ENHANCING SERVICE QUALITYTHROUGH INTEGRATED SERVICES

MARTKETINGDr Alex Maritz

Abstract- Service quality is oftenconceptualized as the comparison of serviceexpectations with actual performanceperceptions. Emphasis is placed on the combinedattitudinal construct of service quality,highlighting cognitive and affective components.The aim of this study is to evaluate theseexpectations and perceptions from the point ofview of franchisees in a prominent homeentertainment franchise system. The purpose isto identify integrated services marketing initiatesto facilitate service quality within the system.Research methodology includes a quantitativestudy using the Surveypro e commerce surveytool, facilitated with SPSS 2 for data analysis. Useis made of SERVQUAL and SERVPERFmeasurement tools, with factors incorporatingthe service profit chain, relationshipmanagement, best practice and service quality.Outcomes include the evaluation of thecontribution of these factors toward servicequality. Management implications involve theimplementation of recommended integratedservices marketing initiatives to enhance servicequality.

Keywords- Relationship marketing,service quality, services marketing, service profitchain

INTRODUCTION

Evolving to a new dominant logic formarketing has lead to a service-centred model ofexchange, implying that marketing must play acentral and integrative role in organisations, whichin turn must proactively involve consumers in thevalue-creation process, and that marketingcommunications must be characterized by dialoguewith, not messages directed toward, consumers(Vargo & Lusch, 2004). The service-centred modelof exchange has service quality as an outcome,perceived from the point of view of customers. Thisstudy however introduces service quality from thepoint of view of franchisees in a leading homeentertainment franchise system. The system is themarket leader in the franchising of homeentertainment on the all-Africa continent,representing over 160 outlets.

Dr Alex Maritz is convenor of Services Marketing atSwinburne University of Technology, Victoria. (Tel:+61392148045; email: )

The aim of the study is to evaluate servicequality expectations and perceptions from thefranchisees' point of view, and the purpose is toidentify integrated services marketing initiatives toenhance service quality in the system. The identifiedservices marketing initiatives include the serviceprofit chain, relationship marketing, best practiceand measurement of service quality in the system.These initiatives are examined within the system,and measured with regard to their correlation withservice quality. Inferential statistics examine theassociations empirically, offering hypothesesbetween the constructs. The paper commences witha literature review on the identified servicesmarketing initiatives, followed by researchmethodology, findings and recommendations.

SERVICES MARKETING INITIATIVES

The economic growth in service quality,related profit and competitive advantage potentialhas accelerated the competitive opportunities forcompanies who can excel in this discipline. Thesearch for new approaches to enhance servicequality and customer satisfaction led to thedevelopment of the scale SERVQUAL(Parasuraman, Berry & Zeithaml: 1988) thatmeasures the discrepancy between consumers'perceptions and expectations. Zeithaml and Bitner(2003) developed this model further, identifying fiveservice quality dimensions, along with the scaledeveloped to measure them. Dimensions includereliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy andtangibles. In context, these dimensions representhow consumers perceive service quality. Anadaptation is the development of SERVPERF(Cronin & Taylor: 1994), a service qualityinstrument applicable to the research project onhand. Service quality is often conceptualised as thecomparison of service expectations with actualperformance perceptions (Zeithaml & Bitner: 2003).Emphasis is placed on the combined attitudinalconstruct of service quality, highlightingconstituents of both cognitive and affectivecomponents. Parasuraman et al (1998) tend todelineate service quality using more cognitive items,whereas Edwards (1990) found that the affectiveattitudes exhibited more change under affectivemeans of persuasion than under cognitive means ofpersuasion. Teas (1993), however, argues thatservice quality is a combination of transaction andoverall attitude.

Whilst service quality is directed towardscustomer satisfaction, the link to profit and growth

1-4244-1118-1/07/$25.00 ©2007 IEEE.

Authorized licensed use limited to: SWINBURNE UNIV OF TECHNOLOGY. Downloaded on June 08,2010 at 07:05:33 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

of organisations led to the development of theservice profit chain (Heskett, Sasser & Schlesinger,1997). The service profit chain is a well-receivedmodel to explain the sustainable competitiveness ofmany service organisations (Lau, 2000). The modelattributes a service organisation's financial andmarket performance to its relationships with itscustomers and employees (Heskett: 2002). Internalservice quality serves the foundation of the model,igniting a chain effect to an organisation's growthand profit (Silvestro: 2002). The Service ProfitChain is a strategic service vision, whereby there isa strong and direct relationship between customersatisfaction (Andreassen: 1994), customer loyalty(de Ruyter & Bloemer: 1999) and the value(Silvestro & Cross: 2000) of goods and servicesdelivered to customers. Furthermore, there is astrong link between these elements and overallprofit and growth of an organisation (Heskett, Sasser& Schlesinger, 1997). Organisational profit andgrowth are linked to customer loyalty, satisfactionand value via the strategic implementation ofreferral, related sales and retention strategies(Heskett, Jones, Loveman, Sasser & Schlesinger:1994).

In contrast to economic market forces(Porter: 1998), whereby competitors believe a highcorrelation between profitability and market shareprevail, many management authors (Reichheld &Sasser: 1990) are of the opinion that it is quality ofmarket share which is important (Andreassen:1994), and a high correlation actually occursbetween service value and profitability (Maranto &Reynoso: 2003; Ho & Cheng: 1999). Thiscorrelation was evident in Southwest Airlines(USA), who never made the top five largest in itsindustry, but has over the years been the mostconsistently profitable (Herbert D. Kelleher,Chairman, President and CEO of Southwest AirlineCompany). The Service profit chain identifies directand strong relationships between profit, customersatisfaction, employee satisfaction and capability(Heskett et al: 1994). The customer value equationis pivotal to the other two elements of the serviceprofit chain, with the employee at one end, and thecustomer at the other (Ho & Cheng: 1999). Theemployee links productivity and quality of outputwith employee loyalty, satisfaction and capability(Andreassen: 1994; Sivestro: 2002). The customervalue equation equates results plus process qualityagainst price plus customer access costs, linkingprofitability and growth with customer satisfactionand customer loyalty (de Ruyter & Bloemen:(1999).In service settings, these relationships are self-reinforcing; whereby satisfied customers contributeto employee satisfaction and vice versa (Reichheld:2001).

Relationships between value chainparticipants (Porter: 1998) led to developments in

the field of relationship marketing. Peck et al (1999)developed a revised version of the six marketsmodel; which included customer, internal, referral,influence, recruitment and supplier/alliance markets.The six markets model identifies all facets ofinternal and external relationships that cancontribute towards an organisation's marketplaceeffectiveness. The purpose of evaluating relationshipmarketing is to analyse the effect of networks andrelationships towards customer satisfaction andloyalty (Heskett: 2002; Reichheld: 2001). Theempirical study of Kang et al (2002) into themeasurement of internal service quality may bemirrored in a franchise system, with franchiseesrepresenting the internal marketing arm of thesystem (Mendelsohn: 2003). This in turn linksinternal service quality (Lau: 2000) to the serviceprofit chain (Heskett et al: 1997) and service quality(Zeithaml & Bitner: 2003). Hopkinson and Hogarth-Scott (1999) in turn identify franchise relationshipquality from a micro-economic perspective. Theyempirically examine the behavioural implications ofthe three main micro-economic explanations ofresource constraint, agency theory and search costtheory - for franchising. The outcome of the study isa conceptual model, linking strategic direction,franchise motivation and relational quality.Operationalizing the six markets model, Peck et al(1999) addressed each market domain in greaterdetail, consisting of key participants; research toidentify expectations and needs of key participants;current and proposed level of emphasis in eachmarket; and the formulation of a desired relationshipstrategy.

Complementing the service vision furtherled to development of best practice initiatives, ofteninitiated by innovative firms in competitiveindustries and environments. Such initiatives wereregarded as pivotal in survival and achievement ofcompetitive advantage (Porter: 1998). The VideoSoftware Dealers Association of America (VSDA:2001) identified best practice in the industry, asidentified by Arthur Andersen Business Consultants.These were wide ranging, including understandingcustomers and markets; developing vision andstrategy; refining store product offering;implementing the marketing plan; creatingpromotions and in-store merchandising; and clearin-store operations. Customer service findingsincluded that the best customer service is one-to-one, strong relationships and loyalty are developedbetween staff and customers through consistency ofmanagement and staff, and personalising customerservice. The benchmarking exchange (TBE, 2004)defines benchmarking as, "the process ofidentifying, understanding, and adapting outstandingpractices from organisations anywhere in the worldto help your organisation improve its performance.It is a highly respected practice in the businessworld. It is an activity that looks outward to find

Authorized licensed use limited to: SWINBURNE UNIV OF TECHNOLOGY. Downloaded on June 08,2010 at 07:05:33 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

best practice and high performance and thenmeasures actual business operations against thosegoals". Customer service quality and satisfactionrates as the second most used discipline ofbenchmarking and business process best practice(TBE: 2004). A best practice is a generally acceptedbest way of doing something (Wilkins: 2003),examples being ISO and Six Sigma processes; bothforce adoption of applying best practices; neither isapplied exactly the same across an industry ororganisation. Macky and Johnson (2003) identifybest practice benchmarking as reviewing what othersuccessful organisations are doing and adapting it toone's own situation.

Benchmarking is the practice of beinghumble enough to admit that someone else is betterat something, and being wise enough to learn how tomatch them and even surpass them, implementingthe new behaviour as a best practice (Andersen et al:1999). They identify the core of implementation asbeing measurement of one's own and thebenchmarking partner's performance level, both forcomparison and registering improvements;comparison of performance levels, processes andpractices; learning from the benchmarking partner tointroduce improvements in the new applicableorganisation; and improvement, which is the goal ofany benchmarking study. In the Andersen et al(1999) empirical investigation, it was suggested thatservice providers often find it more important to findbest practices than numerical performance data.Jarrar and Zairi (2000) identify best practices asthose that have been shown to produce superiorresults; selected by a systematic process; and judgedas exemplary, good or successfully demonstrated.They portray the effective transfer of best practice,from searching, evaluating, validating,implementing (transferring and enabling), reviewingto routinizing. Transfer involves identifying andlearning from best practices and applying them in anew configuration or venue (O'Dell & Grayson:1997). In their empirical study of internal transfer ofbest practice for performance excellence, Jarrar andZairi (2000) indicate a wide spread of benchmarkingapplications across geographical and sectoralborders. It is the intention to adapt an internationalbest practice study (customer satisfaction) into thecontext of a South African franchised homeentertainment organisation.

METHODOLOGY

Research methodology comprises the survey

approach, using electronic media and Surveyproanalysis. This is facilitated by descriptive andinferential statistical techniques using SPSS version11.0 data analysis. Inferential significance tests

include the ANOVA Kruskal-Wallis hypothesis test;based on the approximation of the chi-squaredistribution with k-I degrees of freedom. Internal-consistency reliability is measured by theCronbach's coefficient alpha, measuring overallinter-item correlation between the identifiedconstructs. Exploratory research, in the form of theliterature review and previous empirical studies, areused as background and facilitating data. Thesample consists of all participants in the definedfranchise system, consisting of 1 10 franchiseesrepresenting 162 franchised outlets. An electronicsurvey, consisting of twenty questions per factor(service profit chain, relationship marketing, bestpractice and service quality) was presented tofranchisees. Response was requested in the form ofa 5 point likert scale. Factors were represented in theform of hypotheses, each defining an association toservice quality. Hypotheses were represented asfollows:

- Service profit chain initiatives arepositively associated with service quality

- Relationship marketing initiatives arepositively associated with service quality

- Best practice initiatives are positivelyassociated with service quality.

Service quality was also evaluated within thesystem, using a similar measuring instrument.

FINDINGS

The applied tailored design approach(Dillman: 2000) resulted in a favourable responserate from 93 franchisees, indicative of a 86%response rate. Descriptive and inferential statisticsfor each item are depicted in Table 1. Anappropriate Cronbach's Alpha was presented oneach construct. The hypotheses were tested usingsignificance tests, with appropriate

Insert Table 1 here

Kruskal Wallis outcomes on all constructs.Outcomes are represented in the last two columns oftable 2. Key construct summary statistics arerepresented in Table 2. We accept all the hypothesesas presented, and confirm a positive association offactors with service quality.

Insert Table 2 here

Service profit chain (SPC) highlightsinclude SPC links and satisfaction as the dominantassociation, implying significant correlationbetween employee and customer satisfaction.Retention and relationships are the next most

Authorized licensed use limited to: SWINBURNE UNIV OF TECHNOLOGY. Downloaded on June 08,2010 at 07:05:33 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

dominant association, implying significantcorrelation between retaining customers and internalmarketing; Retention and lifetime value ofcustomers are not adequately measured in thefranchise system, implying neglect to loyalcustomers. SPC links and best practice initiatives arenot adequately communicated in the system, animplication of poor performance management onbehalf of the franchisor. Retention and feedback isdepicted as inadequate in the system; implying thelack of optimal customer feedback channels..Despite a few associations being inadequate withinthe defined franchise system, service profit chaininitiatives were positively associated with servicequality.

Relationship marketing highlights includereferral markets dominating response ratings. Theimplication is the associated positive link to word-of-mouth, lifetime value and loyal customers.Internal markets rated high in the relationshipassociations, implying the relative importance ofquality of work life and relationships betweenfranchisee and franchisor. Recruitment marketsdominate dissatisfaction in the system, implyingdiscontent with optimal association and industryalliances. Furthermore, franchisees identify themeasurement of franchisee satisfaction levels asdismal. Internal markets rated poorly in the supplychain, with franchisees doubting the integrity ofmajor suppliers. In conclusion, relationshipmarketing initiatives were positively associated withservice quality.

Industry best practice highlights includepromotion and in-store merchandising dominatingthe best practice associations, implying theimportance of physical evidence tangibles in theservice offering. Implementing the marketing planwith regard to community involvement alsodominates best practice associations; indicative ofthe link between localized marketing and awarenessand loyalty. Clear in-store operations regardingoperating procedures are regarded as poorlydocumented by the majority of franchisees; as is theuse of direct mail. Best practice initiatives are notadequately communicated within the definedfranchise system, implying discontent with overallcommunication within the system. Developingstrategy and vision is regarded as undeveloped,particularly regarding single outlet franchisees.Implications include lack of long-term businessplanning, vision and direction. In conclusion, bestpractice initiatives were positively related to servicequality.

Service quality highlights include highresponses across all themes, with the highest beingempathy. The implication is that of employeesmeeting the needs and wants of the consumer.

Exceptionally high correlation between all variableswithin the construct were found, and only four percent of franchisees responded negatively to theentire construct. In conclusion, service qualityvariables were evaluated as an appropriate measureof the service quality construct; exhibitingsignificant item-total correlation and reliabilitycoefficients. The variables were thus consideredappropriate to test the associations to the serviceprofit chain, relationship marketing and best practiceconstructs.

RECOMMENDATIONS AND MANAGERIALIMPLICATIONS

Significant positive associations betweenservice profit chain initiatives of retention, relatedsales and referrals are experienced relative tocustomer satisfaction and service quality. Serviceprofit chain recommendations include developingand implementing a SPC programme acrossretention, related sales and referrals within thesystem; implement measurement of loyalty withinthe system; particularly regarding the lifetime valueof customers; develop customer feedback andcomplaint systems (listening posts), such asintroducing a franchise toll-free number;communicate the value of SPC enhancement, andthe links to profit and growth; entrench customervalue to all employees in the system, identifying thevalue mix; enhance SPC initiatives, such asspending time with customers, putting employeesfirst, investing in customers and communication themessage within the franchise system. The overallobjective of the SPC is to link initiatives ofretention, referrals and related sales with the otherlinks within the chain. These include satisfaction,loyalty, value and long-term growth.

Relationship marketing initiatives arepositively associated with service quality. Tofacilitate a strategic service vision, the followingrelationship marketing initiatives are recommended:integrate and implement a relationship marketingprogramme, consisting of customer markets, internalmarkets, referral markets, influence markets,supplier and alliance markets and recruitmentmarkets; Evaluate and identify areas of discontentwithin the supply chain. Particular emphasis to beplaced on areas of trust and reciprocity betweenfranchisees and major suppliers. Thereafter developa relationship management chain; develop corecompetencies for internal services marketing,including the measurement of franchisee satisfactionlevels; develop alliances with strategic intent; suchas alliance with a major take-out fast food chainsuch as Nando's and supply alliance withinternational content providers. The research project

Authorized licensed use limited to: SWINBURNE UNIV OF TECHNOLOGY. Downloaded on June 08,2010 at 07:05:33 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

has identified particular opportunities of internalmarketing, particularly regarding relationshipsbetween franchisor and franchisee. The developmentof a relationship management chain, together withdevelopment of a core competencies matrix; willfacilitate all themes across the relationshipmanagement construct.

It has been shown that industry bestpractice initiatives enhance service quality. Taking alead from the studies of the Video Software DealersAssociation ofAmerica (VSDA), and in conjunctionwith empirical findings of this research report,recommendations include: develop and implement abest practice and benchmarking guideline forfranchisees. Themes are to include understandingmarkets and customers, developing vision andstrategy, refining outlet offerings, implementing themarketing plan, excellent customer service, creatingpromotions and in-store merchandising, and clearin-store operations. These guidelines will not takethe place of an operations manual, but are intendedto supplement it; update the franchise operationsmanual, with the appropriate training incommunication and of new initiatives; facilitatetraining and development regarding businessplanning at franchisee level; link best practicecommunication and interaction with SPC andrelationship marketing initiatives (such as intranetand internal marketing core competencies matrix).Best practice initiatives are integrally linked to therelationship marketing, service profit chain andservice quality constructs. Overall, a guideline ofbest practices, communicated formally tofranchisees; will go a long way toward enhancingboth customer and franchisee satisfaction.

Although service quality is regarded as thedependent variable; themes of tangibles, reliability,assurance, empathy and responsiveness furtherenhance strategic service initiatives. Most of thesethemes correlate to the other service visionconstructs, so implementation of recommendationsin one construct will ultimately have a positiveassociation to the service quality construct. Servicequality recommendations however include:communicating technical and functional qualityconsumer perceptions to franchisees; instillingservice quality dimensions as ongoing improvementmeasures within the system; setting servicestandards and integration of service qualityrelationships. This includes developing a systemmodel of market orientation; identifying a servicequality and internal marketing link; measuringservice quality within the system. An integration ofSERVQUAL and SERVPERF is proposed. Theoverall service quality objective with regard torecommendations is the ultimate link to service

CONCLUSION AND LIMITATIONS

This study, the first of its kind in the homeentertainment industry and in the specificorganisation, empirically demonstrated theassociation of services marketing factors with that ofservice quality. The factors of the service profitchain, relationship marketing, and best practice wereidentified as having a positive association withservice quality. Furthermore, initiatives were

identified within each of these factors, towardfacilitation of service quality within the system.Limitations are predominantly centred on the studywithin the defined franchise system, lending to theopportunity for further research in associatedsystems, and other business formats.

REFERENCES

Andreassen, T.W 1997. Satisfaction, loyalty andreputation as indicators of customer orientation inthe public sector. International Journal ofPublicSector Management, 7(2), 16-34.

De Ryker, K., Bloemer, J. 1999. Customer loyalty inextended service settings, International Journal ofService Industry Management, 10(3),320-336.

Edwards, K. 1990. The interplay of affect andcognition in attitude formation and change. JournalofPersonality and Social Psychology, 59, 202-216.

Heskett, J.L., Jones, T.O., Loveman, G.W., Sasser,W.E., Schlesinger, L 1994. Putting the service profitchain to work. Harvard Business Review, March-April.

Heskett, J.L., Sasser, W.E., Schlesinger, L 1997.The Service Profit Chain, Free Press: New York.

Jarrar, Y.F., Zairi, M. 2000. Internal transfer of bestpractice for performance excellence: a globalsurvey. Benchmarking. An International Journal,7(4), 239-246.

Ho, C.K., Cheng, W.L. 1999. Quest for value mix.Managing Service Quality, 9(3), 204-208.

Hopkinson, G.C., Hogarth-Scott, S. 1999. Franchiserelationships quality: micro-economic explanations.European Journal ofMarketing, 33(9), 827-843.

loyalty; notwithstanding the importance of acustomer centric approach.

Authorized licensed use limited to: SWINBURNE UNIV OF TECHNOLOGY. Downloaded on June 08,2010 at 07:05:33 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

Mendelsohn, M. 2003. The Guide to Franchising,6th Edition, Reprinted 2003 by Thompson Learning:London.

O'Dell, J., Grayson, P. 1997. Identifying andtransferring best practices. Best Practice WhitePaper, APQC, Houston, TX.Parasuraman, A., Ziethaml, V.A., Berry, L.L. 1998.A multiple-item scale for measuring consumerperceptions of service quality. Journal ofRetailing,March, 12-40.

Peck, H., Payne, A., Christopher, M., Clark, M.1999. Relationship Marketing. Strategy andImplementation, Butterworth Heinemann: Oxford.

Porter, M.E. 1998. On Competition, HarvardBusiness School Press: Boston.

Reichheld, F.F. 2001. Loyalty Rules! HarvardBusiness School Press: Boston.

Reichheld, F.F., Sasser, W.E. 1990. Zero defections.Harvard Business Review, Sept-Oct, 105-111.

Silvestro, R., Cross, S. 2000. Applying the serviceprofit chain in a retail environment: challenging thesatisfaction mirror. International Journal ofserviceIndustry Management, 11(3), 244-268.

Teas, R.K. 1993. Expectations, performance,evaluation, and consumers' perceptions of quality.Journal ofMarketing, 57(4), 18-34.

The Benchmarking Exchange (TBE) 2004.Benchmarking and Best Practices, URL:lt-lww benuchnet.com/wib Ihtm

Vargo, S.L., Lusch, R.F. 2004. Evolving to a newdominant logia for marketing. Journal ofmarketing,68, 1-17.

VSDA 2001. An Annual Report on the Homeentertainment industry 2001, Corporate Creative,Inc: Northridge.

Zeithaml, V.A., Bitner, M.J. 2003. ServicesMarketing, Integrating Customer Focus Across TheFirm, 3rd Edition, McGraw-Hill Irwin: New York.

Silvestro, R. 2002. Dispelling the modern myth:employee satisfaction and loyalty drive serviceprofitability. International Journal ofOperationsand Production Management, 22(1), 3 0-49.

Authorized licensed use limited to: SWINBURNE UNIV OF TECHNOLOGY. Downloaded on June 08,2010 at 07:05:33 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.

TABLE 1

Construct Statistics

Question Association Item Mean Std error of Standard Kurtosismean deviation

39 SPC links (satisfaction 1) 3.75 0.086 0.820 1.46040 SPC links (satisfaction 2) 3.99 0.070 0.652 5.84241 SPC links (best practice) 2.49 0.094 0.904 -0.32042 Retention (feedback) 2.20 0.078 0.745 -0.55143 SPC links (QWL) 3.67 0.074 0.713 3.23444 Retention (relationships 1) 3.95 0.061 0.581 10.21245 Retention (relationships 2) 3.90 0.078 0.739 5.10946 Related sales 3.68 0.078 0.754 3.58447 Referrals (WOM) 3.62 0.083 0.796 1.54148 Retention (lifetime value) 2.61 0.095 0.913 0.776

Construct descriptives n=93 3.38 0.080 0.762 3.088759 Customer markets 1 3.32 0.070 0.678 1.49260 Customer markets 2 3.41 0.067 0.647 0.30861 Internal markets 1 3.11 0.094 0.902 -0.58562 Internal markets 2 2.32 0.090 0.864 -0.08163 Referral markets 1 3.40 0.077 0.731 0.70464 Referral markets 2 3.97 0.068 0.654 9.68265 Internal markets 3 3.67 0.073 0.697 1.84166 Internal markets 4 3.66 0.083 0.801 2.75267 Recruitment markets 1 2.82 0.067 0.642 0.95668 Recruitment markets 2 2.03 0.091 0.878 2.983

Construct descriptives n=93 3.17 0.071 0.749 2.00569 Understanding customers/markets 3.04 .092 0.779 0.04470 Developing strategy and vision 1 2.86 0.103 0.944 -0.57871 Refining offerings 3.73 0.064 0.668 2.61472 Implementing the marketing plan 1 4.15 0.075 0.779 2.89173 Implementing the marketing plan 2 2.36 0.070 0.933 0.39174 Implementing the marketing plan 3 3.83 0.097 0.673 3.72975 Promotion and in-store merch 4.15 0.081 0.722 7.70476 Clear in-store operations 1 3.80 0.070 0.616 4.48377 Clear in-store operations 2 2.85 0.098 0.988 -0.38878 Developing strategy and vision 2 2.31 0.081 0.884 0.336

Construct descriptives n=93 3.31 0.083 0.799 2.12349 Reliability 1 3.65 0.066 0.637 2.89450 Reliability 2 3.51 0.072 0.676 -0.16051 Responsiveness 1 3.49 0.069 0.656 1.35552 Responsiveness 2 3.89 0.057 0.544 12.37753 Assurance 1 3.89 0.062 0.598 7.94754 Assurance 2 3.81 0.066 0.631 5.76355 Empathy 1 3.98 0.073 0.699 7.18856 Empathy 2 3.97 0.057 0.544 11.25257 Tangibles 3.80 0.069 0.669 3.10558 Empathy 3 4.01 0.073 0.699 3.815

Construct descriptives n=93 3.80 0.066 0.635 5.570KeyItems 39-48: Service Profit Chain Items 59-68: Relationship MarketingItems 69-78: Best Practice Items 49-58: Service Quality

TABLE 2Construct Summary Statistics

Construct Mean Standard Kurtosis Crobach's Kruskal- Hypothesisdeviation Alpha Wallis

Service profit chain 3.38 0.762 3.088 0.8335 0.563 AcceptedRelationship marketing 3.17 0.749 2.005 0.7937 0.117 AcceptedBest practice 3.31 0.799 2.123 0.7893 0.172 AcceptedService quality 3.80 0.635 5.570 0.9344 0.771 not applicableOverall study n=93 3.42 0.83 2.129 0.8152 0.371 not applicable

Authorized licensed use limited to: SWINBURNE UNIV OF TECHNOLOGY. Downloaded on June 08,2010 at 07:05:33 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.