Service Quality Through Employee Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (Ksas) : A Study Among Third Party Logistics in Iskandar Malaysia
Service Quality Through Employee Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (Ksas) : A Study Among Third Party Logistics in Iskandar Malaysia
Service Quality Through Employee Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (Ksas) : A Study Among Third Party Logistics in Iskandar Malaysia
A thesis submitted in
DECEMBER 2016
iii
DEDICATION
For your help, encouragement and guidance to ensure the success of this thesis.
Friends,
And everyone who involves directly and indirectly in the process of completing
this thesis.
Thank you.
iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
All praise to God, the Greatest that gives perfection and facility in applying all tasks
and responsibilities.
Finally, I would like to thank my parents, brother, sisters and friends for all the love,
understanding, and encouragement throughout the research period.
v
ABSTRACT
Logistics in Iskandar Malaysia has been one of the identified growth nodes and has
been contributing high revenue through wholesale and retail trade (42.2%) and
transport and related (12.7%). The main objectives of this study are to identify the
necessary service quality dimensions that customers expect from the logistics service
providers, to identify the gaps between customers’ satisfaction and desire, and to
explore knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) required for employees of logistics
service providers to provide excellent services. Hence, this study is aimed to examine
the service quality provided by third party logistics in Iskandar Malaysia. The scopes
of this study are the customers from three pillars of Iskandar Malaysia that outsource
their logistics activities, and human resource representatives from third party
logistics service providers. This study used both quantitative and qualitative
methods. The sampling method used for quantitative is quota sampling. The data
obtained answered all three objectives of this study. There are six dimensions of
service quality which they are tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance,
empathy and service cost identified that are perceived to be necessary in third party
logistics’ service. There are positive gaps for all six dimensions of service quality
between the expectation of the customersbefore receiving the services and the
perception of the customers after they receive the services. Lastly, there are 7
variables identified to be under knowledge factor, 12 variables for skills factor, 9
variables for abilities factor and 4 variables for other factors that are required for
employees of logistics services. The findings are expected to help third party
logistics service providers to enhance their service quality in order to ensure the
satisfaction of their customers.
vi
ABSTRAK
Logistik di Iskandar Malaysia telah menjadi salah satu daripada nodus pertumbuhan
yang telah dikenalpasti dan telah menyumbang pendapatan yang tinggi melalui
perdagangan borong dan runcit (42.2%), dan pengangkutan dan yang berkaitan
(12.7%). Objektif utama bagi kajian ini adalah mengenalpasti dimensi kualiti
perkhidmatan yang pelanggan harapkan daripada pembekal perkhidmatan logistik,
mengenalpasti jurang di antara keinginan dan kepuasan pelanggan, dan meneroka
pengetahuan, kemahiran dan kebolehan (KSAs) yang diperlukan pada pekerja-
pekerja pembekal perkhidmatan logistik dalam memberikan perkhidmatan yang
cemerlang. Sehubungan itu, kajian ini adalah bertujuan mengkaji kualiti
perkhidmatan yang disediakan oleh pihak logistik ketiga di Iskandar Malaysia. Skop
bagi kajian ini adalah pelanggan daripada tiga tunggak Iskandar Malaysia yang
menggunakan khidmat luar bagi aktiviti logistik mereka, dan wakil sumber manusia
daripada pihak ketiga pembekal perkhidmatan logistik. Kajian ini menggunakan
kedua-dua kaedah iaitu kuantitatif dan kualitatif. Kaedah persampelan yang
digunakan untuk kuantitatif adalah persampelan kuota. Data yang diperoleh telah
menjawab kesemua objektif kajian. Terdapat enam dimensi kualiti perkhidmatan
yang telah dikenalpasti iaitu nyata, realibiliti, maklum balas, keyakinan, empati dan
kos perkhidmatan yang dilihat sebagai penting dalam perkhidmatan oleh pihak ketiga
logistik. Terdapat jurang kepuasan yang positif bagi kesemua enam dimensi kualiti
perkhidmatan di antara harapan pelanggan sebelum menerima perkhidmatan dengan
persepsi pelanggan selepas menerima perkhidmatan. Akhir sekali, terdapat 7
pembolehubah yang dikenalpasti di bawah faktor pengetahuan, 12 pembolehubah
bagi faktor kemahiran, 9 pembolehubah bagi faktor kebolehan, dan 4 pembolehubah
bagi faktor lain-lain yang diperlukan pada setiap pekerja perkhidmatan logistik.
Dapatan kajian ini dijangkakan dapat membantu pihak ketiga pembekal
perkhidmatan logistik dalam memajukan perkhidmatan mereka bagi memastikan
kepuasan pelanggan.
vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE i
DECLARATION ii
DEDICATION iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv
ABSTRACT v
ABSTRAK vi
CONTENTS vii
LIST OF TABLES xi
LIST OF FIGURES xii
LIST OF ABBREVIATION xiii
APPENDIXES xiv
CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction 36
3.2 Research Approaches 36
3.2.1 Mono Method 37
3.2.1.1 Quantitative Method 38
3.2.1.2 Qualitative Method 38
3.2.2 Multiple Methods 39
3.2.2.1 Multi-Methods 39
3.2.2.1.1 Multi-Methods Quantitative
Study 39
3.2.2.1.1 Multi-Methods Qualitative
Study 40
3.2.2.2 Mixed Methods 40
3.2.2.2.1 Mixed Methods Research 40
3.2.2.2.2 Mixed Model Research 41
3.2.3 Mixed Method Research Approach for The Study 41
ix
REFERENCES 87-95
APPENDIXES
VITAE
xi
LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF ABBREVIATION
LIST OF APPENDIXES
Survey Questions
Interview Questions
Result
1
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
Malaysian fourth Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad came out with
Vision 2020 during the tabling of Sixth Malaysia Plan in 1991. The vision is targeted
to be the achievement of self-sufficient industrialized nation by the year of 2020 and
to gain eightfold Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from RM115 billion in 1990 to
2
RM920 billion (Muhammad, Sulaiman & Sanusi, 2012; Eleventh Malaysia Plan (11th
MP), 2015). In order to achieve the vision, five regional corridors have been initiated
in order to propel the economic growth. These five regional economic corridors are
Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER); East Cost Economic Region (ECER);
Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE); Sabah Development Corridor
(SDC); and Iskandar Malaysia (Muhammad et al., 2012). These five corridors were
initiated during the Ninth Malaysia Plan by Malaysia fifth Prime Minister, Tun
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and it embarked a number of initiatives to promote
balanced regional development and accelerate growth in designated geographic areas
(Tenth Malaysia Plan (10th MP), 2010).
In realizing the importance of the human capital development, Dato Seri
Najib Tun Abdul Razak, current Prime Minister, pursued a strategy which is called
as Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) that focused on human capital
development and it is predicted that business growth are based from human capital.
Human capital is the most crucial factor in economic growth and it is critical to the
success of economic growth in Malaysia (Muhammad et al., 2012). Therefore, the
rapid growth of economy in global market does take human resource as a key role in
maintaining competitive business in industry.
The Human Capital Development Strategic Reform Initiative (SRI) in ETP
has two key areas, which they are Education National Key Economic Area (NKEA)
and National Key Reformation Area (NKRA), both focused on the future
generations, and it is a critical enabler for this nation to transform the workplace as
well as the workforce (Muhammad et al., 2012). Malaysia‘s economy will undergo
significant changes similar to other developed nations if the implementation of ETP
succeeded. The most required changes will be the enhancement of human capital
investments to support a high-skilled, knowledge-based and innovation-intensive
economy (Muhammad et al., 2012). Furthermore, in 11th Malaysia Plan (2015)
human capital development is a critical enabler for driving and sustaining the
Malaysia‘s economic growth which the 11th Malaysia Plan will continue to push the
agenda of producing human capital that is equipped with the right knowledge, skills
and attitudes to growth in a globalised economy.
Furthermore, in order to compete, strong emphasis on human capital
development will sustain and ensures a steady and sufficient supply of skilled and
semi-skilled manpower to meet the needs of the expanding industrial and service
3
sectors. Skilled workforce is vital for the economic development especially in these
fast-changing requirements in identifying the future supply and demand for human
capital. In addition, to sustain the economic growth in an increasingly competitive
business environment is to have skilled and knowledgeable workers as one of the
important factors (Muhammad et al., 2012).
A skilled, knowledgeable, and able to provide best service workforce leads to
high quality of service, hence, keep the customer happy and satisfied with the
services. The original SERVQUAL model used to evaluate service quality is from
Parasuraman et al. (1988) that has five dimensions, consist of tangible, reliability,
responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. However, according to Banomyong and
Supatn (2010), for logistics service sectors, the SERVQUAL model needs to add
service cost as additional dimension to the five dimensions earlier.
This study is focuses on Iskandar Malaysia, one of the economic corridors.
Iskandar Malaysia is located in southern peninsular Malaysia and it covers a land
size of 2,217 sq km (221,634 hectares). In 2005, Iskandar Malaysia was estimated to
have 1.35 million people or in 43% of Johor‘s population with the workforce of
approximately 66% of the population (Iskandar Development Region, 2007).
Figure 1.1: Logistics Performance Index (LPI) global ranks year 2014 from The
World Bank.
Table 1.1: Logistics performance index (LPI) global ranking score for Malaysia and
Singapore
Country LPI LPI International International Logistics Logistics
Rank Score Shipments Shipments Competence Competence
Rank Score Rank Score
Malaysia 25th 3.59 10th 3.64 32nd 3.47
th th th
Singapore 5 4.00 6 3.7 8 3.97
As shown in the table 1.1 above, even though the ranks between Malaysia
and Singapore for international shipments are at 10th and 6th in the world, however,
for logistics competence, Malaysia currently at 32nd place compared to Singapore at
8th rank. According to The World Bank (2015), logistics competence represents
competence and quality of logistics service such as transport operators and custom
brokers. From the ranking, it shows that Malaysia is still left behind especially in
logistics competencies.
Therefore, in order to compete with Singapore that use the same shipping
lane as Malaysia, Malaysia needs to improve the quality in giving the services and
have better employees‘ competencies. This problem is recognized by the government
and led to the launched of ETP. According to Muhammad et al. (2012), the two main
components in ETP are to enhance Human Capital Development Strategic Reform
Initiative that will be the critical enabler of Malaysia transformation by up-skilling
and upgrading the workforce. The strategy of ETP focuses on five regional economic
5
corridors and one of it is Iskandar Malaysia. The current Prime Minister announced
various incentives in order to encourage human capital development to move
Malaysia‘s economy to the higher level and achieve Vision 2020 (Muhammad et al.,
2012). This encouragement is aligned with services sectors that contribute more than
half of Malaysia‘s GDP (51%), inwhich this sector needsto have competent
manpower (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2012).
This study focuses on Iskandar Malaysia as it has been contributing a high
percentage in committed investments, and area of logistics has been one of the six
identified growth nodes besides areas of education, healthcare, finance, creative
industry, and tourism. Therefore, skilled human capital is essential for Malaysia‘s
economic growth in general, and particularly in the economic region. Human capital
is generally seen as a set of knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) of an individual
that are used in the activities that stimulate economic growth and development
(Muhammad et al., 2012). The other reason for this research to be conducted in
Iskandar Malaysia is because it is the nearest location to Singapore compared to
another four regions. In addition, Iskandar Malaysia is rapidly growing for the past
seven years since 2006 (Tek et al., 2013).
Logistics has become a significant role in supporting export activities in rapid
growth of global market (Banomyong & Supatn, 2011). According to IM Biz Watch
(2013), logistics sectors in Iskandar Malaysia contribute to the committed investment
by RM4.81billion. Due to the international logistics services, logistics has become
effectively as third party logistics service providers. According to Banomyonget al.,
(2011), in order to compete in the logistics market, many freight companies
rebranded themselves into third party logistics (3PL).
Logistics service quality plays a significant role in determining customers‘
satisfaction, loyalty as well as long-term relationship (Banomyong et al., 2011).
There are many researches done related to service quality in logistics sectors. For
example, Banomyong et al., (2011) is one of it. Banomyong et al., (2011) determines
that there are six dimensions of SERVQUAL model for the logistics sector. They are
tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and service cost. Even
though this research was done at South East Asia countries, however, Malaysia was
not included. There are few studies were done in Malaysia about service quality.
However, most of it covers banking, and sales and marketing sector. There are lack
of researches done in logistics sector specifically in Malaysia. Furthermore, there is
6
Based on the problem statements above, these are the research questions obtained for
this study.
i. What service quality dimensions do customers perceive to be necessary in
Iskandar Malaysia‘s 3PL service companies to meet customers‘ satisfaction?
ii. Is there any gap between service quality dimensions of 3PLtowards
customers‘ satisfaction?
iii. What are the elements of KSAs required to provide excellent service among
employees of logistics service providers?
7
From previous research questions, this study comes out with four research objectives.
i. To determine service quality dimensions that customers perceive to be
necessary in Iskandar Malaysia‘s 3PL service companies to meet customers‘
satisfaction.
ii. To identify the gaps between service quality dimensions of 3PL towards
customers‘ satisfaction.
iii. To explore the elements of KSAs required for employees of logistics service
providers to provide excellent service.
This research is to evaluate service quality of third party logistics service providers in
Iskandar Malaysia by evaluating SERVQUAL model with six dimensions, which
they are tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and service cost,
and to explore their employees‘ knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs). This research
covers the area of Iskandar Malaysia (IM), which consists of Johor Bharu, Kulaijaya,
and three districts from Pontian, Johor, Malaysia.
Unit of analysis consists of two approaches, quantitative and qualitative. The
first phase is quantitative method which focuses on the customers‘ satisfaction
towards logistics service providers‘ service quality. Questionnaires were distributed
to the customers of IM logistics service providers which cover three pillars;
Electrical and Electronics, Petro and Oleo Chemical, and Food and Agro Processing.
The second phase is qualitative method in exploring employees‘ KSAs which it
involves interview sessions with HR Managers or representatives of third party
logistics (3PL) service companies of IM that provide outsourcing logistics activities
such as transportation, warehouses and distribution centres.
8
1.8 Conclusion
This research aims to identify the required employees‘ knowledge, skills and abilities
(KSAs) of third party logistics companies in Iskandar Malaysia to deliver best
service quality to their customers. This research has contributes positive impact to
logistics service providers in Iskandar Malaysia to improve and upgrade their quality
of services towards their customers‘ satisfaction.
10
CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
The definition of quality has evolved over the years and it varies from one person to
another and it depends heavily on the nature of the industry(Antony, 2013). He added
that:
‘We have also witnessed a change in the role of the quality function over the
years from merely inspection activities to quality control to quality assurance
to total quality management (TQM) to Six Sigma as a powerful strategy to
reduce defects at low costs and maximise customer satisfaction.’ (Antony,
2013:677).
Goetsch & Davis (2010) stated that, for people who wants to understand total
quality, must first understand what quality is. They also stated that quality can be
defined and measured because customers can define quality very clearly by using
specifications, standards, and other measures. However, there is no specific
definition of quality, but there are similarities that exist among the definitions.
There are three similar definitions of quality stated by Goetsch & Davis
(2010), and supported by other researchers, which, i) quality involves meeting and
exceeding customer expectations (Sadikoglu & Olcay, 2014; Talib et al., 2013;
Antony, 2013; Gharakhani et al., 2013; Steiber & Alänge, 2012; Boateng-Okrah &
Fening, 2012), ii) quality applies to products, services, people, processes, and
environments (Sadikoglu & Olcay, 2014; Antony, 2013; Gharakhani et al., 2013;
Talib et al., 2013; Steiber & Alänge, 2012; Boateng-Okrah & Fening, 2012; Yapa,
2012), and, iii) quality is an ever-changing state (Psomas & Jaca, 2016; Sadikoglu &
Olcay, 2014; Antony, 2013; Gharakhani et al., 2013;Talib et al., 2013; Steiber &
Alänge, 2012; Yapa, 2012). Goetsch & Davis (2010) sums the definition of quality
as:
‘Quality is a dynamic state associated with products, services, people,
processes, and environments that meets or exceeds expectations and help
produce superior value’. (Goetsch & Davis, 2010:5).
12
According to Bank Negara Malaysia (2012), services sector account more than half
of GDP Malaysia‘s value with the percentage of 51. Therefore, in providing the best
service quality is essential in order to contribute to Vision 2020. However, quality is
an elusive and indistinct construct (Parasuraman et al., 1985). There are very little
researches have been done on the issue of service quality assessment (Hemmasi et
al., 2010). Thus, the developed model of service quality by Parasuraman et al. (1985,
1988) has become most used model in measuring service quality and provides better
service in the services firms (Hemmasi et al., 2010).
Quality of a product or service is essential. According to Fečiková (2004), the
customer satisfaction towards the quality of certain services will determine the
company‘s failure or success. Furthermore, it also comes to believe that the quality
service will determine loyal customer to the certain company and further gaining
profits. Hemmasi et al., (2010) stated that manufacturing firms had their own bench
mark that was used to compare their goods while service activities do not have these
form of analysis because of its inherent intangible nature. However, there are a few
opinions stated that service quality can be interpreted from the difference of
customer expectation towards experienced services and customer perception towards
received services (Munusamy et al., 2010). This is because the service quality
perceptions involve the process of service delivery as well as the outcome (Hemmasi
et al., 2010). The encouragement in increasing service quality is a continuous process
as understanding various customers wants and desires (Banomyong et al., 2011).
Basically, service quality is more difficult to measure or evaluate than the
quality of goods. However, it has come to a conclusion that service quality can be
measured by the results from the comparison of actual service performance with the
level of expected services as an equation below (Hemmasi et al., 2010). In addition,
the original model of service quality captured difference scores, or gaps, between the
customer perceptions of actual performance and the customer expectations of how
the performance should be. Below is the equation of service quality by Parasuraman
et al., (1985):
Parasuraman et al., (1985) mentioned that quality in tangible goods has been
described and measured while quality in services is largely undefined and un-
researched. Thus, they had been rectified by reporting and developing a model of
service quality because previously, few academic researchers found difficulties in
involved in delimiting and measuring the content of the model (Parasuraman et al.,
1985). Since then, there are many researchers used the same model originally from
Parasuraman et al. (1985), as they stated that this particular model is the most
precised model in determining a service quality (Rauyruen et al., 2007; Baki et al.,
2009; Banomyong et al., 2011). This is because of the overall aspect covered by
Service Quality (SERVQUAL) model are the best so far.
However, there are several researchers who modified this original model to
fit with their research objectives. Banomyong et al.(2011) claimed that there are
seven rights for logistics transportation service quality, and they are products,
quantity, time, situation, consumer, place and cost. Following of the seven rights, the
main four logistics components were developed in order to give the picture of service
quality of logistics transportation. Each of these research has been using
SERVQUAL original model and derived it to be more suitable for logistics services
sectors.
Outsourcing of logistics activities to the third party logistics has been most current
activity in business environment (Jharkaria et al., 2007). Banomyong et al. (2011)
stated that, due to the rapid growth of global market, freight companies had
rebranded their name into third party logistics service providers in order to compete
and to lead the market. In order to compete, the 3PL must deliver the best services.
Thus, to perform the best service quality, the organizations first needs to define the
service quality and its components which are actionable in the workplace
(Technopreneurship, 2007). They added that, employees that do not have a clear and
unambiguous definition and will be left with vague instructions on improving service
quality within the workplace.
16
Perreault & Russ (1974; 1976) proposed that logistics activities create time,
place and form utilities, thereby enhancing product value. This was further extended
by describing the seven (7) Rs of utility creation by logistics services: delivering the
right amount, the right procuct, at the right place, in the right condition, at the right
time, with the right information, and at the right price (Coyle et al., 1992; Shapiro &
Heskett, 1985; Stock & Lambert, 1987). Logistics service quality research continues
to develop by emphasizing that delivery service quality consisted of ‗customers
service quality‘ and ‗physical distribution service quality‘ (Mentzer et al., 1989).
From the perspective of marketing, the marketing customer service component
proposed by Mentzer et al. (1989) suggested that understanding the perceptions of
physical distribution service from a customer‘s point of view was an essential input
in marketing management decisions.
Thus, Parasuraman et al. (1985; 1988; 1991) used qualitative (interview) and
quantitative (survey) method in developing and refiningtheir five-dimensional
SERVQUAL scale (tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy) among
retail consumers of appliance repair/maintenance, retail banking, long-distance
telephone, securities brokerage, and credit card services. Bienstock et al. (1997)
further initiate an integration of the logistics and marketing service quality research
streams. This is due to the efforts to develop a scale that could be validate and
reliable for measuring physical distribution service quality. They examined the
marketing service quality measurement literature, particularly the development of
SERVQUAL and subsequent attempts at replication of SERVQUAL‘s dimensions in
industrial service contexts.
17
SERVQUAL by Parasuraman et al. (1985, 1988) defined service quality through the
gap between customers‘ perception and expectation of company‘s service quality
performance. For the conclusion, a service quality was built from expected and
desired quality (Baki et al., 2009).
Service quality is a construct that is similar to an attitude and related, but not
equivalent to customer satisfaction. These dimensions of service quality were not
weighted in terms of relative importance that the customers of the services firms
attach to them. Thus, the new equation below proposed by Zeithaml et al. (1990)
represents the the weighted form of the measurement of service quality using the
SERVQUAL scale (Hemmasi et al., 2010).
Parasuraman et al. (1985) first came out with ten determinant of service
process quality (Technopreneurship, 2007). The ten determinants are shown in table
2.1.
Table 2.1: The definitions of ten determinants of service quality
(Parasuraman et al., 1985; Technopreneurship, 2007)
Determinants Definitions
Reliability It involves consistency of performance and dependability.
Responsiveness It concerns the willingness or readiness of employees to provide service.
Competence It means possession of the required skills and knowledge to perform the
service.
Access It involves approachability and ease of contact.
Courtesy It involves politeness, respect, consideration, and friendliness of contact
personnel (including receptionists, telephone operators, etc.).
Communication It means keeping customers informed in language they can understand
and listening to them. It may mean that the company has to adjust its
language for different consumers—increasing the level of sophistication
with a well-educated customer and speaking simply and plainly with a
novice.
Credibility It involves trustworthiness, believability, honesty. It involves having the
customer‘s best interests at heart.
Security It is the freedom from danger, risk, or doubt.
Understanding/Knowing It involves making the effort to understand the customer‘s needs.
the Customer
Tangibles It includes the physical evidence of the service.
18
However, Parasuraman et al., (1988) then discovered that there are certain
overlaps among the determinants and they shortened the list into only five
dimensions. They also concluded that there are five essential gaps that leads to the
development of the model. They are, 1) the gap between customer expectations and
management perceptions of those expectations will have an impact on the customer‘s
evaluation of service quality, 2) the gap between management perceptions of
customer expectations and the firms‘s service quality specifications will affect
service quality from the customer‘s viewpoint, 3) the gap between service quality
specifications and actual service delivery will affect service quality from the
customer‘s standpoint, 4) the gap between actual service delivery and external
communications about the service wil affect service quality from a customer‘s
standpoint, and last but not least 5) the quality that a customer perceives in a service
is a function of the magnitude and direction of the gap between expected service and
perceived service.
Table 2.2 shows the five crucial dimensions that leads to model of service
quality developed and concluded by Parasuraman et al (1988) and been used by other
researchers (Munusamy et al., 2010; Banomyong et al., 2011; and Ooi et al., 2011)
Dimensions Definitions
Tangible Appearance of physical facilities, equipment, communication materials and
personnel.
Reliability The ability of a service provider to perform the promised service dependably and
accurately.
Responsiveness The willingness to help customers and provide prompt service.
Assurance The knowledge and courtesy of service providers and their ability to convey trust
and confidence.
Empathy Caring and individualised attention that the service provider provides to each
customer.
Figure 2.1: Dimensions of service quality from Parasuraman et al. (1988) and used
and modified by Banomyong dan Supatn, 2011.
RELIABILITY
Prepare an effective office space for Zhang, Yue and Wang (2006)
better and friendly user. Baki, Basfirinci, Cilinger and AR 2
Murat (2009)
ASSURANCE
Tracking items‘ location through the Zhang, Yue and Wang (2006) 3
internet. Baki, Basfirinci, Cilinger and AR
Murat (2009)
Banomyong and Supatn (2011)
Items free from any damages Zhang, Yue and Wang (2006)
Baki, Basfirinci, Cilinger and AR 3
Murat (2009)
Banomyong and Supatn (2011)
EMPATHY
SERVICE COST
From table 2.3, the variables for each dimension are simplified as shown in
Figure 2.2 on the next page.
22
Payment facilities
Figure 2.2:Parasuraman et al. (1988), modified accordingly to fit for the research.
These dimensions of service quality also been used and added up by Banomyong et
al. (2011).
23
In the marketing concepts, there are 8 P‘s of services marketing which includes the
original terminology; product elements, place and time, price and other user outlays,
and promotion and education; and four elements associated with service delivery
which includes physical environment, process, people, and productivity and quality
(Lovelock et al., 2007). However, according to them, customer will be actively
involved in whole process phase.
Customer satisfaction is the individual consumers‘ perception towards
products or services‘ performance in relation to his or her expectation (Schiffman et
al., 2010). Therefore, with respect to satisfy their customers, the level of customers‘
satisfaction linked with customer behaviour according to the types of the customers
(Schiffman et al., 2010; Schiffman et al., 2007).
Munusamy et al.(2010), stated that customer satisfaction and service quality are
related to each other. Their theory would be the higher the quality of service, the
higher the satisfaction of the customers. Figure 2.3 shows the relationships of service
quality‘s dimensions towards customers‘ satisfaction.
87
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