the study. Cultural factors, price, urgency, irst use, or renovation, can inluence the limits of the tolerance zone. In the ield of results referring to the empirical validation of the hypothesis, the numerical diferences between the measurements, when held up to the sample errors, can provoke rank changes of the atributes evaluated. The changes in position of the atributes in the ranking can contribute to the improvement of the correlation as well as its misalignment. New investigative studies can reveal important connections associated to the service encounters or moments of truth, especially when compared to initial vs. inal moments, and central vs. auxiliary services. 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J., Marketing de serviços: a empresa com foco no cliente, Ed. ”ookman, Porto “legre, . auThoR’S BIogRaphy domingos Fernandes Campos is Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management at the UnP - Potiguar University, Natal, ”razil. He earned his Ph.D. degree in Production Engineering from the Polithecnical University of Madrid, Spain . He is a Senior Consultant with a large experience in works for Manufacturing and Logistics companies. His main research interests are Distribution, Logistics Service and Operations Management. kleber C nóbrega, Mechanical Engineer, concluded his Master Degree in Operations Engineering, , at Federal University of Santa Catarina. “ter that he got his Doctoring Degree at EscolaPolitecnicaUniversity of São Paulo, in . Kleber is nowadays professor at ”usiness Management Professional Mastering Program, in Potiguar University, located in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, ”razil, where he has been responsible for the disciplines of Strategic Management and Service Operations Management. Kleber has worked as consultant in Strategic Planning and Management, Service Management, Service Quality, and Quality Systems.