Does national culture really matter Hotel service perceptions by Taiwan and American tour

Description
The purpose of this paper is to clarify the question: should management segment the
markets according to different ‘‘cultures’’, serving the target consumers with the minimum ‘‘cultural
shock’’ and providing the most appropriate service for consumers from different nations?

International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research
Does national culture really matter? Hotel service perceptions by Taiwan and American tourists
An-Tien Hsieh Chien-Wen Tsai
Article information:
To cite this document:
An-Tien Hsieh Chien-Wen Tsai, (2009),"Does national culture really matter? Hotel service perceptions by Taiwan and American tourists",
International J ournal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 3 Iss 1 pp. 54 - 69
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Does national culture really matter?
Hotel service perceptions by Taiwan and
American tourists
An-Tien Hsieh and Chien-Wen Tsai
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to clarify the question: should management segment the
markets according to different ‘‘cultures’’, serving the target consumers with the minimum ‘‘cultural
shock’’ and providing the most appropriate service for consumers from different nations?
Design/methodology/approach – This research regards Hofstede’s cultural perspective as the main
basis for deduction. Drawing on a self-administered questionnaire, the data are collected from
Taiwanese and American consumers in the international tourist hotels in Taiwan. Based on theoretical
considerations, hypothesis are proposed to examine what are the Taiwanese and American consumers’
evaluation factors toward international tourist hotel service quality.
Findings – Based upon the empirical ?ndings of this research, Taiwan consumers and American
consumers have different cognition toward international tourist hotel service quality due to their cultural
difference. The differences are most pronounced in the perceptual categories labeled ‘‘Assurance’’,
‘‘Tangibles’’, ‘‘Reliability’’, ‘‘Reaction’’ and ‘‘Empathy’’. Cultural differences do in?uence consumer
behavior.
Research limitations/implications – The research problems and objectives of this research are merely
to understand if there is any difference between the two and where the differences might lie. However,
according to the research ?nding, ‘‘cultural difference’’ plays a signi?cant role. Since this research is a
‘‘descriptive study’’ which cannot assure causality, future research can investigate effect and causality
of ‘‘national culture dimension’’ and ‘‘service quality dimension’’ and further expand the theory.
Practical implications – In order to respond to different cultural values, enterprises should recognize
different needs of consumers fromdifferent cultures and employ various operational strategies, diminish
the gap between expectation and cognition of service quality, transcend cross-cultural boundaries,
upgrade consumers’ cognition toward hotel service quality. Via the characteristic of international tourist
hotel industry, which is highly connected with consumers, one can thus clarify the consumers’ various
responses under the in?uence of their different cultures. Furthermore, with the related study on service
marketing, one can supplement the theory from the cross-cultural perspective. As to the empirical
aspects, the said study is able to function as a reference for upgrading the cultural sensitivity of the
industry.
Originality/value – Previous researches neglect whether there is any difference between the optimal
international marketing strategies with respect to ‘‘service’’, the intangible product, and the ‘‘tangible
product’’ of manufacturing industry. Con?rming the difference of each country can result in valuable
insight such as understanding the relationship among culture, economics, society and space.
Consequently, understanding the cultural differences with respect to evaluation and cognition of service
quality quali?es as the most important issue for this research.
Keywords National cultures, Service levels, Hotels
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Service quality has been valued since the beginning of the 1980s in the service-marketing
?eld (Gummesson, 1994). Until now, service quality continues to receive a lot of research
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VOL. 3 NO. 1 2009, pp. 54-69, Q Emerald Group Publishing Limited, ISSN 1750-6182 DOI 10.1108/17506180910940342
An-Tien Hsieh is based at
the Graduate School of
Business Administration,
School of Management, Da
Yeh University, Chang-hua,
Taiwan. Chien-Wen Tsai is
based at the Department of
Hotel Management, School
of Service Industries and
Management, Ming-Hsin
University of Science and
Technology, Hsinchu
County, Taiwan.
Received February 2008
Revised September 2008
Accepted October 2008
The authors thank Peter Morton,
who teaches in the English
Department of Chinese Culture
University, for his insightful
comments and suggestions for
improving this article.
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attention (Fisk et al., 1993). In the modern age of globalization, in particular, service quality is
considered to be the most critical element with respect to successful internationalization of
service industry (Master and Prideaux, 2000; Yetton and Craig, 1995). The relationship
among culture, subculture and consumer behavior has also started to draw attention (Engel
and Blackwell, 1982). In 1987, Horovitz (1987, 1990) initially pointed out the effect of cultural
difference on perceptions of service quality. In recent years, some researches emphasize
the empirical importance of this issue (Anderson and Fornell, 1994; Collier, 1994). According
to the empirical studies of Donthu and Yoo (1998), Furrer et al. (2000), Mattila (1999),
Winsted (1997) signi?cant relationship between culture and the cognition of service quality
have been con?rmed. However, there are still insuf?cient studies about whether the
individual’s cultural background would affect his/her recognition and evaluation of service
quality (Weiermair, 2000). One can merely rely on indirect evidence, such as nationality, as
the basis for pro?ling the interviewees (Huang et al., 1996). Therefore, the fact of cultural
difference suggests that the related behavior and cognition of culturally different consumers
will vary.
With the trend of globalization, growth of transnational corporations, and the emergence of
culture related issues, cultural difference reveals its signi?cance in terms of explaining the
behavior of consumers and designing ef?cient marketing strategies and tools (Keegan,
1984; Usinier, 1993; Weiermair, 2000). The service industry that treats human beings as the
medium for product delivery, in particular, depends heavily on service personnel and
equipment. Thus, when the provider and consumer of the service belong to different cultures
(e.g., service personnel of hotels in Taiwan and American customers), cross-cultural service
will take place (Stauss, 1999; Weiermair, 2000). Situations like these often tend to generate
cultural shock (Cushner and Brislin, 1997; Weiermair, 2000). Therefore, cultural elements
have great impact upon consumers’ perceptions and responses. Since the consumer is the
ultimate arbiter of service quality, only service that complies fully with consumers’
expectations can be considered excellent (Martin, 1986; Parasuraman et al., 1991).
According to Pikkemaat and Weiermair (1999), the tourists’ speci?c expectation toward
tourism service quality is partially derived from the tourists’ cultural background and
personal socialization. In order to satisfy the expectation of service quality with respect to the
consumers of different cultures, the management should recognize different needs of
consumers from different cultures. Should management segment the markets according to
different ‘‘cultures’’, serving the target consumers with the minimum ‘‘cultural shock’’ and
providing the most appropriate service for consumers from different nations? (Lovelock and
Yip, 1996) Previous researches neglect whether there is any difference between the optimal
international marketing strategies with respect to ‘‘service’’, the intangible product, and the
‘‘tangible product’’ of manufacturing industry (Bryson, 2001b; Bryson et al., 1999; Ogorelc,
1998; Su Su, 1996). Con?rming the difference of each country can result in valuable insight
such as understanding the relationship among culture, economics, society and space
(Bryson, 2001b) and predict consumer behavior through national culture based the said
knowledge. Consequently, understanding the cultural differences with respect to evaluation
and cognition of service quality quali?es as the most important issue for this research.
Various empirical researches explore the difference between eastern and western cultures,
which tend to regard the USA as representative of the west. According to the research of
Hofstede (1980b, 1991), Taiwanese and Americans are considerably different in national
culture. Does the said difference causes extreme differences in Taiwanese and Americans’
perceptions of service quality? Based upon the above researches, the management has
already recognized that the provision of service quality is the critical element with respect to
the success of hotel management. However, they have not yet realized the possible
cognitive differences between tourists from different cultural areas with respect to service
quality. In order to satisfy the quality expectations of consumers from different cultures,
reduce cultural shock, and further diminish the gap between consumers’ expectations and
perceptions of service quality, the management must understand how, if at all, the needs of
consumers from various cultures differ. Via the characteristic of international tourist hotel
industry, which is highly connected with consumers, one can thus clarify the consumers’
various responses under the in?uence of their different cultures. Furthermore, with the
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related study on service marketing, one can supplement the theory from the cross-cultural
perspective. As to the empirical aspects, the said study is able to function as a reference for
upgrading the cultural sensitivity of the industry.
This research begins with literature reviews with respect to service quality and national
culture, then explores the relationship between service quality and national culture, and
further proposes the related hypotheses. The research proceeds with empirical study with
the targets of Taiwanese and American customers of international tourist hotels. Finally, the
research discusses the application with regard to management, and suggests the direction
for future research.
Literature review and hypotheses
Service quality of the international tourist hotel industry
Based on related researches that have explored the service quality of international tourist
hotels, the research directions include the following: First – the role service quality plays
among the main elements for which the customers choose the hotel (Dewitt, 1970; Sasser
et al., 1978). The second research direction – the importance of service quality among the
various success factors for hotel operation (Cadotte and Turgeno, 1988; Geller, 1985; Waller,
1991; Yesawich, 1988a). The third research direction – the evaluation of service quality
(Brown et al., 1993; Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Parasuraman et al., 1991, 1988; Parasuraman
et al., 1985). The fourth research direction – factors which affect the service quality of hotels:
Heskett (1987) suggested a ‘‘service golden triangle’’ (hotel, employee, and consumer) as
three perspectives for discussing the service quality of hotels. For example, Chan (1989),
Sasser et al. (1978) discussed the issue from the ‘‘hotel’’ perspective. Batchelor and
Esmond (1989), Fick and Ritchie (1991), Hartline and Jones (1996), Saleh and Ryan (1991),
Williams (1999) etc. are all based on the perspective of the ‘‘employee’’. Batchelor and
Esmond (1989), Fick and Ritchie (1991), Lewis (1981), Oberoi and Hales (1990), Parasuman
et al. (1991), Saleh and Ryan (1991), Webster (1989), etc. have discussed service quality
from the consumer’s viewpoint.
The cross-cultural study in the 1970s was gradually valued in the 1990s under globalization
and was regarded as the ?fth research direction (Weiermair, 2000): the impact of culture
upon the management of international commercial activities; the impact of culture upon the
international marketing activities; the position of culture in the organizational activities of the
company; the various applications of Hofstede’s perspective of national culture; and
Weiermair’s ?fth cultural issue – the behavior of consumers of tourism. Therefore, the
discussion with regard to the relationship between culture and the behavior of tourism has
been valued since 1995 (e.g. Becker and Murrmann, 1999; Mok and Armstrong, 1998;
Pizam and Sussmann, 1995; Reisinger and Turner, 1997; Weiermair, 2000). Consequently,
the issue about the relationship between culture and service quality of international tourist
hotel becomes the ?fth research direction of those studies that explore the service quality of
international tourist hotels. Research about the relationship between culture and service
quality is still at the stage of exploration and the empirical studies are few and far between.
Most of the studies consider nationality as part of the background information of the
interviewees and a possible basis for pro?ling. In 1994, Anderson and Fornell initially posed
a conceptual problem – the problem with regard to different cultures and satisfaction with
service quality is empirically signi?cant. In addition, Chadee and Mattsson (1996) and
Mattila (1999) found that the tourists from different cultural regions possess signi?cantly
different cognitive factors with regard to service quality. However, less research is
conducted to explore the difference about the cognition of ?ve perspectives on service
quality of consumers from various cultures. In other words, the relationship between culture
and perspective of service quality is still unclear (Furrer et al., 2000). Therefore, in terms of
the effect of service quality theory concerning culture, obviously, some uncertainties are still
needed for the researchers to clarify. With regard to the international tourist hotel industry
that tends to value the customers and consumers’ needs, cross-cultural study is lacked.
Positioned upon the ?fth research direction, this research attempts to explore the differences
in consumers’ cognition of service quality in international tourist hotels.
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National culture and service quality
Addressing the aspects of culture and marketing management, there are a few empirical
studies such as organization purchasing behavior (Chang and Ding, 1995; Chung and
Adams, 1997), advertisement (Albers-Miller and Gelb, 1996), racial recognition (Armstrong,
1996), consumers’ purchasing behavior and international marketing strategy, marketing
decision (Lu et al., 1999), consumers’ brand loyalty, consumers’ recommendation behavior
(Money et al., 1998), tourism marketing strategy after catastrophes (Min, 2001), consumers’
expectation toward service (Donthu and Yoo, 1998), and service experience (Winsted,
1997). In addition, Furrer et al. (2000) explored the relationship between Hofstede’s cultural
perspective and ?ve perspectives of service quality of Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry
and further constructed a Cultural Service Quality Index (CSQI) in banking. Furrer and
Sudharshan (2001) pointed out that culture would affect behavior intention via cognitive
difference towards service quality. Armstrong et al. (1997) examined tourists from different
cultures and their evaluations of hotel service quality.
The formal proposal of Hofstede’s (1980a, 1991, 1994) cultural perspective is valued by
academics in many ?elds (Anderson and Fornell, 1994). Like related researches on factors
affecting the service quality of international tourist hotels and the factors in?uencing the
evaluation of service quality, this research regards Hofstede’s (1980a, 1991) cultural
perspective as the main basis for deduction. Hofstede (1990a) de?ned national culture as a
system of values and beliefs learned during childhood. Via national culture, one can
distinguish the differences among groups. In his research, Hofstede (1990b) divided the
values of national culture into ?ve dimensions: ‘‘individualism’’, ‘‘power distance’’,
‘‘uncertainty avoidance’’, ‘‘masculinity’’, and ‘‘long-term orientation’’. The scores of each
dimension are from 0 to 100. The higher the score is, the stronger ‘‘individualism’’ is; the
wider ‘‘power distance’’ is; the more ‘‘uncertainty avoidance’’ is; the stronger ‘‘masculinity’’ is
and the more powerful ‘‘long-termorientation’’ is. The index of each country is the average of
the indexes of the employees being interviewed. The followings are the scores of national
cultural dimension of Taiwan, Japan, America, and Britain (Table I).
Individualism and service quality
According to the study of Hofstede (1983) and Hofstede and Bond(1988), the score of
Taiwan is 17 points on this individualismdimension. Taiwan is thus a society with a collectivist
orientation. In the more ‘‘collectivism’’-oriented countries, people would stress that an
individual is closely connected with others and that one should be concerned about the
bene?ts of the group (Hofstede and Bond, 1988; Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck, 1961). Since
they emphasize group bene?ts, value helping each other and relationship with others, they
respect traditions as well (Master and Prideaux, 2000; Mattila, 1999; Schwartz, 1992, 1994).
They also consider what has been suggested about the empathy dimension: that service
personnel should be concerned about individual customer’s needs; that they should value
the relationships among people. Thus, this research infers that Taiwanese consumers would
place more value on the ‘‘empathy’’ dimension of service quality. The score of the USA is 91
points on this dimension and which is quali?es as an individualist-oriented society. This kind
of country reveals a loose social structure. The people possess strong self-orientation,
merely care about themselves and their closest family, and stress personal achievement and
Table I The scores of national cultural dimension
Nation Individualism Power distance Uncertainty avoidance Masculinity Long-term orientation
Japan 46 54 92 95 80
Taiwan 17 58 69 45 87
America 91 40 46 62 23
British 89 35 35 66 25
Source: Hofstede and Bond (1988), ‘‘The Confucius connection: from cultural roots to economic growth‘‘, Organizational Dynamics,
Vol. 16 No. 4, pp. 4-21. Hofstede (1983), ‘‘The cultural relativity of organizational practices and theories’’, Journal of International Business
Studies, Vol. 14, Fall, pp. 75-89
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freedom. Their personal behavior is usually not affected by others. In other words, people
are more independent, self-centered, and tend to not value their relationships with others.
Therefore, as to the cognition of empathy, the consumers usually do not require the service
personnel to be concerned about the customers (Furrer et al., 2000). From this point, this
research infers that American consumers do not reveal any strong cognition toward
‘‘empathy’’.
According to Donthu and Yoo (1998), the self-con?dence of people with a ‘‘collectivist’’
orientation is less than that of people with a more ‘‘individualist’’ orientation. When they are
asking the service personnel to assure their service, they tend not to ask for too much
‘‘assurance’’. Employees’ service behaviors instill customers’ con?dence; employees keep
a polite attitude towards the customers, and employees have enough professional
knowledge to answer customers’ questions. Based upon the above, this research infers that
compared to American consumers, Taiwanese consumers tend not to value the ‘‘assurance’’
on service quality.
Power distance and service quality
Based upon the study of Hofstede (1984) and Hofstede and Bond (1988), the score of
Taiwan is 58 points in the ‘‘power distance’’ dimension. In this kind of culture, people believe
in the unequal distribution of power and positions and they tend to accept apparent
difference in terms of the power distribution in a group. In addition, people easily obey
authority (Hofstede, 1984) and they can adjust to the autocratic management of authority
?gures. According to Furrer et al. (2000), in a society with strong ‘‘power distance’’, the
service providers rely upon the consumers who thus obtain ‘‘superior power’’. Therefore,
since they are under the culture of strong ‘‘power distance’’, the consumers would expect
the service providers to have less ‘‘power’’. They thus expect to receive ‘‘excellent service’’.
Besides, Malhotra et al. (1994) mentioned that in societies with strong ‘‘power distance’’,
when people are evaluating service quality, they strongly emphasize personal contact. Thus
they would demand the perspectives of ‘‘reliability’’ –the reliability and consistency of
service and the capacity of accurately offering the service they promise, ‘‘reaction’’ –
assisting the customers to solve problems immediately and offer prompt service, and
‘‘empathy’’ (Furrer et al., 2000). In addition, the grandeur of the tangible objects reveals the
extent to which the service providers respect ‘‘the power of the superiority’’ and represents
the people’s statuses. Therefore, in the society of strong ‘‘power distance’’, people tend to
value the ‘‘tangibles’’ on service quality (Cho, 2001). Based upon the above, this research
infers that Taiwanese consumers pay more attention upon the ‘‘tangibles’’, ‘‘reliability’’,
‘‘reaction’’ and ‘‘empathy’ of service quality.
The score of the USA is 40 points with regard to this perspective, which identi?es a culture
with less power distance. Under this kind of culture, people do not believe in the unequal
distribution of power and positions and they cannot accept apparent difference in terms of
the power distribution in a group. In this kind of society, people would try their best to reduce
the inequality. They prefer democratic management and the people with lower positions are
independent and liberal. The difference of classes and positions are not signi?cant in the
society. Based upon the characteristics of this culture, the consumers and service providers
would be no difference in terms of position. They do not ask the service personnel to offer
‘‘excellent service’’ compared to the people in the culture of strong ‘‘power distance’’.
Besides, the American consumers value independence, freedom and autonomy. Therefore,
they would project their faith onto others and tend not to request severely for the service of
service personnel. In other words, they do not strictly ask for the ‘‘reliability’’, ‘‘reaction’’, and
‘‘empathy’’. Since class, title and position are not important to American consumers, the
grandeur of the tangible objects does not matter to them. Consequently, people do not value
‘‘tangibles’’ of service quality. Based on the above, this research infers that compared to
Taiwanese consumers, the American consumers do not value the ‘‘tangibles’’, ‘‘assurance’’,
‘‘reaction’’ and ‘‘empathy’’ of service quality.
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Uncertainty avoidance and service quality
According to the study of Hofstede (1984) and Hofstede and Bond (1988), the score of
Taiwan is 69 points on this dimension. Taiwan is the society with the orientation of high
uncertainty avoidance. In this kind of society, people tend to be anxious about their career or
future and they are afraid of failure. They are easily worried, nervous and irritable. Since they
are not adventurous, they need a more stable environment to guard against the occurrence
of any uncertainty. Based upon the studies of Furrer et al. (2000) and Donthu and Yoo (1998),
when the people in a society with high ‘‘uncertainty avoidance’’ enter places they are not
familiar with, their anxiety will thus be enhanced. In order to reduce the sense of insecurity,
people would judge the surroundings via tangible objects so that the risk of cognitive error in
service situation could be diminished and people would value ‘‘tangibles’’. The score of the
USA is 46 points on the dimension, which refers to a society with less uncertainty avoidance
orientation. In this kind of society, people usually do not react with anxiety, irritation and
pressure. They tend to be indifferent to others, treat all people equally and are not as greatly
concerned about the safety of life. They dislike regulation, formalization and standardization;
they are adventurous and are more willing to undertake risks. Uncertainty usually does not
hinder them from proceeding with certain things. They have more sense of security toward
their surroundings and take the uncertainty in their life for granted (Hofstede, 1991), and they
do not rely upon a stable environment for obtaining their sense of security. Based upon the
above, this research infers that compared with Taiwanese consumers, the American
consumers tend not to value the ‘‘tangibles’’ dimension of service quality.
Masculinity and service quality
Based upon the study of Hofstede (1983) and Hofstede and Bond (1988), the score of
Taiwan is 45 points in the ‘‘masculinity’’ dimension. The country with lower value of
‘‘masculinity’’ means that in the society, the roles of male and female can be overlapped. The
social value of the society emphasizes modesty, caring and mutual dependence and
focuses upon human orientation. Based upon Hofstede’s (1984) research,
‘‘femininity’’-oriented Taiwan should be ‘‘collectivism’’-oriented as well. With regard to the
aspect of ‘‘empathy’’, the consumers tend to pay attention to the needs of individual
customers and value the relationship among people and the level of their caring. Based
upon the study of Cho (2001), the ‘‘femininity’’-oriented customers would tend to pay
attention to the service personnel’s willingness to help the customers and their caring about
the consumers. Thus, Taiwanese consumers might be expected to place more value on the
‘‘empathy’’ perspective of service quality.
The score of the USA is 62 points on this dimension, which refers to a society with a more
masculine orientation. Higher values of ‘‘masculinity’’ mean that in the society the roles of
male and female can be very different. The society has the faith that a male should be
determined, aggressive, self-concerned, more concerned about his own success, not value
group cooperation, stress achievement, independence, competition, strive to earn the
fortune and reach the goal, not care about others, merely concern about whether his
performance is superior to others, not care about the quality of life. In cultures with strong
masculinity, people tend to have the entrepreneurial or adventurous spirit (Hofstede, 1991).
Since the society stresses achievement, independence, competition and being indifferent to
others, with regard to the aspect of ‘‘empathy’’, the American consumers do not expect the
service personnel to consider what they need from the standpoint of the customers, do not
require the service personnel to pay attention to the needs of individual customer, and do not
value the relationships among people and their concern about others. Consequently, this
research infers that compared to Taiwanese consumers, the American consumers tend not
to value the empathy perspective of service quality.
Long-term/short-term orientation and service quality
Based upon the study of Hofstede (1983) and Hofstede and Bond (1988), the scores of
Taiwan is 87 points on this dimension, which refers to the long-term orientation of the society.
The one who neglects time orientation would regard time as a kind of in?nite and enduring
resource, and thus exhibits ‘‘long-term orientation’’. Under this kind of culture, people value
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morality and possess ?rm and indomitable characteristic and try always to be patient. Since
Taiwanese consumers are long-term oriented, they believe that maintaining long-term
interpersonal relationships is important. Thus, in order not to spoil their relationship with the
service personnel, the consumers would not place strict requirements on the service
personnel with regard to ‘‘assurance’’ – employees’ service behaviors instill customers’
con?dence, etc. Therefore, compared with the country of ‘‘short-term orientation’’,
Taiwanese consumers tend not to value assurance perspective of service quality. The
score of the USA is 23 points on this dimension, which indicates a society of short-term
orientation. American consumers regard time as a kind of ?nite resource. Thus, they are
more impatient with time and demand ef?ciency upon everything. They do not value, and are
not interested in long-term interpersonal relationships. Since they demand ef?ciency upon
everything, they relatively would expect the service personnel to comply with the standard of
‘‘assurance’’ – employees’ service behaviors instill customers’ con?dence, employees keep
polite attitude to customers, employees have enough professional knowledge, etc.
Therefore, compared with Taiwanese consumers, American consumers may place more
value on the assurance perspective of service quality.
Based upon the above logic and deduction, the hypotheses of the research can be as
follows:
H1. Taiwanese versus American consumers’ evaluation factors of overall service quality
in the international tourist hotel differ.
H2. Taiwanese consumers place more value than American tourists on the ‘‘tangible’’
aspect of international tourist hotel service quality.
H3. Taiwanese consumers place more value than American tourists on the reliability
aspect of international tourist hotel service quality.
H4. Taiwanese consumers place more value than American tourists on the reaction
aspect of international tourist hotel service quality.
H5. Taiwanese consumers place less value than American tourists on the assurance
aspect of international tourist hotel service quality.
H6. Taiwanese consumers place more value than American tourists on the empathy
aspect of international tourist hotel service quality.
Research method
The research subjects are the Taiwanese and American consumers in the international
tourist hotels of Taiwan. Among 500 copies of questionnaires ?lled out by Taiwanese
consumers, 237 copies retrieved. The return rate is 47.4percent. After discarding 21 invalid
questionnaires, 216 remain valid, useable questionnaires. Among 500 copies of
questionnaire ?lled out by American consumers, 172 copies returned. The return rate is
34 percent. After discarding 6 invalid questionnaires, 166 are valid questionnaires. Two main
sections are in this questionnaire. The ?rst section: What are the Taiwanese and American
consumers’ evaluation factors toward international tourist hotel service quality? The next
section: To access to the personal basic information of the people who return the
questionnaires.
Taiwanese and American consumers’ evaluation factors toward the service quality of
international tourist hotel
In recent years, although some arguments about evaluation methods of service quality in the
international periodicals still continue such as Parasuraman et al. (1985) SERVQUAL,
Parasuraman et al.’s (1991) modi?ed SERVQUAL, Cronin and Taylor’s (1992) SERVPERF,
Brown et al.’s (1993) Non-Difference method, countless researches have relied on the
SERVQUAL scale to evaluate the service quality of the hotels (e.g. Armstrong et al., 1997;
Bojanic and Rosen, 1994; Bolton and Drew, 1991; Frick and Ritchie, 1991; Saleh and Ryan,
1991; Williams, 1999). The SERVQUAL scale of PZB, until now, is still valued as ‘‘the ?rst
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evaluation method, which can be accurately employed upon empirical service quality’’ (Fisk
et al., 1993). Therefore, based upon the SERVQUAL scale of PZB, research suggestion of
PZB (Parasuraman et al., 1991), business characteristic of international tourist hotel, and
Su’s (1996) doctoral dissertation ‘‘The comparison study of the service quality measurement
methods’’, and the service quality options which have received Chinese-English and
English-Chinese translation three times, the research obtain the adequate terms for
international tourist hotel industry and appropriately modi?es the original scale. Finally, the
questionnaire is proofread by a more-than-ten-year Taiwanese resident of New York.
Different options represent ?ve dimensions of service quality. A total of 24 questions are in
this section. The research employs 7 levels of Likert Scale to examine the consumers’ value
level of ?ve perspectives with regard to their evaluation factor toward service quality in the
international tourist hotel. The scale ranged from ‘‘not very important’’ to ‘‘very important’’
and the scores were from 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 to 7.
Personal basic information
The section included the consumers’ gender, age, education, marital status, profession,
position, salary and the reasons why they choose this hotel.
Results
Analysis of basic information
The result of the investigation reveals that most (55.6 percent) of the Taiwanese consumers
who receive the questionnaire are males; 52.4 percent of Taiwanese respondents are 20-29
years old; 32.4 percent are college graduates; 52.3 percent are unmarried. 34.3 percent of
the Taiwanese are business travelers, and among these 25.9 percent are employed in the
service industry; 49.5 percent are entry-level personnel, and 14.4 percent are executives.
26.9 percent have monthly salaries between NT$30,000-39,999, and 35.2 percent have
chosen the hotel due to the ‘‘arrangement of the company’’, while 21.8 percent have chosen
the hotel because of the ‘‘service’’.
Most of the American consumers (80 percent) who receive the questionnaire are males, 38
percent are aged 30-39 years; 35 percent are college graduates or higher; 60 percent are
married; 43 percent are business travelers, and 21 percent are employed in the service
industry. 44 percent are medium level executives; 25 percent receiving over NT$60,000. 31
percent of the American travelers chose the hotel due to the service, followed by 22 percent
that chose the hotel because of the arrangement of the company.
Validity and reliability
This research uses con?rmatory factor analysis (CFA) to analyze and test the effect of
implementation. The purpose of this stage of the analysis is to identify and eliminate poorly
performing items for the re?ective measures and ?nd that GFI ¼ 0:88 and AGFI ¼ 0:85 in
Taiwan questionnaire, and GFI ¼ 0:83 and AGFI ¼ 0:8 in American questionnaire. All ?gures
are larger than 0.8. The t values of the 24 items in SERVQUAL table fall in the range between
13.28 and 16.49. All t values are highly signi?cant, meaning the proper distribution of all data
with effective implementation. The scale’s Cronbach a ¼ 0:93 in Taiwan questionnaire, and
Cronbach’s 0.88 in American questionnaire indicates that all items of the scale are highly
consistent, are suitable for inclusion into analysis, and are highly reliable.
The comparison of the taiwanese and american consumers’ evaluation factors of service
quality in the international tourist hotel
The research ?ndings of Taiwanese and American consumers’ views toward ?ve evaluation
dimensions of service quality in the international tourist hotel and 24 evaluation factors of
service quality in the international tourist hotel are shown in Tables II and III.
The empirical information supports H1: this research ?nds signi?cant differences with
respect to Taiwanese and American consumers’ evaluation factors of overall service quality
in the international tourist hotel. The average values are respectively 6.2 and 5.9, which
reveal that Taiwanese and American consumers all value overall service quality in the
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international tourist hotel. Taiwanese consumers are more concerned about overall service
quality than American consumers are.
This research ?nds signi?cant difference between Taiwanese and American consumers on
the tangibles dimension. The average values are respectively 6.1 and 5.6 meaning that
Taiwanese and American consumers all value ‘‘tangible’’ dimension and Taiwanese
consumers are more concerned about ‘‘tangible’’ than American consumers are. This
supports H2. With regard to ‘‘perspective of tangibles’’, Taiwanese and American
consumers reveal signi?cant difference with respect to four of the evaluation factors:
Table II Taiwanese and American consumers’ views toward 24-item service quality in the international tourist hotel
Taiwan American
Dimension 24-item service quality evaluation factors Mean SD Mean SD T value P value Comparative
Tangibles Complete equipment 6.05 0.88 5.18 0.94 9.25 0.00 Taiwan . America
Visibly and attractively appealing 5.57 1.08 5.42 0.90 1.51 0.13
In conditions of good sanitation 6.63 0.50 6.11 0.92 6.58 0.00 Taiwan . America
Employees with clean and pleasant appearance 6.30 0.74 5.84 0.95 5.07 0.00 Taiwan . America
Well communication materials of service (or
pamphlets)
6.04 0.96 5.18 0.94 8.72 0.00 Taiwan . America
Reliability Hold the promise to customers by the certain
time
6.40 0.93 6.25 1.04 1.43 0.15
Help customers to resolve the encountering
problems as best as it could
6.37 0.80 6.10 0.99 2.79 0.01 Taiwan . America
Make a right and adequate decision at the ?rst
time
6.29 0.88 5.81 1.04 4.78 0.00 Taiwan . America
Serve customers at the time it promises to do so 6.50 0.84 6.10 1.24 3.60 0.00 Taiwan . America
Keep error-free records 5.97 0.96 6.19 1.04 22.09 0.04 Taiwan . America
Employees can offer prompt service 6.38 0.85 6.07 0.94 3.29 0.00 Taiwan . America
Employees keep willing to serve customers 6.47 0.70 6.14 0.79 4.35 0.00 Taiwan . America
Employees are never too busy to answer
customers
6.27 0.76 6.25 0.94 0.30 0.76
Handle customer’s complain promptly and
satisfying customer
6.51 0.64 6.59 0.71 21.11 0.27
Assurance Employees’ service behaviors instill customers’
con?dence
6.25 0.76 6.28 0.82 20.28 0.78
Give its customers the feelings of safety 6.02 0.93 6.25 0.85 22.43 0.02 Taiwan , America
Employees keep polite attitude to customers 6.39 .81 6.13 1.04 2.73 0.01 Taiwan . America
Employees have enough professional
knowledge to answer customers’ questions
6.41 0.84 6.11 0.71 3.82 0.00 Taiwan . America
Empathy Paying individual attention to customers 6.30 1.09 5.39 1.10 8.07 0.000 Taiwan . America
Convenient operating time for all customers 5.63 1.25 5.58 1.46 0.40 0.69
Employees can give customers personal care 6.21 1.03 5.40 1.06 7.55 0.00 Taiwan . America
Take the customers’ interest as the ?rst priority. 6.16 1.08 6.08 0.85 0.74 0.46
Employees understand customers’ speci?c
needs
6.23 1.07 5.72 0.98 4.75 0.00 Taiwan . America
Employees can answer customers’ questions
completely
6.38 1.02 5.80 1.10 5.26 0.00 Taiwan . America
Table III Taiwanese and American consumers’ views toward 5-dimension service quality
in the international tourist hotel
Taiwan American
Dimension Mean SD Mean SD T value P value Comparative
Tangibles 6.12 0.59 5.55 0.71 8.36 0.000 Taiwan . America
Reliability 6.31 0.75 6.09 0.75 2.78 0.006 Taiwan . America
Reaction 6.41 0.57 6.26 0.65 2.31 0.021 Taiwan . America
Assurance 6.27 0.67 6.19 0.64 1.19 0.234
Empathy 6.15 0.95 5.66 0.84 5.24 0.000 Taiwan . America
Overall service quality 6.24 0.56 5.92 0.51 5.81 0.000 Taiwan . America
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‘‘complete equipment’’, ‘‘good sanitation’’, ‘‘employees’ clean and pleasant appearance’’,
‘‘good communication materials of service (or pamphlets)’’ The average values of Taiwanese
consumers are higher than those of American consumers. Among the factors, Taiwanese
and American consumers reveal the same response with respect to ‘‘visibly and attractively
appealing’’.
This research ?nds signi?cant difference between Taiwanese and American consumers on
the reliability dimension. The average values are respectively 6.31 and 6.09, revealing that
Taiwanese and American consumers all value reliability of service quality in the international
tourist hotel. Taiwanese consumers are more concerned about this point than American
consumers, which supports H3. The average values of Taiwanese consumers in terms of
‘‘the perspective of reliability’’, ‘‘helping customers to resolve the encountered problems as
best as they could’’, ‘‘making a right and adequate decision the ?rst time’’, and ‘‘serving
customers at the time promised’’ are higher than those of American consumers. As to
‘‘keeping error-free records’’, the average values of Taiwanese consumers are less than
those of the American consumers. In other words, this research ?nds signi?cant difference
with regard to Taiwanese and American consumers’ four evaluation factors of the reliability
perspective.
This research also ?nds signi?cant difference between Taiwanese and American consumers
on the reaction dimension. The average values are respectively 6.41 and 6.26 meaning that
Taiwanese and American consumers all value the reaction perspective. The average value
of Taiwanese consumers is higher than that of American consumers, which supports H4.
With regard to ‘‘the perspective of reaction’’, this research found signi?cant difference on
‘‘employees’ ability to offer prompt service’’ and ‘‘employees’ willingness to serve the
customers’’. The average values of Taiwanese consumers are higher than those of American
consumers. Among the factors, Taiwanese and American consumers do not have signi?cant
difference with regard to ‘‘employees never too busy to answer customers’’ and ‘‘promptly
satisfying customers and handling their complaints’’.
This research also ?nds no signi?cant difference between Taiwanese and American
consumers on the assurance dimension. The average values are respectively 6.27 and 6.11,
meaning that Taiwanese and American consumers all value the assurance perspective,
which failes to support H5. With regard to ‘‘the perspective of assurance’’, Taiwanese and
American consumers have signi?cant differences on evaluation factors of ‘‘employees
maintain a polite attitude towards customers’’ and ‘‘employees have enough professional
knowledge to answer customers’ questions’’. The average values of Taiwanese consumers
are higher than American consumers are. Among the factors, American consumers place
more value on the evaluation factor of ‘‘give its customers a feeling of safety’’. Besides, as to
the factor of ‘‘employees’ service behaviors instill customers’ con?dence’’, this research
?nds no signi?cant difference between Taiwanese and American consumers.
This research ?nds signi?cant difference between Taiwanese and American consumers on
the empathy dimension. The average values are respectively 6.15 and 5.66, meaning that
Taiwanese and American consumers all value the empathy perspective and Taiwanese
consumers are more concerned about ‘‘empathy’’ than American consumers, which
supports H6. With regard to ‘‘the perspective of empathy’’ Taiwanese and American
consumers have signi?cant difference on ‘‘paying individual attention to customers’’,
‘‘employees can give customers personal care’’, ‘‘employees understand customers’
speci?c needs’’ and ‘‘employees can answer customers’ questions completely’’. The
average values of Taiwanese consumers are higher than those of the American consumers.
Among the factors, Taiwanese and American consumers do not have signi?cant differences
as to ‘‘convenient operating time for all customers’’ and ‘‘taking the customers’ interest as
the ?rst priority’’.
Conclusions and suggestions
The major research ?ndings of the questionnaire investigation are as follows: coming from
different cultures, Taiwanese and American consumers exhibit some signi?cant differences
in their evaluation and cognition of international tourist hotel service quality. The research
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outcome support Chadee and Mattsson (1996), Donthu and Yoo (1998), Furrer et al. (2000),
Furrer and Sudharshan (2001), Mattila (1999) and Tsaur and Wu (2002), Winsted (1997).
Taiwan is a society with strong power distance orientation and high uncertainty avoidance.
People value ‘‘tangibles’’ more than American consumers. The empirical ?nding complies
with the research outcomes of Cho (2001), Donthu and Yoo (1998), Furrer et al. (2000).
Among the factors, Taiwanese and American consumers have no signi?cant differences with
respect to ‘‘attractive and visibly appealing’’. The reason should be because the decoration
of the international tourist hotel reveals the degree of ‘‘luxury’’ of the hotel. The substantial
surroundings of the building and inner furnishings need to be maintained and renewed
regularly in order to attract the customers. The comfort and luxury of the building and inner
furnishings is a prominent feature of the international tourist hotel. With regard to the ‘‘luxury’’
of the decoration and furnishings, the cognition of the people being interviewed would not be
different, regardless of their cultural background.
Taiwan’s culture features a moderately strong power distance orientation. Taiwanese
consumers are more concerned with this point than American consumers are. The ?nding
also complies with the empirical ?nding of the previous research (Furrer et al., 2000). Among
the factors, with regard to the factor of ‘‘ful?lling promises to customers within the speci?ed’’,
Taiwanese and American consumers have no signi?cant difference. The reason might be in
that Chinese people value a solemn promise and consider maintaining a smooth relationship
with others is important. Once one promises something, he should keep the promise
accurately. American consumers are impatient with time and they cannot stand waiting. As
to the factor of ‘‘keeping error-free records’’, American consumers value the point more than
Taiwanese consumers do. The reason might be in that American consumers are in the
culture of ‘‘individualism’’. Compared with American consumers, Taiwanese consumers do
not have suf?cient individual con?dence due to their ethic of collectivism. With regard to
perfect service, Taiwanese consumers are not as strict as American consumers in?uenced
by ‘‘individualism’’.
Taiwan’s culture is one of moderate power distance. Taiwan consumers place more value on
an obedient ‘‘reaction’’ than American consumers do. The research ?nding also agrees with
the empirical outcome of the previous research (Furrer et al., 2000). As to the factor of
‘‘employees are never too busy to answer customers’’ and ‘‘employees handle customer’s
complaints promptly and satisfactorily’’, Taiwanese and American consumers have no
signi?cant difference. The reason might be that American consumers are impatient with time
and they cannot stand waiting. Thus, they need to have prompt reaction from the service
personnel. On the other hand, Taiwanese consumers believe that service personnel rely
upon them, the consumers deserve ‘‘excellent service’’ and the service personnel should
respond to the customers even when they are busy. Therefore, this research ?nds no
signi?cant difference between Taiwanese and American consumers.
‘‘Assurance’’ refers to the service personnel’s knowledge, capacity, and manner ability to
convey a sense of trust to the customers. The empirical ?ndings of this research do not
comply with the research hypothesis. This research ?nds no signi?cant difference with
respect to Taiwanese consumers’ and American consumers’ cognitions of ‘‘assurance.’’ The
reason might be connected with the high uncertainty avoidance of Taiwanese culture. In
Taiwan, an individual would expect the hotel management to offer more stable surroundings,
so as to avoid uncertainty. Therefore, they would be more likely to ask the service personnel
to offer ‘‘assurance’’. Therefore, this research infers that under the effect of ‘‘uncertainty
avoidance’’ perspective, Taiwanese consumers are also in?uenced by their ‘‘collectivism’’
and ‘‘long-term orientation’’ perspective. However, compared with American consumers
with low ‘‘uncertainty avoidance’’, this research ?nds no signi?cant difference between the
above two. Tsaur and Wu (2002) also discover that the empirical ?ndings about the
relationship among ‘‘collectivism’’, ‘‘individualism’’ and service quality do not comply with
their expectations. As to the factors, ‘‘Employees maintain a polite attitude to customers’’
and ‘‘Employees have enough professional knowledge to answer customers’ questions’’,
Taiwanese and American consumers have signi?cant differences. The average value for
Taiwanese consumers is higher than that of American consumers. This ?nding do not comply
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with the hypothesis of this research. The reason might be in that Taiwan has been a country
of manners and ceremonies. Thus, compared with American consumers, they attach more
value to the service personnel’s manner and attitude. Possession of adequate professional
knowledge is the condition for the service personnel to offer stable service, diminish the
chance for the Taiwanese consumers to detect uncertainty or risk and further allow
Taiwanese consumers to be more concerned about this point than American consumers. As
to the factor of ‘‘The hotel gives its customers a feeling of safety,’’ American consumers place
more value on this point than Taiwanese consumers do. The above complies with the
previous deduction that Taiwan is under the culture of long-term orientation. With regard to
‘‘Employees’ service behaviors instill customers’ con?dence’’, Taiwanese and American
consumers have no signi?cant difference, which does not comply with the original
deduction. The reason might be that under the effect of their uncertainty avoidance
perspective, Taiwanese consumers generate con?dence toward the service provider and
the sense of insecurity is thus reduced. Therefore, Taiwanese consumers tend to value more
at this evaluation factor than American consumers do.
Taiwan is a society with a collectivist orientation, moderate strong power distance culture
and slightly feminine orientation. Compared with American consumers, Taiwanese
consumers are more concerned about ‘‘empathy’’. The research ?nding agrees with the
empirical ?nding of the previous research (Donthu and Yoo, 1998; Furrer et al., 2000). As to
the factors of ‘‘Convenient operating time for all customers’’ and ‘‘taking the customers’
interest as the ?rst priority’’, this research ?nds no signi?cant difference between Taiwanese
and American consumers. The reason might be in that one of the industry characteristics of
the international tourist hotel is ‘‘non-suspension’’ and offering 24 hours service. Therefore,
this research ?nds no signi?cant difference between the responses of Taiwanese and
American consumers.
Theoretically, this research has expanded the basis of the theory of service quality to
supplement the insuf?ciency. The research further identi?es some remaining insuf?cient
aspects for further research. Based upon the empirical ?ndings of this research, Taiwan
consumers and American consumers have different cognition toward international tourist
hotel service quality due to their cultural difference. The research problems and objectives of
this research are merely to understand if there is any difference between the two and where
the differences might lie. However, according to the research ?nding, ‘‘cultural difference’’
plays a signi?cant role. Since this research is a ‘‘descriptive study’’ which cannot assure
causality, future research can investigate effect and causality of ‘‘national culture dimension’’
and ‘‘service quality dimension’’ and further expand the theory.
Practically, service quality is the basis of service marketing (Berry and Parasuraman, 1991).
Only excellent service quality can result in consumers’ high satisfaction (Cronin and Taylor,
1992; Heskett et al., 1994; Heskett, 1987), re-enforce customers’ loyalty, and ?nally enhance
the pro?table growth of the enterprise (Buzzell and Gale, 1987; Heskett et al., 1994) by
increasing the market share and rate of return on investment (Anderson and Zeithaml, 1984;
Phillips, Chang and Buzzell, 1983). In addition, service quality is the main vehicle of
enterprise competition (Bitner et al., 1990; Solomon et al., 1985). Many studies (Armstrong,
1996; Child and Tayeb, 1982; England and Lee, 1974; Hofstede and Bond, 1988; Hofstede,
1980b) point out that in order to respond to different cultural values, enterprises should
employ various operational strategies. Consumers from different cultural backgrounds
receive the services of the international tourist hotel, which frequently serves as their link to
the larger world. The cultural shock reveales in the hotel is more evident than in other service
industries. In order to diminish the gap between expectation and cognition of service quality,
transcend cross-cultural boundaries, upgrade consumers’ cognition toward hotel service
quality, the hotels should recognize the needs of consumers from different cultures for
different aspects of service quality. Based upon this research ?nding, Taiwanese consumers
and American consumers have signi?cant differences in howthey perceive hotel quality. The
hotel management should set up differential marketing strategies to satisfy the needs of
consumers from different regions (LeBlanc, 1992).
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Corresponding author
Chien-Wen Tsai is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: jean10822@
must.edu.tw and [email protected]
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