Measurement Issues in Services Marketing

The three papers in the services measurement session offer some interesting perspectives on the dimensions of service encounters that researchers should focus on. More specifically, these papers offer researchers scales to measure some variables that have the potential to extend our knowledge of services marketing. The first paper, by Deborah F. Spake, and Sharon Beatty, Customer Comfort with Service Providers: A Proposed Scale, suggests that the concept of the consumers’ perceived “comfort” with a service provider is a motive in purchase decisions and a factor affecting decisions to maintain a service relationship. The author suggests that “comfort” acts to reduce stress and ultimately is related to the important constructs of trust, commitment and satisfaction. The authors provide researchers with a valid scale for measuring comfort.