1.1 INTRODUCTION: Retailers play a vital role in the supply chain management process. Understanding customers expectations and requirements are very important for the survival and growth of any organization Researcher was assigned to conduct a study titled study on SERVQUAL in retailing with regard to BIG MEGA MART, Trichy. 1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM: Expectations and requirements may vary among customers. Retail shop like Big Mega Mart has to understand the individual customers expectations, requirements and serve them accordingly. In order to understand the customers expectations and attitude researcher was assigned to conduct a survey at Big Mega Mart,Trichy. 1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 1) To find out the Demographic profile of customers of the retail shop BIG MEGA MART,Trichy. 2) To find out the customers opinion with regard to various aspects like tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy of BIG MEGA MART,Trichy. 3) To find out the importance of various factors of retail shop. 4) To find out the satisfaction level of customers with regard to overall service rendered by BIG MEGA MART,Trichy. 5) To suggest some guidelines to the concerned officials of Mega Mart to retain their existing customers and acquire new customers.

1

1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY: Customers of Mega mart were included for the study. Study was conducted from March 2012 April 2012 This study will be useful to the retail shop BIG MEGA MART to retain their existing customers and acquire new customers. 1.5 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: Convenience sampling method was used .Primary and secondary data were used for the study .Primary data were collected with the help of modified SERQUAL Questionnaire. SERVPERF method was used for this study. Instead of perception and expectation, performance was only measured. Survey was conducted with 200 customers of BIG MEGA MART, Trichy. SPSS was used for data analysis. Statistical tool like percentage analysis, reliability analysis and factor analysis were used. 1.5.1 DATA COLLECTION: The method of data collection includes both primary and secondary data. Data has been collected from the customers of Big Mega Mart in Trichy. 1.5.2 SAMPLING DESIGN: Data is collected from a sample size of 200 respondents using simple random sampling is employed in this research i.e. the respondents are chosen randomly from a larger population. The respondents are students, professionals, government and corporate employees in Trichy.

2

1.5.3 TOOLS OF DATA COLLECTION: The analysis has been done with SPSS and following tools are used. 1. Percentage analysis 2. Graphical representations 3. Factor analysis 4. Chi-square test 1.6 HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY: H01 There is no relationship between age of the customers and their satisfaction level with the overall service rendered by Big Mega Mart. H02 There is no relationship between the category of the customers and their overall service rendered by Big Mega Mart. H03 There is no relationships between gender of the customers and their satisfaction level with the overall service rendered by Big Mega Mart. H04 There is no relationship between the qualification of the customers and their satisfaction level with the overall service rendered by Big Mega Mart. 1.7 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY: Opinion given by the customers with regard to Big Mega Mart ,Trichy may not be applicable to other part of the state and country. Because of the time limit researcher was able to meet only 200 customers.

3

1.8 CHAPTER SCHEME Chapter I Introduction and Research design This chapter deals with significance of online shopping and research design of the study. Chapter II Profile of the industry This chapter deals with the industry profile and details of important websites providing online shopping facility to the customers. Chapter III Conceptual review This chapter deals with the conceptual definition and technical terms used in the study. Chapter IV Analysis and Interpretation This chapter deals with data analysis and interpreting the results. Chapter V Findings, Recommendations and Conclusion This chapter deals with findings of data analysis with recommendations and conclusion about the study.

4

2. INDUSTRY PROFILE: 2.1 RETAILING: Retailing is the interface between the producer and the individual consumer buying for personal consumption. This excludes direct interface between the manufacturer and institutional buyers such as the government and other bulk customers. A retailer is one who stocks the producers goods and is involved in the act of selling it to the individual consumer, at a margin of profit. As such, retailing is the last link that connects the individual consumer with the manufacturing and distribution chain. The retail scenario is one of the fastest growing industries in India over the last couple of years. India retail sector comprises of organized retail and unorganized retail sector. Traditionally the retail market in India was largely unorganized; however with changing consumer preferences, organized retail is gradually becoming popular. Unorganized retailing consists of small and medium grocery store, medicine stores, subzi mandi, kirana stores, paan shops etc. More than 90% of retailing in India fall into the unorganized sector, the organized sector is largely concentrated in big cities. Organized retail in India is expected to grow 25-30 per cent yearly and is expected to increase from ` 35, 000 crore in 2004-05 to ` 109, 000 crore ($24 billion) by 2010. 2.2 QUICK FACTS ON INDIAN RETAIL SECTOR:

Indian Retail sector is the fifth largest global retail destination. India retail market is dominated by the unorganized sector.

5

The top five companies in retail hold a combined market share of less than 2%.

The Indian retail market has been ranked by AT Kearney's eighth annual Global Retail Development Index (GRDI), in 2009 as the most attractive emerging market for investment in the retail sector.

Currently the share of retail trade in India's GDP is around 12 per cent, and is estimated to reach 22 per cent by 2010.

According to Government of India estimate the retail sector is likely to grow to a value of 2,00,000 crore (US$45 billion) and could yield 10 to 15 million retail jobs in the coming five years; currently this industry employs 8% of the working population.

India continues to be among the most attractive countries for global retailers. According to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, approximately US$ 47.43 million was the amount of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflow as on September 2009, in single-brand retail trading.

More than 80% of the retail sector in the country is concentrated in the large cities. A study reveals that among the more than 20 locations, for organized retail in India, Mumbai was found to be the most preferred location followed closely by Bengaluru in the second position.

2.3 KEY PLAYERS IN INDIAN RETAIL SECTOR:

AV Birla Group has a strong presence in apparel retail and owns renowned brands like Allen Solly, Louis Phillipe, Trouser Town, Van Heusen and Peter England. The company has investment plans to the tune of ` 8000 9000 crores till 2010.

6

Trent is a subsidiary of the Tata group; it operates lifestyle retail chain, book and music retail chain, consumer electronic chain etc. Westside, the lifestyle retail chain registered a turnover of ` 3.58 mn in 2006.

Landmark Group invested ` 300 crores to expand Max chain, and ` 100 crores on Citymax 3 star hotel chain. Lifestyle International is their international brand business.

K Raheja Corp Group has a turnover of ` 6.75 billion which is expected to cross US$100 million mark by 2010. Segments include books, music and gifts, apparel, entertainment etc.

Reliance has more than 300 Reliance Fresh stores; they have multiple formats and their sale is expected to be ` 90,000 crores ($20 billion) by 2009-10.

Pantaloon Retail has 450 stores across the country and revenue of over ` 20 billion and is expected to touch 30 million by 2010. Segments include Food & grocery, e-tailing, home solutions, consumer electronics, entertainment, shoes, books, music & gifts, health & beauty care services

2.4 TYPES OF RETAILERS Retailers may be classified into two groups: 1. Store Retailers. 2. Non-store Retailers. 2.4.1 STORE RETAILERS

As the name itself indicates, retailers sell the products to consumers through their retail outlets. Consumers visit the stores, examine the products and purchase the products with the help of retailers.

7

The types of Store Retailers are: General Store. Convenience Stores. Specialty Stores. Specialized Department Stores. Department Stores. Super Markets. Manufacturers Own Stores. Chain Stores or Multiple Shops. Co-operative Stores. 2.4.2 GENERAL STORES General stores are very common and offer a wide variety of unrelated merchandise. They cater to the requirements of a large section of consumers. 2.4.3 CONVENIENCE STORES The special features of these stores are that they are small located near residential areas. They have long working hours; these stores are kept open all the weekdays and carry wide carry assortment of product. 2.4.4 SPECIALITY STORES These stores try to satisfy a particular market need. It handles only one type of product, but offers a wide variety within that product line.

8

These stores sell one or two quite unrelated product. The idea behind it is that the customers after purchasing the main items may turn around and see other items and purchase a few products. 2.4.5 SPECIALIZED DEPARTMENT STORES Department stores specializing in certain related items or a particular group. Example: clothing stores for men and women. 2.4.6 DEPARTMENT STORES It is a collection of shops under one roof and ownership. Each shop department is specialized in selling a special range of goods. These shops are organized with the intention of supplying all the articles which are customer may require under one roof. 2.4.7 SUPER MARKET It is designed to serve the consumers total needs for food, laundry and household maintenance. Super market is an organization intended to carry on retail trade with a specialty. A super market is a large retailing business unit, mainly selling food and grocery items. 2.4.8 MANUFACTURES OWN STORES The manufacturers are themselves organizing the retail stores for selling their products. Such manufacturers maintain a large sales force and incur heavy expenditure. 2.4.9 CHAIN STORES OR MULTIPLE SHOPS Chain stores are groups of retail stores centrally owned and managed, handling the same line of products. The special of chain stores are central ownership; management, buying and control, sales and are decentralized.

9

There are two types of chain stores: Manufacturers are interested in selling their product to the consumers directly. Chain stores are owned and operated by a big retailer. 2.4.10 CO-OPERATIVE STORES These stores are being organized to sell goods on a retail basis; co-operative stores are owned, managed and controlled by the consumers. 2.5 NON-STORE RETAILERS In non-store retailing, consumers do not make purchases from the retail stores directly. The important Non-Store Retailing methods are: Door to Door Selling. Mail-Order Selling. Catalogue Retailing. Automated Vending. Telemarketing. Virtual Shopping. 2.5.1 DOOR TO DOOR SELLING It is also called as Home-Selling. It is one of the oldest methods in retailing. Both producers and retailers adopt it. The salesmen take a single product or an assortment of products with him and visit various houses.

10

2.5.2 MAIL-ORDER SELLING It is another type of retailing where there is no personal contact between the seller and the buyer. Orders are received through post and goods are dispatched through post. In this type the post offices becomes the channel through which business is conducted. 2.5.3 CATALOGUE RETAILING In this type of retailing, catalogues are sent through mail and the companies will send the products by mail. 2.5.4 AUTOMATED VENDING It is also called as Root Retailing. The sales of products through a machine with no personal contact between buyer and seller are called automatic vending. It is appeal to convenient purchase. 2.5.5 TELE- MARKETING Telephone marketing or Tele-marketing is now widely used by many marketers. In telephone retailing, orders are received through phone. Advertising is given in newspaper, magazines or radio and prospective customers are requested to place orders by dialing a particular phone number. The marketer himself will contact the prospective customer through phone. 2.5.6 VIRTUAL SHOPPING In this shopping the services can be seen through the Internet. It does not require premises or the staff to help in making sale. The information of the product is available on the screen. The buyers have to simply place an order for an item electronically, and it will be directly delivered at his place of request.The advantage of this shopping is that brand owners can directly market to the end users, cutting out

11

third party channels and reducing the cost of advertising, sales and distribution. It also helps to gain feedback about the product from the households directly.. 2.6 COMPANY PROFILE: Megamart, one of the pioneers in value retailing and the retail arm of Indias largest integrated textile manufacturer and a leading branded apparel retailer, Arvind Ltd, has launched its sixth BIG Megamart in Trichy; the other five being in Chennai, Pune, Bangalore and Thane.The new look store is spread across an area of 20,000 sq. ft. of retail space in one footplate. The store will be home to over 150 top Indian and international brands and will delight customers with its proposition of mega savings and offers throughout the year. BIG Megamart known for their range of formalwear, casualwear and accessories for men have now extended their offering to women through its Womens World concept. The concept consists of a wide range of apparels, handbags, clutches, belts and fashion jewellery at competitive prices. The kidswear section includes Lilliput, Eteenz, Myfaa and Cherokee Kids.The Trichy BIG Megamart will house leading brands like Arrow, Belmonte, Scullers, Lee, Levi's, Wrangler, Cherokee, Spykar, Pan America, Turtle, Reid & Taylor and Titan among several other international brands at value prices and offers. The success of BIG Megamart lies at the core of their product offering wherein there is an adequate mix of international, domestic and private home-grown brands. Megeamart will house the widest range of categories including menswear, womenswear and kidswear, lifestyle accessories, luggage, footwear, cosmetic and home needs. We will be offering over 150 of the best brands on fabulous discounts, the new BIG Megamart is all set to be a complete delight for the trendy and value conscious Trichy customers," said K E Venkatachalapathy, COO, Arvind Retail.

12

Addressing the home needs of the Trichy consumer, BIG Megamart introduced Home Mart which offers a range of bedsheets, towels, curtains, clocks and kitchen utilities. Travel Mart by Megamart consists of backpacks, strolleys, travel bags, laptop bags and travel accessories from American Tourister and Ruggers Gear. Fashion Mart by Mega Mart has an assortment of watches and sunglasses from Titan, Sonata and Fast Track and a wide range of handbags, clutches, belts and fashion jewellery from the international brand Cherokee Glam. To provide the best of service to customers.

13

3. CONCEPTUAL REVIEW: Quality maters: Quality is our best assurance of customer allegiance, our strongest defense against foreign competition, and the only path to sustained growth and earnings (Welch). SERVQUAL: Service quality is the comparison of customer expectations of performance across five separate dimensions tangibles, reliability,

responsiveness, assurance, and empathy with perceptions of actual performance across these same five dimensions. SERVPERF: SERVPERF, the performance component of the Service Quality scale (SERVQUAL), has been shown to measure five underlying dimensions corresponding to Tangibles, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance, and Empathy (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, & Berry, 1988). This paper describes avalidation study, employing four different datasets, of a shortened 15-item version of the SERVPERF scale to be called SERVPERF-M. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic techniques were used to explore the dimensionality of the scale. Although internal consistency estimates for all scales were very satisfactory for all four datasets, the factor structure was somewhat unstable with Responsiveness, Assurance and Empathy tending to define a single factor in three of the sets and Reliability and Tangibles to define two other factors. GAP MODEL:

14

There are seven major gaps in the service quality concept, which are shown in Figure 1. The model is an extension of Parasuraman et al. (1985). According to the following explanation (ASI Quality Systems, 1992; Curry, 1999; Luk and Layton, 2002), the three important gaps, which are more associated with the external customers are Gap1, Gap5 and Gap6; since they have a direct relationship with customers. Gap1: Customers expectations versus management perceptions: as a result of the lack of a marketing research orientation, inadequate upward communication and too many layers of management. Gap2: Management perceptions versus service specifications: as a result of inadequate commitment to service quality, a perception of unfeasibility, inadequate task standardization and an absence of goal setting. Gap3: Service specifications versus service delivery: as a result of role ambiguity and conflict, poor employee-job fit and poor technology-job fit, inappropriate supervisory control systems, lack of perceived control and lack of teamwork. Gap4: Service delivery versus external communication: as a result of inadequate horizontal communications and propensity to over-promise. Gap5: The discrepancy between customer expectations and their perceptions of the service delivered: as a result of the influences exerted from the customer side and the shortfalls (gaps) on the part of the service provider. In this case, customer expectations are influenced by the extent of personal needs, word of mouth recommendation and past service experiences. Gap6: The discrepancy between customer expectations and employees perceptions: as a result of the differences in the understanding of customer expectations by front-line service providers.

15

Gap7: The discrepancy between employees perceptions and management perceptions: as a result of the differences in the understanding of customer expectations between managers and service providers.

16

3.1 CONCEPTUAL MODEL

Figure 3.1

17

3.2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE Retail businesses are services businesses (Berry, 1986) [1], thus is the main study objectives and testing base by the scholars in the management theory research area, the most of service quality concepts and measurement methods are developed on the base of the retail stores study. With the progress of service quality research work, different settings of service industry have gotten a specific attention in-depth, both in conceptual models and in measurement methods. Besides SERVQUAL (Parasuraman et al.1988) as the mainstream method, the measurement methods of service quality, is complemented by SERVPERF(Cronin, Taylor, 1992) which has been admitted and thought better in reliability and validity through measuring "perceived service" without considering "expected service", applying the same 22 question items of the SERVQUAL scales at the service perception part. Additionally, Brown et al (1993) thought that the SERVQUAL scales are prone to create the third variable, and presented the Non-difference scale. The above two service quality measurement methods are both based on SERVQUAL, nothing is different except the questionnaire content is partly adjusted. In the retail sector, besides the application of SERVQUAL approach, Dabholkar et al (1996) has developed a specialized measurement method-RSQS (Retail Service Quality Scale). The writer discovered that SERVQUAL and RSQS are the most widely used measurement tools in retail service management area through the literature review, this paper will put the emphasis on SERVQUAL and RSQS(Retail Service Quality Scale), review the respective applying situations and limitations, sum up the domestic literatures on the retail service quality measurement, and propose the future research directions.

18

1. Need for service quality Service quality will sustain the customers confidence in a service providers more new customers, increase business with existing clients, reduce dissatisfied customers with fewer mistakes, maximize a companys profits and increase customer satisfaction (Berry et al., 1994; Lee et al., 2000). However, quality costs are expensive, usually about 3050 per cent of sales revenues (Newman & Cowling, 1996), and time consuming to realize the benefits. Whoever implements them first will gain advantages before others. Hence, service quality will be an important business catalyst driving the retail business and ultimately will reflect in corporate performance.

2. Service quality and its determinants Service quality has been defined as customers overall impressions of an organizations services in terms of relative superiority or inferiority (Johnston, 1995).Further, service quality is considered to not only meet but to exceed customer expectations, and should include a continuous improvement process (Lloyd-Walker & Cheung, 1998). Customers evaluate retail performance mainly on the process of their interpersonal contacts and interactions (Grnroos, 1990). Service quality arises from a comparison of the difference between service expectations developed before an encounter with retail industry and the performance perceptions gained from the service delivery based on the service quality dimensions (Bloemer et al., 1998). Berry et al. (1985) and Zeithaml and Bitner (1996) indicated that service quality consisted of five dimensions. The definition for each is explained as follows:

19

1. Tangibles: appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel and written materials. 2. Reliability: ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately. 3. Responsiveness: willingness to help customers and provide prompt service. 4. Assurance: knowledge and courtesy of employee and their ability to inspire trust and confidence. 5. Empathy: caring, individualized attention the firm provides its customers. In the study by Berry et al. (1994) with more than 1,900 customers of five large famous US corporations, they found that thirty-two out of 100 placed emphasis on reliability, followed by responsiveness (22%), assurance (19%), empathy (16%) and tangibles (11%). Thus, reliability is considered the essential core of service quality. In addition, other dimensions will matter to customers only if a service is reliable, as those dimensions for example, responsiveness and empathy from service staff cannot compensate for unreliable service delivery.

3. Service quality and its impact

The relationship between service quality and its impact on retail providers will be explored in terms of both qualitative and quantitative benefits. Regarding qualitative benefits, customer satisfaction and loyalty were major concerns as Oliver (1993) and Newman et al., (1998) found that quality was an antecedent to satisfaction, and Cronin and Taylor (1992) discovered that perceived service quality brought about satisfaction or vice versa. In addition, Grnroos (1990) suggested that the mutual exchange and promise fulfillment between customers and service providers was a core construct to obtaining customer

20

satisfaction and loyalty during the process of service delivery. Besides, the study by Zairi (2000) emphasized that customer satisfaction had greatly affected business, its corporate image, and obtaining new customer bases through direct recommendations. With respect to the quantitative benefits, a study was conducted in 1988 of a particular US retail industry regarding the impact of service quality improvement on performance.Before the quality had been improved, the retail industry had to pay for the cost of failures and corrections

4 SERVQUAL Scale Based on the perceived service quality, the scholars have done much exploratory study on measuring the service quality. The first study on the service quality characteristics was conducted by British Airways in 1980, the study found some factors that influenced customer perceived quality, which included care and understanding, responsiveness, problem-solving abilities, ability to remedy. Subsequently, A. Parasuraman, Leonard L Berry, Valarie A. Zeithaml (in short, PBZ) (1985) presented the gaps-model and the 10 factors that affect the service quality, which in details are responsiveness, competence, accessibility, courtesy, communication, credibility, security, understanding, the physical evidence, containing 97 test items totally. At the same time they proposed that further empirical research is needed about these factors and project. In 1988, through two stages of empirical research, PBZ condensed the scales pool from 97 items to 54 items, and later reduced to 34 items, finally resulted in 22 items 5 dimensions, the five dimensions are: tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance (competence, courtesy, credibility, security) and empathy (comprehension, communication, 200 accessibility), thus formed a widely used SERVQUAL scale. The scale is considered having good reliability and validity, and can be used to improve

21

service quality. Also, it can examine the service quality trend; it can assess the particular enterprises service quality even each dimension and the final quality. It can make it clear that the different dimensions have different influence on quality perception. Some scholars have presented some questions about this scale yet, such as Carman (1990) pointed out the SERVQUAL had good stability, but the five factors are not neutral indicators for different service sectors, and isnt universally applicable. Later, PBZ (1991) improved and re-evaluated the scale, changed the description of some items, for example, replaced "should" of "would" at expectation part of the questionnaire, changed the statement sentences from negative tone into positive tone, although having done much improvements, PBZ still emphasized the SERVQUAL scale is the basic "skeleton" but not the perfect one, the scale should be modified when being applied in different service settings. SERVQUAL was developed by measuring the service quality in diverse setting, including an appliance repair and maintenance firm, several retail banks, a long distance telephone provider, a security broker, and credit card companies, as the authors intended to develop and design a scale which could be used for measuring service quality across service environments. Since its developing, SERVQUAL has been subsequently adapted and used in a variety of settings like the hospital (Babakus, Mangold 1989), bank (Cronin and Taylor 1992; Spreng and Singh 1993), business school placement center, tyre store, dental school patient clinic and acute care hospital (Carman 1990), discount and departmental stores (Finn and Lamb 1991; Teas 1993; Dabholkaret al. 1996) and others. Though the scale has only a limited application in retail store context, it is testified to some shortness and limitations. Table 1 shows the application and test result in the retail settings by empirical research. As is evident from the review of studies that

22

SERVQUAL fails to provide an accurate and effective measure of service quality in retail settings such as discount stores, and apparel specialty stores that offer a mix of goods and services. An interesting feature that emerges from the above review is that there is a wide variety of empirical factor structures that can be obtained. These factor structures vary in terms of the number of interpretable factors, which consistently differ from the five-factor structure proposed by PBZ (1988; 1991). The considerable variation in empirical factor structures reported in the literature raises doubts over the use of the SERVQUAL instrument in retail research, much refinement was needed while applying SERVQUAL in specific companies and industries. Similar concerns were voiced by Dabholkar, Thorpe and Rentz (1996) when they noted that SERVQUAL which was developed primarily to assess service quality for pure service environments, failed to measure service quality for retail stores.

5 Retail Service Quality Scale

Realizing the need for investigating the dimensions of service quality in retail stores and developing a scale to measure retail service quality, Dabholkar et al. (1996) conducted phenomenological interviews, exploratory depth interviews, and used qualitative study techniques for tracking the thought processes of customers during an actual shopping experience at a store. The authors combined the findings from 201 these qualitative investigations with the existing literature and SERVQUAL, to form a basis for developing RSQS. Five new dimensions are concluded, which are Physical aspects, Reliability, Personal interaction, Problem solving and Policy. As an improvement over SERVQUAL the Physical aspects dimension as proposed in RSQS had a broader meaning as compared to the Tangibles dimension of SERVQUAL.

23

The dimension included the appearance of the physical facilities as well as the convenience of store layout and public areas. Reliability dimension on the other hand is similar to the Reliability dimension of SERVQUAL and is concerned with the stores ability to keep promises and do things right. The Personal interaction dimension in RSQS was a combination of the SERVQUAL dimensions of Responsiveness and Assurance and measured customer perceptions of whether or not the store has courteous and helpful employees who inspire confidence and trust. Problem solving was a new dimension proposed by the authors that assesses the stores performance on the basis of its ability to handle potential problems. Problem solving dimension was separate from the personal interaction dimension as service recovery was recognized to be a critical part of good service. The new dimension of Policy represent all the aspects of service quality that are directly influenced by store policy, such as high-quality merchandise, convenient parking, convenient store hours, acceptance of major credit cards, and availability of a store credit card. Dabholkar et al. (1996) believed that retail service quality had a hierarchical factor structure, where overall service quality be viewed as a higher or second order-factor. RSQS included 28 items, 17 of which came from the existing SERVQUAL scale and the remaining 11 items from the literatures and qualitative research, 5 items of SERVQUAL were deemed inappropriate and dropped. Dabholkar et al. (1996) tested the RSQS with US department store customers. The scale was found to possess strong validity and reliability, the scale was suited for studying retail businesses that offer a mix of services and goods. The instrument could serve as a diagnostic tool that would allow retailers to determine service areas that were weak and needed attention.

6. Customer Satisfaction: Researchers in customer satisfaction have included it as an affective construct and not as a cognitive construct (Oliver, 1997; Olsen, 2002). Customer

24

Satisfaction has been defined by Rust and Oliver (1994) as the customers fulfillment response, which is an assessment and an emotion based reaction to a service provided. Cronin et al. (2000) studied service satisfaction using the dimensions viz. interest, enjoyment, surprise, anger, wise choice, and doing the right thing. However, the authors employ a modified version of the four emotionbased model presented by Westbrook and Oliver (1991).

7. Behavioural Intentions: Repurchase intentions, word of mouth publicity; loyalty, price sensitivity and complaining behavior are major components of Behavioural Intentions (BI) (Zeithaml, Berry, Parasuraman, (1996)). Zeithaml, Berry and Parasuraman also reiterate that high service quality leads to positive behavioural intentions and vice-versa. They also point out to the intention to stay with a brand or to defect as one the barometric indicators of Behavioural Intentions. Burton et al. (2003) support the view that customers experience dictates Behavioural Intentions and that a positive experience would prompt a satisfied customer to reuse the brand.

8 Relating Service Quality, Customer Satisfaction and Behavioural Intentions

Even if service quality and customer satisfaction were distinct constructs, literature does not clearly point to the causal ordering of SQ and SAT. One school of researchers believes that Customer satisfaction is antecedent to Service quality. Whereas the other group of researchers argued that Service quality is antecedent to Customer satisfaction and that a positive Service quality perception can lead to customer satisfaction which then results in positive Behavioural Intentions (Brady and Robertson, 2001).Interestingly there is a third perspective forwarded by Taylor and Cronin, 1994, who opine that neither of the above two constructs is an

25

antecedent of the other. However, Dabholkar (1995) reiterates that the antecedent role of each construct is consumer specific. His argument is that for a consumer who is cognitive oriented, he or she will perceive the relationship as service quality being antecedent to satisfaction and if the consumer was affective oriented then he or she will perceive that satisfaction causes positive perceived service quality. Extensive research carried out by Brady and Robertson (2001) across cultures indicates that Service Quality (SQ) is an antecedent to Customer Satisfaction (SAT).

26

4.1 PERCENTAGE ANALYSIS Table No 4.1 :Age of the respondents Frequency Percent 00-25 26-36 37-47 48-58 Total 76 94 22 8 200 38.0 47.0 11.0 4.0 100.0

Fig 4.1 : Age of the respondents

INTERPRETATION: The table 4.1 is clear that 47% of the customers are in the age group of26-36 years,38% of the customers are in the age group of below 25 and 11% of customers are in the age group of 37-47.

27

Table No 4.2: Gender of the customers Frequency Percent Male Female Total 178 22 200 89.0 11.0 100.0

Fig 4.2:Gender of the customers

INTERPRETATION: The table 4.2 shows that 89% of the customers are male and 11% of the customers are female.

28

Table No 4.3:Income of the customersFrequency 0-10000 11000-20000 21000-30000 31000-40000 41000-50000