Horstmann, R (1997) Behavioral and financial impact of customer satisfaction and service quality: An empirical assessment in the facilities management industry. DBA thesis, Nova Southeastern University, USA.
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to explore the behavioral and financial impact of customer satisfaction and service quality as well as to examine the relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty (as measured by stated behavioral intentions). This research builds on the theoretical foundation of Zeithaml et al. (1996) who first suggested a conceptual model that describes the behavioral intentions as intervening variable between service quality and financial gains or losses. In addition, this research expands on the models of Rust et al. (1995) and Schlesinger & Heskett (1991) by analyzing the driving factors of customer satisfaction and loyalty. The company involved in this research is a famous American quality leader. The customer base includes Fortune 500 companies, medium-sized businesses, universities, and government institutions. The author was given access to three main data bases, the Customer Satisfaction Measurement System, the Cancellation/Renewal Reports, and the Revenue and Billing Reports. The financial impact of customer satisfaction is measured indirectly by accounts cancelled or renewed. The results of the study revealed that customer satisfaction and loyalty have a high correlation, and that there are different driving factors of customer satisfaction and loyalty. Furthermore, the loyalty measures turned out to be a better predictor of actual customer behavior than the overall customer satisfaction measure. Generally, the results indicate that the so far discussed models in the literature are describing these relations too superficially. Suggestions for further research are provided.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | facilities management; government; measurement; renewal; service quality |
| Index terms: | renewal, facilities management, customer satisfaction, revenue, service quality |
| Subjects: | service delivery, renovation and retrofit, economic analysis, performance measurement, management |
| Topics: | Business Strategy, Quality Management, Stakeholder Management, Engineering Principles |
| Descriptive scope: | 2 PC |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here