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Unpublished Paper
Timing is Everything? An Empirical Analysis of the Determinants of Service Quality Provision
(2014)
  • Olivier Chatain
  • Alon Eizenberg, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Abstract
We utilize a unique database from a large legal services provider to examine how service quality responds to the firm's available capacity, and to the nature of the firm-client relationship. We develop empirical measures of both the (internal) level of resources available to the firm at different points in time, and of the (external) value creation for customers. Our results indicate that service quality increases in the amount of the firm's available resources, suggesting that quality adjustment can be used as a means of tackling capacity constraints. We also find that service quality increases in the number of previous successful interactions with the client, implying that the firm strategically invests in building long-term relationships with clients. By documenting these relationships, we wish to shed light on the limitations of current estimates of consumer surplus in service industries, as well as on potential inefficiencies in such industries.
Keywords
  • Resource Allocation,
  • Endogenous quality
Publication Date
2014
Citation Information
Olivier Chatain and Alon Eizenberg. "Timing is Everything? An Empirical Analysis of the Determinants of Service Quality Provision" (2014)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/olivier_chatain/10/