impact of korean highway rest area servicescape on the ... · impact of korean highway rest area...

Impact of Korean Highway rest areaServicescape on the intention of Purchase

Hyunsoon Jang1 and Yen Yoo You2

1Doctoral Student,Dept. of Smart Convergence Consulting,

Hansung University, 116, samseongyo 16gil,Seongbuk-gu, Seoul Metropolitan Government,

,02876, [email protected]

2Corresponding Author, Professor,Dept. of Smart Convergence Consulting,

Hansung University,116, samseongyo 16gil, Seongbuk-gu,

Seoul Metropolitan Government, ,02876, [email protected]

January 27, 2018

Abstract

Background/Objectives: The Korean Expressway hasgrown rapidly to be 9th country in the world with 38 linesand 4,323km. The expressway rest area also has grown from4 in 1970 to 185 in 2012 and now its sales is 14 trillion Ko-rean dollars. And express rest area is very important factorfor customer satisfaction to use the express way. However,this premise has not been validated in a scientific mannerso far. Despite several study of expressway rest area, thereexist scant literature analyzing the role of servicescape onthe customer satisfaction, the staying time and the buyingintention, for example, what servicescapes drivers to use for

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International Journal of Pure and Applied MathematicsVolume 118 No. 19 2018, 2295-2310ISSN: 1311-8080 (printed version); ISSN: 1314-3395 (on-line version)url: http://www.ijpam.euSpecial Issue ijpam.eu

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the expressway rest area service, how much are they satis-fied on the expressway rest area servicescape, and what arethe purchasing effects of the expressway rest area service.

Methods/Statistical Analysis: The main purposesof this dissertation are two folds. First, this dissertationinvestigates the determining factors of the service express-way customers’ satisfaction. Based on the servicescape ap-proach, this dissertation tests how much drivers are satisfiedwith the servicescape of the expressway rest area. The sec-ond purpose of this dissertation is to understand the effectsof the customer satisfaction and staying time on the pur-chasing intention.

Findings: Based on the servicescape approach, the firstresearch model examined the effect of servicescape, i.e., thefacility’s exterior, interior and signal & symbol, on the cus-tomer satisfaction and staying time of the expressway restarea. This dissertation analysed how each factor influencescustomer’s satisfaction and behavioral intentions to pur-chasing. The research model based on the theoretical ar-guments of servicescape theory and customer satisfactiontheory.

Data were obtained from a sample of 500 drivers from7 expressway rest area in yongdong-line to sokcho. Theresults showed that two servicescape have a significant in-fluence on the drivers’ satisfaction, which in turn influencedthe purchasing intention. Another key finding was that theservicescape influence the staying time, but the staying timedid not influence positively on the purchasing intention.

Improvements/Applications: For further research, it willbe a meaningful research in practice if try to clarify the rela-tionship between the servicescape and customer satisfactionaccording to the characteristics of customers.

Key Words : Public Service, Service Quality, Cus-tomer Satisfaction, Trust to Public Sector, Government Fi-nancing Project

1 Introduction

The Korean Expressway, which has become the driving force ofeconomic development by linking the whole country with the dailylife of the country and the nation’s balanced development, opened

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a total of 38,703 km (including 6 private lines) of 38 lines at the endof 2012 and 18,870 thousand cars has been registered and also hasgrown to the ninth largest motorway in the world. As of October2013, 210 rest areas are installed on the expressway, but most ofthem are limited to simple rest and convenience facilities, therefore,the use of rest area is limited for simple rest facilities. However, dueto the recent changes of demand for highway users, the highway restarea has evolved from a simple resting place to a place with sights.As the concept of usage changes, the highway rest area performsfunctions of shopping mall and also possible to purchase regionalproducts or foods without visiting local stores via rest area. As theresult, the rest areas, via linking with nearby facilities, are changingas a place where can be vitalized the local economy by attractingtourists.

Recently, it has been recognized that the time spent in the restarea of users, is closely related to the sales growth of the highwayrest area. As result, recent rest areas are selecting specific themesand also changing exteriors as park to maximize the stay time of thevisitors. However, the relationship between stay time of highwayrest area visitors and sales growth has not been verified throughsystematic research. Therefore, this research attempts to analyzehow ’the servicescape’ of highway rest area affects user’s purchaseactivity and also try to analyze the mediating effects of user satis-faction and stay time on the relationship between ’the servicescape’and user’s purchase activity.

2 Materials and Methods

2.1 Status of highway rest area and necessity ofservice

The highway rest area on the highway, which is designed for high-speed driving and long-distance driving, is an indispensable crucialelement that must be provided for the driver’s safety and comfort-able traveling, such as relieving fatigue of the driver, preventingdrowsiness. It is classified as a regular rest area and a simple restarea depending on whether a restaurant or a gas station is installed.The regular rest area is equipped with comprehensive facilities for

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people and vehicles. The simple rest area is mainly installed forsafe driving by solving the physiological needs of the driver. There-fore, it can be said that resting area must need the facilities forrestoration of accumulated fatigue in a short time.

2.2 Servicescape

A conceptual term for servicescape is a compound word that com-bines a scape behind a service like a seascape or landscape. Ser-vicescape means not only the internal and external design facil-ities of the service, but also the physical environment includingadditional factors such as temperature, noise, and fragrance. Ser-vicescape affects the perception of customers through human sensessuch as visual, auditory, olfactory, and tactile senses in terms of thespecific physical and spatial aspects of the environment surround-ing the consumer. Every physical element that can be directlyperceived by the customer in the place where the service occurs iscalled as servicescape.

Baker (1987, 1994) categorized physical environments by includ-ing tangible clues such as customers or employees as well as artificialand physical environments within the service space and also catego-rized ambient factor, design factor and social factor. On the otherhand, Bitner (1992), defined the servicescape is the artificial physi-cal environments created by humans in contrast to the natural andsocial environment in the service industry and classify surroundingelements, spatial arrangement and functionality and ’Signals, Sym-bols and Sculptures’ as 3 factors. Background environment such astemperature, lighting, noise, music, views and scents affect human’sfive senses. Affects human perceptions, beliefs, and emotions of aspecific place, and also affects the length of time that customers andthe service industry spend in the physical environment of servicesand employees. Milliman (1986) and Spreng (1996) have researchedthe effects of ambient conditions that based on the effects of back-ground music on shopping behaviors. 1,2,3,4,5

The arrangement of furniture and equipment creates a visibleand functional space for service delivery. This space allows us tosense the order and efficiency of employees and customers, chaosand uncertainty. In self-service activities, functionality and ease ofuse are important factors that help customers to act on their own.

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Bitner (1992) suggested that spatial placement and functionality ina self-service physical environment have a very large impact. Spacelayout and functionality become more important when the tasks tobe performed are complex or time contracts exist. For example,when a customer with extreme time pressures arrives at the air-port for departure, if the space layout and function of the airportis properly designed, the customer will be satisfied and the percep-tion of the service will increase. Davis (1984) stated that there aremany elements in the physical environment that act as signals toimplicitly or explicitly inform the customer’s code of conduct. Anexplicit sign of ’No Smoking’ tells the rules of action, and ’recy-cling’ leads to participation in recycling activities. Many elementswithin the physical environment play an explicit and implicit com-munication role through the signals, symbols, and sculptures at-tached to the interior and exterior of the environment where theyare located. Bitner (1992) states that ’environmental psychologistsrespond to people’s overall environment’ and ’Individuals perceiveseparate stimuli, but determining their response to the environmentis an overall form of stimulation’. 3,6

2.3 Customer Satisfaction

The concept of customer satisfaction is widely used and widely de-fined in academia and general companies but the definition can bedifferent depending on whether value the result or the process. Theresult of customer satisfaction is the view that customer satisfactionis the product that shows the result of consumption experience andcognitive status of the consumer as to whether it has been properlycompensated for the price paid by the consumer (Howard & Sheth,1979). On the other hand, when considering the process of evalu-ating satisfaction, it is estimated that the consumption experienceis at least as good as expected (Hunt, 1977). Oliver (1980), basedon the expectation discrepancy hypothesis, satisfaction means thatemotions are caused by the inconsistency between customer expec-tations and actual experiences. Also for customer who are visitinghighway rest area for short time, the customer satisfaction is deter-mined by the cognitive judgment and the emotional reaction feltin the process of contact with resting place facilities or employees.7,8,9

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2.4 Time of stay

Time is associated with all aspects of human behavior, which is avery important variable in understanding consumer behavior (Ja-cob, Szybillo and Berning, 1976). Therefore, companies have begunto pay attention to their time of stay, especially time in the service-related field is an important factor closely related to the qualityevaluation of service and consumer satisfaction. 10

The residence time refers to how long to stay in a certain space.The highway rest area is a service environment with a short time tostay in the facility compared to other similar services such as themeparks. In order to extend the stay time of customers, it means thatthere should be a lot of factors such as attractions and enjoymentin the space. In the case of such a service having a long stay time,the service quality perceived is greatly affected by the servicescape.In addition, the customer’s stay time is related to the customer’sspending behavior and the amount of spending.

2.5 Purchasing Intention

Time is associated with all aspects of human behavior, which is avery important variable in understanding consumer behavior (Ja-cob, Szybillo and Berning, 1976). Therefore, companies have begunto pay attention to their time of stay, especially time in the service-related field is an important factor closely related to the qualityevaluation of service and consumer satisfaction. 10

The residence time refers to how long to stay in a certain space.The highway rest area is a service environment with a short time tostay in the facility compared to other similar services such as themeparks. In order to extend the stay time of customers, it means thatthere should be a lot of factors such as attractions and enjoymentin the space. In the case of such a service having a long stay time,the service quality perceived is greatly affected by the servicescape.In addition, the customer’s stay time is related to the customer’sspending behavior and the amount of spending.

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2.6 Study Model and Hypothesis

2.6.1 Study Model

In this research, we try to analyze the impact on customers purchaseintention when the servicescape affects customer satisfaction andstay time of customer. In addition, we hypothesized as shown infigure 1, to verify the impact on stay time when the servicescapeaffects customer satisfaction.

Figure 1. Research Model

In this study model, the reason for setting Fairness of PersonnelEvaluation as the parameter is that, owing to the presence of workmotivation and the desire for individuals to be evaluated underidentical conditions Employee Loyalty is deemed to have a very im-portant role. Following this, with Fairness of Personnel Evaluationdefined as the parameter for this study model, it can be expressedthat there is a large discrepancy between this study and precedentstudies.

2.6.2 Hypothesis

Hypothesis 1(H1): The ’servicescape’ will have a positive impacton customer satisfaction.Hypothesis 1-1(H1-1): The surrounding environment will have apositive impact on stay time.Hypothesis 1-2(H1-2): The area function will have a positiveimpact on stay time.Hypothesis 1-3(H1-3): The signal and symbols will have a positiveimpact on stay time.

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Hypothesis 2(H2): The servicescape will have a positive impact onstay time.Hypothesis 2-1(H2-1): The surrounding environment will have apositive impact on stay time.Hypothesis 2-2(H2-2): The area function will have a positiveimpact on stay time.Hypothesis 2-3(H2-3): The signal and symbols will have a positiveimpact on stay time.Hypothesis 3(H2): The customer satisfaction will have a positiveimpact on stay time.Hypothesis 4(H2): The customer satisfaction will have a positiveimpact on purchase intention.Hypothesis 5(H2): The stay time will have a positive impact onpurchase intention.

2.6.3 Research Tools and Operational Definitions of Vari-ables

The population is the customers using the rest area of Korean RoadCorporation and the sample was surveyed and analyzed by theusers of the 7 resting places of Yeongdong Line to Sokcho(Yongin,Dukpyoung, Yeoju, Munmak, Hoengsung, Pyeongchang, Kangre-ung) by time-based. The time and method of the survey wereSelf-Administered, in which the respondents directly filled out thequestionnaire through structured questionnaires for a total of fourdays from February 27 to March 2, 2015. A total of 500 copies ofthe questionnaire were distributed and 450 copies were collected. 44samples have been rejected due to un-suitable or unnecessary sam-ple for analysis and 406 copies were selected for the analysis. Thecollected questionnaires were analyzed by statistical packages, SPSSand AMOS. The questionnaire for substantiative analysis was com-posed as follows. The questionnaires were reconstructed accordingto the purpose of this research based on existing literature research.The questionnaire consisted of 6 sections, and the composition ofthe questionnaire items is as follows.

First, the questions about the servicescape of the highway restarea are, composed by 17 questions which are about surroundingenvironments (5 items), area functionalities (6 items) and symbolsand signs (6 items) and the Likert 7 point scale was used. Second,

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customer satisfaction was measured as overall service satisfactionand composed of 1 item. Third, in the research of Jeon Byeong-gil (2002), ’Time in the service sector is an important factor inevaluating service quality and determining consumer satisfaction’.11

In this research, the definition of stay time is defined as ’totaltime spent from the time visitors arrived and leave’ and the personwho participated in the questionnaire set the method of directly en-tering the stay time. Fourth, for question about purchase intention,the person who participated in the questionnaire set the method forthe ’the number of purchases purchased at highway rest area’. Fi-nally, 7 items were composed for demographical and general usagecharacteristics and measured for nominal scale.

3 Results and Discussion

As a result of analyzing the general characteristics of resting placecustomers who responded to the questionnaire of this research, malewas 234 (57.9%) and female was 170 (42.1%). The target rest ar-eas were, Yongin (55, 13.5%), Deokpyeong (49, 12.1%), Yeoju (28,6.9%), Namseong (154, 37.9%), Hoengseong (47, 11.6%), Pyeongch-ang (24, 5.9%)and Kangnung (49, 12.1%). By age group, there were89 people in the 20s (22.3%), 30s were 122 (30.5%), 40s were 109(27.3%), 50s were 69 (17.3%) and over 60s were 11 (2.8%). By typeof vehicle group, largest proportion was passenger cars (89.7%), buswas 3.7% and truck was 4.9%. In terms of usage, 8.4% are alone,45.6% are family members, 11.8% are couples, 28.1% are friends,and 3.5% are others.

The number of accompanying passengers was 33.3% for 2 per-sons, 24.4% for 3 persons, 21.5% for 4 persons and 10.3% for 1person. For the purpose of traffic on the highway, tourism is themost distributed with 69.7%, business 16.6%, visiting by 6.1%, andothers by 7.6%.

The exploratory factor analysis and the reliability test wereconducted to examine whether the variables included in this re-search model are divided into three independent dimensions of ser-vicescape. The single item factors have been excluded and theresult of the analysis are shown in [Table 1].

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Table 1. Exploratory Factor Analysis and Reliability Analysis ofServicecape Measures

The Principal Component Model was applied to the factor anal-ysis and Varimax rotation was used as the factor rotation method.As a result of the factor analysis, three factors such as surroundingenvironment, spatial function, signal and symbol were extracted.Originally, 17 items were examined, but the 5 items with the prob-lematic factor analysis were removed and a total of 11 items wereused.

The internal consistency was verified through the reliability testusing Cronbach alpha and the cumulative variance that can be ex-plained by the three factors was 74.018% of the total variance.

To test the appropriateness of the research model, structuralequation analysis was used and AMOS statistical software was usedfor this purpose. The maximum likelihood (ML) was used for theanalysis of the measurement model and the model was evaluatedthrough the fitness indexes. The results of the analysis of the mea-surement model are shown in < Table2 >. The fit indices were X2

= 546.470, df = 68, p = 0.000, GFI = 0.861, IFI = 0.847, NFI =0.829, CFI = 0.846, RMR = 0.027 and RMSEA = 0.132. Therefore,except for some indices, we can see that most of them are satisfied

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with the recommended level.

Ttable 2. Analysis of total measurement model

Figure 2. Research model and path coefficient for causal analysis

The path coefficient is a normalized coefficient* p <.05, ** p <.01, *** p <0.001, indicating a significant path

coefficient Causal effect through covariance structure analysisAs a result of the hypothesis test, 6 of the 9 hypotheses were

adopted and 3 hypotheses were rejected. Details of the results areshown in [Table 3].

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Table 3. Hypothesis Verifivation result through structural equationmodel

4 Conclusion

4.1 Study Results and Implications

To accomplish the purpose of this research, a theoretical model con-sisting of five hypotheses is presented based on previous researches.The survey results were analyzed for 500 customers at each high-way rest area (Yeongdong Line, To Sokcho) and the following resultswere obtained.

Firstly, the ’servicescape’ has a positive impact on customersatisfaction. The surrounding environment and spatial function ofservice had statistically significant positive impact, but signals andsymbols did not. The main purpose of users of the highway restarea is to use the restroom, to eat, to use simple food and bever-age, and it seems that emotional signals and symbols are not im-portant, unlike the surrounding environment and space functions.Therefore, in order to increase customer satisfaction, it is impor-tant to maintain the ambient temperature, noise, and cleanliness inthe surrounding environment and also convenience of the movinglines in the store or relaxed moving space, visual convenience of the

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signs related to stores and products, and convenience of use of thecounter are necessary.

Second, as a result of verifying the relationship between the ser-vicescape and stay time, the spatial function, the signal and thesymbol have a statistically significant positive effect on the resi-dence time. However, the surrounding environment was not af-fected by the stay time. Which could mean, in order to increasethe stay time of customer, concern on the kindness of human ser-vices, the appearance of buildings, and the selection of themes,which are components of signals and symbols and the importanceof space functions.

Third, customer satisfaction directly positive affects the staytime of highway rest area. Customer satisfaction for servicescapehas been shown to have a positive effect on the length of stay athighway rest areas. Fourth, customer satisfaction has a statisti-cally significant positive effect on purchase intention. It shows thatthe previous researches which about the ’customer satisfaction af-fects customer’s behavioral intention’ also applies to customers ofhighway rest area.

Fifth, staying time did not have a statistically significant pos-itive effect on purchase intention. This shows that the purchaseintention of the store does not directly affect the stay time of thehighway rest area. In other words, the entertained rest area of high-way impact on the length of stay time of customers, but it does nothave relationship with purchase intention. Therefore, in order toincrease purchase intention, it is not possible to see the actual effectby only selecting the theme and implementing the theme such asnature, region, and uniqueness and also means that it should bedone together with a plan to induce customer to purchase.

Finally, as a result of verifying the mediating effects of the re-lationship between customer satisfaction and stay time of the ser-vicescape and purchase intention, the servicescape has weakenedits effect on purchase intention when controlled the effect of thecustomer satisfaction and time of stay. Therefore, customer satis-faction and stay time have a partial mediating effect on the rela-tionship between servicescape and purchase intention.

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4.2 Improvement

This research has several limitations as follows. In this section, wewill present limitations of research and future research directionsto improve it. First, in this research, the servicecape of highwayrest area is divided into surrounding environment, spatial function,signal and symbol then the relationship between purchase intentionand customer satisfaction and residence time was investigated. Fur-ther research on the relationship between stay time and customersatisfaction may be meaningful. The second limitation is, this re-search is not considering difference in the characteristics of visitors.Depending on the purpose of using the highway and the time of use(long distance and short distance), the important factor of the ser-vicescape for could be different. However, in this research, we triedto clarify the relationship between the servicescape and customersatisfaction without considering characteristics of customers. Forfurther research, it will be a meaningful research in practice if tryto clarify the relationship between the servicescape and customersatisfaction according to the characteristics of customers.

5 Acknowledgment

This research was supported by the research fund of the GraduateSchool of Hansung University.

References

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[2] Taylor, S. A., & Baker, T. L. (1994).An Assessment of theRelationship Between Service Quality & Customer Satisfactionin the Formation of Consumer Purchase Intention. Journal ofRetailing, 70(Summer).

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[3] Bitner, M. J. (1992). Servicescapes: The Impact of PhysicalSurroundings on Customers and Employees. Journal of Mar-keting, 56(1), 57 71.

[4] Milliman, R.E. (1986). The influence of background music onthe behavior of restaurant patrons. Journal of Consumer Re-search, 46(3). 286-289.

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[6] Davis, V. (1984), The Influence of the Physical Environmentin Offices,Academy of Management Review, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp.271-283.

[7] Howard, J. A., & J. N. Sheth(1969),The Theory of Buyer Be-havior, Newyork: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

[8] Hunt, K. H. [1977]. Customers Satisfaction /Dissatisfaction-Overview and Future Directions, in Hunt, K.H. Conceptualiza-tion and Measurement of Customer Satisfaction and Dissatis-faction, Marketing Science Institute, Cambridge, MA, pp.71-109.

[9] Oliver, R. L. (1980). Processing of the satisfaction responsein consumption: A suggested framework and research propo-sitions. Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction andComplaining Behavior, 2, 1 6.

[10] Jacob Jacoby, George J. Szybillo and CarolKohn Bern-ing(1976). Time and Consumer Behavior: An InterdisciplinaryOverview, Journal of Consumer Research, 2(4), 320-339.

[11] Jeon Byeong-gil (2002). The Effect of Musical Tempo onRestaurant Patrons’ Responses, Graduate School of HotelManagement, Gyeonggi University, p. 100-108

http://www.riss.kr/link?id=T9239970

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