Importance-performance analysis

The “importance-performance analysis” technique is widely applied in general marketing and more recently in hospitality and tourism research. Using automobile dealer data, Martilla and James (1977) found customer satisfaction to be a function of both expectations related to salient attributes and judgments of the actual performance of such attributes. They argued that a partial approach that measures only the performance aspect leaves a problem in translating the results of research into marketing action. In response to that challenge, they devised a straightforward analysis solution, now known by its present name.

The importance-performance analysis matrix consists of four quadrants along two axes, one for measuring perceived importance of each attribute and the other for performance evaluation. The vertical (importance) and horizontal (performance) axes call for calculation of the mean value of all attributes. The cross-hair points can be based on either the data rating or scale mean...