Tài liệu A research of the effect of service quality to customer satisfaction in izone ielts training academy

ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI KHOA QUẢN TRỊ VÀ KINH DOANH --------------------- KHƯƠNG NHƯ QUỲNH A RESEARCH OF THE EFFECT OF SERVICE QUALITY TO CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN IZONE IELTS TRAINING ACADEMY NGHIÊN CỨU ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA CHẤT LƯỢNG DỊCH VỤ ĐẾN SỰ HÀI LÒNG CỦA KHÁCH HÀNG TẠI HỌC VIỆN ĐÀO TẠO IELTS IZONE LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ QUẢN TRỊ KINH DOANH HÀ NỘI - 2020 ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI KHOA QUẢN TRỊ VÀ KINH DOANH --------------------- KHƯƠNG NHƯ QUỲNH A RESEARCH OF THE EFFECT OF SERVICE QUALITY TO CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN IZONE IELTS TRAINING ACADEMY NGHIÊN CỨU ẢNH HƯỞNG CỦA CHẤT LƯỢNG DỊCH VỤ ĐẾN SỰ HÀI LÒNG CỦA KHÁCH HÀNG TẠI HỌC VIỆN ĐÀO TẠO IELTS IZONE Chuyên ngành: Quản trị kinh doanh Mã số: 60 34 01 02 LUẬN VĂN THẠC SĨ QUẢN TRỊ KINH DOANH NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC: TS. TRẦN KIM HÀO HÀ NỘI - 2020 DECLARATION The author confirms that the research outcome in the thesis is the result of author‟s independent work during study and research period and it is not yet published in other‟s research and article. The other‟s research result and documentation (extraction, table, figure, formula, and other document) used in the thesis are cited properly and the permission (if required) is given. The author is responsible in front of the Thesis Assessment Committee, Hanoi School of Business and Management, and the laws for above-mentioned declaration. 31st of August, 2019 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT After studying MBA course, I have attained plenty of various knowledge, skills and insights. The course raises my capacity of administration and management up to the next level. I declare that this is a true copy of my thesis. The content of this thesis has been approved by the committee of Vietnam National University, Hanoi – Hanoi School of Business and Management (HSB). This thesis has not been submitted for a higher degree to any other University or Institution. I would like to thank sincerely people for heloping, supporting and guiding me conscientiously in order to finish this thesis successfully. First of all, I would like to thank all the professors of MBA program, especially Dr. Tran Kim Hao – my supervisor. Then I would like to thank deeply to the directors and staff of IZONE IELTS Training Academy, respondents and interviewees who allowed me to gather enough data for this research. Finally, I would like to express my thanks to my husband, my family, my colleges and my fellow friends who always stand by me during the past two years and encourage me to keep moving from the beginning of my study. ii ABBREVIATION EFA Exploratory Factor Analysis iii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1. The relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction ................ 10 Figure 1.2. Service Quality 5 Gap Model in SERVQUAL ................................................. 12 Figure 1.3. SERVQUAL model .......................................................................................... 13 Figure 1.4: Conceptual model of the research ..................................................................... 15 Figure 3.1: Organization Chart of IZONE IELTS Training Academy ............................... 25 Figure 4.1: Gender statistic.................................................................................................. 32 Figure 4.2: Age statistic ....................................................................................................... 33 Figure 4.3: Current enrolled course at IZONE statistic ....................................................... 33 Figure 4.4: Referral channel statistic ................................................................................... 34 Figure 4.5: Referral intention statistic ................................................................................. 34 Figure 4.6: Calibration model of customer satisfaction ...................................................... 39 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1. Compare the two SERVQUAL and SERVPERF model ........................ 14 Table 3.1: Categories of IELTS training center in Hanoi ........................................ 21 Table 4.1: Factors table after Cronbach test ............................................................. 35 Table 4.2: Reliable observed variables after running exploratory factor analysis ... 37 Table 4.7: Table of Descriptive statistic of grouped factors after run exploratory factor analysis ........................................................................................................... 37 Table 4.3: Correlation test result .............................................................................. 38 Table 3: Cronbach analysis result............................................................................. 58 Table 4. KMO and Bartlett's Test result ................................................................... 59 Table 5. Total Variance Explained test result .......................................................... 59 Table 6. Rotated Component Matrixa test result ...................................................... 60 Table 11: Model Summaryb test result ..................................................................... 64 Table 12: ANOVAa test result .................................................................................. 64 Table 13: Coefficientsa test result ............................................................................. 64 Table 14: Levene Statistic of age group test result .................................................. 64 Table 15: ANOVA Statistic of age group test result ................................................ 65 Table 16: Levene Statistic of group of referral channel test result .......................... 65 Table 17: ANOVA Statistic of group of referral channel test result ........................ 65 Table 18: Levene Statistic of group of current enrolled courses at IZONE test result .... 65 Table 19: ANOVA Statistic of group of current enrolled courses at IZONE test result ......................................................................................................................... 65 v TABLE OF CONTENT INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 1 1. Research rationale ............................................................................................................. 1 2. Literature review ............................................................................................................... 2 3. Aim of research ................................................................................................................. 2 4. Research objects ............................................................................................................... 2 5. Research scope .................................................................................................................. 2 6. Thesis structure ................................................................................................................. 3 CHAPTER I. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF SERVICE QUALITY AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ......................................................................................... 4 1.1. Theoretical background review ...................................................................................... 4 1.1.1. Services ........................................................................................................................ 4 1.1.2. Training ........................................................................................................................ 4 1.1.3. Sevice quality ............................................................................................................... 5 1.1.4. Dimensions of service quality ...................................................................................... 7 1.1.5. Customer satisfaction ................................................................................................... 8 1.1.6. The relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction ........................... 9 1.2. Service quality assessment models ............................................................................... 11 1.2.1. Service Quality Gap Model ........................................................................................ 11 1.2.2. 10-component of service quality model ..................................................................... 12 1.2.3. SERVQUAL and SERVPERF models ...................................................................... 13 1.3. Research conceptual model .......................................................................................... 14 1.4. Proposed hypothesis of the research............................................................................. 15 CHAPTER II: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ........................................................... 16 2.1. Research approach ........................................................................................................ 16 2.2. Research process .......................................................................................................... 16 2.3. Research design ............................................................................................................ 17 2.4. Sampling design and procedure.................................................................................... 17 2.4.1. Target Population ....................................................................................................... 17 2.4.2. Sampling technique .................................................................................................... 17 vi 2.4.3. Sample size................................................................................................................. 17 2.5. Data collection instrument............................................................................................ 18 2.6. Survey design ............................................................................................................... 18 2.7. Data analysis methods .................................................................................................. 19 CHAPTER III: CURRENT SITUATION OF IZONE IELTS TRAINING ACADEMY ........................................................................................................................ 20 3.1. Current situation of IELTS training market in Hanoi .................................................. 20 3.1.1. IELTS definition ........................................................................................................ 20 3.1.2. Situation of IELTS training service in Hanoi ............................................................ 21 3.2. Overview of IZONE IELTS Training Academy .......................................................... 23 3.2.1. IZONE general information ....................................................................................... 23 3.2.2. IZONE‟s differences in the IELTS training market ................................................... 23 3.2.3. IZONE‟s features ....................................................................................................... 24 3.2.4. IZONE‟s organizational information ......................................................................... 25 3.2.5. IELTS course levels in IZONE .................................................................................. 26 3.2.6. IZONE achievements ................................................................................................. 29 3.3. Current situation of IELTS trainining service quality in IZONE ................................. 29 3.3.1. IZONE‟s facilities: ..................................................................................................... 29 3.3.2. IZONE‟s IELTS teachers: .......................................................................................... 30 3.3.3. IZONE‟s training program design: ............................................................................ 30 3.3.4. IZONE‟s training materials: ....................................................................................... 30 3.3.5. IZONE‟s supportive service:...................................................................................... 31 CHAPTER IV: RESEARCH FINDING RESULTS ...................................................... 32 4.1. Demographic and general statistic................................................................................ 32 4.1.1. Demographic analysis ................................................................................................ 32 4.1.2. General information of IZONE learning customer analysis ...................................... 33 4.2. Customer satisfaction questionnaire analysis ............................................................... 35 4.2.1. Cronbach analysis ...................................................................................................... 35 4.2.2. Exploratory Factor Analysis ...................................................................................... 36 4.2.3. Correlation analysis .................................................................................................... 37 4.2.4. Regression analysis .................................................................................................... 39 vii 4.2.5. Testing research hypotheses ....................................................................................... 39 4.2.6. ANOVA analysis ....................................................................................................... 40 CHAPTER 5: RESEARCH DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATION ................. 42 5.1. Finding result discussion .............................................................................................. 42 5.2. Research recommendation ........................................................................................... 43 CONCLUSION, LIMITATION AND IMPLICATION ................................................ 46 1. Conclusions ..................................................................................................................... 46 2. Limitations ...................................................................................................................... 47 2.1. Limitation of Sampling ................................................................................................ 47 2.2. Limitation of Bias by respondents ................................................................................ 47 2.3. Limitation of the option format of the answers ............................................................ 47 3. Implications .................................................................................................................... 47 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 48 APPENDIX I ...................................................................................................................... 53 APPENDIX II .................................................................................................................... 56 viii INTRODUCTION 1. Research rationale In recent years, along with the integration trend, economic change and growth, the demand for English learning is increasing in Vietnam. However, english learners are form all backgrounds, ages, and learning purposes. To follow this rapid growing trend, various types of English schools and training centers are mushrooming in Vietnam and particularly in Hanoi and focusing on: English communication skills, vocaburary and grammar, with ranging from Basic to Advanced level. Especially, training IELTS, TOEFL as international English proficiency certificates is the extremely hot trend with hundreds of training centers with a variety of cost and quality. According to experts in education field of Vietnam, there is an inverse relationship between quantity and quality of English language centers operating in the country. Several schools attract learners only with favorable training courses, modern facilities, vermicular or foreign and experienced teachers, etc. However, after less than one week of training in reality, they fail to provide promised learning conditions, from teaching staffs, training contents and training methods. Specifically, in terms of teaching workforce, many academies advertise their academic personnel as carefully selected foreigners coming from English - speaking countries, certificated and experienced English lecturers. However, many of them are actually English tourists who know English quite well but have zero experience in neither English teaching or pedagogic approach. The reality has raised great difficulties for learners and also learners‟ parents in finding a prestige English center. Educational and media experts in Vietnam have spent a lot of time and effort in discussing the issue for years, but not yet reached final research findings and effective assessment of this situation. Therefore, it is crutial for English training schools, especially IELTS centers to concentrate on evaluating the satisfaction of their learners given to their service quality in order to propose sustainable development strategies and implement the strategies in competitive context of the following years. IZONE IELTS Training Academy has existed in the IELTS training market for 5 years and has gained significant achievements. However, according to the estimated percentage of IELTS learners who drop out while studying and discontinue to study the next level, which is respectively 15% and 40%, IZONE training service quality is recognized to remain several problems during these years of operation and development. Therefore, this research aims at evaluating what factors affect customer satisfaction of IZONE service quality so as to find solutions for decreasing the current dropout rate and 1 rising the proportion applying for the next level courses. For this reason, the researcher selected the topic: “A research of the effect of service quality to customer satisfaction in IZONE IELTS training academy”. 2. Literature review Unlike tangible product manufacturers, training institutions find it difficult to standardize service quality, because it depends not only on specific quality policy of the training centers, but also on customers‟ needs and wants (Bunn et al., 2013). The level of customer satisfaction determines the existence and sustainable growth of organizations (Phillip Kotler, 2011). The Servqual (Service quality) scale model (Parasuraman et al., 1985) is one of the famous model in marketing that used to evaluate the service quality. Many researchers who tested the Servqual scale with different theories have evaluated the reliability and high value of the Servqual scale model. This scale can be applied in the different services‟ sectors such as education, hospitality, retail and others sectors. The Servqual model measures service quality based on the perception by customers who using its service. Parasuraman et al (1985) said that in any services the quality of service perceived by customers could apply to the scale of the model including the 10 components Reliable, Responsiveness, Competence, Access, Courtesy, Communication, Credibility, Security, Empathy, Tangibles. Later, many authors tested 5-scale model as noticed some overlapping scales and close correlation. Cronin and Taylor (1992, 1995) systemarized Servqual model into Servperf model which had 5 factors according to flexibility depending on the service sector. The model applied for this research includes 5 key factors determining the quality of the service including: reliability, responsiveness, assuarance, empathy, and tangibles. 3. Aim of research The principle objective of this research is to analyze how service quality affects customer satisfaction in IZONE IELTS Training Academy. Additionally, the researcher will examine that what the customers feel about IZONE‟s service quality and what factors of service quality mainly influence them to feel satisfied during learning in IZONE. This research also figures out what factors make customers feel unsatisfied in order to improve. 4. Research objects This research will focus on customers who have been learning in IZONE IELTS Training Academy in August of 2019 5. Research scope - Scope of contents: Service quality and customer satisfaction 2 - Scope of space: IZONE IELTS Training Academy in Hanoi - Scope of time: The research questionnaire was surveyed in August of 2019. - Scope of sample: Approximately 130 responses from IZONE customers who are learning a course of IZONE in Hanoi, 6. Thesis structure The first part of the study will outline the research rationale, literature review, research objectives, research objects, research scope, research methodology and thesis structure Chapter 1: Literature Review Chapter one will discuss about the content includes literature review, relevant conceptual models, proposed theoretical framework and hypotheses development in detail. Chapter 2: Research Methodology Chapter two of the study will discuss about research methodology with research approach, process, design, data collection methods, sampling design, research instrument, constructs measurement, data processing and data analysis. Chapter 3: Current situation of IZONE IELTS Training Academy Chapter three describes the overview of IELTS training industry and the current situation of IZONE IELTS Training Academy in term of service quality. Chapter 4: Research results Chapter four will shows questionnaires which will be constructed, in the form of charts and tables. The analytical results which get through SPSS version 20.0 will be discussed relate to the hypotheses and research question. Chapter 5: Research discussion and recommendation Chapter five will discuss about statistical analysis results in the chapter four and recommend solutions to improve the variable that have the lowest score in the questionnaire analysis. Conclusion, Limitation and Implication This part will relate to chapter three and deliberate on final conclusion of the study. To be specific, statistical analyses synopsis, major findings discusstion, implication and limitations of the study will be indicated in this section. 3 CHAPTER I. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF SERVICE QUALITY AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION First of all, this chapter introduces the variety of definitions of service, training, service quality. Next, this chapter provides the definitions for both independent variables which are the characteristics of service quality including Tangibility, Assurance, Reliability and Responsiveness, and a dependent variable which is Customer Satisfaction. Furthermore, this study gives a more detail understanding about the correlation among independent variables and the dependent variable. Meanwhile, in the end of this chapter, relevant theoretical models will be provided and conceptual framework and hypothesis of the research will be developed to give a clearer picture for the readers. 1.1. Theoretical background review 1.1.1. Services Kotler and Armstrong (2004) identified service as“any act or interest that one party may provide to another that is essentially intangible and not Bring possession at all". Otherwise, according to Lewis and Booms (1983), "Service is a measure of how well the service delivered to the customer is commensurate with the expectations of the customer. Creating a quality service means responding to customer expectations in a consistent way". 1.1.2. Training Palo and Padhi (2003) identifined training as a process of updating the knowledge, developing skillsets, bringing about attitudinal and behavioral changes and improving the ability of the trainees to perform their tasks effectively adn efficiently. Bartlett (2001) defined training as a management practice that can be controlled or managed to elicit a desired set of unwritten, reciprocal behaviors and attitudes, including job involvement, motivation and organizational commitment. In his study, variables access to training such as training frequency, learning motivation from training, perceived benefits resulted from training program and supervisory supports for training are used to show the importance of training in an organization. The British Department of Employment Glossary of Training Terms (1981) defined training as „the systematic development of the attitude, knowledge, skill and behavior pattern required by an individual to perform adequately a given task or job‟. The key concepts are „systematic development‟ which implies planning and control, „individual‟ which excludes group and team development, and „job‟ or „task performance‟ which is the criterion of success (Bramley,1993). 4 Hinrichs (1976) represent the American definition of training as “any organizationally initiated procedures which are intended to foster learning among organizational members in a direction contributing to organizational effectiveness”. The key concepts are „organizational procedure‟, which put the process into an organizational context, „foster learning‟, which implies that the responsibility is shared between the establishment offering it and the members receiving it, and the criterion of success is „organizational effectiveness‟ (Bramley, 1993). According to Wayne F Cascio (2017), training consists of planned programme designed to improve performance at the level of individual, group and organization. Performance improvement implies that there have been measurable changes in knowledge, skills, attitude, and social behavior. Besides, C B Memoria (2000), training is a learning process or a sequence of programmed behavior. It is application of knowledge and it attempts to improve the performance of customer on the current job and prepares them for the intended job in the future. Additionally, training is a short term process that utilizing a organized and systematic procedure by which non managerial personnel acquire technical knowledge and skills for a definite purpose. Additionally, training refers to instructions in technical and mechanical operations, like operation of some machine/equipment. In other words, training is for a specific job related purpose. To summarize, training is about developing an individual and helping them to become more confident and competent in their jobs and also their life. The learning process at the core of training has various ways to implement 1.1.3. Sevice quality According to Parasuraman, Berry and Zeithaml (1985, 1988), perceived service quality is the result of the consumer's comparison of expected service with the received service. There are five dimensions of service quality: (a) reliability, (b) responsiveness, (c) assurance, (d) empathy, and (e) tangibility. The service quality dimensions are defined by authors who studying numerous different categories of service such as (a) appliance repair, (b) retail banking, (c) long-distance telephone service, (d) securities brokerage, and (e) credit card companies. Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Berry (1988) had stated that measuring perceived service quality involves the comparison level of what a customer should expect; whereas measuring satisfaction involves the appropriate comparison with what a customer would expect (Cronin & Taylor, 1992). Close examination of scale items for each dimension reveals that a majority of all the items relate directly to the human interaction element of service delivery. 5 In order to operationalize the service quality construct, Parasuraman et al. (1985, 1988, 1994) had made use of qualitative and quantitative research, following generally accepted psychometric procedures. Their research had resulted in the progression of the original 22-item SERVQUAL instrument, which is one of the most widely-used operationalization of service quality. The contention by the developers of SERVQUAL that the instrument can be applied to determine the service quality offering of any service firm has led to its extensive adoption (Dabholkar et al., 1996). The SERVQUAL scale is based on the difference in scores between customer expectations of service and their perceptions after receiving the service. Initially, Parasuraman et al. (1985) focused on the ten determinants of service quality. However, after two stages of scale purification, they reduced the ten determinants to five dimensions of service quality: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy (Parasuraman et al., 1988). However, few prior literatures have raised criticisms on the SERVQUAL model (Churchill Jr., Brown and Peter, 1993; Cronin Jr. and Taylor, 1994 and Buttle, 1996). First of all, there was little evidence that customers assessed service quality through the disconfirmation paradigm (i.e. measuring the gap between service expectations and actual service performance). Secondly, they also argued that SERVQUAL had been inaptly based on an expectations-disconfirmation model rather than an attitudinal model of service quality. Cronin Jr. and Taylor (1994) pointed SERVQUAL out as “hesitance to call perceived service quality an attitude”. Thirdly, according to Buttle (1996), SERVQUAL instrument failed to capture the dynamics of changing expectation. Therefore, performance-minus- expectations was deemed as an unsuitable basis to measure service quality (Cronin Jr. and Taylor, 1994). Teas (1993) further argued that because the service quality expectations concept might have discriminant validity shortcoming (i.e. expectations does not measure service quality as well as it is expected to), the perceptionsminus-expectations service quality measurement framework could be a misleading indicator of service quality through customer perception. Thus, he recommended by eliminating the expectations measure, the SERVQUAL model could be improved, by relying solely on the perception component. For this reason, Cronin then argued for the superiority of the performance-basedonly (SERVPERF) measures of service quality as compared to the “perceptions-minusexpectations” measures (Cronin Jr. and Taylor, 1994). Despite the fact that SERVQUAL is the more commonly used framework since its introduction as it has been used longer, this research used the SERVPERF model. SERVPERF measures are based only on consumers‟ 6 perceptions of the performance of a service provider, which explain more of the variation in service quality and it assess service quality without relying on the disconfirmation paradigm. Thus, it would be able to provide a more convergent and discriminant valid explanation of service quality construct. While using SERVPERF, it is noted that while Cronin and Taylor (1992) have argued strongly in defence of SERVPERF, its scale has yet to be empirically tested in as many industries as has SERVQUAL. 1.1.4. Dimensions of service quality The first dimension of service quality is tangibility which includes the appearance of physical facilities, personnel, equipment, and communication materials. The overall condition of the physical surroundings is tangible evidence of the care and attention of the service provider to details demonstrated of their service. This dimension assessment can extend to the conduct of the other customers who being provided the services, such as noisy guests in the next room at a hotel. Secondly, Reliability is the ability to execute the accuracy of promised service. Reliable service performance is a customer expectation and it means that the service is provided on time, and everytime is with the same manner and standard. For example, receiving their mail at approximately the same time every day or week is important to certain people. In term of training service, reliability could be extended into the back office, as well as where accuracy in billing and record keeping is expected. Next, responsiveness dimension is the willingness to help customers by providing prompt services. Keeping customers wait without apparent reason would creates unexpected negative perceptions of service quality of the company. In the event of a service failure or interruptions, the service provider ability to recover quickly with professionalism can create considerable positive perceptions of service quality. For serving complimentary drinks on a delayed flight can turn a potentially poor customer experience into one that is remembered favorably. Assurance dimension relates to the courtesy and knowledge of customer service customer and their capability to express trust and confidence. The assurance includes the competence to perform the service offered effective communication with politeness and respect for the customer, and this is the attitude to help the service provider win the customer's heart. Last but not least, empathy is the provision of caring demonstrated by the customer service customer by paying personalized attention to customers. Empathy includes sense of security, approachability and the understanding customer's needs effort. 7 1.1.5. Customer satisfaction According to Oliver (1980), customer satisfaction is the result from experiencing a service quality encounter and comparing that encounter with what was expected. Satisfaction can be preceived as an attitude, from an operational definition view point, because it can be assessed as the combined level of satisfaction with various attributes of a product or a service (Churchill and Surprenant, 1982). According to Yi (1990), customer satisfaction can be defined as an attitude as there is sufficient evidence supporting it. Meanwhile, according to LaTour and Peat (1979), satisfaction is a post-decision experience construct, whereas attitude is a pre-decision construct (Caruana, Money and Berthon, 2000). Customer satisfaction can be identified as a response of consumer‟s fulfilment; i.e., it is a judgment whether “a product or service feature, or product or service itself, provides a pleasurable level of consumption-related fulfilment” (Zeithaml and Bitner, 2000). Because a high level of customer satisfaction do have a positive effect on customer loyalty, it is essential for service providers to understand customers‟ perception, which reflects the degree of a customer‟s feeling about a service provider, of their services and then customer satisfaction. (Deng, Lu, Wei and Zhang, 2009). There are numerous previous studies that had investigated the concept of satisfaction on service setting (e.g. De Ruyter et. al., 1997; Fornell, 1992). Customer satisfaction can be assessed based on the customer‟s satisfaction attitude on various attributes of the product or service (Churchill & Surprenant, 1982). Customer satisfaction depends on a various factors, including perceived service quality, customers emotions, social interactions, and other experience-specific subjective factors (Rust and Oliver, 1994). According to prior research (Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuraman, 1996), there has been much debate on whether service quality dimensions are the antecedents of customer satisfaction. Nevertheless, there are some empirical studies, which have shown that service quality is related to customer satisfaction (Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Levesque and McDougall, 1996; Taylor and Baker, 1994; Zeithaml et al., 1996; McDougall and Levesque, 2000). Specifically, there were also studies on the mobile phone service markets, which suggested that service quality positively affects customer satisfaction (Kim et al., 2004; Kuo et al, 2009; Tung, 2004; Turel and Serenko, 2007). In addition, Brady and Cronin (2001) had stated that the antecedent role of service quality with respect to customer satisfaction in their research. 8 Existing models of customer satisfaction that are based on the disconfirmation-ofexpectations paradigm (e.g., Cadotte, Woodruff, and Jenkins 1987) have hardly ever focused on the role of customer perceived value as an antecedent of customer satisfaction. There have been several literatures measuring the relationships between perceived value and customer satisfaction. The service management literature stated that customer satisfaction is the result of a customer‟s perception of the value received in a transaction or a relationship (Heskett et al. 1997), while the social science literature had indicated that cognitive thought processes trigger affective responses (Weiner, 1986), suggesting that customer perceived value judgments affect perceptions of satisfaction. According to Rust and Oliver (1994), value is an encounter-specific input to customer satisfaction. The ACSI (American Customer Satisfaction Index) model in Fornell et al.‟s (1996) study demonstrated that “customer satisfaction is more quality-driven than value- or price-driven”; however, perceived value also affects customer satisfaction. In their study, Anderson, Fornell, and Lehmann (1994), and Ravald and Gr nroos (1996) assured that value is related to customer satisfaction. Similarly, Cronin et al. (2000) showed that perceived value is a considerable predictor of satisfaction. Additionally, Fornell, Johnson, Anderson, Cha, and Bryant (1996) and McDougall and Levesque (2000) stated that perceived value directly and positively influences customer satisfaction. Previous empirical studies investigating the relationship between perceived value and customer satisfaction in the context of the mobile phone service market have found considerable evidence that perceived value directly influences customer satisfaction (Kuo et al, 2009; Tung, 2004; Turel and Serenko, 2006). 1.1.6. The relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction The relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction has been the subject of continuous discussion among researchers over the past decades. Customer satisfaction is not only a general concept that expresses their level of satisfaction when consuming a service, but also refers to the service quality that is concerned with the specific dimensions of the service (Zeithaml & Bitner, 2000). Additionally, according to Parasuraman (1985, 1988), service quality - determined by various factors - is a decisive factor of satisfaction. Moreover, some authors argue that the service quality and customer satisfaction are coincidental so that these two concepts can be used interchangeably. However, many studies have shown that service quality and customer satisfaction are two distinct concepts. Parasuraman et al. (1993) stated that the main difference between service quality and customer satisfaction is that service quality is the cause and customer 9 satisfaction is the effect. Moreover, Zeithalm and Bitner (2000) claimed that customer satisfaction is influenced by many factors such as: product quality, service quality, price, situational factors, personal factors. Service quality and satisfaction are two different but closely related concepts in service research (Parasuraman et al. 1988). Previous studies have shown that service quality is the cause of satisfaction (Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Spreng and Mackoy, 1996). The reason is that service quality is related to service delivery, and satisfaction is measured only after service has been used. Customer satisfaction is a general concept, expressing their satisfaction when consuming a service, while service quality focuses on specific components of service (Zeithaml & Bitner, 2000). Although service quality and satisfaction are interrelated, few studies focus on verifying the level of interpretation of service quality components for satisfaction, particularly for each specific sector of service (Lassar et al., 2000). Cronin and Taylor also testified this relationship and summarized that the service quality resulted in customer satisfaction. Studies have concluded that service quality is a precondition for satisfaction (Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Spreng and Mackoy, 1996) and is a major factor affects satisfaction (Ruyter and Bloemer, 1997). Service quality is a factor that significantly affects customer satisfaction. If a service provider gives customers well-qualified products that meet their needs, they will make the customer feel satisfied. Therefore, to improve the level ofcustomer satisfaction, service providers must focus on updated service quality. Figure 1.1. The relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction Source: Zeithaml. &Bitner (2000), Services Marketing, MacGraw – Hill 10