The application of fuzzy set concept to assess service quality in tourist hotel settings

Abstract

The Likert-type scale is commonly used in the hotel industry to measure service quality. This type of scale adopts classical sets concept defined by means of crisp boundaries, which does not allow for ambiguity in mathematical operations. In order to cope with the vague and subjective nature of linguistic measures, this study applied the fuzzy set concept. A translational model with 11 linguistic values and the equilateral triangular model were utilised to reduce the converting bias of service quality measures. While generating the overall rating of service quality in a hotel context, a weighted fuzzy membership function was considered to reduce the bias from midpoint misrepresentation and the bias from being unable to differentiate the dimensions based on importance to the respondent. This study contributes to the literature by using the fuzzy method to precisely represent the perceived service quality of hotel guests.