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The paths from service quality dimensions to customer loyalty

An application on supermarket customers
Olgun Kitapci
Department of Marketing, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey

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Ibrahim Taylan Dortyol

Department of Business, Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, Turkey

hrem Yaman Zu
Department of Health Management, Selc uk University, Konya, Turkey, and

Mustafa Gulmez
Department of Tourism, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey
Abstract
Purpose The aim of this study is to determine the paths between the ve SERVQUAL dimensions, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on a sample of 505 supermarket customers in Turkey who have completed a self-administered questionnaire. The paper uses means, such as standard deviation and multiple regression analysis, to analyze and propose the conceptual model on supermarket management. Findings The paper concludes that empathy, tangibility, responsiveness, and assurance are factors that are positively related to customer satisfaction, which in turn is positively related to customer loyalty. Originality/value The paper provides certain suggestions to supermarket managers regarding the terms of service quality dimensions, satisfaction, and loyalty. Keywords Service quality dimensions, Customer satisfaction, Customer loyalty, Supermarkets, Turkey Paper type Research paper

Introduction The importance of the service sector in the global economy is rapidly increasing. Services are estimated to constitute nearly 75 and 80 percent of the value of the US economy (Laroche et al., 2004). The supermarket sector, which was a growing sector in the USA in the 1920s, emerged in Turkey in 1954 with Migros and Gima (the most popular supermarkets in Turkey) and became widespread between the dates 1960 and 1970. By the year 2000, a signicant increase in the numbers of the supermarkets, and especially hypermarkets, was clearly evident. In 2001, there were 435 supermarkets in Turkey. By 2003, that gure reached 968 and in 2005 soared to 1,872. It has been declared that the estimations for 2012 are that there will be 2,840 supermarkets in Turkey (http://arsiv.sabah.com.tr). The sector in question, which has risen to become a locomotive industry in Turkeys economy, with both its growth and employment gures, continued to perform in the rst nine months of 2011. According to the employment index of Kariyer.net, one of the

Management Research Review Vol. 36 No. 3, 2013 pp. 239-255 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 2040-8269 DOI 10.1108/01409171311306391

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largest human resources platforms, in the rst nine months of the year, there was an increase of 45 percent in employment gures from the supermarket sector (www. haberler.gen.al). Prior to providing the literature review, which is related to the factors of the present study, it will be helpful to provide information on the service structure of the Turkish supermarket in order to avoid concerns regarding the effects of service levels on the consumer perceived service quality. Accordingly, in Turkish supermarkets, the service encounter process is still an important tool for supermarkets to differentiate themselves from competitors. In supermarkets where homogenous products are sold in general, specic factors such as store atmosphere, providing sufcient and dependable service, accessibility, courteousness, suave, and sophisticated employees who are willing to help the consumer, directly affect the consumers service quality perceptions. Therefore, improving customer satisfaction and delivering better quality service than competitors helps service providers to differentiate their offerings (Jamal and Anastasiadou, 2007). It is well known that service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty are becoming the most important factors of successful business competition for service providers (Rust et al., 1995; Zeithaml, 1996). The nature of the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction has always been an attractive eld of study (Tam, 2004). Quality and satisfaction, along with value, were propounded as service-oriented constructs which should be investigated to understand the dynamics of loyalty based on behaviors such as repurchase and word-of-mouth (WOM) referrals (Hutchinson et al., 2009). Therefore, as the development of service quality has been identied as a key strategy to increase the level of customer satisfaction and intention to revisit, providing quality service for customers poses great importance for both retention and customer satisfaction (Lee et al., 2011), which is described as a precondition for customer loyalty (Tam, 2004). As a result, service managers and researchers have directed their efforts towards understanding the customers perceptions of service quality, and towards the manner in which these perceptions are reected on customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions (Olorunniwo et al., 2006). It is very difcult, however, to nd studies related to service quality dimensions and their effects on customer satisfaction and its customer satisfaction on the factors of customer loyalty such as positive word-of-mouth (p-WOM) and repurchase intention in the supermarket sector. As Jamal and Anastasiadou (2007, p. 398) stated, despite a signicant interest in service quality and its dimensions, very little research has investigated the effects of specic dimensions of service quality on satisfaction and loyalty. In conclusion, the purpose of our study is to investigate the path of service quality ! customer satisfaction ! customer loyalty. We nd this study particularly to be interesting because there have been no such studies conducted in Turkey, concerning customer loyalty for supermarkets. The remainder of the paper is organized as follows: following a brief presentation of the perceived service quality, satisfaction and loyalty, the research hypotheses are proposed and the research methodology is detailed. The analysis of the collected data and the testing of the hypotheses are complemented by a discussion of the main results in relation to the complementing literature. The article ends with a revision of the main ndings and limitations of this study, and also includes suggestions for future research.

Literature reviews and hypotheses development Perceived service quality Until the mid-1980s, the majority of studies on product quality focused on the physical aspect of product quality. From that date on however, studies have begun to consider the distinguishing features of services, which have since formed the basis for revising the quality denition for services (Soteriou and Chase, 1998). Dening the concept of quality is the most important criteria in the economic development of international companies, whereas under different circumstances it has prevented the emergence of a universal denition (Reeves and Bednar, 1994). In addition, it is difcult to dene service quality as opposed to the quality of goods. The general denition of quality is satisfying customers requirements (Ghobadian et al., 1994). Service quality, as an output of the service encountering process, is dened as the level of service offered to meet customer expectations (Duffy et al., 1997). Accordingly, the concept of service quality emerged as the result of the interaction between consumer and service provider (Leisen and Vance, 2001). The denition of service quality from customer viewpoint is as follows (Parasuruman et al., 1985, in Johns, 1999, p. 965):
Service quality is an inference regarding the superiority of a product or service based on a rational assessment of characteristics or attributes, or an affective judgment or emotional response similar to an attitude.

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nroos (1984) stated that service rms should dene perceived service quality and Gro determine the inuence of service quality in order to compete successfully. Accordingly, he explained the perceived service quality as being the outcome of an evaluation process. In this process, the customer compares expectations and perceptions with the result of the process, referred as perceived service quality. nroos study, Parasuruman et al. (1985) suggested a Accordingly, a year after Gro conceptual model. Similarly, they claimed that service quality is a comparison between expectations and performance. They conceptualized the perceived service quality as follows (Parasuruman et al., 1988, p. 16):
A global judgment, or attitude, related to the superiority of the service.

Within the framework of the European thought process which is also known as the nroos (2001) stated that the technical quality and the Scandinavian school, Gro functional quality dimensions of a service replace the physical features of a product. The image dimension has entered into the model as a dynamic factor. That is due to the fact that customers then transfer their general perceptions and previous experiences with them to the next service encounter process. Among the consumer satisfaction theories, some researchers, including Parasuruman and his colleagues, dene service quality as the gap between service perceptions and customer expectations (Vinagre and Neves, 2008). The North American School has focused its research on the intangible factors with the assumption that there are very few tangible factors in the service encounter process (Perez et al., 2007). The most important advocates of this tradition, Parasuruman and his colleagues have greatly contributed to the eld of service quality with the SERVQUAL scale they developed in light of the Scandinavian service management school nroos (Chowdhary and Prakash, 2007). and especially the pioneering work done by Gro

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The research focused on the notion that quality evaluation should not only focus on service output but should also embody the service encounter process (Kang, 2006). The Gap Model, which was rst developed by Parasuruman and his colleagues, is considered the most eminent work done on the topic (Jun et al., 2004), and focuses on the differences between consumers viewpoints and marketers viewpoints (Svensson, 2006), has evoked a revolution (Redman and Mathews, 1998), and encouraged many researchers to investigate service quality contributors as part of the marketing concept (Chowdhary and Prakash, 2007). The debates and contributions within the framework of measuring and conceptualizing service quality have evolved around the SERVQUAL scale (Espinoza, 1999), and the roots of the efforts of conceptualizing service quality have now reached to that model and scale (Hamer, 2006). The pioneer work of Parasuruman et al. (1988), propounded that service quality leans on multi-dimensional factors (Saunders, 2008). This conceptual model provides an advantage on easily understanding service quality components (Kuei and Lu, 1997). Parasuruman et al. (1985) mentioned the presence of ve gaps that negatively affect service quality: Gap 1. Consumer expectations vs management perceptions. Gap 2. Management perceptions vs service quality specications. Gap 3. Service quality specications vs service encounter process. Gap 4. Service encounter process vs outsider communication. Gap 5. Expected service vs perceived service. The aforementioned studies are invaluable for service quality management. Especially, the Parasuruman team with Zeithaml and Berry has especially greatly contributed to the development and expansion of the service quality eld (Caruana et al., 1998). The service quality concept is focused on how the service meets the consumers needs and demands (Lewis et al., 1994). All of these denitions lean towards the assumption that consumers may evaluate an object only after she/he has interpreted or perceived it and parallel-wise, they may then comprehend the service quality by comparing the perceptions and expectations after having received the service (Lee et al., 2000). The interest in the service quality eld and the complexity of the factors dening service quality has given rise to the generation of numerous multi-dimensional models (Ekinci, 2002; Brogowicz et al., 1990). Some of the most important research conducted nroos (1984), Parasuruman et al. (1985), Haywood-Farmer on the topic includes: Gro (1988), Parasuruman et al. (1988), Brogowicz et al. (1990), Babakus and Mangold (1992), Mattsson (1992), Teas (1993), Cronin and Taylor (1994) and Philip and Hazlett (1997). It can be concluded from these studies that service quality has numbers of dimensions; however there is no concrete agreement on the exact nature of the dimensions (Murray and Howat, 2002). The SERVQUAL model has been pointed to as being the most extensively and successfully used service quality measurement in the twenty-rst century (Kassim and Abdullah, 2010). The ve dimensions of SERVQUAL: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy are shown in Table I. In an early study on customers service quality perceptions, Becker et al. (1997) measured customers perceptions and expectations in oral service quality. The results of that study exposed the nding that the reliability was the most important and the

tangibles dimension was the least important of the ve SERVQUAL dimensions. In a study by Bougoure and Lee (2009), a comparison between wet markets and supermarkets was made in the context of SERVQUAL dimensions, and the results revealed that supermarkets were perceived to be more reliable and more responsive than wet markets; in addition they offered better tangibles and greater level of personalization. In a similar study performed by Torlak et al. (2010), discount stores and supermarkets in Turkey were investigated via the customer perception of service quality dimensions. Accordingly, supermarket customers perceived physical aspects and store policy dimensions to be at a higher level, in contrast, discount store customers gave more priority to personal interaction. There are several studies which indicate that perceived service quality is the antecedent of satisfaction (Lee et al., 2000; Murray and Howat, 2002) or that it has direct and indirect effects on behavioral intentions such as loyalty and p-WOM (Ladhari, 2009) or that there is a positive relationship between service quality, satisfaction, and revisit intension (Lee et al., 2011) or that service quality positively inuences customer satisfaction (Kuo et al., 2009). Service quality has established itself as being an important determinant of both customer satisfaction (Falk et al., 2010) and WOM communication (Matos and Rossi, 2008). One of the main purposes of the present study is to determine the dominant service quality dimensions for supermarkets. By doing so, the interrelationships between these dimensions and customer satisfaction and loyalty will be investigated and their contribution to cumulative satisfaction determined. Hence our prior hypotheses are: H1. Tangibles have a signicantly positive inuence on customer satisfaction. H2. Reliability has a signicantly positive inuence on customer satisfaction. H3. Responsiveness has a signicantly positive inuence on customer satisfaction. H4. Assurance has a signicantly positive inuence on customer satisfaction. H5. Empathy has a signicantly positive inuence on customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction and customer loyalty Customer satisfaction, which has been considered by many rms to be a powerful intangible asset for competitive advantage in the global arena (Ueltschy et al., 2009), is the response of the customer who evaluates his/her prior expectations and actual performance of the product/service (Ueltschy et al., 2009). Here, expectations correspond to predictions about what will happen in the future (Ueltschy et al., 2004, 2009). Accordingly, in the service management literature, customer satisfaction can be dened
Dimensions Tangibles Reliability Responsiveness Assurance Empathy Source: Lee et al. (2011) Explanations Physical facilities, equipment, and appearance of personnel Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately Willingness to help customer and provide prompt service Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and condence Caring, individualized attention the rm provides its customers

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Table I. Five dimensions of SERVQUAL

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as being a summary of cognitive and affective reaction to a service incident or to a long-term service relationship (Lee et al., 2011). In other words, customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction in services marketing is a result of experience of the customer with a service quality encounter and comparison of that encounter with the expectations (Caruana et al., 1998). Therefore, satisfaction is admitted to being idiosyncratic, because it is the interaction of perceptual interpretation of expectations of the service provided by that service encounter (Ueltschy et al., 2007). Satised customers may be a great source to increase protability. That is because satised customers are likely to commit to the service organization and have better social interaction with service providers, while dissatised customers complain more and repurchase less (Lee et al., 2011). However, satised customers will only seek out the service provider in the future and will also be willing to pay a premium price for that service (Ueltschy et al., 2007). Customer satisfaction is considered to be one of the main factors that inuences repurchase intention (Ueltschy et al., 2007). One of the other contributions of satised customers to the rm is p-WOM. In marketing literature, researchers have reported that WOM plays an important role in the product choice process and in the selection of service providers (Gilly et al., 1998). In actuality, p-WOM is a very important advertising tool for rms. According to early studies, it is nine times as effective as traditional advertising (Mazzarol et al., 2007, p. 1476). WOM may be dened as an informal communication source among senders and receivers in regards to the service or product (Murray, 1991). Sweeney et al. (2008) suggests that the potential for WOM to impact perceptions or actions depends on the nature of the sender-receiver relationship, the richness and strength of the message and its delivery. It is an emotionally expressed behavior that will inuence others purchasing intentions by informing them of a superior experience (Kassim and Abdullah, 2010). In the context of the service quality eld, it can be stated that the consumer with high service quality perception will intend to recommend the service provider, and in this manner, a p-WOM will occur (Gounaris et al., 2003). This recommendation is an explicit encouragement to visit a service provider (Money et al., 1998). Repurchase intention and p-WOM together compose loyalty. Kassim and Abdullah (2010) have stated that loyalty determines behavioral intentions and is a key predictor of a brands purchase and repurchase intentions. Customer loyalty is dened as being a strong commitment to re-buy and re-patronize a service in the future (Jamal and Anastasiadou, 2007; Kandampully and Suhartanto, 2000). However, loyal and satised customers recommend services to others in the context of p-WOM (Olorunniwo et al., 2006; Kandampully and Suhartanto, 2000; Kitapci and Dortyol, 2009). It has been found that customer satisfaction (and value) is a signicant determinant of loyalty (Lai et al., 2009). Thus, the related hypotheses are: H6. Customer satisfaction has a signicantly positive inuence on customer repurchase intention. H7. Customer satisfaction has a signicantly positive inuence on p-WOM. Research model The research model for measuring satisfaction and loyalty of supermarket sector is shown in Figure 2 with model results. This model consists of seven latent variables: tangibility, responsibility, assurance, responsiveness, empathy, satisfaction, and loyalty.

Methodology The survey questionnaire consists of two parts. The rst part includes statements to measure the level of service quality and the satisfaction and loyalty levels of customers. For measuring the service quality 17 statements are used. These questions were adapted from Kueh and Voon (2007). In accordance with the original model (Parasuruman et al., 1985) tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy are included as quality dimensions. Each of these dimensions is measured with three or four statements in the questionnaire. Three statements were used to measure the customer satisfaction and two statements measured customer loyalty. These items were adapted from Laroche et al. (2004) and Nam (2008). The second part includes items to determine the demographic proles of the respondents. In part one, a ve-point Likert scale was used for data collection with 1 as completely agree and 5 as completely disagree (Likert, 1934). Reliability and internal consistency of statements are measured by Cronbachs a coefcient values. The data were collected from customers of Oncu Supermarket which is planning to be a national supermarket chain with 60 branches (actual number is 30) in Turkey. A systematic sampling technique was used (Nakip, 2003). The questionnaire was pilot tested in early November 2011 by 20 supermarket customers. Respondents in the pilot test did not have problems with the questionnaire, although a few minor changes of wording were suggested. Following the pilot test, a large-scale consumer questionnaire was administered by 50 research students (of a local university). The survey took place in 30 branches of Oncu Supermarket in a period between 28 November and 15 December 2011. They interviewed 510 consumers. Five were not included in the analysis because of incompleteness error. 505 questionnaires were considered as useful which represents a 99 percent response rate. The questionnaire was in Turkish. Face-to-face interviews were conducted in order to ensure a high response rate and to reduce the missing data in the questionnaires. SPSS 18.0 for Windows was used for data analysis. Descriptive statistics such as means, standard deviation, regression and factor analysis, frequency tests were calculated. Findings Table II summarizes the demographics of the respondents. The sample of consumers contained more males (56.4 percent) than females (43.6 percent). About 34.5 percent of the respondents were between 21 and 30 years of age which is followed by 31-40 age group (22.4 percent) and 41-50 age group (15.2 percent). Most of the respondents were married (71.9 percent). About 44.6 percent of the respondents have graduate degree, followed by high school degree group (26.3 percent), primary school degree (17.6 percent), and secondary school degree group (8.7 percent). The most of the participants incomes are 750 TL and lower (37.6). About 26.9 percent of the sample perceived their incomes as much lower and 43.2 percent as little lower. A signicant result that shows the economic status of the consumers is that just 2.5 percent and 3.1 percent of the participants considered their incomes, respectively, as little higher and much higher. The rate of the consumers who thought they had an average income is 25.6 percent (Table II). Results of descriptive statistics and Cronbachs a are illustrated in Table III. The Cronbachs a value for three items of satisfaction is 78.6 percent. For the three items in

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Age 20 and lower 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61 above Total Level of education Literate First school Second school High school Graduate degree Master or doctorate degree Total Gender Female Male Total Income c 750 TL and lower 751-1,250 TL 1,251-1,750 TL 1,751-2,250 TL 2,251 TL and more Total Jobs Student Pensioner Ofcer Employee Housewife Self-employed Total

(F)a 60 174 113 77 57 24 505 5 89 44 133 225 9 505 220 285 505 190 136 73 67 39 505 124 43 80 38 103 110 505

(P)b 11.8 34.5 22.4 15.2 11.3 4.8 100 1.0 17.6 8.7 26.3 44.6 1.8 100 43.6 56.4 100 37.6 26.9 14.5 13.3 7.7 100 24.6 8.5 15.8 7.5 20.5 21.8 100

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Table II. Demographic breakdown of the respondents

Notes: aF frequency; bP percentage; c1 USD 1.90 TL; n 505

responsiveness dimension alpha is 76.1 percent; for three items in empathy dimension alpha is 74 percent; for four items in assurance dimension alpha is 73.9 percent; for two items in loyalty alpha is 71.3 percent; for three items in reliability dimension alpha is 70.8 percent and nally for four items in tangibility dimension alpha is 64.5. The mean values, maximum and minimum values, standard deviations, number of items and reliability analysis are summarized in Table III. Table III indicates that customers placed highest marks for the following statements: supermarket uses modern equipments (4.48), I would like to revisit the supermarket that I have already dealt with (4.28) and your entire experience with the supermarket; overall you are very satised with the supermarket (4.22). Generally, arithmetic means of model variables are in a range from 3.43 to 4.48. On the other hand, standard deviations of individual statements range from 0.917 to 1.283.

Variables Empathy Employees in the supermarket understand particular needs of their customers Employees in the supermarket dedicate enough personal attention to customers The supermarket leaves an impression that what is best for a customer is always the supermarkets priority Reliability The supermarket provides its services without making mistakes Promises given to customers are being met within agreed time frame Employees in the supermarket show sincere efforts to solve customerss problems Responsiveness Employees in the supermarket provide prompt and actual service to customers Employees in the supermarket are ready to assist clients at any moment Employees in the supermarket provide customers with all necessary information Tangibility Supermarket uses modern equipment Employees in the supermarket have a professional looking Interior of the supermarket is attractive Materials such as informative signs regarding supermarket are visually appealing and easy to understand Assurance Employee behavior raises customers condence Customers of the supermarket feel condent regarding all travel arrangement elements (product transport from supermarket to customers home) Employees in the supermarket are polite to their customers Employees in the supermarket have necessary knowledge to answer all questions raised by customers Satisfaction Assuming you view your entire experience with the supermarket, overall you are very satised with the supermarket In general, my satisfaction level related to the supermarket that I have already deal with is high Complete service offer by a supermarket is signicantly above expected Loyalty I would like to revisit the supermarket that I have already deal with I recommend my close environment to visit the supermarket that I have already deal with

Cronbachs a 0.740

Mean 3.80 3.74 3.76

SD 1.157 1.198 1.145 1.129 1.315 1.210 1.155 1.179 1.101 1.025 1.098 1.182 1.147 0.917 1.256 1.186 1.229 1.063 1.045 1.080 0.974 1.154 1.026 0.926 0.973 1.181 1.119 0.956 1.283

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0.708

3.92 3.86 3.67 3.92

0.761

4.00 4.02 4.03 4.14

0.645

3.89 3.92 4.48 3.62 3.78 3.80 4.05 4.19 4.06 4.24

0.739

0.786

3.74 3.91 4.22 4.08

0.713

3.43 4.11 4.28 3.95

Table III. Descriptive statistics of variables

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Finally, an adequate level of reliability is notable among all variables except tangibility variable (Cronbachs a values were higher than 0.7). Multiple regression analysis is used to test the relationships between variables. The results of multiple regression analysis are shown in Table IV. The general purpose of multiple regressions is to learn more about the relationship between several independent or predictor variables and a dependent or criterion variable (Nakip, 2003, p. 310). The results in Table IV show that independent variables together describe 56 percent of customer satisfaction variability. The value of R 2 coefcient is signicant (F 126.753, p , 0.01). The impacts of four service quality variables on consumer satisfaction are signicant. The Beta coefcients of empathy, responsiveness, tangibility, and assurance are, respectively, 0.244, 0.102, 0.237, and 0.218. Empathy dimension (t 5.579, p 0.000), responsiveness dimension (t 2.172, p 0.030), tangibility dimension (t 5.537, p 0.000), and assurance dimension (t 4.012, p 0.000) dimensions are signicantly connected with customer satisfaction. Reliability dimension has not a signicantly positive inuence on customer satisfaction. From the beta estimates, it can be said that empathy dimension is strongly connected to customer satisfaction than other four service quality dimensions. On the other hand, employees in the supermarket understand needs of their customers. Application of regression analysis assumes that the variables have a linear relationship with each other. The scatterplot matrices in Figure 1 show that, all assumptions are accepted. Therefore, it is considered that no further transformation is required for the independent variables. The results in Table V show that customer satisfaction signicantly contributes on repurchase intention (F 326.788, p 0.000) at the 1 percent signicance level and predicts 40.2 percent of the variance in repurchase intention. The Beta coefcients of customer satisfaction is 0.701 which shows that customer satisfaction (t 18.401; p 0.000) is signicantly connected with repurchase intention. From the beta estimate, it can be said that customer satisfaction is strongly connected with repurchase intention. The results in Table VI show that customer satisfaction signicantly contributes on p-WOM (F 170.484, p 0.000) at the 1 percent signicance level and predicts 25.3 percent of the variance in p-WOM. The Beta coefcients of customer satisfaction is 0.701 which shows that customer satisfaction (t 13.057; p 0.000) is signicantly connected with p-WOM. From the beta estimate, it can be said that customer satisfaction is strongly connected to the p-WOM.

Independent variables (Constant) Empathy Responsiveness Reliability Tangibility Assurance

Beta coefcients 0.401 0.244 0.102 0.081 0.237 0.218

t-value 2.648 5.579 2.172 1.882 5.537 4.012

p-value 0.008 0.000 * * 0.030 * 0.060 0.000 * * 0.000 * *

Table IV. Multiple regression analysis of SERVQUAL dimensions towards customer satisfaction

Notes: Signicant at: *p , 0.05; * *p , 0.01 levels; R 0.748; R 2 0.559; F 126.753; Sig. F 0.000

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SAT

EMP

ASS

RES

REL

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SAT

TAN

REL

RES

ASS

EMP

Notes: Abbreviations are as follows: TAN tangibility, REL reliability, RES responsiveness, ASS assurance, EMP empathy, and SAT satisfaction

Figure 1. Scatterplot matrix of dependent and independents variables

Independent variable (Constant) Customer satisfaction

Beta coefcients 1.542 0.701

2

t-value 10.104 18.401

p-value 0.000 *

Notes: Signicant at: *p , 0.01 level; R 0.634; R 0.402; F 338.587; Sig. F 0.000

Table V. Regression analysis of customer satisfaction towards repurchase intention

Independent variable (Constant) Customer satisfaction

Beta coefcients 1.028 0.747

t-value 4.490 13.057

p-value 0.000 * Table VI. Regression analysis of customer satisfaction towards p-WOM

Notes: Signicant at: *p , 0.01 level; R 0.503; R 2 0.253; F 170.484; Sig. F 0.000

Satised customers make positive verbal communications between groups such as family, friends and the actual or potential consumers about service providers and repurchases from the same service provider (Tables V and VI). In Figure 2, all the signicant paths and their coefcients are illustrated with signs. Among them, responsiveness is signicant at p, 0.05 level while empathy, tangibility, assurance, and loyalty are signicant at p , 0.01 level.

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Figure 2. Research model and the model results

Conclusion and discussion Although, the main objective of this research is to study how service quality dimensions inuenced satisfaction and loyalty of customers by investigating a suggested research model, the study itself is also relevant to a broad range of service company that focus their efforts towards feeding long term relationships with customers. The study suggests that four SERVQUAL dimensions (empathy, responsiveness, assurance and tangibility) are important antecedents of satisfaction, and, also the satisfaction affects the results of customer loyalty such as positive word-of mouth and repurchase. The latter result has similar reection with the work of Sivadas and Baker-Prewitt (2000). In the study which examined the relationships between service quality, customer satisfaction and store loyalty, they stated that satisfaction inuenced WOM and repurchase intention. This study also showed that responsiveness, assurance, tangibility and empathy had signicant inuence on customer satisfaction, while in the case of reliability, and signicance was not conrmed. The dimension of reliability is related with providing sufcient and dependable service. Accordingly, the result that exposed no relationship between customer satisfaction and reliability dimension, may be the consequence of the supermarkets (that constitutes the sample) previous failures to provide sufcient and dependable service which cause reliance problems among its customers. The Beta coefcients for empathy, responsiveness, assurance, and tangibility are 0.244, 0.102, 0.218, and 0.237, respectively. These results show that the inuence of empathy dimension on consumer satisfaction is stronger than the inuence of other dimensions. And also, the results indicate the positive inuences of customer satisfaction on both repurchase intention and p-WOM. However, the present search has some different ndings with respect to Jamal and Anastasiadou (2007) who found that reliability, tangibility and empathy have signicant effects on satisfaction, and tangibility is the strongest predictor of satisfaction. In contrast with, we come up with the nding that empathy, responsiveness, assurance and tangibility are positively related to the satisfaction while empathy is the strongest indicator. The reason of the differences may be related to the business sectors. In the former research the sector in question was banking sector. Therefore, it should be understandable that there can be differences in related to service quality dimensions among different sectors.

In the light of the results of descriptive statistics, we can establish that supermarkets were not sufciently successful in creating satisfaction among their customers. It is evident that management in the future must pay particular attention to these important issues because they represent some of the most important requisites for creating long-term relationships with customers. Business activities should commence with understanding the needs of the customers if their aim is to achieve customer loyalty. Supermarkets must develop efcient systems for a better analysis and resolution of customer complaints. The study emphasizes that a relatively low percentage of customers are actually ready to submit a formal complaint. p-WOM communication can be very inuential in any purchase decision. East et al. (2007, p. 181) showed that p-WOM is more common than negative WOM. According to some studies, over 95 percent of unsatised customers actually never complain. Limitations and future research This study has some limitations. The presented research was conducted based solely on supermarket sectors; therefore, results cannot be generalized onto other sectors of economy. Future research should focus on measuring customer satisfaction and loyalty with wholesales and other service industries. In addition, it would be useful to consult on studies from other regions of Turkey or other countries nearby Turkey, since the use of an identical model would be useful to compare the results. Limited resources and time resulted in a small sample (n 505) and, therefore, the ndings cannot be also generalized to all supermarket customers. Future research is required to collect data from the customers of different supermarkets and increase the sample size. Our tested model entailed a total of seven variables the ve SERVQUAL variables and, satisfaction and loyalty. This model can be developed with different variables.
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Ueltschy, L.C., Laroche, M., Tamilia, R.D. and Yannopoulos, P. (2004), Cross-cultural invariance of measures of satisfaction and service quality, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 57, pp. 901-12. Ueltschy, L.C., Laroche, M., Zhang, M., Cho, H. and Yingwei, R. (2009), Is there really an Asian connection? Professional service quality perceptions and customer satisfaction, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 62, pp. 972-9. Vinagre, M.H. and Neves, J.G. (2008), The inuence of service quality and patients emotions on satisfaction, International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 87-103. Zeithaml, V.A. (1996), The behavioral consequences of service quality, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 60 No. 2, pp. 31-46. Further reading Kelley, S. and Turley, L. (2001), Consumer perceptions of service quality attributes at sporting events, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 54 No. 2, pp. 161-6. Web sites http://arsiv.sabah.com.tr/2005/12/07/res_gda 101-4-20051207.html www.haberler.gen.al/2011-10-17/perakende-sektoru-istihdam-rakamlarinda-yuzde-45-artisyasandi About the authors Olgun Kitapci holds a PhD in Marketing at Cumhuriyet University. He is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Akdeniz University. His research interests include service marketing, service quality and customer relationship management. Olgun Kitapci is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: okitapci@yahoo.com.tr Ibrahim Taylan Dortyol is a Research Assistant of Marketing at Cumhuriyet University. His research interests include CRM, marketing researches and service quality. hrem Yaman is a Research Assistant of Health Management at Selc Zu uk University. His research interest includes marketing strategy and service quality. Mustafa Gulmez is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Akdeniz University. He received his PhD in Marketing from Cumhuriyet University. His research interests include marketing communication and tourism marketing.

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