Evaluating service quality and customer satisfaction evaluation in an emerging markets

Developing economies offer tremendous potential for future growth and organizations appreciating these consumers’ requirements stand to reap considerable returns. However, compared with more developed economies published consumer studies are few. In particular, there is a dearth of service quality research and hardly any from Africa. Furthermore, the little available research tends to apply Western methodologies, which may not be entirely appropriate. This research investigates East African consumer perceptions of retail banking using an approach that takes account of the research context. Qualitative research was undertaken to define the relevant service attributes. Performance along these was then investigated through a survey with over 2000 respondents. Principal component analysis identifies 13 core service dimensions and multinomial logistic regression reveals which are the key drivers of customer satisfaction. Comparison of the results with studies from other regions confirms that established standardized research instruments are likely to miss or under-represent service attributes important in developing countries.

How employer and employee satisfaction affect customer satisfaction:an application to franchise services

In small-service settings, how do owner satisfaction, front-line employee satisfaction, and customer satisfaction relate to one another? The authors use generalized exchange theory (GET) to examine how satisfaction levels of these three constituents are reciprocated. The authors examine a European franchise system comprising 50 outlets, 933 employees, and 20,742 customers. Their results show two important findings. First, the effect of owner-franchisee's satisfaction on customer satisfaction is fully mediated by front-line employee satisfaction. Thus, managers of a service outlet can strongly impact the satisfaction and behavioral intentions of their customer base, even without direct contact with them. Second, the link between customer satisfaction and purchase intention is moderated by employee satisfaction at an outlet. The link between customer satisfaction and customer purchase intentions is almost twice as strong when employees are satisfied than when they are not. Thus, there is a "doublepositive effect:" not only does higher employee satisfaction at an outlet directly lead to higher customer satisfaction but it also indirectly strengthens the association between customer satisfaction and their repurchase intentions.

Dimensions of satisfaction in retail settings:a research note

Taking issue with the prevalent practice of measuring customer satisfaction with a single global measurement item, this article stresses the importance of measuring customer satisfaction through its underlying dimensions, especially in retail settings. Empirical results of a survey of 351 consumers demonstrate that (a) consumer satisfaction with retail stores has 6 key dimensions, (b) the suggested dimensions of retail satisfaction predict overall satisfaction, and (c) the dimensions of retail satisfaction have a greater effect on overall satisfaction than SERVQUAL dimensions. However, the predictive power of the dimensions of retail satisfaction is still fairly low. Implications for retail management as well as academic research are outlined.

The relationship between transformational leadership and customer-orientated boundary-spanning behaviours:examining the role of compassion

Customer-oriented boundary-spanning behaviours (COBSBs) are critical to the success of service organisations. Transformational leadership, with its emphasis on the social elements of the leader-subordinate dyad, is a likely antecedent to COBSBs. Similarly, the interpersonal nature of services suggests leader compassion could have a significant effect on the saliency of the relationship between transformational leadership and COBSBs. This paper reports on a study of the moderating effect of leader compassion on the relationship between transformational leadership and COBSBs (service delivery behaviours, internal influence and external representation). Transformational leadership and compassion both have significant and positive influences on COBSBs. However, compassion plays no moderating role. These findings are discussed and avenues for further research are proposed.

Understanding relationship marketing from the customer's perspective

DUE TO COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS ONLY AVAILABLE FOR CONSULTATION AT ASTON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SERVICES WITH PRIOR ARRANGEMENT

Does the importance of value, brand and relationship equity for customer loyalty differ between Eastern and Western cultures?

The use of the customer equity framework as a focal marketing strategy to increase customer loyalty has emerged as an important topic. Despite a growing number of investigations, previous studies are limited by their strong U.S. and European orientations. Research into Western consumers cannot necessarily predict the behaviour of Eastern consumers though. Therefore, this study investigates whether the link between customer equity drivers (value equity, brand equity and relationship equity) and loyalty intentions is sensitive to the cultural environment. A sample of 1553 Chinese and 1085 Dutch consumers in the banking and supermarket industries reveals that all three customer equity drivers exert a greater impact in Western than in Eastern cultures. This study also shows that Eastern consumers in general have higher loyalty intentions than Western consumers. © 2013.

Satisfaction as a predictor of future performance:a replication

Since the introduction of the Net Promoter concept there has been a vivid and ongoing debate among academics and practitioners about the performance of the Net Promoter Score (NPS) in comparison to other customer metrics, such as customer satisfaction, to predict company growth rates. We report results from a study using data from customers and firms in the Netherlands on the relationship between different satisfaction and loyalty metrics as well as the NPS with sales revenue growth, gross margins and net operating cash flows. We find that all metrics perform equally well in predicting current gross margins and current sales revenue growth and equally poor for predicting future sales growth and gross margins as well as current and future net cash flows. The NPS is neither superior nor inferior to other metrics. Taken together, our study suggests that the predictive capability of customer metrics, such as NPS, for future company growth rates is limited. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

New insights in the moderating effect of switching costs on the satisfaction-repurchase behavior link

Existing studies on the role of switching costs (SC) as moderator of the relationship between satisfaction and repurchase behavior are inconclusive. We attempt to explain these inconclusive findings by synthesizing an amplifying and a lock-in effect, and hypothesize a nonlinear moderating effect. In Study 1 (a main study and three replications), we find strong evidence for an inverted u-shaped moderating effect of overall SC. Our results suggest that satisfaction is a particularly important predictor of repurchase behavior in situations characterized by medium-levels of SC. Based on Prospect Theory, Study 2 (a main study and one replication) reveals that this inverted u-shaped moderating effect of SC is stronger for positive (relational and financial) SC than for negative (procedural) SC. We conclude with recommendations for satisfaction management of different customer segments, and describe possibilities to influence customer switching costs in various industries. © 2014 New York University.

Relationship between organisational justice and employee outcomes:a cross-national study

This study examined the influence of organizational justice perceptions on employee work outcome relationships as moderated by individual differences that are influenced by societal culture. Power distance, but not country or individualism, moderated the relationships between perceived justice and satisfaction, performance, and absenteeism. The effects of perceived justice on these outcomes were stronger among individuals scoring lower on power distance index, and most of these study participants were in the U.S. (versus Hong Kong) sample. Limitations of the study and the implications of the findings for managing cross-culturally are discussed.

Trust as a mediator of the relationship between organizational justice and work outcomes:test of a social exchange model

Data obtained from full-time employees of a public sector organization in India were used to test a social exchange model of employee work attitudes and behaviors. LISREL results revealed that whereas the three organizational justice dimensions (distributive, procedural and interactional) were related to trust in organization only interactional justice was related to trust in supervisor. The results further revealed that relative to the hypothesized fully mediated model a partially mediated model better fitted the data. Trust in organization partially mediated the relationship between distributive and procedural justice and the work attitudes of job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and organizational commitment but fully mediated the relationship between interactional justice and these work attitudes. In contrast, trust in supervisor fully mediated the relationship between interactional justice and the work behaviors of task performance and the individually- and organizationally-oriented dimensions of citizenship behavior.

Assessing service satisfaction between a 3PL provider and a vehicle manufacturer using the SERVQUAL technique

This paper reports on a new study conducted within a leading UK based (and US owned) car manufacturing company looking at the satisfaction between parties within a newly formed third party logistics (3PL) relationship. The study contains a two-way assessment of the relationship (i.e. the vehicle manufacturer’s Parts Supply and Logistics Operation’s assessment of the 3PL’s service and the 3PL’s assessment of the vehicle manufacturer’s relationship management ability). The study principally used an online SERVQUAL survey, (backed up with an on-line questionnaire, and face to face interviews) for data collection. The paper discusses the background and problems that have arisen in the relationship, the analysis of how each of the parties sees one other in terms of the service provided. Also, the findings and recommendations presented to management are outlined: these include factors such as the need for information sharing, reliability, flexibility, role specificity, trust and effective requirements management.

Analysing the commitment - service quality relationship:a comparative study of retail banking call centres and branches

Adopting an internal marketing approach, this paper attempts to provide a deeper understanding of the organisational commitment—service quality relationship in the service context. This is done by empirically testing the relationships that the three components of organisational commitment (affective, continuance and normative) have with the service quality of customer-contact employees. The hypotheses were framed by critically reviewing the extant literature in the areas of services marketing and human resource management. A large sample comparative study was conducted on employees in call centres and branches of a major retail bank in UK. We explore the important question of how the three components of organisational commitment influence the employee-perceived service quality differently in call centres and in branches. The findings indicate that in branches, both affective commitment and continuance commitment have significant positive impact on service quality while in call centres, only affective commitment is found to affect service quality significantly. Having established the commitment—service quality relationship, the implications for designing internal marketing strategies are further discussed.