1.0 Introduction
This report aims to explore all the research literature available on the topic ‘factors that influence customer satisfaction with hedonic services’. Customer satisfaction is a very important concept because it leads to repeat patronage, positive word of mouth and ultimately increased profits for the business. It is therefore of much benefit to understand the factors which influence customers satisfaction to allow businesses to better serve their customers. This report begins by defining hedonic services and customer satisfaction according to the relevant literature. The factors which influence customer satisfaction on hedonic services are then outlined. The selected factors are the seven Ps of the service marketing mix; price, promotion, place, physical evidence, people, process and product. The gaps in the literature are then mentioned with recommendations for future research which will provide a full view of this topic.
2.0 Definitions
2.1 Hedonic Services
Hedonic services are those which are fun, emotive or pleasure driven and are sought after by customers to fulfil a psychological or emotional need (Joseph-Matthews, Bonn & Snepenger 2009; Ng, Russell- Bennett and Dagger 2007; Fiang & Wang 2006; Hirschman & Holbrook 1982). It must be noted that services are not simply classified as hedonic or not hedonic but instead services have different degrees of hedonism (Strombeck & Wakefield 2008). The hedonic nature of a service is also dependant on the consumer, their motivations and context, not solely on the product itself (Strombeck & Wakefield 2008). The same service may be seen as hedonic to one consumer and non hedonic to another, generally though services can be classified as mainly hedonic services or main...
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Excitement Attributes: Which customers don't even know they want, but are delighted when they find them.
The importance of physical environment on customers is widely recognised by managers and mentioned in many service industry. It is true that customers will make use of a service enterprise if they perceive that the service provided will be of high quality (Brady & Cronin, 2001). According to Abdullah Rosario (2009), quality of services delivered plays considerably a major role in shaping and manipulating customer satisfaction. With customer satisfaction comes positive customer behaviour. It is highly visible in the service sectors such as restaurants, hotels, retails, hospitals and bank.
The five dimensions of the SERVQUAL model in the evaluation of service quality was tasted by many researchers in order to prove the model’s validity. To begin with, Zeithaml et al (2006), claimed that, “service quality is a focused evaluation that reflects the customer’s perception of reliability, assurance, responsiveness, empathy, and tangibles”. Additionally, they pointed out that among the five dimensions, “reliability” it has been reported to be one of the most important factors.
Many scholars believe that customer satisfaction has a crucial role in the success of a business, and is pivotal in increasing the overall profitability of the business (Kotier, 1991). Customer value is gained through the experience they receive from the goods or purchases they have obtained from a certain business. Customer value has various definitions and concepts, Holbrook (1999) stated that it is a kind of “interactive, mutual, and preferred experience”; but simply said, “the term customer value has many meanings.”
The contemporary economy has shifted from industry-based to economy-based. This shift has rendered the consumer at the core of any business transaction. As service industries continue to grow in importance, customer satisfaction has become a key objective for every industry player. The consumption of service often entails the personal interaction of customers and service employees (Lovelock, Wirtz, & Patterson, 2010). This interaction is referred to as service encounter. The customer’s experience within the service process is a crucial determinant of his or her satisfaction with the service (Bitner, Booms & Tetreault, 1990b). The service encounter thus facilitates the consumer’s evaluation of service quality. Therefore, the service encounter is the ultimate moment of truth in the service industry. How well a customer is served will determine not only his or her satisfaction, but also their loyalty and future consumption trends (Hoffman & Bateson, 2010).
Also, scholars have postulated different service quality dimensions. For instance, Hedvall and Paltschik (1989) went to identify two measured dimensions namely ‛willingness and ability to serve’, and ‛ physical and psychological access’; Lehtinen and Lehtinen (1982) articulated three dimensions: interactive, physical, and corporate quality embraced; Gagliano and Hathcote (1994) — citied in Fogarty and Gatts and Forlin (2000) — embraced four structural...
It is fast and informal for customer to estimate, easy to implement across different type of service and survey channels, is easy to track over time, and correlates with business consequences. that while many corporations goal to ‘delight’ the purchaser to exceed service prospects – it’s more likely for a purchaser to punish companies for bad service than it is for them to reward companies for good service. Also, Customer Satisfaction Scores (CSAT), which more commonly gather information about the customers' satisfaction with the business as well as exact
A review of literature on service quality highlights the important dimensions of quality. Parasuraman, Berry and Zeithaml (1988) define service quality as the gap between expectations and perception of service quality (SERVQUAL), and indicated five service quality dimensions.
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A. & Berry, L. L. (1985). A Conceptual Model of Service Quality
The dimensions of service quality refer to the attributes which contribute to consumer expectations and perceptions of service quality, thus serving as the determinants of consumers’ quality assessment (Rowley, 1998). The most well-known, commonly used service quality scale is the SERVQUAL, a general instrument for measuring service quality developed by Parasuraman et al., (1988). It includes five dimensions of service quality: (1) tangibles: appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel and communication materials; (2) reliability: ability to perform the promised services dependably and accurately; (3) responsiveness: willingness to help customers and provide prompt service; (4) assurance: knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence; and (5) empathy: caring, individualized attention that a firm provides its
Taylor, S., (1994), Waiting for service: The relationship between delays and evaluations of service. Journal of Marketing, Vol. 58(2), pp. 56-69.
MAKLAN, S. & KLAUS, P. 2011. Customer experience: are we measuring the right things? International Journal of Market Research, 53, 771.
Customer satisfaction, generally defined as a feeling or judgment by customers towards products or services after they have used them, has long been of interest to business and marketing experts as well as lay-people. Much of the awareness has focused on the recognition of customer satisfaction as an indication of a business’ high-quality service. As claimed by Suda and Sarunya (2011), customer satisfaction does not only express a happy customer, but is rather more complex than that reference. It is actually a term most widely used in the corporate and commerce industry. In the business aspect, it is focused on explaining about a measurement of the kind of products and services provided by a company to meet its customer’s expectation. Beard (2014) asserted that customer satisfaction serves as a marketing tool that measures how products or services supplied by a company meet or surpass a customer’s expectation. It plays a vital role in the business industry because it provides marketers and business owners with a metric that they can use to manage and improve their businesses.