Validation of Servqual Model in Star Hotels Pertaining to Bengaluru City

 

Sunil M P¹*, Dr Shobharani H², Anna K Mathew³, Ann Rose E³

¹Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce, Christ University, Bengaluru

²Assistant Professor, Department of PG Studies in Commerce, Kuvempu university, Kadur

³Research Scholar, Department of Commerce, Christ University, Bengaluru

 

ABSTRACT:

Service sector is very pivotal in the contemporary world. It adds majorly to the sustainable development of an economy. Hotels contribute significantly towards service sector. Service quality is the need of the hour and it is highly relevant in attaining success for any organization. Hotels are no exception to such organizations. To earn competitive edge over rival companies it is important for every hotel to ensure high standards of service quality. This research paper has identified gaps between customer expectations and perception regarding services received by the customers. The research was done by using the widely accepted SERVQUAL model in star hotels pertaining to Bengaluru city. The findings have proved that the 5-dimensional structure of SERVQUAL model has been very useful in determining such gaps. Quality is in stable and it is perceived differently by various customers. Thus, it is concluded that hotel managers must make sincere efforts to attain customer satisfaction and high end customer loyalty. It is further recommended that hotel managers must analyze and evaluate quality and quantity of services for various seasons to identify the gaps between customer perception and expectation enabling them to judiciously remove such gaps, which ultimately helps in retaining valued customers.

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

“An experience becomes widely cherished if it is quality-filled and setting high standards”.

 

Competence cannot be an ignorant factor anymore in any field. Every industry must devise unique strategies to prove their mettle and survive in the market. Service quality is the need of the hour. It has to be established and experienced in every important industry or sector.The hospitality industry is no different.

 

Maintaining service quality is thus, the most pivotal “Unique Selling Proposition” (USP) of the contemporary service sector. Hotels secure a safe place under hospitality industry as the demands for the same have only increased in number. This is due to the way people live their lives today. Prioritizing hotel services over other amenities is the newly observed practice which has broken the conventional one of relaxing at one’s home and never going out. Today, hotel giants and restaurants work relentlessly to provide world class experience to its customers. On a constant basis, hotels evaluate and revamp their service deliverables and dimensions. It is the industry where service quality must be maintained uncompromisingly as customers prioritize quality above other material benefits. Customers’ perceptions and expectations from a particular hotel or accommodation are very subjective. Their culture, educational background, age, sex, etc. highly influence their feedback on such quality measures experienced in hotels. How do these hotels evaluate they are still demanding and profitable? They have to resort to some mechanisms and practices which impartially assess their quality of services. SERVQUAL instrument can be used to ensure service quality. Since its commencement in 1988, the SERVQUAL has been widely used in service quality research and has become a popular measurement for measuring service quality within the hospitality industry.  SERVQUAL assumes that service quality is a comparison of expected performance with perceived performance. The SERVQUAL model consists of 22 statements for assessing consumer (guest) perceptions and expectations regarding the quality of a service in the hotel industry.  Moreover, it serves many purposes in the service industries, as SERVQUAL has an applicationfor keeping the track of the dynamic service quality of an organization, which is acquired by making a periodic survey of the existing customers in the various service industries.

 

Performance evaluation system must be established in hotels on a cemented base to win that extra edge over its rivals. Organizations toil round the clock to satisfy all the demands of the customers possible.  The biggest asset of any concern is customer loyalty and hotels are no exceptions.  Hotel industry needs to provide quality service delivery that enhances the customer satisfaction and thereby leads to positive behavioral intention. The customer satisfaction leads to repeated purchases and word-of-mouth recommendation.

 

HOTEL INDUSTRY IN THE INDIAN ECONOMY:

Indian economy is escalating to a wider dimension at a constant pace. The hotel industry is one of the major contributors to the Indian economy. The touristic element, exotic ambiance, thescope for high customization in its services etc. are some of the factors which lead to no dearth for customer’s interests in hotels.The economy is favorable when productive contributions flood into it from various sectors. Hotels shape the economy to an extent through its productive contributions towards the same.

 

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SERVQUAL AND HOTEL INDUSTRY:

Customers are the most influential promoters of hotels. Every hotel effectively crafts strategies to retain their existing customers as well as attract new ones. It is very vital to meet their current service quality expectations and perceptions in the hotel industry because it leads to customer satisfaction through implementation of the service quality within the hospitality services.

 

Service quality can be determined in scrutinizing the elements of availability and styles. Apart from these general requirements, hotel industry must adopt the latest technology which is quality filled to increase its customer base and standards.

 

Flawless services from the trained staff of a hotel are very important for customers. The hotel’s cleanliness, infrastructure, and other allied facilities must be of theremarkable benchmark. Customers constantly compare their expectations with what they receive in a hotel. Customer’s perception of service quality has been measured and evaluated based on five dimensions: reliability, assurance, tangibility, empathy, and responsiveness.

 

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

Numerous research studies have been done to measure the quality of services that the hotel industry provides to its customers and the level of customer satisfaction. Providing effective and transparent services is one of the success indicators of any concern. The relevance of these studies is more in today’s scenario as the quality of this sector seems to be deteriorating1. SERVQUAL, a service quality assessment tool has been widely applied in a variety of businesses and organizations since its inception2. Albeit there are different models and methods to measure the customer satisfaction and service quality, SERVQUAL is the extensively applied tool. The main five dimensions of SERVQUAL are tangibles, reliability, assurance, empathy, and responsiveness as introduced by Parasuraman et al (1988)3, 4. According to Parasuraman and the model, the difference between the customer expectation and perception is the service quality i.e. Q = P – E5. The model provides an ideal conceptual frame for research and service quality measurement in the service sector6.

 

 A study was conducted in 2010 to examine customer satisfaction level and the pivotal factors contributing to customer satisfaction in a five-star hotel in Kandy district. The questionnaire was framed on SERVQUAL model basis with its five dimensions and it was observed that the customers were satisfied with the holistic hotel service they received7. Whereas a study conducted in Ujjain city discloses that the customers were dissatisfied with the service quality of the hotels.

 

This model also projected a gap between customer expectation and customer perception1. Similarly, a study conducted in Ludhiana, also revealed that the hotel industry services were not meeting the expectations of the customers2. The task of hotels under such scenarios is to establish anew business strategy that would bring augmented profits coupled with customer loyalty4. Need for quality-filled services, thesatisfaction of customers and their happiness exist in other countries as well. SuzanaMarkovic in her study to examine the gap between expectations and perceptions of customers of Croatian and Slovenian hotels concludes that the customers have high expectations for service quality and the pivotal factors contributing to the success of hotels are assurance and reliability8. In Iran, the gaps identified in the study state that the delivered service performance is lower than customer’s expectation and the highest gap among other SERVQUAL dimensions being price 9. Whereas in Turkey, the relevant factor in forecasting the business travelers overall service quality evaluation was reliability10. A study conducted on Canadian travelers also revealed that quality of services has both direct and indirect effects through emotional satisfaction based on the customers’ behavioral intentions11.

 

As themajority of the research studies show significant gaps between customer expectation and perception, the hotel management must try to establish implement new strategies, models, and frameworks that would enhance thesatisfaction of the customers. Empathy was identified as the weakest dimension of satisfaction and the strongest being tangibility12. Effective communication is one of the major steps to achieve employee satisfaction and increase customer satisfaction13. Along with communication, security and confidentiality were also relevant dimensions of SERVQUAL model for the customers14. The need of the hour is that the hotel industry must resort to adopting latest technology and constantly review the services rendered as per the customer expectations15.

Although many research studies are being conducted to measure the quality of services and satisfaction of customers, most of these studies lack strong and convincing theoretical base16. This is thus a major drawback of the studies conducted before. The gaps identified in these studies can be filled in by bringing changes in hotel management styles17.

 

NEED AND SCOPE OF THE STUDY:

Hotel Industry is flourishing at a rocketed pace especially in the Indian market. The variant quality filled services provided by them have attracted an increasing number of customers towards the same. The remarkable facilities, customized services, warm hospitality etc. are some of the pivotal factors which have contributed to the effective establishment of hotel industries in India. Hence, studying more about the various services provided by hoteliers is very relevant today as it has the power to shape the Indian economy’s growth. Often, there can be gaps identified between what a customer expects and experiences in a hotel. This research paper aims to understand the various services and products provided by the hoteliers to the individual customers and to identify the gaps between what a customer expects and perceives from the same.

 

OBJECTIVES:

The study is conducted to find out if any gaps exist between the services offered by hoteliers and the expectations of the customers by validating it with the help of SERVQUAL model. Thus, the current research study focuses on the following objectives:

1. To identify the difference between the expectation and perception of the customers on the services offered by Star Hotels in Bengaluru.

2. To identify the gap scores and the most important factor that influences the customer satisfaction.

 

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

The paper aims to study the quality of the service provided by the hotel industry in Bengaluru city. The model developed by Parasuraman, Berry and Zeithaml in 1988, popularly known as SERVQUAL model is used to achieve the objectives of the study.

 

The data was collected using questionnaire based on the SERVQUAL model. The main 5 dimensions of the model were taken into consideration which are namely;

·         Tangibles (4 attributes)

·         Reliability (5 attributes)

·         Responsiveness (4 attributes)

·         Assurance (4 attributes)

·         Empathy (5 attributes)

 

The questionnaire was distributed among the customers of 3 star, 4 star and 5 star hotels in Bengaluru. 5 point Likert scale was used in the questionnaire with degrees from 1 to 5 i.e.; very low to very high. 386 responses were collected out of which only 354 responses were relevant for the study. The reliability test of the pilot study showed a result of 0.984. The reliability of the study was found using the Cronbach’s Alpha which generally considers value above 0.6 as satisfactory level.

 

Table 1: Reliability Test

Reliability Statistics

Cronbach's Alpha	N of Items
.984	45

 

The questionnaire included 22 questions which were based on 22 attributes of 5 main dimensions of SERVQUAL model considered for the study. Each question had 2 likert scales, one measuring the customer expectation and the other measuring the customer perception. Weighted average method and Paired sample T-TEST have been used to analyze the data collected. The gap scores are calculated by finding the difference between the weighted average of customer expectation and customer perception.

LIMITATIONS:

The study is conducted only among star hotels in Bengaluru. Thus, the sample size is restricted within the areas of Bengaluru. Thus, the results of this study may not be generalized for the overall population. But this research will surely provide deep insights to conduct further research.

 

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION:

The first objective of the study to find the significant difference between the customer expectation and perception has been calculated using the weighted average method. The responses have been collected using a 5 point likert scale, very low – low – moderate – high – very high. The gap has been found for all the statements made in the questionnaire. The average of customer expectation and perception has been calculated and the differences between these averages have been used to analyze the gap for each dimension.

The Table shown below depicts the weighted average of customer expectations on the 22 statements of 5 dimensions. The customers expect more on the empathy factor from the service providers. In Tangibles dimension the most important factor is the employee appearances and neatness (3.27).The accuracy of hotels in record keeping (3.26) is the important factor in reliability and the way of treating the guests by the employees (3.33) is the important factor in the dimension of responsiveness. The safety and security that the hotel provides is the most influencing factor in assurance and staff politeness of empathy is considered as the most important factors of the dimensions. Therefore the customers expect the service providers to be more focused on the above mentioned statements out of the total 22 statements. Majority of the responses lie in the low and moderate scales when compared to the other scales. In other words, from Table 1 it can be understood that the customers expect for a safe and secure place to stay with neat and clean employees and timely services.

 

Table 2:  Weighted Average of Customer Expectation

EXPECTATION	1	2	3	4	5	WEIGHTED AVERAGE
	VERY LOW	LOW	MODERATE	HIGH	VERY HIGH
TANGIBLES
ST1	12	99	135	60	48	3.09
ST2	9	93	138	51	63	3.19
ST3	6	72	156	60	60	3.27
ST4	15	87	141	60	51	3.13
RELIABILITY
ST5	15	75	150	54	60	3.19
ST6	12	84	135	57	66	3.23
ST7	6	96	141	42	69	3.20
ST8	12	63	171	36	72	3.26
ST9	12	69	159	60	54	3.21
RESPONSIVENESS
ST10	9	90	144	57	54	3.16
ST11	3	72	156	51	72	3.33
ST12	3	84	138	78	51	3.25
ST13	0	96	138	57	63	3.25
ASSURANCE
ST14	15	84	126	69	60	3.21
ST15	24	90	123	60	57	3.10
ST16	9	90	138	69	48	3.16
ST17	3	96	141	78	36	3.14
EMPATHY
ST18	3	102	126	60	63	3.22
ST19	15	69	138	78	54	3.25
ST20	12	72	171	39	60	3.18
ST21	12	87	141	60	54	3.16
ST22	0	39	174	81	60	3.46

 

 

Table 3 shows the weighted average of customer perception. Major responses have been placed at low to moderate scale. According to the table above, the maximum scores are for the accuracy of record keeping (2.84), neatness and cleanliness of the employees (2.75), safety and security of the hotel (2.73), friendly manner of employees (2.72), consistency of services provided (2.66). It can be interpreted from the table that the service providers do not satisfy the needs and expectations of the customers and therefore a significant gap exists between the customer expectations and perceptions. The hotels should focus more on the expectations of the customers and should improve the services provided

 

 

Table 3: Weighted Average of Customer Perception

PERCEPTION	1	2	3	4	5	WEIGHTED AVERAGE
	VERY LOW	LOW	MODERATE	HIGH	VERY HIGH
TANGIBLES
ST1	48	147	90	54	15	2.55
ST2	45	141	90	60	18	2.62
ST3	42	108	123	60	21	2.75
ST4	60	123	87	69	15	2.59
RELIABILITY
ST5	66	111	111	51	15	2.54
ST6	60	102	117	54	21	2.64
ST7	63	123	99	60	9	2.52
ST8	39	87	150	48	30	2.84
ST9	48	129	93	63	21	2.66
RESPONSIVENES
ST10	72	132	75	57	18	2.48
ST11	54	105	111	54	30	2.72
ST12	51	147	96	48	12	2.5
ST13	54	120	99	60	21	2.64
ASSURANCE
ST14	72	84	99	66	33	2.73
ST15	66	129	96	48	15	2.48
ST16	63	126	111	42	12	2.47
ST17	48	132	99	60	15	2.61
EMPATHY
ST18	81	117	90	45	21	2.46
ST19	57	141	102	33	21	2.49
ST20	66	129	78	54	27	2.57
ST21	48	141	102	48	15	2.55
ST22	24	150	126	33	21	2.66

 

 

According to table 4 the maximum gap is between the expectations and perception of the staff politeness of empathy dimension (0.80). This is followed by the individualized attention given to the guests by the service providers (0.76) and priorities of hotels (0.76) of empathy dimension. The least gap is found for the statement of accuracy of record keeping (0.42). The hotel industries must train the employees to provide the guests with timely and punctual services at the top quality and in well-manner. The highest gap is found in the empathy dimension which means that the customers are not happy with the manners and politeness of the staffs and employees.

 

 

Table 4: Gap Scores

STATEMENT NUMBER	WEIGHTED AVERAGE	WEIGHTED AVERAGE	DIFFERECE
	EXPECTATIONS	PERCEPTION
TANGIBLES
ST1	3.09	2.55	0.54
ST2	3.19	2.62	0.57
ST3	3.27	2.75	0.52
ST4	3.13	2.59	0.54
RELIABILITY
ST5	3.19	2.54	0.65
ST6	3.23	2.64	0.59
ST7	3.20	2.52	0.68
ST8	3.26	2.84	0.42
ST9	3.21	2.66	0.55
RESPONSIVENESS
ST10	3.16	2.48	0.68
ST11	3.33	2.72	0.61
ST12	3.25	2.5	0.75
ST13	3.25	2.64	0.61
ASSURANCE
ST14	3.21	2.73	0.48
ST15	3.10	2.48	0.62
ST16	3.16	2.47	0.69
ST17	3.14	2.61	0.53
EMPATHY
ST18	3.22	2.46	0.76
ST19	3.25	2.49	0.76
ST20	3.18	2.57	0.61
ST21	3.16	2.55	0.61
ST22	3.46	2.66	0.80

Table 5: Average of Gap Scores

Tangibles WMS		Reliability WMS		Responsiveness WMS		Assurance WMS		Empathy WMS
ST1	0.54	ST5	0.65	ST10	0.68	ST14	0.48	ST18	0.76
ST2	0.57	ST6	0.59	ST11	0.61	ST15	0.62	ST19	0.76
ST3	0.52	ST7	0.68	ST12	0.75	ST16	0.69	ST20	0.61
ST4	0.54	ST8	0.42	ST13	0.61	ST17	0.53	ST21	0.61
		ST9	0.55					ST22	0.80
Average	0.54		0.58		0.66		0.58		0.71

 

Paired sample T-test has been used and has compared the following dimensions;

·         Expectation and Perception on Tangibles (ET and PT).

·         Expectation and Perception on Reliability (RELE and REL P)

·         Expectation and Perception on Responsiveness (REE and REP).

·         Expectation and Perception on Assurance (AE and AP).

·         Expectation and Perception on Empathy (EA and EP)

 

The following hypothesis has also been framed to achieve the objectives of the study:

H01: There is no significant gap between the customer expectations and perception of Tangibles dimension

H02: There is no significant gap between the customer expectations and perception on Reliability dimension.

H03: There is no significant gap between the customer expectations ad perception of Responsiveness dimension.

H04: There is no significant gap between the customer expectations and customer perception of Assurance dimension.

H05: There is no significant gap between the customer expectations and perception on empathy dimension.

 

Table 6: Paired Sample T-TEST

Paired Samples Test
		Paired Differences					t	df	Sig. (2-tailed)
		Mean	Std. Deviation	Std. Error Mean	95% Confidence Interval of the Difference
					Lower	Upper
Pair 1	ET - PT	.5932	.6303	.0580	.4783	.7081	10.225	117	.000
Pair 2	REL E - REL P	.6102	.7515	.0692	.4732	.7472	8.820	117	.000
Pair 3	REE - REP	.6695	.8171	.0752	.5205	.8185	8.901	117	.000
Pair 4	AE - AP	.5169	.7248	.0667	.3848	.6491	7.748	117	.000
Pair 5	EE - EP	.7034	.8504	.0783	.5483	.8584	8.985	117	.000

 

From Table 4, it can be understood that significant gap exists between the customer expectation and customer perception. The T-test result shows that all significance values are less than the level of significance (0.05). As a result, the null hypothesis cannot be accepted. The result shows that all variables like Pair 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 has a significance level of .000 which also means that these variables are significant for the study.

 

From all the tests conducted for the study, it has been found that significant gap exists between customer expectation and customer perception in the hotel industry of Bengaluru city. The service providers should be more focused and should work towards fulfilling the expectations of the customers. This study also states different wants and needs of the customers in terms of hotel services. The hotels should provide more cleanly, neat rooms and the employees must be polite and always serve the customers with a smile. In order to gain a competitive edge over others, service providers must be aware of the latest technologies and other factors, most importantly must make the guests feel at home.

 

CONCLUSION:

From the interpretations of the above analysis, it can be very well concluded that there exists a significant gap between what a customer expects and actually experiences. These gaps are pivotal that they need to be filled at the earliest. The gaps are widely identified due to the lack of the perception of the management about the varying customer needs. A proper blueprint should be made to create experiences that are valued and operations that are productive.

 

Another pivotal factor which can be observed from the analysis is the over-promises made by the hotel management to its customers. Also there is a need for a more trained staff behind the front-line albeit the front-line staff exhibited professionalism. It can be finally concluded that the hotels surveyed in star hotels pertaining to Bengaluru lacked in the quality of the services provided and various gaps between a customer’s expectations and perceptions have been identified. These gaps can be filled by bringing relevant changes in the management style of the hotels. The following recommendations may help the hoteliers to fill these gaps.

RECOMMENDATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS:

The SERVQUAL model is a widely accepted and extensively used tool which can be used for various industries. It has been used to analyze service quality in various organizations. This helps in easy comparison between rival companies and also to maintain a competitive edge in the market.

1.       In order to fill the gaps between customers’ expectations and perceptions, it is advisable to have trained staff who are highly polite, courteous, amiable etc. They should possess adequate knowledge regarding effective hotel management skills.

2.       From the conclusion, it can be recommended that the hotel managers should thoroughly comprehend the customers’ expectations to reach such a benchmark. They should be wise in not exaggerating advertisements to increase the expectations of the customers.

3.       Proper standards can be set by the hotel managers to aid the hotels with sufficient resources and allied facilities. Obstacles in communication should be considerably minimized so that an overall cooperation can be received from the entire hotel staff which will increase hotel customers.

4.       Evaluation of the quality of the services rendered in the hotels can be periodically done in different seasons of each year to understand the current deficiencies by evaluating the customers’ expectations and perceptions which aids in improving quality.

5.       As quality is unstable and is perceived differently by separate customers, efforts must be taken by the hotel managers to improve the service quality through personalization and customization. This will automatically increase customer loyalty.

6.       The frequency of customer distribution based on gender, age, nationality, room reservation etc. must be specified by the hotel managers to meet customer satisfaction based on their interests and needs.

7.       The job satisfaction of the personnel must be considered by the hotel managers which will ultimately improve their interest in work. Else, it may decrease service quality which will lead to non-satisfaction of customers.

 

Hence, the current research paper has validated SERVQUAL model application by applying 5 point Likert scale for measuring and evaluating service quality and identifying the gap in gaining customer satisfaction among the star hotels in Bengaluru.

 

 

 

 

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Received on 04.11.2017          Modified on 13.12.2017

Accepted on 05.01.2018           ©A&V Publications All right reserved

Asian Journal of Management. 2018; 9(1):393-399.