DOCTORAL DISSERTATION SUMMARY: Service quality measurement in national parks in the Republic of Croatia: application of modified ECOSERV model

Sa？etak Purpose For many years, service quality has been a field of high interest in scientific and professional debates due to the significant benefits and competitive advantages that a high quality of service can bring to organisations in various economic sectors. In order to be able to properly analyse, evaluate and improve service quality, it is necessary to measure it appropriately, which includes taking into account the specific characteristics of the economic sector in which the analysis is conducted. Much of the scientific work in the field of service quality is based on the disconfirmation paradigm, suggesting that service quality can be operationalised as the gap between customers' expectations and perceptions. This theoretical framework is used in this thesis as well. An implication of this approach is that the user's perspective represents the core of the service quality assessment. Service quality is often conceptualised as multidimensional, but the dimensions of service quality are not the same in each environment. It is therefore important to determine the specific factors that define service quality in the area of interest. The main goal of this doctoral thesis is to analyse, understand and measure the determinants of service quality in ecotourism, a sector that has grown steadily in recent years at the global level. The richness and preservation of natural resources are a necessary but not sufficient condition for the development of diverse and high-quality ecotourism. This can be achieved by setting up or upgrading a service quality infrastructure that meets the expectations and needs of eco-tourists while at the same time contributing to the economic, ecological and social aspects of ecotourism. To do this, organisations providing ecotourism services need to understand which factors are important for determining service quality in ecotourism in order to be able to better assess the strengths and weaknesses of their offer. In addition to the analysis of service quality in ecotourism, this thesis investigates a secondary issue which is the impact of service quality on destination image and future behavioural intentions. Such relationships, although potentially important, represent an under-researched area in the context of ecotourism. Based on the limited existing research, it can be suggested that this analysis can contribute to a better understanding of the potential impacts of service quality in the area of ecotourism. Despite ecotourism being a growing segment of tourism as a whole, the number of papers which comprehensively deal