Measuring the Effectiveness of Customer Service Satisfaction (Research Proposal Sample)

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION: MEASURING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CUSTOMER SERVICE SATISFACTION IN THE HOSPITALITY / FOOD OR RETAIL SERVICES
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Statement of Problem
Satisfying customers is a business philosophy which entails the creation and addition of value to customers, managing and anticipating their expectations, and demonstrating responsibility and the ability to ensure that they are satisfied (Dominici and Guzzo, 2010). Customer satisfaction and qualities of service are paramount for the success of any business, hospitality industry included. Any firm or business exists because customers exist and hence the existence of quality customer deliverance is a perquisite in any food or retail service outlet. It is a fact that most companies are facing a tough completion more than ever and this is because most customers are resorting to companies with good services. There is the need of companies to stay proactive and not reactive in respect to the way they handle customers (Barsky & Nash, 2003). It is also evident that in order to be successful in business, companies should set and implement effective policies that can attract and maintain new customers hence the need of measuring the effectiveness of customer satisfaction in the food and hospitality services.
Research purpose
Satisfaction of customers has been the starting point in defining business objectives. Requirements by the customer for quality service and products in the hospitality and the food industry have become increasingly the work of professional in regard to knowledge of customer satisfaction (Yen and Su, 2004). This research will analyze the positive relationship that can create and increase customer’s commitment in their return rate. The impact of customer’s satisfaction in hospitality and food retail and services is becoming important in regard to the chances and probability of them getting retained in the same hotel or restaurant. The research will recommend after analyzing the outcome the need of proper customer satisfaction which may lead to a potential increase in customer retention and hence customer loyalty. It will be objective of the research to determine if satisfaction has a significant impact on customer royalty while assessing if the hotel and food retailers provides services that meets the wants and needs of the customers
Statement of hypothesis
There is a positive relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction in the hospitality/ food and retail services.
Definitions of variables
Customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction can be defined as evaluation of post consumption judgment in reference to a specified service or product (Gundersen, Heide & Olsson, 1996). This results from evaluative procedure that distinguishes perception of performance and pre- purchase expectations after and during the consumption experience. Expectancy disconfirmation theory is widely conceptualized as the most accepted way of rating customer’s satisfaction. (Barsky, 1992). The theory proposes that the level of satisfaction is a result of the difference that exists between perceived performance and the expected performance. Positive disconfirmation, which is the satisfaction, always occurs when service or product is better than the way it was expected. Negative disconfirmation occurs when the expected results are worse in respect to dissatisfaction. The study will analyze whether the customer satisfaction will have an indirect or direct impact on the profitability results in various hotels and restaurants. In conclusion customer satisfaction may have affected the profitability of a business in a positive manner.
Service quality
Service quality is another variable that will be taken into consideration in the research. Service quality can be defined as the comparison that customers make with respect to perception of the service received and their expectations (Grönroos, 1990). Quality entails the interactive quality, physical quality and finally the corporate quality which takes into consideration the technical quality and corporate image. In accessing the measurements of service quality, SERVIQUAL the most popular instrument that can give different dimension of quality. This scale consists of twenty two items that can access the expectations and perceptions of the customer in regard to the quality of service offered. Finally the linked scale will be used to rate the level of disagreement or agreement. The difference between the expectations and perception scores measures the gap which indicates the quality of service therefore service quality occurs when customers' expectations exceeds or meets perceived service.
Literature review
Customer satisfaction and service quality are key factors in any hospitality and food retail industries in that they are paramount in obtaining customer retention and competitive advantage. Moreover, in order to achieve the desired customer satisfaction, there is the need to anticipate and recognize the need of the customers while considering their perceptions concerning expected services and the transactions and relationship with competing industries. This review will analyze researched papers that takes into consideration the two variables that will be used in this research.
According to a study done by Ronald et,al.(2004), in which they discussed and analysed a cross-cultural comparison of quality and customer satisfaction in fast food industry in four countries predominated with English speakers. The study based its research on data collected and reviewed from five franchised food chains. The analysis of the raw data was done using developed satisfaction instruments of analyzing the relationship between customer satisfaction and service quality. The outcome of the research revealed that there is correlation between service setting and personal satisfaction in regard to personal service rendered by the workers hence the need of measurement of customer’s satisfaction in food and retail services.
In determination of the impact that customer relationship management on the loyalty of the customers in the hotel industry, Amoako, Arthur, & Bandoh, (2012), conducted a study in one of the five star hotels in Accra, Ghana. The objective of study was to determine how good customer relations could lead to customer retention and satisfaction while maintaining their loyalty. It also analyzed if the services provided meets the wants and the needs of the customers hence customer satisfaction. The results showed that customer satisfaction was determined by the services and hence existence of customer loyalty.
discussionon
The outcome of this research can be of great importance to hotel managers and service providers on how to modifiy and conduct the current paractises that are involved in measuring customers satisfaction in the hospitality industry. The objective of the service providers and hotel managers are to understand guests needs, their comments and opinions, and asses the customer satisfaction in regard to quality of services. The application of SERVEQUAL system and GCCs shows that they are important tool for measuring clents satisfaction and the outcome of the study recoomeds further improving on most hotels. The study combined ana analysis of customer satisfaction and mamngement schemes and it can be concluded that its success was dependennd on the methodology.
The researcher conlusion is that customers have highest expectations on the accuracy of transaction, promteness of the service, concerns and security issues while ambience and cleaninnes carried lowest expectations. Our study was comparative hence service quality dimensions scores lower in respect to security and propmtenss. In regard to the performance of staff , interviews via questionnaires shows that there was satisfactory feedback by the customers therefore minimal improvement is expected from them. Most customers were satisfied with propmtness and processing of transactions though they recommended for increase of counters. It was evident from the study that their existed lower satisfaction on staff willingness to assist in accessing information on services, assortments, and various hotel facilities.
The research proposes the following improvements to be done bby the management: First, improving staff- customer communication by updating the channels of complaints and ensuring transactions that are error-free. Also, staff should undergo continous training to enable them assiast customer on relevant emerging issues in the hospitality industry. Finnaly there should improvement on hotel ambience , parking spaces and children areas.
A study performed by Gandolof (2010), using qualitative analysis in a hotel in Sicily, IT, and using the incident Critical approach, evaluated satisfaction of customers in regard to specific service rendered. After the qualitative analysis, the outcome showed that the level of customer satisfaction was good because the human resource management emphasized on quality services and effective entertainment, which led to customer retention and satisfaction. The study further recommended improvement on customer satisfaction management in the running of the hotel. His study took into perspective the two variables of customer satisfaction and quality of services that are paramount in this research.
Another method of measuring customer satisfaction is the use of hotel guest comments cards (GCCs) as applied by Yen-Lun (2004) in Taiwan hotels. The research applied content analysis in redetermination of the extent to which there exist correlation between best practice criteria and guest card comments. After analysis of the data, the results revealed that no hotel met all the best practice ...