Service Quality vs. Customer Experience: What drives cultural heritage success?

By J. N. Halm

With its forts and castles lined along the coast from the tip of the Western Region, all the way to the Volta Region, Ghana is blessed to still have many reminders of its rich cultural heritage. This heritage is, however, not restricted to the coast.

As one goes inland, one comes across the remaining Asante Traditional Buildings in and around Kumasi, in the Ashanti Region. Up north, one can talk of the Tenzug-Tallensi settlements in the Tong Hills. The Gold Coast of old is truly blessed.

But it is not enough for the people of this beautiful West African country to boast of all these sites it has. These sites must be seen for what they really are—money-making business opportunities.

As businesses, the various cultural heritage sites in the country must be run with all the professionalism needed so that they generate the necessary profit for the nation. From that perspective, Ghana must be seen as a business and run as such.

However, we know that the success of every business rests on its employees. The importance of human resources to the fortunes of an organisation cannot be overemphasised.

Getting the right people can provide an organisation with a competitive advantage that could be the difference between leading the market and struggling to survive. So if we are to run our heritage sites like a business, we need to have the right people.

One way the right people give a business a huge advantage in the market is in how they serve customers. Because no two people are ever alike, no two people will serve customers the same way.

This means the quality of the human resources manning the frontline of the business has a direct bearing on the quality of service rendered.

This truth becomes even more relevant when we consider the cultural heritage sector, where the debate between service quality and customer experience has significant implications for visitor satisfaction and loyalty.

The truth is that people are so unique in the way they act and respond to issues and events that it is almost impossible to replicate another human.

In other words, if a business has amazing employees in customer-facing roles, that would become an almost unbeatable advantage for that particular business. But in today’s experience economy, is excellent service enough, or has customer experience taken over as the key driver of success?

A recent study published in the September 2024 edition of Anatolia, the tourism and hospitality operations journal, has shed light on this question by examining the separate effects of service quality and customer experience on satisfaction, revisit intentions, and word-of-mouth communication in the cultural heritage sector.

The study was titled “Service Quality or Customer Experience: What Drives Cultural Heritage Satisfaction and Loyalty?” The findings challenge prevailing assumptions about what drives consumer behaviour in the experience economy.

The work of the front-line employee in cultural heritage sites is so versatile, so demanding, and so complex that it would take a very engaged individual to excel at the frontline. This demand has become even more pressing as competition increases among cultural heritage attractions.

To add to this, today’s cultural heritage visitors have also become a lot more demanding. Having the benefit of ready information at their fingertips, visitors of today know their options and would not hesitate to exercise those options if they feel they are not being treated well.

Interestingly, the aforementioned study revealed something quite unexpected. Contrary to the popular notion that we are now in an “experience economy” where experiences trump all else, the study found that service quality has a larger effect on outcomes than customer experience.

In other words, while visitor experiences are important, the quality of service provided still plays a more significant role in determining visitor satisfaction, their intention to revisit, and their willingness to recommend the site to others.

The researchers distinguished between two key concepts. Service Quality refers to the traditional aspects of service delivery, such as reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles.

These are the basic elements that visitors expect when interacting with cultural heritage sites. Customer Experience, on the other hand, encompasses the more subjective, emotional, and sensory aspects of the visit, including the feelings, sensations, and memories created during the interaction with the site.

There is one major difference between front-line employees in cultural heritage sites and those behind the scenes.

Those at the front are expected to manage their emotions, accurately read the emotions of visitors, and then choose the most constructive response in given conditions. This emotional labour becomes even more critical when we consider that service quality, rather than visitor experience, is the primary driver of satisfaction and loyalty.

These findings have significant implications for cultural heritage sites and other attractions in the experience economy.

First, they challenge the prevailing wisdom that organisations should focus primarily on creating memorable experiences at the expense of basic service quality. Instead, the study suggests that ensuring high-quality service should remain a priority, even as organisations strive to create engaging experiences.

Secondly, the findings highlight the importance of maintaining a balanced approach to visitor management.

While innovative experiences and interactive exhibits can enhance visitor engagement, they should not come at the cost of fundamental service quality elements like accessibility, cleanliness, and staff courtesy. A spectacular experience cannot compensate for poor service.

Another important implication concerns resource allocation. Cultural heritage sites often operate with limited budgets and must make strategic decisions about where to invest their resources.

A visit to any of the tourist attractions in the country will show you how under-resourced they are. The study suggests that investments in improving service quality might yield greater returns in terms of visitor satisfaction and loyalty than investments in creating elaborate experiences.

For cultural heritage sites, the findings present both challenges and opportunities. On one hand, they emphasise the need to maintain high standards of service quality, which requires ongoing training, monitoring, and improvement.

On the other hand, they provide a clearer direction for strategic planning and resource allocation, potentially leading to more efficient and effective operations.

One strategy for cultural heritage sites could be to adopt a more integrated approach to service and experience design, one that recognises the primacy of service quality while still acknowledging the value of creating meaningful experiences.

This could involve identifying the key service touchpoints that most significantly impact visitor satisfaction and ensuring excellence at these points, while also incorporating experience elements that complement and enhance the core service.

Another strategy could be to leverage technology to enhance both service quality and visitor experiences. Digital tools like mobile apps, virtual guides, and interactive displays can improve service accessibility and personalisation while also creating more engaging experiences.

However, the study suggests that such technological innovations should be implemented with a primary focus on enhancing service quality rather than merely creating novel experiences.

The study’s findings also raise questions about the broader concept of the experience economy.

If service quality remains the primary driver of consumer behaviour even in sectors traditionally associated with experiences, such as cultural heritage, does this challenge the fundamental premise of the experience economy? Or does it suggest a more nuanced understanding of how service and experience interact to create value for consumers?

One thing is certain: the debate between service quality and customer experience is not a zero-sum game. Both elements contribute to visitor satisfaction and loyalty, albeit to different degrees.

The challenge for cultural heritage sites is to find the right balance that aligns with their specific context, resources, and visitor expectations.

In an era where competition can arrive from anywhere in the world, it has become imperative for businesses to make the most of any little advantage they can get. Understanding the complex relationship between service quality, customer experience, and visitor outcomes provides cultural heritage sites with valuable insight that can inform their strategies in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

The conclusion of the study is clear: measuring service quality remains essential to explaining consumer behaviour in the experience economy.

For cultural heritage sites and other attractions, this means that while experiences matter, service excellence still lies at the heart of visitor satisfaction and loyalty.

This finding serves as a reminder that amidst all the innovations and trends in the experience economy, the fundamentals of good service should never be overlooked.

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