Quality perceptions of three major softwood lumber consumers: wood treaters, truss
manufacturers, and home centers were investigated to determine their definition of softwood lumber
quality. Data was gathered through a mail survey of buyers in each of the three groups. In total, 867
responses were received.
Respondents rated the importance of product and service characteristics to quality. These
characteristics were based on dimensions of product quality developed by Garvin (1984) and
dimensions of service quality developed by Parasuraman et aI. (1988). A total of 80 product and
service quality characteristics were assembled to represent, or measure, twelve dimensions of total
product quality.
Analysis indicated that the twelve dimension model, derived from previous work, was not
applicable to softwood dimension lumber. Thus, exploratory factor analysis was used to assess the
underlying dimensions of quality and a five dimension model resulted. The dimensions, ranked in
order of importance, were: Lumber Characteristics, Supplier/Salesperson Characteristics,
Lumber Performance, Supplier Services, and Supplier Facilities. These findings share few
similarities with past research. In fact, they suggest that the concept of quality as a higher order
abstract (i.e., dimensions of quality are similar regardless of product) may be flawed.
Respondent groups differed in the importance they placed on three of the five dimensions.
No difference in importance levels were found for Supplier/Salesperson Characteristics and Lumber Characteristics. However, truss manufacturers perceived Lumber Performance to be
more important than treaters or home centers and Supplier Services was perceived to be more
important by home centers than the other two groups. Finally, Supplier Facilities was perceived to
be most important by treaters.
Data gathered in a follow-up questionnaire indicated that the model developed in this study
was understood by buyers of softwood lumber and that they buy from suppliers who perform well on
dimensions of qUality. Buyers also indicated that they pay more for better quality lumber and better
service. This evidence indicates that suppliers of softwood dimension lumber can differentiate
themselves based on quality and in tum command a higher price. Given these fmdings, strategies for
utilizing quality, and the model developed in this study, to gain competitive advantage are discussed.
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