THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SERVICE QUALITY AND CUSTOMER
SATISFACTION: A CASE STUDY OF TGL EXPRESS SDN. BHD.
LAU JIA LI
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA
♦
CATATAN: * Potong yang tidak berkenaan. ** Jika tesis ini SULIT atau TERHAD, sila lampirkan surat daripada pihak berkuasa/organisasi berkenaan dengan menyatakan sekali sebab dan tempoh tesis ini perlu dikelaskan sebagai SULIT atau TERHAD.
Tesis dimaksudkan sebagai tesis bagi Ijazah Doktor Falsafah dan Sarjana secara
penyelidikan, atau disertasi bagai pengajian secara kerja kursus dan penyelidikan, atau Laporan Projek Sarjana Muda (PSM).
BORANG PENGESAHAN STATUS TESIS
JUDUL: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SERVICE QUALITY AND
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION: A CASE STUDY OF TGL
EXPRESS SDN. BHD. SESI PENGAJIAN: 2009/2010
Saya LAU JIA LI
(HURUF BESAR)
mengaku membenarkan tesis (PSM/Sarjana/Doktor Falsafah)* ini disimpan di Perpustakaan
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia dengan syarat-syarat kegunaan seperti berikut:
1. Tesis adalah hakmilik Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
2. Perpustakaan Universiti Teknologi Malysia dibenarkan membuat salinan untuk tujuan
pengajian sahaja.
3. Perpustakaan dibenarkan membuat salinan tesis ini sebagai bahan pertukaran antara institusi pengajian tinggi.
4. **Sila tandakan ()
(Mengandungi maklumat yang berdarjah keselamatan atau
kepentingan Malaysia seperti yang termaktub di dalam
AKTA RAHSIA RASMI 1972)
(Mengandungi maklumat TERHAD yang telah ditentukan
oleh organisasi/badan di mana penyelidikan dijalankan)
Disahkan oleh
__________________________ ___________________________
(TANDATANGAN PENULIS) (TANDATANGAN PENYELIA)
SULIT
TERHAD
TIDAK TERHAD
Alamat Tetap: No.22, JLN KILANG KECIL,
BKT JENUN, 06720,
PENDANG, KEDAH.
Tarikh: 20 April 2010
DR. AHMAD BIN JUSOH
Nama Penyelia
Tarikh: 20 April 2010
“I hereby declare that I have read this thesis and in my opinion this thesis is
sufficient in terms of scope and quality for the award of Bachelor Degree in
Management (Technology)”.
Signature : ………………………..
Name : DR AHMAD BIN JUSOH
Date : 20 APRIL 2010
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SERVICE QUALITY AND CUSTOMER
SATISFACTION: A CASE STUDY OF TGL EXPRESS SDN. BHD.
LAU JIA LI
This report is proposed
To fulfill the requirement of
Bachelor of Management (Technology) Conferment
The Faculty of Management and Human Resources Development
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
APRIL 2010
ii
I declare that this thesis entitled “ The Relationship Between Service Quality and
Customer Satisfaction: A Case Study of TGL Express Sdn. Bhd.” Is the result of my
own research except as cited in the references. The thesis has not been acepted for
my degree and is not concurrently submitted in candidature of any other degree.
Signature : ______________________
Name : LAU JIA LI
Date : 14 April 2010
iii
This research is especially to my beloved mother and father and friends for their kindness
and support and everything they’ve done for me…
Thanks…
iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude towards my
supervisor, Dr. Ahmad bin Jusoh, for his thorough guidance throughout the process
of completing this research. He had offered advices and explanation that had helped
me better understand the topic, without which it will be impossible to complete the
research.
Besides that, I would like to thank Ms. Lee Siew Im, secretary of TGL
Express Sdn. Bhd. (TGL) and all the staffs. They have been providing me with a lot
of information and feedback to enable me to successfully complete my research. For
instance, they have been helping me in distributing the questionnaires to their
customers.
I would also like to thank all my friends and seniors who had helped me in
providing information, care and support, especially Lee Lip Voon, who have been
providing useful and inspirational ideas regarding the research. Without them, it will
difficult to fulfill all the objectives of the research within the given period of time.
Last, I would like to thank to my parents and siblings who was constantly
being caring, understanding and supportive of my efforts throughout the duration of
the research. I would also like to express my appreciation for the financial support
that my family have provided, without which the research would not be possible.
Thank you.
v
ABSTRACT
In the fast-paced and highly competitive market, service quality and customer
satisfaction play an important role in determining success of an organization. Many
companies or industries, especially the service-based organizations, are paying
attention in service quality and customer satisfaction in order to obtain competitive
advantages. This because the performance of a service-based company is based
solely through their ability to provide good service to their customers in orders to
satisfy their needs. This research will be carried out on TGL Express Sdn. Bhd.
(TGL), which is a truck freight brokering company. The research will measure the
service quality of TGL using SERVQUAL instrument, the customer satisfaction and
also examine the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction of
TGL. A total of 80 sets of questionnaires were distributed randomly to the customers
of TGL and the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) was used to
process the data. Based on the SERVQUAL instrument, the service quality (P-E)
will be obtained from the difference between the customers’ perception (P) and
expectation (E) (Parasuraman et al., 1985). From the data analysis it was found that
the service quality was low based on the SERVQUAL model while the customer
satisfaction was average. The Spearman correlation is used to test the relationship
between service quality and customer satisfaction and the results yield that there is
no relationship between the TGL’s service quality and their customers’ satisfaction.
vi
ABSTRAK
Dalam pasaran yang bersaing pantas dan kuat ini, kualiti perkhidmatan dan
kepuasan pelanggan memainkan peranan yang penting bagi menentukan kejayaan
sesuatu organisasi. Semakin banyak syarikat dan industri-industri terutamanya
syarikat yang berdasarkan perkhidmatan telah mengambil pehatian ke atas kualiti
perkhidmatan dan kepuasan pelanggan untuk tujuan memenangi kelebihan
kompetitif. Ini adalah kerana prestasi sesuatu syarikat yang berdasarkan
perkhidmatan hanya bergantung kepada kebolehan syarikat tersebut memberikan
perkidmatan yang baik demi mencapai permintaan pelanggan. Kajian ini
ditumpukan kepada TGL Express Sdn. Bhd. (TGL) yang menawarkan perkhidmatan
pembrokeran kargo trak. Kajian ini menguji kualiti perkhidmatan TGL dengan
menggunakan instrumen SERVQUAL, tahap kepuasan pelanggan, dan juga tentang
hubungan di antara kualiti perkhidmatan dengan kepuasan pelanggan TGL. Sejumah
80 set soal selidik diagihkan secara rawak kepada pelanggan-pelanggan TGL dan
Statistical Package for the Social Science Version (SPSS) digunakan untuk
menganalisa data. Berdasarkan intrumen SERVQUAL, kualiti perkhidmatan (P-E)
akan diperolehi daripada perbezaan di antara tanggapan (P) dan jangkaan (E)
pelanggan-pelanggan tersebut (Parasuraman et al., 1985). Berdasarkan analisa data
kajian, kita mendapati bahawa kualiti perkhidmatan adalah dalam tahap rendah
berdasarkan model SERVQUAL, manakala tahap kepuasan pelanggan berada di
tahap sederhana. Korelasi Spearman digunakan untuk menguji hubungan di antara
kualiti perkhidmatan dengan kepuasan pelanggandan hasil kajian menyatakan
bahawa tidak terdapat hubungan di antara kualiti perkhidmatan dan tahap kepuasan
pelanggan TGL.
vii
TABLES OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER TITLE PAGE
TITLE OF RESEARCH i
DECLARATION ii
DEDICATION iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv
ABSTRACT v
ABSTRAK vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS vii
LIST OF TABLES xi
LIST OF FIGURES xiv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xv
LIST OF APPENDICES xvi
1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Company Background 2
1.3 Problem Statement 3
1.4 Purpose 4
1.5 Objectives 5
1.6 Scope 5
1.7 Research Limitations 5
1.8 Significance of the Study 6
viii
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction 8
2.2 Definition 8
2.2.1 Quality 8
2.2.2 Service 9
2.2.3 Service Quality 10
2.2.4 Customer Satisfaction 11
2.2.5 Expectation 11
2.2.6 Perception 12
2.3 Quality Dimensions 13
2.4 Difference Between SERVQUAL and
SERVPERF 18
2.5 SERVQUAL 19
2.5.1 Selection of Service Quality
Measurement Model 19
2.5.2 SERVQUAL Instrument 20
2.6 Customer Satisfaction Measurement 23
2.7 Previous Studies on Service Quality based
on SERVQUAL Instrument 26
3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction 29
3.2 Research Design 29
3.3 Conceptual Framework 31
3.4 Data Collection Method 31
3.4.1 Primary data 32
3.5 Research Instrument 32
3.5.1 Section A: Demographic Data 34
3.5.2 Section B: Customer’s Expectation
and Perception 34
3.5.3 Section C: Customer Satisfaction 35
ix
3.6 Population and Sampling 36
3.7 Data Analysis 37
3.7.1 Descriptive Analysis 37
3.7.2 Correlation Analysis 39
4 DATA ANALYSIS
4.1 Introduction 42
4.2 Demographic Data 42
4.2.1 Ethnic 43
4.2.2 Location 44
4.2.3 Period of Time being a Customer of
TGL 45
4.2.4 Frequency of Usage 46
4.3 Service Quality Perception 46
4.4 Customers’ Perception based on
SERVQUAL Five Dimensions 47
4.4.1 Customers’ Perception on
Tangibility 47
4.4.2 Customers’ Perception on
Reliability 48
4.4.3 Customers’ Perception on
Responsiveness 49
4.4.4 Customers’ Perception on Assurance 49
4.4.5 Customers’ Perception on Empathy 50
4.5 Service Quality Expectation 51
4.6 Customers’ Expectation based on
SERVQUAL Five Dimensions 52
4.6.1 Customers’ Expectation on
Tangibility 52
4.6.2 Customers’ Expectation on
Reliability 53
4.6.3 Customers’ Expectation on 53
x
Responsiveness
4.6.4 Customers’ Expectation on
Assurance 54
4.6.5 Customers’ Expectation on Empathy 55
4.7 Level of Service Quality (Service Quality =
Perception – Expectation) 56
4.8 Customer Satisfaction 57
4.9 Relationship between Service Quality and
Customer Satisfaction based on the Service
provided by TGL
58
5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1 Introduction 60
5.2 Research Conclusion 60
5.2.1 Level of Service Quality 61
5.2.2 Customer Satisfaction 62
5.2.3 Relationship between Service
Quality and Customer Satisfaction 63
5.3 Recommendations 65
5.5 Future Researches 66
REFERENCES 68
APPENDICES 75
xi
LIST OF TABLES
TABLE NO. TITLE PAGE
2.1 Definition of Quality 9
2.2 Definition of Service 9
2.3 Definition of Service Quality 10
2.4 Definition of Customer Satisfaction 11
2.5 Definition of Expectation 12
2.6 Definition of Perception 12
2.7 Lehtinen and Lehtinen’s Three Dimensions 13
2.8 Gronroos’s Three Global Dimensions 14
2.9 Garvin’s Eight Dimensions 14
2.10 Chakrapani’s Three Dimensions 15
2.11 Service Quality Determinants Ten Dimensions 16
2.12 SERVQUAL’s Five Dimensions 17
3.1 22-Item List with SERVQUAL 5 Dimensions 34
3.2 7-Point Likert Scale of Customers Expectation and
Perception
35
3.3 7-Point Likert Scale of Customers Satisfaction 35
3.4 Determining Sample Size from a given Population 36
3.5 Method of Analysis for Objectives Research 37
3.6 Mean of Customers’ Expectation, Perception and
Satisfaction
38
3.7 Interpretation of Pearson or Spearman’s r Value 39
4.1 Frequency Distribution of Respondents based on
Ethnic
43
4.2 Frequency Distribution of Respondents based on 44
xii
Location
4.3 Frequency Distribution for Period of Time being a
Customer of TGL
45
4.4 Frequency Distribution of the Frequency of Usage
of TGL Service
46
4.5 Frequency Distribution for Customers Perception
on Overall Service Quality
47
4.6 Frequency Distribution for Customers Perception
on the Level of Service Quality Provided by TGL
Based on Tangibility
48
4.7 Frequency Distribution for Customers Perception
on the Level of Service Quality Provided by TGL
Based on Reliability
48
4.8 Frequency Distribution for Customers Perception
on the Level of Service Quality Provided by TGL
Based on Responsiveness
49
4.9 Frequency Distribution for Customers Perception
on the Level of Service Quality Provided by TGL
Based on Assurance
50
4.10 Frequency Distribution for Customers Perception
on the Level of Service Quality Provided by TGL
Based on Empathy
51
4.11 Frequency Distribution for Customers Expectation
on Overall Service Quality
51
4.12 Frequency Distribution for Customers Expectation
on the Level of Service Quality Provided by TGL
Based on Tangibility
52
4.13 Frequency Distribution for Customers Expectation
on the Level of Service Quality Provided by TGL
Based on Reliability
53
4.14 Frequency Distribution for Customers Expectation
on the Level of Service Quality Provided by TGL
Based on Responsiveness
54
xiii
4.15 Frequency Distribution for Customers Expectation
on the Level of Service Quality Provided by TGL
Based on Assurance
54
4.16 Frequency Distribution for Customers Expectation
on the Level of Service Quality Provided by TGL
Based on Empathy
55
4.17 Normality of Service Quality 56
4.18 The Difference of mean between the Customers’
Perception and Expectation based on SERVQUAL
Dimensions
56
4.19 Frequency Distribution of Customers’ Satisfaction
based on the Service Quality Provided by TGL
57
4.20 Normality of Customer Satisfaction 57
4.21 Relationship between Service Quality and
Customer Satisfaction of TGL
58
5.1 Summary of Service Quality Mean Values 61
5.2 Relationship between Customer Perception and
Customer Satisfaction of TGL
64
xiv
LIST OF FIGURES
FIGURE NO. TITLE PAGE
2.1 Gaps Model of Service Quality 21
2.2 The Measurement Model for American Customer
Satisfaction Index (ACSI)
25
3.1 Flow Chart of Research Process 30
3.2 Conceptual Framework 31
3.3 Items in Questionnaire 33
3.4 Positive Correlation 40
3.5 Negative Correlation 41
3.6 No Correlation 41
4.1 Ethnicity of the Respondents 44
4.2 Location of the Respondents 45
4.3 Scatter Diagram between Service Quality and
Customer Satisfaction
59
5.1 Scatter Diagram between Customer Perception and
Customer Satisfaction
65
xv
LIST OF ABBREVIATION
ACSI : American Customer Satisfaction Index
CSI : Customer Satisfaction Index
SPSS : Statistical Package for Social Science
TGL : TGL Express Sdn. Bhd.
UTM : Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
xvi
LIST OF APPENDICES
APPENDIX TITLE PAGE
A Questionnaire (Borang Soal Selidik) 75
B SPSS Data Analysis 83
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
Since the 1980s, the attainment of quality in products and services has
become a major concern in the business world (Parasuraman et al., 1985). It has a
strong impact on business performance, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty,
profitability and cost reduction (Seth et al., 2005). Today’s companies are trying to
maintain higher level of quality to meet the demands of the increasingly competitive
conditions (Solis et al., 1998). In order to maintain their position in the market,
companies are required to provide valuable services and at the same time with lower
cost. This will ensure customer satisfaction and thus give the company an advantage
over its competitors. Customer satisfaction along with service quality is important
concepts used by organizations as a means of creating customer loyalty and
competitive advantages (Iacobucci et al., 1995). In order to achieve customer
satisfaction, the organizations have to ensure that their service quality must exceed or
at least be at par with the customers’ expectation.
Customer satisfaction and service quality are important for service based
companies. Examples of organisations in the service industry include banks,
hospitals, hotels, courier services, recreational services, and so on. These
organisations do not gain profits from products but depend on providing certain kind
of service to their customers. The successes of these companies depend on the
quality of their service as well as the level of satisfaction of customers. According to
2
Parasuraman et al. (1985), “service quality is more difficult for the consumer to
evaluate than goods quality”, due to the fact that service quality is intangible,
heterogeneous and also that the production and consumption of many services are
inseparable. Thus, unlike product based companies, their customers’ satisfactions
depend on how well they are served while dealing with the company.
A truck freight broker connects the shippers that need to transport their goods,
with carriers that provide transport services (www.bluemarblelogistics.com). Their
business activities include contacting the shippers and carriers to coordinate the time
and service required to satisfy the needs of all parties involved in the transaction.
For example, when a shipper needs to transport a container from Kedah to Johor by a
certain time, the broker will have to provide a carrier which will be able to fulfill the
task reliably, and like wise, when a carrier needs goods to be transported, the broker
will make use of his contacts to look for shippers in need. All the processes involved
require experience and systematic planning in order to ensure that everything is
coordinated properly.
Since truck freight brokers need to constantly deal with their customers, their
service quality is very important to achieve customer satisfaction. They need to have
access to important information such as the availability of shipments, availability of
equipments, rates, market conditions, weather and so on so that they will be able to
effectively complete their tasks (Taff, 1979). The high competition in today’s
scenario is affecting their daily decisions (Solis et al., 1998), especially in terms of
quality. Thus, the quality of service is very important to ensure the level of customer
satisfaction, and a high level of customer satisfaction will ultimately increase the
level of success of the truck freight brokers.
1.2 Company Background
Mr Lau Hoh Chu has started his business in truck freight brokering from
home since year 2005 before he officially founded TGL Express Sdn. Bhd. (TGL) on
3
the 1st of July 2008. Services provided by TGL include connecting the shippers that
needs to transport their goods, with carriers that provide transport services and
connecting the carriers who have transport but do not have goods, with shippers.
Currently, TGL is a small and medium company with only six employees
involved in land trucking freight broker, which includes services utilising lorries,
trucks and containers. The services provided by TGL ranges throughout the
Peninsular Malaysia, and even into Thailand (until Bangkok) and Singapore.
1.3 Problem Statement
TGL’s customers are becoming more demanding in their services. Due to
fierce competition, customers nowadays always expect to receive high level of
quality in order to meet their demands. Since TGL is only a small and medium
company, the challenge is rather great for them to maintain their position among
their competitors.
According to Abu (2004), service-based companies used service quality to
gain advantageous competitive position among their rivals, and generally, good
service quality signifies good business performance. When facing stiff market
competition, it is better for companies to compete in terms of service quality rather
than in prices. For instance, when facing a stronger and more financially stable
competitor, it is very difficult for a company to offer lower prices; thus, the only way
to gain a competitive edge is by providing excellent service quality. Only then, these
small companies will be able to gain an advantage and survive in the industry.
Besides, customers play an important role in the market place. The
customers will only continue to obtain goods and services from the companies which
can meet their needs and also satisfaction. More over, if the company can provide
their customers better experience or performance that exceeds the customers’
expectation, more customers will be attracted. One of the main functions in
4
determining how successful a company is the level of customer satisfaction. In this
competitive environment, companies which do not offer customer-oriented services
will be at a disadvantage (Fečiková, 2004). The companies which intend to survive
must produce very good quality of goods or services to fulfill their customers’
expectation and satisfaction. In this matter, TGL is facing the same scenario
discussed above, where they need to keep up with the development of the
competition by constantly maintaining the satisfaction level of their customers.
Even though there are a lot of researches on the different dimensions to
measure service quality in the service sector (Abu, 2004), there is still lack of studies
regarding the service quality dimensions and improvement strategies for truck freight
brokers. TGL is a small and medium company that lacks a system or model to
control their service quality and their customer satisfaction. Thus, in order to remain
competitive in the trucking freight brokering market, TGL needs to direct their
service policy towards achieving their customers’ satisfaction. As a customer-based
company, TGL has to maintain its customer satisfaction in order to achieve
maximum profit.
1.4 Purpose
The purpose of this research is to know the level of service quality provided
by TGL, their customer satisfaction and the relationship between them. These
information can be used by TGL for their improvements. According to Zineldin
(2005), the level of success of a given company depends on the quality and value of
service provided. Therefore, it is important for the TGL management to improve
their service quality in order to attract more new customer, while maintaining
customer loyalty. Besides, this research also proposes the use of SERVQUAL
instrument of five dimensions which include tangibles, reliability, responsiveness,
assurance and empathy to help TGL to improve their service quality.
5
1.5 Objectives
The objectives of this study are:-
(a) To determine the level of service quality provided by TGL.
(b) To determine the level of satisfaction among its customers.
(c) To determine the relationship between service quality and customer
satisfaction.
1.6 Scope
This study will focus on the customers of TGL. It is important to determine
the service quality of TGL that will influence the customers’ satisfaction. The data
of this research will be collected from the customers of TGL by using questionnaires.
1.7 Research Limitations
Several research limitations are found during the study and they are listed in
the following section:
(a) The survey is done only among TGL customers, thus, the results are
generally only applicable for TGL only. Since the scope of the survey is
very small, the results cannot be used to picture the condition of the
whole truck freight brokering industry.
(b) The sample size is too small to be analyzed statistically. As a result, the
outcome of the test will not perfectly follow the normal statistical
conditions. Since TGL is a small-and-medium sized company, the
customer population is relatively small, and not sufficient to produce a
6
reliable result. For instance, the customer satisfaction value failed the
normality test due to the lack of sample size.
(c) The accuracy of the data might be doubtful. Since the questionnaire is
prepared only in English and Malay, a small number of respondents,
especially from Chinese and Indian background might not fully
understand each statement in the questionnaire. Inaccuracy of data in
these cases will often cause inconsistent results.
(d) The survey might not be suitable for the industry. This is due to the fact
that the truck freight brokering business in Malaysia is almost unheard of.
Even though there are some organisations which offer logistics services
such as EAE Group of Companies, there is still little research done on
small companies which deal only with trucking freight brokering such as
TGL. As a result, it is very difficult to obtain relevant information
regarding truck freight brokering companies in Malaysia, thus making it
impossible to customize the study according to local conditions.
1.8 Significance of the Study
The findings of this research will show the level of satisfaction on the service
quality among customers of TGL by using suitable instruments such as the
SERVQUAL. The finding of the research can help TGL to improve the service
quality. By understanding the customers’ perceptions and expectations, the level of
service quality can be improved consequently, the company will gain positive image
and become more competitive.
This research also provides useful information that can be implemented not
only by TGL, but also other companies of the same scale and type. Thus, in future,
companies can shape their service policy based on the findings of the study, in order
7
to achieve continuous advancement to meet the ever-growing demand of today’s
market.
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
This section discusses the literature review of the research. The main purpose
of the literature review is to take a critical look at the literature that already exists in
the area of research. Among topics that will be discussed in this section include the
definitions of important terms such as quality, service, service quality, customer
satisfaction, expectations and perceptions. The definitions are followed by quality
dimensions as described by various authors, selection of service quality measurement
models, SERVQUAL instrument, difference between the SERVQUAL and
SERVPERF, customer satisfaction measurement and finally, past studies related to
the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction.
2.2 Definition
2.2.1 Quality
There are many different views to defining quality. The definitions by
different authors are shown in Table 2.1. Thus, quality can be defined as a form of
overall measurement on whether the product or service has the ability to satisfy the
given needs.
9
Table 2.1: Definition of Quality
Authors Definition of Quality
Juran et al. (1974) Quality is “fitness for use.”
Crosby (1984) “Quality is conformance to requirements, not as goodness.”
Olshavsky (1985) Quality is a form of overall evaluation of a product, similar
in many ways to attitude.
Morgan and
Murgatroyd (1994)
Quality is “the totality of features of a product or service
that bears its ability to satisfy given needs.”
2.2.2 Service
Table 2.2: Definition of Service
Authors Definition of Service
Norman (1984) Service is “social act(s) which take place in direct contact
between the customer and representatives of service
company.”
Gronroos (1990) “A service is an activity or series of activities of a more or
less intangible nature that normally, but not necessarily,
take place in interaction between the customer and service
employees and/or physical resources or goods and/or
systems of the service provider, which are provided as
solutions to customer problems.”
Zeithaml and Bitner
(1996)
Services are defined as “deeds, processes and
performances.”
Kotler (1999) Service is “any benefit or activity that one party offers to
another, which is essentially intangible and does not result
in the ownership of anything. Its production may or may
not be tied to a physical product.”
10
Table 2.2 shows the definitions of service given by different authors. Service
can be defined as an intangible activity, which takes place in the interaction between
customers and the service provider in order to meet the customers‟ demands.
2.2.3 Service Quality
Service quality is an intangible concept that is difficult to conceptualize and
measure (Lee, 2007). Table 2.3 shows the definitions of service quality as given by
different authors. The authors have similar views that service quality is based on the
difference between the customer‟s expectation and the perceived actual delivered
performance of the service provider.
Table 2.3: Definition of Service Quality
Authors Definition of Service Quality
Lewis and Booms
(1983)
“Service quality is a measure of how well the service level
delivered matches the customer expectations. Delivering
quality service means conforming to customer expectations
on a consistent basis.”
Parasuraman et al.
(1985)
Service quality is the difference between the customer‟s
expectation and perceived actual delivered performance.
Bitner et al. (1994) “The consumer‟s overall impression of the relative inferiority
or superiority of the organisation and its services.”
Roest and Pieters‟
(1997)
A relativistic and cognitive discrepancy between experience-
based norms and performances concerning service benefits.
Edvardsson (1998) Service quality is the measure of effort provided by the
organisation in order to help their customers meet and satisfy
what they expect and need.
11
2.2.4 Customer Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction has been defined by a number of researchers as shown
in Table 2.4. Customer satisfaction will only occur after the customers have tried the
product or service. Customers will evaluate the quality of a product or service based
on their expectations or hopes before using the product or service. Generally, the
customer will be satisfied if the perceived quality exceeds or is at least at par with
their expectations.
Table 2.4: Definition of Customer Satisfaction
Authors Definition of Customer Satisfaction
Cadotte et al.
(1987)
The impression that is created after the evaluation of a used
product or service.
Tse and Wilton
(1988)
Customers make feedback to the evaluation of the difference
between the expectation and the final consequence after
expensing.
Zeithaml et al.
(1993)
The difference of predicted service (what a customer believes
will happen) and the perceived service (what a customer
believes actually did happen).
Peter and Olson
(1996)
“The degree to which a consumer‟s pre-purchase expectations
are fulfilled or surpassed by a product.”
Gunderson et
al. (1996)
“A guest‟s post-consumption judgment of a product or service
that can, in turn, be measured by assessing guest‟s evaluation of
a performance on specific attributes.”
2.2.5 Expectation
The definitions of expectation by different authors are shown in Table 2.5.
There are two different contexts in defining expectation, depending on whether it is
defined in the service quality literature or the customer satisfaction literature
(Parasuraman et al., 1988). Oliver (1981) defined expectation according to the
12
customer satisfaction literature while the definition provided by Parasuraman et al.
(1988) was based on the service quality literature. Loosely defined, the former refers
to the outcome which customers predict or forecast while the latter refers to the hope
or desires set by the customers themselves.
Table 2.5: Definition of Expectation
Authors Definition of Expectation
Oliver (1981) “Expectation is consumer-defined probabilities of the
occurrence of positive and negative events if the consumer
engages in some behavior.”
Parasuraman et al.
(1988)
Expectation is “desires or wants of consumers, i.e. what
they feel a service provider should offer rather than would
offer.”
Boulding et al.
(1993)
Expectation is “pre-trial beliefs” of a product or service.
2.2.6 Perception
Table 2.6 shows the definitions of perception by different authors. Perception
is the key factor used to measure the service quality, as supported by Parasuraman et
al. (1988), Cronin and Taylor (1992) and Boulding et al. (1993). In the context of
service quality, perception can be defined as the quality of service received based on
the customer‟s judgment.
Table 2.6: Definition of Perception
Authors Definition of Perceptions
Parasuraman et al.
(1988)
Perception of service quality is “the consumer‟s judgment
about an entity‟s overall excellence or superiority.”
Boulding et al. Perception of service quality can defined as “prior
13
(1993) expectations of what will and what should transpire during
the contact and the actual delivered service during the
service encounter.”
Robbins (2005) Perception is “a process by which individuals organize and
interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning
to their environment.”
2.3 Quality Dimensions
Since the development of service quality research in early 1980s, the
dimensionality of quality is distinguished by several of authors over the time. They
are as explained in the following:-
(a) Lehtinen and Lehtinen (1982) with three dimensions of service quality,
which are interactive, physical and corporate quality. The dimensions
will be defined in Table 2.7.
Table 2.7: Lehtinen and Lehtinen‟s Three Dimensions
Dimensions Definition
Interactive
Quality
Interactive quality is the interaction between contact
personnel and customers as well as between customers and
other customers.
Physical Quality Physical quality is the physical aspect of the service such as
equipment or building.
Corporate Quality Corporate quality is the quality that involves the company‟s
image or profile.
Source: Lehtinen and Lehtinen (1982)
14
(b) Gronroos (1984, 1988) developed three global dimensions, which are
functional quality, technical quality and corporate image. The
dimensions will be defined as the following in Table 2.8.
Table 2.8: Gronroos‟s Three Global Dimensions
Dimensions Definition
Technical Quality Technical quality is the quality of the service actually
delivered, whether the service performed correctly and
accurately.
Functional
Quality
Functional quality is the way which the service is delivered
such as friendliness, helpfulness, politeness and so on.
Corporate Image Corporate image is built by both technical and functional
quality and others factors like traditional marketing activities.
Sources: Gronroos (1984, 1988)
(c) Garvin (1987) list eight dimension of product quality; there are
performance, features, reliability, conformance, durability,
serviceability, aesthetics and perceived quality as Table 2.9.
Table 2.9: Garvin‟s Eight Dimensions
Dimensions Definitions
Performance Refers to the efficiency with which a product achieves its
intended purpose.
Features Attributes of a product that supplement a product‟s basic
performance.
Reliability The propensity for a product to perform consistently over its
useful design life.
Conformance Numerical dimensions for a product‟s performance, such as
capacity, speed, size, durability, colour, and so on.
Durability The degree to which a product tolerates stress or trauma
without failing.
Serviceability Resolution of problems and complaints, ease of repair.
15
Aesthetics Subjective sensory characteristics, such as taste, feel, sound,
look, and smell.
Perceived
Quality
The quality of a service or product based on the customer‟s
opinion. Customers imbue products and services with their
understanding of their goodness.
Source: Garvin (1987).
(d) Chakrapani (1998) propounded three dimensions of quality, which are
service or product, dependability or support and exceeding
expectation. Table 2.10 shows the definition of the dimensions.
Table 2.10: Chakrapani‟s Three Dimensions
Dimensions Definition
Service or
Product
Refers to what is offered to the customers and whether the
product or service meets the customer needs.
Dependability Dependability refers to the customer confidence in the
organisation‟s continued commitment to the product or
service being sold.
Exceeding
Expectation
Exceeding expectation is what provides depth to the service
or quality. The service offered exceeds customer expectations
and makes the customer „feel important‟.
Source: Chakrapani (1998)
(e) In their initial research, Parasuraman et al. (1985) developed ten
dimensions and labeled them as “service quality determinants”.
These ten dimensions are reliability, responsiveness, competence,
access, courtesy, communication, credibility, security, understanding
or knowing the customer and tangibles as shown in Table 2.11. After
few years, Parasuraman et al. (1988) refined the dimensions into only
five dimensions which are tangibles, reliability, responsiveness,
assurance and empathy. Table 2.12 shows the definitions of these five
dimensions.
16
Table 2.11: Service Quality Determinants‟ Ten Dimensions
Dimensions Definitions
Reliability Being reliable means that the organisation performs the
service right at the first time and that it honors its promises.
For example provide the correct service, keep the correct
record, delivery the service on time.
Responsiveness The willingness and readiness to provide service. For example
the organisation will always give response to their customer
as fast as possible like calling back customer quickly.
Competence “Possession of the required skills and knowledge to perform
the service.” For example, operational support personnel
need the relevant skill and knowledge about the operations.
Access The organisation can be easily approachable and contactable.
For example customer can easily get the service by using
telephone because the lines are not busy.
Courtesy Concerns proper behaviour like politeness, respect,
consideration and friendliness of personnel in face-to-face or
telephone contacts with the end customer.
Communication Refers to communicating with customers in a suitable
language when providing information, for instance when
explaining the service, costs, transaction processes and so on.
Credibility Good image which include trustworthiness, believability and
honesty, so that customers trust and believe with the service
they provide.
Security Freedom from risk, danger and doubt for example physical
safety, financial security and confidentiality.
Understanding/
knowing
Efforts to understand what their customers really needs, for
instance learning the customers‟ specific requirements.
Tangibles Physical evidence of the service such as tools to provide the
service or the appearance of the personnel.
Source: Parasuraman et al. (1985).
17
Table 2.12: SERVQUAL‟s Five Dimensions
Dimensions Definitions
Tangibles The appearance of physical facilities, equipment, appearance
of personnel, and communication materials.
Reliability The ability to dependably and accurately perform the
promised service.
Responsiveness The willingness to be helpful to customers and respond
quickly to their queries and requests.
Assurance The knowledge and courtesy of employees which enables
customers to trust in their ability to perform the promised
service.
Empathy The ability to provide customized or individualized attention
based on each customer‟s needs and requirements.
Source: Parasuraman et al. (1988).
The models mentioned above are developed based on different types of
companies. For instance, Garvin‟s eight dimensions and Chakrapani‟s three
dimensions takes into account the performance and quality of products, which are not
relevant for service-based companies. Thus, in order to evaluate the service quality
of a company, a few models can be used, namely the Lehtinen and Lehtinen‟s three
dimensions, Gronroos‟ three global dimensions, and also Parasuraman‟s models
explained above.
In addition to these four models, Cronin and Taylor (1992) have also
developed a model named SERVPERF in reaction to Parasuraman‟s SERVQUAL
model. The dimensions of SERVPERF are same as SERVQUAL, namely tangibles,
reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. The main difference is that, as
opposed to SERVQUAL model which compares the expectation of the customer
with the performance of the company, the SERVPERF considers only the
performance of the company.
18
2.4 Difference Between SERVQUAL and SERVPERF
Even though the SERVQUAL instrument has been widely used to measure
the service quality in many researches in the service sectors (Sachdev and Verma,
2004), some have expressed criticism towards this instrument. Cronin and Taylor
(1992) have developed a “performance-based” service quality measurement called
SERVPERF which measures the service quality based only on the customers‟
perception. It differs from the SERVQUAL instrument, which uses the gap between
the expectation and perception of the customer to measure the service quality.
Cronin and Taylor (1992) argued that their unweighted SERVPERF
instrument was better than weighted SERVQUAL instrument on measuring the
service quality. This is because the unweighted SERVPERF used only the
performance to measure the service quality, while the weighted SERVQUAL used
the gap between the customers‟ perception and expectation. Cronin and Taylor
(1992) also argued that the SERVPERF instrument is more consistent on reliability
and validity, and according to Lee (2007), this is supported by Babakus and Boiler
(1992), Babakus and Mangold (1992) and also Oliver (1993).
SERVQUAL and SERVPERF are always being compared to determine
which one of them is a better method to measure service quality in the service sector.
These instruments have their respective advantages and disadvantages. Generally, if
the study is based on the performance of service quality, SERVPERF instrument will
be more stable than the SERVQUAL instrument. However, if it is a multi-cultural
study, SERVQUAL instrument will be more accurate to measure the service quality
(Lee, 2007). This is because multi-cultural studies will involve samples of different
culture and thus varying expectations. Therefore, it is necessary to use the
SERVQUAL instrument to measure the performance by taking into account the
expectations of the samples.
19
2.5 SERVQUAL
2.5.1 Selection of Service Quality Measurement Model
As explained above, there are many different models that can be used to
measure a company‟s service quality, such as models developed by Lehtinen and
Lehtinen, Gronroos, Parasuraman, Cronin and Taylor and so on. In this study, the
SERVQUAL model will be used to determine the service quality of TGL Express
Sdn. Bhd. (TGL) as perceived by their customers.
SERVQUAL has been widely used by researchers in many different
industrial, commercial and non-profit settings like tyre retailing, dental services,
hotels, hospitality, banking, recreational services, hospitals and so on (Sachdev and
Verma, 2004). According to Nyeck et al. (2002), “SERVQUAL model remains the
most complete attempt to conceptualize and measure service quality.” SERVQUAL
is more suitable in cross-cultural studies which include the variance expectations in
each culture (Lee, 2007). Besides, SERVQUAL is a “multiple-item scale with good
reliability and validity” (Parasuraman et al., 1988), because the companies can
understand the expectations and perceptions of customers and they can improve it.
Parasuraman et al. (1994) also stated that the expectation in the SERVQUAL is
important in measuring the customer satisfaction.
There are also some criticisms about the SERVQUAL model. Cronin and
Taylor (1992) have stated that though the expectation-perception gap might be able
to be used to infer customers‟ disconfirmation, the actual perceptions are more
reliable than the calculated values. According to Buttle (1996), the SERVQUAL
model focused only on how the service is delivered rather than the outcomes of the
service encounter. In order to solve the problem, he suggested Gronroos‟s three
global dimensions where the technical quality will focus on what service is delivered
and functional quality will focus on how the service delivered.
Despite criticisms on the SERVQUAL model, it is still suitable for this study.
Baki et al. (2009) have used the SERVQUAL model in their study on logistic
20
services. Since TGL is a similar type of company, the SERVQUAL model can be
applied for this research. This research will also study on the relationship between
the service quality and customer satisfaction and according to Parasuraman et al.
(1988) SERVQUAL will provide the customers‟ perception and expectation to
measure service quality. Since customer satisfaction as defined by Zeithaml et al.
(1993) and Peter and Olson (1996) involve comparing the perceived performance
with the expectations of the customer, the SERVQUAL instrument can be used for
the purpose of this study.
2.5.2 SERVQUAL Instrument
Starting from the 1980s, only companies which are able to deliver high
quality service quality will have the chance to be successful (Parasuraman et al.,
1988). This situation leads to a lot of researchers studying on the measurement of
service quality. SERVQUAL is one of the most widely accepted methods of service
quality measurement (Parasuraman et al., 1988).
SERVQUAL instrument is developed by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry in
1988 to measure the service quality. SERVQUAL instrument is well known with its
22-item list and five dimensions model, which are tangibles, reliability,
responsiveness, assurance and empathy as the key dimensions or determinants of
service quality. Based on the five SERVQUAL dimensions, SERVQUAL is used to
measure the gap between the customers‟ expectation (E) and perception (P) based on
the disconfirmation model (whereby, SERVQUAL = P-E). The disconfirmation
model will show 3 types of result:
(a) Positive effect, which is a satisfying result (P>E);
(b) Negative effect, which is a dissatisfying result (E>P); and
(c) Zero effect, means do not shows satisfy or not satisfy (P=E).
21
Word of Mouth
Communications
Personal
Needs
Past
Experience
Expected
Service
Perceived
Service Customer
Company Service Delivery
(including pre- and
post-contact)
External
Communications
to Customers
Management Perception
of Customer
Expectations
Translation of
Perceptions into
Service Quality
Specifications
Gap 1
Gap 3
Gap 2
Gap 4
Gap 5
Besides that, the gap model which was developed by Parasuraman et al.
(1985) discussed about the gaps between customers‟ expectation and perception of
service quality can be identified in the Figure 2.1. There are:
Figure 2.1: Gaps Model of Service Quality
GAP 1 : The gap between the customer expectation and management
perception on the customers‟ expectation. The management might not
know what level is required to be perceived as high quality.
GAP 2: The gap between management perception and service quality
specifications. The service quality specification might not fully meet
the management‟s perception of the customers‟ expectation due to
reasons like resource constraints, market conditions and poor service
designs.
22
GAP 3: The gap between service quality specifications and service delivery.
The actual delivered service might not be as stated in the service
quality specifications as it depends largely on the employees‟
performances.
GAP 4: The gap between service delivery and external communication.
Media advertising and other forms of communications can affect
customer expectation. If a company promises more than they can
deliver, the customers‟ expectations will increase and thus, their
perception on the quality of the actual delivered service will be
reduced.
GAP 5: The gap between expected and perceived service. This is the
difference between the service expected by the customers and the
actual service that they received.
According to Parasuraman et al. (1988), SERVQUAL instrument will be
divided into two columns, the first used to measure the customers‟ expectation of the
research company and the second was used to measure the customers‟ perception.
Both the customers‟ expectation and perception will use seven-point scale ranging
from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). The overall service quality score
will be determine by using the mean score of the five dimensions. Lastly, the score
of expectations will be subtracted from the score of perceptions. The gap is positive
when the perception is greater than the expectation while the gap is negative when
the expectation is greater than the perception. If the gap is negative, it means that the
customers‟ satisfaction are not met because they expect more, so the company need
to further improve to reach the customers‟ needs.
23
2.6 Customer Satisfaction Measurement
Customer satisfaction is the key point to ensure the successes of the
organisations because only the organisations which are able to retain their customers
will be successful and gain profit. Thus measuring the level of customer satisfaction
is very important in order to be able to carry out improvements.
According to Fečiková (2004) the market research techniques that are used
to measure the customer satisfaction are as below:-
(a) Customer satisfaction survey methodologies;
(b) Focus group to study the customer satisfaction issue;
(c) Standardized packages for monitoring customer satisfaction; and
(d) Various types of computer software.
Hill et al. (2003) stated that “customer satisfaction is a measure on how the
organisation‟s „total product‟ performs in relation to a set of customer requirements.”
Hence, customer satisfaction measurement is very important for an organisation to
measure the level of their customers‟satisfaction. Organisations are willing to spend
a lot of money to improve the customer satisfaction management because the
quantitative measurement of customer satisfaction is very important to
comprehensively measure the effect of a product quality on the customer behavior
(Fečiková, 2004).
According to Strydom (2004), before the changing levels of customer
preferences and satisfaction, management can take early action to measure their
customer satisfaction, there are few methods of customer satisfaction measurement:-
(a) Complaint and suggestion system: Businesses should allow their
customers to give suggestions and make complaints. For example
companies can provide form, suggestion boxes or toll-free telephone
number for their customers to make complaint or suggestions. This
24
method will help the companies resolve their problems rapidly
(Strydom, 2004).
(b) Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI): CSI is a survey used to measure
the experiences on the quality of goods or service by the people who
have used it. For example, a detailed questionnaire will be sent out to
the customer and ask for the experiences with the seller. The replies
are tabulated and ranked from the best to the worst. CSI survey
should include the additional questions posed to measure the
customers‟ repurchase intention, this is very important because only
satisfied customers will repurchase the product or service (Strydom,
2004).
(c) Customer value analysis: The use of a customer information database
to make a forecast on the customers based on their purchase histories.
This method normally will use computerized, list information on
current and potential customers. The main records are identification
and personal data, product purchases, product usage and consumption
patterns (Strydom, 2004).
(d) American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI): ACSI (Figure 2.2) is a
cause-and-effect model used to measure the customer satisfaction
across the U.S economy. This method will link the drivers of
satisfaction (customer expectations, perceived quality and perceived
value) to customer satisfaction. Besides, customer satisfaction is also
linked to outcomes of satisfaction (customer complaints and customer
loyalty which is measured by price tolerance and customer retention)
(www.theacsi.org).
25
Figure 2.2: The Measurement Model for American Customer Satisfaction Index
(ACSI)
On the other hand, based on Fečiková‟s (2004) study, monitoring customer
satisfaction is also important for a company. The company needs to follow the
systematically manage and consider their actual condition. The company should:-
(i) Identify the customers by recognizing the internal and external
customers. Internal customers are the customers within the company
(employees) while the external customers are the customers which are
in the marketplace. Then, the critical dimension is that the company
needs to classify their customers according to their importance, such
as key customers, important customers, less important and so on.
(ii) Carry out preliminary study to determine the critical features of the
product, using it to understand customers‟ demands and obtaining
feedback from customers.
(iii) Design an effective questionnaire to achieve useful information.
(iv) Design the most suitable method for monitoring their customer
satisfaction, using “the right method for the right customer” which
means to provide a unique questionnaire for unique respondents.
Perceived
Quality
Customer
Expectations
Perceived
Value
Customer
Satisfaction
(ACSI)
Customer
Complaints
Customer
Loyalty
26
(v) Evaluate the questionnaire with the suitable statistical methods to
consider the four important factors which are level of importance of
customers, level of satisfaction, type of customer and type of method.
(vi) Ensure feedback.
Thus, customer satisfaction measurement provides the companies with
significant information for the modern management processes and also an early
warning signal for the future businesses (Edvardsson and Gutafson, 1999). It is
important to understand the level of satisfaction of the customers in order to carry out
improvements.
2.7 Previous Studies on Service Quality based on SERVQUAL Instrument
Kook‟s (2007) study was on Measuring Customer Satisfaction of Tesco
Stores (M) Sdn. Bhd. in Malacca. Through the analysis, there were six factors used
to measure the customer satisfaction in Tesco Malacca, namely product features,
personnel performances, service quality, environment, location and prices. The
finding of the research was that, the prices were the main factor affecting the
customer satisfaction, and then it was followed by the service quality, then product
features, environment and location. The finding of this research has shown that
service quality is important to measure the customer satisfaction. SERVQUAL
dimensions are used to measure the service quality and the dimension which satisfies
the customers most is empathy. The main factor is the operation time of Tesco,
because the operation time is convenient for their customers. However, the lack of
good and systematic complaint management system is one of the reasons that
customers were dissatisfied with the service quality. Thus, the service quality is an
important factor that may affect the customer satisfaction. If the service quality (like
complaint management system) increases, the customer satisfaction may also
increase.
27
Another study was done by So (2007) entitled “A Study of Service Quality
from the Perspective of Customers at Hong Leong Bank at Jln Wong Ah Fook, Johor
Bahru.” The objectives of the study are i) to determine the level of customers‟
expectation of the service provided by the bank, ii) to determine the level of
customers‟ satisfaction from the service provided by bank, iii) to determine the
quality of service provided by bank. The research was analyzed through the five
dimensions of SERVQUAL instrument, namely tangibles, reliability, responsiveness,
assurance and empathy. SERVQUAL instrument also included computing the
difference between the customers‟ ratings to pair their expectation and perception
statement. The findings have shown that the customers have very high expectation,
as well as perception on the service quality provided by the Hong Leong Bank at Jln
Wong Ah Fook. The SERVQUAL dimension that satisfied the customer most is the
dimension of tangibility. However, even if the customers‟ perception on service
quality is high, it is most likely lower than their expectation. This is because the
customers of Hong Leong Bank have higher expectations than what they perceive
they were getting at that time. They are not satisfied with the service quality, thus
Hong Leong Bank need to improve their service quality to meet their customers‟
expectation, in order to maintain or expand their customer base.
Samsudin‟s (2007) study was entitled “Kualiti Perkhidmatan Kaunter dengan
Kepuasan Pelanggan: Satu Kajian Kes di Majlis Bandaraya Melaka Bersejarah.”
Through the research, SERVQUAL instrument is used to measure the 5 dimensions
which are tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. Pearson
Analysis is used to analyze the relationship between the service quality and customer
satisfaction. Coefficient of correlation, r is used to find the strength between the
service quality and customer satisfaction. The closer the r value to number 1, the
stronger the relationship between the two variables. According to the findings, the r
values for the dimensions tangibility, reliability, assurance, responsiveness and
empathy is 0.913, 0.93, 0.902, 0.932 and 0.928 respectively. Based on the finding,
we know that the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction is
very high and strong because for all 5 dimensions, the coefficient of correlation, r is
very close to 1. This study also shows that the relationship between service quality
and customer satisfaction is very strong and is always affecting one another.
28
Zisis et al. (2009) conducted a research entitled “The Application of
Performance Measurement in the Service Quality Concept: The Case of a Greek
Service Organisation.” It is a case study on a Greek postal company to assess and
improve their service quality by applying performance measurement in service
quality concept. The researchers have used Parasuraman‟s SERVQUAL survey as a
tool to determine the level of performance of the company. The SERVQUAL survey
consist of two parts, 22-statements of what an excellent postal company should be
like and in the second part the same 22-items, but this time on what the company is
really practicing. The results of the study yields that the customers‟ perception
minus customers‟ expectation (P-E) value for dimensions responsiveness and
reliability is below zero, thus indicating that customers feel that the postal company‟s
service does not meet their expectations with respect to these dimensions and in
order to further improve, the company will have to focus on improving the
responsiveness and reliability.
Wang et al. (2004) carried out a study entitled “An Integrated Framework for
Service Quality, Customer Value, Satisfaction: Evidence from China‟s
Telecommunication Industry.” The study focused on the measurement model of
service quality in China‟s mobile communication market based on SERVQUAL
model. In addition, the authors have modified the SERVQUAL model to specifically
suit the industry attributes and local culture of China. Thus, their survey is designed
based on the five basic dimensions of SERVQUAL and also some added customized
dimensions such as network quality, customer value, customer satisfaction and so on.
This research yields SERVQUAL related results such as:-
(a) “Tangibles” affect service quality as well as customer value and customer
satisfaction.
(b) “Empathy” is not directly significant in customer satisfaction but contributes
in improving customer value, which then helps customers make their
purchasing decisions and indirectly increase customer satisfaction.
(c) “Reliability” is also a very important factor which contributes positively to
customer satisfaction.
CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
This section discusses the methodology of this research. The main purpose of
having a research methodology is to help the researcher to conduct the research in a
systematic way. Among topics that will be discussed in this section include the
research design, conceptual framework, data collection, research instrument,
population and sampling and finally, the data analysis method.
3.2 Research Design
The research design is important to help the researcher to understand the
whole process of the research. The researcher should follow the steps or procedures
as shown in Figure 3.1 to achieve the target of the research.
The first step of designing the research is to identify the problems which lead
to the need of carrying out the research. Then, the purpose and the objectives of the
research will be identified in order to understand the outcome that is expected from
the study. After that, the scope of study will be defined so that the research will be
not too extensive, followed by the limitations of this particular study at this particular
setting. Then, in the literature review, past researches will be studied to gain
30
Purpose and objectives
Scope and limitation
Problems statement
Start
Literature review
Data collection
Primary data
Sufficient data?
Data analysis
No
Yes
Conclusion and recommendation
Final report
End
background knowledge regarding matters related to the topic of research. The next
step is to collect the data which are then analyzed in order to provide the desired
results. The primary data for this research will be collected and, once sufficient, the
data will be analyzed and the conclusion as well as recommendations will be made
based on the findings from the data analysis.
Figure 3.1: Flow Chart of Research Process
31
3.3 Conceptual Framework
Figure 3.2 shows the conceptual framework of this research. This research
will focus only on the customers of TGL Express Sdn. Bhd. (TGL). The research is
designed to determine the service quality of TGL from their customers’ expectation
and perception by using five dimension of SERVQUAL which are tangibles,
reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy and to determine whether the
customers of TGL are satisfied with their service quality. From this measurement of
service quality, it will be possible to find out the relationship between the service
quality and customer satisfaction.
Figure 3.2: Conceptual Framework
3.4 Data Collection Methods
Data can be divided into two types, which are primary data and secondary
data. However, in this research, only primary data is collected to achieve the
objectives of the study.
Customers
Customers’
Expectation
Customers’
Perception
Customers’
Satisfaction
Service
Quality Gap
32
3.4.1 Primary Data
Primary data is the information that is collected by the researcher himself
from a specific project or study (Burns and Bush, 2003). Primary data is normally
collected by using quantitative research like surveys using questionnaires or
qualitative research through interviews or discussions. Quantitative measurement is
objective, and it always involves a very large number of respondents for the research.
Besides, it is statistically valid and is in the form of numbers for example percentages,
mean, mode, average and so on. Questionnaire is one of the method that mostly used
by researchers to obtain primary quantitative data. On the other hand, the qualitative
measurement is more subjective, and it involves a small number of respondents.
Qualitative data presents itself in the form of concepts, meanings, definitions,
characteristics, description and so on, as opposed to the quantitative data which are
mainly counts and measures of things,
Thus, in this study, the questionnaire is used as the method of survey to
obtain primary data from the customers of TGL. The use of questionnaire is selected
due to the fact that the method is flexible, inexpensive and quick to obtain results.
The survey can be conducted through few modes such as by using e-mail, telephone,
face to face meeting, and postal service and so on. E-mail and postal surveys will be
used in this research because the customers of TGL are from all over Peninsular
Malaysia.
3.5 Research Instrument
The research instrument used in a study must be able to accomplish or meet
the purpose and objectives of the study, and the most suitable instrument for this
research is the questionnaire. This is because surveys using questionnaire is
inexpensive and can be done quickly and flexibly. The questionnaire used in this
research is designed based on the SERVQUAL instrument which was developed by
33
Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry in 1988. The questionnaires are distributed to the
customers of TGL by using fax, e-mail, by post and also by hand.
The questionnaire is adapted from the SERVQUAL instrument. Each item is
evaluated by using the 7-point Likert scale. In addition, there will also be a few
questions to measure the customers’ level of satisfaction. These questions are used
to test whether the customers are satisfied with the service of TGL.
The questionnaire used bilingual i.e. English and Bahasa Malaysia, because
the customers of TGL are from various races and background. The questionnaire
consists of three sections namely Section A, Section B, and Section C as Figure 3.3.
Figure 3.3: Items in Questionnaire
Questionnaire
Section A
Demographic
Respondents
Section B
Customer’s
Expectation
Customer’s
Perception
Tangible Reliability Empathy
Responsiveness Assurance
Section C
Customer’s
Satisfaction
34
3.5.1 Section A: Demographic Data
This section aims to obtain demographic information of the customers such as
ethnic, location, frequency of usage and the period of time being a customer of TGL.
The demographic information is obtained solely to better understand our respondents,
and will not be used in the data analysis.
3.5.2 Section B: Customer’s Expectation and Perception
In this section, the respondents are requested to rate TGL’s service quality
based on their expectation and perception. There will be 22 questions (22-item list)
based on the SERVQUAL’s five dimensions as shown in Table 3.1.
Table 3.1: 22-Item List with SERVQUAL 5 Dimensions
Dimensions 22-Item List
Tangible 1-4
Reliability 5-9
Responsiveness 10-13
Assurance 14-17
Empathy 18-22
The level of customers’ expectation and perception will be rated using a 7-
point Likert scale which ranges from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree) as the
Table 3.2.
35
Table 3.2: 7-Point Likert Scale of Customers’ Expectation and Perception
Scales Level of Feedback
1 Strongly Disagree
2 Disagree
3 Slightly Disagree
4 Average
5 Slightly Agree
6 Agree
7 Strongly Agree
3.5.3 Section C: Customer Satisfaction
In this section, the customers are required to rate their satisfaction level on
certain areas of the company’s service quality in order to determine their overall
level of satisfaction on the quality of service provided by TGL. Like in the previous
sections, the rating is done using a 7-point Likert scale as in Table 3.3.
Table 3.3: 7-Point Likert Scale of Customer Satisfaction
Scales Level of Feedback
1 Strongly Dissatisfied
2 Dissatisfied
3 Slightly Dissatisfied
4 Average
5 Slightly Satisfied
6 Satisfied
7 Strongly Satisfied
36
3.6 Population and Sampling
Table 3.4: Determining Sample Size from a given Population
Note: “N” is population size
“S” is sample size.
Source: Krejcie and Morgan (1970)
Berenson et al. (2008) “a population consists of all items or individuals about
which you want to draw a conclusion.” It is made up of all members of the group on
which statistical inferences are to be made upon. According to Coldwell and Herbst
(2004), “a population is a group of individual persons, objects or items from which
samples are taken for measurement such as a population of presidents or professors,
books or students.” Thus the population of TGL’s customers refers to every single
company which had ever received service from the company. The current total
number of customers is approximately 100.
Berenson et al. (2008) said that “a sample is the portion of population
selected for analysis.” A sample is a subset of the population, therefore is definitely
smaller than the population. A set of sample is chosen from the population to
conduct statistical calculations in order to make inferences or extrapolations from the
sample to the populations. In order to get an unbiased and representative result,
random samples have to be selected. Based on Table 3.4, since the customer
37
population of TGL is at approximately 100, the suitable sample size will be 80
randomly chosen customers.
3.7 Data Analysis
After collecting the data using the questionnaires, the data will be analyzed,
processed and transformed into useful information. This piece of information is
expected to be able to meet all the objectives of the study, and from there, the
conclusion can be drawn. There are a lot of methods that can be used to analyze the
data, but in this research two types of data analysis will be used. They are the
descriptive analysis and correlation analysis. Analysis of the data will be carried out
by using the computer software, Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). The
SPSS is the most suitable because there is a big number of data to be analyzed. The
analysis method for each objective is shown in Table 3.5.
Table 3.5: Method of Analysis for Objectives Research
No Objectives Research Method of Analysis
1 To determine the level of service
quality provided by TGL.
- Descriptive Analysis:
Mean Score / Median Score
2 To determine the level of
satisfaction among its customers.
- Descriptive Analysis:
Mean Score / Median Score
3 To determine the relationship
between service quality and
customer satisfaction.
- Correlation Analysis:
Pearson / Spearman & Scatter
Diagram
3.7.1 Descriptive Analysis
According to Barenson et al. (2005), descriptive analysis “focuses on
collecting, summarizing, presenting and analyzing a set of data.” In this research, the
38
first and second objectives, which are to determine the level of service quality
provided by TGL and level of satisfaction among its customers respectively, were
done using mean or median values, depending on the normality of the data.
According to Downing and Clark (2003), the mean value is used to “calculate the
average of all the number” while median is “the halfway point of the data”. Leech et
al. (2005) on the other hand stated that mean is used when the data is normally
distributed or is considered a parametric statistic, while median is used when the data
is non-normal or non-parametric statistics.
Below is the equation to calculate the mean:
iX
Xn
Where, X = Mean
i
X = Score
n = Number of scores
As discussed in the research instrument, 7-point Likert scale will be used to
provide the range in customers’ expectation, perception and satisfaction. To
calculate the mean, 7-point Likert scale will be distributed into three levels as Table
3.6.
Table 3.6: Mean of Customers’ Expectation, Perception and Satisfaction
Mean Level
5.01-7.00 High
3.01-5.00 Average
1.00-3.00 Low
39
3.7.2 Correlation Analysis
According to Joseph et al. (2003), correlation analysis is a group of statistical
techniques used to measure the strength of the relationship (correlation) between two
variables. The correlation analysis will clearly explain the relationship between the
two variables. There are two types of correlation analysis that are common in data
analysis, namely the Pearson correlation and the Spearman correlation. According to
Morgan et al. (2001), Pearson correlation is suitable when both of the variables are
normally distributed, while Spearman correlation will be used when the data is non-
parametric or not normally distributed. The correlation is said to be significant if the
p-value is less than 0.05. For both methods, the range of correlation value is similar,
which is negative (-) 1 to positive (+) 1 (Morgan et al., 2001). Positive value means
that there is a direct relationship between the variables, while negative value means
that there is an inverse relationship. If the value is close to -1 or +1, it means that
there is a very strong relationship between the variables. On the other hand, if the
value of r is close to 0, it means that the variables are not related. Besides that, if the
correlation is not significant, where the p-value is greater than 0.05, there will be no
association or relationship between two variables (Morgan et al., 2001). The
interpretation of Pearson or Spearman’s r value is as shown in Table 3.7.
Table 3.7: Interpretation of Pearson or Spearman’s r Value
r Value (+/-) Correlation
0.81 – 1.00 Very Strong
0.61 – 0.80 Strong
0.41 – 0.60 Moderate
0.21 – 0.40 Weak
0.01 – 0.20 Very Weak
Source: Joseph et al. (2003)
Besides that, scatter diagram also used to clearly show the relationship
between two variables. According to Taylor (2008), “a scatter diagram, also known
as scatter plot, is a tool used to graphically illustrate the possible relationship
40
between two quantitative variables.” There are three variables that have to be
defined in the scatter diagram, namely the y-axis, the x-axis, and the plane. The y-
axis is used to plot the dependent variable while the x-axis is used to plot the
independent variable and the plane is used to plot the observations (Taylor, 2008).
Figure 3.4 shows a positive correlation between x-axis and y-axis, where the values
in the y-axis increases as the values in the x-axis increases. Figure 3.5 shows a
negative correlation between x-axis and y-axis, where as x-axis values increases, the
y-axis values decreases. Figure 3.6 shows a very scattered pattern in the plots
indicating that there are no relationship between the x-axis values and the y-axis
values.
Source: Taylor (2008)
Figure 3.4: Positive Correlation
X Axis Independent Variable
Y A
xis
Dep
en
den
t V
ari
ab
le
41
Source: Taylor (2008)
Figure 3.5: Negative Correlation
Source: Taylor (2008)
Figure 3.6: No Correlation
Y A
xis
Dep
en
den
t V
ari
ab
le
Y A
xis
Dep
en
den
t V
ari
ab
le
X Axis Independent Variable
X Axis Independent Variable
CHAPTER 4
DATA ANALYSIS
4.1 Introduction
This section discusses the data analysis of the research. The data analysis
was carried out using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software after
the questionnaires were collected from the customers of TGL Express Sdn.
Bhd.(TGL). A total of 80 sets of questionnaires were distributed but the staffs only
managed to retrieve 74 sets. Out of the 74 sets of questionnaires, only 70 sets were
considered in the analysis as the remaining 4 were thought to be outliers, where the
data were considered extreme and thus not suitable for analysis. The analysis of the
data will be aimed to meet the objectives proposed in Chapter 1, which are:
(a) To determine the level of service quality provided by TGL.
(b) To determine the level of satisfaction among its customers.
(c) To determine the relationship between service quality and customer
satisfaction.
4.2 Demographic Data
This section describes the demographic background of the respondents of
TGL. The demographic information of the respondents includes ethnic, location,
43
frequency of usage and the period of time being a customer of TGL. The
demographic data section provides us with basic background information about the
respondents.
4.2.1 Ethnic
The frequency and the percentage for the ethnic of respondents are shown as
in Table 4.1 and Figure 4.1.
Table 4.1: Frequency Distribution of Respondents based on Ethnic
Table 4.1 shows that majority of the respondents of TGL are Chinese, in
which they cover 55.7 percent of the total respondents. This is followed Malay,
covering 27.1 percent and Indian, covering 15.7 percent of the total respondents, and
lastly 1.4 percent of the respondents are from other ethnicity. These results show
that customers of TGL are mostly Chinese.
Ethnic Frequency Percent
Chinese 39 55.7
Malay 19 27.1
Indian 11 15.7
Others 1 1.4
Total 70 100.0
44
OthersIndianMalayChinese
Ethnic
40
30
20
10
01
11
39
19
Figure 4.1: Ethnicity of the Respondents
4.2.2 Location
The frequency and the percentage for the location of respondents are shown
as in Table 4.2 and Figure 4.2.
Table 4.2: Frequency Distribution of Respondents based on Location
Location Frequency Percent
Kedah 17 24.3
Selangor 13 18.6
Pulau Pinang 10 14.3
Pahang 6 8.5
Johor 5 7.1
Kuala Lumpur 4 5.7
Kelantan 4 5.7
Perak 4 5.7
Melaka 3 4.3
Perlis 2 2.9
Negeri Sembilan 2 2.9
Total 70 100.0
45
Even though TGL has customers from all over Peninsular Malaysia,
according to the Table 4.2, we can see that most number of customers is from Kedah,
accounting for 24.3 percent of the respondents. This is because since TGL is located
in Kedah, naturally the number of customers from Kedah will be greater. This is
followed by Selangor with 18.6 percent, Pulau Pinang, 14.3 percent, Pahang, 8.5
percent, 7.1 percent from Johor, 5.7 percent each from Kuala Lumpur, Kelantan and
Perak, Melaka with 4.3 percent, and finally Perlis and Negeri Sembilan with 2.9
percent.
223
4
4
4
5
6
10
13
17
Perlis
Negeri Sembilan
Melaka
Kelantan
Perak
Kuala Lumpur
Johor
Pahang
Pulau Pinang
Selangor
Kedah
Location
Figure 4.2: Location of the Respondents
4.2.3 Period of Time being a Customer of TGL
Table 4.3: Frequency Distribution for Period of Time being a Customer of TGL
Period of Time Frequency Percent
Below 1 year 4 5.7
1 year 3 4.3
2 years 11 15.7
3 years 9 12.9
4 years 43 61.4
Total 70 100.0
46
Based on the Table 4.3, most number of customers have been cooperating
with TGL for 4 years, in which these customers account for 61.4 percent of the total
respondents. This is followed by 15.7 percent cooperating for 2 years, 12.9 percent,
3 years, 5.7 percent new customers below 1 year cooperating period and lastly 4.3
percent who have cooperated for 1 year.
4.2.4 Frequency of Usage
Table 4.4: Frequency Distribution of the Frequency of Usage of TGL Service
Frequency of Usage Frequency Percent
Below 1 time 18 25.7
1-2 time(s) 25 35.7
3-4 times 19 27.1
5-6 times 6 8.6
7 times 2 2.9
Total 70 100.0
Table 4.4 above shows the respondents’ usage frequency of TGL service in
one week. Most number of respondents used the service between 1 to 2 time(s) a
week, accounting for 35.7 percent of the total respondents. This is followed by 27.1
percent of the total respondents who used the service 3 to 4 times a week and 25.7
percent of respondents who used the service less than 1 time a week. A small
number of respondents use TGL service 5 times or more, accounting for 8.6 percent
for those who use TGL service 5 to 6 times a week and lastly 2.9 percent for those
using it everyday in a week.
4.3 Service Quality Perception
According to Table 4.5, 64.3 percent from the total respondents feel that
TGL’s service quality is in high level, while the remaining 35.7 percent feel that the
47
service quality is of average level. Thus, it can be said that the customers of TGL
perceive their level of service quality as high. This supported by the overall mean of
the customer perception at 5.133 and the standard deviation of 0.273.
Table 4.5: Frequency Distribution for Customers Perception on Overall Service
Quality
Level Mean Score Frequency of Respondents Percent
Low 1.00 – 3.00 - -
Average 3.01 – 5.00 25 35.7
High 5.01 – 7.00 45 64.3
Total 70 100.0
Mean: 5.133
Standard Deviation: 0.273
4.4 Customers’ Perception based on the SERVQUAL Five Dimensions
This section discusses about the TGL’s customers perception on the level of
TGL’s service quality. The data analysis will based on the SERVQUAL five
dimensions which are tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy.
These dimensions will be used to evaluate the perception of TGL’s customers on the
service quality.
4.4.1 Customers’ Perception on Tangibility
According to Table 4.6, 58.6 percent of the total respondents perceive that the
tangibility of TGL’s service is in average level, while the remaining 41.4 percent
feels that it is in high level. Thus, the overall mean of the customer’s perception
based on the dimension tangibles is 5.036 and the standard deviation is 0.45. From
the data analysis, even though more customers feel that the level of TGL’s service
48
quality based on tangibility is average, the overall mean value still falls in the high
level category.
Table 4.6: Frequency of Customers Perception on the Level of Service Quality
Provided by TGL Based on Tangibility
Level Mean Score Frequency of Respondents Percent
Low 1.00 – 3.00 - -
Average 3.01 – 5.00 41 58.6
High 5.01 – 7.00 29 41.4
Total 70 100.0
Mean: 5.036
Standard Deviation: 0.45
4.4.2 Customers’ Perception on Reliability
Table 4.7: Frequency of Customers Perception on the Level of Service Quality
Provided by TGL Based on Reliability
Level Mean Score Frequency of Respondents Percent
Low 1.00 – 3.00 - -
Average 3.01 – 5.00 35 50.0
High 5.01 – 7.00 35 50.0
Total 70 100.0
Mean: 5.114
Standard Deviation: 0.452
According to Table 4.7, the customers’ perception based on the dimension
reliability on the level of service quality that provided by TGL, half of the
respondents (50%) rate it as average level while the remaining half (50%) rate it at
high level. The value of overall mean is 5.114 and the standard deviation is 0.452.
Thus the customer perception of service quality provided by TGL based on its
reliability is high. Besides that, the overall mean of the customers’ perception of
49
service reliability is higher than that of the service tangibility, which yields overall
mean of 5.036.
4.4.3 Customers’ Perception on Responsiveness
Table 4.8: Frequency of Customers Perception on the Level of Service Quality
Provided by TGL Based on Responsiveness
Level Mean Score Frequency of Respondents Percent
Low 1.00 – 3.00 - -
Average 3.01 – 5.00 33 47.1
High 5.01 – 7.00 37 52.9
Total 70 100.0
Mean: 5.229
Standard Deviation: 0.366
Table 4.8 shows the customers perception on the level of service quality
provided by TGL based on responsiveness. The number of respondents who rate the
level of service quality as average is almost equal with those who rate it at high level,
with percentage of 47.1 percent and 52.9 percent respectively. The overall mean is
5.229 and the standard deviation is 0.366, indicating that the customers’ perception
on the level of service quality based on responsiveness is in high level. The overall
mean for responsiveness at 5.229 is higher than that for tangibility at 5.036 and
reliability at 5.114. Thus, the customers of TGL feel that this company have the
willingness to help the customers and provide prompt service.
4.4.4 Customers’ Perception on Assurance
Table 4.9 shows the customers perception on the level of service quality
provided by TGL based on assurance. The results show that 54.2 percent of the total
respondents rate the service quality as in high level while the remaining 45.7 percent
50
rate it as average. The analysis also shows that the overall mean value of the
customers’ perception based on assurance is 5.154 and the standard deviation is
0.398. This indicates that the respondents perceive that the knowledge and courtesy
displayed by TGL employees are able to give trust and confidence to the customers.
Table 4.9: Frequency of Customers Perception on the Level of Service Quality
Provided by TGL Based on Assurance
Level Mean Score Frequency of Respondents Percent
Low 1.00 – 3.00 - -
Average 3.01 – 5.00 32 45.7
High 5.01 – 7.00 38 54.3
Total 70 100.0
Mean: 5.154
Standard Deviation: 0.398
4.4.5 Customers’ Perception on Empathy
According to Table 4.10, it shows the customers perception on the level of
service quality provided by TGL based on empathy. In the context of SERVQUAL
dimensions, empathy is the caring, individualized attention the firm provides to its
customers (Parasuraman et al., 1988). The results show that 51.4 percent of the total
respondents feel that the level of service quality based on empathy is high while 48.6
percent feels that it is average. Furthermore, the overall mean and standard deviation
of the customers’ perception on the level of service quality based on empathy is
5.131 and 0.398, indicating that generally, the level of service quality based on
empathy is high. The value of overall mean is higher than that of tangibility and
reliability but lower than that of responsiveness and assurance.
51
Table 4.10: Frequency of Customers Perception on the Level of Service Quality
Provided by TGL Based on Empathy
Level Mean Score Frequency of Respondents Percent
Low 1.00 – 3.00 - -
Average 3.01 – 5.00 34 48.6
High 5.01 – 7.00 36 51.4
Total 70 100.0
Mean: 5.131
Standard Deviation: 0.398
4.5 Service Quality Expectation
Table 4.11: Frequency Distribution for Customers Expectations on Overall Service
Quality
Level Mean Score Frequency of Respondents Percent
Low 1.00 – 3.00 - -
Average 3.01 – 5.00 - -
High 5.01 – 7.00 70 100.0
Total 70 100.0
Mean: 5.537
Standard Deviation: 0.257
Table 4.11 shows the customers’ expectations of the overall service quality
provided by TGL. The results show that all respondents expect TGL to provide high
level of service quality. The mean value of service quality based on the customers’
expectation is 5.537 and the standard deviation is 0.257. Thus, TGL’s customers
have very high expectation on the service quality provided by them.
52
4.6 Customers’ Expectation based on the SERVQUAL Five Dimensions
This section will discuss the customers’ expectation on the level of TGL’s
service quality. The data analysis will be based on SERVQUAL five dimensions
which are tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. These
dimensions are used to evaluate the expectation of TGL’s customers on the service
quality.
4.6.1 Customers’ Expectation on Tangibility
Table 4.12: Frequency Distribution of Customers Expectations on the Level of
Service Quality Provided by TGL Based on Tangibility
Level Mean Score Frequency of Respondents Percent
Low 1.00 – 3.00 - -
Average 3.01 – 5.00 18 25.7
High 5.01 – 7.00 52 74.3
Total 70 100.0
Mean: 5.454
Standard Deviation: 0.476
Table 4.12 shows the customers expectation on the level of service quality
provided by TGL based on tangibility. Most of the respondents, specifically 74.3
percent of the total, expressed that they expect the TGL’s service quality based on
the dimension tangibles to be at the high level. The rest of the respondents which
covers 25.7 percent of the total expect average level of service quality based on
tangibility. The overall mean of the customers expectation on the service quality
provided by TGL based on tangibility is 5.454 and the standard deviation is 0.476.
From the data, the respondents of TGL have high expectation on the appearance of
physical facilities and equipments (such as fax and printer), and also the appearance
of personnel (such as being well dressed and appearing neat and professional).
53
4.6.2 Customers’ Expectation on Reliability
Table 4.13 shows the customers’ expectation at the level of service quality
provided by TGL based on reliability. The majority of the respondents, amounting to
82.9 percent of the total respondents expect the level of service quality provided by
TGL based on reliability to be at high level, while the remaining 17.1 percent expects
the service quality based on reliability of their service to be in average level. Thus,
the overall mean of the customers’ expectation based on reliability of the service is
5.509 and the standard deviation is 0.414. This indicates that the customers strongly
expect the company to deliver and accomplished the tasks that have been promised.
The overall mean based on reliability is higher than that of tangibility.
Table 4.13: Frequency Distribution of Customers Expectations on the Level of
Service Quality Provided by TGL Based on Reliability
Level Mean Score Frequency of Respondents Percent
Low 1.00 – 3.00 - -
Average 3.01 – 5.00 12 17.1
High 5.01 – 7.00 58 82.9
Total 70 100.0
Mean: 5.509
Standard Deviation: 0.414
4.6.3 Customers’ Expectation on the Level of TGL’s Service Quality Based on
Responsiveness
Table 4.14 shows the customers’ expectation on the level of service quality
provided by TGL based on responsiveness of their service. Majority of the
respondents, amounting to 91.4 percent of the total, expects that the TGL’s service
quality based on responsiveness to be high, while the remaining 8.6 percent feels that
it is sufficient at average level. The overall mean of customers’ expectation is 5.69
54
and the standard deviation is 0.365. Thus, most customers expect that TGL’s
employees are able to provide prompt and efficient service.
Table 4.14: Frequency Distribution of Customers Expectations on the Level of
Service Quality Provided by TGL Based on Responsiveness
Level Mean Score Frequency of Respondents Percent
Low 1.00 – 3.00 - -
Average 3.01 – 5.00 6 8.6
High 5.01 – 7.00 64 91.4
Total 70 100.0
Mean: 5.69
Standard Deviation: 0.365
4.6.4 Customers’ Expectation on Assurance
Table 4.15: Frequency Distribution of Customers Expectations on the Level of
Service Quality Provided by TGL Based on Assurance
Level Mean Score Frequency of Respondents Percent
Low 1.00 – 3.00 - -
Average 3.01 – 5.00 11 15.7
High 5.01 – 7.00 59 84.3
Total 70 100.0
Mean: 5.579
Standard Deviation: 0.407
Table 4.15 above shows the customers’ expectation on the level of service
quality provided by TGL based on assurance. Most number of respondents,
accounting for 84.3 percent of the total expects the service quality based on the
assurance it provides to be at high level while the remaining 15.7 percent feel that it
is sufficient at the average level. The overall mean of customer expectation based on
assurance is 5.579, and this value is higher than the overall means based on
tangibility and reliability but lower than that of responsiveness, while the standard
55
deviation is at 0.407. The high value indicates that customers strongly expect that
the knowledge and courtesy of TGL’s employees are able to provide trust and
confidence to the customers to continue cooperating with TGL.
4.6.5 Customers’ Expectation on Empathy
Table 4.16: Frequency Distribution of Customers Expectations on the Level of
Service Quality Provided by TGL Based on Empathy
Level Mean Score Frequency of Respondents Percent
Low 1.00 – 3.00 - -
Average 3.01 – 5.00 11 15.7
High 5.01 – 7.00 59 84.3
Total 70 100.0
Mean: 5.454
Standard Deviation: 0.359
Table 4.16 shows the customers’ expectation on the level of service quality
provided by TGL based on empathy. The results show that 84.3 percent of the total
respondents expect the service quality based on the dimension of empathy to be at
high level, while the remaining 15.7 percent would be satisfied with average level.
The overall mean and standard deviation of customers’ expectation on the service
quality provided by TGL based on empathy is 5.454 and 0.359 respectively. The
overall mean of empathy is same as overall mean of tangibles, but lower than
dimension reliability, responsiveness and assurance. The high value of overall mean
indicates that the customers strongly expect TGL employees to be caring and able to
provide individualized attention according to their respective needs.
56
4.7 Level of Service Quality (Service Quality = Perception – Expectation)
Table 4.17: Normality of Service Quality
Mean: -0.404
Standard Deviation: 0.239
This section discusses the service quality provided by TGL. Table 4.17
shows the normality of the service quality. The result shows that the value of the
computed service quality is significant since the value of significance is 0.200 which
is greater than 0.05.
Based on the SERVQUAL instrument, service quality is measured by using
the gap between the customers’ perception and customers’ expectation, which is
customers’ perception minus customers’ expectation (P-E). Dimensions of tangibles,
reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy are used in this data analysis. A
positive value of service quality means that the service quality is more than expected
by the customer, thus indicating good performance of service quality while a
negative value simply means the quality of service received by the customers is less
than the customers expected level, thus indicating poor service quality performance.
According to Table 4.18 below, the difference of mean between the customers’
perception and expectation yields negative values for all dimensions. Generally, it
indicates that TGL is performing below the expected level of their customers.
Table 4.18: The Difference of mean between the Customers’ Perception and
Expectation based on SERVQUAL Dimensions
Perception (P) Expectation (E) P-E
Tangible 5.036 5.454 -0.418
Reliability 5.114 5.509 -0.395
Responsiveness 5.229 5.690 -0.461
Assurance 5.154 5.579 -0.425
Empathy 5.131 5.454 -0.323
Overall Service Quality 5.133 5.537 -0.404
Kolmogorov-Smirnov(a)
Statistic df Sig.
Service Quality .077 70 .200(*)
57
4.8 Customer Satisfaction
Table 4.19: Frequency Distribution of Customers’ Satisfaction based on the Service
Quality Provided by TGL
Level Mean Score Frequency of Respondents Percent
Low 1.00 – 3.00 - -
Average 3.01 – 5.00 41 58.6
High 5.01 – 7.00 29 41.4
Total 70 100.0
Median: 5.000
Standard Deviation: 0.469
Table 4.20: Normality of Customer Satisfaction
Table 4.19 shows the level of customers’ satisfaction towards the service
quality provided by TGL. Customer satisfaction can only be measured after the
customers have really tried the service or product, and generally customers will be
satisfied if the service or product meets their expectations. From the results of this
study, more than half of the respondents, amounting to 58.6 percent from the total
expressed that their level of satisfaction is average, while the remaining 41.4 percent
feels that they are highly satisfied with TGL’s service quality. Referring to Table
4.20, the significance value of zero also indicates that the result for customer
satisfaction is not distributed normally (result is only significant if p > 0.05). Since
the distribution is not normal, the median should be used to determine the central
tendency of the customer satisfaction level (Morgan et al., 2001). From our results,
the customer satisfaction median is 5.000 with a standard deviation of 0.469.
Therefore, the level of customer satisfaction falls in the ‘Average’ range.
Kolmogorov-Smirnov(a)
Statistic Df Sig.
Customer Satisfaction .163 70 .000
58
4.9 Relationship between Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction based
on the Service provided by TGL
Table 4.21 shows the relationship between service quality and customer
satisfaction of TGL. Correlation of Spearman is used to test the relationship between
service quality and customer satisfaction of TGL. According to the research
methodology at Chapter 3, we know that Spearman rank correlation is used to
measure nonparametric correlations. If the result is significant, then there is either
positive or negative correlation between the two variables, while if the result is
insignificant, then we can conclude that there is no systematic association between
them. According to Table 4.21, we know that the result is not significant since the p-
value is 0.127 (result is only significant if p < 0.05) and there is no correlation
between service quality and customer satisfaction (Morgan et al., 2001). This is also
supported by the correlation scatter plot in Figure 4.3 where the fit line is almost
horizontal showing that there is no significant relationship between the service
quality and customer satisfaction (Taylor, 2008).
Table 4.21: Correlations of Spearman
1.000 .184
. .127
70 70
.184 1.000
.127 .
70 70
Correlation Coefficient
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
Correlation Coefficient
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
Service Quality
Customer Satisfaction
Spearman's rho
Service Quality
Customer Satisfaction
59
6.005.505.004.504.00
Customer Satisfaction
0.50
0.00
-0.50
-1.00
-1.50
Serv
ice
Qua
lity
R Sq Linear = 0.032
Figure 4.3: Scatter Diagram between Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction
CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1 Introduction
This section discusses the research conclusion from the data analysis in this
study. There are three points that will be discussed in this section; they are
discussions and conclusions of the result which relate to the research objectives,
research limitations and research recommendations for future research work.
5.2 Research Conclusion
The conclusion to this research can be drawn based on the objectives of the
study. The objectives of this study are:
(a) To determine the level of service quality provided by TGL Express Sdn.
Bhd. (TGL).
(b) To determine the level of satisfaction among its customers.
(c) To determine the relationship between service quality and customer
satisfaction.
Based on the data analysis results described in Chapter 4, the objectives of
this research can be achieved.
61
5.2.1 Level of Service Quality
The service quality of TGL measured in this research can be summarized as
in Table 5.1. The summary compares the service quality based on the different
SERVQUAL dimensions as well as the overall service quality in the form of
customers’ perception (P), expectations (E) and also the SERVQUAL service quality
value (P-E).
Table 5.1: Summary of Service Quality Mean Values
Perception (P) Expectation (E) SERVQUAL (P-E)
Tangible 5.036 5.454 -0.418
Reliability 5.114 5.509 -0.395
Responsiveness 5.229 5.690 -0.461
Assurance 5.154 5.579 -0.425
Empathy 5.131 5.454 -0.323
Overall Service Quality 5.133 5.537 -0.404
The results show that the service quality of TGL based on SERVQUAL is -
0.404. This simply indicates that the quality of service provided by TGL does not
meet the expectations of their customers, thus the negative value.
However, it must be noted that the service quality provided by TGL as
perceived by their customers has a mean value of 5.133, which falls in the ‘High’
range. This shows that the customers perceive TGL’s service as good. The reason
that the service quality based on SERVQUAL is negative in value is due to the fact
that the expectation of the customers, which yields a mean value of 5.537, is
comparatively higher. Basically, we can conclude that TGL’s service quality is high,
but is still insufficient to meet the increasing expectations in the highly competitive
current scenario. This is supported by Fečiková (2004), who stated that it is
important that a company be customer-oriented in the heavily competitive world to
ensure customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Besides that, the service quality of TGL can also be evaluated by considering
separately the five dimensions of SERVQUAL. The research shows that TGL scores
62
highest in responsiveness, followed by assurance, empathy, reliability, and lastly
tangibles. All the mean values are in the ‘High’ range, showing that the customers
actually feel that the service quality provided by TGL is good, but they are simply
expecting better. Though the values are all in the ‘High’ range, the lower values
indicate areas that TGL should improve in order to further improve the overall
service quality.
Another point worth discussing is the view of the customers in terms of
which dimension to prioritize. From the customers’ expectations, we can conclude
that the customers perceive that the most important dimension is responsiveness,
followed by assurance, reliability, tangibles and finally empathy. This result tallies
with the case study on the postal company conducted by Zisis et al. (2009) which
also yields responsiveness as the most important dimension in service quality. The
customers feel that it is crucial that their request and queries are attended to promptly
to since there usually is time limitations for the delivery of goods.
Lastly, a large gap between the perceived and expected values of service
quality indicates that particular area requires attention. In our case, though
responsiveness yields highest value in terms of customers’ perception, it is has the
biggest gap between the perception and expectation of customers. Thus, TGL should
focus on closing the gap between the two in order to improve on their service quality
based on SERVQUAL.
5.2.2 Customer Satisfaction
Since the distribution of the data is not normal, the median is used to measure
the central tendency of the customers’ satisfaction. From the research, the median
value is 5.000, which falls in the upper-limit of the ‘Average’ range. Thus, it
indicates that the customers of TGL are moderately satisfied with their service
quality, with more tendencies towards the ‘High’ side. This occurred despite the
SERVQUAL service quality value being negative, due to the fact that the customers
63
are fairly satisfied with what TGL is providing, but their expectations on what an
excellent company should be like is relatively too high for TGL.
However, the fact that the customers’ satisfaction value is only in the
‘Average’ range should not be taken lightly as, it serves as an early warning of how
the customers are feeling, according to Edvardsson and Gutafson (1999). Besides,
Fečiková (2004) also proposed that it is important for companies to monitor their
customers’ satisfaction since it affects their behaviour and purchasing decisions. In
short, customers’ satisfaction must be maintained at a high level in order to ensure
customer loyalty and company popularity.
5.2.3 Relationship between Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction
The relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction is tested
using the Spearman correlation method since the value of customer satisfaction is not
significant, causing the variable to be non-parametric. From the analysis, there is no
relationship between the service quality and customer satisfaction, which means that
the service quality provided by TGL does not affect the customer satisfaction.
Basically, this should not have occurred as, it is common knowledge that the service
quality relates directly with customer satisfaction and the customers should be more
satisfied as the quality of service improves. However, there might be a few
possibilities where exceptions might happen, the main possibility being that the five
dimensions of SERVQUAL might not accurately portray the situation in the
company. This means that the customers’ satisfaction level is not only influenced by
the five basic SERVQUAL dimensions, and there are other dimensions related to the
service which we have left out. This is also the reason that some researches such as
the study on the telecommunications industry in China by Wang et al. (2004) uses a
modified SERVQUAL model which includes additional dimensions to suit the actual
industry attributes and local conditions. There might also be some other reasons,
such as the fact that there might be inaccuracy of data due to the small sample size
64
and also the possibility that the customers did not express what they really felt in
terms of their satisfaction level.
On the other hand, if we were to relate the service quality as perceived by the
customers with the customer satisfaction, the result will yield positive relationship as
shown in Table 5.2 and Figure 5.1. Based on Table 5.2, we have a significant
correlation which is at 0.000 (result is only significant if p < 0.05). Besides that,
there is a positive relationship between customer satisfaction and customer
perception at 50.8 percent. This supports by the findings of Yan (2006), which states
that satisfaction is indeed affected by the service quality and excellent service quality
is one of the criteria which increases customer satisfaction. The reason that
relationship becomes weak when using SERVQUAL service quality value is that the
expected value is given based on the customers own judgement, and thus the scores
will be influenced by several factors, such as place of origin, past experiences and so
on. As proposed by Cronin and Taylor (1992), the unweighted SERVPERF used
only the performance to measure the service quality, while the weighted
SERVQUAL used the gap between the customers’ perception and expectation. Thus,
we find that the unweighted SERVPERF instrument might be more suitable than the
SERVQUAL instrument in terms of measuring the relationship between service
quality and customer satisfaction.
Table 5.2: Relationship between Customer Perception and Customer Satisfaction of
TGL
Correlations
1.000 .508**
. .000
70 70
.508** 1.000
.000 .
70 70
Correlation Coeff icient
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
Correlation Coeff icient
Sig. (2-tailed)
N
Customer Perception
Customer Satisfaction
Spearman's rho
Customer
Perception
Customer
Satisfaction
Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).**.
65
6.005.505.004.504.00
Customer Satisfaction
5.80
5.60
5.40
5.20
5.00
4.80
4.60
Cust
omer
Per
cept
ion
R Sq Linear = 0.249
Figure 5.1: Scatter Diagram between Customer Perception and Customer
Satisfaction
5.3 Recommendations
The objectives of this study include determining the service quality provided
by TGL, their customers’ satisfaction and the relationship between these two
variables. Thus, the result can be used to further improve the performance of TGL in
order to gain success and advantage over their competitors. The results of the
research can be used to understand what the customers actually think about them, as
well as what they actually want from them. Therefore, by analyzing the results, TGL
will be able to know which specific area needs immediate attention and proper
planning and management of resources can be arranged. The recommendations for
the improvement of TGL’s performance based on the findings of this research are as
follows:
(a) Customers in this industry places greatest importance on the responsiveness
of the service. It is important that the company is able to respond promptly to
the customers request as the delivery services are often urgent matters which
requires immediate attention. This is further supported by the fact that the
66
gap between customer perception and expectation is greatest for
responsiveness, indicating that responsiveness is most critical to the
customers.
(b) TGL should always monitor and maintain their customer satisfaction level by
obtaining feedback from their customers. This will provide them with early
warning if their customers are not comfortable with any aspect of their
operation. As proposed by Strydom (2004), TGL should always be aware of
their customers’ satisfaction level through methods such as complaint and
suggestion system, Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI), customer value
analysis and so on.
5.4 Future Researches
Even though all the objectives of this research have been achieved in this
report, there are still issues, which have arisen during the study, which need to be
addresses in future researches. The issues include:
(a) The study shows that the five basic dimensions of SERVQUAL might not be
suitable in measuring the service quality of the company, since there might be
other dimensions that might have a greater impact on the customer
satisfaction. Further more, even among the five basic dimensions of
SERVQUAL, there are dimensions which customers feel is less important to
them. This is in line with a statement by Dayang and Francine (2009) that the
importance of each dimension in the SERVQUAL model varies across
industries. In another study, Wang et al. (2004) modified their SERVQUAL
model by adding extra dimensions such as network quality to obtain better
result in their research on the telecommunication industry in China. In
addition to the service quality factors, there might also be other determinants
which might have an impact on the customer satisfaction. This statement can
be supported by Yan’s (2006) study on customer satisfaction based on the
67
perceived value model for auto repair shops. Yan (2006) stated that price and
personnel attitude are also factors which affect customer satisfaction. Thus,
focus group discussions and expert opinions should be carried out to
determine the suitable dimensions which will be able to obtain the best results
regarding the service quality of a truck freight broker, and its relationship
with the customers.
(b) A similar study should be carried out using the SERVPERF model which
measures solely performance. The selection of SERVQUAL model in the
initial stages of our study was due to the fact that it has been widely used by
researchers in many different industrial, commercial and non-profit settings
(Sachdev and Verma, 2004). We felt that the SERVQUAL model can be
used in our truck freight brokering setting since the credibility has been
proven in various different industries. Furthermore, it was used by Baki et al.
(2009) in their study on logistic services. However, during our study, we
found that there are many instances where the SERVPERF would be a more
suitable model to measure the service quality, and also to find out the
relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction. Since the
SERVPERF model measures performance based solely on the customers’
perception (Lee, 2007), it is believed that more significant figures could be
obtained on the actual performance of TGL. Besides, by having more
significant values for service quality, the relationship between service quality
and customer satisfaction will also be stronger.
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APPENDIX A
BORANG SOAL SELIDIK
QUESTIONNAIRE
FAKULTI PENGURUSAN DAN PEMBANGUNAN SUMBER MANUSIA
FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT AND HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
“HUBUNGAN ANTARA KUALITI PERKHIDMATAN DAN KEPUASAN
PELANGGAN: SATU KAJIAN KES DI TGL EXPRESS SDN. BHD.”
“THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SERVICE QUALITY AND CUSTOMER
SATISFACTION: A CASE STUDY OF TGL EXPRESS SDN. BHD.”
Saya merupakan pelajar tahun akhir Universiti Teknologi Malaysia dalam jurusan
Pengurusan Teknologi. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk menyempurnakan Projek Sarjana
Muda yang telah ditetapkan oleh universiti. Oleh itu, kerjasama daripada anda
amatlah dihargai dan diucapkan ribuan terima kasih diatas kesudian menjawab soal
selidik ini. Semua jawapan dan maklumat yang diberikan hanya digunakan untuk
tujuan pembelajaran sahaja.
I am a final year student of Universiti Technologi Malaysia majoring in the field of
Technology Management. This research is being done for the purpose of completing
the degree programme set by the University. Your co-operation in this survey is
much appreciated and I sincerely thank you for taking time to respond to this
questionnaire. All information provided will be treated strictly confidential and will
be used for academic purposes only.
ARAHAN / INSTRUCTION:
A) Borang selidik ini mempunyai tiga bahagian iaitu:
This questionnaire has three sections as follows:
BAHAGIAN A / SECTION A : Demografi Responden / Demographic Data
BAHAGIAN B / SECTION B : Jangkaan dan Persepsi Pelanggan /
Customer’s Expectation and Perception
BAHAGIAN C / SECTION C : Kepuasan Pelanggan / Customer Satisfaction
B) Responden dikehendaki menjawab semua soalan yang dikemukakan.
Respondent is required to answer all the questions.
76
Bahagian A / Section A: Demografi Responden / Demographic Respondent
Sila tandakan ( ) di dalam ruangan yang di telah disediakan.
Please answer the following questions by ticking ( ) in the appropriate box.
1. Etnik / Ethnic:
Melayu / Malay
Cina / Chinese
India / Indian
Lain-lain / Others
2. Lokasi / Location:
_____________________________ (Sila Nyatakan / Please State)
3. Tempoh masa menjadi pelanggan TGL Express Sdn. Bhd. (TGL) /
Period of time being a customer of TGL Express Sdn. Bhd. (TGL):
Kurang daripada 1 tahun / Below than 1 year
1 tahun / 1 year
2 tahun / 2 years
3 tahun / 3 years
4 tahun / 4 years
4. Berapa kali mengunakan perkhidmatan TGL dalam 1 minggu/
How often used service of TGL in 1 week:
Kurang daripada 1 kali / Below than 1 time
1 – 2 kali / 1 – 2 time(s)
3 – 4 kali / 3 – 4 times
5 – 6 kali / 5 – 6 times
7 kali / 7 times
77
Bahagian B / Section B: Jangkaan dan Persepsi Pelanggan / Customer’s Expectation and Perception
Sila bulatkan jawapan anda mengikut skala seperti berikut /
Please circle your answer based on the following scales:
Skala / Scales Penerangan Jawapan / Answer Explanation
1 Sangat Tidak Bersetuju / Strongly Disagree
2 Tidak Bersetuju / Disagree
3 Agak Tidak Bersetuju / Slightly Disagree
4 Sederhana / Average
5 Agak Beretuju / Slightly Agree
6 Bersetuju / Agree
7 Sangat Bersetuju / Strongly Agree
Jangkaan / Expectation Persepsi / Perception
1. TGL sepatut mempunyai kelengkapan yang moden cth: fax,
pencetak.
TGL should provides up-to-date equipment e.g. fax, printer.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
2. TGL sepatut mempunyai persekitaran yang selesa dan 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
78
menarik.
TGL’s physical facilities should be visually appealing.
3. TGL sepatut memberikan kenderaan pengangkutan seperti
lori dalam keadaan yang baik.
TGL should be provide transportation e.g. lorries in well
condition.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
4. Pekerja TGL sepatut mempunyai penampilan yang baik
seperti cara pakaian.
TGL’s employees should be well dressed and appear neat.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
5. Apabila pekerja TGL berjanji untuk melakukan sesuatu
tugas, mereka sepatut menepati janji.
When TGL’s employees promise to do something by a
certain time, they should do so.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
6. Apabila anda menghadapi masalah, TGL sepatut memberi
pertolongan dengan ikhlas untuk menyelesaikannya.
When you have problems, TGL should shows a sincere
interest in solving the problems. .
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
7. TGL sepatut memberikan perkhidmatan yang bertepatan
dengan kehendak pelanggan.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
79
TGL should provides correct services to meet their customer
needs.
8. TGL sepatut memberikan perkhidmatan pada masa yang
dijanjikan.
TGL should provides their services at the time they promise
to do so.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
9. TGL sepatut menyimpan rekod urus niaga secara tepat.
TGL should keep their transaction records accurately.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
10. Pekerja TGL sepatut memberitahu anda bila pekhidmatan
akan dilakukan.
TGL’ employees should tell you exactly when services will
be performed.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
11. Pekerja TGL sepatut memberikan perkhidmatan yang cekap
dan pantas kepada anda.
TGL’s employees should provide you with prompt service.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
12. Pekerja TGL sepatut membantu pelanggan pada bila-bila
masa.
TGL’s employees should be always willing to help.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
13. TGL sepatut tidak menggunakan alasan tiada masa untuk 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
80
memberikan tindak balas kepada anda.
TGL should not used too busy as a reason to respond to your
requests promptly.
14. Tabiat pekerja TGL patut menyakinkan anda.
The behaviour of TGL’s employees should instill confidence
in you.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
15. Anda sepatut merasai selamat apabila berurusan dengan
TGL.
You should able to feel safe performing transactions with
TGL.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
16. Pekerja TGL sepatut berbudi bahasa dan bersopan-santun.
TGL’s employees should be patient and courteous.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
17. Pekerja TGL sepatut mempunyai pengetahuan yang baik
dalam menjawab soalan anda.
TGL’s employees should be equipped with the necessary
knowledge to answer your question(s).
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
18. TGL sepatut memberikan perkhidmatan kepada setiap
pelanggan secara individu.
TGL should gives you individual attention.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
81
19. Pekerja TGL sepatut bersedia untuk menyelesaikan masalah
secara individu.
TGL’s employees should prepare to solve problems
individually.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
20. Pekerja TGL sepatut memahami kehendak anda.
TGL’s employees should understand your needs.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
21. TGL sepatut mengambil berat kehendak anda.
TGL should have their customer’s best interest at heart.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
22. TGL sepatut beroperasi pada waktu yang sesuai bagi semua
pelanggan.
TGL operating hours should be convenient to all of their
customers.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
82
Bahagian C / Section C
Sila bulatkan jawapan anda mengikut skala seperti berikut /
Please circle your answer based on the following scales:
1. Secara keseluruhannya, anda amat berpuas hati
terhadap perkhidmatan TGL.
You are extremely satisfied with TGL’s overall
service quality.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
2. Anda akan menggunakan perkhidmatan TGL
lain kali.
You will definitely use TGL’s service again.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
3. Anda akan mencadangkan perkhidmatan TGL
kepada orang lain.
You would strongly recommend TGL’s service
to the others.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Sekian, terima kasih
Thank you very much
Skala / Scales Kepuasan Pelanggan / Customer Satisfaction
1 Sangat Tidak Memuaskan / Strongly Dissatisfied
2 Tidak Memuaskan / Dissatisfied
3 Agak Tidak Memuaskan / Slightly Dissatisfied
4 Sederhana / Average
5 Agak Memuaskan / Slightly Satisfied
6 Memuaskan / Satisfied
7 Sangat Memuaskan / Strongly Satisfied
83
APPENDIX B
SPSS DATA ANALYSIS
Descriptives
5.1327 .03267
5.0675
5.1979
5.1309
5.0900
.075
.27330
4.62
5.73
1.11
.37
.114 .287
-.679 .566
5.5369 .03070
5.4756
5.5981
5.5329
5.5500
.066
.25685
5.04
6.23
1.19
.40
.119 .287
-.300 .566
Mean
Low er Bound
Upper Bound
95% Confidence
Interval for Mean
5% Trimmed Mean
Median
Variance
Std. Deviation
Minimum
Maximum
Range
Interquartile Range
Skew ness
Kurtosis
Mean
Low er Bound
Upper Bound
95% Confidence
Interval for Mean
5% Trimmed Mean
Median
Variance
Std. Deviation
Minimum
Maximum
Range
Interquartile Range
Skew ness
Kurtosis
Customer Perception
Customer Expectation
Statistic Std. Error
Tests of Normality
.105 70 .055 .980 70 .308
.050 70 .200* .984 70 .539
Customer Perception
Customer Expectation
Statistic df Sig. Statistic df Sig.
Kolmogorov-Smirnova
Shapiro-Wilk
This is a low er bound of the true signif icance.*.
Lilliefors Signif icance Correctiona.
84
Perception Tangibles
2 2.9 2.9 2.9
13 18.6 18.6 21.4
13 18.6 18.6 40.0
13 18.6 18.6 58.6
14 20.0 20.0 78.6
8 11.4 11.4 90.0
5 7.1 7.1 97.1
2 2.9 2.9 100.0
70 100.0 100.0
4.25
4.50
4.75
5.00
5.25
5.50
5.75
6.25
Total
Valid
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Perception Reliability
2 2.9 2.9 2.9
1 1.4 1.4 4.3
2 2.9 2.9 7.1
7 10.0 10.0 17.1
9 12.9 12.9 30.0
14 20.0 20.0 50.0
14 20.0 20.0 70.0
3 4.3 4.3 74.3
11 15.7 15.7 90.0
5 7.1 7.1 97.1
2 2.9 2.9 100.0
70 100.0 100.0
4.00
4.20
4.40
4.60
4.80
5.00
5.20
5.40
5.60
5.80
6.00
Total
Valid
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Perception Responsiveness
2 2.9 2.9 2.9
5 7.1 7.1 10.0
26 37.1 37.1 47.1
17 24.3 24.3 71.4
11 15.7 15.7 87.1
3 4.3 4.3 91.4
5 7.1 7.1 98.6
1 1.4 1.4 100.0
70 100.0 100.0
4.50
4.75
5.00
5.25
5.50
5.75
6.00
6.25
Total
Valid
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Perception Assurance
2 2.9 2.9 2.9
5 7.1 7.1 10.0
9 12.9 12.9 22.9
16 22.9 22.9 45.7
19 27.1 27.1 72.9
10 14.3 14.3 87.1
7 10.0 10.0 97.1
2 2.9 2.9 100.0
70 100.0 100.0
4.25
4.50
4.75
5.00
5.25
5.50
5.75
6.00
Total
Valid
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
85
Perception Empathy
4 5.7 5.7 5.7
8 11.4 11.4 17.1
8 11.4 11.4 28.6
14 20.0 20.0 48.6
10 14.3 14.3 62.9
11 15.7 15.7 78.6
12 17.1 17.1 95.7
1 1.4 1.4 97.1
2 2.9 2.9 100.0
70 100.0 100.0
4.40
4.60
4.80
5.00
5.20
5.40
5.60
5.80
6.00
Total
Valid
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Expectation Tangibles
1 1.4 1.4 1.4
11 15.7 15.7 17.1
6 8.6 8.6 25.7
9 12.9 12.9 38.6
16 22.9 22.9 61.4
17 24.3 24.3 85.7
5 7.1 7.1 92.9
3 4.3 4.3 97.1
1 1.4 1.4 98.6
1 1.4 1.4 100.0
70 100.0 100.0
4.50
4.75
5.00
5.25
5.50
5.75
6.00
6.25
6.50
6.75
Total
Valid
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Expectation Reliability
1 1.4 1.4 1.4
3 4.3 4.3 5.7
8 11.4 11.4 17.1
7 10.0 10.0 27.1
20 28.6 28.6 55.7
10 14.3 14.3 70.0
9 12.9 12.9 82.9
6 8.6 8.6 91.4
3 4.3 4.3 95.7
2 2.9 2.9 98.6
1 1.4 1.4 100.0
70 100.0 100.0
4.60
4.80
5.00
5.20
5.40
5.60
5.80
6.00
6.20
6.40
6.60
Total
Valid
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
86
Expectation Responsiveness
1 1.4 1.4 1.4
5 7.1 7.1 8.6
6 8.6 8.6 17.1
16 22.9 22.9 40.0
20 28.6 28.6 68.6
16 22.9 22.9 91.4
4 5.7 5.7 97.1
2 2.9 2.9 100.0
70 100.0 100.0
4.75
5.00
5.25
5.50
5.75
6.00
6.25
6.50
Total
Valid
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Expectation Assurance
3 4.3 4.3 4.3
8 11.4 11.4 15.7
8 11.4 11.4 27.1
20 28.6 28.6 55.7
17 24.3 24.3 80.0
4 5.7 5.7 85.7
10 14.3 14.3 100.0
70 100.0 100.0
4.75
5.00
5.25
5.50
5.75
6.00
6.25
Total
Valid
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
Expectation Empathy
1 1.4 1.4 1.4
2 2.9 2.9 4.3
8 11.4 11.4 15.7
12 17.1 17.1 32.9
20 28.6 28.6 61.4
9 12.9 12.9 74.3
9 12.9 12.9 87.1
7 10.0 10.0 97.1
1 1.4 1.4 98.6
1 1.4 1.4 100.0
70 100.0 100.0
4.60
4.80
5.00
5.20
5.40
5.60
5.80
6.00
6.20
6.40
Total
Valid
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent
87
Descriptives
-.4041 .02862
-.4612
-.3470
-.3983
-.3900
.057
.23946
-1.02
.06
1.08
.34
-.313 .287
-.192 .566
5.0476 .05605
4.9358
5.1594
5.0423
5.0000
.220
.46896
4.00
6.00
2.00
.67
.093 .287
-.700 .566
Mean
Low er Bound
Upper Bound
95% Confidence
Interval for Mean
5% Trimmed Mean
Median
Variance
Std. Deviation
Minimum
Maximum
Range
Interquartile Range
Skew ness
Kurtosis
Mean
Low er Bound
Upper Bound
95% Confidence
Interval for Mean
5% Trimmed Mean
Median
Variance
Std. Deviation
Minimum
Maximum
Range
Interquartile Range
Skew ness
Kurtosis
Service Quality
Customer Satisfaction
Statistic Std. Error
Tests of Normality
.077 70 .200* .985 70 .541
.163 70 .000 .945 70 .004
Service Quality
Customer Satisfaction
Statistic df Sig. Statistic df Sig.
Kolmogorov-Smirnova
Shapiro-Wilk
This is a low er bound of the true signif icance.*.
Lilliefors Signif icance Correctiona.
Customer Satisfaction
1 1.4 1.4 1.4
7 10.0 10.0 11.4
18 25.7 25.7 37.1
15 21.4 21.4 58.6
16 22.9 22.9 81.4
9 12.9 12.9 94.3
1 1.4 1.4 95.7
3 4.3 4.3 100.0
70 100.0 100.0
4.00
4.33
4.67
5.00
5.33
5.67
5.67
6.00
Total
Valid
Frequency Percent Valid Percent
Cumulative
Percent