Research groups

This research group aims to measure service quality, brand equity and reputation of water utilities according to the perceptions of different stakeholders (e.g. citizens, firms, public administrations). At present, the Italian water services market is not liberalized and customers cannot choose their service provider. Nevertheless, from a service improvement and benchmarking perspective, it is still fundamental to measure perceived service quality beyond purely technical aspects. In addition, the utility’s awareness about its own brand equity - which includes dimensions such as brand identity, brand awareness and brand image - and reputation can help the water utility to implement strategic and operational activities more effectively. Starting from the experience with the water utility of the Province of Verona, Acque Veronesi, this research can be replicated and extended to other Italian water utilities and adapted to explore service quality, brand equity and reputation of other types of public utilities in liberalized markets (e.g. electricity and gas). The research applies both qualitative and quantitative approaches to data collection and data analysis.