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Factors important for the selection of fast food restaurants: an empirical study across three cities of Pakistan
Usman Ehsan
Asian Society of Management and Marketing Research, Islamabad, Pakistan
Abstract
Purpose There are different factors that affect customers experiences at restaurants, and this could lead towards the selection or rejection of a fast food restaurant. The primary purpose of this study is to explore the factors that are important for the selection of restaurants and also to identify the cultural or regional differences in consumer behaviours amongst student customers in relation to international fast food restaurants. Design/methodology/approach A total of 447 questionnaires were randomly distributed among university students of three cities. Data analysis was done in SPSS Version 17. Important factors were identied by factor analysis and ANOVA was used to measure the differences (among cities). Findings According to the ndings, customers considered price, variety of food, promotional deals and timely service as the important factors for the selection of fast food restaurants. Different factors were found in different cities. This implies that the choice and selection criteria of customers from different cities in the same country for fast food restaurants may vary. Research limitations/implications The results of this study should only be generalised to the fast food sector as the research only explored the fast food industry. The respondents were selected only from university students of three cities in Pakistan. Other customer segments and geographical areas should be included in future studies. Practical implications The results enable marketers to focus on key points in formulating different strategies, like designing the pricing strategy, the service blueprint, the menu, and positioning and promotional strategies, so that they can provide memorable experiences to customers. The ndings also suggest that while operating in multicultural countries, customers need to observe closely. Also, adaptation to local cultures should not be limited to the national level; it should also be tailored to the regional level (cities). Originality/value This paper puts forward the selection criteria for fast food restaurants in a large and ethnically diverse country like Pakistan. The paper also provides useful information for both academicians and marketers about new and emerging areas in how consumer choices vary in culturally diverse nations. Keywords Services marketing, Customer preferences, Customer behaviour, Fast food, Restaurants, Culture, Consumer behaviour, Pakistan, Service operations Paper type Research paper

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Received 11 March 2010 Revised 26 November 2010 Accepted 30 April 2011

The author would like to express appreciation to the following for their cooperation in data collection from three cities: Mr Ali Bodla from Islamabad, Mr Bilal Arshad from Gujranwala and Miss Hafsa from Lahore. Their cooperation made the data collection process simple and easy. Good luck for their bright future.

British Food Journal Vol. 114 No. 9, 2012 pp. 1251-1264 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0007-070X DOI 10.1108/00070701211258808

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1. Introduction Continuous study of customer behaviour and perceptions is very important in order to respond efciently to a changing market environment. The studies by Jones et al. (2002), Bukari and Aziz (2009) and Qin and Prybutok (2009) examined customers behaviour towards fast food. To manage and deliver customer service in a better way, understanding of customer choices and priorities is essential. It is a common assertion among management and marketing theorists that customer service quality is essential to business success (Kristensen et al., 1992; Zeithaml et al., 1996; McColl-Kennedy and Schneider, 2000). Delivering superior service quality leads towards higher returns as compared to others (Aaker and Jacobson, 1994). Economic, environmental and social developments and issues are putting increasingly varied and complex pressures on rural areas in many countries (Hall et al., 2003). Following the global trend, the service sector is also growing in Pakistan. The contribution of the services sector to the growth of Pakistans GDP has been more than 50 per cent in recent years. According to the Pakistan Economic Survey 2008-2009, Pakistan has also seen a major transformation in its economic structure, and the share of the service sector was 53.8 per cent. The service sector grew by 3.6 per cent against a target of 6.1 per cent and an actual outcome of 6.6 per cent. The service sector has been an important contributor to Pakistans economic growth over the past ve years by growing at an average of 6.6 per cent annually since 2003-2004. The sub-sectors that contribute most to the service sector include retail trade, wholesale trade, research and educational consultancy services, restaurants and hotels, nancial, construction, and some business services. In Pakistan, there is a growing trend for fast food restaurants. Food services have been among the major recipients of foreign investment worth around $US492m (SMEDA, 2006). The percentage contribution of fast food restaurants and hotels is also augmented by the contribution to overall employment in Pakistan. Restaurants and hotels comprise approximately 15 per cent of total employment in Pakistan (Economic Survey, 2008). Huge FDI and signicant employment of labour clearly depicts a greater contribution to the service sector of the Pakistan economy. In a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (2004), in the section Food and Drinks Forecast Asia and Australia, it is identied that demand is gradually shifting from unprocessed to processed foods. Total retail sales of processed foods amounted to $US1.1bn in 2000. Diet foods are growing in popularity due to rising health consciousness, while fast foods are also becoming popular, especially with younger people. This growth is also evident from the growth of McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Express and many other fast food companies in Pakistan. Fast food chains such as Pizza Hut, Papa Johns, McDonalds, Dominos, KFC and Subway are doing well in Pakistan with a simple strategy of expansion and prots. With the advent of globalisation, Asian eating habits are changing to emulate those of the West, and this is why the consumption of fast food is also on the rise (SMEDA, 2006). Multinational organisations (like McDonalds and other fast food chains) should nd out how they should adjust their entire marketing strategy, including how they sell and distribute, in order to t in with the demands of new markets (Czinkota and Ronkainen, 1995). Pakistan has a population of above 180 million, with a growing middle-class. Approximately one quarter of the total population represents the potential market for fast food, and interestingly it is also rising due to increased affordability. The success

of international fast food chains such as McDonalds, KFC, Pizza Hut, Pizza Express, Subway and others clearly validates the increased desirability of fast food in Pakistan (Austrade, 2009). Understanding the customer perceptions of service quality and value is especially important to international service rms because such perceptions are susceptible to cultural differences (Lee and Ulgado, 1997). Pakistans diversity is amazing, not only from the geographical point of view but also from cultural and lingual perspective and a lot more research is needed to know more about the local perspective as it is not yet fully studied (Parekh, 2010). In todays ever-increasing globalisation of services and brands, service-oriented businesses need to attend to the satisfaction of their customers both domestically and abroad while transcending unique cultural differences (Gilbert et al., 2004). Consumer satisfaction and its determinants are measured in both perspectives; one nation and across nations. Studies measured customer satisfaction of various countries (Anderson et al., 1996; Fornell f, 2001; Gilbert et al., 2004; Goyal and Singh, 2007). et al., 1996; Dermanov and Eklo Studies also compared and analysed customers across the countries and cultures (Lee and Ulgado, 1997; Espinoza, 1999; Gilbert et al., 2004; Gilbert et al., 2004; Cunningham et al., 2006). These researchers studied customer behaviour in fast food but questioned whether there were differences in consumer choices in different cities (in the same country); this still needs to be answered. More specically, objectives of this study are: . to analyse customer behaviour towards fast food across different cities in Pakistan; . to identify the important factors used by customers in the selection of fast food restaurants; and . to study the differences/similarities in important factors considered by customers in different cities for the selection of fast food restaurants. 2. Literature review The fast food market is dened as the sale of food and drinks for immediate consumption either on the premises or in designated eating areas shared with other food service operators, or for consumption elsewhere (Datamonitor, 2009). Most fast food consumers seem to place a greater importance on the quality of a service (value menus) than they do on the costs associated with its acquisition (food only). Marketers need to emphasise the importance of service quality as an operational tactic and strategic objective. Researchers should also understand that service quality is an important decision-making criterion for service consumers (Cronin et al., 2000). The behaviour of the consumer is not always the same it varies from time to time and from person to person. Rapid economic and income growth, urbanisation, and globalisation are leading to a dramatic shift of Asian diets away from staples and increasingly towards livestock and dairy products, vegetables and fruit, and fats and oils (Pingali, 2007). Differences also occur while customers experience goods and services, because each experience is derived from the interaction between the staged event and the individuals prior expectations (Pine and Gilmore, 1999). Marketers should now focus on providing memorable experiences to their customers because it matters most (Pine and Gilmore, 1999). Fast-food marketers should understand consumers perceptions and preferences for fast-food outlets and how they differ across cultures/countries, so that strategies can be

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tailored to improve perceptions of their restaurants and to increase demand (Kara et al., 1995). Differences in perceptions can be observed between the consumers in the different cities of a country (Liu et al., 2007). Fast food restaurants should deliver a mix of services and products that engage customers at an individual level and convert a visit into a memorable event. Commodities are fungible, goods tangible, services intangible, and experiences memorable (Pine and Gilmore, 1999). Customers select a restaurant on the basis of a number of factors. A number of studies have suggested various factors that customers consider important for the selection of fast food outlet. Studies relevant to the objectives of this study have been incorporated in the discussion. Studies with application of models like SERVQUAL, etc., were neither the part of discussion nor the study because focus of these studies was service quality not the selection of fast food restaurants. 3. Research methodology 3.1 Discussion of factors According to Kivela (1997) and a Quick Track (2003) study, critical factors for the selection or rejection of restaurants are food quality and variety. In addition to these factors, customers also prefer a quick-service restaurant (Quick Track, 2003). In the latter study, the taste or avour of the food, cleanliness of the restaurant, accuracy, temperature of the food, quality of the ingredients, value for money, speed of service, friendliness/courtesy, convenience of locations, variety of menu items, availability of healthy/nutritious food, and overall appeal to children were studied. Both males and females are attracted to fast food, but have different factors of attraction. In the study of Aziz and Bukhari (2009), price, quality of food, services provided, packaging style, freshness of food, delivery timings, variety of food, late night offerings, friends gathering, brand image, environment of restaurant, location of restaurant, and cooperation of staff were studied. Males were found to be attracted towards fast food due to cooperation of staff, services provided by the restaurants, taste of food, price and late night offerings, whereas factors for females were brand image, location of restaurant, quality of food and packaging style (Aziz and Bukhari, 2009). With a view to identifying the major attributes for choosing eating outlets, six attributes of fast food outlets variety of food, food taste and quality, ambience and hygiene, service speed, price, and location were studied using a ve-point Likert-type scale (Goyal and Singh, 2007). According to Andersson and Mossberg (2004), there are ve customer satisers: (1) service; (2) ne cuisine; (3) restaurant interior; (4) good company; and (5) other customers in the restaurant. Customer satisfaction was also analysed through using a ve point Likert-type rating scale (1 strongly disagree; 5 strongly agree) consisting of 18 service attributes (Gilbert et al., 2004). The sources of the ten factors used in this study are shown in Table I.

Factors Brand image of restaurant Cooperation of staff Environment of restaurant Location of restaurant Price Promotional deals Timely service Sitting space Taste of food Variety of food

Source Andersson and Mossberg (2004), Liu and Chen (2000), Zopiatis and Pribic (2007) Qin and Prybutok (2009), Quick Track (2003), Gilbert et al. (2004) Andersson and Mossberg (2004), Qin and Prybutok (2009), Goyal and Singh (2007), Gilbert et al. (2004), Zopiatis and Pribic (2007) Goyal and Singh (2007), Quick Track (2003), Zopiatis and Pribic (2007) Goyal and Singh (2007), Bukhari and Aziz (2008), Quick Track (2003), Stewart and Davis (2005) Bukhari and Aziz (2008), Kara et al. (1997), Peattie (1998) Andersson and Mossberg (2004), Qin and Prybutok (2009), Goyal and Singh (2007), Gilbert et al. (2004) Andersson and Mossberg (2004), Qin and Prybutok (2009), Gilbert et al. (2004) Qin and Prybutok (2009), Goyal and Singh (2007), Bukhari and Aziz (2008), Quick Track (2003), Andersson and Mossberg (2004) Qin and Prybutok (2009), Goyal and Singh (2007), Kara et al. (1997)

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Table I. Sources of factors for fast food restaurant selection

3.2 Selection of cities This was the most crucial task for the study to select the cities to observe resemblance and variations in consumer perceptions of fast food restaurants across cultures. First, these three were selected on the basis of convenience of data collection. These were Islamabad (capital of Pakistan), Lahore (capital of Punjab) and Gujranwala. Second, these cities were also selected because most fast food outlets operate in Islamabad, Lahore and other metropolitan cities, where the majority of urban, Western culture has been greatly advanced (Wikipedia, n.d.). 3.3 Selection of factors Factors for the selection of fast food restaurants used in this study were: . variety of food; . taste of food; . sitting space; . timely service; . promotional deals; . price; . location of restaurant; . environment of restaurant; . cooperation of staff; and . brand image of restaurant (Table I).

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There found a list of factors, so in order to limit the factors only those factors were used that had been studied in two or more previous studies. 3.4 Sample selection and size University students were considered as actual and direct consumers of fast food (Lee and Ulgado, 1997; Goyal and Singh, 2007; Aziz and Bukhari, 2009). Students (homogenous sample) were chosen as the respondents in all three cities in this study because as a sample they provide more precise results and predictions and statistically valid conclusions (Calder et al., 1981). Sample sizes for each of the three cities were based up convenience sampling including undergraduate and graduate business students, as in the studies of Espinoza (1999), Cunningham et al. (2006) and Goyal and Singh (2007) due to budget and time constraints. Convenience sampling (which is relatively quick and cost-effective) was found to be adequate as the purpose of the research was to explore the importance of factors and differences in consumers selection criteria (Calder et al., 1981). The literature recommends a sample size of 65-150 (OCass and Grace, 2004), but for better generalisability and measurement (Nunnally, 1978), the size of a convenience sample should be above or near to 300. In this study a total of 600 questionnaires were delivered over the three cities (200 in each city). 3.5 Instrument and data collection An English version of the printed questionnaire was distributed among students (an Urdu version could also have been used, but as the language of teaching in universities in Pakistan is English, the understanding the language was not a problem). The questionnaire was organised in three sections. The rst section concerned the respondents demographic prole. The second section analysed customer behaviour towards fast food restaurants, while in the third section respondents were asked to rate the importance the various factors in the selection of restaurants. These factors were developed on ve point Likert scale, where 5 strongly important and 1 not at all important (Gilbert et al., 2004; Zopiatis and Pribic, 2007). Questionnaires were distributed among students in university timings (in campuses) to achieve better response rate. 3.6 Data analysis An overview of descriptive statistics is presented in Table II. The responses were analysed using factor analysis and ANOVA, as has been used by different researchers (Lee and Ulgado, 1997; Gilbert et al., 2004; Aziz and Bukhari, 2009). Factor analysis was used to identify the important factors for the selection of restaurants individually (see Table III) and a one-way ANOVA was used to compare means of these variables with respect to the city of respondent Table IV). 4. Results 4.1 Analysis of customers prole In total, 447 useable questionnaires were recorded including 94 from city A (Islamabad, response rate 47 per cent), 194 from city B (Lahore, response rate 97 per cent) and 159 from city C (Gujranwala, response rate 79.5 per cent). Sample characteristics and consumption patterns of customers are shown in Table II. Low participation was found in city A due to respondents busy time schedules (most of the respondents refused to

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Variables Gender of respondent Male Female Qualication Graduation Masters

City A 61.7 38.3 28.7 71.3

City B 54.6 45.4 52.6 47.4 72.7 19.6 7.7 5.2 35.6 59.2 6.2 46.9 2.1 39.7 5.2 8.2 55.2 36.6 21.6 41.2 17.0 9.3 10.8 35.6 18.0 32.5 13.9

City C 65.4 34.6 62.3 37.7 76.7 17.0 6.3 5.0 32.7 62.3 6.3 46.5 3.1 42.1 1.9 9.4 68.6 22.0 20.8 49.7 11.9 8.2 9.4 55.9 10.7 17.6 15.7

Overall 60 40 54.1 45.9 77.4 16.1 6.5 4.5 34.7 60.8 5.4 45.9 2.7 41.4 4.7 7.8 63.1 30.1 24.2 43.0 14.1 8.7 10.7 42.7 15.4 25.7 16.8

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Visits to fast food restaurants per week 1-3 times 88.3 4-5 times 7.4 Daily 4.3 With whom fast food restaurants are visited Alone 2.1 Family 36.2 Friends 61.8 Reason to go to fast food restaurants Time saving 2.1 Change of taste 42.6 Economical 3.2 Outing 43.6 Others 8.5 Place to enjoy eating fast food Home 4.3 Restaurants 70.2 Both 24.5 Weekly spend Below 500 501-1,000 1,001-1,500 1,501-2,000 Above 2,000 35.1 35.1 11.7 8.5 9.2

Preferred fast food restaurants KFC 31.9 McDonalds 18.1 Pizza Hut 25.5 Others 24.5

Table II. Sample characteristics of respondents

respond). The percentage of male respondents of city A was 61.7 per cent; females comprised 38.3 per cent. Overall males were dominant with 60 per cent. Students of higher studies dominated with a percentage of 71.3 per cent in city A, around equal participation of both Masters and graduation in city B, but in city C those students studying for a Bachelors degree were most prominent with 62.3 per cent, wherein overall graduates comprised 54 per cent and Masters were 45.9 per cent.

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Factor 0.878 0.850 0.752 0.799 3.80 38 70.52 1.24 12.5 0.835 1.12 11.2 0.88 8.82 3.49 34.98 63.33 0.99 9.98 0.821 0.95 9.57 0.821

Price Timely service Variety of food Image of restaurant Promotional deals/offers Eigenvalue Percentage of variance Cumulative percentage

Notes: Extraction method: principal component analysis; rotation method: Varimax with Kaiser normalisation; rotation converged in six iterations; only important variables and values are shown

Table III. Factors identied across cities F1 City A (Islamabad) F2 F3 F4 F1 City B (Lahore) F2 F3 F4 0.909 0.769 0.693 0.88 8.8 4.01 40.18 67.31 1.00 10.05 0.788 0.911 9.10 0.799 7.98 F1 City C (Gujranwala) F2 F3 F4 0.918

Customers visiting fast food restaurants one to three times a week outnumbered those visiting four to ve times a week or daily. The number of individual customers going to fast food restaurants was nominal, whereas the number of those going with friends and family was signicant approximately 60 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively. There was a lesser number of fast food customers who enjoy fast food only at home, while restaurants were found to be the most popular places top enjoy fast food in all cities (Table II); overall, restaurants were the favourite place for 63 per cent of respondents. There were also many customers who liked eating fast food both in restaurants and at home. In city A, 70 per cent of customers were spending up to PKR1,000 weekly, while the remaining customers spent more than PKR1,000 weekly. In city B, the percentage of customers spending PKR1,000 weekly was above 60 percent, with the remainder spending more. More than 70 per cent of respondents city C spent up to PKR1,000 weekly, with the remainder spending more. On comparing the consumption patterns of the cities with the overall percentages, no signicant differences were observed; the percentages were quite similar (Table II). Previous studies have also used students as direct customers of fast food (Lee and Ulgado, 1997; Goyal and Singh, 2007; Aziz and Bukhari, 2009), so one can easily generalise the results over the population. 4.2 Factor analysis First, critical values of factor analysis like the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy, Bartletts test of sphericity and Cronbachs a were checked to ensure quality of measurement (see Table V). KMO, which measures the distribution of values, was 0.80, which is adequate for conducting factor analysis for all cities (George and Mallery, 2006). Barletts test of sphericity was highly acceptable, with a signicant value of 0.000 for all samples. Cronbachs a was ideally acceptable in overall analysis

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Sum of squares Promotional deals/offers Variety of food Image of restaurant Timely service Price 5.665 1.824 6.031 8.347 5.587

df 2 2 2 2 2

Mean square 2.833 0.912 3.016 4.174 2.794

F 2.062 0.853 2.756 4.001 2.148

Signicance 0.128 0.427 0.065 0.019 0.118

Table IV. ANOVA

Test Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy Bartletts test of sphericity Approximate x 2 df Signicance Cronbachs a

Islamabad 0.828 259.728 45 0.000 0.469

Lahore 0.830 387.061 45 0.000 0.582

Gujranwala 0.859 423.810 45 0.000 0.682

Overall 0.868 991.027 45 0.000 0.805 Table V. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling adequacy, Bartletts test of sphericity and Cronbachs a

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at 0.805, while it was marginally acceptable in city A with a value of 0.469 (i.e. close to 0.5). It was acceptable in the case of city B (0.582) and city C (0.682) (George and Mallery, 2003) as 0.7 is an acceptable reliability coefcient but lower thresholds are sometimes also used in the literature (Nunnally, 1978; Santos, 1999). Communalities of all ten variables ranged from 0.64 to 0.93 and inter-variable correlation was non-signicant for all of them (tables not shown). 4.3 Factors in the selection of restaurants Factors in the selection of restaurants preferred by the customers were identied through factor analysis. The data le was sorted and split with respect to the city of the respondent. The number of variables was intentionally controlled to four on the basis of variance explained criteria to satisfy the requirement of minimum cumulative variances, which should be above 50 per cent (Garson, 2009). In city A, the four most important factors were timely service (0.850), image of restaurants (0.799), Promotional deals/offers (0.835) and price (0.878), with a cumulative variance of 70.5 per cent. In city B, the most important factors were variety of food (0.752), timely service (0.821), promotional deals (0.821) and price (0.909), with a total variance of 63.33 per cent. City C was similar to city B in terms of factors but with different loadings: the most important factors were variety of food (0.693), timely service (0.769), promotional deals (0.788) and price (0.918), with a total variance of 67.31 per cent. 4.4 ANOVA results The assumptions of ANOVA were considered and it was conrmed they were not violated (tables not shown) prior to application of the test. From the results presented in Table IV, it is clear that the cities differ signicantly only for the timely service factor, with a signicance level of 0.019. The cities also differed marginally in the factors promotional deals/offers (signicance 0.128), image of restaurant (signicance 0.065) and price (0.118) (George and Mallery, 2006). Although conventions adopted by researchers favour a value of 0.5, there are circumstances that justify the use of higher values like 0.10 (Heine et al., 2000; and Dixon, 2003). Insignicant differences were found for the factor variety of food, with a signicance value of 0.427. 5. Discussion In descriptive statistics, it is shown that more than 70 per cent of customers in all three cities visit fast food restaurants one to three times in a week. Most customers enjoy eating at restaurants with their friends and family, which suggests that eating at a fast food outlet is enjoyed collectively as an event. Customers go to fast food restaurants for a change in taste and for an outing. The majority of customers spend around 1,000 rupees in a week. As regards customer choice, KFC (maybe because of its penetration in the market and attractive promotional offers) was found to be in top position in all cities and also overall in a leading position, followed by Pizza Hut. Although Pizza Hut is not available everywhere, its high ranking can be justied by its diffusion in customers minds through advertisements and promotion on satellite TV and cable (Austrade, 2009). Customers from all cities gave high importance to price, timely service and promotional deals/offers when selecting the restaurants for an outing and for a change in taste along with their friends and family, while customers in cities B

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and C were found to be more variety-seeking. Customers in city A go to restaurants that have better image; therefore these restaurants should be advertised differently in different regions. Although the differences were not found to be signicant (as the results of the ANOVA showed) for all factors, descriptive statistics and the results of factor analysis justify the differences in consumers priorities regarding factors across the cities. Dixon (2003) also does not recommend accepting or rejecting results only on the basis of p-value. 6. Conclusion and managerial implications The motivations of customers regarding fast food were a change of taste and having fun. From the marketing point of view, restaurants should improve their taste and ambience so that customers can have memorable experiences. Marketers need to emphasise and carefully consider key points in strategy formulation like affordability in designing their pricing strategy, service timings in service blueprints, variety in menus, image in positioning strategy and promotional mix in promotional strategies (Kara et al., 1995) because customers are price sensitive. These ndings are found to be consistent with ndings of Aziz and Bukhari (2009). This will help them to provide memorable experiences (in fast food restaurants) because it matters most (Pine and Gilmore, 1999). In addition, as companies are expanding in the global economy, they need to understand the cultures in which they are competing and their associated diversity so that their products and services satisfy the preferences of their new consumers (Gilbert et al., 2004). Altering and adjusting the marketing mix determinants are essential and vital to suit local tastes, and to meet special needs and customers non-identical requirements (Czinkota and Ronkainen, 1995). Customers were observed to be price- and time-concious and also to be more inclined towards attractive promotional deals/offers. This also conrms the importance of these factors in decision making and strategy formulation. Differences were observed in the context of image and variety of food. Customers from cities B and C (Lahore and Gujranwala) were more variety concious, whereas customers of city A (Islamabad) were more image concious. So managers need to be aware of the differences in the priorities of customers (Lee and Ulgado, 1997) when entering into a new market and also in developing strategies at national level with a local touch. 7. Future research and limitations Overall, the results were reliable as Cronbachs a showed an acceptable value. However, in future research some individual items could be re-examined and modied or completely changed because the Cronbachs a value was found to be a little lower (Santos, 1999). This research has investigated only customers in fast food restaurants, so further generalisability of the ndings could be made only to the same sector and not all service sectors. Differences in customers choices and priorities can also be validated by conducting future studies in other service sectors, such as telecommunications, banking, advertising, consulting and others. The sample was limited to university students in three cities in Pakistan; other customer segments and geographical areas could also be included in future studies. Further research could also investigate other culturally diverse countries like India and other Asian countries. Future research could also include other metropolitan cities like Karachi, Peshawar and others. Research could also be undertaken to determine whether customers perceive

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and have expectations of products/goods in a different or a similar fashion (as observed in this study).
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Zeithaml, V.A., Berry, L.L. and Parasuraman, A. (1996), The behavioural consequences of service quality, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 60 No. 2, pp. 31-46. Zopiatis, A. and Pribic, J. (2007), College students dining expectations in Cyprus, British Food Journal, Vol. 109 No. 10, pp. 765-76. Further reading Martensen, A., Grbholdt, L. and Kristensen, K. (2000), The drivers of customer satisfaction and loyalty: cross-industry ndings from Denmark, Total Quality Management, Vol. 11, pp. S544-53. Raj, G.J., Cutler, B.D. and Winans, W.A. (2001), At your service! Does country of origin research apply to service?, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 15 No. 7, pp. 565-82. About the author Usman Ehsan is currently working as a Marketing Research Manager at Welcome Industries, where he is involved in strategic decision-making with directors. He has also worked as a freelance research consultant with leading organisations including World Vision and N-IRM (NRSP). In academic research his areas of focus were services excellence, services branding, trust and customer loyalty. Usman Ehsan can be contacted at: com2usman@gmail.com

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