Service quality and satisfaction in business‐to‐business services

<jats:sec><jats:title content-type="abstract-heading">Purpose</jats:title><jats:p>The purpose of the paper is to investigate the effects of service quality and service satisfaction on intention in a business‐to‐business setting.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type="abstract-heading">Design/methodology/approach</jats:title><jats:p>This research addresses three unanswered questions regarding satisfaction and service quality: the distinction between customer satisfaction and perceived service quality; their causal ordering; and their relative impact on intentions. The data were collected using a large survey of buyers in a business setting.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type="abstract-heading">Findings</jats:title><jats:p>The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results show that service quality has a larger impact on intentions than does customer satisfaction. The results also show that the effects of individual transactions on intentions are mediated by corresponding cumulative constructs.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type="abstract-heading">Research limitations/implications</jats:title><jats:p>The primary implications for theory include demonstrating the distinction between satisfaction and service quality; specifying, based on theory and logic, the causal ordering between transaction constructs and cumulative constructs, and between service quality and satisfaction; and assessing their relative impact on behavioral intentions.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title content-type="abstract-heading">Originality/value</jats:title><jats:p>The results show that one negative transaction outcome may not be sufficient to cause the customer to switch if the cumulative levels are sufficiently positive. Thus, a negative outcome may be discounted by the user if it is seen as a unique occurrence. However, a series of successive negative transaction outcomes may cause the cumulative constructs to become less positive, resulting in lower intentions to repurchase from the same supplier.</jats:p></jats:sec>