ABSTRACT
The study examined the effect of service quality on guest satisfaction in hotel in Awka Anambra state. The specific objectives of the study include to; Determine the effect of service quality on customer satisfaction in selected hotels in the study area; Determine the influence of service quality on customer satisfaction in selected hotels in the study area, Examine the influence of service quality on customer loyalty in selected hotels in the study area; Determine the effect of perceived price fairness on customer satisfaction in selected hotels in the study area; The researcher adopted primary data in getting the required information through the use of structured questionnaire. The population comprises guests, population for the customers is infinite selected hotels in Awka. The sample size of the study has 288 after adopting Cochran formula. In analysis the data, simple descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentage, mean and standard deviation were used. The Study revealed that value for price, customer loyalty, customer satisfaction, increase guest purchase behavior; customer expectations are achieved and more committed to the hotel are the effect of service quality on guest perceived value in hotels. The study also revealed that application of customer loyalty, customer retention, it builds the trust of the customer, Also, Trust, Commitment, Continuous patronage, improves the daily sales of the hotel and increases referrals from the customer are among the influence of service quality on customer loyalty in hotels, Repeat purchase, Customer loyalty, Positive brand reputation, Increase sales volume, Increase profitability and market share, Competitive advantage and Increase number of patronage are the effect of perceived price fairness on customer satisfaction in hotels. The study recommends that Hotels should identify the effect of service quality strategies that will been instituted for the guest perceived value and growth of the operation, Establishment should examine the impact customer satisfaction and guest satisfaction of service quality of hotel operations to ensure an optimum of its influence on the business and revenue generated. Hotel operations should underscore the challenges encounters in implementing the effect of service quality on guest satisfaction in other to ensure its impact on the business which is the bottom line. The researcher suggests that further studies be conducted to investigate the examined the effect of service quality on guest satisfaction in hotel in Awka Anambra state.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title page
i
Certification
ii
Approval page
iii
Dedication
iv
Acknowledgement
v
Table of
content vi
List of
tables’ Abstract vii
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
of study
1
1.2 Statement
of the problem
6
1.3 Objective
of the study 7
1.4 Research
questions
8
1.5 Research
hypothesis 8
1.6 Significance
of the study
9
1.7 Scope
of study 9
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Conceptual Frame work
10
2.1.1 The hotel industry
10
2.1.2 The concept of service quality
11
2.1.3 Perceived service quality
13
2.1.4 Customer satisfaction
15
2.1.5 Relationship between perceived service
quality and customer satisfaction 18
2.1.6 Customer expectation in the hotel
23
2.1.7 Attributes of service quality
23
2.1.8 Challenges of measuring service quality
25
2.1.9 Importance of satisfaction of service
quality to hotel
27
2.1.10 Evaluating
the quality of hotel service based on tourist perceptions and expectations 30
2.1.11 The
Importance of Customer Perceived Value
33
2.1.12 The Gaps model 37
2.2 Theoretical frameworks
38
2.2.1 System thinking theory
38
2.2.2 System’s theory 39
2.3 Empirical literature
40
2.4 Summary of related literature
45
CHAPTER THREE
3.0 Introduction 47
3.1 Research design
47
3.2 Area of the study 47
3.3 Population for the study
48
3.4 Sampling and sampling techniques
48
3.4.1 Sample size determination
48
3.5 Instrument for data collection
49
3.6 Validation of the instrument
50
3.7 Reliability of the instrument 50
3.8 Method of data collection
51
3.9 Method of data analysis
51
CHAPTER FOUR
RESULT AND
DISCUSION
4.1 Result
52
4.2 Analysis of research questions
52
4.3 Test of hypothesis
61
4.4 Discussion of findings 62
CHAPTER FIVE
5.0 Summary, conclusion and
recommendations
65
5.1 Summary 65
5.1.1 Restatement of the problem
66
5.1.2 Description of methods used
67
5.2 Conclusion
68
5.3 Recommendations
68
5.4 Contribution to knowledge
69
5.5 Suggestion for further studies
70
REFERENCES
APPENDICES
LIST OF TABLES
Table
4.1 Distribution of questionnaire 52
Table
4.2: Distribution of respondents
based on sex
52
Table 4.3: Distribution of respondents according to
educational qualification
53
Table
4.4 Mean responses of respondents
on effect of service quality on guest perceived value in selected hotels 53
Table 4.5 Mean responses of respondents on the
influence of service quality on customer
satisfaction in selected
hotels in the study area
55
Table 4.6 Mean responses of respondents on the
influence of service quality on customer
loyalty in selected
hotels
56
Table 4.7 Mean responses of respondents on the
effect of perceived price fairness on
customer satisfaction in
selected hotels.
57
Table 4.8: Analysis of the significant relationship
between service quality and perceived value.Analysis of the significant
relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction. 60
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background to the Study
The
Hotel management also known as the hospitality industry or the Service sector
which present a wide range of customer services to their customers. Customer
service is considered as a major tool for customer satisfaction (Kotler 2015).
Studies had shown that customer satisfaction may have direct and indirect
impact on business results (Suárez and Quintana, 2014). Churchill and Surprenant, (2017) discussed
that dissatisfaction appears when the customers experience significant
difference between their expectations and the quality of services that they
receive. Erto and Vanacore (2002) believe that the main precursor of customer
satisfaction includes expectations, perceived quality, and disconfirmation.
Customer satisfaction is essential for the success of every profit-oriented and
relevance- minded organization. It is the core competence of every
vision-minded Hotel and most especially to service firms. Indeed, customer
satisfaction has a great significance influence with the future of any Hotel
establishment. According to Perng (2007), achieving high levels of service
quality is one method to keep customers both satisfied and loyal. Customer
satisfaction is judged as the soul of triumph in today’s competitive business
world. This concept is gradually becoming a business goal as more corporations
struggle for excellence in their services and/ or products (Shalim, 2010). In
this situation, the consideration on the understanding of determinants of
customer satisfaction is of immense implication to the marketers. Customer
satisfaction is a key factor of diverse marketing activity which basically
imparts the linkage between the different stages of customer buying behavior.
Oliver (2010) describe customer satisfaction as the customer’s fulfillment
response, post consumption judgment that a given service provides a pleasing
level of consumption-related fulfillment including under- or over-fulfillment.
In
today’s economy, customer satisfaction has come out as critical component for
the top management of successful business and human elements as well play
essential role to determining the whole perception of service quality and
satisfaction. (Olsen 2012). Customer satisfaction as a business philosophy
tends to creating value for customers. The key to achieving sustainable
relevance lies in delivery high quality service that results in satisfied
customers. Valdani (2009) opined that enterprises exit because they have
customers to serve. The biggest challenge in today’s competitive business
environment is how to retain customers and ensure customer loyalty. According
to Gerosa (2013), Guest relationships in the hotel industry are strategic
assets of the organization and customer satisfaction is the starting points to
defining business objectives.
Service
quality: In contemporary conceptualisation, service quality is a comparison of
perceived expectations (E) of a service with perceived performance (P), giving
rise to the equation SQ=P-E. This conceptualization of service quality has its
origins in the expectancy disconfirmation paradigm. Customers in the
hospitality industry like the hotel management industries are in a strong
bargaining position due to the significant growth of hotels. According to Jana
and Chandra (2016), customer satisfaction has become an important aspect of the
hotel industry. Unlike mother industries, the hotel industry prospers due to
customers’ retention. It is only through customer satisfaction that a hotel can
retain its customers. Quality concept can be viewed in various perspectives in
order to fully appreciate the role it plays in the many parts of business
organization especially in the hotel industry. According to Bruhn and Manfred
(2006) the concept of service quality emerged as a major challenge for service
companies. This is because of the characteristics of services; especially the
encounter of provider and customer in the service process, service quality is a
more complex construct than product quality. Indeed the most fundamental
definition of a quality product is one that meets the expectations of the
customer. In hotel industry, quality is defined simply as product conformation
to specifications while meeting the expectations of the customer. Since each
customer have their own expectations, and then service quality remains a
subjective matter that befits objective assessment through understanding of
various facets of perception, their measurement and how they relate to
satisfaction an issue we shall pursue in this proceeding section
Customer
expectations are the opinions about services, which are provided for customers
to deliver as the criterion, or ideals versus which the real performance is
assessed (Churchill and Surprenant, 2017). A complete wisdom about traveller
expectation consists of the variables that form them as a crucial variable in
hospitality business. Satisfaction is derived by the fulfillment of customers’
anticipations against what they receive from organization (Olsen, 2012). Within
the demographic or personal factors that might shape these expectations are
age, gender, ethnicity, and income (Parks, 2012). In addition to this, the
anticipations of the travellers may also be impacted by some factors such as
the rate of the hotel. Star ranking might be measured as a shape of clear
service pledge and according to Churchill and Surprenant, (2017) explicit
service pledges are some kinds of variables that impact service anticipations.
Guests may presume that a hotel with greater ranking may deliver better services
than the hotel, which has less star ranking. Customer perceived value is a
complicated idea to identify and assess. Yeung (2002) defined perceived value
as a measurement of the function of product, which was derived from the
discernment on given and received services. Perceived value is the advantage,
which is received by customer versus the total costs. It is generally viewed as
a comparative calculation of the costs and the rest of the economic facets of
services. Nonetheless, what comprises value emerge to be extremely personal,
characteristic, and it might broadly vary among customers (Sohail 2013). Today customer perceived value is asserted as
a significant variable to lead the service provider to attain appropriate
competitive rank in the market (Kotler, 2015). Suhartanto (2000) emphasized the
relationship between perceived value and customer satisfaction. In the tourism
literature, Ali (2015) made an effort to recognize the most significant hotel
attributes based on value orientation. They identified that high loyalty
achievement depends on some practical fields such as the value of the range of
hotel services, the quality of personnel, the quality of guest room decoration
and facilities, a strong brand name and significant identity and perceived value.
Today,
as competition and cost increase, and as productivity and quality decrease,
service firms face the task of increasing their competitive differentiation,
service quality and productivity, (Kolter, 2010). However, the issue of quality
in service delivery basically relies on customer’s judgment. According to
Grzinic (2007), quality as a concept is a complex term, made up of several
element and criteria. All quality elements or criteria equally important in
order to obtain one hundred percent quality. Today quality is the result of
growing and increasingly diverse needs of the consumers, along with a highly
increasing competition, market globalization and the development of modern
technology. To ensure a high quality in service delivery, Shalim (2010) opined
that managers in the service sector must demonstrate that their services are
customer focused and that continuous performance improvement is being
delivered. It is essential that customer expectations are properly understood
and measured. Wisniewski (2011) related that service quality is a concept that
has aroused considerable interest and debate in the research literature because
of the difficulties in both defining measuring it with no overall census
emerging on either. There are a number of different “definitions” as to what is
meant by service quality.
Therefore, hotels have to provide service carefully
because of the availability of too many other hotels. Measuring customer’s
expectation is the key to being able to serve the customer satisfactorily. On
the other hand, with better understanding of customer’s perceptions, hotel can
determine the actions required to meet the customer’s needs. In this way they
can easily satisfy the customer which has a direct impact on the overall
performance of the industry. This importance of customer satisfaction in
today’s dynamic corporate environment is obvious as it greatly influences
customer’s repurchase intentions to switch. Given the vital role of customer
satisfaction, it is not surprising that a variety of research has been devoted
to investigating the determinants of satisfaction (Heide and Grønhaug, 2013).
Satisfaction can be determined by subjective (e. g. customer needs, emotions)
and objective factors (e. g. product and service features). Applying to the
hospitality industry, there have been numerous studies that examine attributes
that customers may find important regarding customer satisfaction. Customer
satisfaction has been a popular topic in marketing practice and academic
research since Cardozo's (2009) initial study of customer effort, expectations
and satisfaction. Despite many attempts to measure and explain customer
satisfaction, there still does not appear to be a consensus regarding its
definition. Customer satisfaction is typically defined as a post consumption
evaluative judgement concerning a specific product or service (Hoffman 2011).
It is the result of an evaluative process that contrasts pre-purchase
expectation. Studies show that customer satisfaction may have direct and
indirect impact on business results. Luo and Homburg (2007) concluded that
customer satisfaction positively affects business profitability. It is against
this background the researcher tends study effect of service quality on customer satisfaction
in hotel in Awka Anambra state.
1.2. Statement of the problem
The
hospitality industry is constantly faced with problems of poor service delivery
which includes; front desk services, speed in service delivery, honesty and
good attitude towards customers which have prompt hotels to continue to lose
customers to its competitors and creation of new customers is below target
(Anna, 2009). The Report revealed that, the customers often complained of
customer neglect which becomes more annoying when its coming front a first
customer, as the saying goes “first impression matters”. This situation has led
to customer dissatisfaction and as a result, they are shifting their demands
and loyalty to other organizations providing similar services in a manner that
meets their expectations. However, in the pursuit of Service growth and
success, much depends on the performance of the industry which also flows from
the quality of the services that are rendered (Joby, Grove and Fisk, 2016). One
perceived problem found by previous studies in the hotel industry in Nigeria is
the differences in the quality of the services that are delivered by entities
in the industry.
To
mention, Petrick (2014) defined service quality as the extent to which a
service meets customer’s needs or expectations. Shahin (2016) defined service
quality as the difference between customer expectations of service and
perceived service. If expectations are greater than performance, then perceived
quality is less than satisfactory and hence customer dissatisfactory occurs. Zeithaml and Bitner (2003) states that
service quality is a focused evaluation that reflects the customers’ perception
of specific dimension service; reliability responsiveness, assurance, Empathy,
tangibles. Sohail (2003) defined service quality as “Conformance to customer
specifications” etc.
Petrick (2014) considers service quality as a critical
dimension of competitiveness. Providing excellent service quality and high
customer satisfaction is the important issue and challenge facing the
contemporary service industry (Hung, Knight, Cronin, Tomas, Hult, and
Keillor.,2003). Service quality is an important subject in both the public and
private sectors (Heide, and Grønhaug, 2019). Chen (2014); Simanavicius (2016)
agree altogether that service quality is the extent to which a service meets or
exceeds customer needs and expectations. Ha and Jang (2009) argued that service
failure occurs when customer perceptions do not meet customer expectations. The
problem with service failure is that it may lead to a destroyed relationship
between the customer and the management. The study aims at filling the gap by
investigating the effect of
service quality on customer satisfaction in hotel establishment in Awka, Anambra
state.
1.3 Objective of the Study
The broad objective of the study is effect of service quality on customer satisfaction
in hotel establishment in Awka anambra state.
The specific objectives of the study
include to;
i.
Determine the effect of
service quality on perceived
value in selected hotels in the study area.
ii.
Determine the influence
of service quality on customer satisfaction in selected hotels in the study
area.
iii.
Examine the influence of
service quality on customer loyalty in selected hotels in the study area.
iv.
Determine the effect of perceived
price fairness on customer satisfaction in selected hotels in the study area.
1.4 Research Questions
The
following questions guided the study
i.
What is the effect of
service quality on guest
perceived value in selected hotels in the study area?
ii.
What is the influence of
service quality on customer satisfaction in selected hotels in the study area?
iii.
What is the influence of
service quality on customer loyalty in selected hotels in the study area?
iv.
What is the effect of
perceived price fairness on customer satisfaction in selected hotels in the
study area?
1.5 Research Hypotheses
The
following null hypotheses is tested in this study
H01: There
is no significant relationship between service quality and perceived value.
H02: There
is no significant relationship between service quality and customer
satisfaction.
1.6 Significance of the
Study
This research work will be
significant to employees, managers of hospitality establishment, owners of
hospitality establishments and scholars.
The
findings from this study will enlighten managers of every business
organizations especially hospitality establishments on the significant factor
to determine hotel guest perceived value and customer satisfaction. Therefore,
there is a gap of service quality research in hospitality field. In addition,
whether guest service quality impacts on guest perceived value and customer
satisfaction in hospitality industry. The relationship between guest service
quality on guest perceived value and customer satisfaction is important to hotel
managers manage and also help enlighten both hotel new and current employees.
The
study will educate students of this noble institution and other institutions on
the influence on guest service quality on guest perceived value and customer
satisfaction of hospitality establishments.
Finally, the study will serve as a
reference material to researchers who would want to research a similar topic in
future.
1.7 Scope of the Study
The study centered on the effect of service quality on guest satisfaction in
hotel in Awka Anambra state. The geographical scope
is Awka Metropolis while the unit scope is managers and staff of some selected
hotels in Awka Metropolis.
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