The effect of supermarket service quality dimensions and customer satisfaction on customer loyalty and disloyalty dimensions

Telecommunications service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in pandemic times

Purpose

This study aims to empirically explore telecommunications service quality (SQ) and its impact on the customer loyalty (CL) through a mediating impact of customer satisfaction (CS) during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey was conducted involving 384 customers of telecommunications service providers in Egypt. The hypothesized direct relationships were tested through regression analysis, and the mediating effect was tested using structural equation modeling technique.

Findings

The results reveal a strong positive relationship of SQ dimensions, CS and CL. Reliability, privacy and security and convenience, respectively, proved to increase CS and CL more than the other SQ dimensions, particularly during COVID-19. Moreover, CS was found to significantly and fully mediate the effect of SQ on CL.

Research limitations/implications

This is an empirical research applied in the Egyptian telecommunications setting. Its relationships need further investigation in other settings and countries. Also, traditional limitations of a cross-sectional study apply with respect to the attribution of causality and the time lag effects.

Practical implications

In strategic planning of telecommunications services and the associated consumer behavior, the results of this study can be helpful for policymakers. In case of similar epidemics and natural calamities, consumers may depict similar behavior as shown during the lockdown and social distancing during COVID-19; hence, this study can help regulatory bodies in preparing their safety roadmap.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the body of knowledge in enhancing the understanding on the impact of telecommunications SQ on CS and loyalty, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

The effect of multidimensional service quality on word of mouth in university on-campus healthcare centers

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of multidimensional service quality on word of mouth (WOM) in university on-campus healthcare centers.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from self-administered questionnaires involving a sample of 407 currently enrolled student-patients visiting the on-campus university healthcare centers in the Jordanian capital, Amman. Non-probability convenience sampling was performed in this study. Factor analysis and multiple and hierarchical multiple regression methods were used to analyze the data and test the proposed relationships.

Findings

The results show that the primary dimensions (administration quality, interpersonal quality and technical quality) had a significant and positive impact on WOM, with administration quality appearing as the most influential factor leading to WOM. At the subdimensions level, the findings of this study revealed that interaction activity had the most significant predictive value on WOM compared to the other service quality subdimensions. An insignificant relationship between atmosphere, tangibles, relationship activity and WOM was found.

Practical implications

This study suggests that university administrators and managers of other high-contact service sectors (e.g. hospitality and travel services, tourism education services, financial and insurance services and public services) ought to take into consideration both service quality subdimensions and satisfaction as significant strategic endpoints, as these inputs provide a roadmap for administrators to elicit positive WOM from customers with regard to their businesses.

Originality/value

This study provided its contribution by presenting a comprehensive model of WOM formation and offering specific insights for the on-campus healthcare centers in higher education institutions. This is also the first study conducted in the Middle East, particularly in Jordan.

A data examination on a supermarket dataset in Taiwan

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to focus on a database from a supermarket for market segmentation.

Design/methodology/approach

Rather than using the questionnaire to collect the customers' purchase behaviors, this study uses a database from a supermarket as an example to illustrate how market segmentation can be performed by adding useful variables particularly from behavioral variables and through Chi-square test and analysis of variance.

Findings

The illustration of the database from a branch supermarket shows that two demographic variables (gender and age group) and two behavioral variables (date of transactions and time of purchase) are critical variables for market segmentation when total money spent and purchased merchandize items are taken into consideration.

Practical implications

This case study can be a reference for supermarket practitioners to follow in order to increase profit and to provide better services for their customers.

Originality/value

No studies have been found to combine demographic variables, behavioral variables, merchandize items and total amount for market segmentation simultaneously. Different combinations of demographic variables, behavioral variables and merchandize items can be further used to perform market segmentation more effectively. This framework used in this case study can be further applied in similar industries including retail industries for market segmentation as well as to fulfill customer needs in practice.

Determining the role of service quality, trust and commitment to customer loyalty for telecom service users: a PLS-SEM approach

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to determine the role of service quality (SQ), trust and commitment to customer loyalty (CL) for telecom service users. Further, the moderating role of gender, marital status and connection type within the model was tested.

Design/methodology/approach

A measurement model was created based on valid 615 responses from Indian TSUs for SQ, trust, commitment and loyalty with the help of partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Multi-group analysis (MGA) was conducted to understand the moderating effect of marital status, gender and connection type within the model.

Findings

The results suggest that, out of five dimensions of SQ, only responsiveness, assurance and empathy have a significant positive relationship with both commitment and trust. Tangibility has a significant positive relationship with trust only. Both commitment and trust have a significant impact on loyalty. It was noticed that both commitment and trust act as mediators between three SQ dimensions (assurance, empathy and responsiveness) and CL. MGA revealed that empathy and responsiveness positively induce trust in telecom users who are single. Whereas, assurance increases commitment toward telecom service providers in married users. Assurance and empathy significantly contribute toward commitment and trust, respectively, in male users as compared to females. Empathy was found important for postpaid users for trust-building, whereas trust was found to be more important for prepaid users to stay loyal to the service provider.

Originality/value

This article contributes toward understanding the role of SQ, trust and commitment to CL moderated by marital status, gender and connection type in an integrated model concerning telecom service.

The synergetic effect of after sales service, customer satisfaction, loyalty and repurchase intention on word of mouth

Purpose

Under a dynamic business environment that is seen today, organizations need to adopt the right blend of strategies to attract, retain and maintain customers. Extant marketing literature has shed light on some key roles that after-sale service and the larger customer support system could play in attaining the same. Specifically, this paper aims to attempt to model the linkages between after-sales service, service quality, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and word of mouth (WOM).

Design/methodology/approach

A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 280 two-wheeler owners, who had a recent experience of after sales service at their respective authorized service centers, through purposive sampling method.

Findings

The findings reveal that both customer loyalty and repurchase intention significantly and positively mediate the relationship between customer satisfaction and word of mouth. This indicates that satisfied customers are more likely to be loyal to the service firms and would spontaneously engage themselves with positive word of mouth.

Originality/value

Despite the increasing importance of after-sales service, empirical researches on this subject have been quite limited. This study aims at filling the void in extant literature by examining the inter-relationships between after-sales service, service quality, customer satisfaction and WOM.

Determinants of service quality and its effect on customer satisfaction and loyalty: an empirical study of private banking sector

Purpose

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of various service quality dimensions, namely reliability, responsiveness, visibility, employee commitment and access to service on customer satisfaction in the private banking sector of Bangladesh. The research also investigates the relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty and effect of demographic variables on customer satisfaction.

Design/methodology/approach

The researchers distributed 320 self-administered survey questionnaires among private banks' customers in Bangladesh and obtained 200 useable responses with a 62.5% valid response rate. The research data were analysed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM) approaches. Analysis of variance and logistic regression have also been used to obtain the supplementary findings.

Findings

The research findings indicate that visibility, responsiveness and employee commitment have positive and significant effect on customer satisfaction, whereas reliability and access to service are found to have insignificant influence on customer satisfaction of private banking services. The findings of this study also revealed that customer satisfaction has positive and significant relationship with customer loyalty. But except respondents' occupation type, all other demographic variables have no statistically significant relation with customer satisfaction.

Research limitations/implications

The research focused solely on the private banking sector of Bangladesh, and thus the results may not be applicable to other service sectors.

Originality/value

This study conducted on customers' perception of private banking services is based on extended service quality dimensions and its relationship with customer satisfaction towards loyalty. The present research findings are anticipated to offer the guidelines for improving the customer satisfaction and loyalty of private banking services in Bangladesh as well as other countries.