Measuring service quality with instrument variation in an SEM framework

The purpose of this study is to refine the real estate service quality scale, called RESERV, developed by Nelson and Nelson (1995). RESERV is examined for scale parsimony and for items measuring service expectations. This study is the first to simultaneously compare the three types of service quality items: perceptions of service quality, the gap between perceived service quality and service expectations, and the perceived service quality given expectations. It is found that the 7-dimension RESERV scale has slightly better predictive power but poorer parsimonious fit compared to the single dimension 'Professionalism.' Because of the length and complexity of the purchasing process in real estate, the version of the scale measuring only perceptions of service quality is better suited to real estate than versions that try to incorporate service expectations.