Subject:

Service Quality and Customer loyalty in Tourism Service Industry Using SERVQUAL and GAP Model

SUBMITTED TO:Prof. Shilpa SUBMITTED BY:DEEPTHI M.S 3 Rd Sem,MBA Alliance Business Academy

TABLE OF CONTENTS
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INTRODUCTION SERVICE QUALITY Service quality involves a comparison of expectations with performance. According to Lewis and Booms (1983) service quality is a measure of how well a delivered service matches the customers expectations. Generally the customer is requesting a service at the service interface where the service encounter is being realized, then the service is being provided by the provider and in the same time delivered to or consumed by the customer. The main reason to focus on quality is to meet customer needs while remaining economically competitive in the same time. This means satisfying customer needs is very important for the enterprises to survive. The outcome of using quality practices is:

Understanding and improving of operational processes Identifying problems quickly and systematically Establishing valid and reliable service performance measures Measuring customer satisfaction and other performance outcomes

Service quality is a business administration's term and describes the degree of achievement of an ordered service In this connection, objective and subjective service quality can be distinguished.

Objective service quality is the concrete measurable conformity of a working result with the previous defined benefit; since the measurability is remarkable dependent on the definition's accuracy, a measurable quality criterion easily can turn out as a subjective one.

Subjective service quality is the customers perceived conformity of the working result with the expected benefit; this perception is overlayed with the customers original imagination of the service and the service providers talent to present his performance as a good one.

Moreover, a defined result can turn out as unreachable. Then the best possible achievable result would be the objective ideal result, but subjective still be an unsatisfactory result of a service. Service quality can be related to service potential, service process or service result. In this way for example, potential quality can be understood as the co-workers qualification, process quality as the speed of the generated service and result quality as how much the performance matched the customers wishes.

CRITERIA OF SERVICE QUALITY

Word-of-mouth, personal needs and past experience create an expected service (expectation of the service). The perceived service will be compared with the expected service by the customer. And leads to the perceived service quality as a result. Between the expected and the perceived service can appear a gap if the perceived service does not match with the expected service. Factors which influence the appearing of the gap were found by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry in 1985. Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1985) identified ten determinants of service quality that may relate to any service:

Competence (Possession of the required skills and knowledge to perform the service: knowledge and skill of the contact personnel, knowledge and skill of the operational support personnel, research capability of the organization)

Courtesy (Politeness, respect, consideration and friendliness of the contact personnel: consideration for the customer's property, clean and neat appearance of public contact personnel)

Credibility (Trustworthiness, believability and honesty. It involves having the customer's best interest at heart: company name, company reputation, personal characteristics of the contact personnel)

Security (Freedom from danger, risk or doubt: physical safety, financial security, confidentiality)

Access (Approachability and ease of contact: Service is easily accessible, waiting time to receive service is not extensive, convenient hours of operation, convenient location of service facility)

Communication (Informing the customers in a language they can understand and listening to them. It may mean that the company has to adjust its language for different consumers: explaining the service itself, explaining how much the service will cost, explaining the tradeoffs between service and cost, assuring the consumer that the problem will be handled)

Understanding/ knowing the customer (Making the effort to understand the customer's needs: understanding customer's specific needs, providing individualized attention, recognizing the customer)

Tangibles (Physical evidence of the service: appearance of physical facilities, tools and equipments used to provide the service, appearance of personnel and communication materials, other customers in the service facility)

Reliability (The ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately: service is performed right at the first time, the company keeps its promises in accuracy in billing, in keeping records correctly and in performing the services at the designated time)

Responsiveness (The willingness and/ or readiness of employees to help customers and to provide prompt service, timeliness of service: mailing a transaction slip immediately, setting up appointments quickly)

Later they were reduced to five by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1988):

Tangibles (Physical evidence of the service: appearance of physical facilities, tools and equipments used to provide the service, appearance of personnel and communication materials) Reliability (The ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately: consistency of performance and dependability, service is performed right at the first time, the company keeps its promises in accuracy in billing and keeping records correctly, performing the services at the designated time) Responsiveness (The willingness and/ or readiness of employees to help customers and to provide prompt service, timeliness of service: mailing a transaction slip immediately, setting up appointments quickly) Assurance (The knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence: competence (possession of the required skills and knowledge to perform the service), courtesy (consideration for the customer's property, clean and neat appearance of public contact personnel), trustworthiness, security (safety and confidentiality))

Empathy (The provision of caring, individualized attention to customers: informing the customers in a language they can understand, Understanding customer's specific needs, Providing individualized attention)

A sixth criterion was proposed by Grnroos in 1988: recovery. It has the same effect as the junk yard strategy, which is used to support the zero defects strategy. The customer needs to stay

happy. Since there are many bad services being delivered to the customer and according to latest researches 12 good service encounters are needed to make up a bad one, the criterion recovery can play an important role.
Models of Service quality

There are two main models:

Service Quality Model of Grnroos Grnroos says that the expectations of the customer depend on the 5 determinants market communication, image, word of mouth, customer needs and customer learning. Experiences depends on the techniqal quality (what/ outcome) and the functional quality (how/process), which are filtered through the image (who). Both expectations and experiences can create a perception gap.

GAP Model of Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry The model says that the expected service is influenced by the word-of-mouth, the personal needs, past experience and also by the external communication to customers. A perception gap can appear between the expected service and the perceived service. This gap is called the GAP 5 (also called the service quality gap), it occurs if the customer is not satisfied and depends on the other 4 gaps.

The perceived quality depends on the external communication to customers and the service delivery. The GAP 4 (also called the communication gap) is appearing between the external communication to customers and the service delivery. It appears when promises do not match the delivery. The service delivery depends on the service quality specifications. If they are not match each other the GAP 3 (also called the service performance gap) appears.

The service quality specifications depends on the management perceptions of customer expectations, where the management perceptions of customer expectations influence the external communication to customers. The GAP 2 (also called the standards gap) occurs between the management perceptions of customer expectations and the service quality specifications if the wrong quality standards were consulted.

The biggest gap, the GAP 1 (also called the marketing information gap) occurs between the management perceptions of customer expectations and the expected service. It appears because the service provider does not know what the customer expect.

Key factors contributing to the gaps. GAP 1: Not knowing what customers expect:

Lack of marketing research orientation Inadequate upward communication Too many levels of management

GAP 2: The wrong service quality standards:

Inadequate management commitment to service quality Perception of infeasibility Inadequate task standardization

Absence of goal setting

GAP 3: Service performance gap:

Employee role ambiguity Employee role conflict Poor Employee job fit Poor Technology job fit Inappropriate evaluation and reward systems Lack of empowered service employees Lack of teamwork

GAP 4: When promises do not match delivery:

Inadequate horizontal communication Tendency to overpromise

GAP 5: customer satisfaction:

Depends on gap 1-4 The greater the gap the lower the customer satisfaction, because expectation and perception do not match.

The following aspects were examined under the SERQUAL dimensions for tourism :

ASSURANCE

service Product

RESPONSI VENESS

SERVQUAL DIMENSIONS

Tangibility

Reliability

Social Responsibility

(1) ASSURANCE DIMENSIONS: Being served by the appropriate personnel: Reinforcement of tourists confidence; Experienced and competent tour and hotel escorts; and Fluent and understandable communication with tourists. (2) RESPONSIVENESS DIMENSION: Sincere interest in problem-solving; Provision of adequate information about the service delivered; Prompt response to tourists requests; Provision of information on local entertainment; Willingness to help tourists; and advice on how to use free time. (3) Reliability dimension: Right first time; Keeping promises; Insisting on error-free service; Meeting the tour schedule; and No sudden increase in tour cost. (4) Service Responsibility dimension:

 Pleasant, friendly personnel; Understanding of specific needs; and Cultivation of friendly relationship. (5) Tangibility dimension: Modern and technologically relevant vehicles; Appealing accommodation facilities; Availability of information documents and notes; Physical appearance of tour and hotel escorts (tidiness etc.); and High-quality meals. (6) Service Product Dimension: Easy contract on arrival at airport; Easy location of and contact with tour and hotel escorts; Services delivered on time;

GAP model of service quality in Tourism sector Fig 1 Conveys a clear message that the key to closing the tourist gap is to close gaps 1 through 4.To the extent that one or more of gaps 1 through 4 exist, students perceive service quality shortfalls. Provider (Tourist place) gap 1:Not Knowing what the student expects Provider gap 2:Not selecting the right service designs and standards Provider gap 3: Not delivering to service standards Provider gap 4:Not matching performance to promises Customer(Tourist) gap 5:Not Knowing what the Tourist place delivers The basic Objective of the tourist place is to develop the strategies in such a way that it can influence the tourists expectations and perceptions so that all the four gaps that take place due to differences in expectations and perceptions can be filled up. Let us diagnose the specific causes for each of the gaps as shown in the fig 1 Tourists Gap-1:Services expected by tourists minus tourist places perception of tourists expectations. Causes for Gap 1: Inadequate research on market research on what the tourist need and want from tourist place

Even if there is any research on this objective, it is not focused on quality of the services offered by the tourist place Lack of interaction between tourist place and tourists Lack of customer relationship management(CRM) with the tourists Tourist Place Gap-2 Tourists perceptions of students expectations minus student-driven designs and standards Causes for Gap 2: Lack of tourist driven service standards Vague, undefined design of the services to be Provided to tourists. Absence of Process(delivery of services)management to focus on student requirements Absence of formal system for setting service quality Inadequate administration commitment towards the services No systematic process for the development of new services to be offered so as to sustain the competition. Failure to connect services offered to tourists Tourist Place Gap-3:Tourist-driven service designs minus service delivery Causes for Gap 3: Ineffective staff to provide good service Problems with service intermediaries Failure to match supply and demand Failure to smooth peaks and valley of demand Over reliance on government funds Tourist Place Gap-4:Service delivery minus external communications to tourists Causes for Gap 4: Lack of integrated services marketing communications. Ineffective management of tourists expectations. Over or under promising about the quality of service Inadequate horizontal communications. Tourists Gap -5: Tourists expectations of service minus tourists perceptions of service Causes for Gap 5:

The central focus of the gaps model is the tourist gap, the difference between tourist expectations and perceptions. Expectations are the reference points tourists have coming in to a service experience. Perceptions reflect the service as actually received. Tourist assessment of service quality dimensions such as reliability, responsiveness ,assurance, empathy and tangibles of tourist place.

TOURISTS PERCEPTIONS OF QUALITY, SATISFACTION AND LOYALTY

RESEARCH DESIGN TITLE OF THE PROJECT: Service quality and customer loyalty in Tourism service Industry Using SERVQUAL and GAP Model

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY SCOPE OF THE STUDY RESEARCH METHDOLOGY

Research methodology is a way to systematically solve the research problem. Research Methodology comprises of two words, research and methodology. Research may be defined as a careful investigation or inquiry especially through search of new facts in any branch of knowledge. In short, it comprises defining a refined problem's, formulating hypothesis or suggested solution; collecting, organizing and evaluating data; making deductions and research conclusions; and lastly carefully testing the conclusion to determine whether they fit the hypothesis Methodology can be defined as "The analysis of the principles of methods, rules, and postulates employed by a discipline". TYPE OF THE STUDY: The research conducted is an exploratory research. SOURCES OF DATA Both primary and secondary data had been used in present study. Primary data: Secondary Data: Internet, journals and magazines. SAMPLING PLAN:

Sampling unit: Sample size: 10 Respondents Sampling Method: The method of non probability convenience sampling is used in the research DATA COLLECTION METHOD Questionnaire

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

Time constraint. Research findings may be baised.

Introduction Tourism is critical to India. It provides substantial foreign exchange and jobs. Tourism plays an extremely important role in the Indian economy. India has the potential to become the number one tourist destination in the world with the demand growing at 10.1 per cent per annum as predicted by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). Indian people are known for being friendly and warm. Understanding and fulfilling needs of global tourists for quality vacationing is the kick-off for creditable performance and strong impact of India's economic growth on Tourism. Many factors have been collectively responsible for boosting our country's economic reserves and the impact of India's economic growth on tourism is increasingly being felt in niche sectors.The purpose of this study was to examine the genuine needs of foreign tourists by identifying their perceptions and levels of satisfaction with the services and facilities (attributes) provided by the Indian tourism industry. Literature Review Customer satisfaction Tourist choice behavior is one of the most needed studies by many tourist managers.Tourists take into account the various factors in terms of facilities, local attractions etc, before choosing their destination. Local attractions, accessibility, facilities are some of the factors that generate tourist flow to a particular location. Absence of any of these facilities may deter the tourists from travelling to enjoy the attractions of India. There are many foreign studies which analyze the

foreign tourist destination in order to form a policy for decision making of tourist destination in the country. Hunt in 1975 has analyzed the image of tourists as well as their behavioral perceptions. Some studies have found out the attractiveness of a tourist destination on the basis of attribute analysis of a destination. One should take into account the total ideas, impressions and beliefs a tourist has of the tourist destination. Many factors measuring customer satisfaction is an integral part of the effort that improves a products / service quality which results in a countrys competitive advantage. Many researchers analyzed on customer satisfaction which results in repeat visit, and favorable word-of-mouth publicity.The theory of consumer behavior for a service sector points out that customers buying behavior and levels of satisfaction are influenced by the customers background, characteristics and external stimuli. Customers satisfaction is influenced by the availability of various customer services; the quality of customer service has become a major concern of all business. Failure to pay attention to influential attributes in choice intention may result in a customers negative evaluation, and may lead to unfavorable word-of-mouth.

Tourist destination Researches on tourist destination by many researchers have focused on the relationship between satisfaction of the customer as well as the quality of their various services. Services have various features like intangibility, inseparability, variability and perishability An attractiveness of a tourist destination can be viewed as consisting of unique local features, cultural attributes, natural resources, infrastructure, services and others.The tourism product can be analyzed in terms of attraction, facilities and accessibility for the purpose of finding out its attractiveness. Attractions are the major factors, which ensure the flow of international tourists to a specific place. The tourist facilities are those elements in tourist product, which do not normally themselves provide the motivation for tourist flows. But the absence of these facilities may deter the tourists from travelling to enjoy the attractions. Accessibility relates to the mode of transportation to the destination chosen by tourist and is best interpreted in terms of time and cost to reach the destination. Some researchers analyzed the attractiveness of a tourist destination on the basis of attribute analysis of a destination.

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