A STUDY ON CONSUMER POTENTIAL AND RESPONSIVENESS OFSERVICE QUALITY OF MOBILE PHONE SERVICE

PROVIDERS IN TAMIL NADU

Dr.R.MANIVELAsst. Professor of Commerce,

Adaikalamatha College,Vallam, Thanjavur – 613 403,

Tamilnadu.

ABSTRACTUsing the service quality model a gap analysis was conducted to determine the difference between the perceived satisfaction of customers and their expectations, if any, on the service quality of mobile phone service providers. A total of 212 current mobile phone users of top five mobile phone service providers were participated in the study. The analysis was carried out based on the five dimensions of the service quality model, viz, dependability, reaction, guarantee, understanding and substantial aspects. The outcome of the study reveals that reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy had a positive influence on the customer attitude in terms of satisfaction and loyalty.Key Words: Service Quality, service quality, Reliability, Assurance, Tangibility, Empathy, Responsiveness.INTRODUCTIONFrom the evaluation of services provided by an organization to an individual in relation to expectations. Service providers frequently place a higher priority on customer satisfaction, because it has been seen as a pre requisite to customer retention. As a positive outcome of marketing activities, high customer satisfaction leads to repeated visit to stores, re-purchase of product, and word-of mouth promotion to friends.Service quality refers to an attitude formed by a long-term overall evaluation of a firm’s performance. A successful relationship between businesses and a customer is centered on mutually satisfying goals. These goals tend to evolve with time, technology and financial and political environment. In the book ‘Principles of Marketing’ (Armstrong & Kotler, 1996) described customer satisfaction as an emotion resulting from the evaluation of the balance between the services described and provided against the felt needs that motivated the purchase decision.

THE IMPORTANCE OF MEASURING QUALITYTechnical measurements of network quality performed by regulators are very important for promoting competition. The key aspects to effectively and objectively measure quality are: • Consider a combination of statistical measures generated by the operator and third party testing.• Use automated methods for drive tests, with no manual intervention.• Perform tests on an end-to-end basis on a single network.• Apply a significant call sample size to ensure test results are representative of the network situation within the area of service.• Use sufficient testing times of at least 24 hours. Tests conducted from user terminals, through various applications, provide one-sided information that depends on factors outside the network:• Number of users• Average speed measurement methodology• Sample update• User location• Quality of the measurement reporting device and its use profile Applications used as measurement tools could be a reference, but under no circumstances should they be the only way to measure quality. By no means can they be used as a basis for subsequent sanctions for failing to reach certain levels.OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDYTo conduct a opening analysis on customer perception and expectation on the following dimensions ofa) Dependability of the service providedb) Guarantee given by the customer service executivec) Substantiality aspect of the service provider’s stored) Understanding of the customer service executivee) Reaction of the customer service executiveLITERATURE REVIEW

Service quality can be described as a rationale of differences between expectation and competence along the important quality dimensions. In the ‘Journal of Marketing’ (Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry 1985) identified ten requirements useful for customers’ evaluation of the quality of services: reliability, responsiveness, tangibles, communication, credibility, security, competence, courtesy, understanding the customers and service accessibility. (Zeithaml, Parasuraman, and Berry 1990) proposed a service quality scale (service quality), a generic instrument that has five dimensions of service quality: reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles, the constructs were found to have high correlation.This instrument continues to be widely used in marketing studies of customer satisfaction and consumer preference.(P. Kotler, G. Amstrong 2006), in spite of some argument that other models may be better. The stage of performance that a top quality service will need to give was conditioned through the expectation of the customers. Service quality is judged low when the performance was below expectation. The service quality model is a common diagnostic tool used to measure customer service and perceived satisfaction. Reliability is the service company ability to deliver promises on time. (A. Q. Othman, L. Owen 2000, 2001) In this study we focused on five factors that could predict the quality of the service provided by the investigated telecommunication service provider. Responsiveness is the degree to which customers perceive service providers’ readiness to assist them promptly. Assurance is the degree of courtesy of service providers’ workers and their ability to communicate trust to customers. (Zeithaml, Parasuraman, and Berry 1990) and (Hernon P, Nitecki D.A 2001)Empathy is the care and importance the service provider gives to an individual customer, and the degree to which specific customer needs and preferences can be understood and articulated. Lastly, tangibility is the evidence of facilities, personnel, and communication materials used by the company while offering services to customers. (Bitner & Zeithaml, 2003) identified that satisfaction is the customers’ evaluation of the fulfillment of their requirements and expectations from a product or service. As said by (Boselie, Hesselink, & Wiele, 2002) satisfaction is a positive, affective state resulting from the review of all aspects of an organization’s working relationship with another.

(Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2000) Customer satisfaction is a personal feeling of either pleasure or disappointment resulting.In dynamic business environment, the role of customer is changing.(Taylor & Baker, 1994) The changing paradigm of business has made the provision of quality of services as top priority for organizations. Customer-focused strategy has become a means of competitive advantage and survival for organizations Perceived service quality and its measurement has become essential focus for the organization in designing and implementing a customer oriented strategy (MacStravic, 1977). Reichheld and Sasser (1990) concluded that customer satisfaction is vital in attracting new customer and retaining the existing customers. (Holbrook, 1994) Researchers have emphasized distinct conceptualizations of quality In operation management, reliability and fitness of use define quality. (Parasuraman et al., 1988) whereas in marketing and economics, attributes of products constitute quality. In services, quality is concerned with the overall assessment of the services Garvin (1988) identified performance, features, conformance, reliability, durability, serviceability, aesthetics, and customer perception of quality based on service provider’s image. Parasuraman et al., (1988) Measuring service quality enables organization to know its position in the market and provides a strategic advantage to enhance its competitiveness. Measurement of service quality presents areas of strengths and weaknesses that offer opportunities to the organizations to initiate appropriate response to focus and improve salient attributes of customer perceived service quality. Through formal surveys of customers in different industries and focus group, developed a list of characteristics that define service.STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMThe problem statement is generated from the consideration that service quality is an important matter to bring more customers, retain the existing ones and create loyalty among customers. The problem of this study is driven by the need to empirically measure service delivery of mobile services in Thanjavur district. The position of customer satisfaction with service quality is not so clear, as to what extent customers are satisfied

with the service quality they are delivered. Furthermore, there is not such evidence from documentation or any previously done research in measuring customer satisfaction with service quality in mobile telecommunication industry, especially public sector mobile phone service provider in the study area. Airtel, Vodafone, BSNL, Idea, & Jio is one of the leading public sector units providing comprehensive range of telecom services in India.Therefore, this study represents a first research in the area of customer satisfaction with service qualities provided by the Airtel, Vodafone, BSNL, Idea, & Jio, a public sector mobile phone service operator, in Thanjavur district of Tamilnadu.RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Methods of Data CollectionAn empirical study is conducted on the data collected through an direct survey based on customers of Tamil Nadu. It is an exploratory research in which respondents were asked to assess their perception of various items of different constructs, including factors identified as the five dimension of service quality.Sample Design and Sample SizePrimary data were collected from customers of different telecom service providers across Tamil Nadu. Sampling Unit: Target group Mobile phone users of top five Service providers viz. Airtel, Vodafone, BSNL, Idea, & JioSample Size: 212 (mobile phone users across the state of Tamil Nadu).STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES USEDSimple percentage method and cross tabulation using Microsoft Excel are used in this study.ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Table - 1Correlation between consumer potential and responsiveness of

Service quality of mobile phone serviceVariables reliability, responsiveness assurance empathy

reliability, .782**responsiveness .678** .773**

Assurance .590** .525** .890**empathy .573** .542** .558** .558**

The results of the study reflect that all factors have positive correlations. Table indicates that the relationship among variables is significant (p < 0.001).Table - 2

OVERALL CUSTOMER' PERCEPTION ABOUT SERVICE QUALITY

DimensionPerception Expectation Gap

Mean Score Mean Score(%)

Mean Score Mean Score(%)

Mean Score

Reliability, 21.74 52.11 28.16 73.31 -3.14Responsiveness 14.77 50.75 22.07 80.96 -9.3Assurance 17.53 61.61 22.92 75.43 -6.39Empathy 15.94 44.54 28.30 82.71 -13.36

Source: Primary dataAbove table shows the difference between customers’ expectations and perceptions of the service quality in mobile phone services provided by the Airtel, Vodafone, BSNL, Idea, & Jio in the study area. Out of maximum score of 154, the average expectation and perception score obtained by the respondents for overall service quality was 128.47 and 85.74.The difference between expectation and perception score was -83.42, which indicates wide service quality gap perceived by the respondents. The highly perceived Service Quality Factors among the customers is Reliability since its mean score is 21.74. The second Service Quality Factor perceived by the customer's is Assurance since their mean score is 17.53. The next three Service Quality Factors perceived by the customers is substantial’s, Empathy and responsiveness since their mean scores are 15.94 and 14.77 respectively. However, the highest negative gap score was found in empathy (mean score of -13.36) followed by Responsiveness (mean score of -9.30). The gap score obtained for Tangibles, Reliability, and Assurance was-7.42 and -6.39 respectively. Table further revealed that the respondents have secured negative mean gap score for all four service quality dimension such as Tangibles, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance and Empathy. Therefore, it can be inferred from the table that the customers have high expectation whereas they perceived low towards the quality of service provided by the study unit. The mobile phones services provided by the Airtel, Vodafone, BSNL, Idea, & JIO is not up to the expectations of mobile phone users.

FINDINGS, SUGGESTION AND CONCLUSION

FINDINGS

The study reflects that all factors have positive correlations. Expectation and perception score was -83.42, which indicates wide service quality gap perceived by the respondents. The highly perceived Service Quality Factors among the customers is Reliability since its mean score is 21.74. The second Service Quality Factor perceived by the customer's is Assurance since their mean score is 17.53. The next three Service Quality Factors perceived by the customers is substantial’s, Empathy and responsiveness since their mean scores are 15.94 and 14.77 respectively. However, the highest negative gap score was found in empathy (mean score of -13.36) followed by Responsiveness (mean score of -9.30). The gap score obtained for Tangibles, Reliability, and Assurance was-7.42 and -6.39 respectively. Table further revealed that the respondents have secured negative mean gap score for all four service quality dimension such as Tangibles, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance and Empathy. Therefore, it can be inferred from the table that the customers have high expectation whereas they perceived low towards the quality of service provided by the study unit. The mobile phones services provided by the Airtel, Vodafone, BSNL, Idea, & Jio is not up to the expectations of mobile phone users.SUGGESTIONImproved service quality will facilitate satisfaction of those unsatisfied customers of a mobile phone service provider. It is to be mentioned that the mobile phone service provider need to make realistic accurate promises that reflect the services actually delivered. A thorough market research need to be conducted to determine the derived customer expectation and their requirement. Solutions to improve quality of service are specific to each case and require particular measures by operators and regulators.CONCLUSIONQuality of service is a factor of competition in the mobile market. Because of this, operators continuously strive to improve quality and adapt it to their business strategy. This study aims to conduct a gap analysis on the customer perceptions and expectations of service

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