| IDENTIFYING UNDERLYING DIMENSIONS OF THE SERVICE QUALITY CLIMATE: A GROUNDED THEORY APPROACH Lei Ka Lin & Carlos Noronha Issue 28 (Vol. 14, No. 2), December 2004, pp. 185-203. Service is an experience, a performance, or a process. Quality of service is defined as an interactive experience between customers and service providers. Frontline employees act as part-time marketers to deliver service quality to customers and obtain feedback from them. Airport ground handling services involve a high level of customer contact. The aim of this study is to identify, from the perspective of frontline employees, some key factors which contribute to maintaining a high-level service quality climate in such a service site. Through a qualitative approach mainly based on grounded theory methodology, a series of in-depth interviews were conducted with the staff of an airport ground handling service company. Six major categories emerged from the analysis which provide insights as to the theoretical aspects of the service quality climate construct. |