Shopping centre customer service: creating customer satisfaction and loyalty Emel Kursunluoglu Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Yasar University, Izmir, Turkey Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse customer service effects in creating satisfaction and loyalty. The other antecedents of satisfaction and loyalty such as perceived value and service quality were not analysed in this research. Design/methodology/approach – Exploratory factor analysis was used to classify customer service items. Confirmatory factor analysis was not applied because of there was not any significant theory based on the classification of shopping centre customer service (SCCS). The research model was developed to show the relationships and the effects of customer service which were tested through multiple regression analyses. Findings – As a result of findings, customer service variables were classified into eight factors. Only four of them had effects on satisfaction and loyalty. The findings indicated that customer services had effects on customer satisfaction and loyalty. It was shown that “customer services about atmosphere (CSA)” affected both satisfaction and loyalty whereas “incentive customer services (ICS)”, “customer services in encounter stage (CSE)”, and “customer services about payment (CSP)” affected only loyalty. Research limitations/implications – The research model was about only shopping centres’ customer services; it could not reflect the customer services offered by the other retail formats since the survey was conducted in the limited area and with small sample. The research did not reflect the complete retailing landscape since the survey was applied to only brick and mortar shopping centre customers. The research model was developed according to the customer services offered by Turkish shopping centres and customers’ perceptions about satisfaction and loyalty were measured. The findings can be applicable each shopping centre that offers such customer services and has nearly the same concept. It is agreed that since this research has been conducted in Izmir it reflects the Turkish consumers’ cultural intentions. Practical implications – Although the impact degrees are at low level, customer service is an important tool for creating customer satisfaction and loyalty. According to the SCCS model in this research; it is strongly recommended that CSA, ICS, CSE, and CSP should be improved by shopping centres in order to gain customer satisfaction and loyalty. The last result of the research was surprising because it was expected that all customer service factors in the SCCS model would affect satisfaction and loyalty significantly. Although there were not any direct effects of basic customer services, facilitative customer services, customer services about children, informative customer services on satisfaction and loyalty, shopping centre management should not ignore these types of services since they are really important in the literature. Since the retailer type is important when developing customer service, each retailer should define its own customer service level according to its retail mix strategy. Originality/value – The research is the first paper that surveyed customer service effects in creating satisfaction and loyalty in Turkey through a conceptual model. The study has suggested a new model called SCCS model which classified customer service into eight factors and showed the relationships among customer service, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty. The paper has developed the importance of customer service in the Turkish shopping centres. Keywords Customer loyalty, Customer satisfaction, Customer service, Shopping centres Paper type Research paper The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0263-4503.htm Received 21 November 2012 Revised 29 May 2013 5 November 2013 25 December 2013 Accepted 7 January 2014 Marketing Intelligence & Planning Vol. 32 No. 4, 2014 pp. 528-548 r Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0263-4503 DOI 10.1108/MIP-11-2012-0134 The author is grateful to the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions that improved the quality of the paper significantly. 528 MIP 32,4
Transcript
Shopping centre customerservice: creating customer
satisfaction and loyaltyEmel Kursunluoglu
Faculty of Economics and Business Administration,Yasar University, Izmir, Turkey
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse customer service effects in creating satisfactionand loyalty. The other antecedents of satisfaction and loyalty such as perceived value and servicequality were not analysed in this research.Design/methodology/approach – Exploratory factor analysis was used to classify customerservice items. Confirmatory factor analysis was not applied because of there was not any significanttheory based on the classification of shopping centre customer service (SCCS). The research model wasdeveloped to show the relationships and the effects of customer service which were tested throughmultiple regression analyses.Findings – As a result of findings, customer service variables were classified into eight factors.Only four of them had effects on satisfaction and loyalty. The findings indicated that customer serviceshad effects on customer satisfaction and loyalty. It was shown that “customer services about atmosphere(CSA)” affected both satisfaction and loyalty whereas “incentive customer services (ICS)”, “customerservices in encounter stage (CSE)”, and “customer services about payment (CSP)” affected only loyalty.Research limitations/implications – The research model was about only shopping centres’customer services; it could not reflect the customer services offered by the other retail formats since thesurvey was conducted in the limited area and with small sample. The research did not reflect the completeretailing landscape since the survey was applied to only brick and mortar shopping centre customers. Theresearch model was developed according to the customer services offered by Turkish shopping centresand customers’ perceptions about satisfaction and loyalty were measured. The findings can be applicableeach shopping centre that offers such customer services and has nearly the same concept. It is agreed thatsince this research has been conducted in Izmir it reflects the Turkish consumers’ cultural intentions.Practical implications – Although the impact degrees are at low level, customer service is animportant tool for creating customer satisfaction and loyalty. According to the SCCS model in thisresearch; it is strongly recommended that CSA, ICS, CSE, and CSP should be improved by shoppingcentres in order to gain customer satisfaction and loyalty. The last result of the research was surprisingbecause it was expected that all customer service factors in the SCCS model would affect satisfaction andloyalty significantly. Although there were not any direct effects of basic customer services, facilitativecustomer services, customer services about children, informative customer services on satisfaction andloyalty, shopping centre management should not ignore these types of services since they are reallyimportant in the literature. Since the retailer type is important when developing customer service, eachretailer should define its own customer service level according to its retail mix strategy.Originality/value – The research is the first paper that surveyed customer service effects in creatingsatisfaction and loyalty in Turkey through a conceptual model. The study has suggested a new modelcalled SCCS model which classified customer service into eight factors and showed the relationshipsamong customer service, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty. The paper has developed theimportance of customer service in the Turkish shopping centres.
The author is grateful to the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful commentsand suggestions that improved the quality of the paper significantly.
528
MIP32,4
1. IntroductionIn the retail sector, satisfying customers and having loyal customers have been soimportant for years. Creating customer satisfaction and loyalty provides sustainablecompetitive advantage and differentiation from rivals. There are many factors thatcreate customer satisfaction and loyalty in the literature, one of these factors iscustomer service. Over the past two decades, the importance of customer services hasbeen discussed in the marketing literature (Innis and La Londe, 1994; Levy and Weitz,2007; Berman and Evans, 2010).
Customer service as an antecedent of both satisfaction and loyalty was emphasized inthis research. In the literature, there are many studies which show the relationships of theother antecedents of satisfaction and loyalty such as perceived quality, expectations,perceived value, and service quality on satisfaction and loyalty (Parasuraman et al., 1988;Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Fornell et al., 1996; Sivadas and Baker-Prewitt, 2000; Pizam andElIis, 1999; Cronin et al., 2000; O’Neill and Palmer, 2004; Rod et al., 2009; Karjaluoto et al.,2012). In this research, just customer service effects on satisfaction and loyalty wereinvestigated. The main aim of this research was to investigate whether customer serviceshave effects on customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Customer service effects in creating customer satisfaction and loyalty wereanalysed in the shopping centres in Turkish retail sector. Shopping centres werechosen for implementation area since they provide lots of customer services such asfree car park, clean restrooms, shopping experience in wide and quiet area, credit cards,customer complaint units, and so on.
In this study, first, the relevant literature about customer satisfaction, customerloyalty, and customer service was reviewed. In methodology part; the scales used inthis research and sampling method were shown. Then exploratory factor analysis(EFA) was applied to customer service variables to eliminate and classify them.Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was not used in this research because there werenot any theoretical supports related to the classification of customer service in theliterature. The purpose of factor analysis in classifying customer service variables wasto add value to the literature with a model called shopping centre customer service(SCCS) model which shows the effects of customer service on satisfaction andloyalty. In findings part; eight main factors occurred as a result of EFA. The SCCSmodel as a research model was developed and tested customer service effects onsatisfaction and loyalty through multiple regression analyses. The SCCS effectson satisfaction and loyalty were low compared to the anticipated rates but acceptableto explain the variance in customer satisfaction and loyalty. In conclusion part; theresults were developed and the recommendations about improving customer serviceswere suggested.
2. Customer satisfaction and loyaltySatisfaction is a degree of meeting the needs at the end of a purchase (Oliver, 1999).The satisfaction is an evaluation about how much the retailer could meet or exceedcustomer expectations (Levy and Weitz, 2007). Customer satisfaction is a functionof pre-sale expectations and post-purchase perceived performance (Fornell, 1992).Customers perform some evaluations in post-purchase stage to analyse how much theretailer could meet their expectations. The comparison of expectation and performancein post-purchase stage determines the satisfaction level of customers.
There are several studies in the literature that explain the antecedents ofsatisfaction. According to Fornell et al. (1996) customer satisfaction has three
529
Shopping centrecustomer service
antecedents: perceived quality, perceived value, and customer expectations. Cronin andTaylor (1992) found positive correlation between service quality and customersatisfaction. Service quality that measures customer expectations and perceptions ofservice performance (Parasuraman et al., 1985) is one of the antecedents of customersatisfaction. It was proved that service quality has a positive effect on customersatisfaction and loyalty (Bolton and Drew, 1991; Boulding et al., 1993; Siu and Cheung,2001; Pizam and ElIis, 1999; Cronin et al., 2000; Athanassopoulos, 2000). Sivadas andBaker-Prewitt (2000) examined the relationship between service quality, satisfaction,and loyalty in a retail store setting. They found that service quality influencessatisfaction with retail stores and loyalty is influenced both by satisfaction and servicequality.
The SERVQUAL scale (Parasuraman et al., 1988) which includes five dimensions astangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy was developed tomeasure service quality in pure service settings such as banking and health care. Sinceretail stores offer both goods and services, Dabholkar et al. (1996) developed the RetailService Quality Scale which has five dimensions as physical aspects, reliability,personal interaction, problem solving, and policy. Most of the customer service itemsanalysed in this research were developed according to the 28 items of the Retail ServiceQuality Scale which constitute its five dimensions.
Customer satisfaction can be measured by Expectancy Disconfirmation Theory(Tse et al., 1990; Erevelles and Leavitt, 1992; Oliver, 1997). Disconfirmation theory isthe comparison of the performance level after using the product or service and theexpectation level which occurs before using the product or service as better or worse. Ifthe product or service is worse than expected “negative disconfirmation”, if better“positive disconfirmation”, and if as expected “confirmation” occurs (Oliver, 1977,1981; Oliver et al., 1997). As a result of the comparison between expectations andperceived performance, customer satisfaction occurs when pre-sale expectations arelower than post-purchase evaluations in the stages of positive disconfirmation andconfirmation.
To measure customer satisfaction, some indexes were developed that reflectnational customer satisfaction dimensions in different countries such as the SwedishCustomer Satisfaction Barometer (SCSB) in 1989 (Fornell, 1992; Anderson et al., 1994),the German Customer Barometer (GCB) in 1992 (Meyer and Dornach, 1996), theAmerican Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) in 1994 (Fornell et al., 1996), theEuropean Customer Satisfaction Index (ECSI) in 1999 which was inspired by the SCSBand the ACSI (Kristensen et al., 1999), the Danish Customer Satisfaction Index(Martensen et al., 2000), the Norwegian Customer Satisfaction Barometer (Andreassenand Lindestad, 1998), the Pan ECSI (Eklof and Westlund, 2002), the JordanianCustomer Satisfaction Index (Al-Nasser et al., 2011), the Mexican User SatisfactionIndex (Calleros et al., 2012), the Chinese Customer Satisfaction Index (Huang et al.,2011), the Turkish Customer Satisfaction Index (TCSI) in 2005 (Turkyılmaz and Ozkan,2007). Also the other national satisfaction indexes from different countries such asAustria, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Taiwan, New Zealand, South Korea,Malaysia, and Hong Kong can be seen in the literature (Grigoroudis and Siskos, 2004).
The mostly known and applied customer satisfaction indexes are the ACSI and theECSI (Grigaliunaite and Pileliene, 2013). The ACSI is an evolution of the SCSB andbuilt upon the original the SCSB model adapted to US economy ( Johnson et al., 2001;Turkyılmaz and Ozkan, 2007). The antecedents of satisfaction in the ACSI areperceived quality, perceived value, and customer expectations and the consequences of
530
MIP32,4
satisfaction are customer loyalty and complaints. These parameters are different in theECSI. The antecedents of satisfaction are perceived quality, perceived value, customerexpectations, and corporate image and the consequence of satisfaction is customerloyalty (Fornell et al., 1996; Martensen et al., 2000; Grigaliunaite and Pileliene, 2013;Turkyılmaz and Ozkan, 2007). The TCSI which is the same as the ACSI links customerexpectations, perceived quality, and perceived value to customer satisfaction, thensatisfaction is linked to customer loyalty and customer complaints (Turkyılmaz andOzkan, 2007; Zaim et al., 2010). In this research, the ASCI model was used since it is themost known index in the world and the TCSI was built upon the ACSI.
Consumer behaviour can be influenced by cultural variables (Kopalle et al., 2010;Johnson et al., 2002) and thus satisfaction and loyalty can be differed according to thecountries even though the researchers use the same index. Aydin and Ozer (2005) haveimplemented a structural customer satisfaction model derived by the ACSI in theTurkish mobile telephone market. According to the results; customer satisfactionis influenced by perceived quality, customer expectations, and complaint handling.The findings also show that customer satisfaction, trust, and switching cost affectcustomer loyalty. Also the ACSI model has been used in the Macedonian mobiletelecommunication industry to describe customers’ perceptions on service quality andsatisfaction levels of services offered by firms. It has been found that the overall servicequality perceived by the customers was not satisfactory, that expectations werehigher than perceptions (Angelova and Zekiri, 2011). Mangnale and Chavan (2012)have identified the drivers of satisfaction in Indian banking industry. Process,customer service, and information are the activities that drive satisfaction andinformation is the most important one among three activities. Besides these activities,perceived quality, and customer expectations are also considered as major drivers ofsatisfaction. It has suggested that satisfaction level which is at low level already shouldbe increased and customer services and process should be improved in Indian bankingsector.
Loyalty is defined as a commitment which is formed profoundly about being asteady customer or purchasing the preferred product or service again in the future.Loyalty will provide a repetitive buying of the same product or service despite themarketing efforts or situational effects (Oliver, 1997). Bowen and Chen (2001) haveclassified loyalty as behavioural and attitudinal. Behavioural approach definesloyalty as a way of behaviour. The consistent and repetitive purchases are the indicatorof the loyalty. However, every steady buying is not a loyalty; these steady andrepeat purchases may be originated from the situational affects such as low priceand close proximity (Hartmann and Ibanez, 2007). Attitudinal approach is a personalattitude which is psychological and sensation oriented. Although a customer couldnot purchase steadily from the retailer; having positive feelings about the retailerand advising the retailer to the other customers show the presence of attitudinalloyalty.
Customer loyalty can be classified in different ways. Oliver (1999) formed loyalty infour steps such as cognitive, affective, conative, and action. Dick and Basu (1994)clarified the four types of loyalty as no loyalty, spurious loyalty, latent loyalty, andloyalty. In the loyalty model formed by Rowley (2005) and known as 4C of customerloyalty, customers were separated into four categories such as captive, convenience-seeker, contented, and committed. It was agreed that measuring both behavioural andattitudinal loyalty aspects is essential to analyse customer loyalty (Han et al., 2011).Behavioural aspects have some relationships with spurious loyalty and no loyalty,
531
Shopping centrecustomer service
which happen when the repurchase takes place even if the organization has a negativeimage in the market and attitudinal loyalty is linked to active loyalty, which not onlymeans repurchase but also a positive word of mouth (Martinez and Rodriguez delBosque, 2013).
There is a positive effect of customer satisfaction on customer loyalty. In time, thesatisfaction is changed into the loyalty. Only the most satisfied customers stay as theloyal customers in the long term (Berman and Evans, 2010). It was proved that there isa positive relationship between satisfaction and loyalty in prior researches ( Johnsonand Fornell, 1991; Anderson and Sullivan, 1993; Rust and Zahorik, 1993; Andersonet al., 1994; Heskett et al., 1994; Hallowel, 1996; Oliver, 1999; Storbacka et al., 1994;Hartmann and Ibanez, 2007; Lai-Ming Tam, 2012).
However, it was proved that satisfaction does not influence loyalty in everycircumstance (Miranda et al., 2005). The link between satisfaction and loyalty is not asstrong as it is believed and customer satisfaction is not enough to explain loyalty; thevariance explained by just satisfaction can be small and three are better predictors ofloyalty than just customer satisfaction (Kumar et al., 2013). Harris and Goode (2004)explained the relations between cognitive, affective, conative, and action loyalty andtrust, perceived value, satisfaction, and service quality. According to the result; trust isa key antecedent of loyalty. Agustin and Singh (2005) found that relational trust andvalue are the strongest determinants of loyalty rather than satisfaction. Service qualitywas also found as an antecedent of customer loyalty (Wong and Sohal, 2003).
3. Customer services in shopping centresCustomer service is all of the retailer activities that increase the value received byconsumers when shopping (Levy and Weitz, 2007). Customer services are tangible orintangible value increasing activities which are related with products or servicesdirectly or indirectly to meet customer expectations and finally to provide customersatisfaction and loyalty (Kursunluoglu, 2011).
Customer satisfaction can be provided by meeting customer expectations by thehelp of customer service. To meet customers’ expectations, retailers must provideexcellent customer service. Levels of customer service offered to the market depend onsome criteria such as retailer’s characteristics, services offered by the competitors, typeof merchandise handled, price image of store, income of target market, cost ofproviding service (Lusch et al., 2011). Satisfying the customers through both productand customer services provides long-term customer satisfaction. Leaving the retailer asa satisfied customer depends on the retail mix and customer services (Innis and LaLonde, 1994).
Customer satisfaction occurs in the case of the customer services meet or exceed thecustomer expectations (Berman and Evans, 2010). For creating customer satisfaction,not only the high-quality product but also the customer services such as paymentfacilities, after-sale services, and home delivery are required. Customer satisfactionwhich is provided by customer service is affected by customers’ expectations,experience, and evaluations (Berman and Evans, 2007). Thus, besides the core product,the performances of the customer services are important in creating customersatisfaction and loyalty.
4. MethodologyThe general purpose of this study was to analyse the effects of customer services oncustomer satisfaction and loyalty. Although customer service is an important element
532
MIP32,4
for creating satisfaction and loyalty, there are lots of different determinants that createsatisfaction and loyalty such as perceived value, service quality, and perceived quality.These variables were isolated from this research. In this paper, only customer serviceeffects were analysed as one of the tools for creating customer satisfaction and loyalty.This paper focused on to measure the importance of customer services in creatingsatisfaction and loyalty. Shopping centres were chosen as an implementation areafor field study.
The survey was constituted by 51 customer service items selected based on theliterature, customer satisfaction scale, and customer loyalty scale. First, customerservices were aligned according to their degree of importance and then satisfaction andloyalty scales were used to measure the effects of customer services on customersatisfaction and loyalty. The first scale was “ACSI” (Fornell et al., 1996) which isfrequently used and reliable measure with three basic items. The second scale was“Customer Loyalty Scale” which was used in many previous researches (Spreng et al.,1996; Oliver, 1997; Sirdeshmukh et al., 2002; Nijssen et al., 2003). Loyalty scale includedfour items but the last question was not used in this research. Both of two scales’ itemswere described in Table I.
The original scales consisted of a ten-point Likert type scale. Having consideredTurkey’ s demographic structure, ten-point Likert type scale was converted to five-point Likert type scale (1: strongly disagree, 5: strongly agree). The statement that“customer services offered by the shopping centre” was added to the beginning of thequestions in satisfaction scale and the statement that “due to the customer servicesoffered by the shopping centre” was added to the beginning of the questions in loyaltyscale.
Izmir City comprises 30 districts. In total, 11 of these districts are inside the borderof Izmir City and the remaining 19 districts are outside the border of Izmir City. Thepopulation of this research comprises the shopping centre customers who live in these11 districts’ urban parts: Konak, Karsiyaka, Buca, Bornova, Gaziemir, Narlidere,Balcova, Cigli, Guzelbahce, Bayrakli, and Karabaglar. The sample was chosen fromthis population with random stratified sampling method. Sampling size was estimatedwith the formula below:
n ¼ z2 � p � qe2
where n is the sample size; z the percentage point for the standard normal probabilitydistribution at the specific confidence interval (1.96 for 95 per cent confidence level);
Measurement variable Original scale
1. Overall satisfaction ACSI2. Expectancy disconfirmation ACSI3. Performance versus the customer’s ideal product or service in the category ACSI4. How likely are you to do most shopping for clothing items at this store? Customer loyalty5. How likely are you to recommend this clothing store to friends, neighbours, and
relatives?Customer loyalty
6. How likely are you to shop at this store the very next time to buy clothingitems?
Customer loyalty
7. How likely are you to spend more than 50 per cent of your clothing budget atthis store?
Customer loyalty
Table I.Satisfaction and
Loyalty Scales usedin the research
533
Shopping centrecustomer service
p the percentage picking a choice; q the percentage not picking a choice (1� p); e themargin of error (5 per cent).
The pilot survey results were used to calculate p-value and q-value. p-value was theper cent of the customers who were satisfied by customer services offered by theshopping centre and q-value is the per cent of the customers who were unsatisfiedby customer services offered by the shopping centre. According to the z, p, q, e values(z¼ 1.96, p¼ 0.8, q¼ 0.2, e¼ 0.05); the formula was calculated and the sample size wasfound as 245.
de Winter et al. (2009) claimed that some researches focused on the sample size ratio(N/p) range from 3:1-6:1 (Cattell, 1978) to 20:1 (Hair et al., 2010). Besides this ratio, insome various researches (MacCallum et al., 1999; de Winter et al., 2009; Williams et al.,2012) a wide range of suggestions regarding sample size in factor analysis has beenrecommended. Tabachnick and Fidell’s (2007) rule of thumb suggested that having atleast 300 cases are needed for sample size whereas Hair et al. (1995) suggested thatsample size should be 100 or greater. Comrey (1973) classified sample size as 100-poor,200-fair, 300-good, 500-very good, and 1,000 or more-excellent. Guilford (1954) arguedthat minimum sample size should be 200, Gorsuch (1974) characterized sample sizesabove 200 as large and below 50 as small, and Cattell (1978) claimed that 500 would begood for sample size, however, 250 or 200 could be more acceptable. In this research,the sample size was found 245 according to the sample size formula above, however,the survey was applied to 400 shopping centre customers instead of 245 customers toreach more accurate results and this sample size could be accepted as sufficientaccording to the literature. After defining the sample size, the random stratifiedsampling method was used for sampling method and it was explained in Table II.
Totally, 11 districts which are inside the border of Izmir City were shown in columnA. Column B showed that the urban population of each district. In column C, the urbanpopulation of each district were divided the total population of districts (2,727,968) oneby one and the percentage values were gained. In column D, the numbers of customersto survey in each district were calculated. Column E showed that how many customersshould participate in the research from each district.
In the field study, the questionnaire was applied to 400 shopping centre customerswith face-to-face and e-mail interview methods. EFA was applied to customer servicesto classify them. CFA was not applied because of there was not any significant theorybased on the classification of customer services. The purpose of classifying customer
service variables with EFA was to reduce items and add value to the literature with aclassification model of customer services. For this purpose, EFA was used and thevarimax rotation method and the principal component analysis which is preferredwhen data reduction is a primary goal were applied as an extraction method (Hair et al.,2010). After classification of customer services, the conceptual model and the researchhypotheses were developed. Correlation analyses were performed to show the relationsbetween factors and multiple regression analyses were used to test the conceptualmodel which examined the effects of customer services on customer satisfaction andloyalty.
5. FindingsOne sample t-test was applied to 51 customer service items. According to the testresults, “having pay phone service” was extracted from the analysis because of itssignificance value was higher than 0.05 (p¼ 0.43140.05). EFAwas applied toremaining 50 customer service items. Eight items which had been loaded more thanone factor were removed from the analysis due to the existence of significant cross-loadings in two or more factors. These items were: having prepaid selling, havingenough product stock, having alternatives such as wedding gift list for facilitating theproduct selection, having safety cabinets, addressing customers with their names,offering different types of products in the period of product selection, havingimpressive store atmosphere, having loyalty cards.
Totally nine items were removed from the analysis and EFA was applied to 42customer service items. As a result of the analysis, eight main factors were developed.Also the elbow was at the eighth components in the scree plot which determines thenumber of components to retain (Cattell, 1966). The customer service factors and theitems were described below.
Factor 1 – Basic customer services (BCS): having accurate price tags at thecheckouts, having short waiting time at the checkouts, having clean restrooms, doingfaster transactions without waiting customers, having warranty policy, being a cleanshopping centre in general, having easy product return policy, solving customercomplaints quickly, having effective ventilation system in closed areas, havingcustomer complaint units, being an organized shopping centre, offering a shoppingpossibility in a wide environment, having security department, having vehicles such aswheel chair and escalator for disabled customers, having enough support of salespersonnel when selecting a product.
Factor 2 – Incentive Customer Services (ICS): having customer information unit,having announcement and notice boards, having lost property unit, having free callcentre, having maintenance and repair services in post purchase stage, having freecustomer bus for reaching the shopping centre, having usher signs for product finding,having home delivery service.
Factor 3 – Facilitative Customer Services (FCS): having free car park, having emptyspace in the car park, having Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) machines, having restareas such as cafeteria and restaurant, having long working hours.
Factor 4 – Customer Services about Payment (CSP): paying through consumercredit, paying through bond, paying through personal check.
Factor 5 – Customer Services about Children (CSC): having children restroom/nursing room, having children playground.
Factor 7 – Customer Services in Encounter Stage (CSE): having informative in-storeemployees in encounter stage, having gift wrap, having sales with credit cards, havinggenial employees.
Factor 8 – Informative Customer Services (InCS): doing demonstrations about howto use the product, having informative web site, distributing informative brochures inpre-sale stage.
Table III shows the EFA results, factor loadings, and the communalities.Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure was 0.895. KMO is an indicator which shows to
have reached enough sample size. The value of 0.895 was adequate because of the rulethat KMO measure must be approximately 1 (Kaiser, 1958). The result of Bartlett’s testwas 0.000. It showed that the existence of relationships among the items.
The numbers of items that each factor contains, the value of reliability, variance,and cumulative variance were shown in Table IV. According to the table; thefirst factor, BCS, had the maximum number of items and its reliability value was90.9 per cent. The overall scale reliability value was 71.8 per cent. In the reliabilityanalysis, the Cronbach’s a value must be more than 0.70 (Churchill, 1979; Cronbach,1951). This level is sufficient because of exceeding the suggested level. The firstfactor explained 14.536 per cent of the variance. 54.410 per cent of the variance wasexplained by the eight factors. This rate was sufficient since it must be approximately60 per cent.
The EFA was applied to customer satisfaction items and customer loyalty itemsseparately. As a result of analyses, customer satisfaction factor (CS) and customerloyalty factor (CL) were developed. These factors can be seen in Table V.
Customer satisfaction factor which had three items explained 68.33 per cent of thevariance and its reliability measurement was 0.768. Customer loyalty factor whichhad three items explained 79.76 per cent of the variance and its Cronbach’s a valuewas 0.873.
The research hypotheses written below were developed to analyse the relationshipsamong the factors which were obtained in this research. The first hypothesis testedthe effects of customer services on customer satisfaction and the second hypothesisanalysed the effects of customer services on customer loyalty:
The SCCS model was developed as a conceptual research model according to the eightcustomer service factors (BCS, ICS, FCS, CSP, CSC, CSA, CSE, InCS), customersatisfaction factor (CS), and customer loyalty factor (CL). The links between proposedrelations among customer services, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty wereshown in Figure 1.
Table VI presented the correlation matrix for ten variables formed by eightcustomer service components, customer satisfaction component, and customer loyaltycomponent. A review of the correlation matrix revealed that 30 of the total45 correlations were significant at the 0.01 level, five of them were significant at the0.05 level. Ten correlations that have no stars were non-significant.
Multiple regression analyses were performed to test hypotheses in Table VII.Customer service components (BCS, ICS, FCS, CSP, CSC, CSA, CSE, and InCS) wereindependent variables; satisfaction and loyalty components (CS, CL) were dependent
536
MIP32,4
Factor
Items 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Ca
1. Having accurate price tags at the checkouts 0.774 0.634
2. Having short waiting time at the checkouts 0.748 0.625
3. Having clean restrooms 0.696 0.546
4. Doing faster transactions without waiting customers 0.692 0.586
5. Having warranty policy 0.676 0.670
6. Being a clean shopping centre in general 0.668 0.549
40. Doing demonstrations about how to use the product 0.730 0.635
41. Having informative web site 0.672 0.547
42. Distributing informative brochures in pre-sale stage 0.593 0.520
Note: aCommunalities
Table III.Rotated factor loading
matrix of customerservice items
537
Shopping centrecustomer service
variables. As a result of significance F change tests (0.000) which were shown the tablebelow, research hypotheses could be rejected. It showed that customer service hadeffects on satisfaction and loyalty. According to the adjusted R2 tests; customer servicecould explain 13.9 per cent of total variance in customer satisfaction and 12.5 per centof total variance in customer loyalty.
No. Factors Numbers of items Cronbach’s a Variance % Cumulative variance (%)
1. I am generally satisfied by the customer services offered by theshopping centre 0.742 0.550
2. Customer services offered by the shopping centre are better thanI expected 0.861 0.742
3. Customer services offered by the shopping centre are close tomy ideal customer services 0.871 0.758Cumulative variance % 68.333Cronbach’s a 0.768
CL
4. Due to the customer services offered by the shopping centre,I do most of my shopping at this shopping centre 0.884 0.781
5.Due to the customer services offered by the shopping centre,I recommend this shopping centre to friends, neighbours,and relatives 0.901 0.812
6. Due to the customer services offered by the shopping centre,I will shop at this shopping centre the very next time 0.894 0.800Cumulative variance % 79.760Cronbach’s a 0.873
Table V.Factor loadingmatrix of customersatisfaction andcustomer loyalty items
BCS
ICS
FCS P
CS
C
CS
C S C L
C
AS
C
ES C
In
S
BCS
ICS
FCS P
CS
C
CS
C
AS
C
ES C
In
S
Figure 1.Shopping centrecustomer service(SCCS) model
538
MIP32,4
According to the result of multiple regression analyses; customer service can affectboth customer satisfaction at 13.9 per cent and customer loyalty at 12.5 per cent.However, only some independent variables could affect dependent variables strongly.CSA had the strongest impact on customer satisfaction. The other customer servicevariables could not affect customer satisfaction. Loyalty can be affected by fourvariables such as ICS, CSP, CSA, and CSE.
6. ConclusionThere are six main results of this study. The first result is SCCS affects customersatisfaction and loyalty, however, these effects are low compared to the anticipatedrates but acceptable to explain the variance in customer satisfaction and loyalty.Comparing with the other antecedents of satisfaction and loyalty, customer service
effects are not so powerful. This research shows that SCCS is important for retailersand one of the tools for creating customer satisfaction and loyalty in Turkish retailsector.
The second result is that CSA influenced both satisfaction and loyalty. It can be seenthat shopping centre atmosphere is important for creating both satisfaction and loyalty(Martinez-Ruiz et al., 2011; Finn and Louviere, 1996; Haynes and Talpade, 1996; Gentryand Burns, 1978). Retail store atmosphere is an important element that increasescompetitiveness of retailers (Milliman, 1986; Swinyard, 1993; Hui and Bateson, 1991).Atmospheric stimuli including smell, music, decoration, layout, and temperature in theshopping centres have effects on satisfaction and consumer perception aboutattractiveness (Michon et al., 2005). Retailers should develop these customer servicessuch as broadcasting nice music, providing noiseless shopping environment to createcustomer satisfaction and loyalty.
The third result is that ICS is effective for creating only customer loyalty; it had noeffect on customer satisfaction. A customer can be satisfied by the other tools and thenwith the helping of the ICS, they may be turned into the loyal customers. Informationin advertisings which influences customer satisfaction creates an attitude towardsbrand (Holbrook and Batra, 1987; Mandan et al., 2013). Giving information usingannouncement or broadcasting from the notice boards during shopping can beregarded as important customer services that affect satisfaction. The new technologythat creates call centre should facilitate greater effectiveness and efficiency (Prabhakeret al., 1997). Companies that have call centres as a focus of their customer satisfactionstrategy care about their customers, and thus are in a better competitive position(Feinberg et al., 2000). Retailers should improve ICS which will also support customersin encounter and post-purchase stage. Customer information unit, announcement andnotice boards, lost property unit, free call centre, maintenance and repair services, freecustomer bus, usher signs for product finding, and home delivery service are importantservices that retailers should perform to gain customer loyalty.
The fourth result is that CSE affected only customer loyalty. The most importantservices in encounter stage are offered by employees. Gronroos (1995) and Berry(1995) emphasized that employees are the most important asset for a companyto hold the customers and develop long-term relationship with the customers. For thesereason, retailers should give importance to relationship marketing which requiresthe integration of marketing, quality, and customer service (Christopher et al., 1991),internal marketing which contains motivating and rewarding employees, andcomplaint management which is another important tool for gaining satisfied andloyal customers. Managing customer complaints is not an expensive tool for fixingthe problems associated with customer service (Homburg and Furst, 2005).Customer-oriented salesperson behaviours are important for building long lastingcustomer relationship (Homburg et al., 2011). Sales employees are prone to gain moresatisfied customers and selling teams make strong buyer-seller relationships (Arnettet al., 2005; Timothy and Stephen, 2011). The personal interaction between employeesand customers is the main element to turn satisfied customers into the loyal customers.Informative in-store employees, genial employees, gift wrap, and acceptance of creditcards are the important CSE.
The fifth result is that CSP affected only loyalty. Retailers should improve differentpayment types for increasing loyalty. They should add new payment types likeconsumer credit, bond, personal check, virtual credit card, and debit card (Weiner, 1999;Rysman, 2009) because of consumers demand to pay except cash and credit card.
540
MIP32,4
The sixth result is that there were no significant relationships between BCS, FCS,CSC, InCS and customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. These types of customerservices do not have any effects in creating customer satisfaction and loyalty. Thereason of this result might be that these types of services are the usual services whichare expected from every shopping centre. Since they are not unique services forcustomers, they do not have any effects on satisfaction and loyalty and enough powerto create satisfaction and loyalty.
In conclusion, CSA, ICS, CSE, CSP have effects on satisfaction and loyalty whereasBCS, FCS, CSC, InCS do not affect satisfaction and loyalty. The most important factor isCSA since it affects both satisfaction and loyalty. The SCCS model can be used indifferent countries or different types of retailers such as supermarkets, specialty stores,and e-tailers to measure customer service effects in creating satisfaction and loyalty.The results and the factor effects can be varied, these results could be sample specific.
7. Practical implicationsShopping centres need loyal customers to differentiate themselves and gain sustainablecompetitive advantage in retail sector. Loyal customers are gained in long-term period.Therefore, shopping centres should develop long-term relationships with thecustomers, satisfy them and turn the satisfied customers into the loyal customers.They should use the tools that create customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.Although the impact degrees are at low level, customer service is an important tool forcreating customer satisfaction and loyalty. It is suggested that shopping centres shouldimprove customer service since it is one of the tools for creating customer satisfactionand loyalty, however, its low impact.
According to the SCCS model in this research; it is strongly recommended thatCSA, ICS, CSE, and CSP should be improved by shopping centres in order to gaincustomer satisfaction and loyalty. The last result of the research was surprisingbecause it was expected that all customer service factors in the SCCS model wouldaffect satisfaction and loyalty significantly. Although there were not any direct effectsof BCS, FCS, CSC, InCS on satisfaction and loyalty, shopping centre managementshould not ignore these types of services since they are really important in theliterature as shown below.
Waiting for a service is a determinant of satisfaction and loyalty and shoppingcentre management should focus on both shortening waiting times and improvingwaiting conditions (Pruyn and Smidts, 1998). Retailers should meet customerexpectations about the cleanliness of restrooms to gain satisfaction (Scarcelli, 2007).There was a strong relationship between customer satisfaction and delivery,installation, and warranty (Shaharudin et al., 2009). Solving customer complaintsmaintains customer satisfaction, thus retailers should improve complaint managementstrategies (Calin, 2012). Due to a lack of wheelchairs or even escalators, disabledcustomers become dissatisfied since the inaccessibility to the place they want to go(Poria et al., 2009). The availability of free car park and having empty spaces in thecar park are major factors that enhance shopping attractiveness (van der Waerdenet al., 1998). Chakrabarty (2004) found that ATM satisfaction (reliability andavailability) is a determinant of customer satisfaction. Long working hours areimportant for satisfaction (Naser et al., 1999). Playground for children could entrenchthe satisfaction (Benkenstein et al., 2003). Product-related information given bytechnical documentation such as informative brochures or prospectuses is importantfor customer satisfaction (Homburg and Rudolph, 2001).
541
Shopping centrecustomer service
Retail mix consists of six main elements as location, merchandise assortment,pricing, communication, store atmosphere, and customer service. Customer service isone of the tools of retail mix. It provides differentiation in retail mix, gainingsustainable competitive advantage, and creating customer satisfaction and loyalty. Thestores in shopping centres can be varied such as department stores, specialty stores,home improvement centres, restaurants, supermarkets, and discount stores. Since theretailer type is important when developing customer service, each retailer shoulddefine its own customer service level according to its retail mix strategy. Consequently,retailers try to provide unique customer services which equal to customer expectationsand create customer satisfaction and loyalty to diversify themselves in the fiercecompetition.
8. Limitations and further researchesThere were some constraints in this research due to the limitations of financialbudget. The research showed Turkish consumers respond to the customer servicesin the shopping centres. The research model was about only shopping centres’customer services; it could not reflect the customer services offered by the otherretail formats since the survey was conducted in the limited area and with smallsample. The field study was conducted only in Izmir City and the survey wasapplied to the customers who live in the districts which are inside the border ofIzmir City. The customers who live in the districts which are outside the borderof Izmir City were excluded from the research. Also urban populations of thesedistricts were included in this research; the rural populations of districts were notincluded. In the near future, the model can be applied to the customers from othercities to gain comparative results.
The research did not reflect the complete retailing landscape since the survey wasapplied to only brick and mortar shopping centre customers. The customers of theother retail formats such as supermarket, department store, specialty store, and onlineretailers were not included in this research. Examining customer service offered bythe other retail formats such as click only, click and mortar, and brick and mortar andits effects on satisfaction and loyalty can be a proposal for further researches.
The research model was developed according to the customer services offered byTurkish shopping centres and customers’ perceptions about satisfaction and loyaltywere measured. The findings can be applicable each shopping centre that offerssuch customer services and has nearly the same concept. It is agreed that sincethis research has been conducted in Izmir it reflects the Turkish consumers’ culturalintentions.
References
Agustin, C. and Singh, J. (2005), “Curvilinear effects of consumer loyalty determinants inrelational exchanges”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 42 No. 1, pp. 96-108.
Al-Nasser, A.D., Al-Rawwash, M.Y. and Alakhras, A.S. (2011), “An approach to setting up anational customer satisfaction index: the Jordan case study”, Journal of Applied Statistics,Vol. 38 No. 9, pp. 1977-1993.
Anderson, E.W. and Sullivan, M.W. (1993), “The antecedents and consequences of customersatisfaction for firms”, Marketing Science, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 125-143.
Anderson, E.W., Fornell, C. and Lehmann, D.R. (1994), “Customer satisfaction, market share, andprofitability: findings from Sweden”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 58, pp. 53-66.
542
MIP32,4
Andreassen, T.W. and Lindestad, B. (1998), “Customer loyalty and complex services: the impactof corporate image on quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty for customers withvarying degrees of service expertise”, International Journal of Service IndustryManagement, Vol. 9 No. 1, pp. 7-23.
Angelova, B. and Zekiri, J. (2011), “Measuring customer satisfaction with service quality usingAmerican Customer Satisfaction Model (ACSI model)”, International Journal of AcademicResearch in Business and Social Sciences, Vol. 1 No. 3.
Arnett, D., Macy, B. and Wilcox, J. (2005), “The role of core team selling in supplier-buyerrelationships”, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Vol. 25 No. 1, pp. 27-42.
Athanassopoulos, A.D. (2000), “Customer satisfaction cues to support market segmentation andexplain switching behaviour”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 47 No. 3, pp. 191-207.
Aydin, S. and Ozer, G. (2005), “National customer satisfaction indices: an implementation in theTurkish mobile telephone market”, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, Vol. 23 No. 5,pp. 486-504.
Benkenstein, M., Yavas, U. and Forberger, D. (2003), “Emotional and cognitive antecedents ofcustomer satisfaction in leisure services: the case of the Rostock zoo”, Journal of Hospitalityand Leisure Marketing, Vol. 10 Nos 3-4, pp. 173-184.
Berman, B. and Evans, J.R. (2007), Retail Management, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, NJ.
Berman, B. and Evans, J.R. (2010), Retail Management, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, NJ.
Berry, L.L. (1995), “Relationship marketing of services growing interest, emerging perspectives”,Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 23 No. 4, pp. 236-245.
Bolton, R.N. and Drew, J.H. (1991), “A multistage model of customers’ assessment of servicequality and value”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 17, pp. 375-384.
Boulding, W., Kalra, A., Staelin, R. and Zeithaml, V.A. (1993), “A dynamic process model ofservice quality: from expectations to behavioural intentions”, Journal of MarketingResearch, Vol. 30 No. 1, pp. 7-27.
Bowen, J.T. and Chen, S.L. (2001), “The relationship between customer loyalty and customersatisfaction”, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 13No. 5, pp. 213-217.
Calin, G. (2012), “Solving customer complaints: a study of multiple commercial settings”, Annalsof the University of Oradea: Economic Science, Vol. 21 No. 2, pp. 827-833.
Calleros, O., Rivera, H., Serrato, H., Delgado, M., Leon, C., Acevedo, A. and Ramirez, I. (2012),“Development of the Mexican user satisfaction index (IMSU) to evaluate socialgovernment programs in Mexico: the case of the daycare social program”, Journal ofConsumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior, No. 25, pp. 118-129.
Cattell, R.B. (1966), “The scree test for the number of factors”, Multivariate Behavioral Research,Vol. 1, pp. 245-276.
Cattell, R.B. (1978), The Scientific Use Of Factor Analysis in Behavioral and Life Sciences, Plenum,New York, NY.
Chakrabarty, A. (2004), “Barking up the wrong tree – factors influencing customer satisfaction inretail banking in the UK”, International Journal of Applied Marketing, Vol. 3, pp. 39-51.
Christopher, M., Payne, A.F. and Ballantyne, D. (1991), Relationship Marketing: Bring Quality,Customer Service, and Marketing Together, Butter-worth-Heinemman, Oxford.
Churchill, Jr, G.A. (1979), “A paradigm for developing better measures of marketing constructs”,Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 64-73.
Comrey, A.L. (1973), A First Course in Factor Analysis, Academic Press, New York, NY.
Cronbach, L.J. (1951), “Coefficient alfa and the internal structure of tests”, Psychometrica, Vol. 16No. 3, pp. 297-334.
543
Shopping centrecustomer service
Cronin, Jr, J.J. and Taylor, S.A. (1992), “Measuring service quality: a reexamination andextension”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 56, pp. 55-68.
Cronin, Jr, J.J., Bardy, M.K. and Hult, G.T.M. (2000), “Assessing the effects of quality, value, andcustomer satisfaction on consumer behavioural intentions in service environments”,Journal of Retailing, Vol. 76 No. 2, pp. 193-218.
Dabholkar, P.A., Thorpe, D.I. and Rentz, J.O. (1996), “A measure of service quality for retail stores:scale development and validation”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 24No. 1, pp 3-16.
de Winter, J.C.F., Dodou, D. and Wieringa, P.A. (2009), “Exploratory factor analysis with smallsample sizes”, Multivariate Behavioral Research, Vol. 44 No. 2, pp. 147-181.
Dick, A. and Basu, K. (1994), “Customer loyalty: toward an integrated conceptual framework”,Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 99-113.
Eklof, J. and Westlund, A.H. (2002), “The Pan European customer satisfaction index program”,Total Quality Management, Vol. 13 No. 8, pp. 1099-1106.
Erevelles, S. and Leavitt, C. (1992), “A comparison of current models of consumer satisfaction/dissatisfaction”, Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and ComplainingBehavior, Vol. 5 No. 10, pp. 104-114.
Feinberg, R.A., Kim, I., Hokama, L., de Ruyter, K. and Keen, C. (2000), “Operational determinantsof caller satisfaction in the call center”, International Journal of Service IndustryManagement, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 131-141.
Finn, A. and Louviere, J. (1996), “Shopping center image, consideration, and choice: anchor storecontribution”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 35 No. 3, pp. 241-251.
Fornell, C. (1992), “A national customer satisfaction barometer: the Swedish experience”, Journalof Marketing, Vol. 56 No. 1, pp. 6-21.
Fornell, C., Johnson, M.D., Anderson, E.W., Cha, J. and Bryant, B.E. (1996), “The Americancustomer satisfaction index: nature, purpose, and findings”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 60No. 4, pp. 7-18.
Gentry, J.W. and Burns, A. (1978), “How important are evaluative criteria in shopping centerpatronage”, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 53 No. 4, pp. 73-86.
Grigaliunaite, V. and Pileliene, L. (2013), “Customer satisfaction with catering services inLithuania”, Regional Formation and Development Studies, No. 11, pp. 75-87.
Grigoroudis, E. and Siskos, Y. (2004), “A survey of customer satisfaction barometers: someresults from the transportation-communications sector”, European Journal of OperationalResearch, Vol. 152 No. 2, pp. 334-353.
Gronroos, C. (1995), “Relationship marketing: the strategy continuum”, Journal of the Academy ofMarketing Science, Vol. 23 No. 4, pp. 252-254.
Guilford, J.P. (1954), Psychometric Methods, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.
Hair, J.F. Jr, Anderson, R.E., Tatham, R.L. and Black, W.C. (1995), Multivariate Data Analysis,Prentice Hall, New Jersey, NJ.
Hair, J.F. Jr, Black, W.C., Babin, B.J. and Anderson, R.E. (2010), Multivariate Data Analysis,Prentice Hall, New Jersey, NJ.
Hallowel, R. (1996), “The relationships of customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, andprofitability: an empirical study”, International Journal of Service Industry Management,Vol. 7 No. 4, pp. 27-42.
Han, H., Kimb, Y. and Kima, E. (2011), “Cognitive, affective, conative, and action loyalty:testing the impact of inertia”, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Vol. 30No. 1, pp. 1108-1119.
544
MIP32,4
Harris, L.C. and Goode, M.M.H. (2004), “The four levels of loyalty and pivotal role of trust: astudy of online service dynamics”, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 80 No. 2, pp. 139-158.
Hartmann, P. and Ibanez, V.A. (2007), “Managing customer loyalty in liberalized residential energymarkets: the impact of energy branding”, Energy Policy, Vol. 35 No. 4, pp. 2661-2672.
Haynes, J. and Talpade, S. (1996), “Does entertainment draw shoppers? The effects ofentertainment centres on shopping behaviour in malls”, Journal of Shopping CentreResearch, Vol. 3 No. 2, pp. 29-48.
Heskett, J.L., Jones, T.O., Loveman, G.W., Sasser, W.E.J. and Schlesinger, L.A. (1994), “Putting theservice-profit chain to work”, Harward Business Review, Vol. 72 No. 2, pp. 164-170.
Holbrook, M. and Batra, R. (1987), “Assessing the role of emotions as mediators of consumerresponses to advertising”, The Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 404-420.
Homburg, C. and Furst, A. (2005), “How organizational complaint handling drives customerloyalty: an analysis of the mechanistic and the organic approach”, Journal of Marketing,Vol. 69 No. 3, pp. 95-107.
Homburg, C., Muller, M. and Klarmann, M. (2011), “When should the customer really be king?On the optimum level of salesperson customer orientation in sales encounters”, Journal ofMarketing, Vol. 75 No. 2, pp. 55-74.
Homburg, C. and Rudolph, B. (2001), “Customer satisfaction in industrial markets: dimensionaland multiple role issues”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 52 No. 1, pp. 15-33.
Huang, J., Wang, X. and Chen, R. (2011), “Regional differences in customer satisfaction in China”,Social Behavior and Personality, Vol. 39 No. 10, pp. 1403-1412.
Hui, M.K. and Bateson, J.E.G. (1991), “Perceived control and the effects of crowding and consumerchoice on the service experience”, The Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 18 No. 2,pp. 174-184.
Innis, D.E. and La Londe, B.J. (1994), “Customer service: the key to customer satisfaction,customer loyalty, and market share”, Journal of Business Logistics, Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 1-28.
Johnson, M.D. and Fornell, C. (1991), “A framework for comparing customer satisfaction acrossindividuals and product categories”, Journal of Economic Psychology, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 267-286.
Johnson, M.D., Herrmann, A. and Gustafsson, A. (2002), “Comparing customer satisfaction acrossindustries and countries”, Journal of Economic Psychology, Vol. 23 No. 6, pp. 749-769.
Johnson, M.D., Gustafsson, A., Andreassen, T.W., Lervik, L. and Cha, J. (2001), “The evolution andfuture of national customer satisfaction indix models”, Journal of Economic Psychology,Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 217-245.
Kaiser, H.F. (1958), “The varimax criterion for analytic rotation in factor analysis”, Psychometrika,Vol. 23 No. 3, pp. 187-200.
Karjaluoto, H., Jayawardhena, C., Leppaniemi, M. and Pihlstrom, M. (2012), “How value and trustinfluence loyalty in wireless telecommunications industry”, Telecommunications Policy,Vol. 36 No. 8, pp. 636-649.
Kopalle, P.K., Lehmann, D.R. and Farley, J.U. (2010), “Consumer expectations and culture: theeffect of belief in Karma in India”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 37 No. 2, pp. 251-263.
Kristensen, K., Martensen, A. and Gronholdt, L. (1999), “Measuring the impact of buying behaviouron customer satisfaction”, Total Quality Management, Vol. 10 Nos 4-5, pp. 602-614.
Kumar, V., Pozza, I.D. and Ganesh, J. (2013), “Revisiting the satisfaction – loyalty relationship:empirical generalizations and directions for future research”, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 89No. 3, pp. 246-262.
Kursunluoglu, E. (2011), “Customer service effects on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty:a field research in shopping centers in Izmir city – Turkey”, International Journal ofBusiness and Social Science, Vol. 2 No. 17, pp. 52-59.
545
Shopping centrecustomer service
Lai-Ming Tam, J. (2012), “The moderating role of perceived risk in loyalty intentions: an investigationin a service context”, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, Vol. 30 No. 1, pp. 33-52.
Levy, M. and Weitz, B.A. (2007), Retailing Management, McGraw Hill, New York, NY.
Lusch, R.F., Dunne, P.M. and Carver, J.R. (2011), Introduction to Retailing, Cengage Learning,Ohio, OH.
MacCallum, R.C., Widaman, K.F., Zhang, S. and Hong, S. (1999), “Sample size in factor analysis”,Psychological Methods, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp. 84-99.
Mandan, M., Hossein, S. and Furuzandeh, A. (2013), “Investigating the impact of advertising oncustomers’ behavioral intentions”, Business and Economic Research, Vol. 3 No. 1.
Mangnale, V.S. and Chavan, J. (2012), “Measuring customer satisfaction in Indian bankingindustry”, Indian Streams Research Journal, Vol. 2 No. 10.
Martensen, A., Gronholdt, L. and Kristensen, K. (2000), “The drivers of customer satisfactionand loyalty: cross-industry findings from Denmark”, Total Quality Management, Vol. 11Nos 4-6, pp. 544-553.
Martinez, P. and Rodriguez del Bosque, I. (2013), “CSR and customer loyalty: the roles of trust,customer identification with the company and satisfaction”, International Journal ofHospitality Management, Vol. 35, pp. 89-99.
Martinez-Ruiz, M.P., Jimenez-Zarco, A.I. and Cascio, R. (2011), “Assessing the maximum levelof customer satisfaction in grocery stores: a comparison between Spain and the USA”,International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management, Vol. 39 No. 7, pp. 504-521.
Meyer, A. and Dornach, F. (1996), The German Customer Barometer: Quality and Satisfaction-Yearbook of Customer Satisfaction in German, German Marketing Association andGerman Post AG, Dusseldorf.
Michon, R., Chebat, J.C. and Turley, L.W. (2005), “Mall atmospherics: the interaction effects onshopping behaviour”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 58 No. 5, pp. 576-583.
Milliman, R.E. (1986), “The influence of background music on the behaviour of restaurantpatrons”, The Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 286-289.
Miranda, M.J., Konya, L. and Havrila, I. (2005), “Shoppers’ satisfaction levels are not the only keyto store loyalty”, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, Vol. 23 No. 2, pp. 220-232.
Naser, K., Jamal, A. and Al-Khatib, K. (1999), “Islamic banking: a study of customer satisfaction andpreferences in Jordan”, International Journal of Bank Marketing, Vol. 17 No. 3, pp. 135-150.
Nijssen, E., Singh, J., Sirdeshmukh, D. and HolzmOeller, H. (2003), “Investigating industry contexteffects in consumer-firm relationships: preliminary results from a dispositional approach”,Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 31 No. 1, pp. 46-60.
Oliver, R.L. (1977), “Effect of expectation and disconfirmation on post exposure product evaluations:an alternative interpretation”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 62 No. 4, pp. 480-486.
Oliver, R.L. (1981), “Measurement and evaluation of satisfaction processes in retail settings”,Journal of Retailing, Vol. 57, pp. 25-48.
Oliver, R.L. (1997), Satisfaction: A Behavioural Perspective on the Consumer, McGraw Hill,New York, NY.
Oliver, R.L. (1999), “Whence consumer loyalty?”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 63 No. 4, pp. 33-44.
Oliver, R.L., Rust, R.T. and Varki, S. (1997), “Customer delight: foundations, findings, andmanagerial insights”, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 73 No. 3, pp. 311-336.
O’Neill, M. and Palmer, A. (2004), “Cognitive dissonance and the stability of service qualityperceptions”, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 18 No. 6, pp. 433-449.
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L. (1985), “A conceptual model of service quality andits implications for future research”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 49 No. 4, pp. 41-50.
546
MIP32,4
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L.L. (1988), “SERVQUAL: a multiple item scale formeasuring consumer perceptions of service quality”, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 64 No. 1, pp. 12-40.
Pizam, A. and ElIis, T. (1999), “Customer satisfaction and its measurement in hospitalityenterprises”, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 11 No. 7,pp. 326-339.
Poria, Y., Reichel, A. and Brandt, Y. (2009), “The flight experiences of people with disabilities: anexploratory study”, Journal of Travel Research, Vol. 49 No. 2, pp. 216-227.
Prabhaker, P.R., Sheehan, M.J. and Coppett, J.I. (1997), “The power of technology in businessselling: call centers”, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, Vol. 12 Nos 3/4,pp. 222-235.
Pruyn, A. and Smidts, A. (1998), “Effects of waiting on the satisfaction with the service: beyondobjective time measures”, International Journal of Research in Marketing, Vol. 15 No. 4,pp. 321-334.
Rod, M., Ashill, N.J., Shao, J. and Carruthers, J. (2009), “An examination of the relationshipbetween service quality dimensions, overall internet banking service quality and customersatisfaction: a New Zealand study”, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, Vol. 27 No. 1,pp. 103-126.
Rowley, J. (2005), “The four Cs of customer loyalty”, Marketing Intelligence and Planning, Vol. 23No. 6, pp. 574-581.
Rust, R.T. and Zahorik, A.J. (1993), “Customer satisfaction, customer retention, and marketshare”, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 69 No. 2, pp. 193-215.
Rysman, M. (2009), “Consumer payment choice: measurement topics”, The Changing RetailPayments: Landscape: What Role for Central Banks? Proceedings of the InternationalConference Held at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Kansas City, MO, November9-10, pp. 61-81.
Scarcelli, J. (2007), “Clean restaurant restrooms: do they indicate a clean kitchen?”, publishedmasters thesis, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN.
Shaharudin, M.R., Yusof, K.M.M., Elias, S.J. and Mansor, S.W. (2009), “Factors affecting customersatisfaction in after-sales service of Malaysian electronic business market”, CanadianSocial Science, Vol. 5 No. 6, pp. 10-18.
Sirdeshmukh, D., Singh, J. and Sabol, B. (2002), “Consumer trust, value, and loyalty in relationalexchanges”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 66 No. 1, pp. 15-37.
Siu, N.Y.M. and Cheung, J.T. (2001), “A measure of retail service quality”, Marketing Intelligenceand Planning, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 88-96.
Sivadas, E. and Baker-Prewitt, J.L. (2000), “An examination of the relationship between servicequality, customer satisfaction, and store loyalty”, International Journal of Retail andDistribution Management, Vol. 28 No. 2, pp. 73-82.
Spreng, R.A., MacKenzie, S.B. and Olshavsky, R.W. (1996), “A reexamination of the determinantsof consumer satisfaction”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 60 No. 3, pp. 15-32.
Storbacka, K., Strandvik, T. and Gronroos, C. (1994), “Managing customer relationships forprofit: the dynamics of relationship quality”, International Journal of Service IndustryManagement, Vol. 5 No. 5, pp. 21-38.
Swinyard, W.R. (1993), “The effects of mood, involvement, and quality of store experience onshopping intentions”, The Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 20 No. 2, pp. 271-280.
Tabachnick, B.G. and Fidell, L.S. (2007), Using Multivariate Statistics, Pearson Education,Boston, MA.
Tse, D.K., Nicosia, F.M. and Wilton, P.C. (1990), “Consumer satisfaction as a process”, Psychologyand Marketing, Vol. 7 No. 3, pp. 177-193.
547
Shopping centrecustomer service
Timothy, C. and Stephen, B. (2011), “Transformational teams and their impact on customersatisfaction at one firm”, Advances in Management, Vol. 4 No. 6, pp. 32-35.
Turkyılmaz, A. and Ozkan, C. (2007), “Development of a customer satisfaction index model: anapplication to the Turkish mobile phone sector”, Industrial Management and DataSystems, Vol. 107 No. 5, pp. 672-687.
Van der Waerden, P., Borgers, A. and Timmermans, H. (1998), “The impact of the parkingsituation in shopping centers on store choice behaviour”, GeoJournal, Vol. 45 No. 4,pp. 309-315.
Weiner, S.E. (1999), “Electronic payments in the US economy: an overview”, EconomicReview-Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Vol. 84 No. 4, pp. 53-64.
Williams, B., Brown, T. and Andrys, O. (2012), “Exploratory factor analysis: a five-step guide fornovices”, Australasian Journal of Paramedicine, Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 1-13.
Wong, A. and Sohal, A. (2003), “Service quality and customer loyalty perspectives on two levelsof retail relationships”, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 17 No. 5, pp. 495-513.
Zaim, S., Turkylmaz, A., Tarim, M., Ucar, B. and Akkas, O. (2010), “Measuring customersatisfaction in Turk Telekom Company using structural equation modelling technique”,Journal of Global Strategic Management, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp. 89-98.
Corresponding authorAssistant Professor Emel Kursunluoglu can be contacted at: [email protected]
To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: [email protected] visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints
