The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between the customer satisfaction and high level of service quality. In this study the relationship between the customer satisfaction and high level of service quality in the context of Tesco retail store will be explored. A survey was conducted among the 200 people who come to the Tesco for shopping in the Becton city of UK. An interview was taken with each customer and asked the predetermined questions part by part. To analyze the data descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were used.
Means, Standard deviation, Variance, and Percent values which are known as descriptive statistics. Correlation analysis was used as inferential statistics. For this purpose Pearson correlation of coefficient was chosen. The aim of this analysis is to show the degree of relationship between the customer satisfaction and the high level of service quality, the core objective of this study. The findings of this study shows that customer satisfaction and service quality of the retail store are highly positively correlated.
satisfied customer is the asset for the organizations. When customers feel satisfied they become loyal to the organization and come back again and again to the store. Dabholkar et al. , (2006) says that retailers must bring differentiation among themselves by fulfilling the needs of their customers than the competition Now the evaluation of the customer satisfaction of retail store has emerged as a topic in need of research (Young, 2008).
The Essay on Customer Satisfaction and Quality Care
In this competitive health care environment, consumers want and expect better health care services and hospital systems are concerned about maintaining their overall image. There is also attention to ways in which patient satisfaction measurement can be integrated into an overall measure of clinical quality. To begin, review the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Survey (H.C.A.H.P.S.) ...
The relationship between the customer satisfaction and the high level of service quality will be evaluated in the context of Tesco retail store in this study.
Customer satisfaction is the prerequisite for making relationships. When the full expectation of a person is met then he or she will be satisfied. Satisfaction is the multi-dimensional construct and when the product or service is consumed customer satisfaction is the feeling or attitude to the product or service (Jham and Khan, 2008).
Mittal and Kamakura (2001) explained how imperative the satisfaction of the customer for succession of the consumer goods producer. Darian et al. , (2001) also evaluated how crucial the satisfaction of the customer for succession of the retailers.
A study conducted by Frank and Enkawa (2009) revealed the effects from satisfying customer, customer satisfaction leads to repurchase, creates word-if- mouth advertising, increases stock value, diminishes complaint behavior, marketing, and warranty cost & business risk, and develops the corporate image. Hence, customer satisfaction has been adopted as the most imperative long term objectives of the organizations (Cooil et al. , 2007; Pleshko & Baqer, 2008).
Like any other service industry the retail industry is facing a rapidly changing market.
Development of new technology, fears of doubtful economic, aggressive competition, changing climate are incomparable set of challenges to lower cost, increase efficiency, improve service quality, and increase customer satisfaction. 1. 2 PROBLEM STATEMENT A retail store offers a mix of merchandise and service and it represents a complex surrounding s (Siu & Cheung, 2001).
A retail store’s experience is mostly related to nonretail service experience. High level of service quality is essential for success in retail business. The problem is that all retailers do not provide high level service to the customers.
Many researchers found numerous strong evidences which show most of the departmental stores fail to deliver customers’ desired service (Siu & Cheung, 2001).
The Essay on Customer Satisfaction Quality Service Product
Customer Satisfaction Strategies What is customer satisfaction? We are in the midst of a revolution in business. Some call it a customer revolution, others a quality revolution, others a service revolution. Organizations are attempting to obtain increased customer satisfaction by focusing on the quality of their products and the service provided. This movement toward quality has produced ...
According to Darian et al. , (2001) frequently retailers deliver lower level of service or services which are not consistent with the customers’ needs. It is supported by the several researchers that retailers should realize the comparative significance of various aspects of retail performance to customers. Moreover, they need to focus on the key factors influencing customer satisfaction in a retail setting.
It is supported by the several studies that high level of service quality is imperative for customer satisfaction and most of the retailers can not ensure high level of quality service. Hence in this study the researcher will investigate how much effectively Tesco offering high level of quality service and the association between the high level of service quality and customer satisfaction. 1. 3 RESEARCH PURPOSE The purpose of this research is to examine the association between the customer satisfaction and high level of service quality. Customer satisfaction is the prerequisite for making relationships.
Customer satisfaction is the full meeting of one’s expectation. High level of service quality resulting in satisfied customers is the key to sustainable competitive advantage. In this study the association between the customer satisfaction and high level of service quality in the context of Tesco retail store will be explored. 1. 4 RESEARCH AIM OR OBJECTIVES The core objective of this study is to evaluate the relationship between the customer satisfaction and service quality of a retail store. The objectives of this research are given here- 1.
To explore the relationship between the customer satisfaction and high level of service quality of retail store; 2. To identify the factors of service quality of retail store; 3. To evaluate the effects of customer satisfaction resulting from high level of service quality; 1. 5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS To achieve the objectives of this research answering the following questions is required: 1. How are customer satisfaction and high level of service quality of retail store related to each other? 2. What are the factors of service quality of retail store? . How do customer satisfaction and high level of service quality affect the performance of the retail store? 1. 6 RATIONALE BEHIND THE CHOSEN RESEARCH TOPIC Today retail industry is facing huge competition. To success in this competition companies require to satisfy their customers by delivering high level of quality service. High level of service quality resulting in satisfied customers is the key to sustainable competitive advantage. When customers feel satisfied they become loyal to the organization and come back again and again to the store.
The Research paper on Innovative Widgets Customer Service Plan
Vision •This is a statement of how you envision customer services being delivered in the future In five years’ time, Innovative Widgets will be the leader in customer service satisfaction, providing timely, responsive service with integrity, simplicity and a passion for excellence, while meeting or exceeding the customer’s expectations. Mission statement •This defines what a company will do to ...
Mittal and Kamakura (2001) explained how imperative the satisfaction of the customer for succession of the consumer goods producer. Darian et al. , (2001) also evaluated how crucial the satisfaction of the customer for succession of the retailers. Now the evaluation of the customer satisfaction of retail store has emerged as a topic in need of research (Young, 2008).
Thereby conducting a study on the relationship between the customer satisfaction and service quality of a retail store is contemporary and imperative.
So the research topic “the relationship between the customer satisfaction and service quality of a retail store” is logical. 1. 7 PROPOSED STUDY STRUCTURE The core objective of this research paper is to explore the intensity of the relationship between the customer satisfaction and the service quality. This study has done in a structured way. The structure includes five chapters. Chapters’ structure is described here- Chapter-1: Introduction- introduction includes research background, problem statement, e research purpose, research objectives, research questions, rationale behind the research topic, and background of the case company.
Chapter-2: Literature Review-literature review will cover introduction of the literature, concept of the service quality, measurement of the service quality, service quality dimensions of retail store, a conceptual framework of service quality in retail store, customer satisfaction, measurement of customer satisfaction retail customer satisfaction, a conceptual framework of retail customer satisfaction, the relationship between customer satisfaction and service quality, theoretical framework for customer satisfaction and service quality, effect of customer satisfaction on profitability, consequences of customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction, effect of customer satisfaction on customer loyalty and retention, summary. Chapter-3: Methodology- This chapter includes overview of the research methodology, philosophy of the research, research approach, research method, research strategy, case selection, method for data collection, sampling method, proposed questionnaire, measurement of variables, measurement of service quality, measurement of customer satisfaction, interview, data analysis & presentation method, validity of the study, reliability of the study, ethical considerations, and limitation of the study.
The Business plan on The Impact of Advertising on Customer Satisfaction
Introduction: Mobile technology introduced in 1957 after introduction of first fully automatic mobile phone. Prince Philip was the first consumer to use mobile phone in his car in 1957.He uses that phone to talk with Queen while he was away on the road. Those days mobile technology has considered high end luxury even Dukes not allowed to use mobile, but now trends has changed completely , mobile ...
Chapter-4: Research Findings & Analysis- introduction, Overview of the Survey, Description of the Study Sample, Demographic data (Gender, Age, Marital Status, Occupation, Monthly income), Descriptive Analysis, Descriptive Statistics of Variable, Hypotheses testing for examining the relationship between the customer satisfaction and the service quality, The Summary of Hypotheses Results. Chapter-5: Conclusion & Recommendation. 1. 8 BACKGROUND OF THE CASE COMPANY In the world Tesco is Britain’s company which is in the leading position of food Retailer Company and it is the third largest company. In 1929 its first store was opened in London and at the beginning of 1960s it became very familiar in UK and it established its branches in every high street of UK. It started many revolutionary innovations in the 1999s. Tesco Metro which is a city centre that meets the demands of local shoppers and Tesco Express which is the first convenient petrol station in UK these two new concepts of store was developed by Tesco.
UK’s first customer reliability card is Club card was introduced by Tesco in 1995. In 19997 this company formed a joint venture with a Royal Bank of Scotland to provide financial services. Tesco. com was established on the back of existing stores started on 2000. By spending low capital it was profitable from the beginning and it used key internal recruitment. In 1994 it started its international operation and progressively expanded its activities. Now it accounts for half of its total retail room. As 2000 it has been increasing focal point on non-food sales by store and on-line service. Now Tesco is the largest CD retailer in UK. Tesco seven part strategy Our seven part strategy aims to broaden the scope of the business to enable it to deliver strong sustainable long-term growth”, (CEO, Tesco).
The Essay on Tesco Customer Service Customers Products Provide
Tesco - Customer service Customer service is the most important aspect of any business. Without an adequate relationship with its consumer base, a company is at an enormous disadvantage. Today's world competition is very strong in every kind of businesses. Every organisations must provide high quality products or services in order to survive, however their competitors also providing the same or ...
Aims of Tesco are to improve service and providing better value rather than price alone. For these principles Tesco carry its business into non-food, services and international operations. Its ability in process management applies to the idea management that helps to logistics and layout of store. Tesco’s seven part strategy stated by the CEO of Tesco is given here- 1. ‘To grow the UK core’ ‘The first strategy of Tesco’s seven part strategy is to grow the core UK businesses. Tesco seems that The UK is the leading market for retail business. Tesco’s large part of sales and profit come from UK market and it wants to grow more.
Tesco has huge opportunities for further growth and therefore it will continue to grow the UK core’. 2. ‘To be an outstanding international retailer in stores and online’ ‘The second strategy of Tesco is to be a successful global retailer. Tesco’s global businesses earned 1. 8% of the Group’s profits in 1997. Today Tesco earns 25% and outside the UK Tesco operates eight markets of its total 13 markets achieving the position of one or two. Thereby Tesco is by now ‘successful’. Tesco is working more efficiently and effectively to be an outstanding international retailer in stores and online’. 3. ‘To be as strong in everything we sell as we are in food’ ‘In beginning of journey Tesco was food based retailer.
But now it has expanded its business to various non-food items. Today Tesco aims to be as strong in everything we sell as we are in food’. 4. ‘To grow retail services in all our markets’ ‘Tesco’s services businesses have come a long way since it first included in its strategy the desire ‘to develop retailing services’. Today these parts of Tesco generate ? 583 million profit, representing 16% of the Group total. To date this has been largely UK-focused, but as many of its international businesses have now established well-known brands in their local market, it is time to expand Tesco’s ambitions and aim to grow retail services in all its markets’. 5. To put our responsibilities to the communities we serve at the heart t of what we do’ ‘In 2007, Tesco added a fifth element to Tesco’s strategy to underpin its commitment to communities and the environment. Tesco has updated this objective slightly by emphasizing its responsibilities in these areas. Tesco’s goal is to put its responsibilities to the communities it serves at the heart of what it does’. 6. ‘To be a creator of highly valued brands’ ‘The first is to be a creator of highly valued brands. Tesco’s brand has evolved from a logo above a few stores in the UK to a multitude of store, product and service brands across the world. Building brands gives its business more meaning with its customers.
The Term Paper on Customer services at Tesco
Methods used by Tesco to monitor if good customer service is taking place. If Tesco’s know how good or bad their customer service is then they can make improvements where appropriate. Since they are in such a competitive market they must monitor regularly and act fast on anything which needs improving. Tesco’s is such a big company it will be hard to monitor the customer service in all ...
On one level, this relates to Tesco’s Retail brands such as the Tesco brand itself, but it also refers to Tesco’s Product brands such as F&F and Technika and its Pillar brands such as finest and Value’. 7. ‘To build our team so that we create more value’ ‘Tesco’s final goal is to build our team so that it creates more value. As its business continues to grow and diversify it needs more leaders to run many substantial business and support functions within the Group. Tesco’s leaders not only have an important role today, but also have a responsibility to help build a bigger and better team for the future’. The use of well-targeted own-brand is the main component of growth of Tesco that include the expensive ‘Finest’ and cheap ‘Value’ labels. Well-established brand helps this company to expand its market.
From the products of Tesco the most successful in the loyalty card is its Club card that provides this company with a class leading ability to spot rising trends, attracting consumers and also influencing the behavior of the secondary customers to make them a regular customer into the fold. A rational strategy for international expansion is another influencing Factor of Tesco. In addition to expand business into up and coming markets in Asia and Europe it introduce different products. Tesco is now tackling the US market in where it started its first “Fresh and Easy stores” in 2007. Tesco is different from the existing, homogenous American supermarkets by its innovative format. There is a gap between these stores with capitalizing in west coast grocery trade. Tesco expand its “Fresh and Easy” business widely which is very important in the business sector.
It promises to provide ‘Every Day Low Price Plus’ strategy ensure that it will provide fresh and easy goods. The customers who search for the best quality products choose Tesco. Tesco drives its growth in the new places and also dominates its local market. Tesco identify that there are four issues behind the success of innovation. These are- try to do new things, without self-righteous, always be prepare to adapt change, and think that no other organizations will achieve more customers. These issues always help Tesco to achieve this position and compete in the competitive market. CHAPTER-2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2. 1 INTRODUCTION Customers are king for any type of business.
Customer satisfaction is the precondition for the ultimate success in business. One thing that is very much essential to satisfy customer is providing better customer satisfaction. High level of service quality which keep the customers satisfied is the key to sustainable competitive advantage (Ismail et al. , 2009).
Satisfied customer is the asset for the organizations. On the profitability of the organization customer satisfaction has a constructive consequence. Hoyer and Maclnnis (2001) said that, “customer satisfaction form the foundation of any flourishing business as satisfied customer leads to repeat buying, brand loyalty, and positive unconfirmed report. When customers feel satisfied they become loyal to the organization and come back again and again to the store. Dabholkar et al. , (2006) says that retailers must bring differentiation among themselves by fulfilling the needs of their customers than the competition Now the evaluation of the customer satisfaction of retail store has emerged as a topic in need of research (Young, 2008).
The relationship between the customer satisfaction and the high level of service quality will be evaluated in the context of Tesco retail store in this study. Customer satisfaction is the prerequisite for making relationships. Retailing consists of those activities performed by merchant or retailer in order to offer goods and services for sale to final customer.
Through retailing consumer get goods and services for personal or household consumption. Retailing includes goods and services such as: daily necessities, cloths, and meals at restaurant etc. Because of retailing ultimate customer get goods and services at convenience location. As retailing is last point of distribution channel, retailers have good relations with the ultimate customer by providing goods and services what they need and want. Besides selling goods and services retailers promote products and take sales strategies to create customer satisfaction. Long term satisfaction to a particular retail store make customer loyal to that store. 2. 2 SERVICE QUALITY According to Eshghi et al. (2008), “service quality can be defined as total assessment of services by the consumers in the context of the marketing. ” Ladhari, (2008) said that, “every organizations tries to make differentiations from its competitors to exist in the market and in this task service quality plays an important role. ” Service quality offers competitive advantages to the organizations that try to improve services as well as their customer satisfaction. According to Negi, (2009), “from both academicians and practitioners service quality has received a great attention.
” Eshghi et al. , (2008) said that “service quality can be defined as total assessment of services by the consumers in the context of the marketing. According to Ghylin et al. , (2008), “by improving the quality of service organizations can be able to deliver services with advanced quality level most probably it will be increased customer satisfaction. ” Ladhari, (2008) said that, “The concept of service quality must engage acknowledging the uniqueness of service which are intangible, heterogeneous as well as and in separate. ” Thus the quality of services can be easily measured. According to Negi (2009), “in recent years the customer-perceived service superiority has been given increased consideration for its precise contribution to business perspectives as well as development customer contentment. Service quality is used by the organization to measures the satisfaction level of the consumers as well as to improve the products and services in the specific area where there is gaps between expectations and perceptions are broad. 2. 2. 1 SERVICE QUALITY MEASUREMENT The quality of service builds weather as a difference between anticipated service and apparent service benefit, or supposed performance only (hurley and eastalami, 2008).
In contrast, service quality scale is the mean to evaluate quality service (parasuram,zeithaml,and berry, 2005).
Feinburgand and de ruyter (2005) claimed dimension can evaluate supposed service quality. They added perceived quality of service is made of multi-dimensions.
According to Gronroos (2004) “the customers experience about service perceived service quality. Therefore, he said supposed service quality is the evaluation of customer’s individual desire from a particular service. He alson noted that traditions influence belief, philosophy,verval communication and previous experience and customers awareness about the service which frame his service perception. But here the relationship between perception and expectation is not identified and its impact on quality of service is not clarified. Gronroos (2004) showed service quality comprises of 3 international dimensions. The first one is technical quality which means the value received by the customer from the service.
Retail store contain various offerings and the adequate parking space. Second dimension is the functional quality which stands for the service regarding delivery process. Customers of a retail store will assess the friendliness of sales force and the easy returning process of products. The last one is the corporate image. Store image depend on both technological and functional quality and other factors. Parasuraman et al. (2005) found ten key determinants of quality of service such as reliability , responsiveness , competence , access, courtesy , communication ,credibility , security, understanding the consumers , and tangibility to prepare structure, SERVQUAL.
Then they customize the structure in 5 determinants: reliability, assurance, tangibles, empathy, and responsiveness or rater. When servqual gets fail Dabholker et al. (2006) proposed Quality Scale (RSQS) which stands for retail service quality scale. In this he took seventeen elements from SERVQUAL and eleven from their own study. The department store that has high reliability and validity includes: 1. Physical aspects 2. Reliability 3. Personal interaction 4. Problem solving 5. Policy 2. 2. 2 SERVICE QUALITY DIMENSIONS OF RETAIL STORE Physical Aspect Santos (2002) told Intangibility distinguishes Service from goods. Quality of service is affected significantly by the tangibility aspects he also added.
The significance of intangibility depends on service types he said. Dabholkar et al. (2005) said the tangibility aspect is very important because of various offerings offered by the retailers and the quality of service in a retail shop. Keillor et al (2004) said the physical atmosphere effect the service encounters of the retail industry a lot . Koering (2003) said the physical atmosphere is important in framing service for its capacity to shape the customers perception behavioral intent told by koering (20003).
As they are connected with the manufacturing and utilizing process of service operated within a physical atmosphere. It will affect customers’ view regarding service.
Babin et al (2003) said basically ,appropriate outline can save customer’s time combination of color and lighting “affect consumers’ perfect representation and sentimental response “, Chebat & Michon (2003) added lighting with lovely perfume impress customer’s experience of a shopping atmosphere which have an important effect on customer’s mood . Specialist defined” physical” content of service quality measure with different explanation. Dabholkar et al. (2005) define “physical aspects” as the physical outlook of store and outline ease. Santos (2002) agreed the outlook of personnel as element of tangibility. They also include the subsistence of other. Santos (2002) emphasize on “services cape” instead of “built atmosphere”.
She classifies the service cape as it comprises of its surroundings, detail outline, and activity, symbols, signs, and artifacts. Ambient conditions comprise color, song warmth, light and perfume. Spatial outline stands for the display, and shaping of equipment, utensils and furniture and the relationship among them. Functionality stands for the capacity of equipment utensils, and furniture to improve service and attain shopper’s satisfaction. Finally, signs, symbols, and artifacts communicate the stores reliability to the customers. Reliability The reliability includes “promises” and “doing it correct” told by Dabholkar et al. (2005).
The researchers also added the accessibility of products as part of the “doing it corrects”.
PricewaterhouseCoopers show in his survey, Asian customers claim more value, particularly in case of Accessibility of products in stores then the consumers in western country by Maisara Ismail (2002).
The relationship between worker’s and consumer’s at store need to be very friendly to get loyal customer. From different research it is clear that the explanation and significance of each point in the dimension is influenced by the social culture (Feinburg & de Ruyter, 2005; Imrie et al. , e 2002).
Personal interaction Dabholkar et al. (2005) noted the personal communication in two sub dimensions one is stirring customer’s confidence and politeness of store workers.
Stirring customer’s confidence includes fair transaction, convincing capacity, enhancing confidence in customers through polite behavior, and ensuring customers secure dealings with this store. Politeness and supportive factor are workers are quick in service to customers, employees tell customers exact information whenever they need, and customers are given maximum attention in the store even in telephone with utmost politeness. Darian et al. (2001) emphasized on the sales staff’s awareness about new offering, new technology, price and different products in the store, which is not talkative but reactive. Conversely, Imrie et al (2002) added the factors “sincerity”, “generosity”, and “courtesy/politeness” which are significant to Taiwanese. She shows to the Japanese formality is a great factor in the quality of service. nter-personal relationship stands for the possibility for customers to be affiliated with other persons during the shopping added by Odekerke-nscchroder et al. they broaden the term communication as the interaction between customer to customer or customer to supplier. Harris et al (2006) showed only forty eight percent customers interact with the store staff and twelve percent customer interacts with each other.
Feinburg & de Ruyter (2005) in the study of cross culture about the quality of service in U. S. A , Netherlands, and Taiwan proved that though they have some similarities in defining the quality of service in one country , the importance placed on each dimensions are significantly different . he similarities among all groups definition were friendliness and knowledge of sales people. They showed that Taiwanese people desire high rate of politeness/friendliness in sales personnel and courteous behavior in the store, Americans focuses on product while Dutch shoppers’ focuses on modified service and well informed sales personnel. Problem Solving Dabholkar et al (2005) gave a new dimension which is not defined earlier in SERVQUAL. This dimension emphasize on the return & exchange policy and how sincerely they solve any customer’s problem. “Service recovery” is the prerequisite of good service so they emphasize the need of solving as an important dimension.
Policy Different determinants of service quality are affected by store policy. Store policy may comprises highly satisfactory product, parking capacity, flexible working periods, accessibility of well known credit cards , credit cards issued by the store. Mehta et al. (2000) noted that the retail stores should measure its service quality on the basis of measuring different offerings and related service they provide. According to Brady& Cronin (2001), the service quality should be evaluated by the quality of Substantial commodities provided to customers. A conceptual framework of service quality in retail store 2. 3. Customer satisfaction:
Customer satisfaction can be defined as the individuals’ perceptions of the performance of the goods as well as services with the regard to the expectation of the customers. According to Cicerone et al. , (2009), “It can be said that consumer’s satisfaction is strong-minded for his/her buying behavior in the specific organizations. ” Huddleston et al. , (2008) said that, “when the buying practice provides qualities that are valued by the consumer then satisfaction will be occurred. ” According to Wicks & Roethlein, (2009), “customer satisfaction is shaped through an successful evaluation process as well as this process is created by the buying behavior of the consumers. According to Wicks & Roethlein, (2009), “the organizations enjoy more retention and more profitability for the increased customer satisfaction which consistently try to satisfy their customers. ” According to Kotler (2006), “the concentration of outlook resulting from comparing goods or service’s perceived performance or value with regard to his or her expectation is normally called the satisfaction of customers. ” So we can say Customer satisfaction is the comparative behavior in relation to pre- purchase expectation and post purchase experience. The output of comparison between these two subjects determines the level of satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is the psychological state of customer that he or she experience after using the product or service.
The basic conceptualization of customer satisfaction depend two aspects: Firstly the expectation of a customer from a product; Second aspect is the perception about the product in relation to expectation. In the other words Customer satisfaction is the summary of psychological condition resulting from customer expectation coupled with the consumption experience of a customer. Some research defined it as a post choice evaluation process relating to a specific process of purchase selection. Finally in a detailed explanation we can say, customer satisfaction refers to touching or emotional reply to a explicit experience of a customer where satisfaction from a product have enormous positive effect and dissatisfaction reflects great depressing effects. Customers may have significantly different expectation from a common product.
The assertion of customer satisfaction is a function of customer expectation. A customer whose experience from a product or services falls below expectation (e. g. , cold fries at KFC or limited wine list at an expensive inn) will be dissatisfied. But customer whose expectation matches with experience will be satisfied. And customer whose experience exceeds expectation (e. g. , well designed play area at pizza hut or outstanding CGPA at bachelor degree) will become delighted. We may see the relation between experience and expectation through graph. Experience falls below Expectation Dissatisfied. Experience Match with Expectation Satisfied
Experience More than Expectation Delighted 2. 3. 1 Measurement of customer satisfaction: Customer satisfaction cannot be measured using a common scale or by a renowned theory. Different researchers suggest multi dimensional as well as multi level scale in order to measure customer satisfaction. The measurement of Customer satisfaction can be done using multi item scale with minimum measurement error and improving scale reliability at the same time. Another renowned researcher sureaschander (2002) viewed customer satisfaction from a multidimensional construct and suggested that measurement item should be consistent with the dimension of service quality.
A case study conducted by some researchers on the customer satisfaction of a retail store in terms of use of service and customer satisfaction reveals that satisfaction at a retail store depends on six multidimensional aspects namely: 1. Operation of selling. 2. Optimum utilization of collections/inventories. 3. Physical and environmental facilities at retail store. 4. Serving manners and ways. 5. Attitude of employees. 6. Consultancy and help service from retail store. As a theoretical as well as practical issue customer satisfaction has significant effect for both marketer and consumer researchers. Understanding the level of satisfaction creates several desired advantage and opportunities for both retailer and manufacturer.
From the perspective of a marketer, designing of a marketing mix strategy mostly depends on the how well a marketer wants to satisfy his or her customer. As satisfied customers are more likely to purchase same product from same location and become loyal to that particular brand. In terms of word of mouth (buzz marketing approach) promotion, satisfied customer is of vital importance. According to Keith (2005) a satisfied customer would like to purchase again and think about purchase again the same brand from same source. According to Anderson and Sullivan (2003) a satisfied customer is a revenue generating asset for future profitability of a firm. 2. . 2 Retail customer satisfaction To be profitable and sustainable, Customer satisfaction in any business is a must. In respect to retail Industry, no retail store can be profitable or sustainable without ensuring customer satisfaction. As retailer work closely with ultimate customer, so satisfying the customer is a vital issue. According to Oliver (2001) satisfying the customer with previous experience is an important to be successful and profitable in retail business. A satisfied customer works in two way direction, both of which is advantageous for the retailer, Firstly satisfied customer like to purchase again and consider purchase again .
Second way is word of mouth(buzz marketing) promotion which is very much effective than other promotional tools. Another two researchers Bloemer & de Ruyter (2008) said, Satisfaction of a retail customer also indicator of excellence of organization. The mix of activities that retailer do to satisfy a customer are sign of quality and performance of respective retailer. A retail customer may be satisfied by the performance of the product or utility he or she gets from the product or it may be intrinsic quality of the that create a sense satisfaction from dissatisfaction. Satisfaction at retail store can be determined as a customer emotional response to evaluation of combined experience that he get after patronizing a retail store.
Measuring the level of satisfaction creates complexity as an individual customer experience different things at different times from a particular retail store. Complexity can be in terms of product, price people, procedure, service, policies, physical environment etc. All these factors work behind to create a complete experience about the retail store. Another level of complexity can be in terms of product benefit and service from retailer. The combination of both the product and service can create customer satisfaction. Additional level of complexity is visiting retail store that involves visiting store, opening and closing time, one stop shopping etc. According to Merriam wasters Dictionary, “fulfilling the needs for which a good or service was prepared is treated as customer satisfaction. The concept of customer satisfaction is different in the different organizations; it depends on the demographic background and individuals as well as the institutions (Center for the study of Social Policy, 2007).
According to Center for the study of Social Policy (2007), when it comes to goods and services then it is treated as a totally different mechanism. People always try to understand the concept of quality of services, quality of products, and satisfaction of consumers in the area of utility that provided by the organizations through the goods and services. This concept is very important for the organizations and it should not be overlooked. According to Sahim et al. (2006), “customer satisfaction is effort to find out whether customers were satisfied with the food services in the military hospital in Turkey that should be realized that specific demographic nature were not of importance in influential the satisfaction of the patients. ” They always give importance on the demographic natures of the customers. Another Chinese author Jiangsu said that, “China looking for to discover the dissimilarities in food preferences between students of different socio-demographic backgrounds as well as natures that is stated in their literature that societal and cultural factors and environmental and native factors form children’s food choices. For this reason they appreciate the food or the service quality and as a result they are not accustomed to it or they do not choose it for the different demographic nature. It is the complexity of the concept of satisfaction that many researchers try to find out the conclusion. Many factors influence the customer satisfaction in many ways. Welcoming employees, polite employees, well-informed employees, ready to lend a hand employees, correctness of billing, billing appropriateness, competitive pricing, service quality, billing clearness and quick service are factor that affect the process of customer satisfaction. Courteous Employees Friendly Employees ‘A conceptual framework of retail customer satisfaction Knowledgeable Employees Helpful Employees
Overall Customer Satisfaction Accuracy of Billing Quick Service Billing Clarity Billing Timeliness Good Value Competitive Pricing Service Quality Figure: conceptual framework (own)’ 2. 3. 3 The relationship between customer satisfaction and service quality There is a significant relationship between service quality dimension and customer service. Quality of service is a feature of overall customer satisfaction (Anderson & Sallivan, 2003).
According to Mishra (2009) Service quality cannot be detached from the overall customer satisfaction. Several researchers try to find out exactly what extent customer satisfaction and service quality related.
Evaluation of a service quality is both the product of cognitive and emotional aspects. Some researchers also reveal that customer satisfaction encompasses both perception and expectation from a product or service. But service quality only depends on the perception of a product or services. According to some other researchers, service quality is process that creates customer satisfaction or outcome. In this process and outcome relationship, both process and outcome play significant role. Without maintaining service quality we cannot ensure customer satisfaction. Conversely customer satisfactions never achieve without service quality. In other words Customer satisfaction is the cognitive and emotional process.
On the other hand service quality is manly depends on cognitive process. Fail to provide quality service creates some sorts of undesired outcome and dissatisfaction. Sureshchandar et al. , (2002) says, “Customer satisfaction is treated as multi dimensional concept that can occur at multi levels in a firm as well as it should be operational along the same elements on which service quality is operational. ” Saravana & Rao, (2007) and Lee et al. , (2000) says, “Satisfaction of customers is based upon the level of service quality provided by the organizations or the firms. ” According to Negi, (2009), “the linkage between service quality and customer satisfaction has existed for a long period. He continue the investigation of the study of the customer-perceived service quality for the determination of the total customer satisfaction in the context of the telecommunication sector as well as it is found that reliability and network quality are the main factors for the evaluation of the total quality of the services for all the organizations. It is very important to determine the factors and elements that influence the customer-perceived service quality as well as the total customer satisfaction. According to Fen & Lian, (2005), “on the customer’s re-patronage intentions both service quality as well as customer satisfaction has the positive influence. ” Customer satisfaction and service quality play a great role for the organizations to exist in the competitive market. There is a very close link between the customer satisfaction and service quality. According to Su et al. (2002), “to make a linkage between customer satisfaction and service quality there exist a great reliance between constructs and demographics. ” So if one is likely to an increase the ultimately other will be increased. Service quality is more theoretical than customer satisfaction as customer satisfaction reflects the customer’s outlook as well as experiences at the same time as service quality is always affected by the perceptions or by the experiences of other people related to the organizations. According to Magi & Julander, (2009), “there is a positive relation among perceived service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in the grocery stores in Sweden. It is true that customer satisfaction ii the result of high perceived service quality as well as this thing make customer loyalty. Furthermore it will be positive for the organization to have satisfied customers that lead to make customer loyalty. In terms of service industry, along with other elements service quality works as a prime factor of customer satisfaction. According to Bei and chaio (2001) our perceived Service quality is a significant determinant of customer satisfaction. After reviewing above studies I have developed following hypothesizes for this study: H1:| Physical aspect and customers’ satisfaction of retail stores are positively related. H2:| Reliability and customers’ satisfaction of retail stores are positively related. | H3:| Personal interaction and customers’ satisfaction of retail stores. | H4:| Problem solving and customers’ satisfaction of retail stores are positively related. | H5:| Policy and customers’ satisfaction of retail stores are positively related. | THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FOR CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND SERVICE QUALITY: H5 Policy Problem solving Personal interaction Reliability Physical aspect | Service quality H2 H3 H1 CUSTOMER SATISFACTION H4 Dependent Variable Independent Variable Figure: A framework for customer satisfaction and service quality (source: own) 2. 3. EFFECT OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ON PROFITABILITY: On the profitability of the organization customer satisfaction has a constructive consequence. Hoyer and Maclnnis(2001) said that, “ customers satisfaction form the foundation of any flourishing business as satisfied customer leads to repeat buying, brand loyalty, and positive unconfirmed report. ” According to Coidwell (2001), “A statistical analysis of customer satisfaction is performed by Growth Strategies International that encompassing the result over 20,000 customer surveys that is conducted in 40 countries by Info Quest. ” The findings of the survey were: 1. Contribution of the totally satisfied customers is 2. times more revenue for the organization than somewhat satisfied customers. 2. Contribution of the totally satisfied customers is 17 times more revenue for the organization than dissatisfied customers. 3. Contribution of the totally satisfied customers is 1. 8 times more revenue for the organization than totally dissatisfied customers. According to Zairi (2000), “For customer satisfaction on reiterate purchase, devotion and maintenance there are different studies that have looked at this matter. ” They produce some message on customer satisfaction: 1. ‘Satisfied customers share their experiences with other customers to the order of perhaps five to six people.
As well as the customers who are dissatisfied are more likely to share about their bad experiences with other people’. 2. Moreover it should be realized that many customers do not make any complain and complain procedures are not same at all the organizations. 3. ‘At last, some people think that dealing with customer satisfaction is very costly and these people should be remembered that it costs in as far as 25 percent more to attract new customers. ’ 2. 3. 5 CONSEQUENCES OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND DISSATISFACTION: The consequences of the customer dissatisfaction and not satisfying customer are rigorous. Hoyer and Maclnnis (2001) identified some decisions of dissatisfied customers. These are as follows: 1.
Dissatisfied customers are not regular in purchasing the products and services. 2. ‘They normally make complain to the authority or to the third party and try to return the products’. 3. They take on negative tittle-tattle communication. So customer satisfaction is very important. Barbera and Mazursky (2003) said that, “customer satisfaction influences repurchase intentions while dissatisfaction has been seen as a primary reason for customer defection or irregularity in buying behavior”. 2. 3. 6 THE EFFECT OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ON CUSTOMER LOYALTY AND RETENTION: According to Bowen and Chen (2001), “it is not enough to have satisfied customers because there are some extremely satisfied customers. Customer loyalty is created by customer satisfaction. Another author Bansal and Gupta (2001) said that, “To build customer loyalty is not an option any longer with businesses; it’s the only way to build sustainable competitive benefit. To build loyalty with the main customers has become a major marketing objective. The strategic choices for building customer loyalty base are as follows: 1. Focal point on major customers of the organizations. 2. By every interaction high level of customer satisfaction should be generate. 3. Predict customer demands and take action to them as soon as possible. 4. Closer ties with the actual and potential customers should be maintained. ”
According to Sivadas and Baker-Prewitt (2000), “it is to be said that the ultimate objectives of measurement of customer satisfaction should be the customer loyalty. ” They also say “Customer loyalty is the result of high customer satisfaction for the organization that consumers will be less prone to overtures from the competition”. Anton (2006) said that, “customer satisfaction is normally positively conducted with repurchase intentions, desire of recommending a goods and services, loyalty as well as profitability. ” For the long time, loyal customers purchase from the same organization and do not change the organization. Therefore customer satisfaction in itself will not interpret into customer loyalty.
Nevertheless to foster customer loyalty for the certain organization is very necessary and it is the precondition to maintain a positive relative attitude and continuing the repurchasing behavior of the customers. When one customer recommends a n organization it foster both re-patronage as well as loyalty for the organization. Therefore main facilities to get customer loyalty is getting customers recommendation this organization to others. Normally, when a customer becomes highly satisfied about any organization then they recommend others. So, ‘Companies which have satisfied customers have a good chance to exchange them into loyal customers who purchases from those firms for a long period’.
According to Clarke (2001), “A business that focuses entirely on customer satisfaction it runs the uncertainty of becoming an undifferentiated brand name whose customers think that this organization can meets performance criteria of any category of products. ” For the retention of customer for long period in the competitive market needs to go beyond mere basic customer satisfaction and they also look for making ties of loyalty with organization that will help to exist in the competitive market. According to Sivadas and Baker-Prewitt (2000), “it is not just sufficient to satisfy a customer. ” Thus, with the aim of make sure that customers do not defect; Bowen and Chen said that “customers have to be enormously satisfied. In so far as firms are alarmed about that they want to increase their loyal customers because customer satisfaction does always guarantee about this. Normally it is said that customer satisfaction is not essentially a guarantee of loyalty (Storbacka and Lentinen, 2001).
They also said that in some organizations up to seventy percent consumers who change providers say that they were satisfied or sometimes said that they were very satisfied with the previous organizations. Normally customers change the organizations for many reasons such as price, new opportunities providing by other organizations, or to get variations (Storbacka and Lentinen, 2001).
According to Clarke (2001), “customer satisfaction is merely the price of entry to a certain category. ” For effective customer satisfaction it is necessary to create customer loyalty. Sivadas and Baker-Prewitt (2000) said that “it is the increasing identification that the final objective of customer satisfaction dimension should be customer loyalty”. “Customer satisfaction is an important concept to consider when developing a customer loyalty program”, (McIlroy and Barnett, 2000).
Customer loyalty is the measurement of desire of a customer to repurchase and connect in relationship activities with a firm and customer satisfaction is a measurement of how well a customer’s expectations.
If the customers think that they will get better products or services elsewhere conveniently or cheaply then the customer will change the organization despite customer satisfaction some customers will go to another firms. So to get perfect customer loyalty it is not the final indication of customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is necessary for the organization but it is not sufficient for the customer loyalty. Sometimes loyalty can be achieved without customer satisfaction but it is very hard to achieve. McIlroy and Barnett (2000) said that, “in the context of business customer loyalty can be defined as customer’s commitment to do business with a particular firm, buying their products and services and recommending the products and services to others. ” Normally the idea of customer loyalty may appear initially sight to be outdated in the era of the Internet, when customers are able to discover and assess competing alternatives and checking reports from others”, (Clarke (2001).
There are some evidence that old rules of successful as well as profitable management still remain fine, for long term profit customer retention is needed and there is a highly cost penalty for the loss of customer loyalty. “It is a very common phenomenon that there is a positive relationship between customer loyalty and customer profitability”, (Bowen and Chen (2001).
Now a day’s marketers are try to find information on how to build customer loyalty. From the reduction of marketing costs, operational costs normally the increased profit comes.
At last cost to serve loyal customer is less costly because they know about the products and services very well. Not only the loyal customers need less information but also they inform others about the products and services. Then the organization is benefited. According to Anton “an organization gets some benefits for customer loyalty. These are as follows: 1. For the loyal customers, increase the purchases of the existing product of the organization. 2. Other products of the organization are cross-purchasing. 3. Price premium will be got for the approval of organizational added-value services. 4. Because of familiarity of the service system operating cost will be reduced. ”
To ensure the customer loyalty for the organization it is necessary to predict the needs of the customers. So it is said that there is appositive co-relation between customer loyalty and customer satisfaction. 2. 4. SUMMARY Satisfied customer is the asset for the organizations. On the profitability of the organization customer satisfaction has a constructive consequence. When customers feel satisfied they become loyal to the organization and come back again and again to the store. High level of service quality resulting in satisfied customers is the key to sustainable competitive advantage. It is difficult for the consumers to evaluate quality of the service than the quality of the goods.
Quality of the service is the perceptions resulting from a contrast of customer expectations with actual service performance. The service quality builds either as a gap between anticipation of service and apparent benefit of service, or supposed performance only. Service quality is evaluated by considering various dimensions of the service quality. Five dimensions are very much important to evaluate quality of the service; these are- ‘Physical aspect, Reliability, Personal interaction, Problem solving, and Policy’. This study will evaluate such dimensions of the service quality and explore the association between the customer satisfaction and high level of service quality in the context of Tesco retail store. CHAPTER-3 METHODOLOGY 3. 1 OVERVIEW
The objective of the methodology of a research is to give a overview of the research design that the researcher will follow in conducting the research. In this research the research methodology includes research philosophy, research approach, research strategy, case selection, data collection methods and tools (secondary data, primary data), sampling technique, proposed questionnaire, interview, data analysis & presentation method, validity, reliability, ethical considerations, and limitation. The key objective of this study is to scrutinize how high level of service quality develop higher customer satisfaction and such objective will be achieved using the above mentioned research design. 3. 2 RESEARCH PHILOSOPY
According to Saunders et al (2008) there are four types of research philosophy; such as pragmatism, positivism, realism and interpretivism. The pragmatism philosophy refers to the philosophy where researcher can use different research methods that are suitable with research objective whether the research is quantitative or qualitative. Positivism philosophy supports the research that is to explore the positive phenomenon of the society (Saunders et al. , 2009).
Realism philosophy is based on the idea that human belief and thought influence the reality of the socity. The philosophy Interpretivism is based in the evaluation of the differences of human behavior.
As this research will examine the relationship between the customer satisfaction and the high level of service quality and theoretical studies imply that such relation is positive, the Positivism philosophy is appropriate for this research. 3. 3 RESEARCH APPRAOCH Generally there are three types of research approaches; such as-exploratory, descriptive, and explanatory approach. Exploratory approach is useful when the purpose is developing hypotheses, models or theories (Scholz and Tietje, 2002).
The descriptive approach is used to explain event revealed with a reference theory or model. According to Scholz and Tietje, (2002) the exploratory approach is useful to test cause-and-effect relationships. 3. 4 RESEARCH METHOD According to Dubois and Gadde, (2002) these are three types of research method- inductive, deductive or abductive from which the researcher uses the suitable one.
Saunders et al (2007) says that when a theory is being tested whether it is right or wrong deductive or quantitative research method is helpful. In this study the inductive or qualitative research method is followed as the research is related to the specific case company and qualitative data. 3. 5 RESEARCH STRATEGY Yin, (2003) describes that there are five types of research strategies. These are case study, experiments, surveys, histories and an archival analysis. Mostly Case study strategy is used when one conducts a research. The case study strategy is suitable if ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions are mentioned in the research. The case study is four types which are shown in box. Figure- Types of case study designs (Yin, 2003) In the box a clear guideline has been provided.
Based on the research purpose researchers choose one of them. In this research a single case (holistic) design has been chosen. 3. 6RESEARCH DESIGN Research design is the combination of different research techniques that include research philosophy, research approach, research method, research strategy, data collection method, data analysis techniques to be followed in conducting the research. In this research I followed following research design to conduct the proposed study. Research philosophy| Positivism philosophy| Research approach| exploratory approach| Research method| qualitative research method| Research strategy| case study| Data collection method| Survey through interview|
Data analysis techniques| Descriptive statistics(mean, standard deviation), and inferential statistics( Pearson correlation of coefficient)| 3. 7 CASE SELECTION To conduct the research on the relationship between the customer satisfaction and the high level of service quality I have chosen Tesco retail store as the case company. In the world Tesco is Britain’s company which is in the leading position of food Retailer Company and it is the third largest company. In 1929 its first store was opened in London and at the beginning of 1960s it became very familiar in UK and it established its branches in every high street of UK. It started many revolutionary innovations in the 1999s.
Tesco Metro which is a city centre that meets the demands of local shoppers and Tesco Express which is the first convenient petrol station in UK these two new concepts of store was developed by Tesco. UK’s first customer reliability card is Club card was introduced by Tesco in 1995. 3. 8 DATA COLLECTION METHODS AND TOOLS In this research data has been collected from two data sources- secondary data and primary data. 3. 8. 1 SECONDARY DATA Secondary data is someone used data. Such data is helpful to make a theoretical framework of the research. Secondary data has been collected from various sources including internet, article, journal, thesis paper, dissertation, text books, company web sites etc. 3. 8. 2 PRIMARY DATA Primary data is the new fresh data regarding the research purpose.
The researcher himself has collected primary data in the Tesco retail store premises in the Becton city the through interviews of the customer coming to the Tesco store. A predetermined questionnaire has been used through the interviews. 3. 9 SAMPLING TECHNIQUE In order to collected primary data a sample of customers was developed. The sample was developed by applying simple sampling technique because of its ease of use. Simple sample technique is sampling technique where each item of the population has equal probability to be selected. At present there are nearly 100000 people in the Becton city. As the population size is large, sample size was developed applying the formula of Yamane. Here the tolerable error is 5 percent that means the significant level is 95 percent. =N/ {1+N (e)*2} Here, n=Sample size N= Population size e= Significant level (0. 05) Solving the equation the sample size was 200 samples. 3. 10 PROPOSED QUESTIONNAIRE To conduct the research very effectively a questionnaire was developed based in the concepts, theories and past research information. The questionnaire includes three parts. In first part questions related to demographic data were made. In second part, questions about service quality were made and in third part questions related to customer satisfaction were developed.
In the question part 3, the respondents were requested to give their degree of agreement or disagreement for each item in the questionnaire on the basis of a 5 point Likert scale. Such as- 1 if the respondents are strongly disagreed with the variable; 2 if the respondents are disagreed with the variable; 3 if the respondents are neutral to variable; 4 if the respondents are agreed with variable; and 5 if the respondents are strongly agreed with the variable. A detail of the questionnaire for this study is shown in Appendix A. 3. 11 Measurement of variables
The association between the customer satisfaction and the high level of service quality will be explored in this study, for this here customer satisfaction is the main dependent variable and service quality is the independent variable that includes five dimensions. After studying previous studies related to customer satisfaction and service quality measurement of variables were taken that were found reliable and valid. 3. 11. 1 Measurement of service quality The measurement of service quality includes 28 items which were taken from Dabholker et al. , (2006).
These items were distributed in 5 sub dimensions of service quality of the retail stores. items are related to physical aspect of sub dimension, 5 items are related to reliability sub dimension, 9 items are related to personal interaction sub dimension, 3 items belong to problem solving sub dimension, and 5 items are related policy sub dimension. 3. 11. 2 Measurement of customer satisfaction Customer satisfaction toward the store was calculated using nine items scales which are established and taken from the earlier studies. Among 9 items, 4 items were taken from Bloemer and Oderken-Schroder (2002), 3 items from Bloemer and de Ruyter (2008), and 2 items from Patterson and Anuwichnont (2003).
3. 12 INTERVIEW In a case-study research strategy data collection methods may include questionnaires, or interview Saunders et al. , (2001).
According to Saunders et al. , (2001) “interview can be performed by one of following three ways of interviews-structured interviews, semi-structured interviews and unstructured interviews”. He also stated that “prearranged or standardized set of questions are asked in structured interviews”. In semi-structured interviews, order of questions is not important it may be varied depending on the flow of conversation; one opportunity is that to explore the research question and objectives additional questions can be adjusted. Saunders et al. , (2001) further explained that in qualitative research, semi-structured and in-depth interviews are useful.
According to Churchill (2002) “as freedom is supplied to interviewer in conducting the depth interviews and interviewer has the option to change the order and framing of the questions depth interviews costumes to exploratory research”. Churchill (2002) explained that when the interviewers are more than one there is possibility of variation in the responses. In this research, semi-structure interview was followed and taking Churchill’s suggestions only one person the researcher himself conducted the interviews. 3. 13 DATA ANALYSIS & PRESENTATION METHOD In this study collected data will be analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Statistical package for the Social Sciences (SPSS 17. 0) will be used for the statistical analysis purpose. Before entering the items into the computer they will be coded.
Means, Standard deviation, Variance, and Percent values which are known as descriptive statistics will be calculated for interval-scaled independent and dependent variables. Frequency distribution will be calculated for all the demographic variables. Frequency distribution will help analyze respondents’ profile on the basis of their age, gender, occupation, marital status, and monthly income. Correlation analysis will be used for inferential statistics. For this purpose Pearson correlation of coefficient will be chosen. This analysis will show the degree of relationship between the customer satisfaction and the high level of service quality, the core objective of this study. 3. 14 VALIDITY
Validity of a study is the concern about that how much the findings of the study are relevant to the actual meanings of the findings. Saunders et al. , (2003) says that validity is the concern about the findings that whether they are relevant to what they actually are. Yin (2003) suggests collect the chain of evidences which will increase the validity of the study. Considering his suggestions I have collected evidences (interviews).
Generalisability also known as external validity is the degree of suitability to the other research setting (Saunders et al. , 2003).
He explains that case study does not make a theory that is generalisable to all populations.
According to him it is an attempt to clarify what is going on in a particular research setting. According to Yin (2003) “by taking sample correctly survey results can be generalized to a larger population but dealing with case studies this analogy to samples and universes is incorrect since he trusts that results of survey are reliant on statistical generalizability where as case studies rely on analytical generalization”. It is suggested by Yin (2003) that researchers dealing with qualitative research should try to generalize the results to the ‘theory’ rather than to other cases. This is made possible by strategic choice of informants relevant to the study and not by statistically drawn samples. 3. 15 RELIABILITY
Research reliability is the concern about whether the findings of the study will represent actual meanings of the theoretical framework and whether the future research will also support the founded result (Saunders et al. , 2003).
Saunders et al. , (2003) explains that there are some problems which reduce the reliability of the research; such as error by participant, biasness of the participant, error of observer, biasness of the observer. According to Yin (2003) giving assurance that whenever a same research based on the same case will be conducted it will explore same result is the objective of reliability. Yin (2003) further states that minimizing the errors and biases in a study is the goal of the reliability. He When a research will be conducted the proper documentation is essential to increase reliability.
In this study I have made a proper documentation of the empirical study and I myself conducted the study so that there is no scope to reduce the reliability. 3. 16 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS Prior to taking place additional work ethical approval is needed to the researchers. According to Saunders et, al. , (2007), “the suitability of a researcher’s performance on the subject of the rights of participants in case of being pretentious by the research work is called research ethics. ” It is necessary to study the ‘Ethical Code Conduct for Research’ for each researcher. Then the researchers need to pay attention to permission, discretion as well as respondent saddle.
In the research, the researcher will not utilize the names of the participant at any time then the protection as well as privacy of the participants will be ensured. 3. 17 LIMITATION The significant limitation of this study is the shortage of time. The given time to do such a research is not sufficient. Another limitation is that the findings of this study may not support future studies on this issue. Because with the trend of time consumers demand and characteristics may change and the organizations which deliver good service may not continue in future. Despite of above limitation I have provided enough time to do the survey and tried to find out the actual scenario. Chapter-4 FINDINGS & ANALYSIS 4. 0 INTRODUCTION In this chapter the empirical study has been described.
At first an overview of the survey has been provided then the findings of the survey has been revealed and analyzed. In part two, an analysis of the general profile of respondents that means the demographic variables of the respondents has been shown. In part three, the descriptive analysis has been done. To evaluate the relationship between the service quality factors and customer satisfaction Pearson’s correlation of coefficient was used. The correlation findings and analysis of these findings and the results of hypothesis have also been shown in the last part. 4. 1 Overview of the Survey To conduct the survey a questionnaire was prepared in three parts.
First part of the questionnaire includes the questions related to demographic data of the respondents. I n the second and third part of the questionnaire questions related to service quality and customer satisfaction were made to achieve the key objective of this study. In the last part of the questionnaire customer satisfaction related questions were made. The survey was conducted among the 200 people who come to the Tesco for shopping in the Becton city of UK. An interview was taken with each customer and asked the predetermined questions part by part. Thereby the survey was completed by taking interview with 200 consumers. 4. 2 Description of the Study Sample Here the background information of the respondents has been described.
Respondents’ background information includes gender, age, marital status, occupation, and monthly income. 4. 2. 1Demographic data The demographic questions were related to gender, age, marital status, occupation, and monthly income of the respondents who are the customers of the Tesco retail store. Gender Among the 200 respondents 40% was male and 60% was female. This sample composition is logical because it is seen that in retail store most of the customers are female. A frequency distribution of the respondents by gender is shown in the following table- Distribution of sample according to Gender Gender| Frequency| Percent| Male| 80| 40%| Female| 120| 60%| Total| 200| 100%|
Distribution of sample according to Gender is also shown in the following graph: Age Total sample size was composed of less than 20 years, 20-30 years, 31-40 years, 41-50 years, 51-60 years, and more than 60 years. Among 200 consumers 25 consumers were under 20 years, 50 consumers were between 20- 30 years, 60 consumers were between 31-40 years, 23 consumers were between 41-50 years, 22 consumers were between 51-60 years, and 20 consumers were above 60 years. A frequency distribution of respondents by age is shown here- Distribution of sample according to Age Age| Frequency| Percent| Under 20 years| 25| 12. 5%| 20 – 30 years| 70| 35%| 31 – 40 years| 40| 20%| 41 – 50 years| 23| 11. 5%| 51 – 60 years| 22| 11%|
Above 60 years| 20| 10%| Total| 200| 100%| Distribution of sample according to Age is also shown in the following graph: Marital Status Among the 200 consumers 40% was single, 50% was married, and 10% was divorce consumers. A frequency distribution of the respondents by marital status is shown in the following table- Distribution of sample according to marital status Marital Status| Frequency| Percent| Single| 80| 40%| Married| 100| 50%| Divorce| 20| 10%| Total| 200| 100%| Distribution of sample according to marital status is also shown in the following graph: Occupation Consumers from different occupations were participated in the interview. 5 respondents were students, 50 respondents were housewife, the large portion of the respondents, 70 respondents, were employee, 45 respondents were professional, and 10 respondents were from other occupations. A frequency distribution of the respondents by occupation is shown in the following table- Distribution of sample according to Occupation Occupation| Frequency| Percent| Student| 25| 12. 5%| Housewife| 50| 25%| Employee| 70| 35%| Professional| 45| 22. 5%| Others| 10| 5%| Total| 200| 100%| Distribution of sample according to Occupation is also shown in the following graph: Monthly income It was found that among 200 respondents 25 percent of the respondents have monthly income of less than ? 5000; 20 percent of the respondents have monthly income of ? 5,001 to ? 0,000; 45 percent of the respondents have monthly income of ? 10,001 to ? 15,000; and only 10 percent of the respondents have monthly income above ? 15000. A frequency distribution of monthly of the respondents is shown here- Distribution of sample according to monthly Income Monthly Income| Frequency| Percent| Less than ? 5000| 50| 25%| ?5001 – ? 10000| 40| 20%| ?10001 – ? 15000| 90| 45%| Above ? 15000| 20| 10%| Total| 200| 100%| Distribution of sample according to Occupation is also shown in the following graph: 4. 3 Descriptive Analysis 4. 3. 1 Descriptive Statistics of Variable In this study I used mean and standard deviation to describe the nature of the variables.
Here mean of the variables indicates the average value of the responses investigated under 5- point Likert’s scale for all variables. The degree of variability of the variables is measured by the standard deviation. Variables| N| Minimum| Maximum| Mean| Standard deviation| Variance| Service Quality| Physical Aspects| 200| 1| 5| 3. 30| . 789| . 622| Reliability| 200| 1| 5| 3. 20| . 697| . 485| Personal Interaction| 200| 1| 5| 3. 40| . 891| . 794| Problem Solving| 200| 1| 5| 3. 70| . 987| . 974| Policy| 200| 1| 5| 3. 95| . 889| . 790| Customer Satisfaction| 200| 1| 5| 3. 80| . 791| . 625| Among the variables of the service quality, policy has the maximum mean value of 3. 95.
Problem solving has the mean value of 3. 70, Personal interaction has the mean value of 3. 40, Physical aspect has the mean value of 3. 30, and reliability has the lowest mean value of 3. 20. From the mean result we see that all the variables have mean value more than of 3 where as the maximum value of each variable is 5; that indicate that policy Problem solving, Personal interaction, Physical aspect, and reliability have impotence in determining the service quality of the retail store. The results also indicate that the service quality of the Tesco retail store is good. As the mean value of customer satisfaction regarding the service quality of the Tesco is 3. 0 that is slightly near to maximum of 5; so the customers are just satisfied on the service quality of the Tesco but they are not highly satisfied. The standard deviation or the variability of all the variables did not exceed 1. Here the results of the standard deviations of the variables indicate the responses really express what is thinking by the actual population parameter. 4. 4 Hypotheses Testing To analyze the hypotheses testing the researcher has used correlation analysis in this study. Pearson’s coefficient of correlation has been used to explore the correlation coefficients among the variables and to evaluate the relationship between all variables of this research. 4. 4. Hypotheses testing for examining the relationship between the customer satisfaction and the service quality To examine the relationship between the customer satisfaction and the service quality following hypotheses were developed- H1:| Physical aspect and customers’ satisfaction of retail stores are positively related. | H2:| Reliability and customers’ satisfaction of retail stores are positively related. | H3:| Personal interaction and customers’ satisfaction of retail stores. | H4:| Problem solving and customers’ satisfaction of retail stores are positively related. | H5:| Policy and customers’ satisfaction of retail stores are positively related. In calculating the Pearson’s coefficient of correlation, the confidence level for the analysis is assumed as 95% and the correlation is significant at the level of 0. 01 (two-tailed).
Pearson’s coefficient of correlation between the customer satisfaction and the service quality is shown in the following table- Correlation between the customer satisfaction and the service quality | Physical Aspects| Reliability| Personal Interaction| Problem Solving| Policy| Customer Satisfaction| Physical Aspects| 1| | | | | | Reliability| . 587| 1| | | | | Personal Interaction| . 541| . 746| 1| | | | Problem Solving| . 490| . 657| . 645| 1| | | Policy| . 524| . 536| . 487| . 674| 1| | Customer Satisfaction| . 530| . 97| . 647| . 732| . 668| 1| In the above table it is seen that coefficient of correlation of physical aspect with customer satisfaction is . 530, coefficient of correlation reliability with customer satisfaction is . 597, coefficient of correlation of personal interaction with customer satisfaction is . 647, coefficient of correlation of problem solving with customer satisfaction is . 732, and coefficient of correlation of policy with customer satisfaction is . 668 which are indicating that physical aspect, reliability, personal interaction, problem solving, and policy are significantly and positively correlated with customer satisfaction.
Moreover, it is seen customer satisfaction is highly correlated with the problem solving dimension of the service quality. Finally, from the results of Pearson’s coefficient of correlation the conclusion can be drawn that all the hypotheses- H1, H2, H3, H4, and H5 are supported. 4. 4. 2The Summary of Hypotheses Results Hypotheses| Result| H1:| Physical aspect and customers’ satisfaction of retail stores are positively related. | Supported| H2:| Reliability and customers’ satisfaction of retail stores are positively related. | Supported| H3:| Personal interaction and customers’ satisfaction of retail stores. | Supported| H4:| Problem solving and customers’ satisfaction of retail stores are positively related. Supported| H5:| Policy and customers’ satisfaction of retail stores are positively related. | Supported| CHAPTER-5 CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION 5. 1 OVERVIEW OF THE PROPOSEDRESEARCH This study is assigned to explore the relationship between the customer satisfaction and the high level of service quality in the context of the Tesco retail store. High level of service quality resulting in satisfied customers is the key to sustainable competitive advantage (Ismail et al. , 2009).
Satisfied customer is the asset for the organizations. When customers feel satisfied they become loyal to the organization and come back again and again to the store. Customer satisfaction is the prerequisite for making relationships. Satisfaction is the multi-dimensional construct and it is the feeling or attitude of a customer towards a product or service after it has been used”, (Jham and Khan, 2008).
The core objective of this research was to the relationship between the customer satisfaction and the high level of service quality. From the findings it is cleared that there is high positive correlation between the customer satisfaction and the high level of service quality. I also found that Physical aspect, Reliability, Personal interaction, Problem solving, and Policy are the most imperative factors to the service quality of the retail store- that was the second objective or question of this research.
Like any other service industry the retail industry is facing a rapidly changing market. Development of new technology, fears of doubtful economic, aggressive competition, changing climate are incomparable set of challenges to lower cost, increase efficiency, improve service quality, and increase customer satisfaction. It is difficult for the consumers to evaluate quality of the service than the goods quality. Service quality is the perceptions resulting from a comparison of customer expectations with actual service performance. Hurley and Estalami, (1998), “The service quality builds either as a gap between anticipation of service and apparent benefit of service, or supposed performance only”.
In contrast, “service quality scale is the mean to evaluate service quality”, (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry, 1985).
Feinburg, and de Ruyter (1995) claimed that the dimensions are means for evaluating professed service quality Service quality is evaluated by considering various dimensions of the service quality. Parasuraman et al. (1985) found “10 key determinants of service quality as experienced by the service provider and the consumer, such as reliability, responsiveness, competence, access, courtesy, communication, credibility, security, understanding knowing the customer, and tangibility to prepare a service quality structure, SERVQUAL”.
Later (in 1988), “they customized the structure to five determinants: reliability, assurance, tangibles, empathy, and responsiveness, or RATER”. When SERVQUAL gets fail, Dabholkar et al. , (1996) developed the Retail Service Quality Scale (RSQS).
The researchers took 17 items from SERVQUAL and added 11 new items from their study. Five dimensions are very much important to evaluate service quality; these are- Physical aspect, Reliability, Personal interaction, Problem solving, and Policy. The measurement of service quality includes 28 items which were taken from Dabholker et al. , (1996).
These items were distributed in 5 sub dimensions of service quality of the retail stores. items are related to physical aspect of sub dimension, 5 items are related to reliability sub dimension, 9 items are related to personal interaction sub dimension, 3 items belong to problem solving sub dimension, and 5 items are related policy sub dimension. Customer satisfaction toward the store was calculated using nine items scales which are established and taken from the earlier studies. Among 9 items, 4 items were taken from Bloemer and Oderken-Schroder (2002), 3 items from Bloemer and de Ruyter (2008), and 2 items from Patterson and Anuwichnont (2003).
To conduct the research on the relationship between the customer satisfaction and the high level of service quality I have chosen Tesco retail store as the case company. Jack Cohen founded Tesco in 1919 when he started to sell surplus groceries from a stall in the east end of London.
Cohen consolidated his initial small-scale success by joining forces with T. E. Stockwell, and the name Tesco was born. I prepared a questionnaire in three parts to conduct the survey. First part of the questionnaire includes the questions related to demographic data of the respondents. I n the second and third part of the questionnaire questions related to service quality and customer satisfaction were made to achieve the key objective of this study. In the last part of the questionnaire customer satisfaction related questions were made. The survey was conducted among the 200 people who come to the Tesco for shopping in the Becton city of UK.
An interview was taken with each customer and asked the predetermined questions part by part. Thereby the survey was completed by taking interview with 200 consumers. 5. 2 CONCLUSION The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between the customer satisfaction and the high level service quality. The empirical result of this research reveals that customer satisfaction is positively correlated with the high level service quality. This result is also supported with the previous research result regarding the customer satisfaction and high level service quality. From the findings it is cleared that there is high positive correlation between the customer satisfaction and the high level of service quality.
I also found that Physical aspect, Reliability, Personal interaction, Problem solving, and Policy are the most imperative factors to the service quality of the retail store- that was the second objective or question of this research. I conducted a survey among 200 people who come to the Tesco retail store in the Becton city, UK for shopping. The demographic data including gender, age, marital status, occupation, and monthly income reveal that among the 200 respondents 40% was male and 60% was female. Among 200 consumers 25 consumers were under 20 years, 50 consumers were between 20- 30 years, 60 consumers were between 31-40 years, 23 consumers were between 41-50 years, 22 consumers were between 51-60 years, and 20 consumers were above 60 years. 40% respondent was single, 50% was married, and 10% was divorce. 5 respondents were students, 50 respondents were housewife, the large portion of the respondents, 70 respondents, were employee, 45 respondents were professional, and 10 respondents were from other occupations. It was found that among 200 respondents 25 percent of the respondents have monthly income of less than ? 5000; 20 percent of the respondents have monthly income of ? 5,001 to ? 10,000; 45 percent of the respondents have monthly income of ? 10,001 to ? 15,000; and only 10 percent of the respondents have monthly income above ? 15000. In this study I used mean and standard deviation to describe the nature of the variables. Here mean of the variables indicates the average value of the responses investigated under 5- point Likert’s scale for all variables.
The degree of variability of the variables is measured by the standard deviation. The results of the descriptive statistics show that policy has the maximum mean value of 3. 95. Problem solving has the mean value of 3. 70, Personal interaction has the mean value of 3. 40, Physical aspect has the mean value of 3. 30, and reliability has the lowest mean value of 3. 20. From the mean result we see that all the variables have mean value more than of 3 where as the maximum value of each variable is 5; that indicate that policy Problem solving, Personal interaction, Physical aspect, and reliability have impotence in determining the service quality of the retail store.
The results also indicate that the service quality of the Tesco retail store is good. As the mean value of customer satisfaction regarding the service quality of the Tesco is 3. 80 that is slightly near to maximum of 5; so the customers are just satisfied on the service quality of the Tesco but they are not highly satisfied. The standard deviation or the variability of all the variables did not exceed 1. Here the results of the standard deviations of the variables indicate the responses really express what is thinking by the actual population parameter. To explore the core objective of this study I used hypotheses testing. I developed five hypotheses considering five dimensions of service quality.
The hypotheses are H1-indicating a positive relationship between physical aspect and customers’ satisfaction of retail stores, H2-indicating a positive relationship between reliability and customers’ satisfaction of retail stores, H3- indicating a positive relationship between personal interaction and customers’ satisfaction of retail stores, H4- indicating a positive relationship between problem solving and customers’ satisfaction of retail stores, and H5- indicating a positive relationship between policy and customers’ satisfaction of retail stores. I used Pearson’s coefficient of correlation to test the developed hypotheses. In calculating the Pearson’s coefficient of correlation, the confidence level for the analysis is assumed as 95% and the correlation is significant at the level of 0. 01 (two-tailed).
After calculating Pearson’s coefficient of correlation I found that H1=0. 530, H2=0. 597, H3=0. 647, H4=0. 732, and H5=0. 668. The results show that all hypotheses are supported.
A summary of the results of the hypotheses are shown in the following table: Hypotheses| Result| H1:| Physical aspect and customers’ satisfaction of retail stores are positively related. | Supported| H2:| Reliability and customers’ satisfaction of retail stores are positively related. | Supported| H3:| Personal interaction and customers’ satisfaction of retail stores. | Supported| H4:| Problem solving and customers’ satisfaction of retail stores are positively related. | Supported| H5:| Policy and customers’ satisfaction of retail stores are positively related. | Supported| Service quality CUSTOMER SATISFACTION H5=. 668 H3=. 647 Physical aspect Reliability Personal interaction
Problem solving Policy | H1=. 530 H2=. 597 H4=. 732 Finally, it can be concluded that there is a relationship between the customer satisfaction and the high level of service quality; and the relationship is highly positive. By analyzing the results of descriptive statistics it can also be said that the service quality of the Tesco retail store is good and the customers are also satisfied but not highly satisfied. I also found that Physical aspect, Reliability, Personal interaction, Problem solving, and Policy are the most imperative factors to the service quality of the retail store- that was the second objective or question of this research.
Regarding the third or final research question how customer satisfaction and high level of service quality affect the performance of the retail store I found that Tesco retail store is providing service to the customer very well and quality service as the respective calculated mean of the each service quality dimension was above and around 3. 50; So the customers were satisfied with the delivered service but not highly satisfied. In reality it is not possible to satisfy all customers. Thereby, it can be said that Tesco is running its retail business with maintain a good performance. 5. 3 RECOMENDATION The importance of customer satisfaction has been testified by various researchers and academicians. “Customer is the king of any business”. To do business successfully and with maintain a good profitability business organizations have to attract their customers and they have to satisfy their customers in a better way than their competitors do”. Customer satisfaction is the psychological state of customer that he or she experience after using the product or service. The basic conceptualization of customer satisfaction depend two aspects: Firstly the expectation of a customer from a product; Second aspect is the perception about the product in relation to expectation. Retailers should always attempt to make sure that their customers are very satisfied. Retailers need to look into the needs and wants of their customers to be winner in the complex business competition. Service quality I the most essential factor to customer satisfaction in retail business.
High level of service quality leads customer to be satisfied and turns the satisfied customers into the loyal customer. Several previous studies were found that high level of service quality and customer satisfaction is strongly positively related. This study also has found that customer satisfaction is highly positively related with the high level of service quality. Service quality is influenced by some important dimensions of service; these are physical aspect, reliability, personal interaction, problem solving, and policy. These dimensions of service quality could be improved by focusing on some factors that are found by various researchers.
A retailer should emphasize on the following factors to provide high level of quality service to the customers- To improve the physical aspect following factors should be considered: 1. Modern-looking equipment and fixtures; 2. Visually appealing physical facilities; 3. Visually appealing materials associated with this store’s service (such as shopping bag, catalogs, or statements) 4. Clean, attractive, and convenient public areas (restrooms, fitting rooms); 5. Accessible store layout that help customers to find what they need; To improve the reliability following factors should be considered: 1. Delivering service as promised; 2.
Delivering services right the first time; 3. Providing service at the promised time; 4. Informing customers about when service will be provided; 5. Keeping merchandise available when the customers want it; 6. Maintaining error free sales transactions and records. To improve personal interaction following factors should be considered: 1. Recruiting knowledgeable employees so that they can answer customers ‘question; 2. Keeping employees who instill confidence in customers; 3. Keeping employees making customers feel safe in their transactions; 4. Keeping employees who are always courteous; 5. Keeping employees who provide prompt service to customers; 6.
Keeping employees who have willingness to help customers; 7. Providing customers individual attention; 8. Readiness to respond to customers’ requests. To improve problem solving following factors should be considered: 1. Willingly handles returns and exchanges; 2. Showing a sincere interest in solving problems faced by customers; 3. Handle customer complaints directly and immediately. A retail store’s policy should focus on following factors: 1. Offering high quality merchandise; 2. Providing plenty of convenient parking for customers; 3. Having operating hour convenient to all their customers; 4. Offering its own credit card; 5. Accepting most major credit cards.
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