Abstract
<jats:p>This article proposes an expanded behavioral interpretation of the classical GAP model by incorporating cognitive and emotional mechanisms that shape customer expectations, information processing, and evaluations of service quality. The study demonstrates that service gaps arise not only from organizational or procedural inconsistencies but also from systematic psychological biases, such as framing effects, availability heuristics, cognitive load, contrast effects, and the peak end rule, which influence how customers perceive, interpret, and recall service interactions. The proposed BE GAP model integrates these behavioral triggers with core principles of service design, enabling a more comprehensive explanation of how deviations between expected, delivered, and perceived service emerge across different stages of the customer journey. Particular attention is paid to the interaction between behavioral mechanisms and managerial decisions, communication practices, and operational processes. The model highlights how customer journey mapping, prototyping, choice architecture, emotional curve design, and harmonized communication can serve as targeted interventions to reduce behavioral gaps and strengthen experiential coherence. The comparative scheme presented in the article illustrates how specific design tools mitigate each of the five service gaps by aligning expectations, standards, delivery sequences, and subjective evaluation patterns. The findings form a conceptual basis for a behaviorally informed approach to service quality management and show that the integration of behavioral insights with service design not only reduces the likelihood of service gaps but also enhances competitiveness by creating predictable, cognitively accessible, and emotionally consistent customer experiences. The study outlines further research directions related to the assessment of behavioral service gaps and the empirical testing of the BE GAP model in various service contexts.</jats:p>