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An investigation of service quality assessments across retail formats

Marlene Amorim (Department of Economics Management and Industrial Engineering, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal)
Fatemeh Bashashi Saghezchi (Department of Economics Management and Industrial Engineering, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal)

International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences

ISSN: 1756-669X

Article publication date: 10 June 2014

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the existence of differences in service quality assessments across distinct retail store formats. We address customers’ quality assessments for physical aspects, personal interactions, reliability and policies dimensions in hypermarkets and supermarkets to analyse the impacts for satisfaction and loyalty.

Design/methodology/approach

The study builds on previous scales for service retail quality to develop a survey addressing customers of hypermarkets and supermarkets in Portugal. Data analysis addressed 248 complete questionnaires and involved statistical testing to explore differences in service quality expectations across retail store formats. The regression analysis was used to estimate impacts of each service quality dimension for customer satisfaction and loyalty intentions.

Findings

The results support the existence of differences in customers’ service quality assessments across retail store formats, notably for the expectations about different quality dimensions. Differences were also observed on the impacts for customer satisfaction and loyalty, in particular for the dimensions of reliability and personal interaction.

Research limitations/implications

The results suggest that managerial decisions regarding service in stores should be adjusted to the characteristics of each retail format. The generalizability of the results should be assessed by means of further investigation in other retail contexts.

Originality/value

Retail customers patronize multiple types of retail stores that compete on diverse service attributes. Building on existing service measurement scales, this paper provides a contribution to understand customer’s quality assessments across distinct store types to inform retail quality and service differentiation strategies.

Keywords

Citation

Amorim, M. and Bashashi Saghezchi, F. (2014), "An investigation of service quality assessments across retail formats", International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, Vol. 6 No. 2/3, pp. 221-236. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJQSS-02-2014-0015

Publisher

:

Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2014, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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