Factors that Influence the Service Experience.pdf

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MKT 414 Section-1

Final Report Prepared For:

Dr. Md. Humayun Kabir Chowdhury

Professor

Department of Business Administration

East- West University

Prepared By:

Name: Id:

Md. Rifayat Islam 2005-2-10-228

Md. Afnan Hossain 2005-1-10-102

Md. Tauhid Rasul 2005-3-10-016

Kha. Haniya 2005-2-10-222

Date of Submission: 15th

December, 2008.

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An Analysis of the Factors that Influence the Service Experience in

Customer Care Center

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Letter of Submittal

15th December 2008 Dr. Md. Humayun Kabir Chowdhury Professor Department of Business Administration East West University, 43 Mohakhali C/A Dhaka – 1212 Sub: Submission of Final Report. Dear Sir, It is of great honor and delight to us to present you our final report prepared as a part of the MKT 414: Marketing Research Course being offered in the Fall Semester of 2008. The entire duration of preparing this report has been immensely helpful to us, giving us a golden opportunity to look outside the regular classroom and move to the real world. A lot of lessons were learnt and a vast amount experience was gained. Developing interpersonal skills, taking formal interviews and of course handling each and every detail with a professional attitude were just to name a few. Truly this will help us in our future life, solving more complex situations and problems and also building a Business structure those who we have a dream to be a Business Executives. Before we start the report, it would be of great pleasure to us to mention the individual who has helped us to complete this document, and without whose help it would not be possible for us to accomplish this task. We are particularly grateful to Dr. Md. Humayun Kabir Chowdhury(Professor, Department of

Business Administration) for his co-operation in helping us to achieve our purpose.

We would once again like to express my sense of gratitude towards you for giving us this opportunity, and sincerely hope that our report would give you immense satisfaction. We shall always be available to respond to any queries that you may have in this regard. Thanking you, Sincerely yours, Md. Rifayat Islam 2005-2-10-228

Md. Afnan Hossain 2005-1-10-102

Md.Tauhid Rasul 2005-3-10-016

Kha. Haniya 2005-2-10-222

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Acknowledgements

We are very pleased to accomplish the assign task given by our revered course instructor Dr.Md.Humayun Kabir Chowdhury on the subject “An Analysis of the Factors that Influence the

Service Experience in Customer Care Center”. We are very much obliged to those persons who gave their valuable time in the questionnare part, opinion and advice to complete this report. At first, our profound gratification goes to Dr.Md.Humayun Kabir Chowdhury, the honorable course instructor of Marketing Research for his apt supervision to complete the report successfully. By providing us the opportunity of preparing this report, he has made us able to relate the academic knowledge of Marketing Research with practical scenario. Not only this, he has also contributed much in this project by giving us proper guideline. Then, we would like to thank for his participation with us through an interview session and sharing the required information about different perspective to complete the project. We are also acknowledging to all of those web sites from which we have taken necessary helps. Our gratitude also goes to some senior students for their guidance in various stages of completing the report and our dear friends and classmates for their ingenious advices and supports.

We have collected information from the students of East West University. We are also very

much grateful to them for their valuable time and information for conducting the report.

Finally, we are pleased to complete the report on the given subject properly and authentically.

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Table of Contents

(a) Letter of Submittal (iii)

(b) Acknowledgements (iv)

(c) Synopsis (vi)

Chapter 01: Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study 01

1.2 Problem Definition 02

Chapter 02: Approach to the Problem

2.1 Literature Review 03

2.2 Relative Construct of this Study 04

2.3 Research Questions 05

2.4 Hypothesis 05

Chapter 03: Research Design

3.1 Questionnaire Design 06

3.2 Data Collection Method 06

3.3 Sample Selection 06

3.4 Validity 06

3.5 Measurement of the Variables 06

Chapter 04: Data Analysis

4.1 Analysis Techniques 07

Chapter 05: Results and Findings

5.1 Hypothesis Testing 08

5.2 Regression Analysis 10

5.3 Discussion 10

5.4 Limitation 10

Chapter 06: Conclusion and Recommendation

6.1 Conclusion 11

6.2 Recommendation 11

Chapter 07: Bibliography 12

Chapter 08: Appendix 13

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Synopsis

The overview of the business environment is changing over time. Due to increasing of excessive

competition in business environment customer care is getting more preference day by day. Now a day the

concept of customer care center is not only used with the service of mobile phone but also this concept is

used with different types of public services and private services. At the point of view of Bangladesh

essentiality of customer care center is in rising demand. When a product or service is introduced in the

market in order to inform the customer about the product and service as well as to provide after sales

service the most feasible way is customer care center. Customer care center is indispensable part for the

service provider since most of the people of our country are illiterate. So we, the group members of

Marketing Research course have made a report to find out the factors that influence the service experience

in customer care center. We have tried to make a qualitative report by developing hypotheses, collecting

information from the customers through questionnaire, analyzing data through statistical tools and finally

we have made some comment from our research findings about the factors that influence the service

experience in customer care center which will help us to understand various aspects of marketing

research.

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Chapter 01: Introduction

1.1 Background of the Study

This research paper is prepared as a partial requirement of the course Marketing Research (MKT

414). This research was conducted to find out the factors that influence the service experience of

the customers in the customer care center.

Many service organizations have embraced relationship marketing with its focus on maximizing

customer lifetime value .In order to gain more profit share and to be distinctive in the market

place the service providers are taking different initiatives and customer care center is one of the

common and important initiative. And in the Customer care center customer service has become

an important component in this process. Hence, managers are keenly interested in the effect of

service changes on customer experience and satisfaction. If customers’ experiences are not

satisfactory, the relationship is likely to be very short. Customer service is shaping in different

ways in order to provide a better service experience to the customer. Everybody has been

offering gratuitous and blindly obvious advice on how to improve the customer experience for

years. We will focus to identify the underlying factors that influence the service experience in the

customer care center.

As the environment of Businesses is getting stiff day by day, companies are paying more

concentration on the customers. And to be more responsive to the customers, companies have

come out with the idea called “Customer Care Centre” which has become the strength for some

of the companies. By the term Customer Care Center, it means the point of contact for the

customers of a particular company. Generally in Customer Care connects customers with the

right individual who responds to the various problems that the customer is facing and also

provide various information and help along with possible solution to the problems. Moreover

successful companies pay more concentration on the Customer Care Center for the purpose of

providing a better service experience to its consumer.

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1.2 Problem Definition

The objective of research is to find out how factors influence the service experience in Customer

Care Center. The number and also for different purposes of customer care center are established.

People go there for solving different types of problem and also for taking information about

product features and promotion. Brand image of a product and also image of the organization

highly depends on the service of the customer care canter. So our primary objective is to identify

the factors that influence the service experience in a customer care center. We have taken four

important factors from servuction model and these are inanimate environment, contact personnel,

service provider and rules and regulations. Then we will find out which whether they have any

positive impression towards the customer care center. Finally, we have conducted a conclusive

research to find out the relationship among factors that influence the service experience in a

customer care center.

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Chapter 02: Approach to the Problem

2.1 Literature Review

Customer service (also known as Client Service) is the provision of service to customers before,

during and after a purchase.

According to Turban et al. (2002), “Customer service is a series of activities designed to

enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met

the customer expectation.”

Its importance varies by product, industry and customer. As an example, an expert customer

might require less pre-purchase service (i.e., advice) than a novice. In many cases, customer

service is more important if the purchase relates to a “service” as opposed to a “product".

Customer service may be provided by a person (e.g., sales and service representative), or by

automated means called self-service. Examples of self service are Internet sites.

Customer service is normally an integral part of a company’s customer value proposition.

Some have argued that the quality and level of customer service has decreased in recent years,

and that this can be attributed to a lack of support or understanding at the executive and middle

management levels of a corporation and/or a customer service policy.

Recently, many organizations have implemented feedback loops that allow them to capture

feedback at the point of experience. For example, National Express, one of the UK's leading

coach companies invites passengers to send text messages whilst riding the bus. This has been

shown to be useful as it allows companies to improve their customer service before the customer

defects, thus making it far more likely that the customer will return next time.

Customer care also benefits some businesses more than others.

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2.2 Relative Constructs of this Study

We have considered the main 4 factors of the servuction model to conduct the research.

■ Customer service

strategy

■ Rules and

regulations

Inanimate Environment

■ Cleanliness of the surroundings

■ Odors

■ Furnishers (Beds, chairs, tables etc)

■ Decoration (Curtains, bedcover etc)

■ Customer care center’s appearance

■ Equipments(Computers and many

others)

Contact Personnel

■ Receptionists

■ Telephone operator

■ Security personnels

Service Provider

■ Customer care Manager

Invisible Visible

The inanimate Environment

The inanimate environment consists of all the nonliving features that are presenting during the

service encounters. Because service are intangible they cannot be objectively evaluated as can

goods. Hence,in absence of a tangible product, consumers look for tangible cues that surround

the service n which to base their service performance evaluations.

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Contact Personnel and service providers

Contact personnel are employee other than the primary service providers who briefly interact with the customer. In contrast service providers are the primary providers of the core service. unlike the consumptions of goods, the consumptions of service often takes place where the service is produced or where the service is produces at the consumers residence or workplace .Regardless of the service delivery locations, interactions between consumers and contact personnel an/service providers are commonplace. As a result the impact of the contact personnel;

and service providers on the service experience can be profound.

Rules and Regulations:

Although Rules and regulations inside the Customer care Center are invisible to the customer

they have a profound effect on the customer service experience .the invisible organization and

system determines the factors such as information forms to be completed to policies of the

organizations. The servuction system is what creates the experience for the consumers and it is

the experience that creates the bundle of benefits for the consumers.

2.3 Research Questions

1. Does inanimate environment shape a better customer service?

2. Does contact personnel influences service experience of customer in a customer care center?

3. Does service provider influences the service experience of customer in a customer care center?

4. Do the strategy, rules and regulation of the Customer Care Center negatively influence the service experience of a customer in a customer care center?

2.4 Hypotheses

Based on the Research Question, we have developed following hypothesis,

H1: Inanimate environment shapes a better service experience.

H2: Contact personnel influences the service experience of customer

H3: Service Providers influences the service experience of customer

H4: The strategy, rules and regulation of the Customer Care Center positively influences the service experience of a customer.

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Chapter 03: Research Design

3.1 Questionnaire Design

An 18 question questionnaire was developed based on the Servuction model. The model included

questions covering inanimate environment, contact personnel, service provider, rules and

regulation and service experience. A Likert scale was used to question the respondents on the

five point scale. The respondents were asked to rate on the scale between Strongly Agree and

Strongly Disagree.

3.2 Data Collection Method A pre tested questionnaire was used to collect the data. The questionnaire was pre-tested in order

to maintain proper wording, length and sequencing of the questions. The data were collected

from the students of the East West University.

3.3 Sample Selection To select the sample we have used non-probabilistic sampling method and which is convenient

sample. A sample size of 50 students was used to conduct the research. The respondents of the

sample were the students of East West University as it is easy for us to collect data from the

campus. At first the students were asked whether they had taken service from any customer care.

Though there are some criticisms about the use of student as respondent of any sample but many

of the researchers used student as sample.

3.4 Validity Since this research had limitations in terms of time and scope our research is limited to the

reliability. As a result less attention was given to validity.

3.5 Measurement of the variables

A total of 18 items were constructed to get the data on five variables where four were

independent and the remaining was dependent. Reliability and internal consistency of the multi

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item scales for each of the constructs were measured using Cronbach Coefficient Alpha. The

minimally acceptable reliability for primary research should be in the range of point five to point

six. (Nunnally, 1967)Based on the assessment a total of 17 items measuring the constructs were

finally retained for final use. Coefficient alpha values were computed for each construct

separately which ranged from point 0.4547 to 0.7501.

Dimension Number of Items Alpha Values

Inanimate Environment

(independent)

3 0.5489

Contact Personnel

(independent)

4 0.5740

Service Provider

(independent)

4 0.6708

Rules & Regulation

(independent)

4 0.4547

Service Experience

(dependent)

2 0.7501

Chapter 04: Data Analysis

4.1 Analysis Techniques

Once the reliability analysis was done, we excluded one question from the first independent

variable Inanimate Environment that ultimately improved the alpha value. Then, we calculated

the mean value of dependent variables and independent variables. Finally, we completed the

analysis part through regression analysis.

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Chapter 05: Result & Findings

5.1 Hypothesis Testing:

In this section hypothesis based on the four factors that influence service experience in customer

care center are being analyzed.

H1: Inanimate environment shapes a better service experience.

Independent Variables Standardized Regression

Coefficient (β)

t value P

Inanimate Environment .185 1.539 .131

The observed table shows that inanimate environment has a positive influence on the customer

but it is very low and it is not statistically significant as we can see that P value(.134) is larger

than alpha value(.05) so H1 is rejected .

H2: Contact personnel influences the service experience of customer


Coefficient (β)

t value P

Contact Personnel -.305 -2.088 .042

The observed table shows that Contact personnel has a positive influence on the customer and it

is statistically significant as we can say that P value(.042) is smaller than alpha value(.05) so H2

is accepted.

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H3: Service Providers influence the service experience of customer


Coefficient (β)

t value P

Contact Personnel .567 3.970 .000



is accepted.

H4: Rules & Regulation influence the service experience of customer


Coefficient (β)

t value P

Contact Personnel .364 3.070 .004



is accepted.

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5.2 Regression Analysis:

From the regression analysis, we have found that the Value of R Square is .470. That means,

independent variable (Inanimate Environment, Contact Personnel, Service Provider, Rules and

Regulations) has 47% impact over the dependent variable (Service Experience of Customers in a

Customer Care Center). In other words, the dependent variable (Service Experience of

Customers in a Customer Care Center) can be influenced 47% by the independent variable

(Inanimate Environment, Contact Personnel, Service Provider, Rules and Regulations).

5.3 Discussion:

In this study of Servuction model analysis of a Customer Care Center, it tries to find out the

factors which affects the service experience in Customer Care Center .The 4 factors are

Inanimate Environment, Contact Personnel, Service Providers and Rules & Regulation are tested

by conducting a Regression analysis. The result indicates that three out of four factors (Contact

Personnel, Service Providers and Rules & Regulation) have direct positive and significant

influence on Customer service experience. Only Inanimate Environment did not show any

significant influence on customer service experience. Perhaps Customers may give less attention

to the physical surroundings and focus more on other factors.

5.4 Limitation :

The study has some limitation also. First the study used convenient sample more specifically the

students of East West University. and many arguments in favor and against the convenience

sampling method. Several authors have enumerated the dangerous of using student samples in

research(Beltramini1983;Oakes 1972).the R2(.470), is comparatively low which suggest other

factors can also influence the service experience. Further study should include other factors

except those we consider here. Also as inanimate Environment is rejected in this study so further

research should focus into inanimate environment to find out the reasonable outcome.

Model R R Square

Adjusted R Square

Std. Error of the Estimate

Change Statistics R Square Change

F Change df1 df2

Sig. F Change

1 .686(a) .470 .423 .48066 .470 9.986 4 45 .000

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Chapter 06: Conclusion and Recommendation

6.1 Conclusion

The factors of servuction model are both visible and invisible and they both affects the service

experience in customer care center. In this study these factors are tested with a statistical

technique and factors like contact personnel, service provider and Rules & Regulation proved

significant in the study and inanimate environment proved insignificant. May be customers are

more influenced by the other factors except inanimate environment.

6.2 Recommendation

Since the Hypotheses of Inanimate Environment has rejected so more focus should put on this

sector. Some are discussed below:

• They should develop the physical appealing of the Customer Care Center.

• They should show their sincere interest in solving the problems of the customers.

• Their focus should be on providing the service accurately at the first time

• Customer Service should be such that their service has error-free track records.

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Chapter 07: Bibliography:

1. Malhotra, J 2007-2008, “Marketing Research”, 5th Edition, Prentice-Hall, New Delhi.

2. Hoffman, Bateson, J 2006, “Essentials of Service Marketing”, 2nd Edition, Thomson

Learning, Ohio.

3. Nargis Parvin and Md. Humayun Kabir Chowdhury, “Consumer Evaluations of

Beautification Products: Effects of Extrinsic Cues”. Asian Academy of Management

Journal, vol. 11, No. 2, 89-104, July 2006.

4. http://www.customerservice.org

5. http://www.serviceorganization.com

6. Christopher H. Lovelock, “Classifying Services to gain Strategic Marketing Insights”,

Journal of Marketing, (Summer 1983), 9-20.

7. John E. G. Bateson, “ Managing Service Marketing”, Ed 4, 121.

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Chapter 08: Appendix

8.1 Questionnaire

1. Physical facilities of the Customer Care Center that you visited are visually appealing.

Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

1 2 3 4 5

2. I like the smell inside the customer Care Center


1 2 3 4 5

3. The physical environment is neat and clean


1 2 3 4 5

4. Lighting and sound is perfect for a good service experience


1 2 3 4 5

5. Contact Personnel pays good attention to you


1 2 3 4 5

6. Contact personnel is neat in appearance


1 2 3 4 5

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7. Contact personnel respond to your quarries instantly


1 2 3 4 5

8. Contact personnel has the knowledge to answer your queries


1 2 3 4 5

9. When you have a problem Customer Care Center shows a sincere interest in solving it


1 2 3 4 5

10. Service providers give you prompt service


1 2 3 4 5

11. Behavior of the Service Provider of Customer Care Center creates confidence in you


1 2 3 4 5

12. Service Provider provides service at the time they promise to do so


1 2 3 4 5

13. The rules& regulation inside the Customer Care Center is pleasant


1 2 3 4 5

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14. You don’t have to wait for along time in the queue in Customer care Center


1 2 3 4 5

15. Strict rules and regulation creates positive service experience for you


1 2 3 4 5

16. Behavior of the security people is courteous to you


1 2 3 4 5

17. I get the service from the customer care center as I perceive it


1 2 3 4 5

18. My experience in the customer care center is up to my expectation.


1 2 3 4 5

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8.2 Test of Internal Consistency

Reliability Case Processing Summary

N % Cases Valid 50 100.0

Excluded(a) 0 .0

Total 50 100.0

a Listwise deletion based on all variables in the procedure. Reliability Statistics

Cronbach's Alpha N of Items

.503 4

Item-Total Statistics

Scale Mean if Item Deleted

Scale Variance if

Item Deleted

Corrected Item-Total Correlation

Cronbach's Alpha if Item

Deleted Physical facilities of the Customer Care Center that you visited are visually appealing

11.34 2.515 .430 .334

I like the smell inside the customer Care Center 11.88 2.679 .168 .549

The physical environment is neat and clean 11.48 2.255 .451 .288

Lighting and sound is perfect for a good service experience

11.44 2.496 .198 .532



Excluded(a) 0 .0

Total 50 100.0

a Listwise deletion based on all variables in the procedure.

Reliability Statistics


.549 3

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Scale Variance if

Item Deleted



Deleted Physical facilities of the Customer Care Center that you visited are visually appealing

7.84 1.688 .353 .469

The physical environment is neat and clean 7.98 1.449 .390 .401

Lighting and sound is perfect for a good service experience

7.94 1.241 .355 .474



Excluded(a) 0 .0

Total 50 100.0



.574 4



Scale Variance if

Item Deleted



Deleted Contact Personnel pays good attention to you 11.20 2.490 .588 .297

Contact personnel is neat in appearance 10.98 3.367 .232 .596

Contact personnel respond to your quarries instantly

11.32 2.957 .276 .579

Contact personnel has the knowledge to answer your queries

11.02 3.285 .378 .493

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Excluded(a) 0 .0

Total 50 100.0



.671 4



Scale Variance if

Item Deleted



Deleted When you have a problem Customer Care Center shows a sincere interest in solving it

10.58 3.677 .364 .662

Service providers give you prompt service 10.82 3.130 .580 .514

Behavior of the Service Provider of Customer Care Center creates confidence in you

10.66 3.453 .515 .566

Service Provider provides service at the time they promise to do so

10.78 3.604 .367 .662



Excluded(a) 0 .0

Total 50 100.0



.455 4

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Scale Variance if

Item Deleted



Deleted The rules& regulation inside the Customer Care Center is pleasant

9.92 4.075 .214 .424

You don't have to wait for along time in the queue in Customer care Center

10.66 3.494 .267 .376

Strict rules and regulation creates positive service experience for you

10.10 3.316 .377 .260

Behavior of the security people is courteous to you 10.00 4.000 .182 .456



Excluded(a) 0 .0

Total 50 100.0



.750 2



Scale Variance if

Item Deleted



Deleted I get the service from the customer care center as I perceive it

3.32 .508 .600 .(a)

My experience in the customer care center is up to my expectation

3.58 .493 .600 .(a)

a The value is negative due to a negative average covariance among items. This violates reliability model assumptions. You may want to check item codings.

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8.3 Regression:

Variables Entered/Removed(b)

Model Variables Entered

Variables Removed Method

1 Rules,

Personnel, Environmnt, srvcprovider

(a)

. Enter

a All requested variables entered. b Dependent Variable: Dependent

Model Summary a Predictors: (Constant), Rules, Personnel, Environmnt, srvcprovider ANOVA(b)

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 9.228 4 2.307 9.986 .000(a)

Residual 10.397 45 .231 Total 19.625 49

a Predictors: (Constant), Rules, Personnel, Environmnt, srvcprovider b Dependent Variable: Dependent Coefficient Correlations(a)

Model Rules Personnel Environmnt srvcprovider 1 Correlation

s Rules 1.000 .016 -.232 -.268 Personnel .016 1.000 -.353 -.592 Environmnt -.232 -.353 1.000 .199 srvcprovider -.268 -.592 .199 1.000

Covariances

Rules .016 .000 -.004 -.005 Personnel .000 .029 -.008 -.015 Environmnt -.004 -.008 .019 .004 srvcprovider -.005 -.015 .004 .024

a Dependent Variable: Dependent

Model R R Square Adjusted R

Square Std. Error of the Estimate

Change Statistics

R Square Change F Change df1 df2 Sig. F Change

1 .686(a) .470 .423 .48066 .470 9.986 4 45 .000

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Factors that Influence the Service Experience.pdf