Causal model of service quality and customer loyalty for a Chinese medicine clinic by multiple-group analysis

This study uses a Chinese medical clinic as an example to explore the relationships between service quality and customer loyalty. Through the use of structural equation modeling (SEM), multiple-group analysis and post model test, this study analyzes how customers' "expected service" and "perceived service" affect their loyalty under the five aspects of service quality - tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy developed by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry on service quality (also known as the PZB model). This study found that the five aspects of expected service and the three aspects (reliability, assurance and empathy) of perceived service have significant effects to customer loyalty. Moreover, from the results of multiple-group analysis, the marriage status (married and unmarried) has different cause-effect relationships in empathy aspect.