sheffield business school - chai wan student...
TRANSCRIPT
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Sheffield Business School
BSc (Honours) Hospitality Business Management
Title A study of the relationship between service quality and customer
satisfaction of Starbucks Coffee in Hong Kong Name Chan Ka Man Student No 9120 4646 Month Year April 2010
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Sheffield Hallam University
Sheffield Business School
Title A study of the relationship between service quality and customer
satisfaction of Starbucks Coffee in Hong Kong FULL NAME Chan Ka Man STUDENT No 9120 4646 Supervisor: Professor Ray Pine In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Science in Hospitality Business Management. Month Year April 2010
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Acknowledgements
Since there were lots of supports for me to complete this dissertation, hence, I would
like to acknowledge about their efforts.
Firstly, I would like to thank to Professor Pine, the supervisor of my project, for his
taught about the skills of writing the dissertation, recommendations, guidance and
assistance during the whole process of working in the project.
Secondly, I felt gratitude to the help of my previous colleagues who were working in
Starbucks Coffee. They provided lots of information about Starbucks Coffee to me.
Finally, I would like to thank my families and friends about their ideas, suggestions
and supports for me to complete my project. Moreover, I would like to thank for the
respondents who have participated in my survey that provided information for me to
have the analysis of the primary research.
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Abstract Since nowadays having customer satisfaction for hospitality industry, therefore most
organizations put lots of effort to understand their customers in order to gain their
satisfaction. Hence, this study was launched for the aim finding out the relationship
between service quality and customer satisfaction and find methods to enhance its
satisfaction. In this study, Starbucks Coffee was used as the example, within the
literature review, there would be explanations about the terms of service quality,
customers expectation, perception and satisfaction. Moreover, there would be an
introduction about the primary research. A survey was conducted to collect the
customer responds toward Starbucks Coffee in Hong Kong. Based on the result
analysis, there were some dimensions of service quality of Starbucks that could not
gain satisfaction. Therefore, at the end of the study, there would be some
recommendations for Starbucks Coffees improvements such as enhance their
appearance of store, provide more individual services.
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Table of Contents Page
Acknowledgements..iii Abstract....iv Table of contents..v-vii List of Figuresviii List of Tablesix Chapter 1 Introduction .1-6 1.1 Background Information .....1-2 1.2 Information of Starbucks Coffee
1.2.1 Background.3-4 1.2.2 Mission Statement..4
1.3 Aims...5 1.4 Objectives...5 1.5 Outline of the Study6 Chapter 2 Literature Review.7-25 2.1 Introduction7 2.2 Service8
2.2.1 The Definition of Service...8 2.2.2 Characteristics of Service..9-11
2.3 Quality..11 2.3.1 The Definition of Quality11-12
2.4 Service Quality.13 2.4.1 The Definition of Service Quality13 2.4.2 Service Gap Model..13-16 2.4.3 Measurement of Service Quality.16-20
2.5 Consumer Behavior..20 2.5.1 The Definition of Consumer Behavior.20 2.5.2 Expectation..21-22 2.5.3 Perception22-23 2.5.4 Customer Satisfaction...23
2.6 Relationship between Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction ..24
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2.6.1 Satisfaction versus Service Quality.24-25
2.7 Summary ..25 Chapter 3 Methodology26-35 3.1 Introduction..26 3.2 Primary Research26-27 3.3 Secondary Research 27 3.4 Research Methods27
3.4.1 Qualitative Research28 3.4.2 Quantitative Research.28-29
3.5 Design of Questionnaire 3.5.1 Structure..29-31 3.5.2 Hypothesis..31-32 3.5.3 Wording and Language.32
3.6 Sampling..32 3.7 Piloting.33 3.8 Data Collection..33-34 3.9 Data Analysis34 3.10 Limitations
3.10.1 Primary Research.35 3.10.2 Secondary Research.35
3.11 Summary..35 Chapter 4 Findings and Analysis36-61 4.1 Introduction..36 4.2 Demographic Profile of Respondents.37-39 4.3 Analysis of five dimensions of service quality40
4.3.1 Reliability40-42 4.3.2 Responsiveness...42-43 4.3.3 Assurance43-44 4.3.4 Empathy..45-46 4.3.5 Tangibles.46-47
4.4 Analysis of overall customer satisfaction...47-50 4.5 Factors analysis51
4.5.1 Expectation 4.5.1.1 Age group51-53 4.5.1.2 Occupation..53-54
4.5.2 Perception
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4.5.2.1 Gender.54-55 4.5.2.2 Average income rate56-57
4.6 Analysis of importance of five dimensions of service quality58-61 4.7 Summary..61 Chapter 5 Conclusion and Recommendations...62-66 5.1 Conclusion..62-63 5.2 Recommendations for Starbucks Coffee in Hong Kong..63
5.2.1 Reliability.64 5.2.2 Empathy64 5.2.3 Tangibles...65 5.2.4 Responsiveness.65
5.3 Further Research...66 Reference67-72 Appendices.. Appendix 1 - Questionnaire in English...73-76 Appendix 2 - Questionnaire in Chinese..77-79 Appendix 3 - Statistics of respondents expectation toward age group..80-81 Appendix 4 - Statistics of respondents expectation toward occupancy.82-83 Appendix 5 - Statistics of respondents perception toward gender.84-85 Appendix 6 - Statistics of respondents perception toward average income rate86-87 Appendix 7 Crosstabs analysis of respondents gender, age group and Level of importance of responsiveness..88
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List of Figures Page
Figure 2.1 Service Quality Model 14
Figure 2.2 Determinants of Perceived Service Quality 17
Figure 2.3 Possible Levels of Customer Expectations 22
Figure 2.4 Customer Perceptions of Quality and Customer Satisfaction 25
Figure 3.1 Types of Questionnaire 30
Figure 4.1 Compare mean in reliability dimension 42
Figure 4.2 Compare mean in responsiveness dimension 43
Figure 4.3 Compare mean in assurance dimension 44
Figure 4.4 Compare mean in empathy dimension 46
Figure 4.5 Compare mean in tangibles dimension 47
Figure 4.6 Overall mean of expectation and perception based on
five dimensions. 48
Figure 4.7 Level of importance based on five dimensions of service
quality 59
Figure 4.8 Distribution of gender toward level of importance of
responsiveness 60
Figure 4.9 Distribution of age group toward level of importance of
responsiveness 60
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List of Tables
Page
Table 2.1 Problems Created by the Unique Characteristics of Services 11
Table 2.2 The Five SERVQUAL dimensions categories 17
Table 3.1 Statements pertaining to the five dimensions 31
Table 3.2 The given questionnaires distribution 34
Table 4.1 Demographic profile of respondents 37
Table 4.2 Comparison of mean in reliability dimension 41
Table 4.3 Comparison of mean in responsiveness dimension 43
Table 4.4 Comparison of mean in assurance dimension 44
Table 4.5 Comparison of mean in empathy dimension 45
Table 4.6 Comparison of mean in tangibles dimension 47
Table 4.7 Comparison of overall mean of expectation and perception
based on five dimensions 48
Table 4.8 Statistics of respondents expectation toward age group 51
Table 4.9 Different mean of respondents expectation toward age group 52
Table 4.10 Statistics of respondents expectation toward occupation 53
Table 4.11 Different mean of respondents expectation toward occupation 53
Table 4.12 Statistics of respondents perception toward gender 54
Table 4.13 Different mean of respondents perception toward gender 55
Table 4.14 Statistics of respondents perception toward average income
Rate 56
Table 4.15 Different mean of respondents perception toward average
income rate 56
Table 4.16 Level of importance based on five dimensions of service quality 59
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Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Background Information
In the hospitality industry, the spending of customers are the main income of an
organization, therefore customers are always being the main important role for a
hospitality organization to run business nowadays. According to Glanz (1994), he stated
that it costs five times as much to acquire a new customer as it does to retain an existing
customer, since having customer satisfaction not only could capture new customers, but
also increase the chance of repeated business and hence, most organizations would put a
lot of effort to fulfill the customers perception and expectation in order to gain maximum
profit. Moreover, customer satisfaction is also a tool for an organization to enhance their
image and brand name in the market industry, from Chan and Baum (2007), he said
customer satisfaction is a key element for contemporary organizations to deliver high
quality products and service as well as to position firms competitively in the marketplace,
hence the more satisfying the customers, the easier to increase the market share and the
net profit of the business.
As customer satisfaction is depended on the service delivery provided among the
customers perception and expectation. One of the ways for hospitality organizations to
gain customer satisfaction is focus on their own service quality, which is an important
objective for companies to retain business in competitive environment nowadays. Due to
service quality could affect customer satisfaction, the higher service quality could help
easier to reach the customers needs and wants, and therefore, higher the customer
satisfaction. As a result, it could enlarge repeat purchase, positive word-of-mouth
communications that help the business to achieve higher sales revenues and market
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shares. And this is the reason why much more organizations are focusing on service
quality nowadays than previous times.
For the international brand, Starbucks Coffee Company, it was one of the 100 top brands
around the world (Anon, 2007); it had increased its rating from 91 to 88 since 2006 to
2007. In Hong Kong, Starbucks Coffee is one of the most popular coffee shops, most
people may think of Starbucks Coffee as the first idea after listened to the words of
coffee shop. Even though the average spending costs of Starbucks are not really low
that everyone could afford it, but there are still lots of guests in Starbucks all the time.
However, with the situation that more and more competitors nowadays, and the
competitions between Starbucks and other competitors would be intense and long-term
including the new competitors enter the market of coffee shops which could bring the
threats that affecting the market leader of Starbucks, therefore Starbucks always put lots
of efforts to satisfy their guests in order to deal with the problem, help keeping their
business and having competitive advantages by providing the guests high quality,
innovative and creative service.
In this study, it analyzed the service quality of Starbucks, how they would make use of
the service quality in order to gain the customer satisfaction. Also, it could show the
useful of understand the guests perceptions, expectations, providing suitable services and
products including the usage of the service gap and SERVQUAL models that help to have
customer satisfaction.
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1.2 Information of Starbucks Coffee
1.2.1 Background logo of Starbucks Coffee
About the name Starbucks, it was come from Herman Melvilles Moby Dick, a
class American novel about 19th Century whaling industry. It represented a store
that imported the worlds finest coffees to the cold, thirsty people of Seattle. The
logo was also inspired by the sea featuring a twin-tailed siren from Greek
mythology (Starbucks Coffee Company, 2010a). In 1971, the first Starbucks was
opened in Seattles Pike Place Market. During that period, Starbucks was only the
roaster and retail of whole bean and ground coffee, tea with a single store.
In 1982, Howard Schultz, the Chairman of Starbucks, joined Starbucks as director
of retail operations and marketing. The year after, Howard traveled to Italy and
became captivated with Italian coffee bars and the romance of the coffee
experience. He had a vision to bring the Italian coffeehouse tradition back to the
United States that was a place for conversation and a sense of community, a third
place between work and home. Moreover, in 1984, there was a test to the
coffeehouse concept in downtown Seattle, and the first Starbucks Caffe Latte was
served. And in 1987, Starbucks opened first stores outside of Seattle area in
Chicago and Vancouver.
Nowadays, Starbucks Coffee had more than 15,000 stores in 50 countries that is
the premier roaster and retailer of specialty coffee in the world.
In hong Kong, there was the first store launched at Centrals Exchanege Square in
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may 2000. Until now, Starbucks are now with more than 100 stores across Hong
Kong's commercial, shopping & entertainment and residential areas. (Starbucks
Coffee Company, 2010b)
1.2.2 Mission Statement
Starbucks treat themselves as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the
world while maintaining our uncompromising principles while they grow. And
there are six guiding principles which would help them to measure the
appropriateness of their decisions:
(1) Provide a great work environment and treat each other with respect and
dignity.
(2) Embrace diversity as an essential component in the way we do business.
(3) Apply the highest standards of excellence to the purchasing, roasting and fresh
delivery of our coffee.
(4) Develop enthusiastically satisfied customers all of the time.
(5) Contribute positively to our communities and our environment.
(6) Recognize that profitability is essential to our future success.
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1.3 Aims
The research aims was to study how the service quality of Starbucks Coffee Company in
Hong Kong influencing the customer satisfaction and how it could enhance customer
satisfaction through service quality enhancement. Thus, at the end of the research, it
could provide the importance of the link between the customer satisfaction and service
quality and the use of SERVQUAL model.
1.4 Objectives
In order to have the details information about the relationships between the service
quality and customer satisfaction, bellows are the objectives that should be carried out:
(1) To understand what customer satisfaction and service quality are and the relationships
between the two issues;
(2) To study how to measure customer satisfaction and service quality;
(3) To find out the difference between customers expectation and perception of service
quality in Starbucks; and,
(4) To provide recommendations that which dimension of SERVQUAL that Starbucks
should improve to gain customer satisfaction.
In this study, the first two parts of the objectives would be solved by the literature review
in Chapter 2, and the last two parts of the objectives would be solved by the quantitative
method which would be explained in chapter 3 and 4.
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1.5 Outline of the Study
There would be five chapters consisted in this study:
Chapter 1, Introduction, it stated the purpose of the study, the aims and objectives of the
study. It also included the outline of the study.
Chapter 2, Literature Review, it contained the background and the concepts that were
using by Starbucks Coffee in Hong Kong. Also, it included the review of customer
satisfaction, service quality, the relationship between them and the methods of the
measurement of customer satisfaction and service quality.
Chapter 3, Methodology, it was about the source of data collected, provides details of
primary and secondary research. It stated the process of data collection including the
methods used, design of the questionnaire, sampling in the survey.
Chapter 4, Findings and Analysis, it showed the findings and results of the primary
research. The data was analyzed by the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS).
Chapter 5, Conclusion and Recommendations, this was the last part that contained the
conclusion which based on the findings of the research and review the research objectives
of the study. Also, there were recommendations suggested to Starbucks Coffee.
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Chapter 2 Literature Review
2.1 Introduction
The aim of this chapter is to provide a further understanding of the issues that the
research would mention about. Dees (1993) said that access to numerous resources will
ensure success in getting started and give you insight to the limitations and possibilities
of the research topic. Once you have a topic and can focus on a potential research
questions, your goal will be to locate appropriate numbers and types of sources to
investigate.(p.15), a literature review was needed in this study because it could help to
bring a step forward to the research question. In terms of White (2000), he defined that
literature was knowledge of whats gone before and would provide a state of-the-art
background. And literature review would help to discuss the study in the relevant
context, together with any theoretical frameworks which may be involved. It may also
trigger your imagination and help you set the work in a new and different light. (p.83)
According to the literature review in this study, it has divided into six parts by giving
general definitions of service, quality, and the terms of customer satisfaction and the
measurement of service quality. Lastly, there would be a summary at the bottom of the
chapter. By having tightly focused on those topics, it would be easier to understand the
link between those issues and helped to develop the ideas better.
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2.2 Service
Before having knowledge about the terms of service quality and customer satisfaction, it
was needed to understand the basic concept of service because there were special
characteristics of service. If there were more knowledge about service, it would be more
helpful to understand the whole study. Since from the chapter of background of Starbucks,
it showed Starbucks was an organization which focused on the customers and service,
therefore by the help of the study of service, the easier to analyze the service of
Starbucks in Hong Kong.
2.2.1 The Definition of Service
Lovelock, Wright (2002) have defined service as an action or performance which
offered by one party to another and services could be the economic activities
which create value and provide benefits for customers at specific times and places.
In addition, they gave out the example of how service industries contribute to the
economy of the United States relative to manufacturing, government, agriculture,
mining, construction, and business, etc. It could show that service has covered a
wide range of activities, most industries must involve service.
Besides, according to Buttle (1986), he pointed out service covers all those firms
and employees whose major final output is some intangible or ephemeral
commodity or, alternatively, that residual set of productive institutions whose final
output is not a material good. (p.5)
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2.2.2 Characteristics of Service
As service was totally different from the products that people could touch or see,
it was not easy to describe service in a concrete way. However, some special
characteristics of services would be mentioned below, therefore, it could
understand what service was in a more simple way.
Guiltinan, Schoell (1993) introduced that service was intangibility, perishability,
simultaneous production and consumption and lack of standardization. They said
that although some goods also have some of these characteristics, all services
have them. Each of these characteristics had important implications for the design
of marketing strategies.
Intangibility
It was the most common term to describe service. For intangible, it meant
services could not be seen, touched, felt, or otherwise sensed and it was not a
physical object. Moreover, it was generally difficult for the prospective customer
to evaluate a service in advance.(Guiltinan, Schoell, 1993)
Perishability
For the second characteristic, services were perishable which meant they could
not be saved, inventoried, returned or resold. For example, for the airliner took off
for its destination, the empty seats could not be reclaimed. It may lead to
difficulty in balancing supply and demand for the organizations, many service
providers find it too costly to offer levels of service that would match peak
demand, hence strategies must be prepared in order to minimize the things go
wrong. (Guiltinan, Schoell, 1993)
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Simultaneous production and consumption
About the third characteristic, for most service, production and consumption
occur simultaneously, most produces were depended on the consumers. Thus the
consumer became involved in the production process to some extent, and in many
cases the individuals involved in producing the service were the same people who
serve as the sales force. (Guiltinan, Schoell, 1993)
Lack of standardization (Heterogeneous)
The last characteristic of service was the lack of standardization. It was difficult
to achieve for service providers to measure the level of quality and had the
consistent quality. It was because the precise needs of the customers receiving the
service were slightly different. This was an especially important problem when
the essence of the service depends on contact personnel, since the performance of
individuals was bound to fluctuate from day to day and from client to client.
(Guiltinan, Schoell, 1993)
Form Table 2.1, it showed the sum up of the problems which created by the
unique characteristics of service. Since there would be problems occurred all the
time, therefore, understanding the meaning of service was necessary which could
help to develop solution or strategies to solve those problems.
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Table 2.1 Problems Created by the Unique Characteristics of Services Characteristic Problems
Intangibility Difficult to demonstrate benefits, reputation
Perishability Inability to build inventory Customer dissatisfaction from waiting
Simultaneous production and consumption
Producers of services are also marketers Potential for locational inconvenience
Lack of standardization (Heterogeneous)
Inconsistent quality
Source: Guiltinan, Schoell (1993), p.264
2.3 Quality
It was stated that nowadays customers were becoming critical about the quality of service
they experience. (Albrecht and Zemke, 1985) Hence, it was important to have a study
about the term of quality in order to attract more customers for the business. In this part,
it would help to understand the basic concept and characteristic of quality, and therefore,
it could have a further study in the service quality that help to measure and analyze the
service quality of Starbucks.
2.3.1 The Definition of Quality
According to Brown, et. al. (1991), quality in service was difficultly to define
because of the intangible nature of the service offering. The definition of quality
may vary from person to person and from situation to situation (p.1)
However, From Gummesson, et. al. (1996), they mentioned the definitions of
quality had become increasingly sophisticated during the past two decades.
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According to Thomas (1965), The concept of quality as excellence has now
been largely superseded by definitions emphasizing production or delivery
contexts. Such definitions as conformance to requirements(p.5) or even zero
defects (Gregory, 1972) relate quality to match between product and
manufacturing specification.(p.61) In addition, Johnson, Weber (1985) said that
an understanding of the meaning of quality is important as it applies to products
and purchased materials.(p.2) Also, as Quality could be measured and achieved
consistently, hence, the definitions of the required quality characteristics must be
such that the supplier could know what were wanted, and both supplier and the
using company could measure to determine whether the quality characteristics
had been achieved.
While based on Bowen, et. al. (1999), quality was defined has a direct impact on
the product or service performance and could be defined as freedom from
defects. It suggested that quality began with customer needs and ends with
customer satisfaction. The primary aim of nowadays total quality movement has
become total customer satisfaction. They also pointed out that most customers
nowadays would not satisfy with poor or average quality. Therefore, organizations
today had no choice but to adopt quality concepts if they wanted to run their
business, let alone be profitable. Thus, the task of keeping improve product and
service quality should be the first priority of organizations. Furthermore, Johnson,
Weber (1985) has mentioned the benefit of achieved quality was comparable to
those encountered in procuring products.
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2.4 Service Quality
In order to have a deeper understand of service quality, there would be a literature to
explain the details of service quality. From this part, it would be known that there were
difference dimensions to measure service quality and had a special measurement for
analyzing service quality. Since the learning form this part, it would be easier to analyze
the service quality of Starbucks in Hong Kong.
2.4.1 The Definition of Service Quality
Service quality was the foundation for services marketing as the core product was
being marketed was a performance stated from Berry, Parasuraman (1991). On
the other hand, Berry, et. al. (1985) said that service quality is more difficult for
the consumer to evaluate than goods quality; service quality perceptions result
from a comparison of consumer expectations with actual service performance
(p.42)
2.4.2 Service Gap Model
In order to analyze the sources of quality problems and help to solve the problems
and improve the service quality for the organization, there was a model which
named Service Gap Model. This could help to analyze those problems in a more
simple way. According to Figure 2.1, it showed the whole structure of the model.
(Berry, et. al., 1985) and the following part would explain the details of each gap.
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Fig 2.1 Service Quality Model
Source: Berry, L. L., Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A. (1985: p.44)
Gap 1: The Listening Gap
It was the difference between the consumer expectations and management
perceptions of those expectations. This may have impact on the consumers
evaluation of service quality. The gap occurred when there were inadequate
marketing research orientation; lack of upward communication; insufficient
relation focus; and, inadequate service recovery. (Berry, et. al., 1985:p.45, Bitner,
et. al., 2009: p.34)
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Gap 2: The Service Design and Standards Gap
It was the difference between management perceptions of consumer expectations
and the firms service quality specifications. This would affect service quality
from the consumers viewpoint. The gap may occurred because of the poor
service design; absence of customer-driven standard; and, inappropriate physical
evidence and service scape. (Berry, et. al., 1985:p.45, Bitner, et. al., 2009: p.37)
Gap 3: The Service Performance Gap
It was the difference between service quality specifications and actual service
delivery. It would influence the service quality from the consumers standpoint.
The gap may appear when there were deficiencies in human resource policies;
failure to match supply and demand; customer not fulfilling roles; and, problems
with service intermediaries. (Berry, et. al., 1985:p.45, Bitner, et. al., 2009: p.39)
Gap 4: The Communication Gap
It was the difference between actual service delivery and external
communications about the service. It would also affect the service quality from a
consumers standpoint. This would be taken place since there were lacks of
integrated service marketing communications; ineffective management of
customer expectations; over promising; inadequate horizontal communications;
and, inappropriate pricing. (Berry, et. al., 1985:p.46, Bitner, et. al., 2009: p.42)
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Gap 5: The Customer Gap
It was the difference between customer expectations and perceptions. Customer
expectations are the standards or reference points that customers bring into the
service experience, whereas customer perceptions are subjective assessments of
actual service experiences. (Bitner, et. al., 2009: p.32)
2.4.3 Measurement of Service Quality
Quality measurement is probably the most important technique for a service
aiming for more than a superficial improvement. (p.178) said form Edvardsson,
et. al.(1994). While Armstrong, et. al. (1997) said that Quality in the service
industry is challenging to measure due to the unique characteristics of intangibility,
heterogeneity and inseparability of production and consumption. (p.183).
Moreover, it mentioned that using SERVQUAL model as a foundation to measure
the service quality.
From the identification of Berry, et. al. (1985), they developed 10 keys categories
to determine the service quality. In figure 2.2, it showed the 10 determinants of
service quality.
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Fig 2.2 Determinants of Perceived Service Quality
Source: Berry, L. L., Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A. (1985: p.48)
However, those 10 categories had been summarized by Berry, et. al. (1988a).
They had done a research based on those 10 determinants and had the extensive
statistical analysis of data from five different samples of respondents yielded a
highly reliable and valid instrument that named SERVQUAL model containing 22
items. (p.6). Finally, they grouped the items into five dimensions. And the five
SERVQUAL dimensions were shown in table 2.2.
Table 2.2 The Five SERVQUAL dimensions categories Dimensions Definition Reliability Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately Assurance The knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire
trust and confidence Responsiveness The willingness to help customers and provide prompt service Tangibles The physical facilities, equipment, and appearance of personnel Empathy The caring, individualized attention the firm provides its customers
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There would be more details below of the five SERVQUAL dimensions based on
the explanation from Bitner, et. al. (2009, p.113-115)
Reliability
It referred to the delivery on promises. In those five dimensions of SERVQUAL,
reliability has been consistently shown to be the most important determinant of
perceptions of service quality. The word reliability meant the ability to perform
the promised service delivered on its promises-promises about delivery, service
provision, problem resolution, and pricing. Since customers wanted to do business
with organizations that could keep their promises, especially their promises about
service outcomes and core service attributes, therefore, reliability has always been
the important part. (p.113)
Assurance
It showed the inspiring trust and confidence. For the definition of assurance, it
was the employees knowledge and courtesy and the ability of the firm and its
employees to inspire customer trust and confidence. It pointed out this dimension
was likely to be mainly important for services that customers perceived as high
risk or for services of which they felt uncertain about their ability to evaluate
outcomes, such as medical, insurance and legal services. It said that trust and
confidence may be included in the person who links the customer to the
organization. In the service contexts, the organization sought to build trust and
loyalty between key contact people and individual customers. (p.114)
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Responsiveness
It was the willing to help customers and to provide prompt service. For
responsiveness, it intensified attentiveness and promptness in dealing with
customer requests, questions, complaints, and problems. It was communicated to
customers by the length of time they had to wait for assistance, answers to
questions, or attention to problems. It was also mentioned that as there would be
difference between the standards for speed and promptness of organization and
the customers requirements. Therefore, the organization must view the process of
service delivery and the handling of requests from customers point of view rather
than its point of view. (p.114)
Tangibles
It was representing the service physical. For the word tangibles in SERVQUAL,
it defined as the appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and
communication materials. It provided physical representations or images of the
service that customers, especially for the new customers, would use them to
evaluate quality. In service industries, organizations emphasized tangibles in their
strategies include services in which the customer visited the establishment to
receive the service, likes those hotels, restaurant and retail stores. (p.115)
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Empathy
It referred to the treating customers as individuals. In this dimension, it was
defined as the caring, individual attention that the firm provides its customers.
The substance of empathy was conveying, through personalized or customized
service, that customers were special and unique and that their needs were
understood. Since customers wanted to feel being understood and important to
firms that provide service to them. It also mentioned that the small service firm it
had, the more success could gain in empathy because they may offer customized
service easily. (p.114-115)
2.5 Consumer Behavior
It was also needed to study about the consumer behavior. It included the customer
expectation, perception and customer satisfaction. After understanding the expectation
and perception, it could help to understand what customer satisfaction was. It was useful
because it could help to understand and analyze the customer satisfaction of Starbucks in
Hong Kong.
2.5.1 The Definition of Consumer Behavior
From the explanation of Hoyer, MacInnis (2007), they stated that consumer
behavior referred to the study on how people purchase the product or service and
how to obtain a product or service at any one point of time. Similarly, from Buttle
(1986), consumer behavior is a developing science(p.76) He explained that the
scientific method was the setting up and testing of hypotheses which confirm or
refute existing theory, thereby strengthening or weakening the theory, was the
formal and normal method of development in any science.
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2.5.2 Expectation
According to the concept from Bitner, et. al. (2009), customer expectations are
the beliefs about service delivery that serve as standards or reference points
against which performance is judged. (p.75). In the meanwhile, Berry, et. al.
(1990) stated that customers expectation would be influenced by how well of the
performance provided by the provider. There would be several factors that
influenced expectation. They included personal needs, past experience, word of
mouth that may from friends, families or other contact peoples information,
external communication and price.
Bitner, et. al. (2009) also stated that the level of expectation could vary widely
depending on the reference point the customer holds. In order to comprehend,
measure and manage the customers expectation more easily, the service
marketers should have a clear definition of expectations. As showed in Figure 2.3,
there would be an example about the different possible types of service
expectations could be arrayed from low to high in a restaurant. With the help of
the example, it could show the different level of expectations in a simple way.
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Fig 2.3 Possible Levels of Customer Expectations
Source: Teas (1993: p.18-34, cited in Bitner, et. al., 2009:p.76)
2.5.3 Perception
In terms of the explanation of Berry, et. al. (1988b), perception was explained as
the resulted from the contrast of consumer expectation with actual service
performance.
Based on Kothari, Sharma (2009), perceptions after service contacts would make
expectations more realistic and practical in cases of services. There were three
themes which were relating to the evaluation and perception of service quality
(Parasuraman, et. al., 1985 cited in Ayala, er. Al., 1996) Firstly, service quality
was too hand for customer to evaluate than product quality. Secondly, the result
of perceived service quality was to compare of customer expectations with actual
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service performance. Lastly, quality evaluations were not only focus on the
outcome of a service, it also needs to evaluate of the process of service
delivery.(p.259-261)
2.5.4 Customer Satisfaction
Oliver (1997) said that Satisfaction is the consumers fulfillment response. It is a
judgment that a product or service feature, or the product or service itself,
provides a pleasurable level of consumption-related fulfillment. (p.13) While
Bitner, et. al. (2009) stated that satisfaction is a dynamic, moving target that may
evolve over time, influenced by a variety of factors (p.104-105). They explained
that when the usage of product or the service experience took place over time,
satisfaction would become highly variable that depended on which part in the
usage or experience was focusing on. Furthermore, Hoyer, MacInnis (2007) had
pointed out that customer satisfaction defined as the consumers evaluation of the
outcomes of their decision. Consumer may felt satisfaction if they thought their
needs or wants had been achieved. If the level of customer perception meets the
level of expectation, customer satisfaction would be gained.
By summarized of the above literature, higher the level of customer satisfaction
could lead to earn more for the business. It would increase the chances for
repeated purchase, positive word-of-mouth promotion and hence to increase the
profitability.
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2.6 Relationship between Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction
With the help of the study about the relationship between service quality and customer
satisfaction, it could be surer that there were link between the two concepts. Therefore, it
could help to set up the questionnaire easier with the aim of analyze the service quality
and customer satisfaction of Starbucks in Hong Kong which could help to find the result
for the survey in chapter 3.
2.6.1 Satisfaction versus Service Quality
Bitner, et. al. (2009) explained that it was popular to use the terms of satisfaction
and quality interchangeably for practitioners and writers. However, the
researchers were more precise about the different meanings and measurement
between the two concepts. They also mentioned that even though some concepts
of satisfaction and quality may in common, satisfaction is generally viewed as a
broader concept, whereas service quality focuses specifically on dimensions of
service (p.103). As shown in figure 2.4, it could see that perceived service
quality was a component of customer satisfaction, and the figure illustrated the
relationships between the two concepts.
To conclude the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction-the
service quality was a focused evaluation that reflected the customers perception
of the five dimensions, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and
tangible. While for satisfaction, it was influenced by perceptions of service quality,
product quality, and price, or others situational and personal factors which was
more inclusive. Therefore, it could see that service quality was one of the
elements that determine customer satisfaction.
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Fig 2.4 Customer Perceptions of Quality and Customer Satisfaction
Source: Bitner, M. J., et. al. (2009, p.103)
2.7 Summary
From this chapter, it has shown the definitions of the specific terms like service quality,
customer satisfaction and the relationship between the two issues. By understand more
about the above terms, the easier to analyze the service quality and customer satisfaction
of Starbucks in Hong Kong. In the next chapter, it would introduce the methodology
about the primary research used in this study and explain about why the method was been
chosen.
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Chapter 3 Methodology
3.1 Introduction
Apart from getting information in Literature Review, it was also important for the
research to find out the up-to-date data about the relationship between the service quality
and customer satisfaction in the Starbucks Coffee in order to have an all-round research.
By getting sufficient data for analysis, a quantitative research would be used.
In this chapter, it would state out the process of data collection including the research
methods used, design of the questionnaire, sampling, piloting, data analysis and
mentioned about the limitations in the research.
3.2 Primary Research
According to Sekaran (2003), it stated that a research was defined as an organized,
systematic, data-based, critical, objective, scientific inquiry or investigation into a
specific problem, undertaken with the purpose of finding answers or solutions to it.(p.5)
Moreover, Diehl and Gay (1992) said that research is the formal, systematic application
of the scientific method to the study of problems.(p.6). As the aim of the study was to
find out the relationship between the service quality and customer satisfaction, therefore,
a research was needed to find out the answer.
About the primary research, it means collecting the original data by using an accepted
research method and the research which has been designed by the own researcher to
answer specific research questions (Clark, Riley, Wilkie, et al, 1998) and (Webb 2002).
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For the primary data, Armstrong and Kotler (2000) said that it consists of wanted
information collected for the specific purpose for the research. There were two categories
methods for the primary research named qualitative and quantitative which would had
more explanation in the section of 3.4 Research Methods. In this study, it would focus on
the quantitative method by conducted a questionnaire for collecting data about the
customer satisfaction through the service quality in Starbucks Coffee that help for
analysis.
3.3 Secondary Research
Based on Webb (2002), a secondary research means a research that has been carried out
already for others purpose results. The secondary data could be collected form books,
journals, magazine articles, newspaper, reports to shareholders, etc. (Lewis, Saunders,
Thornhill, 2000). With the help of the secondary data, it could provide background
information to primary research, solve the problem, wiped out the need for primary
research altogether which led to time saving. In this study, the secondary data helped to
provide the definitions of specific terms likes customer satisfaction, service quality, etc.
3.4 Research Methods
As it has mentioned before, there were two types of research methods in the primary
research, qualitative and quantitative, the paragraphs showed below were the meaning of
each method.
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3.4.1 Qualitative Research
According to Gummesson (1991) and Van Maanen (1979), a qualitative method is
a useful tool for the research that mostly provides the terms of meaning, but not
the frequency and only to a limited degree. Furthermore, Cassell and Symon
(1994) said that qualitative research allowed more flexibilities while it is less
likely to impose restrictive a priority classifications on the collection of data. As a
result of the underlying epistemology, research is less driven by very specific
hypotheses and categorical frameworks and more concerned with emergent
themes and idiographic descriptions.(p.4)
3.4.2 Quantitative Research
About quantitative research, it mainly focus on the mathematical and statistical
data which help to form a broad range of numerical approaches for analyzing and
solving problems stated by Waters (2008) and Wisniewski (1994). Besides that,
from Curwin and Slater (2008), they pointed out the quantitative methods
involve more than obtaining a few numbers and working out a few
statisticsprovide a framework for working with statistics. In addition to provide
description, quantitative methods also include a number of ways of testing ideas
and modeling problems. (p.2)
For the most ideal method for doing the research is to combine both qualitative
and quantitative methods which could get the comprehensive information for the
research problem include the meaning and the statistics. However, for the time
limitation, there was only one method could be used. Since the aim of the research
was to collect numbers of customers comments to analyze the link between the
service quality and customer satisfaction in Starbucks Coffee, as quantitative
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method involved the frequency of the data while for qualitative method focused
on the meaning of terms. Hence, it was more suitable for using the quantitative
method during the whole research.
3.5 Design of Questionnaire
3.5.1 Structure
Base on Lewis, Saunders, Thornhill (2000) stated out that a survey allows the
collection of a large amount of data from a sizeable population in a highly
economical way. Based most often on a questionnaire, these data are standardized
allowing easy comparisonand it is easily understood (p.93-94). From the
reason above, having questionnaire for collecting data was used in this study.
In addition, the meaning of questionnaire was a general way to include all the
techniques of data collection in the person who is asked to respond to the same set
of questions in a predetermined order said form deVas (1996). There were several
types of questionnaires, as Figure 3.1 shown, there were five types of
questionnaire based on two kinds of administered.
Since the types of delivery and collection questionnaire was a more convenient
way and had a higher response rate compared with others, consequently was
chosen in this survey.
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Questionnaire
Self- Administered
Interviewer Administered
Telephone Questionnaire
Structured Interview
On-line Questionnaire
Postal Questionnaire
Delivery andCollection
Questionnaire
Fig 3.1 Types of questionnaire
Source: Lewis, Saunders, Thornhill (2000)
The questionnaire was divided into three sections in order to collect data to
measure the exiting service quality and the level of customer satisfaction in
Starbucks Coffee. (Refer to appendix 1 for questionnaire in English and
appendix 2 for questionnaire in Chinese)
The first part of the questionnaire, Section A, was designed to obtain the
information of customers expectations and the service they have experienced
after visiting in Starbucks Coffee. There were three columns in Section A with 19
statements were listed in the center column. The questionnaire was adopted and
developed by the literature Shih (2006) and Berry, et. al. (1994), the attitude
statements were quoted from their questionnaire based on the five dimensions of
service quality as showed in Table 3.1. For the left column of Section A, it
belonged to the expectations of customers in Starbucks Coffee while for the right
column; it belonged to the service they have experienced after visiting Starbucks.
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Based on the work of Shih, he used the seven scales for the likert scale of rating
the agreement or disagreement with each attitude statement. But in this
questionnaire, only 5 scales were used with 5 indicated strongly agree and 1
indicated strongly disagree because of the efficiency for the respondents.
In Section B, it was designed to obtain the information about how importance was
the service quality impacted an organization through the five dimensions of
service quality (5 indicate extremely important and 1 indicate not at all
important). The collected data could help to make recommendations in this
study.
In Section C, it mainly collected the demographic profiles and characteristics of
each respondent, such as, gender, age, education level, etc.
Table 3.1 Statements pertaining to the five dimensions
Reliability Statement 1-4
Responsiveness Statement 5-8
Assurance Statement 9-12
Empathy Statement 13-16
Tangibles Statement 17-20
3.5.2 Hypothesis
As the aim of the research was to collect numbers of customers comments to
analyze the link between the service quality and customer satisfaction in
Starbucks Coffee, in order to apply the theories that from literature review, there
were hypotheses that made for the survey results.
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(1) Starbucks Coffee could gain the customer satisfaction in the five dimensions
of Service Quality.
(2) The dimension of reliability should be the most important issue toward
Starbucks Coffee according to responses of respondents.
3.5.3 Wording and Language
For the convenience of the respondents, the questionnaire was writing in simple
terms to explain each section. Similarly, it was designed in English and Chinese
version because it could help the respondents to read and understand the
questionnaire easier.
3.6 Sampling
In terms of the explanation from Lewis, Saunders, Thornhill (2000), sampling provides a
range of ways that help to lower the amount of data which was needed to collect by
considering only data from a sub-group rather than all possible cases. Furthermore, Webb
(2002) pointed out a sampling frame was a way to establish the boundaries of the
population which would contain all the elements and units necessary to fulfill the
objectives of the research without key units being excluded or extraneous units being
included. In above, sampling could help to save time and more manageable as less people
were involved.
The sampling in this study was focused on people who have visited Starbucks Coffee
before and all respondents were aged 18 or above. About the target sample size, it was
designed to achieve 100 respondents for the whole survey; however, there were only 90
of completed questionnaires.
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3.7 Piloting
The pilot study is an exploratory phase which aims to identify and eliminate problems
before the full questionnaire survey is carried out said Johns and Lee-Ross (1998). The
benefit of conducting pilot test was to uncover the faults of the questionnaire and ensure
the questionnaire would gather the intended information. Hence, the test was given to a
small sample of individuals who were likely to the focus group before the give to the
focus group.
For the pilot test in this study, questionnaires were given to 8 respondents who were form
Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education, Haking Wong Campus. Six of them were
the students of Hospitality field and the others were the tutors of the campus. Some
problems were found in the questionnaire during the test such as having confused about
the choice in Part B and confused about the meaning of words. After conducting the test,
problems have been solved by rewording and providing more instruction for the
questionnaire.
3.8 Data Collection
Both primary and secondary data were used for this study. About the collection of
secondary data, it mainly relied on books, journals, webpage, articles of magazines and
newspapers. For the primary data, it relied on the questionnaires that received from the
respondents.
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34
The survey was conducted from 1st to 10th March 2010 in person form two different
places, the Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education Chai Wan Campus and outside
of Starbucks Coffee in Hong Kong in Causeway Bay in person. 40 of the questionnaires
were distributed in the campus while the other 60 of questionnaires were given outside of
Starbucks Coffee. According to the table 3.2, it showed the distribution of the
questionnaires given. The survey was carried out with a self-administered way. There
were total 90 completed questionnaires for analysis.
Table 3.2 The given questionnaires distribution Place of distributed questionnaires
Number of questionnaires distributed
Number of questionnaires received
Chai Wan Campus 40 38 Outside of Starbucks Coffee
60 52
Total 100 90
3.9 Data Analysis
The collected data was analyzed by applying the Statistical Package for the Social
Sciences (SPSS) Windows version 18. It was a system that help to turn the data become
meaningful by analyzing them through the system calculation. With the help of the
descriptive statistics analysis from SPSS, it could show the frequencies which generally
obtained from nominal scales and show out the frequency distribution by using the mean
and standard deviation.
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35
3.10 Limitations
3.10.1 Primary Research
There were several constraints when conducting the questionnaire survey. For the
primary data, since part of the questionnaire was asking about the customers
expectations before visiting Starbucks Coffee. For the most ideal collected data
for this part should be those respondents who have never visited Starbucks before
and having comparison after visiting. However, some respondents may not be the
first time to visit Starbucks. Although they could still have expectations before
visiting it each time, this could lead to have bias since they have already
experienced at once, therefore, it may affect the reliability of the result.
3.10.2 Secondary Research
About the constrain for secondary data, there were too many information about
the definitions of specific terms, for example, service, quality, expectation, etc. it
was difficult to analyze which information was the most suitable issue for the
study.
3.11 Summary
Within this chapter, it has given out the definitions and the reason why chosen of the
research methods likes qualitative and quantitative research. It has also mentioned the
process of conducting the research method and the limitation appeared in the research. In
the next chapter, it would cover the result and showing the analysis of the collected data
from the respondents.
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Chapter 4 Findings and Analysis
4.1 Introduction
In this chapter, it would show the analysis results of the collected data from the primary
research. The sample of questionnaires was shown in (Appendix A and B). Since the aim
of the study was to find the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction
of Starbucks in Hong Kong, therefore the conducted survey helped to collect the related
data from the people who have visited Starbucks. They were mainly about the customers
expectation, perception, and level of importance according to the 5 dimensions of
SERVQUAL. The survey was conducted outside the Starbucks Coffee and in the campus.
There would be six parts in this chapter. The first part would provide the demographic
profile of the respondents. Second, it would about the analysis of the five dimensions of
service quality in Starbucks Coffee from customers view. The following part was would
mentioned about the analysis of overall customer satisfaction in Starbucks Coffee. Then,
it would analysis some of the factors that influence the expectation and perception of
customers. For the final part, it would analysis the level of importance of five
SERVQUAL dimensions to Starbucks based on the customers point of view.
All the collected data were analyzed by the Statistical Package for the Social Science
(SPSS). It made use of the frequencies, crosstabs, one-way ANOVA system to show the
result in a clearer way.
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4.2 Demographic Profile of Respondents
Table 4.1 Demographic profile of respondents Frequency (n)
n = no. of respondents
Valid Percentage (%)
Gender Male 40 44.4 Female 50 55.6
Age Group 18-24 41 45.6 25-34 21 23.3 35-44 18 20.0 45-54 6 6.7 55-64 4 4.4
Education Level
Secondary School 24 26.7 Vocational School 21 23.3 University 43 47.8 Postgraduate 2 2.2
Occupation Student 42 46.7 White-collar 23 25.6 Blue-collar 4 4.4 Self-employed 3 3.3 Professional 8 8.9 Administrative/Executive 2 2.2 Retired 1 1.1 Others 7 7.8
Average Monthly
Income Range ($)
8,000 or below 44 48.9 8,001 10,000 17 18.9 10,001 20,000 15 16.7 20,001 30,000 12 13.3 30,001 40,000 2 2.2
Visiting Frequency (monthly)
0 5 62 68.9 6 10 16 17.8 11 15 5 5.6 16 20 3 3.3 21 25 4 4.4
Starbucks Member Card
Yes 15 16.7 No 75 83.3
Repeat Visiting Yes 86 95.6 No 4 4.4
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The sample size of this survey was 100 respondents. However, there were only 90
questionnaires that were completed. According to the table 4.1, it showed the overall
demographic profile of the respondents.
Referring to the table, there were 50 respondents who were females while 49 were males.
The percentages were 55.6% and 44.4 respectively. About the age group, the largest
group was aged 18 to 24, it had 41 respondents which had 45.6%. The two following
groups were aged 25 to 34 with 21 respondents and aged 35 to 44 with 18 respondents.
Their percentages were 23.3% and 20%.
Apart from that, the data showed that the respondents who attended in university were the
largest group of the variables of education level. It contained 43 of respondents that
shared 47.8% which were nearly half of the total number of respondents. For the second
largest group, it belonged to the group of Secondary School with 24 respondents which
were 26.7%.
About the occupation of those respondents, there were 42 students which belonged to the
largest group, it shared 46.7 %. While for the while-collar, it belonged to the second
largest group with 23 respondents that shared 25.6%. About their average monthly
income rate, as half of the respondents were student, therefore most of their income rate
were belonged to the group of $8,000 or below. It had 44 respondents with 48.9%.
In terms of the data of how customers response to Starbucks, for the variables of how
often the customers visit Starbucks Coffee in a month, it found out that more than half of
the respondents visit Starbucks 0 to 5 times in a month. It had 62 respondents with 68.9%
that be the largest group. For the second largest group, it belonged to the group of visit 6
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to 10 times. There were 16 respondents in this group and shared 17.8%. In addition,
there were 75 respondents who did not have the Starbucks Coffee member cards which
shared 83.3%. It reflected that there Starbucks member cards were not really common in
the public. It may be because they did not promote their member cards as well. Lastly, for
the variables about would the respondents visit Starbucks coffee again, there were 86
respondents would like to visit Starbucks Coffee again. It shared 95.6%.
Since the sizes of the background of respondents groups were different, hence, there
would be more focus on the analysis on those larger groups, such as students, respondents
who attended university, the age group 18 to 24, etc in some of the following sections.
As there were more data to support the results which could increase the validity of the
research.
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4.3 Analysis of five dimensions of service quality
In this section, it was mainly focusing the five dimensions of service quality which were
reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles. The aim of this section was
to compare the expectation and the perception of customers (respondents), the
experienced after visiting Starbucks Coffee based on the five dimensions of service
quality. Each of the following part of this section would show the mean of the variables
which were the average rating of each attitude statements. According to the literature
review of customer satisfaction in chapter 2, customers may felt satisfaction if they
thought their needs or wants had been achieved. If the level of customer perception meets
the level of expectation, customer satisfaction would be gained. Hence, this section
would show the gap score between the expectation and perception, if it got positive score,
it reflected customers were satisfied, or otherwise for the negative score, it reflected of
customers dissatisfaction.
4.3.1 Reliability
There were four attitude statements belonged in the reliability dimension. They
included did the employee maintain error-free service; did they perform the
services right at the first time; did they provide services at the promised time; and,
were they dependable when handling customers service problems. According to
table 4.2 and figure 4.1, they showed clearly that most respondents were not
satisfied in reliability dimension, all the mean of respondents perception were
below the mean of expectation. Especially for the statements about perform
service right, provide service at promised time, and dependable on handling
problems, the mean of those three perceptions were 2.9 which less than the
expectation about 1.2 rating. Since the definition of reliability was the ability to
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41
perform the promised service delivered on its promises-promises about delivery,
service provision, problem resolution, and pricing. (Bitner, et. al., 2009:p.113),
therefore the result analysis reflected that there were always been some mistakes
made by the employees like serving the wrong food and beverage, or could not
serve the drinks to the customers within two minutes, the promised serving time
to customers. In addition, according to the literature, reliability has been
consistently shown to be the most important determinant of perceptions of service
quality, however, there were unsatisfied with the reliability; hence, there should be
improvement of reliability for Starbucks Coffee.
Table 4.2 Comparison of mean in reliability dimension Attitude Statement Expectation
(Mean) Perception
(Mean) Gap Score
Error-free service 3.7 2.9 -0.8 Perform service right 4.0 2.8 -1.2 Provide service at promised time 4.0 2.8 -1.2 Dependable on handling problems 4.0 2.8 -1.2 Overall Reliability 3.9 2.8 -1.1
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Fig 4.1 Compare mean in reliability dimension
Reliability
00.5
11.5
22.5
33.5
44.5
Error-free service Perform serviceright
Provide services atpromised time
Dependable onhandling problems
Attitude Statement
MeanExpectationPerception
4.3.2 Responsiveness
Based on the explanation of Bitner, et. al., 2009, responsiveness stood for the
attentiveness and promptness in dealing with customer requests, questions,
complaints, and problems (p.114). It included the employees provided prompt
services; they were not busy to respond to customers; they were always willing to
help; and, they kept informed about when services would be informed. As the
table 4.3 and figure 4.2 shown, the respondents felt satisfied with the dimension
of responsiveness. The mean of overall perception was 4.1 that higher than
expectation by 0.2 rating. It could implicate that Starbuck Coffee had the
successful work in the responsiveness dimension. In terms of the definition, they
could provide prompt service to their customers and showed that they were
willing to help customers and not busy to respond to them. Specially for keeping
informed about their services to customers, the mean of this statements
perception was 4.1 that higher than expectation 0.3 rating, which was the most
satisfied attitude statement. For the example of the works of keeping informed
such as informed their customers that the beverages were already made for them,
etc.
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43
Table 4.3 Comparison of mean in responsiveness dimension Attitude Statement Expectation
(Mean) Perception
(Mean) Gap Score
Prompt Service 3.9 4.1 0.2 Not busy to response 4.0 4.1 0.1 Willing to help 4.0 4.2 0.2 Keeping informed 3.8 4.1 0.3 Overall Responsiveness 3.9 4.1 0.2
Fig 4.2 Compare mean in responsiveness dimension
Responsiveness
3.63.73.83.9
44.14.24.3
Prompt serivce Not busy torespond
Willing to help Keeping informed
Attitude Statement
MeanExpectationPerception
4.3.3 Assurance
For the result analysis of the assurance dimension of service quality, from the
table 4.4 and figure 4.3 shown, the overall mean of expectation was lower than
perception by 0.4 rating. As the gap score was positive, it reflected most
respondents were also satisfied with this dimension. As the assurance were the
employees knowledge, courtesy and the ability of the firm and its employees to
inspire customer trust and confidence (Bitner, et. al., 2009:p.114), thus, it
showed that the employees of Starbucks Coffee were consistently courteous; had
the knowledge necessary to respond to customers; let their customers felt safe in
the transactions; and, instilled confidence to their customers. For the most
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44
satisfied work was the employees of Starbuck could instill confidence to their
customers. The mean of respondents perception was 4.1 that higher than
expectation by 0.5 rating. It meant that the behaviors of employees were good
enough that customers could trust their abilities, such as the skills of making
Starbucks beverages.
Table 4.4 Comparison of mean in assurance dimension Attitude Statement Expectation
(Mean) Perception
(Mean) Gap Score
Consistently Courteous 3.7 4.1 0.4 Enough knowledge to respond 3.8 4.1 0.3 Safe transactions 3.8 4.1 0.3 Instill confidence 3.6 4.1 0.5 Overall Assurance 3.7 4.1 0.4
Fig 4.3 Compare mean in assurance dimension
Assurance
3.33.43.53.63.73.83.9
44.14.2
Consistentlycourteous
Enough knowledgeto respond
Safe transactions Instill confidence
Attitude Statement
MeanExpectationPerception
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4.3.4 Empathy
From the explanation of Bitner, et. al., 2009, empathy was defined as the caring,
individual attention that the firm provides its customers (p.114). About the
attitude statements in this dimension, they included the shops had the convenient
opening hours to customers; the employees could understand customers
particular needs, they could give individual attention to their customers; and, they
could have the customers best interest at heart. However, for the situation of
Starbucks Coffee, most respondents felt unsatisfied within this dimension. The
mean of overall perception of respondents was only 2.7 and less than expectation
with 1.2 rating according to the table 4.5 and figure 4.4. Especially about the
giving of individual attention to customers and having the customers best interest
in heart. The mean over perception was lower than expectation by 1.4 rating. It
came out the result that the employees of Starbucks Coffee could not provide
customized services to their customers. Even though there were different needs
and wants of customers, the employees could not make sure to take care all of
them that improvements should be needed in this dimension.
Table 4.5 Comparison of mean in empathy dimension Attitude Statement Expectation
(Mean) Perception
(Mean) Gap Score
Convenient opening hour 3.9 3.3 -0.6 Understand particular needs 4.0 2.7 -1.3 Individual attention 3.9 2.5 -1.4 Best interest in heart 3.8 2.4 -1.4 Overall Empathy 3.9 2.7 -1.2
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Fig 4.4 Compare mean in empathy dimension
Empathy
00.5
11.5
22.5
33.5
44.5
Convenientopening hour
Understandparticular needs
Individualattention
Best interest inheart
Attitude Statement
MeanExpectationPerception
4.3.5 Tangibles
From the result analysis of table 4.6 and figure 4.5, they showed that most
respondents were also not satisfied with the dimension of tangibles. For tangibles,
it defined as the appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and
communication materials. (Bitner, et. al., 2009:p.115). For the attitude statements
in this dimension, they included the visually provision of appealing appearance
and written appearance in shops; the neat appearances of employees; and, there
were modern equipments in shops. However, for Starbucks Coffee, they only got
2.9 rating of overall mean of perception which less than expectation by 1.1 rating.
About the most dissatisfaction part, they were the neat appearance of employees
and the appealing written materials of Starbucks. Both of them had 1.4 rating of
perception which less than expectation. It implicated that Starbucks may not have
enough management for the appearance of their employees and their written
materials likes menus that needed to design again.
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47
Table 4.6 Comparison of mean in tangibles dimension Attitude Statement Expectation
(Mean) Perception
(Mean) Gap Score
Appealing appearance 3.8 3.0 -0.8 Neat appearance of employee 4.1 2.7 -1.4 Appealing written materials 4.1 2.7 -1.4 Modern equipments 4.1 3.1 -1.0 Overall Tangibles 4.0 2.9 -1.1
Fig 4.5 Compare mean in tangibles dimension
Tangibles
00.5
11.5
22.5
33.5
44.5
Appealingappearance
Neat appearanceof employee
Appealing writtenmaterials
Modernequipment
Attitude Statement
MeanExpectationPerception
4.4 Analysis of overall customer satisfaction
After having the analysis about each dimension of service quality, it needed to have a
look of overall customer satisfaction in Starbucks Coffee. The below table 4.7 showed
the mean of respondents expectation and perception based on the five dimensions of
service quality, including the gap score. Similar with above section, the gap score with
positive rating which meant respondents were satisfied. In opposition, if the gap score
which had negative rating, it reflected the respondents were unsatisfied. With the help of
the table and the chart shown in figure 4.6, it could know that whether the respondents
were satisfied or not in a clearly way.
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Table 4.7 Comparison of overall mean of expectation and perception based on five dimensions
Five dimensions of service quality Expectation(Mean)
Perception(Mean)
Gap Score
Reliability 3.9 2.8 -1.1 Responsiveness 3.9 4.1 0.2 Assurance 3.7 4.1 0.4 Empathy 3.9 2.7 -1.2 Tangibles 4.0 2.9 -1.1 Overall 3.9 3.3 -0.6
Fig 4.6 Overall mean of expectation and perception based on five
dimensions
Overall average mean of expectation and perception
00.5
11.5
22.5
33.5
44.5
Relia
bility
Respo
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ness
Assur
ance
Emap
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Tang
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Five dimensions of Service Quality
MeanExpectationPerception
From the table and figure showed above, it was clearly seen that there were both
satisfaction and dissatisfaction according to the five dimensions of service quality.
Referring to the table 4.7, for the yellow lighten, it represented the most satisfaction
dimension while for the green lighten, it represented the most dissatisfaction dimension.
About the dimensions that gained customers satisfaction, they were responsiveness and
assurance, with the mean of perception 4.1 that higher than expectation by 0.2 and 0.4
rating respectively. Especially for the dimension of assurance, it was the most satisfaction
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category within these five dimensions. It showed that Starbuck Coffee was more
excellent at the work of inspiring confidence and trust to their customers, such as let their
customers felt safe in the transactions and employees had enough necessary knowledge to
respond to the customers that instilled confidence to customers. The knowledge may
include about different coffee beans or differences of beverages.
However, there were still unsatisfied with the dimensions of service quality likes
reliability, empathy and tangibles. For the most dissatisfaction, it belonged to the
dimension of empathy. It implicated that employees of Starbucks Coffee had not enough
effort to show or provide the caring individualized service to their customers. Although it
was a hard job to provide customized service because of different expectation of
customers, providing those services were becoming more important nowadays. Since
consumers were looking for the individualized services more than before, therefore, the
more personalized services were provided, the more satisfaction could gain for the
organizations. As Starbucks Coffee could not satisfied customers in this dimension, thus,
improvements were needed in order to increase the level of customer satisfaction. About
the recommendation for improvement, it would be discussed in the following chapter.
About the hypothesis that made in the chapter of Methodology, it was estimated that
Starbucks Coffee could gain customer satisfaction in all dimensions of service quality.
However, as seen in table 4.7 and the chart shown in figure 4.6, the result analysis was
contradicted to the hypothesis. Even there were satisfactions in responsiveness and
assurance, but for the overview of service quality, the mean of perception (3.3) which
was lower than the mean of expectation (3.9). It reflected that Starbucks Coffee could not
maintain its service level at a standard quality that could gain customer satisfaction. It
may because of they could not provide the right service all the times, likes provide the
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wrong beverages to customers; could not provide personalized service; and, the
appearances of Starbucks Coffee was not appealing enough.
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4.5 Factors analysis
After the analysis of the overall customer satisfaction, it would be more effective of
understanding how the respondents response if having the analysis about the factors that
influenced the result. Those factors included the gender, age group, education level, etc.
By having the factors analysis, it could help to develop the strategies and solutions for
Starbucks Coffee that directed against to the problems.
In this chapter, it would use the One-way ANOVA system of SPSS in order to analyze the
factors toward to the attitude statements. According to Veal (2006), the ANOVA was
used to examine more than two means at a time. (p.348). Tables would be shown in
each analysis and it would focus on the factors that having the significant number which
less than 0.05. It represented that that was a great different between two sample
percentages more likely it was that the difference was real and not just a statistical chance
happening. (p.336) In this chapter, it would try to discuss the large different of means
between group. Same with the above section, for those yellow highlight of number
represented the highest mean while for the green highlight, it represented the lowest
mean.
4.5.1 Expectation
4.5.1.1 Age Group
Table 4.8 Statistics of respondents expectation toward age group Attitude Statement Significant number Understand particular needs 0.026 Individual attention 0.001 Neat appearance of employee 0.040
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Table 4.9 Different mean of respondents expectation toward age group Attitude Statement Age group Frequency
(n) Mean
Understand particular needs 18-24 41 3.7 25-34 21 4.4 35-44 18 4.1 45-54 6 4.3 55-64 4 3.8
Individual attention 18-24 41 3.4 25-34 21 4.3 35-44 18 4.0 45-54 6 4.3 55-64 4 4.8
Neat appearance of employee 18-24 41 3.9 25-34 21 4.4 35-44 18 4.4 45-54 6 4.2 55-64 4 4.0
According to the significant number shown in table 4.8 (with the full
version in Appendix 3), it could see that there was larger differences in
different age group toward the expectation of understand particular needs,
individual attention, and neat appearance of employee. Especially for the
group aged 18 to 24, based on table 4.9, they got the lowest mean among
those three statements. It would be because those ages of respondents were
quite young that did not request too much for the service. They were not
looking for the customized service and would not mind the appearance of
employees. The characteristic of youth were not really focus on quality of
services provided by employee but focus on the serving time.
Compare with the highest mean of expectation, it belonged to the age
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group of 25-34; 35-44; and, 55-64. It seemed that the age group of who
had more knowledge and the more working experiences would be more
demand for the quality of service. It would be because they had more
knowledge about what service quality was and know to spend on the
quality products and services.
4.5.1.2 Occupation
Table 4.10 Statistics of respondents expectation toward occupation Attitude Statement Significant number Individual attention 0. 003
Table 4.11 Different mean of respondents expectation toward occupationAttitude Statement Occupation Frequency
(n) Mean
Individual attention Student 42 3.4 White-collar 23 4.4 Blue-collar 4 4.0 Self-employed 3 4.0 Professional 8 4.3 Administrative / Executive 2 4.5 Retired 1 3.0 Others 7 4.1
Based on the significant number shown in table 4.10 (with the full version
in Appendix 4), it could see that there was a large different of respondents
occupation toward the expectation of individual attention. Form table 4.11,
there was the highest level of expectation in the group of administrative or
executive, with the mean of 4.5 rating, while for the lowest level of
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expectation, it belonged to the respondent of retired. It reflected that the
different categories of job may also influence the response of customers
towards the level of expectation. For the administrative, since they had the
work of management which needed to consider the all-round environment
and also the details. Therefore, it may leads to influence them to look for
individual attention for their daily life. On the other hand, for the retired,
as they were relatively more free than those who had to work, hence, they
may not really care about the customized service as they may had enough
time to serve themselves.
4.5.2 Perception
4.5.2.1 Gender
Table 4.12 Statistics of respondents perception toward gender Attitude Statement Significant number Dependable on handling problems 0.014 Not busy to respond 0.013 Understand particular needs 0.013 Best interest in heart 0.037 Neat appearance of employee 0.032 Modern equipment 0.036
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Table 4.13 Different mean of respondents perception toward gender Attitude Statement Gender Frequency
(n) Mean
Dependable on handling problems Male 40 2.5 Female 50 3.0
Not busy to respond Male 40 4.3 Female 50 3.9
Understand particular needs Male 40 2.4 Female 50 3.0
Best interest in heart Male 40 2.1 Female 50 2.6
Neat appearance of employee Male 40 2.4 Female 50 2.9
Modern equipment Male 40 2.9 Female 50 3.3
About the factor of gender toward to the level of perception, form table
4.12 (with the full version in Appendix 5), there were the significant in the
statements of dependable, not busy to respond, understand, best interest in
heart, nest appearance of employee and modern equipment. It was quite
uncommon to see that the general mean of male toward perception was
lower than the female according to table 4.13, it may reflected that males
were now demanding more than female. The reason behind maybe
included the increases amount of information of service quality released to
public, with the more channels of knowing what service quality was,
therefore, it would be higher the level of demand for the public.
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4.5.2.2 Average income rate
Table 4.14 Statistics of respondents perception toward average income rate
Attitude Statement Significant number Prompt service 0.002 Willing to help 0.006 Keeping informed 0.004
Table 4.15 Different mean of respondents perception toward average income rate
Attitude Statement Average income rate
Frequency (n)
Mean
Prompt service $8,000 or below 44 3.8 $8,001-$10,000 17 4.2 $10,001-$20,000 15 4.7 $20,001-$30,000 12 4.2 $30,001-$40,000 2 4.0
Willing to help $8,000 or below 44 3.9 $8,001-$10,000 17 4.6 $10,001-$20,000 15 4.5 $20,001-$30,000 12 4.3 $30,001-$40,000 2 3.5
Keeping informed $8,000 or below 44 3.8 $8,001-$10,000 17 4.1 $10,001-$20,000 15 4.7 $20,001-$30,000 12 4.3 $30,001-$40,000 2 3.5
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About the factor of average monthly income rate, it would focus how
respondents responded to the perception according to the money factor.
According to table 4.14 (with the full version in Appendix 6), it showed
that there were significant among prompt service, willing to help and
keeping informed. Based on the different mean from table 4.15, it could
see that the group of respondents who had income $8,000 or below was
had the lowest level of perception in prompt service. Since most students
belonged to the group of $8,000 or below, they were more cared about
the service time as they may have less patient in waiting for the services
provided. Therefore, it may lead to the result of the lowest level of
perception in the prompt service statement.
About the group of respondents who had average income
$30,001-40,000, it belonged to the highest level of income rate group.
However, they had the lowest level of perception in the statements of
willing to help and keeping informed. It seemed that the more they have
earned, the more demand of the quality of services provided. As they had a
larger spending power, it may increase the chances for them to consume in
organizations that provide high standard quality of products and serviced.
Therefore, they have experienced more about quality and lead to have
higher demand for the services.
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4.6 Analysis of importance of five dimensions of service quality
After analyzed the customer satisfaction based on the five dimensions of service quality,
it found that there were both satisfaction and dissatisfaction in those dimensions. It was
known that having improvements were needed in those unsatisfied dimensions, but
knowing which dimension was the most important according to the customers views
were also needed because having more understanding the customers, the more right
services to provide for them in order to gain more customer satisfaction, positive image
of brand and repeated business.
From the table 4.16 and the chart in figure 4.7, it could clearly see that the most
important dimension of service quality was responsiveness based on the respondents
point of view. For the mean of responsiveness, it had 4.3 rating that higher than the others
dim