Management Research Review

The paths from service quality dimensions to customer loyalty: An application on

supermarket customers
Olgun Kitapci Ibrahim Taylan Dortyol Zhrem Yaman Mustafa Gulmez

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Olgun Kitapci Ibrahim Taylan Dortyol Zhrem Yaman Mustafa Gulmez, (2013),"The paths from service
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The paths from service quality

dimensions to customer loyalty

The paths to
customer loyalty

An application on supermarket customers

Olgun Kitapci

239

Department of Marketing, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey

Ibrahim Taylan Dortyol

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Department of Business, Cumhuriyet University, Sivas, Turkey

Zuhrem Yaman
Department of Health Management, Selcuk University, Konya, Turkey, and

Mustafa Gulmez
Department of Tourism, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey
Abstract
Purpose The aim of this study is to determine the paths between the five SERVQUAL dimensions,
customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.
Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on a sample of 505 supermarket customers
in Turkey who have completed a self-administered questionnaire. The paper uses means, such as
standard deviation and multiple regression analysis, to analyze and propose the conceptual model on
supermarket management.
Findings The paper concludes that empathy, tangibility, responsiveness, and assurance are factors
that are positively related to customer satisfaction, which in turn is positively related to customer
loyalty.
Originality/value The paper provides certain suggestions to supermarket managers regarding the
terms of service quality dimensions, satisfaction, and loyalty.
Keywords Service quality dimensions, Customer satisfaction, Customer loyalty, Supermarkets, Turkey
Paper type Research paper

Introduction
The importance of the service sector in the global economy is rapidly increasing.
Services are estimated to constitute nearly 75 and 80 percent of the value of the US
economy (Laroche et al., 2004). The supermarket sector, which was a growing sector in
the USA in the 1920s, emerged in Turkey in 1954 with Migros and Gima (the most
popular supermarkets in Turkey) and became widespread between the dates 1960 and
1970. By the year 2000, a significant increase in the numbers of the supermarkets, and
especially hypermarkets, was clearly evident. In 2001, there were 435 supermarkets in
Turkey. By 2003, that figure reached 968 and in 2005 soared to 1,872. It has been
declared that the estimations for 2012 are that there will be 2,840 supermarkets in
Turkey (http://arsiv.sabah.com.tr).
The sector in question, which has risen to become a locomotive industry in Turkeys
economy, with both its growth and employment figures, continued to perform in the
first nine months of 2011. According to the employment index of Kariyer.net, one of the

Management Research Review

Vol. 36 No. 3, 2013
pp. 239-255
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
2040-8269
DOI 10.1108/01409171311306391

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240

largest human resources platforms, in the first nine months of the year, there was an
increase of 45 percent in employment figures from the supermarket sector (www.
haberler.gen.al).
Prior to providing the literature review, which is related to the factors of the present
study, it will be helpful to provide information on the service structure of the Turkish
supermarket in order to avoid concerns regarding the effects of service levels on the
consumer perceived service quality. Accordingly, in Turkish supermarkets, the service
encounter process is still an important tool for supermarkets to differentiate themselves
from competitors. In supermarkets where homogenous products are sold in general,
specific factors such as store atmosphere, providing sufficient and dependable service,
accessibility, courteousness, suave, and sophisticated employees who are willing to help
the consumer, directly affect the consumers service quality perceptions. Therefore,
improving customer satisfaction and delivering better quality service than competitors
helps service providers to differentiate their offerings (Jamal and Anastasiadou, 2007).
It is well known that service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty are
becoming the most important factors of successful business competition for service
providers (Rust et al., 1995; Zeithaml, 1996). The nature of the relationship between
service quality and customer satisfaction has always been an attractive field of
study (Tam, 2004). Quality and satisfaction, along with value, were propounded as
service-oriented constructs which should be investigated to understand the dynamics
of loyalty based on behaviors such as repurchase and word-of-mouth (WOM) referrals
(Hutchinson et al., 2009). Therefore, as the development of service quality has been
identified as a key strategy to increase the level of customer satisfaction and intention
to revisit, providing quality service for customers poses great importance for both
retention and customer satisfaction (Lee et al., 2011), which is described as a precondition
for customer loyalty (Tam, 2004). As a result, service managers and researchers have
directed their efforts towards understanding the customers perceptions of service
quality, and towards the manner in which these perceptions are reflected on customer
satisfaction and behavioral intentions (Olorunniwo et al., 2006).
It is very difficult, however, to find studies related to service quality dimensions and
their effects on customer satisfaction and its customer satisfaction on the factors of
customer loyalty such as positive word-of-mouth (p-WOM) and repurchase intention in
the supermarket sector. As Jamal and Anastasiadou (2007, p. 398) stated, despite a
significant interest in service quality and its dimensions, very little research has
investigated the effects of specific dimensions of service quality on satisfaction and
loyalty. In conclusion, the purpose of our study is to investigate the path of service
quality ! customer satisfaction ! customer loyalty. We find this study particularly
to be interesting because there have been no such studies conducted in Turkey,
concerning customer loyalty for supermarkets.
The remainder of the paper is organized as follows: following a brief presentation of
the perceived service quality, satisfaction and loyalty, the research hypotheses are
proposed and the research methodology is detailed. The analysis of the collected data
and the testing of the hypotheses are complemented by a discussion of the main results
in relation to the complementing literature. The article ends with a revision of the main
findings and limitations of this study, and also includes suggestions for future
research.

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Literature reviews and hypotheses development

Perceived service quality
Until the mid-1980s, the majority of studies on product quality focused on the physical
aspect of product quality. From that date on however, studies have begun to consider
the distinguishing features of services, which have since formed the basis for revising
the quality definition for services (Soteriou and Chase, 1998).
Defining the concept of quality is the most important criteria in the economic
development of international companies, whereas under different circumstances it has
prevented the emergence of a universal definition (Reeves and Bednar, 1994). In addition,
it is difficult to define service quality as opposed to the quality of goods. The general
definition of quality is satisfying customers requirements (Ghobadian et al., 1994).
Service quality, as an output of the service encountering process, is defined as the
level of service offered to meet customer expectations (Duffy et al., 1997). Accordingly,
the concept of service quality emerged as the result of the interaction between
consumer and service provider (Leisen and Vance, 2001).
The definition of service quality from customer viewpoint is as follows
(Parasuruman et al., 1985, in Johns, 1999, p. 965):
Service quality is an inference regarding the superiority of a product or service based on a
rational assessment of characteristics or attributes, or an affective judgment or emotional
response similar to an attitude.

Gronroos (1984) stated that service firms should define perceived service quality and
determine the influence of service quality in order to compete successfully. Accordingly,
he explained the perceived service quality as being the outcome of an evaluation process.
In this process, the customer compares expectations and perceptions with the result of the
process, referred as perceived service quality.
Accordingly, a year after Gronroos study, Parasuruman et al. (1985) suggested a
conceptual model. Similarly, they claimed that service quality is a comparison between
expectations and performance. They conceptualized the perceived service quality as
follows (Parasuruman et al., 1988, p. 16):
A global judgment, or attitude, related to the superiority of the service.

Within the framework of the European thought process which is also known as the
Scandinavian school, Gronroos (2001) stated that the technical quality and the
functional quality dimensions of a service replace the physical features of a product.
The image dimension has entered into the model as a dynamic factor. That is due to the
fact that customers then transfer their general perceptions and previous experiences
with them to the next service encounter process.
Among the consumer satisfaction theories, some researchers, including
Parasuruman and his colleagues, define service quality as the gap between service
perceptions and customer expectations (Vinagre and Neves, 2008).
The North American School has focused its research on the intangible factors with the
assumption that there are very few tangible factors in the service encounter process
(Perez et al., 2007). The most important advocates of this tradition, Parasuruman and
his colleagues have greatly contributed to the field of service quality with the SERVQUAL
scale they developed in light of the Scandinavian service management school
and especially the pioneering work done by Gronroos (Chowdhary and Prakash, 2007).

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The research focused on the notion that quality evaluation should not only focus on
service output but should also embody the service encounter process (Kang, 2006).
The Gap Model, which was first developed by Parasuruman and his colleagues, is
considered the most eminent work done on the topic (Jun et al., 2004), and focuses on the
differences between consumers viewpoints and marketers viewpoints (Svensson,
2006), has evoked a revolution (Redman and Mathews, 1998), and encouraged many
researchers to investigate service quality contributors as part of the marketing concept
(Chowdhary and Prakash, 2007). The debates and contributions within the framework
of measuring and conceptualizing service quality have evolved around the SERVQUAL
scale (Espinoza, 1999), and the roots of the efforts of conceptualizing service quality
have now reached to that model and scale (Hamer, 2006). The pioneer work of
Parasuruman et al. (1988), propounded that service quality leans on multi-dimensional
factors (Saunders, 2008). This conceptual model provides an advantage on easily
understanding service quality components (Kuei and Lu, 1997).
Parasuruman et al. (1985) mentioned the presence of five gaps that negatively affect
service quality:
Gap 1. Consumer expectations vs management perceptions.
Gap 2. Management perceptions vs service quality specifications.
Gap 3. Service quality specifications vs service encounter process.
Gap 4. Service encounter process vs outsider communication.
Gap 5. Expected service vs perceived service.
The aforementioned studies are invaluable for service quality management. Especially,
the Parasuruman team with Zeithaml and Berry has especially greatly contributed to the
development and expansion of the service quality field (Caruana et al., 1998).
The service quality concept is focused on how the service meets the consumers needs
and demands (Lewis et al., 1994). All of these definitions lean towards the assumption
that consumers may evaluate an object only after she/he has interpreted or perceived
it and parallel-wise, they may then comprehend the service quality by comparing
the perceptions and expectations after having received the service (Lee et al., 2000).
The interest in the service quality field and the complexity of the factors defining
service quality has given rise to the generation of numerous multi-dimensional models
(Ekinci, 2002; Brogowicz et al., 1990). Some of the most important research conducted
on the topic includes: Gronroos (1984), Parasuruman et al. (1985), Haywood-Farmer
(1988), Parasuruman et al. (1988), Brogowicz et al. (1990), Babakus and Mangold (1992),
Mattsson (1992), Teas (1993), Cronin and Taylor (1994) and Philip and Hazlett (1997).
It can be concluded from these studies that service quality has numbers of dimensions;
however there is no concrete agreement on the exact nature of the dimensions (Murray
and Howat, 2002). The SERVQUAL model has been pointed to as being the most
extensively and successfully used service quality measurement in the twenty-first
century (Kassim and Abdullah, 2010). The five dimensions of SERVQUAL: tangibles,
reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy are shown in Table I.
In an early study on customers service quality perceptions, Becker et al. (1997)
measured customers perceptions and expectations in floral service quality. The results
of that study exposed the finding that the reliability was the most important and the

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tangibles dimension was the least important of the five SERVQUAL dimensions.
In a study by Bougoure and Lee (2009), a comparison between wet markets and
supermarkets was made in the context of SERVQUAL dimensions, and the results
revealed that supermarkets were perceived to be more reliable and more responsive
than wet markets; in addition they offered better tangibles and greater level of
personalization. In a similar study performed by Torlak et al. (2010), discount stores and
supermarkets in Turkey were investigated via the customer perception of service
quality dimensions. Accordingly, supermarket customers perceived physical aspects
and store policy dimensions to be at a higher level, in contrast, discount store customers
gave more priority to personal interaction. There are several studies which indicate that
perceived service quality is the antecedent of satisfaction (Lee et al., 2000; Murray and
Howat, 2002) or that it has direct and indirect effects on behavioral intentions such as
loyalty and p-WOM (Ladhari, 2009) or that there is a positive relationship between
service quality, satisfaction, and revisit intension (Lee et al., 2011) or that service quality
positively influences customer satisfaction (Kuo et al., 2009). Service quality has
established itself as being an important determinant of both customer satisfaction
(Falk et al., 2010) and WOM communication (Matos and Rossi, 2008). One of the main
purposes of the present study is to determine the dominant service quality dimensions
for supermarkets. By doing so, the interrelationships between these dimensions and
customer satisfaction and loyalty will be investigated and their contribution to
cumulative satisfaction determined. Hence our prior hypotheses are:

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H1. Tangibles have a significantly positive influence on customer satisfaction.

H2. Reliability has a significantly positive influence on customer satisfaction.
H3. Responsiveness has a significantly positive influence on customer satisfaction.
H4. Assurance has a significantly positive influence on customer satisfaction.
H5. Empathy has a significantly positive influence on customer satisfaction.
Customer satisfaction and customer loyalty
Customer satisfaction, which has been considered by many firms to be a powerful
intangible asset for competitive advantage in the global arena (Ueltschy et al., 2009), is
the response of the customer who evaluates his/her prior expectations and actual
performance of the product/service (Ueltschy et al., 2009). Here, expectations correspond
to predictions about what will happen in the future (Ueltschy et al., 2004, 2009).
Accordingly, in the service management literature, customer satisfaction can be defined
Dimensions

Explanations

Tangibles
Reliability
Responsiveness
Assurance

Physical facilities, equipment, and appearance of personnel

Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately
Willingness to help customer and provide prompt service
Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust
and confidence
Caring, individualized attention the firm provides its customers

Empathy
Source: Lee et al. (2011)

Table I.
Five dimensions
of SERVQUAL

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as being a summary of cognitive and affective reaction to a service incident or to a

long-term service relationship (Lee et al., 2011). In other words, customer satisfaction or
dissatisfaction in services marketing is a result of experience of the customer with a
service quality encounter and comparison of that encounter with the expectations
(Caruana et al., 1998). Therefore, satisfaction is admitted to being idiosyncratic, because
it is the interaction of perceptual interpretation of expectations of the service provided by
that service encounter (Ueltschy et al., 2007).
Satisfied customers may be a great source to increase profitability. That is because
satisfied customers are likely to commit to the service organization and have better social
interaction with service providers, while dissatisfied customers complain more and
repurchase less (Lee et al., 2011). However, satisfied customers will only seek out the
service provider in the future and will also be willing to pay a premium price for that
service (Ueltschy et al., 2007). Customer satisfaction is considered to be one of the main
factors that influences repurchase intention (Ueltschy et al., 2007). One of the other
contributions of satisfied customers to the firm is p-WOM. In marketing literature,
researchers have reported that WOM plays an important role in the product choice process
and in the selection of service providers (Gilly et al., 1998). In actuality, p-WOM is a very
important advertising tool for firms. According to early studies, it is nine times as effective
as traditional advertising (Mazzarol et al., 2007, p. 1476). WOM may be defined as an
informal communication source among senders and receivers in regards to the service or
product (Murray, 1991). Sweeney et al. (2008) suggests that the potential for WOM to
impact perceptions or actions depends on the nature of the sender-receiver relationship,
the richness and strength of the message and its delivery. It is an emotionally expressed
behavior that will influence others purchasing intentions by informing them of a superior
experience (Kassim and Abdullah, 2010). In the context of the service quality field, it can be
stated that the consumer with high service quality perception will intend to recommend
the service provider, and in this manner, a p-WOM will occur (Gounaris et al., 2003).
This recommendation is an explicit encouragement to visit a service provider (Money et al.,
1998). Repurchase intention and p-WOM together compose loyalty. Kassim and
Abdullah (2010) have stated that loyalty determines behavioral intentions and is a key
predictor of a brands purchase and repurchase intentions. Customer loyalty is defined as
being a strong commitment to re-buy and re-patronize a service in the future (Jamal and
Anastasiadou, 2007; Kandampully and Suhartanto, 2000). However, loyal and
satisfied customers recommend services to others in the context of p-WOM
(Olorunniwo et al., 2006; Kandampully and Suhartanto, 2000; Kitapci and Dortyol,
2009). It has been found that customer satisfaction (and value) is a significant determinant
of loyalty (Lai et al., 2009). Thus, the related hypotheses are:
H6. Customer satisfaction has a significantly positive influence on customer
repurchase intention.
H7. Customer satisfaction has a significantly positive influence on p-WOM.
Research model
The research model for measuring satisfaction and loyalty of supermarket sector is
shown in Figure 2 with model results. This model consists of seven latent variables:
tangibility, responsibility, assurance, responsiveness, empathy, satisfaction, and loyalty.

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Methodology
The survey questionnaire consists of two parts. The first part includes statements to
measure the level of service quality and the satisfaction and loyalty levels of customers.
For measuring the service quality 17 statements are used. These questions were adapted
from Kueh and Voon (2007). In accordance with the original model (Parasuruman et al.,
1985) tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy are included as
quality dimensions. Each of these dimensions is measured with three or four statements
in the questionnaire.
Three statements were used to measure the customer satisfaction and two
statements measured customer loyalty. These items were adapted from Laroche et al.
(2004) and Nam (2008).
The second part includes items to determine the demographic profiles of the
respondents. In part one, a five-point Likert scale was used for data collection with 1 as
completely agree and 5 as completely disagree (Likert, 1934). Reliability and
internal consistency of statements are measured by Cronbachs a coefficient values.
The data were collected from customers of Oncu Supermarket which is planning to be
a national supermarket chain with 60 branches (actual number is 30) in Turkey.
A systematic sampling technique was used (Nakip, 2003). The questionnaire was pilot
tested in early November 2011 by 20 supermarket customers. Respondents in the pilot
test did not have problems with the questionnaire, although a few minor changes of
wording were suggested.
Following the pilot test, a large-scale consumer questionnaire was administered by
50 research students (of a local university). The survey took place in 30 branches of Oncu
Supermarket in a period between 28 November and 15 December 2011. They interviewed
510 consumers. Five were not included in the analysis because of incompleteness error.
505 questionnaires were considered as useful which represents a 99 percent response
rate. The questionnaire was in Turkish. Face-to-face interviews were conducted in order
to ensure a high response rate and to reduce the missing data in the questionnaires.
SPSS 18.0 for Windows was used for data analysis. Descriptive statistics such as means,
standard deviation, regression and factor analysis, frequency tests were calculated.
Findings
Table II summarizes the demographics of the respondents.
The sample of consumers contained more males (56.4 percent) than females
(43.6 percent). About 34.5 percent of the respondents were between 21 and 30 years of
age which is followed by 31-40 age group (22.4 percent) and 41-50 age group
(15.2 percent). Most of the respondents were married (71.9 percent). About 44.6 percent
of the respondents have graduate degree, followed by high school degree group
(26.3 percent), primary school degree (17.6 percent), and secondary school degree group
(8.7 percent). The most of the participants incomes are 750 TL and lower (37.6). About
26.9 percent of the sample perceived their incomes as much lower and 43.2 percent
as little lower. A significant result that shows the economic status of the consumers
is that just 2.5 percent and 3.1 percent of the participants considered their incomes,
respectively, as little higher and much higher. The rate of the consumers who
thought they had an average income is 25.6 percent (Table II).
Results of descriptive statistics and Cronbachs a are illustrated in Table III. The
Cronbachs a value for three items of satisfaction is 78.6 percent. For the three items in

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Table II.
Demographic breakdown
of the respondents

Age
20 and lower
21-30
31-40
41-50
51-60
61 above
Total
Level of education
Literate
First school
Second school
High school
Graduate degree
Master or doctorate degree
Total
Gender
Female
Male
Total
Income c
750 TL and lower
751-1,250 TL
1,251-1,750 TL
1,751-2,250 TL
2,251 TL and more
Total
Jobs
Student
Pensioner
Officer
Employee
Housewife
Self-employed
Total

(F)a

(P)b

60
174
113
77
57
24
505

11.8
34.5
22.4
15.2
11.3
4.8
100

5
89
44
133
225
9
505

1.0
17.6
8.7
26.3
44.6
1.8
100

220
285
505

43.6
56.4
100

190
136
73
67
39
505

37.6
26.9
14.5
13.3
7.7
100

124
43
80
38
103
110
505

24.6
8.5
15.8
7.5
20.5
21.8
100

Notes: aF frequency; bP percentage; c1 USD 1.90 TL; n 505

responsiveness dimension alpha is 76.1 percent; for three items in empathy dimension
alpha is 74 percent; for four items in assurance dimension alpha is 73.9 percent; for two
items in loyalty alpha is 71.3 percent; for three items in reliability dimension alpha is
70.8 percent and finally for four items in tangibility dimension alpha is 64.5. The mean
values, maximum and minimum values, standard deviations, number of items and
reliability analysis are summarized in Table III.
Table III indicates that customers placed highest marks for the following
statements: supermarket uses modern equipments (4.48), I would like to revisit
the supermarket that I have already dealt with (4.28) and your entire experience with
the supermarket; overall you are very satisfied with the supermarket (4.22). Generally,
arithmetic means of model variables are in a range from 3.43 to 4.48. On the other
hand, standard deviations of individual statements range from 0.917 to 1.283.

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Variables
Empathy
Employees in the supermarket understand particular
needs of their customers
Employees in the supermarket dedicate enough personal
attention to customers
The supermarket leaves an impression that what is best
for a customer is always the supermarkets priority
Reliability
The supermarket provides its services without making
mistakes
Promises given to customers are being met within
agreed time frame
Employees in the supermarket show sincere efforts to
solve customerss problems
Responsiveness
Employees in the supermarket provide prompt and
actual service to customers
Employees in the supermarket are ready to assist clients
at any moment
Employees in the supermarket provide customers with
all necessary information
Tangibility
Supermarket uses modern equipment
Employees in the supermarket have a professional
looking
Interior of the supermarket is attractive
Materials such as informative signs regarding
supermarket are visually appealing and easy to
understand
Assurance
Employee behavior raises customers confidence
Customers of the supermarket feel confident regarding
all travel arrangement elements (product transport from
supermarket to customers home)
Employees in the supermarket are polite to their
customers
Employees in the supermarket have necessary
knowledge to answer all questions raised by customers
Satisfaction
Assuming you view your entire experience with the
supermarket, overall you are very satisfied with the
supermarket
In general, my satisfaction level related to the
supermarket that I have already deal with is high
Complete service offer by a supermarket is significantly
above expected
Loyalty
I would like to revisit the supermarket that I have
already deal with
I recommend my close environment to visit the
supermarket that I have already deal with

Cronbachs a

Mean

SD

0.740

3.80

1.157

3.74

1.198

3.76

1.145

3.92
3.86

1.129
1.315

3.67

1.210

3.92

1.155

4.00
4.02

1.179
1.101

4.03

1.025

4.14

1.098

3.89
3.92
4.48

1.182
1.147
0.917

3.62
3.78

1.256
1.186

3.80
4.05
4.19

1.229
1.063
1.045

4.06

1.080

4.24

0.974

3.74
3.91

1.154
1.026

4.22

0.926

4.08

0.973

3.43
4.11

1.181
1.119

4.28

0.956

3.95

1.283

0.708

0.761

0.645

0.739

0.786

0.713

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Table III.
Descriptive statistics
of variables

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Finally, an adequate level of reliability is notable among all variables except tangibility
variable (Cronbachs a values were higher than 0.7).
Multiple regression analysis is used to test the relationships between variables.
The results of multiple regression analysis are shown in Table IV. The general purpose of
multiple regressions is to learn more about the relationship between several independent
or predictor variables and a dependent or criterion variable (Nakip, 2003, p. 310).
The results in Table IV show that independent variables together describe 56 percent
of customer satisfaction variability. The value of R 2 coefficient is significant (F 126.753,
p , 0.01). The impacts of four service quality variables on consumer satisfaction are
significant. The Beta coefficients of empathy, responsiveness, tangibility, and assurance
are, respectively, 0.244, 0.102, 0.237, and 0.218. Empathy dimension (t 5.579, p 0.000),
responsiveness dimension (t 2.172, p 0.030), tangibility dimension (t 5.537,
p 0.000), and assurance dimension (t 4.012, p 0.000) dimensions are significantly
connected with customer satisfaction. Reliability dimension has not a significantly
positive influence on customer satisfaction. From the beta estimates, it can be said that
empathy dimension is strongly connected to customer satisfaction than other four service
quality dimensions. On the other hand, employees in the supermarket understand needs
of their customers.
Application of regression analysis assumes that the variables have a linear relationship
with each other. The scatterplot matrices in Figure 1 show that, all assumptions are
accepted. Therefore, it is considered that no further transformation is required for the
independent variables.
The results in Table V show that customer satisfaction significantly contributes
on repurchase intention (F 326.788, p 0.000) at the 1 percent significance level and
predicts 40.2 percent of the variance in repurchase intention. The Beta coefficients of
customer satisfaction is 0.701 which shows that customer satisfaction (t 18.401;
p 0.000) is significantly connected with repurchase intention. From the beta estimate,
it can be said that customer satisfaction is strongly connected with repurchase intention.
The results in Table VI show that customer satisfaction significantly contributes
on p-WOM (F 170.484, p 0.000) at the 1 percent significance level and predicts
25.3 percent of the variance in p-WOM. The Beta coefficients of customer satisfaction is
0.701 which shows that customer satisfaction (t 13.057; p 0.000) is significantly
connected with p-WOM. From the beta estimate, it can be said that customer
satisfaction is strongly connected to the p-WOM.

Independent variables

Table IV.
Multiple regression
analysis of SERVQUAL
dimensions towards
customer satisfaction

(Constant)
Empathy
Responsiveness
Reliability
Tangibility
Assurance

Beta coefficients

t-value

p-value

0.401
0.244
0.102
0.081
0.237
0.218

2.648
5.579
2.172
1.882
5.537
4.012

0.008
0.000 * *
0.030 *
0.060
0.000 * *
0.000 * *

Notes: Significant at: *p , 0.05; * *p , 0.01 levels; R 0.748; R 2 0.559; F 126.753;

Sig. F 0.000

TAN

SAT

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ASS
EMP

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RES

REL

249

SAT

TAN

REL

RES

ASS

Figure 1.
Scatterplot matrix
of dependent and
independents variables

EMP

Notes: Abbreviations are as follows: TAN tangibility,

REL reliability, RES responsiveness, ASS assurance,
EMP empathy, and SAT satisfaction

Independent variable

Beta coefficients

t-value

p-value

(Constant)
Customer satisfaction

1.542
0.701

10.104
18.401

0.000 *

Notes: Significant at: *p , 0.01 level; R 0.634; R 0.402; F 338.587; Sig. F 0.000

Independent variable

Beta coefficients

t-value

p-value

(Constant)
Customer satisfaction

1.028
0.747

4.490
13.057

0.000 *

Notes: Significant at: *p , 0.01 level; R 0.503; R 2 0.253; F 170.484; Sig. F 0.000

Satisfied customers make positive verbal communications between groups such as

family, friends and the actual or potential consumers about service providers and
repurchases from the same service provider (Tables V and VI).
In Figure 2, all the significant paths and their coefficients are illustrated with
signs. Among them, responsiveness is significant at p, 0.05 level while empathy,
tangibility, assurance, and loyalty are significant at p , 0.01 level.

Table V.
Regression analysis of
customer satisfaction
towards repurchase
intention

Table VI.
Regression analysis of
customer satisfaction
towards p-WOM

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250

Figure 2.
Research model and
the model results

Conclusion and discussion

Although, the main objective of this research is to study how service quality dimensions
influenced satisfaction and loyalty of customers by investigating a suggested research
model, the study itself is also relevant to a broad range of service company that focus
their efforts towards feeding long term relationships with customers. The study suggests
that four SERVQUAL dimensions (empathy, responsiveness, assurance and tangibility)
are important antecedents of satisfaction, and, also the satisfaction affects the results
of customer loyalty such as positive word-of mouth and repurchase. The latter result
has similar reflection with the work of Sivadas and Baker-Prewitt (2000). In the study
which examined the relationships between service quality, customer satisfaction and
store loyalty, they stated that satisfaction influenced WOM and repurchase intention.
This study also showed that responsiveness, assurance, tangibility and empathy had
significant influence on customer satisfaction, while in the case of reliability, and
significance was not confirmed. The dimension of reliability is related with providing
sufficient and dependable service. Accordingly, the result that exposed no relationship
between customer satisfaction and reliability dimension, may be the consequence of the
supermarkets (that constitutes the sample) previous failures to provide sufficient and
dependable service which cause reliance problems among its customers.
The Beta coefficients for empathy, responsiveness, assurance, and tangibility are
0.244, 0.102, 0.218, and 0.237, respectively. These results show that the influence of
empathy dimension on consumer satisfaction is stronger than the influence of other
dimensions. And also, the results indicate the positive influences of customer
satisfaction on both repurchase intention and p-WOM. However, the present search has
some different findings with respect to Jamal and Anastasiadou (2007) who found that
reliability, tangibility and empathy have significant effects on satisfaction, and
tangibility is the strongest predictor of satisfaction. In contrast with, we come up with
the finding that empathy, responsiveness, assurance and tangibility are positively
related to the satisfaction while empathy is the strongest indicator. The reason of the
differences may be related to the business sectors. In the former research the sector in
question was banking sector. Therefore, it should be understandable that there can be
differences in related to service quality dimensions among different sectors.

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In the light of the results of descriptive statistics, we can establish that

supermarkets were not sufficiently successful in creating satisfaction among their
customers. It is evident that management in the future must pay particular attention to
these important issues because they represent some of the most important requisites
for creating long-term relationships with customers. Business activities should
commence with understanding the needs of the customers if their aim is to achieve
customer loyalty.
Supermarkets must develop efficient systems for a better analysis and resolution
of customer complaints. The study emphasizes that a relatively low percentage of
customers are actually ready to submit a formal complaint. p-WOM communication
can be very influential in any purchase decision. East et al. (2007, p. 181) showed that
p-WOM is more common than negative WOM. According to some studies, over
95 percent of unsatisfied customers actually never complain.
Limitations and future research
This study has some limitations. The presented research was conducted based solely
on supermarket sectors; therefore, results cannot be generalized onto other sectors of
economy. Future research should focus on measuring customer satisfaction and
loyalty with wholesales and other service industries. In addition, it would be useful to
consult on studies from other regions of Turkey or other countries nearby Turkey,
since the use of an identical model would be useful to compare the results.
Limited resources and time resulted in a small sample (n 505) and, therefore, the
findings cannot be also generalized to all supermarket customers. Future research is
required to collect data from the customers of different supermarkets and increase the
sample size.
Our tested model entailed a total of seven variables the five SERVQUAL
variables and, satisfaction and loyalty. This model can be developed with different
variables.
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Web sites
http://arsiv.sabah.com.tr/2005/12/07/res_gda 101-4-20051207.html
www.haberler.gen.al/2011-10-17/perakende-sektoru-istihdam-rakamlarinda-yuzde-45-artisyasandi
About the authors
Olgun Kitapci holds a PhD in Marketing at Cumhuriyet University. He is an Assistant Professor
of Marketing at Akdeniz University. His research interests include service marketing, service
quality and customer relationship management. Olgun Kitapci is the corresponding author and
can be contacted at: okitapci@yahoo.com.tr
Ibrahim Taylan Dortyol is a Research Assistant of Marketing at Cumhuriyet University.
His research interests include CRM, marketing researches and service quality.
Zuhrem Yaman is a Research Assistant of Health Management at Selcuk University.
His research interest includes marketing strategy and service quality.
Mustafa Gulmez is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Akdeniz University. He received
his PhD in Marketing from Cumhuriyet University. His research interests include marketing
communication and tourism marketing.

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