Background and Purpose of the Article

This article entitled " Managing Perceptions of waiting times in service queue" is written by
Peter Jones and Emma Peppiatt and It was published in International Journal of Service Industry
Management in the 1996.
The main purpose of this article is to evaluate the previous studies of waiting time and add to our
knowledge of customer's perception of waiting time. Another purpose of this article is to revise
Maister's proposition of psychology of waiting time.
Issues
1. Is there any significant difference between perception of waiting time and actual waiting
time?
2. Does the perception of waiting time and actual waiting time differs among sex, age, or
residency of the people at waiting line?
3. Does unoccupied time feels longer than occupied time?
4. Does solo waiting feels longer than group waiting?
5. Does new or infrequent user feel they wait longer than frequent users?
6. Does closing the gap between perceived and actual waiting time improves customer
satisfaction?
Basic argument(s) made by the author(s) indicating the need/rationale of the study
Methodology
Findings:
After going through the article we found that:

When extraneous variables were tested among the total sample, the mean average actual
time of 158 seconds and mean average perceived wait time of 221 seconds was found.
So, from this it can be understood that respondent overestimated waiting time by 40% or
63 seconds.

Range of estimates was taken from an underestimate of 175 seconds up to an

overestimate of 354 seconds. An ANNOVA test identified the difference between actual

and perceived time as statistically significant with probability of 0.023. Then on the basis
of gender, sub-group within sample were compared, from which it was found that the
mean difference between actual and perceived time for males was 59 seconds, which is
less than that with females i.e. 76 seconds.

Likewise, age group i.e. 20 or younger, 21-40, 41-60 and 61 or older was compared.
Among these age groups, 21-40 was found to have highly perceived difference between
actual and perceived difference of waiting time, which was 75.3 seconds. Then, it was
followed by age group of 41-60 (71.50 seconds), 20 or younger (64.4 seconds) and least
was of 61 or older which was 52.7 seconds.

Similarly, on the basis of residence perceived difference between actual and perceived
difference of waiting time was identified. Residents of country had a difference of 63
seconds which is less perceived than of non-residents of the country which was 74.2
seconds.

However, the difference in mean time of all these three factors (gender based, age group
and residence) was not found significant. Therefore, on basis of preliminary study
individual characteristic of people queuing were eliminated as possible extraneous
variables for 2nd and 3rd time.

Then total sample of 200 was taken, where the mean waiting time was 167 seconds and
mean perceived waiting time 228 seconds. Here, the respondent overestimated waiting
time by 61 seconds or 36%.

Range of estimates for 200 samples was taken from an underestimate of 100 seconds up
to an overestimate of 282 seconds. When independent variable occupied time as
opposed to unoccupied time was regarded for the control group (unoccupied) the
difference between actual and perceived waiting time was 71.8 seconds. Whereas, for
experimental group (occupied ones, who were exposed to T.V.) the difference was 48.1
seconds. One way analysis of variable was derived here with probability of 0.32, which
showed significant difference between two groups. Therefore, proposition i.e.
unoccupied time feels longer than occupied time was substantiated.

For independent variable of waiting alone versus waiting with others, among total
sample of 200, 81 queued alone and 119 queued with other. The mean difference for who
queued alone was 75.6 seconds which is more than who queued with other which was

49.3 seconds. Therefore, this substantiate proposition i.e. solo waiting feels longer than
group waiting.

Likewise, new or infrequent users feel they wait longer than frequent users was tested.
It was found that 132 frequent user has mean difference time of 27.8 seconds, 30
occasional user has mean difference time of 65 seconds and 38 infrequent user has mean
difference time of 167.4 seconds. Hence, we can say that infrequent user feels that they
waited more than others.

Main Idea:
The main idea that of this article is about how perception of customer regarding waiting
times in service queue can be managed. Here, customers attitude towards queue and queuing
is presented. Moreover, the article is trying to reflect upon how perceived and actual waiting
time affects the customer satisfaction.
In the article it is said that either a manager need to design operation in such a way that it
minimize actual waiting time. Else the manager need to change customer perception of time
they spent in line, as customer satisfaction is related to perception of service. Closing the gap
between actual and perceived waiting time may, or may not, lead to improved customer
satisfaction. Therefore, a manager needs to match perception of waiting line to expectation
for increasing customer satisfaction by including and manipulating control and independent
variables.
Moreover, the article has identified variables that effect perception of customers. It is
mentioned that unoccupied time while in queue, solo waiting in queue and infrequent
customer feel that they waited longer in a queue than occupied time while in queue, group
waiting in queue and frequent customers respectively.
Implications:
Managerial Implications

Managers can handle queue management system in a much efficient way with the
realization that gap between perceived waiting time and actual waiting time exists.
Enhancing the value of the service, making the operation faster, comfortable and
informed, can be some of the areas managers can work upon to reduce this gap.

In accord to the findings of this research, we came to know that the queuing perception of
first time users of service are more sensitive in comparison to the queueing perception of
frequent service users. Therefore to ensure greater satisfaction to the first time users, a
manager should make sure that such customers are handled well giving them particular
care.

With reference to the outcome of this analysis, managers can efficiently identify the most
important variables related to the management of waiting line which directly impacts on
the customers satisfaction. Consequently, they are able to pinpoint the essential as well
as the exogenous variables and save the cost of initiating an improvement.

Research Implications
This research can be taken as reference for carrying out study of a similar subject matter.
Moreover, the limitations presented in the article such as the research is conducted only in a
single small food outlet and need of more research to understand the inter-relationship of
queuing variables and hierarchical prioritization of queueing propositions can be revised in new
research so that finding can be more accurate.
Overall assessment of the article in terms of its significance/ relevance/ applicability
This article has rightly pointed out that a significant gap exists between the actual waiting time
and the perceived waiting time which may have major impact on customer satisfaction.
Moreover the detailed analysis on carrying out of queue management more effectively in relation
to matching more closely actual and perceived waiting lines, has been presented in this article.
The research has also broadly discussed about Maisters original eight propositions explaining
that waiting lines are modified by a range of factors. So the article holds significance for revising
established study of Maister and identifying major propositions for the management of queue.

Also, the research can be significant for other researchers who wants to carry out research in
similar subject matter.
However, the research was done in a single small food outlet so it might not be applicable or
relevant to all other service sectors. Also, the research was conducted in UK, and due to cultural
differences among UK and other countries it might not be applicable and relevant in other
countries. The research would have been more significant and representative if large sample size
was taken and participants were from different types of organization and countries. But then as a
reference one can surely have a look at the findings of the research as management of queue is
one of the challenging problem in most of the service sectors.