The core business of companies is in the focus of most managerial discussions and academic research projects. Too often, it is forgotten that the core business processes cannot perform effectively and efficiently if the context conditions or supporting processes are not up to standard. One key supporting process is the facility management, the management and maintenance of all of the tangible assts of a company. Within the facility management, commercial cleaning services play a crucial role.
Against this backdrop, this research gives a comprehensive overview of the expectations customers have on commercial cleaning services providers, how well these expectations are fulfilled and which options commercial cleaning services providers have to improve their performance.
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Abstract
This paper aims to shed light on the customer expectations toward commercial cleaning services providers and their fulfilment so that options for improving such services can be deduced. To this end, we develop a comprehensive and three-tiered assessment model of commercial cleaning services and apply it in an empirical study with 304 participants from organisations, using external cleaning services. The methodological basis of our research is the Means-End Theory of Complex Cognitive Structures. Amongst other results, we could show that commercial cleaning services providers should use the current pricing strategy as a strength and can build on this, whilst they are advised to improve the quality of their service offerings with a high priority. With a lower priority, commercial cleaning services providers should improve the competencies of their staff, the direct customer interaction and the communication of their services. This indicates that commercial cleaning services providers should firstly focus on the results of their services and, then, develop their service processes and communication on this basis.