The Service Industries Journal Vol. 33, No. 2, February 2013, 200-217 Routledge I< ~~or.~rancis'roup Perceived quality versus quality of processes: a meta concept of service quality measurement Wieslaw Urban* Management Department, Bialystok University of Technology, Bialystok, Poland (Received 5 November 2010; jinal version received 20 July 201 1) Service quality measurement methods are mostly focused on customer perception. There is a lack of method, combining organisational quality with perceived customer quality. This study proposes a measurement concept focusing equally on both of the above-mentioned factors. For validating this approach, experimental measurements were conducted in five service companies. The gathered feedback allowed the acceptance of the proposed concept. This is not a strictly defined method, but a measurement scheme which is supplemented by a set of known measurement techniques. The proposal constitutes extending the integrated measurement of service quality, which facilitates a deeper understanding of relationships between processes and customer perceptions. Keywords: service quality; customer perception; process improvement Introduction Aiming at excellence, managers permanently look for more effective management tools, techniques and approaches - all of these in order to develop their organisations, and to achieve a better position in their sector, as well as to gain better business results. For a long time, quality management has provided a valuable contribution in this field, propos- ing management ideas, concepts, tools and techniques. Most of them emerged and were improved in the manufacturing environment, but they are applicable in all kinds of organ- isations, including services, public administration and NGOs. However, the service- oriented point of view has recently been very fruitful as a field of new management ideas and concepts. Despite the fact that service quality measurement has been an object of interest for quite a long time, consultants and researchers still propose new methods and test existing ones. Considering quality evaluation, services are very challenging just by the simul- taneous interactions between customers and the service provider. On one hand, there is a customer with hislher needs, value systems and subjective perceptions, and on the other hand, an organisational system with staff, staff motivation, organisational culture, routines and a quality control system. It is intriguing to know more about how an organ- isational system affects customer quality perception. Assuming that we still need new, more effective methods for measuring service quality, this study presents the concept of the P/P Quality Map (PIP QM), which is based on previous experience, tries to combine two fundamental perspectives of service encounter: customer quality perceptions and organisational processes. The objectives of *Email: w.urban@pb.edu.pl ISSN 0264-2069 print/ISSN 1743-9507 online