ONLINE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE IN SERVICE SETTINGS - DIVA
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Online customer experience in
service settings
Analysing the customer expectations gap: a focus on the food delivery sector
BACHELOR THESIS WITHIN: Business Administration
NUMBER OF CREDITS: 15 ECTS
PROGRAMME OF STUDY: KEDGE, Bachelor Double Degree
AUTHORS: Inès Poncin & Julie Walter-Malcurat
JÖNKÖPING May, 2021
Bachelor Thesis in Business Administration
Title: Online customer experience in service settings: Analysing the customer expectations
gap, a focus on the food delivery sector.
Authors: Inès Poncin & Julie Walter-Malcurat
Tutor: Jasna Pocek
Date: May, 2021
Key terms: Customer experience, Customer Expectations Gap, Online Food Service
ABSTRACT
Background: As the result of the constant business evolution and in addition to the 2020
worldwide sanitary crisis, online services demand has significantly increased. Shifting from a
physical-based customer experience to an online customer-focused service providing. Multiple
studies investigated the online customer experience and customer expectations related to the
products industry. However, there seems to have a lack of recent research focusing on online
customer experience in service settings.
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyse the customer experience in online service
settings, focusing on the food delivery sector in France. The aim is to highlight a customer
expectations gap between the customer expected service and the actual perceived service
provided by the company. To fulfil this purpose, three research questions have been
established. The authors aim to provide a new conceptual model to contribute to the theory.
Method: For the purpose of this study, the research philosophy adopted key elements of
interpretivism. A qualitative research design is used, combined with an exploratory case study
method. Data were collected through 8 semi-structured interviews using a purposive sampling
method and were analysed inductively.
Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that the customer expectations gap in the online
food service delivery, focusing in UberEats case study, is built upon two main factors: the
customer expectations design and the online process, together enabling service improvements
identification. The authors have thereby designed a new conceptual model in order to provide
online food service providers such as UberEats sustainable solutions to reduce the customer
expectations gap while using their app.
Keywords: Customer Experience, Customer Expectations, Customer Expectations Gap,
Service Quality, Food Delivery Sector, UberEats
ii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We would like to express our gratitude to everyone who supported us during the process of
writing our bachelor thesis.
We would like to thank all participants for their precious time and knowledge to this research.
A special thanks to UberEats France specialists who provided us with so much professional
insights.
Furthermore, we would like to thank our thesis tutor Jasna Pocek, Postdoctoral researcher in
entrepreneurship at Sten K Johnson Center for Entrepreneurship at Lund University, for her
feedback, advice and guidance during the thesis writing process. Finally, we would like to
thank all the members of our seminar group for their constructive and stimulating comments
during the seminar sessions.
_________________________ _________________________
Inès Poncin Julie Walter-Malcurat
Jönköping International Business School
May, 2021
iii
Table of figures and tables
Table 1: Overview of studies on Customer Experience, Customer Expectations, Customer
Expectations Gap, Service Design and Perception of Service Quality. .................................. 10
Figure 1: Process Model for Customer Journey and Experience ............................................ 13
Figure 2: E-customer journey map .......................................................................................... 15
Figure 3: The expectations model ........................................................................................... 18
Figure 4: SERVQUAL Model ................................................................................................. 19
Figure 5: Conceptual model of service quality........................................................................ 20
Figure 6: Nature and determinants of customer expectation of service .................................. 22
Table 2: Interviews summary .................................................................................................. 30
Table 3: Thematic analysis ...................................................................................................... 37
Figure 7: Conceptual model of the customer expectations gap ............................................... 48
ivTable of Contents
ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... ii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iii
Table of figures and tables................................................................................................. iv
1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 1
1.1. Background ........................................................................................................ 1
1.2. Problem discussion ............................................................................................. 3
1.3. Purpose and research questions ............................................................................ 4
1.3.1. Purpose .............................................................................................................. 4
1.3.2. Research questions .............................................................................................. 5
1.4. Methodology ...................................................................................................... 5
1.5. Limitations and delimitations .............................................................................. 5
1.5.1. Limitations ......................................................................................................... 6
1.5.2. Delimitations ...................................................................................................... 6
1.6. Contribution ....................................................................................................... 7
1.6.1. Theoretical contribution ...................................................................................... 7
1.6.2. Company-focus contribution ............................................................................... 7
1.7. Key words .......................................................................................................... 7
2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ....................................................................... 9
2.1. Literature review method .................................................................................... 9
2.2. The customer journey ........................................................................................ 13
2.2.1. The customer journey: an introduction ............................................................... 13
2.2.2. The e-customer journey ..................................................................................... 14
2.3. The customer experience ................................................................................... 15
2.3.1. The customer experience: an introduction .......................................................... 15
2.3.2. The customer experience: a challenge ................................................................ 16
2.3.3. Customer experience management ..................................................................... 17
2.4. Customer Expectations and Service Quality ....................................................... 17
2.4.1. Customer Expectations ...................................................................................... 17
2.4.2. Service Quality ................................................................................................. 18
2.4.2.1. Service quality measurements ............................................................................ 18
2.4.2.2. Service delivery process analysis ....................................................................... 19
2.4.2.3. Service quality gap model ................................................................................. 19
2.4.3. Customer Expectations Gap model .................................................................... 21
v3. METHODOLOGY AND METHOD ................................................................. 23
3.1. Research philosophy ......................................................................................... 23
3.1.1. What is research philosophy? ............................................................................ 23
3.1.2. Research philosophy justification ...................................................................... 23
3.2. Research approach ............................................................................................ 24
3.2.1. What is research approach? ............................................................................... 24
3.2.2. Research approach justification ......................................................................... 24
3.3. Research design and purpose ............................................................................. 25
3.3.1. Research design ................................................................................................ 25
3.3.2. Research design purpose ................................................................................... 26
3.4. Case study: UberEats ........................................................................................ 26
3.5. Sampling .......................................................................................................... 27
3.5.1. Population 1: Customer sampling ...................................................................... 28
3.5.2. Population 2: Company sampling ...................................................................... 29
3.6. Group focus and semi-structured interviews ....................................................... 31
3.6.1. Population 1: group focus .................................................................................. 31
3.6.2. Population 2: semi-structured interviews ............................................................ 32
3.7. Interview design ............................................................................................... 32
3.7.1. Interview design: Population 1 .......................................................................... 32
3.7.2. Interview design: Population 2 .......................................................................... 33
3.8. Data analysis .................................................................................................... 33
3.9. Trustworthiness ................................................................................................ 34
3.9.1. Transferability .................................................................................................. 34
3.9.2. Dependability ................................................................................................... 34
3.9.3. Confirmability .................................................................................................. 35
3.9.4. Credibility ........................................................................................................ 35
4. Ethical considerations ....................................................................................... 36
5. EMPIRICAL FINDINGS .................................................................................. 37
5.1. Online service delivery...................................................................................... 38
5.2. Customer expectations gap ................................................................................ 41
5.3. Service improvements ....................................................................................... 44
6. ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION ............................................................ 48
6.1. RQ1: What do customers expect from an online food access experience? ............ 49
6.1.1. The digital interface .......................................................................................... 49
vi6.1.2. Motivations to use the service............................................................................ 49
6.1.3. Previous experiences ......................................................................................... 50
6.2. RQ2: What are the factors of the online service process that lead to a customer
expectations gap? ............................................................................................................. 51
6.2.1. UberEats and the logistics service providers ....................................................... 51
6.2.2. The online customer experience......................................................................... 52
6.2.3. The geographical location ................................................................................. 53
6.3. RQ3: How can companies improve their customer experience management to reduce
the customer expectations gap? ......................................................................................... 54
6.3.1. Improve feedback through the evaluation process ............................................... 54
6.3.2. Improving communication between the logistics service providers...................... 55
7. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 56
8. DISCUSSION .................................................................................................. 58
8.1. Managerial implications .................................................................................... 58
8.2. Limitations ....................................................................................................... 58
8.3. Future research ................................................................................................. 59
9. REFERENCES ................................................................................................. 60
10. APPENDICES .................................................................................................. 67
10.1. Interview guide: Population 1 ............................................................................ 67
10.1.1. English version ................................................................................................. 67
10.1.2. Version française .............................................................................................. 70
10.2. Interview guide: Population 2 ............................................................................ 73
10.2.1. English version ................................................................................................. 73
10.2.2. Version française .............................................................................................. 76
10.3. Thematic analysis ............................................................................................. 79
vii1. INTRODUCTION
In this introduction section, the authors will provide insights about the background of the
subject and discuss the problem. Followed by a clear definition of the purpose, the research
questions will be exposed as well as the related key concepts which structure the paper.
Furthermore, limitations, delimitations, and contributions will be highlighted.
1.1. Background
This paper focuses on the online customer experience in the food delivery sector. The study
conducted by Klein et al. (2020) on the impact of cross-media exposure on customer’s purchase
decisions, underlines the challenges for managing customer journey that result from the
increasing usage of peer-driven media in the digital age. Klein et al. (2020) advise to conduct
deeper research on the customer experience in online services. Therefore, this study aims to
contribute to the research conducted on these evolving challenges, by focusing on the online
customer experience in service settings, particularly in the food delivery sector, and by
highlighting a customer expectations gap that exists in this sector.
The continuously growing place of the Internet in our society pushed people to become
technology-dependent in various aspects of their lives. Smartphones play one of the main roles
in this process and have allowed the Internet to get a central place in user’s lives (Zhitomirsky-
Geffet & Blau, 2016). Companies have seen the Internet as an undeniable opportunity for
development, and a way of responding to drastically changing consumer needs (Lumpkin &
Dress, 2004). The digitalisation of companies’ activities has led to an online commercialisation
of products and services, and to an evolution of customers’ needs and desires (McLean &
Wilson, 2016).
In addition to the phenomenon of businesses digitalisation, the emergence of online media and
especially social networks in the late 1990s, almost ten years after the birth of the Internet
(May, 2017), gave a new dimension and a new use of the Internet (Lomborg, 2016). As online
media have become more and more popular over the years, it has led companies to review their
business model and the way they sell their products and services (Liang & Turban, 2011;
Mergel et al., 2019). This new development in e-commerce generated by the use of social media
1to empower customers to interact on the Internet is referred to as Social Commerce (Hajli,
2015). Therefore, the way consumers interact with brands has changed. Online media channels
enable customers to take an active role in the way they are reached, and the way they can
interact with the brands (Hennig-Thurau et al., 2010). They are actively involved in the firm’s
value creation process (Hoffman & Novak, 1997; Maklan & Klaus, 2011). With this new
customer position, the customer experience has evolved (Peterson et al., 1997). Nowadays,
getting any product or service just in a few clicks, with home delivery services available, or
having 24/7 customer service; has become essential factors to evaluate the customer experience
(Jain et al., 2017; Michalowska et al., 2015; Rigby, 2011).
Moreover, the access to food has evolved in the past years with the digitisation of services
(Peterson et al., 1997). In fact, this new offer possibility has invited food brands, restaurants,
but also food retailers to be opened to these new ways of proposing their services, and rethink
their business model (De Kervenoael et al., 2014; Peterson et al., 1997; Rigby, 2011).
Over the last decades, the food industry has undergone rapid changes (Rigby, 2011). One of
the major changes that can be observed is the deployment of drive-ins developed by most of
the major food retail brands in France (Lapoule, 2014). These new outlets combine online and
offline experiences, as customers pre-order their products online through a digital device
(smartphone, computer, tablet), and collect their order physically from a drive-in point
(Lapoule, 2014). These innovations have changed the way food is accessed, which was
previously only possible for consumers by going directly to a physical store. With just a few
clicks, customers can decide what they want in their trolley, without having to push it between
the different shelves. Thus, the customer experience is drastically altered, and customers'
efforts are reduced thanks to this online pre-ordering. These innovations seem to have changed
the whole customer experience in the food access sector and mark the beginning of the
transition to online consumption in the food sector (Lapoule, 2014).
In addition, food delivery platforms such as UberEats, Deliveroo or Foodora have drastically
impacted the ease of access to food. The concept of these marketplaces is that customers can
order food online through an app freely downloadable on their smartphones. These apps gather
multiple restaurants. The order is made online, and restaurants receive the details. A delivery
person is in charge of picking up the order and delivering it directly to the customer. With these
platforms, customers only have to order their food online, and the rest of the customer
2experience is through the people involved in the production and delivery process (Monty, 2018;
UberEats, 2021).
Besides, the Covid-19 worldwide sanitary crisis in 2020 has drastically changed the way people
consume and has accelerated the digitalisation of businesses even further, pushing online media
channels on top priority. The various health restrictions, lockdowns, and curfews put in place
in France have forced the French citizens to stay at home and have turned the national business
system upside down (Gourvernement Français, 2021). Nevertheless, companies have digitised
their businesses if they have not already and means such as click & collect and home delivery
have become more important than ever in consumers' lives. Therefore, Covid-19 has been a
lever for increasing the overall service demand (Cloyne et al., 2020). In fact, health restrictions
in France have forced the closure of bars and restaurants (Gourvernement Français, 2021). As
a result, the latter had to find solutions in order to maintain their activity while respecting the
legal restrictions. Thus, food delivery platforms such as UberEats were one of the best solutions
for restaurants to continue offering their services without selling their products directly on site.
Finally, the customer experience that offline businesses provide differs from online customer
experience. In fact, Puccinelli et al. (2009) assert that a key atmospheric element of the
customer experience management that can shape a customer satisfaction is the “interaction
between the customer and employee”. However, with online media channels customers are
now able to live new kinds of experiences, and this interaction between customers and
employees is reduced. Customers are now able to live new customer experiences through
online channels and have a new kind of relationship with brands as they are directly involved
in the process from the beginning to the final step of the experience (Klein et al., 2020).
1.2. Problem discussion
The marketing scene is changing. Digital channels play one of the main roles in this scenario
of virtualisation of activities (Klein et al., 2020). The digitalisation of businesses modifies how
brands interact with customers. Modern customers are directly involved in the process from
the beginning and during all steps (Holmild & Evenson, 2008). These evolutions invite service
companies to analyse customer journeys to understand how to create superior customer
experience (Homburg et al., 2017). Customer experience management is considered as one of
the most promising management approaches for meeting these new challenges, and as one of
3the leading management objectives for companies (Homburg et al., 2017; Lemon & Verhoef,
2016).
The problem addressed in this research is the fact that the customer experience has evolved
with the digitalisation of business activities, and especially customer expectations and the
perception of service quality have changed (Klein et al., 2020).
A considerable amount of research has been conducted on the online customer experience in
the products area (Klein et al., 2020), and on the implication of the Internet on the consumer
experience (Kawaf & Tagg, 2017; Liang & Turban, 2011; Peterson et al., 1997; Wali et al.,
2020). However, there seems to have a lack of research on the customer experience in service
settings through online channels (Bueno et al., 2019; Klein et al., 2020).
The study conducted by Klein et al. (2020) stated previously, focuses on the impact of cross-
media exposure on customer’s purchase decisions, and underlines the challenges for managing
customer journey that result from the increasing usage of peer-driven media in the digital age.
To meet these evolving challenges, Klein et al. (2020) recommend further research into online
media channels at the level of the individual customer journey, particularly in the service
sector.
Thus, the objective of this paper is to respond to this recommendation, by focusing on the
customer expectations part of the customer journey, in the food delivery sector.
1.3. Purpose and research questions
1.3.1. Purpose
The aim of this research is to provide a new conceptual framework of the gap between customer
expectations on the online customer experience, and the customer experience that brands
actually provide through digital channels in the service sector.
The purpose of this research is to analyse the customer experience in online service settings
through digital channels, in order to determine if a customer expectations gap exists. As the
service sector is very broad, the authors chose to orientate this research in focusing on the food
delivery sector, especially in the French service market. The relevance of the population and
geographical location selections will be discussed consequently in paragraph 3.5.
4This research recalls both sides of the customer experience process: the service provider and
the service experiencer. From the customer perspective, the study focuses on the customer
expectations in online food delivery experience. Also, it entails the company perspective
because the authors aim to analyse various components implemented by the service provider
regarding their customer-focus online service management. Therefore, both customer and
company perspectives are part of this research and are used in order to develop a new
conceptual framework highlighting a customer expectations gap in online service settings.
1.3.2. Research questions
Based on the aim for determining if a customer expectations gap exists in the food delivery
sector, the authors have formulated the three following research questions that are structuring
this paper:
RQ1: What do customers expect from an online food access experience?
RQ2: What are the factors of the online service process that lead to a customer expectations
gap?
RQ3: How can companies improve their customer experience management to reduce the
customer expectations gap?
1.4. Methodology
The methodology in this paper follows the concept of a qualitative exploratory approach, with
the purpose of answering the three research questions established previously. The authors chose
to conduct semi-structured interviews; relevancy of this method linked with the choice of
research design and purpose; inductivism (Bryman & Bell, 2011). The use of purposive
sampling strategy is justified by the need of highlighting a customer experience gap, therefore
the need of understanding both perspectives, from the company side as well as the customers
side.
1.5. Limitations and delimitations
Based on reflections about the study, there are some limitations and delimitations that the
authors would like to highlight to show transparency.
51.5.1. Limitations
Firstly, this research was limited by time, as undertaking qualitative research (collecting,
coding and analysing data) is time-consuming (Saunders et al., 2016). Indeed, the short
timeframe delimited to collect and analyse data was the main constraint the authors faced while
conducting this research. Therefore, to ensure reliability and quality, the authors aimed to
provide a consequent literature review and a significant data collection. Thus, the authors chose
quality over quantity regarding the data collected, in order to enable a deep, rigorous and
relevant data analysis and interpretation.
1.5.2. Delimitations
Secondly, this research does not intend to cover the different aspects that influence customer
expectations, such as emotions or behavioural characteristics. In fact, many research have
already been conducted regarding the factors that influence the customer journey, especially
about the role of emotions during the customer journey (Holbrook & Hirschman, 1982; Kawaf
& Tagg, 2017; Palmer, 2010; Thompson et al., 1989). It has been demonstrated that personal
history, emotions, social and economic contexts, feelings, and many other elements have an
impact on how and why a customer decides to purchase or not a product or a service (Palmer,
2010). This research is not focusing on these aspects of the customer expectations gap, as it is
very likely that these expectations are built upon the same factors influencing the customer
journey (as the construction of customer expectations is part of the customer journey) (Lemon
& Verhoef, 2016).
The authors also decided that this research will not aim to compare the difference between
online and offline customer experience in the food service sector. It seems very tempting to
compare the activity of online and offline sectors, as these areas are different, and many offline
businesses have transformed their business model to propose an online activity in the past
years. However, the researchers decided not to compare online and offline activities as it is a
different direction on the subject, and a complete research could be conducted on the evolution
of the customer experience because of the digitalisation of activities.
Finally, this research does not intend to generalise consumer desires for online customer
experiences but will only focus on the expectations of a specific sample regarding the food-
related services available online. In fact, as detailed in the first paragraph regarding the
limitations of this research, the time was limited to collect data. The researchers decided to
focus on a specific sample and on a specific sector. These aspects mean that we cannot analyse
6all sectors the same way based on a generalisation of the results of this research. Previous
research also showed that consumer desires are very personal even if common points and
factors can be found (Lemon & Verhoef, 2016). However, this paper does not invite
generalising consumer desires for all the different online customer experiences that exist.
1.6. Contribution
1.6.1. Theoretical contribution
This paper aims to contribute to filling a lack of research that exists on the online customer
experience in the service sector (Klein et al., 2020). Moreover, many authors have recently
called for research on the enhancement of service experiences (Gustafsson et al., 2015; Ostrom
et al., 2015). Indeed, no existing research is focusing on the online food access service,
especially on the food delivery sector in the French market. Therefore, a new perspective will
be added to the already established one, in order to contribute enriching the business
community research content.
1.6.2. Company-focus contribution
Moreover, the authors will aim to provide recommendations to firms inside the food delivery
industry in France, with the purpose of improving their customer experience service
management. In fact, the literature review, combined with the data collection and analysis, aims
to help design recommendations and improvements regarding companies’ online customer
experience management.
1.7. Key words
Customer Experience: A diversity of definitions exists to characterise the customer
experience. De Keyser et al. (2015) state that “The customer experience is comprised of the
cognitive, emotional, physical, sensorial, and social elements that mark the customer’s direct
or indirect interaction with a (set of) market actor(s)”. The Cambridge Dictionary defines the
customer experience as “the way someone feels at all stages of doing business with a company
or organisation”.
7Online Customer Experience: Online customer experience is defined as “The degree of ease
with which customers can conduct their search, content, engagement, or purchase on websites
and e-commerce platforms” (Doyle, 2016).
Customer Expectations: Customer expectations can be defined as “pretrial beliefs about a
product or service” (Olson & Dover, 1979) that “serve a standard or reference points against
which a product or service performance is judged” (Zeithaml et al., 1993).
82. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Collis & Hussey (2014) state that “A literature review is a critical evaluation of the existing
body of knowledge on a topic, which guides the research and demonstrates that the relevant
literature has been located and analysed.” The purpose of a literature review is to reflect the
main findings of the field, how they are related or dissimilar to each other, and highlight the
main methodological and informational problems of the research. Therefore, the authors have
carried a systematic style for reviewing the relevant literature already existing regarding the
topic studied.
2.1. Literature review method
To construct the literature review, the authors based the research on Primo Library and Google
Scholar browsers, as they represent two of the most relevant and deep search engines with
numerous academic references available. Then, for narrowing down the articles, books and
journals selection, filters such as “Peer-reviewed journals”, “Articles”, “Course Books” were
used, as well as including criteria and excluding criteria.
Moreover, authors used eleven main key words: customer journey, customer experience,
customer experience management, customer satisfaction, customer expectations, customer
expectations gap, service design, service management, service quality, service quality
management, digital media. These keywords have been chosen by the authors according to the
suitability and relevance to the research topic. These keywords represent the main subjects that
require a deep understanding in order to have a good overview of what has already been
conducted and researched inside the research area.
Based on the structure of a model presented by Whiteman et al. (2013) showing an overview
of the studies that have already been conducted regarding their subject research, the authors
have summarised the literature review in Table 1. The researchers have redesigned the original
table template from Whiteman et al. (2013) to fit the subject, dividing it into different categories
for analysing and highlighting the main concepts of the articles studied in this section. The
reviewed articles are structured around six key categories: Customer Journey, Customer
Experience, Service Design, Service Quality, Service Quality Perception and Customer
9Expectations. These categories were chosen because they best correspond to the aspects of the
research topic and allow the authors to classify the articles in the literature review.
Moreover, this table template, implemented by the Whiteman et al. (2013), is integrated
because the researchers found it a useful tool to facilitate the paper's reading and understanding.
The table has different columns to sort and organise the reviewed articles according to their
sources and key words used, their main topics and themes, and their contribution to the
literature review. The articles are divided into six different categories.
Table 1: Overview of studies on Customer Experience, Customer Expectations, Customer
Expectations Gap, Service Design and Perception of Service Quality.
Source: Adapted from Whiteman et al., 2013, p. 318.
1011
12
2.2. The customer journey
2.2.1. The customer journey: an introduction
The concept of “Customer Journey” has inspired many researchers (Halvorsrud et al., 2016;
Holmild & Evenson, 2008; Lemon & Verhoef, 2016), with the aim of following a customer
during a service delivery process (Holmild & Evenson, 2008). Despite the multi-faceted nature
of service schemes, the customer journey approach has come to represent a complementary,
customer-centred perspective on service delivery (Halvorsrud et al., 2016).
Customer journeys, and customer journey maps, are visual representations of events or touch
points described chronologically, often with emotional indicators. Customer journey maps are
one of the most widely used visualisation techniques in service design (Halvorsrud et al., 2016;
Segelström, 2013). A traditional representation of a customer journey includes five steps: need
recognition, information search, alternative evaluation, purchase evaluation, post-purchase
evaluation (Patti et al., 2020). However, perspectives based on the rise of value co-creation and
new mobile technologies (Faulds et al., 2018), suggest that the customer decision process is
becoming more holistic and interactive and can be represented by three stages: pre-purchase,
purchase and post-purchase (Bueno et al., 2019; Tynan & McKechnie, 2009).
Figure 1: Process Model for Customer Journey and Experience
Source: Lemon & Verhoef, 2016, p.77.
13The authors of this research consider the process model developed by Lemon & Verhoef
(2016), mapping the customer experience throughout the customer journey as an interesting
and relevant starting point to introduce this literature review, as it explains in a visual way one
of the most important dimensions of this research: the customer experience. In fact, it is
necessary to consider the customer journey as a whole to understand the customer experience
(Lemon & Verhoef, 2016).
Indeed, the customer experience has a complete and major place during the consumer journey
(Lemon & Verhoef, 2016). Lemon & Verhoef (2016) state that understanding the customer
experience and the customer journey over time is critical for firms, especially with the
evolution of how consumers interact with firms through myriads of touch points on multiple
channels and media. Due to touch points’ significant role to create high-quality customer
experience (McLean & Wilson, 2016), specifically in the service industry (Meyer & Schwager,
2007; Teixeira et al., 2012), companies have to carefully develop and map their customer
experience using and managing the critical touch points (Duncan & Hollenberg, 2019) to
overcome this challenge. The expansion of potential customer touch points and reduced control
over the experience require companies to integrate multiple new business functions, including
information technology (IT), service operations, logistics, marketing, human resources and
even external partners, to create and deliver positive customer experiences (Dhanapal et al.,
2015; Lemon & Verhoef, 2016). The evolution of these touch points leads to more complex
customer journeys, which invites a better understanding of this subject (Lemon & Verhoef,
2016).
2.2.2. The e-customer journey
Moreover, considering that this research focuses on the online services, and therefore on the
online customer experience, the authors found relevant to deepen the existing knowledge on
the e-customer journey.
As customer journeys in service settings became more complex with the digitalisation of
activities, researchers studied the evolution of these customer journeys and especially
Vakulenko et al. (2019) researched the service innovation in e-commerce and mapped the e-
customer journey in services (Figure 2).
14Figure 2: E-customer journey map
Source: Vakulenko et al., 2019, p. 466.
Note: Dashed lines and italic text represent optional customer choices and practices
In fact, the digitalisation has increased the types of touch points that occur during the customer
journey, by moving it from four types: brand-owned, partner-owned, customer-owned, and
social/external (Lemon & Verhoef, 2016); to more complex ones involving new actors such as
retailers and logistics service providers. This invites companies to take control of the service
delivery network for better management of the e-customer journey (Lemon & Verhoef, 2016;
Vakulenko et al., 2019). The understanding of this aspect is critical to highlight the challenge
that firms face regarding customer journey management, and in the end regarding the customer
experience that they can offer on the market.
2.3. The customer experience
2.3.1. The customer experience: an introduction
Abbott (1955) states that “what people really desire are not products but satisfying
experiences''. Over the years, many researchers have developed their own definition of
customer experience, and have integrated factors influencing it, such as emotions which have
been the subject of many research (Hirschman & Holbrook, 1982; Holbrook & Hirschman,
1982; Palmer, 2010). This dimension was followed by Pine & Gilmour (1999) who described
15a successful experience as those that “a customer finds unique, memorable and sustainable over
time”. Schmitt (1999) defined five types of customer experiences: sensory (sense), affective
(feel), cognitive (think), physical (act), and social-identity (relate) experiences. With the
identifications, Schmitt (1999) states a multi-dimensional view which encompasses a
multiplicity of factors and aspects of the customer experience and shows that each customer
experience is unique. De Keyser et al. (2015) support this multi-dimensional perception and
define the customer experience as “multidimensional by nature, including both cognitive and
emotional aspects that mark the customer-firm interaction”. Many research have been
conducted to show the place and impacts of feelings on the customer experience (Alnawas &
Hemsley-Brown, 2018; Lemon & Verhoef, 2016; Palmer, 2010). Lemon & Verhoef (2016),
from a theoretical perspective, stand that the customer experience is built upon five types of
responses: cognitive, emotional, behavioural, sensorial and social responses. Together they
form a holistic understanding based on all the direct and indirect interactions with the firm.
2.3.2. The customer experience: a challenge
First of all, the definition of customer experience can be ambiguous for firms, and Palmer
(2010) explained: “The ambiguity for marketers is that on one hand, experience is a learned
outcome that is associated with predictable behaviours, whereas on the other it has come to be
associated with processes whose novelty may result in unpredictable response by consumers”.
This challenge to understand the customer experience while taking into account all the
behaviours and processes that happen during a customer experience explains why customer
management is perceived as one of the most important challenges that today’s firms face
(Lemon & Verhoef, 2016).
Moreover, Pine & Gilmour (1999) indicated that service providers have to provide customers
with appropriate service experiences in order to acquire high customer satisfaction in the era
of the experience economy (Bueno et al., 2019; Hsieh & Yuan, 2019)
Meanwhile, customer experiences have become a differentiating factor between brands, and
particularly a potential added value compared to competitors in the market (Teixeira et al.,
2012). Service firms are paying more and more attention to the quality of the customer
experiences they offer, as these have become real differentiators, and criteria for assessing the
quality of service perceived by customers (Bueno et al., 2019).
162.3.3. Customer experience management
Knowing that the customer experience includes every point of customer contact with products,
services, or businesses (Grewal et al., 2009), customer experience management represents a
business strategy designed to manage the customer experience (Grewal et al., 2009). The
design of the customer experience can be analysed from a firm side, as it is the one meeting
the customer during the customer experience. Firms understood the importance of designing
and managing the customer experience (Lemon & Verhoef, 2016). In fact, customer experience
management seems to be one of the main challenges of today’s companies’ activities (De
Keyser et al., 2015; Lemon & Verhoef, 2016; Palmer, 2010). Palmer (2010) considers customer
experience management as “an integrating framework that overcomes the theoretical and
practical limitations of customer relationship management”.
Related to paragraph 2.3.2., the customer experience management is therefore a challenge for
firms. Linked to the perception of the quality of the management of these customer experiences,
and the comparison of these experiences with those offered by competitors, firms are now
forced to offer properly managed experiences, so that the customer has quality final experience
(Hsieh & Yuan, 2019).
2.4. Customer Expectations and Service Quality
Many researchers have demonstrated the relationship between customer expectations and
perceived service quality (D’Ambra et al., 2018; O’Neil et al., 1998; Zeithaml et al., 1993).
Understanding what customer expectations are, the challenge they pose to firms and the place
they occupy in today's business management, as well as their relationship with perceived
service quality, is essential for a complete overview of the research topic.
2.4.1. Customer Expectations
Customer expectations can be defined as pretrial beliefs about a product or service (Olson &
Dover, 1979) that serve a standard or reference points against which a product or service
performance is judged (Zeithaml et al., 1993). Each consumer has more or less precise and
defined expectations when buying a product or experiencing a service. It has been shown that
these expectations impact on the level of customer satisfaction (Hsieh & Yuan, 2019; Zeithaml
et al., 1993). Thus, as companies want to satisfy consumers, understanding and managing their
expectations is one of the most critical points in managing their business.
17Moreover, Zeithaml et al. (1993) proposed a framework of service expectations and defined
customer expectations based on eleven antecedent factors that can affect the desired and
appropriate expectations of customers (Figure 6). Based on this framework, Hsieh & Yuan
(2019) developed an Expectations Model, defining how service providers can use expectation
drivers to influence customer expectations (Figure 3). Hsieh & Yuan (2019) made different
propositions (P1, P2 and P3) about areas that can be used as levers of action to influence
consumer expectations. It seems particularly relevant to consider this model in this study as it
shows the power of the firm on building and managing the customer expectations, and also as
it directly links the customer expectations with the customer emotions, the determinants of the
expectations, the zone of tolerance, and the final satisfactory service experience.
Figure 3: The expectations model
Source: Hsieh & Yuan, 2019, p.515.
2.4.2. Service Quality
Service quality has been studied by many researchers (D’Ambra et al., 2018; Grönroos, 1984;
O’Neil et al., 1998). Different models have been developed in order to measure the service
quality and to analyse the service delivery process and will be introduced in the following
paragraphs.
2.4.2.1. Service quality measurements
One of the pillars in modelling the perception of service quality is the model presented by
Parasuraman et al. (1988). The SERVQUAL Model identifies different aspects that
characterise the customer’s perceived quality about a service. These aspects are classified into
five categories: tangibles, responsiveness, empathy, assurance and reliability (D’Ambra et al.,
2019).
18Figure 4: SERVQUAL Model
Source: Ghotbabadi et al., 2015, p.276.
Therefore, the focus is switching from measuring service quality to linking customer
satisfaction as a critical aspect of customer experience (Maklan & Klaus, 2011).
2.4.2.2. Service delivery process analysis
Halvorsrud et al. (2016) state that “understanding the service delivery process from a
customer’s perspective is the key to the successful design and management of services”. Many
researchers have demonstrated how important this understanding is, especially as it is an
interdisciplinary approach to the design and management of services anchored in human-
centred and user-participatory methods (Halvorsrud et al., 2016; Polaine et al., 2013; Stickdorn
& Schneider, 2011). Shostack (1982) is considered as a pioneer in the service delivery analyse,
with her work on service blueprinting which helps to understand how the service delivery
process is understood and analysed in service design (Halvorsrud et al., 2016). Service
blueprinting is a method based on flowcharts that visually clarifies the steps involved in a
service delivery process (Halvorsrud et al., 2016). In a blueprint, the process steps being
encountered by the purchaser are visually separated from the backstage process steps, of which
the customer can be unaware, but which can be critical for service delivery (Halvorsrud et al.,
2016).
2.4.2.3. Service quality gap model
According to the Gaps Model of Service Quality (Figure 5) (Parasuraman et al., 1993), five
gaps can appear in a service delivery process.
• Gap 1: Difference between consumers expectations and management perceptions of
consumers expectations.
19• Gap 2: Difference between management perceptions of consumers expectations and
service quality specifications.
• Gap 3: Difference between service quality specifications and the service actually
delivered.
• Gap 4: Difference between service delivery and what is communicated about the
service to customers.
• Gap 5: Difference between consumers expectations and perceptions of the service
delivery. This gap depends on four gaps associated with service quality delivered on
the marketer side (Ghotbabadi et al., 2015)
Figure 5: Conceptual model of service quality
Source: Zeithaml et al., 1988, p.36.
202.4.3. Customer Expectations Gap model
Customers' assessment of service quality is based on a comparison between their expectations
and the actual performance delivered. In fact, service quality was originally conceptualised as
“a gap between expectations and customers’ overall assessment of the service encounter”
(Parasuraman et al., 1988). If there is a gap between these expectations and the perceived
service, it is referred to as a “Customer Expectations Gap”.
The importance of expectations and customer satisfaction has been studied (Grönroos, 1984;
Oliver, 1981), and the role of expectations in service evaluation has been proved (Zeithaml et
al., 1993). The Customer Expectations Gap corresponds to Gap 5 in Figure 5. This gap occurs
between the “Expected Service” and the “Perceived Service”. The perceived service depends
on the four gaps that occur on the marketer side regarding different aspects, namely: the
management perceptions of consumer expectations, the translation of perceptions into service
quality specs, the service delivery and the external communications to consumers. Parasuraman
et al., (1993) provided a model focusing specifically on this gap and on the different
determinants impacting the expected service (Figure 6), more detailed than the components
shown in their model developed in 1988 (Zeithaml et al., 1988).
21Figure 6: Nature and determinants of customer expectation of service
Source: Parasuraman et al., 1993, p.5.
Through this model, Parasuraman et al. (1993) describe the expected service from a customer
perspective. This model can be divided into four main sections: (1) the expected service
components, (2) the desired service history, (3) the adequate service history, and (4) the
expected and desired service history. The model proposes three levels of expectations against
which service quality is assessed: the desired level of service, reflecting what the customer
wants; the adequate service level, defined as the standard that customers are willing to accept;
and the expected service level ‐ which they believe is most likely to actually occur (O’Neil et
al., 1998).
223. METHODOLOGY AND METHOD
In this chapter, with the aim of fulfilling the research purpose, the methodology and the method
are introduced. The authors will detail the process of gathering data, develop the chosen data
analysis approach as well as the sample selection. Lastly, trustworthiness and ethical
considerations will be discussed.
3.1. Research philosophy
3.1.1. What is research philosophy?
Research philosophy refers to the reflexive process of developing new knowledge by shaping
a set of assumptions with the aim of fulfilling a research question (Saunders et al., 2016;
Saunders & Lewis, 2012).
The five research philosophies established by Saunders et al. (2016) are positivism, critical
realism, interpretivism, postmodernism and pragmatism (Bryman & Bell, 2011; Merriam,
2002). Firstly, positivism is related to the philosophical position of the natural scientist, which
means working with an observable social reality, studying observable and measurable
variables. Indeed, “At root of the positivism research philosophy is the law of cause and effect”
(Saunders & Lewis, 2012). Secondly, critical realism focuses and relies on explaining and
exploring historical analysis of the evolution of societal and organisational structures
(Saunders et al., 2016). Thirdly, interpretivism is a subjective philosophy that provides a better
understanding of organisational realities (Saunders et al., 2016) and which the core is to
priorities understanding over scientific explanation (Daymon & Holloway, 2011). Fourthly,
postmodernism philosophy challenges accepted ways of thinking and aims to give voice to
alternatives that have been silenced by dominant perspectives (Saunders et al., 2016). Fifthly,
pragmatism strives to combine both objectivism and interpretivism research philosophies (facts
and values) (Saunders et al., 2016).
3.1.2. Research philosophy justification
Thus, after a deeper understanding of what research philosophy is, the authors chose to rely on
the interpretivism philosophy style to guide this paper writing. Indeed, interpretivism seems
for the researchers to be the most suitable among the five philosophies. This research
philosophy fits the more accurately the purpose of this research, which aims to identify a
23customer expectations gap in the online food delivery sector, as the interpretivism approach
encompasses the analysis and interpretation of both study participants and authors themselves
(Saunders et al., 2016). This dimension, added to the goal of undercovering a better
understanding of the subject studied in this paper because of its lack of existing knowledge and
research (Klein et al., 2020), are driving the authors’ choice to rely on interpretivism research
philosophy.
3.2. Research approach
3.2.1. What is research approach?
According to Saunders et al. 2009, three research approaches are established: inductive
approach, deductive approach and the combination of both inductive and deductive; abductive
approach. The purpose of the deductive research approach is to review literature about the
studied topic, for developing a conceptual framework and testing it by using data. The goal is
therefore to design a research strategy to test a theory (Saunders et al., 2016). On the contrary,
the inductive research approach aims to explore data in order to develop theories from them,
that the authors will relate to the literature in subsequent discussion. Thus, the objective is to
collect data to generate a theory (Saunders et al., 2016; Saunders & Lewis, 2012; Merriam,
2002). Finally, the mix of deductive and inductive is called abductive research approach
(Saunders et al., 2016). This approach collects data to explore a phenomenon, identify themes
and explain patterns, with the goal to generate a new or modified an existing theory, which the
authors test through the data collection process (moving back and forth from deductive to
inductive research approaches) (Saunders et al., 2016).
3.2.2. Research approach justification
In relation to the interpretivism research philosophy selected, the authors use the inductive
research approach, by exploring the data collected. Indeed, one of the strengths of conducting
inductive research relies on its flexibility as researchers build theories based on observations
(Crowther & Lancaster, 2009; Saunders & Lewis, 2012). Moreover, according to Crowther &
Lancaster (2009), [inductive] is particularly suited to study human behaviours. Therefore, as
the authors focus on developing a new theory to help bridging the customer expectations gap
in the online food delivery sector by analysing the collected data, and as it seems to have a lack
of theory (Klein et al., 2020) regarding this paper’s subject, choosing an inductive research
approach seemed to be relevant to fulfil the paper’s purpose.
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