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Impact Of Perceived Service Quality On Customer Satisfaction And Brand Loyalty
[A CASE STUDY OF HONEYWELL FLOUR MILLS PLC]
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A company can learn a great deal by analyzing the degrees of brand
loyalty; by studying its hard-core loyal, the company can identify its
products' strength. By studying its split loyal, the company can
pinpoint which brands are most competitive with its own. By looking at
customers who are shifting away from its brands, the company can learn
about its marketing weakness and attempt to correct them. One caution:
what appear to be brand-loyal purchase patterns may reflects, habit,
indifference, a low price, a high switching cost, or the
non-availability of other brands. Thus, a company must carefully
interpret what is behind the observed purchase patterns.
2.1.3 Service Quality
The definition of quality may vary from
person to person and from situation to situation. The definitions of
service quality vary only in wording but typically involve determining
whether perceived service quality meets, exceeds or fails to meet
customer expectations (Cronin & Taylor, 1992, Oliver 1997; Ziethaml,
Berry & Parasuraman, 1990).
Service quality is commonly noted as
a critical prerequisite and determinant of competitiveness for
establishing and sustaining satisfying relationships with customers.
Previous studying suggests that service quality is an important
indicator of customer satisfaction. Attention to service quality can
make an organisation different from other organisations and gain a
lasting competitive advantage. According to Brady & Robertson (2001)
service quality helps to create the necessary competitive by being an
effective differentiating factor. Service quality was initiated in the
1980s as the worldwide trend when marketers realized that only a quality
product could guarantee and maintain competitive advantage (Boshoff
& Gray 2004).
According to Parasuraman, (1990), service quality
can be defined as the consumer's comparison between service expectation
and service performance. They proposed service quality to be a function
of pre-purchase customer expectations, perceived process quality and
perceived output quality; they then suggested that service quality is
determined by differences between customers' expectations of the service
and their perceptions of the service experience.
Parasuraman (1988)
defined service quality as the degree and direction of discrepancy
between the consumers perceptions and expectations, or the extent to
which a service meets or exceeds customers expectations. Parasuraman,
Zeithaml & Berry (1988, 1990) projected a service quality model that
identified perceived service quality into five dimensions: Tangibility,
Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, and Empathy.
• Tangibles involve the appearance of physical facilities, including the equipment, personnel and communication materials
• Reliability involves the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately
• Responsiveness involves the willingness to help customers.
•
Assurance involves the knowledge and courtesy of employees and their
ability to convey trust and confidence. This assurance includes
competence, courtesy, credibility and security.
• Empathy involves
the provision of caring individualised attention to customers. This
empathy includes access, communication and understanding the customer
Most
customers prefer good service to lower prices. Think about all the
situations where you are prepared to pay a little extra cash to get a
better or more efficient service. Companies that give these additional
service benefits are likely to be winners. They have a competitive
advantage over rivals.
Customers are requiring and demanding better
services and the goal of all flour firms must be to make the customers
feel special. This will lead to customers' perception exceeding their
expectations and greater customer satisfaction. A personal proactive
approach such as knowing customers history, issues and preferences is
vital to impressing customers a
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]ABSTRACT This research is used to explore the impact of perceived service quality on customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. The main objective of this study was to identify the service quality offerings of Honeywell Flour Mills Nig. Plc and Lister Flour Mills Ltd to their customers, to ascertain the level of customer’s satisfaction and to determine the relationship between customer service and brand loyalty. Questionnaires were used in collating respondent’s opinion. The f ... Continue reading---
APPENDIX A - [ Total Page(s): 3 ]APPENDIX IQUESTIONAIRESTUDY QUESTIONNAIREDEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATIONFACULTY MANAGEMENT SCIENCESUNIVERSITY OF ILORINKWARA STATE.Dear sir/ MadamThis questionnaire is designed to study your perception of service quality rendered by Honeywell Flour Mill Plc (HFMP) and Lister Flour Mill Ltd. (LFML) and how they influence your satisfaction and loyalty to the companies' product(s). Your sincere response will be treated as confidential as this exercise is purely academic although it may lead t ... Continue reading---
APPENDIX B - [ Total Page(s): 8 ]APPENDIX IISPSS OUTPUT ... Continue reading---
TABLE OF CONTENTS - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]TABLE OF CONTENTSTitle Page Certification Dedication Acknowledgement Abstract Table of Contents CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION1.1 Background of the Study 1.2 Statement of the Problem 1.3 Research Questions 1.4 Objectives of the Study 1.5 Significance of the Study 1.6 Scope of the Study 1.7 Limitations of the Study 1.8 Study Plan 1.9 Definitions of Key Terms CHAPTER T ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER ONE - [ Total Page(s): 4 ]Brand loyalty is linked to customer satisfaction. If a producer readily
produces goods or services that are safe, dependable, economical and
affordable, the consumer is most unlikely to waver in purchases or seek
to alternatives. This is why Liswood (2003) said that customer retention
is the key to competitiveness and to driving profits, that the best
measure of quality and value is customer retention.Brand loyalty or
customer retention is important for very many reasons. Firstly, if ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER THREE - [ Total Page(s): 5 ]CHAPTER THREEMETHODOLOGY3.0 This examined the authenticity of the research hypothesis and the choice of method used in analyzing the data collected3.1 Historical Profile of Honeywell Flour Mills Plc and Lister Flour Mills LimitedThere are about 22 Mills around the country as shown below; ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER FOUR - [ Total Page(s): 11 ]Table 4.8 displays that 11 respondent’s rated Honey well order taking and processing as excellent and 18 people for Lister. 36 respondents perceived Honeywell to be good and 51 for Lister. 28 respondents rated Honeywell as fair and 5 did the same for Lister while 5 respondents perceived Honeywell to be poor and Lister had 6.Table 4.9 shows that 12 of our respondents rated Honeywell as excellent and 14 for Lister. 42 rated Honeywell services as good and 54 for Lister. 23 respondents rated ... Continue reading---
CHAPTER FIVE - [ Total Page(s): 4 ]Today, what sets great
organizations apart is their commitment to drive customer-valued action
throughout the organisation. These organisations have leaders with a
vision of creating exceptional value for customers and shareholders. The
leaders make resources available to deliver superior value. They have
also designed environment where performances are evaluated based on what
customer's value. Thus any organization that is committed to a strategy
of delivering what customers value ... Continue reading---
REFRENCES - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]REFERENCESAbramovitch, E.: "Go surfing" in; Casino World. Issue 23 Nov/Dec 1997, Pg. 32.Alfred A. Chandler Jr.: Strategy and Structure (Cambridge Mass) The M.LI. Press (1962) P.13.Cardoso R.M.: Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. Second Edition,McGraw Hill, USA. 1965, Pg. 107-124.Cardoso R.M.: An Experimental Study of Consumer Effort, Expectation and Satisfaction. Journal of Marketing Research. 2 (August 1968). Pp 244-249.Baker M.J.: Marketing; An Introductory Text. Fourth edition, Macmi ... Continue reading---
