scholarly journals Are all customers really the same? Comparing service quality and satisfaction between residential and business telecommunications customers

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Makanyeza ◽  
Darlington Mumiriki

Orientation: The study focused on the moderating role of the type of customer on the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction.Research purpose: The study sought to examine differences in the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction because of the type of customer.Motivation for the study: Previous studies have not examined the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction between residential and business customers.Research design, approach and method: The study used a cross-section of 203 customers (108 residential and 95 business) in the fixed-line telecommunications sector in Zimbabwe. Moderated regression analysis was performed to test the research hypotheses.Main findings: It was established that the customer category (residential versus business) does not moderate the effect of service quality on customer satisfaction. Practical/managerial implications are, generally, that it is not necessary to segment customers by customer category (residential versus business) when managing service quality to achieve customer satisfaction.Contribution/value add: The main theoretical contribution of the study is the comparison of the effect of service quality on customer satisfaction between residential and business customers.

Author(s):  
Seyedhossein Nikou ◽  
Mohsen Malekalketab Khiabani

The importance and prominent role of service quality in service industries are inevitable. Previous scholars have investigated relationships among service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty with fundamental theories in this research era, as proposed in marketing and psychological behavior.  Ergo, their consistencies have been supported by theoretical justification. This research paper aims to determine the effect of service quality on customer loyalty directly and through the mediating role of customer satisfaction and the moderating role of interpersonal relationships in the four-star hotels located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This research's developed model consists of four latent variables: service quality, customer satisfaction, interpersonal relationship, and customer loyalty. A quantitative approach through the distribution of 550 questionnaires with a response rate of 69.81 percent was taken. Collected data were processed via IBMSPSSAMOS software. Firstly, reliability and factor analysis in order to ensure normality of the collected data, adequacy of sample size were run. Secondly, utilizing structural equation modeling (SEM) via analysis of moment structure (AMOS) program. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with a two-step strategy was run to hypotheses testing. Thirdly, hierarchical regression analyses were conducted for testing the moderating role of interpersonal relationships. Findings supported the notion that service quality has a positive and direct impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Customer satisfaction mediates the relationship between service quality and customer loyalty. Finally, interpersonal relationship moderates the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction positively. Consequently, the interpersonal relationship moderates the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty positively. This research's originality and value are for academics, practitioners, and managers in service industries, especially hospitality industries and exclusively managers in the four-star hotels in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 425-445
Author(s):  
Elise Wong ◽  
S. Mostafa Rasoolimanesh ◽  
Saeed Pahlevan Sharif

Purpose This study aims to investigate the relationships between service quality, perceived value and hotel guest satisfaction, drawing upon data from TripAdvisor – an online travel agent (OTA) platform. The study also investigates the mediating role of perceived value on the relationship between service quality and satisfaction, as well as the moderating role of hotel star ratings on all direct and indirect relationships. Design/methodology/approach Data for this study were collected via Web scraping from August–October 2018. Data were collected from 192 three- to five star-rated hotels in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Partial least squares – structural equation modeling was used for data analysis. Furthermore, importance-performance map analysis (IPMA) was performed to identify the most important items of service quality and perceived value in improving customer satisfaction. Findings The findings of this study provide support for all direct and indirect relationships for three-star and four- and five-star hotels. Moreover, the results indicate that perceived value mediates the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction. These results support the moderating role of hotel star ratings for the relationship between service quality and perceived value. The results also show that after perceived value, three-star hotels looking to improve customer satisfaction should prioritize improving the quality of their services, sleep quality, cleanliness and rooms. Four- and five-star hotels, on the other hand, should prioritize service, cleanliness, room and sleep quality. Originality/value OTA platforms collect a wealth of data pertaining to large number of hotels; nevertheless, few studies to date have drawn on this data to examine a pre-determined conceptual framework developed based on the literature. As such, this study makes a valuable methodological contribution to the tourism and hospitality literature. In terms of theoretical contributions, this study examines the mediating role of perceived value between service quality and satisfaction using OTA data. In addition, this study assesses the moderating role of hotel star ratings for the direct and indirect effects of service quality on satisfaction. Using IPMA, this study compares the importance and performance of service quality indicators to generate satisfaction between three-star and four- and five-star hotels.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 292-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kostantinos Alexandris ◽  
Nicholas Theodorakis ◽  
Kiki Kaplanidou ◽  
Dimitra Papadimitriou

Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold: to investigate if the three service quality dimensions (service environment, interaction and outcome quality), proposed by Brady and Cronin (2001), influence the development of event loyalty, among runners of the “‘Alexander the Great’ International Marathon”, and to test if running loyalty moderates the relationship between event quality and event loyalty. Design/methodology/approach In all, 368 runners participated in the study and filled the Sport Event Quality Questionnaire (Theodorakis et al., 2015) and an adjusted version of the Leisure Involvement Questionnaire (Kyle et al., 2010). Findings The results indicated that only the service environment and outcome dimensions contributed significantly to the prediction of event loyalty, while, and in contrast to other sport services, interaction quality was not shown to be an important determinant for the development of event loyalty. Furthermore, running involvement was shown to play a moderating role in the relationship between event quality and event loyalty. Service quality is more important for the development of event loyalty among low- than high-involved runners. The theoretical and applied implications of these results are discussed. Research limitations/implications The study provided results on how high- and low-involved runners perceive event quality, and for which of these groups the event quality is an important antecedent for the development of event loyalty. Practical implications Investigating the moderating role of involvement on the relationship between service quality and loyalty has also applied value. While committed runners have been traditionally seen as a key target group for event marketing professionals, the majority of runners in city marathons today are more leisure oriented. The increase in the number of leisure runners is actually the reason for the rapid growth of city marathons in the last few years. Meeting the needs of these leisure runners and increasing their loyalty levels is therefore a key task for marathon marketers today. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature, as for the first time it explores the moderating role of involvement on the relationship between service quality and loyalty in the context of a sport event.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1691-1705 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abror Abror ◽  
Dina Patrisia ◽  
Yunita Engriani ◽  
Susi Evanita ◽  
Yasri Yasri ◽  
...  

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the influential factors of customer loyalty to Islamic banks, namely, service quality, customer satisfaction, customer engagement and religiosity. Design/methodology/approach This study is a survey of 335 Islamic bank customers in West Sumatra, Indonesia. This research deployed purposive sampling and analyzed the data by using covariance-based structural equation modeling. Findings Service quality has a positive and significant impact on customer satisfaction. Religiosity has a significant and negative moderating impact on the service quality–customer satisfaction relationship. Service quality has no significant influence on customer loyalty. Customer satisfaction is a significant antecedent of customer engagement and loyalty. Finally, customer engagement has a significant and positive effect on customer loyalty. Research limitations/implications This study is a combination of cross-sectional and a single-country case. Accordingly, the results may not be representative of other countries. Similar studies in longitudinal data collection are conducted in other countries (e.g. ASEAN countries), which would therefore be worthwhile. Some antecedents of customer loyalty have been neglected in this study (e.g. customer value co-creation and customer commitment); hence, the future study may investigate those factors. Practical implications By considering these Islamic banks’ antecedents, the Islamic banks might enhance their customer loyalty. Also, this study has revealed the moderating role of religiosity in a loyalty relationship. Therefore, it will give insights for the Islamic bank managers in decision-making. Originality/value This study has revealed the moderating role of religiosity on the link between service quality and customer satisfaction in Islamic banks, which is, to the authors’ knowledge, neglected in the previous studies. The customers with high religiosity will have a higher standard of satisfaction and demand a better service quality than the customers with low religiosity. This study has also examined the relationships between service quality, religiosity, customer satisfaction, customer engagement and loyalty as a whole, which have been limited previously.


2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zurayda Shaik ◽  
Johanna H. Buitendach

Orientation: The role of traits as a determinant of states has resulted in researchers closely examining their potential for enhancing work behaviour. This is achieved through the examination of the trait and state perspectives.Research purpose: This research sought to determine the relationship between work locus of control (WLOC) and psychological capital (PsyCap), with the objective of increasing alertness on the trait and state approach.Motivation for the study: The current study investigated the role of traits and states in contributing to the positive psychology arena within the recruitment industry.Research approach, design and method: This longitudinal research design involved 425 middle managers at Time 1 (T1), at both supervisory and specialist levels, and 190 middle managers at supervisory levels at Time 2 (T2). This longitudinal study used a biographical, WLOC and PsyCap questionnaires.Main findings: The findings indicated that WLOC has predictive value for PsyCap: a statistically significant and practical relationship was established between WLOC and PsyCap at T1 and T2. However, the multiple regression analysis results were not consistently demonstrated over time.Practical managerial implications: Understanding the role of personality traits and psychological states can provide managers with additional means of increasing employee efficiency through improving work processes such as recruitment and selection.Contributions/value-add: The recruitment and other industries are encouraged to utilise a strength-based approach to enhance work performance through selection processes that incorporate traits and states to further increase organisational competitiveness.


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