Chapter 6: Conclusions, Implications,

Transcription

1 Chapter 6: Conclusions, Implications, Limitations and Scope for Future Research 6.1. Identifying Factors of Service Quality Attributes in Organised Retail Setting 6.2 Relationship Between Service Quality Attributes and Customer Satisfaction 6.3 Relationship Between Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty 6.4 Relationship Between Service Quality and Customer Loyalty 6.5 Theoretical and Managerial Implications of the Study 6.6 Limitations and Scope for Future Research 196 P a g e

2 6.0 Conclusions This chapter summarizes the key findings. It covers four areas which are: conclusion, managerial implications, delimitations of the study and scope for further research Identifying factors of service quality attributes in organised retail setting The present study has contributed to the research literature on retail service quality by validating the implementation of the retail service quality scale in a retail setting located in north Maharashtra. The results of the study have demonstrated that the five factors of the original SERVQUAL has extended to sixth dimension i.e. dependability. Therefore service quality factors tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and dependability has stout applicability in retail setting. 6.2 Relationship between Service quality attributes and customer satisfaction Based on statistical results, the proposed hypotheses of the study are positive correlated to the customer satisfaction. The further regression analysis result specifies dependability and empathy highest significant positive correlation with customer satisfaction. On the other hand, tangibility, Empathy and Assurance showed direct positive impact on customer satisfaction. Tangibility: The result of the study exhibited that tangibility and customer satisfaction are positively correlated with each other. Customers prefer that retail store which has technological up to date equipment and visually appealing pamphlets and any other kind of tangible things related to service quality. Responsiveness: In this study, responsiveness confirmed significant positive relationship with customer satisfaction but level of association is lower in magnitude as compared with dependability and empathy. Responsiveness means retail store providing the service compliance with customer need. Positive correlation between customer responsiveness and customer satisfaction conveys that customer prefer those retail stores which provide services according to their needs. Reliability: Reliability emerged significant positive relationship with customer satisfaction but level of association is lesser in magnitude as compared with 197 P a g e

3 dependability and empathy. Reliability means what the services has been promised with customer are being delivered with standard. It also means customer is delivered what he had paid for that service. Customer believes that retail store providing service matching with their interest and standard. Empathy: It was found that empathy and customer satisfaction are positively correlated with each other. Empathy demonstrated the strongest positive correlation with customer satisfaction. Customers want individual preference and need fulfilment. Employees interact with customers their training must be conducted in this regard and incentives should be provided to front desk employees so that they will be able to retain satisfied and loyal customer. It is associated with internal marketing that means service firm must undertake orientation and motivate its customer contact employees to work as a team to provide customer satisfaction. Assurance: There is positive correlation between assurance and customer satisfaction but lesser in magnitude as compared with dependability and empathy. Assurance means ability of the service provider on which customers feel confidence that service provider have ability to provide the service. Positive correlation between assurance and customer satisfaction enlightens that customers recognise retail store provide service in professional manners. Dependability: The paramount service quality factor dependability showed a strong positive correlation to customer satisfaction. Positive correlation tells customers prefer that retail which provides services and customer can be dependent on them for retailing services. 6.3 Relationship between Customer satisfaction and customer loyalty The second objective of the research study was to examine the relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty. The outcome of the data analysis shows significant relationship between satisfactions of customers and their loyalty. This result is compatible with the results of the investigation of Davise et al. (2007), Kotler and Armstrong (2010), and Jones and Sasser (1995). This study confirms the strong positive correlation among customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. It means satisfied customers ultimately become loyal with the retail store. 198 P a g e

4 6.4 Relationship between service quality and customer loyalty This study has shown a strong impact of overall service quality on customer satisfaction as well as customer loyalty. Customer satisfaction played mediating role in the path between service quality attributes and customer loyalty. Hence, managers must pay full attention on the standards that how well service is being offered by the retail store in order to make them satisfied and build long term relation with customers. Therefore high quality service will eventually turn satisfied customers into loyal customers as the mediating effect of customer satisfaction confirms the relationship. 6.5 Theoretical and Managerial Implications of the research study: The study results provide several points for management considerations in regards to development of service quality. This study demonstrated interrelationships among service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in the retail sector of north Maharashtra region. As evident from correlation matrix that service quality attributes are positively correlated with customer satisfaction as well as customer loyalty, so, managers of the retail should be focused upon the provision of efficient and effective quality services. Empathy shows the highest positive correlation with customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in the current study. As empathy is related with the retail employees thus retail managers should concentrate on the employee training programs so that they can offer effective personalised service. Vision and the mission statement should be displayed to draw attention of the customers on the customer handling policy and to develop a long-term relationship with the customers. It is also revealed from the study that there is a strong correlation between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Therefore retail managers should concentrate not only on maintaining existing services but also enhancing the service standards as the customer satisfaction mean score is just above the threshold point. Tangibility has direct impact on customer loyalty, so managers must take essential steps that differentiate their tangibility (location, clear visually bank statements and employees dress etc.) among other 199 P a g e

5 retail. The reliability and assurance also have indirect link with customer loyalty through full mediating effect of customer satisfaction. Therefore managers must assure that customers are delivered with services on time and with highest standard. The retail firms should arrange complete training to their employees for solving the problems of the customer so that employee may able to satisfy retail customers as ultimately the satisfied customers become the loyal Estimation of customer loyalty from service quality The present study has proposed the mathematical expression which can be utilised by the managers practicing in retail firms for estimating the customer loyalty. The three prominent service quality attributes viz. tangibility, assurance and empathy which contributes mainly for building loyalty amongst retail customers. If managers know the value of these three service quality attributes they can exactly quantify the customer loyalty of their respective retail store by using the below mentioned mathematical expression Estimation of customer satisfaction from service quality ( ) Whereas,.,,,,,, 200 P a g e

6 From the mathematical model it can be seen that, all independent variables are positive related to retail customer satisfaction because of positive sign. Furthermore, since their odds ratio is greater than 1. One variable, constant has negative relationship with retail customer satisfaction as its odds ratio is below 1. ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) The present study proposed the mathematical model, which gives the estimated probability of retail customer being satisfied given that all service qualities are specified. The statistical output of logistic regression analysis indicates that all six independent variables are positively correlated to customer satisfaction in organised retail of northern region of Maharashtra. The result specifies that independent variables mainly dependability and empathy make most retail customer satisfied compared to others service quality attributes. Therefore the present study recommends to the managers of the retail store should mainly focus on both the attributes. 6.6 Limitations and Scope for future research: This research work is an attempt to illustrate the service quality effect on customer loyalty through customer satisfaction in organised retail sector. The current study however has some limitations. The impact of the certain environmental variables and their influence in shaping service quality need to be further explored. This study also does not separate the population sample into separate geographical locations. For instance, a person who lives in a remote place (runs a more simple life) may have a different expectation and perception about services offered by organised retail, owing to the different culture, level of education and some other demographic factors. The sample size was small to represent the overall population and secondly the purposive sampling technique was used to collect data from retail customers. The 201 P a g e

7 future researcher may include a large sample size and may practice a random sampling which is the basis for generalizability of the findings. In this study the data was collected prominently from the district of Nashik, Ahmadnagar and Jalgaon while customers from other areas of the country may have different experiences. There are some other factors also that can affect customer preference like convenience charges etc. studies in the different districts of India might give the different findings. Before we come to the general conclusion in the Indian context, studies among retail service quality should be taken in the various service industries, provinces and districts. This study was confined to the offline retail store it has not taken the cognizance of online retailing. Therefore the future researcher may study the applicability of the proposed RETAILQUAL model for online retailing. The concept like retail service quality should be connected with customer retention and brand equity to get the more insights in the marketing practices of the retail firms. The study suggests that the future research in this area should attempt to extend the study on relationship between cities and remote places in term of culture issues, retail environment, education level and demographic factors which are missing in this study. The objectives of the research study are nearly attained and therefore the researcher believes that despite the limitations of the research, it provides some novel insights which incudes Refinement of SERVQUAL model by adding one more dimension (dependability) which can be addition to the service marketing literature. Developed the RETAILQUAL (Service Quality Scale for retail sector) for future researcher and for practicing managers of retail firms. The study has advocated a mathematical expression for precisely calculating customer loyalty with the help of RETAILQUAL. Breakthrough contribution of the study is development of mathematical model for quantifying customer satisfaction of retail customer which is helpful for retail firms. The study estimated its effect of service quality attributes on customer loyalty mediated by customer satisfaction in retail setting and suggested the potential areas of improvement for retail firm. 202 P a g e

8 Part 1 RETAILQUAL A. General information Customer Name: Gender: Male Female Marital Status: Married Single Age: Under years years years Above 50 years Qualification: Undergraduate Graduate Post Graduate Income: Below 10,000 10,000 20,000 Above 20,000 Profession: Business Service Student Housewife Others Part 2 Service Quality Attributes Latent Variables physicality physicality physicality physicality Manifest Variables Strongly Neutral Strongly Disagree Agree The retail store has modernlooking equipment and fixtures The retail store and its physical facilities (trial rooms and restrooms) are visually attractive The staff of retail store is well dressed and neat in appearance The retail store has clean and convenient physical facilities (trial rooms, restrooms) 203 P a g e

9 physicality Promises Promises Promises Dependability Dependability Affability Affability Affability Problem solver Problem solver Problem solver Affinity Affinity Affinity The layout at the retail store makes it easier for customers to find what they need When this retail store promises to do something (such as repairs, alterations) by a certain time, it will do so This retail store provides its services at the time it promises to do so This retail store performs the service right the first time This retail store has merchandise available when the customers want it This retail store insists on error-free sales transactions and records The retail staff in this store give prompt service to customers This retail store gives customers individual attention The staff in this retail store are consistently courteous with customers This retail store willingly handles returns and exchanges When a customer has a problem, this retail store shows a sincere interest in solving it Employees of this retail store are able to handle customer complaints directly and immediately. The retail store provides plenty of convenient parking for customers The retail store has operating hours convenient to all their customers The retail store accepts all major credit cards Part 3: Overall satisfaction (The following statement relates yours feeling about the Retail store. Please respond by circling the number which best reflects your own perceptions) My feelings towards the retail store services can best be described as Very unsatisfactory Very satisfactory 204 P a g e

10 Part 4: Customer Loyalty Based on your overall experience with Retail store, please indicates how likely you able to take the following actions. (Circle the number which best reflects your likelihood of taking each action) How likely are you to Not at all likely Extremely likely I would recommend this retail store to other people. I would encourage friends and relatives to visit this retail store. I intend to continue purchasing with Retail store. I have strong preference and likely to purchase items next time. I would consider this retail store as my first choice when I need retailing service. 205 P a g e