The Influences of Appropriate Service-Contact-Personnel Dress on the Dimensions of Customer Expectations of Service Quality

This study isolates specific dimensions of service quality expectations and investigates how service-contact-personnel dress, as one of the dimensions, influences the other dimensions in the service context of banking. A conceptual model is proposed based on inference theory. Moderating variables of age and gender are incorporated. A 2 x 2 x 2 full factorial design is utilized with the independent variables of dress, gender, and age, and the dependent variables of reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. Results show that appropriate (vs. inappropriate) dress resulted in higher expectations of all four service quality dimensions. These effects were stronger for female than for male customers, and for older than for younger customers. The major implication of this study is that management may need to reassess the casual dress approach that is becoming more common in financial service companies as well as enforce dress code policy more strictly. Furthermore, limitations of the study are discussed.