Description
Customer service is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase. According to Turban et al. (2002),[1] "Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation."
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION TOWARD
TRUEMOVE CUSTOMER SERVICE
Program: MIMA International Marketing
Course: EFO705 International Marketing Masters Thesis
Supervisor: Jan Löwstedt
Date: June 8th 2008
Abstract
Date: June 8th, 2008
Program: Master Thesis of International Marketing
Course Code: EFO705
Supervisor: Jan Löwstedt
Authors: Chokaew Koobgrabe: 840721
Haider Raja Abbas: 820909
Punyanuch Chuttima: 750812
Title: Customer Satisfaction toward TrueMove Customer Service
Problem Statement: How are TrueMove customers satisfied with the customer
service provided at TrueMove shops in Bangkok?
Purpose: To evaluate “whether” and “how” TrueMove customers are satisfied or
dissatisfied with the customer service provided at TrueMove shops in the Bangkok
region with the help of evaluation of service quality by customers of the shop.
Theory and Methods: The research bases mainly on quantitative method; that
is questionnaire method. The Service Quality Gap which aims to measure the
customer satisfaction by comparing their expectation and perception of service
after experiencing the service serves as the theoretical framework for the
research. Moreover SERVQUAL dimensions covering Reliability, Assurance,
Empathy, Responsiveness and Tangibles are used in the further development of
theory and modeling of the questionnaires for this research.
Conclusion: TrueMove customers are not yet fully satisfied with customer
service provided at the TrueMove shops in Bangkok region. The service quality
perceived cannot yet meet the expectation of customers in any SERVQUAL
Dimensions.
Recommendations: The issue of reliability in service aspect needs to be dealt
with an overhaul of systems and routines while other aspects of service call for
equipping employees with required knowledge. A focus on specific services to the
target group of customers also needs to be established.
Keywords: TrueMove, Customer Satisfaction, Customer Service, Thailand Mobile
Operator Market, TrueMove Shops Bangkok
Acknowledgement
The accomplishment of this study is a continuous result of contributions by individuals
whose continuous help and assistance during each phase of researching process is greatly
appreciated by the authors. First of all, the authors would like to thank Professor Jan
Löwstedt whose supervision had enlightened the authors with a lot of knowledgeable
advice and whose assistance had been with the authors since the very first steps of
researching until the end.
Equally important is TrueMove Company; contact person Miss Kanchanawan Siraya,
Assistant Director of TrueMove, whose devotion had been in replying the interview
questions, giving required information, and contacting all TrueMove Shops in Bangkok
region to distribute the questionnaire. Also, the authors would like to thank Mr. Ratjiporn
Sochithamkul; Customer Correspondence of TrueMove, in contacting with the authors for
reporting the questionnaire result through TrueMove database. Without the assistance of
both, the authors would find it impossible to finish this study.
Also, the authors would like to thank Ms. Srisamorn Koobgrabe, one of author’s mothers
particularly for assisting with the contact with TrueMove, through the aforesaid persons.
The assurance of lots of contact information and other miscellaneous relevant issues could
not be addressed without her help.
The authors also are thankful to the opponent groups who had given constructive
comments for the improvement of this paper. As well as sharing great experiences with
the authors to fulfill and enhance the authors knowledge.
TrueMove Shops’ customers are thanked as their answers to the questionnaire are the
heart of this research. This study would not reach its goal without these respondents.
Furthermore, every personnel at TrueMove Shops in Bangkok and every colleague at
Mälardalen University had enhanced the learning experience with the authors.
After all, the authors would like to thank each other; for supporting the researching
experience, for devoting with the enthusiasm and devotion to accomplish this study, and
the last but the most important, to be friends.
Chokaew Koobgrabe
Haider Raja Abbas
Punyanuch Chutima
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.................................................................... 1
1.1 TrueMove: the Focal Company ......................................................... 1
1.1.1 TrueMove Background .................................................................... 1
1.1.2 TrueMove’s Products and Service ..................................................... 3
1.1.3 Customer Service at TrueMove ........................................................ 3
1.2 Mobile Operator Market in Thailand: An Outlook.............................. 4
1.2.1 Attractiveness of Mobile Operator Market in Thailand.......................... 4
1.2.2 An Outlook to the current situations ................................................. 5
1.3 Problem Statement .......................................................................... 5
1.4 Purpose ........................................................................................... 6
1.5 Delimitations ................................................................................... 6
1.6 Target Audience............................................................................... 7
1.7 Structure of the Paper ..................................................................... 7
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.......................................................... 10
2.1 Thailand Mobile market & customer satisfaction ........................... 10
2.2 Previous studies in relavent area.................................................. 11
2.3 Core theories discussed................................................................. 15
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY................................................................... 17
3.1 The Selected Topic......................................................................... 17
3.2 The Chosen Theories...................................................................... 17
3.3 Data Collection of the Research ..................................................... 18
3.3.1 Primary Data............................................................................... 19
3.3.1.1 Interview............................................................................... 19
3.3.1.2 Questionnaire......................................................................... 19
3.3.1.2a Sampling Size .................................................................... 20
3.3.1.2b Sampling Frame................................................................. 20
3.3.1.2c the Development of Questionnaire ........................................ 21
3.3.1.2d Distribution of Questionnaire................................................ 22
3.3.2 Secondary Data ........................................................................... 22
3.4 How to analyze .............................................................................. 23
CHAPTER 4: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK................................................ 25
4.1 Service Quality Gap........................................................................ 25
4.1.2 Customer Expectations of Service .................................................. 26
4.1.3 Customers Perceptions of Service .................................................. 26
4.1.4 Customer Satisfaction of Service.................................................... 26
4.2 SERVQUAL Dimensions .................................................................. 26
4.3 Service Quality Measurement ........................................................ 28
4.4 Conceptualization of Theory .......................................................... 30
CHAPTER 5: FINDINGS & ANALYSIS....................................................... 31
5.1 Total Respondents ......................................................................... 31
5.1.1 Reliability.................................................................................... 31
5.1.2 Assurance ................................................................................... 32
5.1.3 Empathy..................................................................................... 32
5.1.4 Responsiveness ........................................................................... 33
5.1.5 Tangibles .................................................................................... 33
5.1.6 Conclusion .................................................................................. 34
5.2 Cross Tabulation prepaid users...................................................... 34
5.2.1 Prepaid Users, Under 20 Year-Old, Female and Male......................... 34
5.2.2 Prepaid Users, Age between 21-30, Female and Male ....................... 35
5.2.3 Prepaid Users, Age between 31-40, Female and Male ....................... 36
5.2.4 Prepaid Users, Age between 41-50, Female and Male ....................... 37
5.2.5 Prepaid Users, Age over 50 Year, Female and Male .......................... 39
5.3 Cross Tabulation postpaid users .................................................... 40
5.3.1 Postpaid Users, Under 20 Year-Old, Female and Male ....................... 41
5.3.2 Postpaid Users, Age between 21-30, Female and Male...................... 43
5.3.3 Postpaid Users, Age 31-40, Female and Male................................... 41
5.3.4 Postpaid Users, Age 41-50, Female and Male................................... 43
5.3.5 Postpaid, Over 50 years old, Female and Male ................................. 44
5.4 Importance of SERVQUAL dimension............................................. 45
5.5 Conclusion of Findings & Analysis for Management Application..... 46
CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION...................................................................... 47
CHAPTER 7: RECOMMENDATIONS........................................................... 48
7.1 BRING ABOUT RELIABILITY IN SYSTEMS AND ROUTINES............................... 48
7.2 EDUCATE, TRAIN AND EQUIP THE EMPLOYEES WITH KNOWLEDGE ................... 48
7.3 SPECIAL CUSTOMER GROUPS REQUIRE SPECIAL SERVICE .............................. 49
REFERENCES .......................................................................................... 50
APPENDIX.............................................................................................. 54
List of Figures
Figure 1: The Three Key Possible Quality Outcome: Page 28
Source: Ghobadian, Spellar & Jones 1994
Figure 2: Conceptualization of the Theoretical Framework: Page 30
Figure 3: Total Respondents Expectation and Perception: Page 31
Figure 4: the Expectation and Perception of Prepaid Users, Under 20 Year-
Old, Female and Male: Page 34
Figure 5: The Expectation and Perception of Prepaid Users, Age between 21-
30, Female and Male: Page 35
Figure 6: The Expectation and Perception of Prepaid Users, Age between 31-
40, Female and Male: Page 36
Figure 7: The Expectation and Perception of Prepaid Users, Age between 41-
50, Female and Male: Page 37
Figure 8: The Expectation and Perception of Prepaid Users, Age over 50 Year-
Old, Female and Male: Page 39
Figure 9: The Expectation and Perception of Postpaid Users, Age between 21-
30, Female and male: Page 40
Figure 10: The Expectation and Perception of Postpaid Users, Age between
31-40, Female and Male: Page 41
Figure 11: The Expectation and Perception of Postpaid Users, Age between
41-50, Female and Male: Page 43
Figure 12: The Expectation and Perception of Postpaid Users, Age over 50
Year-Old, Female and Male: Page 44
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Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION
Today, the world is growing in an increasingly rapid-changing environment.
Business market has become much more competitive. To capture target
customers as well as differentiate from other competitors, marketing is a key to
companies throughout the world.
Serving customers well is at the heart of marketing as well as supports a
company’s position in nowadays competitive market. Its importance is as
Demming (1951) stated “When (service) quality improves, costs come down, and
customers are happy and tell other people. This brings in more customers. As a
result, profitability improves”.
A competitor in Thailand’s’ competitive rapid-changing mobile operator market,
TrueMove; the third-largest mobile operator company in Thailand, now
encounters with more difficulties in capturing customers as well as striking
market share. Pricing is no longer an effective tool to capturing customers.
Instead, the trend changes to emphasize on offering a better service. Unique and
differentiated expectation-answered service is the current key to success (Market
info, 2008).To improve its position as the third in the market; following AIS;
‘Advanced Info Service’ the number one in Thailand Mobile Operator market, and
DTAC; ‘Total Access Communication PLC’ the second, respectively, hence, is well
possible through its effective service quality. Customer’s expectation answered
service is indispensable to achieve the company’s marketing goal. Therefore, this
study aims to research TrueMove on the aspect of the company’s customer
service; as it is an unequivocal key to competitive capability in the market. (S
Kanchanawan, 2008, pers.comm, 11 May)
1.1 TrueMove: the Focal Company
1.1.1 TrueMove Background
TrueMove was first launched in Thailand’s mobile telecommunications service in
March 2002. It is a subsidiary of True Corporation Public Company Limited
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Conglomeration. The brand operates along with other brands within ‘True Group’;
of which all brands include TrueMove, TrueOnline, TrueVisions, TrueMoney, and
TrueLife. As to explain each brand, TrueOnline offers fixed-line phone service and
its value-added services, DDN services, Internet and consumer broadband
Internet services and WE PCT (Personal Communication Telephone), TrueVisions
offers pay-TV business. Whereas, TrueMoney operates Digital Commerce
Business and TrueLife offers Digital Content Business. As for TrueMove, the brand
operates a digital mobile telecommunications network based on the GSM (Global
System for Mobile Communications) standard in the 1800 MHz frequency. (True
Corporation, n.d.)
Similar to all other brands under True Conglomeration, TrueMove’s vision aims to
be credible, creative, caring, and courageous. For credible and caring, TrueMove
endeavors to best treat its customers by serving the right services to the right
segments of customers. In addition, it also treats its personnel and partners well
- as the company values all these people the same way as it does to customers.
Last, TrueMove aims to be creative and courageous in order to come up with the
new desirable innovation and new ideas; the means considered as keeping it
ahead of the market. Synergy, working harmony, and honesty are the essence of
TrueMove’s vision. (True Corporation, n.d.)
As for strategy, ‘Convergence Lifestyle’ is what TrueMove emphasizes in order to
differentiate itself from the other competitors in Thailand mobile operator market
- given the advantages that TrueMove is the only mobile operator whose parent
company is the conglomeration of full range communications solutions. The
company’s convergence lifestyle gives benefits for its mobile service customers to
other additional services covering mobile service, internet, pay-TV, broadband
and other digital businesses. (True Corporation, n.d.)
As to consider the success of TrueMove’s vision and convergence strategy, by the
third quarter of last year 2007, the company announced 2.1 million subscribers-
total the amounts of overall TrueMove customers to 11.2 millions. The number is
a milestone for True Move’s historical pages – the company earned 44.1 % up
from service revenue, 87% increase compared to the same quarter of the former
year. TrueMove subscribers accounted for 22.8% of the entire market by the last
quarter of the 2007 year. For the year of 2008, the company aims to exert
continually on the convergence strategy; which means mobile service, high-
speed internet technology, and multimedia content. By the convergence, the
company believes to gain more market share and stands elegantly as one of the
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three largest mobile operators in Thailand. (True Expected TrueMove Gain Market
Share at Least 25% From Last Year of 23%, n.d.)
1.1.2 TrueMove’s Products and Service
As a leading mobile operator company in Thailand market, TrueMove’s main focus
is to offering a service of digital mobile telecommunications network based on the
GSM standard.
However, it also sells another service of VAS; Value Added Service. Vas offers
miscellaneous services including; calling forward assistant, self number-changing,
internet service on mobile, customer service assistant number, voice mail, fax
mail, missed call alert, and, lastly, multimedia content.
As for products, TrueMove sells SIM cards both for pre-pay and post-pay. There
are different choices of SIM cards for customers to choose i.e. TrueMove Game
SIM, Triplet SIM cards, Welcome SIM, TrueMusic SIM, Body slam SIM, TrueMove
SIM with Rak Ton Rak Nan CD, Two Year Long SIM, TrueMove SIM with EPL
History CD, Took Jai SIM, TrueMove SIM Golf and Mike, and TrueMove SIM AF.
Lastly, TrueMove also sells mobile, handset, mobile accessories.
(TrueMove, n.d.)
1.1.3 Customer Service at TrueMove
As TrueMove’s vision is to be caring, creative, and credible, customer service at
TrueMove is considered an important as its importance is to impress the existing
customers, thus, create positive word-of-mouth. Moreover, the impression of
customer service brings in more customers. The importance of customer service
at TrueMove, hence, is a key factor to TrueMove Company. (True Corporation,
n.d.)
The channels for customer service at TrueMove in Bangkok; the region scope of
this research, are through call number 1331, True shop, TrueMove Shop, and
Kiosks. Call number 1331 provides the service of reporting the damage or loss of
SIM cards, payment, and other miscellaneous. Meanwhile, the other three serve
similar service plus interface contact. (True Corporation, n.d.)
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As for True Shop in Bangkok, customer service is provided at the department
stores and buildings of The Mall, Central, Lotus, Big C, Carrefour, Future Park
Rangsit, Fashion Island, Imperial Samrong, CP Tower, IT Mall Fortune Town,
Seacon Square and others.
For Kiosks, mainly customer service of TrueMove is provided at The Mall, Big C,
Carrefour, TOPS, and others e.g. IT Mal F4, Robinson Bangkok, Central World,
Maboonkrong, and Powerbycentral.
Come lastly to the focus of this research – TrueMove shops in Bangkok. TrueMove
shops in Bangkok are served at 15 the department stores and 4 buildings. The
department stores include The Mall Ngamwongwan, The Mall Ramkhamhaeng,
The Mall Bangkae, The Mall Thapra, The Mall Ramkhamhaeng 3, Central Pinklao,
Big C Bang Plee and Rama 2, Carrefour Changwattana, Carrefour Ratchadapisek,
Carrefour Sukapiban 3, Carrefour Bangpakok, and Carrefour Bangbon, Future
Park Rangsit, and Seacon Square. The buildings include Fortune Town,
Wongsawang Town Centre, U Chu Liang building, and Ying Charoen Market. (True
Corporation, n.d.)
1.2 Mobile Operator Market in Thailand: An Outlook
1.2.1 Attractiveness of Mobile Operator Market in Thailand
The mobile operator market in Thailand is tempting. The new mobile phone
subscribers grew by 18% in the first six months of 2007, regardless of Thailand’s
slow economic growth. By just during the first half of the year, the new
subscribers rise up to 7 million; this is two-third of the total for the entire 2006.
Finally, the industry gained, approximately, 12 million new subscribers by the
end of the year. And, there lie a lot of rooms to gear forward by the year of
2008. Moreover, according to Marketinfo.co.th (2008), the segmentation of the
customers aged during 13 to 18 is emerging. This group of mobile users has not
been approached to its fullest yet. Approaching to this group of customers is
becoming is new source of profitability for mobile service. Along with this
segmentation is the group of housewife and oldie whose concern is to take care
5
of their children and grandchildren. Mobile service is increasingly becoming a
service accustomed to everyone from the age of early ten until the retirements.
Hence, the authors set for mobile operator market in Thailand as the market of
interest. (True Corporation, 2008)
1.2.2 An Outlook to the current situations
In Thailand mobile operator market, TrueMove has been the third after AIS; full
name ‘Advanced Info Service’, the number one in the market, and DTAC; full
name ‘Total Access Communication’, the second respectively. On another side,
the brand precedes ‘Hutch’ and ‘Thai Mobile’, the fourth and the fifth respectively
in the market. To compete with its competitors, TrueMove utilizes its advantage
of conglomerate brand to offer the convergence lifestyle whose advantages
supports the customer the additional benefits of internet service, insurance, and
others.
The information from Marketinfo (2008) indicates that, since the widespread of
technology and telecommunications, the world has changed rapidly and pricing
strategy is no longer the right strategy to strike sales, to capture customers, or to
improve market share. Instead, promotion and service quality have replaced the
importance of the pricing strategy. Leading mobile operator companies in
Thailand; including AIS, the number one in the market, DTAC, the second, and
TrueMove, the third, now change their trend to focus on service quality. Service
quality has become an important means to capture customers as well as retain
them for the repetitive purchase of service to the companies. (Marketinfo, 2008)
1.3 Problem Statement
The problem statement is ‘How are TrueMove customers satisfied with the
customer service provided at TrueMove Shops in Bangkok?’
The problem statement is generated from the consideration that service quality is
an important matter to bring more customers, retain the existing ones and create
loyalty among customers. Practically, somehow, service provided at a company
6
may not be fully implemented yet and needs some improvements. Also, if a
company would evaluate its own service, the understanding from the perspectives
of customers is very important. From the perspectives of customers, the
assessment of service quality will not be biased. What reflected from the
customers perspectives could provide a chance for a company to improve its
service quality to the right direction.
1.4 Purpose
The authors aim is to evaluate 'whether' and 'how' TrueMove customers are
satisfied or dissatisfied with the customer service provided at TrueMove Shops in
Bangkok region. With the help of evaluation of service quality by customers of
the shop.
The objective will be achieved with the help of evaluation of service quality by
customers of the shop. The intention is that the research result of ‘customer
satisfaction towards TrueMove customer service’ could be used by TrueMove
Company; as the assessment of its service quality. By the assessment from the
result of this research, it could be considered advantageous to see the room for
improvement as well as learn the expected service criteria from the customer
perspectives; of which, if the company could reciprocate, would be very
beneficial.
1.5 Delimitation
As the difficulty of measuring customer satisfaction towards service quality is an
intangible subject and a lot of pitfalls are possible, the purpose of the paper is
limited to ‘measure and evaluate’ customer satisfaction; from customer
perspectives, towards customer service provided at TrueMove shops in Bangkok.
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The result of this research, therefore, is limited to aim only to report how
customers assess; in other words ‘how customers are satisfied with’, customer
service quality provided at TrueMove shops in Bangkok. For making use of the
information reflected from this research, determining what should be improved or
deciding the right set of coordinated activities to meet the customer expectation
on service quality is out of the scope of this research. Rather, the mentioned
utilization of the knowledge reported from this research should be further studied
by future research.
The authors aim for this research to be a good base for TrueMove Company to
evaluate its service quality; from the perspectives of customers, which is neutral
and not biased. In addition, for this research to be a good base for further
research studies on evaluating the causes of TrueMove strong and weak points in
customer service as well as on evaluating the appropriate ways to improve the
weak points in customer service.
1.6 Target Audience
.The main targeted audience of this paper is the customer service department of
TrueMove. The secondarily targeted audience includes TrueMove Company as a
whole, other mobile operators in Thailand market, and any people who are
customers to mobile operators in Thailand market. Last but not least, the
students writing undergraduate thesis with similar interest.
1.7 Structure of the Paper
The text is divided into seven chapters.
Chapter One, ‘Introduction’, introduces the audiences of this study to the
importance of customer satisfaction toward service quality; as it is a key tool for
marketing activities, and the necessity stemming from mobile operator market
8
trends for TrueMove to develop its service quality at the best possible. Hence,
background of TrueMove Company as well as market situations were given brief
information in this chapter; followed by Problem Statement, Purpose of Study,
Delimitation of the study, and target audiences of this research.
Chapter Two, ‘Literature review’, the need for separate chapter arose after
the fact that literature review is thorough and for the readers perspective it
needed a separate space. The literature search has been executed in three
phases serving three sequential purposes; firstly, to decide the area of focus;
secondly, to confirm the existing knowledge from the researches in the area of
study and to acquire the sufficient knowledge for further study; lastly, to find the
core theories for the study framework.
Chapter Three, ‘Methodology’, explains the reasons for selecting this topic of
study, the existing knowledge; in ‘Literature Review’, concerning the research
topic, the relevant theories chosen, and researching methodology covering data
collecting methods and analysis method.
Chapter Four, ‘Theoretical Framework’, covers the explanation of Service
Quality Gap, SERVQUAL Dimensions, the Three Key Possible Quality Outcomes,
and the Conceptualization of Theoretical Framework.
Chapter Five, ‘Findings and Analysis’, this part of the text is what is different
from the other papers. As the result of customer satisfaction toward customer
service provided at TrueMove Shops in Bangkok region is calculated by mean and
SPSS calculation, the presenting of data in the findings part is considered easier
to understand if presented in graph format. Furthermore, the findings are
numerical; thus, if separated from analysis, would create confusion as the readers
need to turn pages back to read findings in one part while the analysis is in
another. Therefore, the authors decided to combine findings and analysis
together to make it easier for readers to understand.
Chapter Six, ‘Conclusion’, concludes the research result of ‘whether’ and ‘how’
customers of TrueMove Shops in Bangkok region are satisfied with customer
service provided there and how they perceived each aspect of service. In
addition, the research result is concluded by total respondents and specific groups
of customers for management to apply.
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Chapter Seven, ‘Recommendation’, here the authors; after conclusion,
recommend management applications for TrueMove Shops in Bangkok that could
improve customer satisfaction as well as bring in more potential customers.
Appendix is the last chapter of this paper. Here, both questionnaire; English and
Thai version, and the objectives of each part of it are presented. Besides, the
direct results from mean and SPSS are presented as well as e-mail contact with
TrueMove.
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Chapter 2: Literature Review
2.1 Thailand Mobile market & customer satisfaction
First of all, about Thailand mobile market and customer satisfaction, Marketinfo
indicated in it’s 'Thai mobile marketing situation report’ that the mobile marketing
trends in 2008 will be effected from the great impact from the new regulation of
number portability which permits one transferable number applying for every
operating system. This policy allows customers to change their mobile operator
without changing their mobile phone number. Therefore, customer service will
become more significantly important – as, in the case that the operators cannot
provide an effective and satisfied service, customers can instantly switch brand
without anymore worry to change their contact number.
As for the necessity to preserve the existing customers, the management can be
in two directions; that are, increasing the switching cost to prevent customers to
change brand and accelerate the service quality to satisfy customers.
In their conclusion, the year 2008 will be the start of service quality war instead
of pricing war. The marketing activities of Thai mobile operators in year 2008,
therefore, are suggested to focus in service quality to keep the existing
customers, in other words, to reduce customer decay.
Besides mobile customer decay result from the lower barrier of operator
switching, Hargrave silk (2004) gave some suggestion about Thais’ consumer
behavior that Thai consumers easily change new brands. Fuelled by the high
promotional activity in the market, Thai consumers have become notoriously
unfaithful. Customers have more choices and if they have found that there is
something new, fresh and exciting, they tend to give that brand a try. If the
customers perceive significantly different or better performance in new
brand/product/ service they are likely to switch. However, a study by Lowe
Thailand suggests that consumers will gradually shift to more expensive brands
when disposable income and age increase. Nowadays, Thai economy grows fast
and one reason is because of the spending sprees, especially by young working
generation, on automobiles, homes, mobile phones and other big purchase.
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Hill (1996) said about customer decay that the average business loses between
10 and 30 per cent of its customers each year, but often don’t know why they
were lost. Hill clarified that dissatisfaction is the fundamental reason for customer
decay. A considerable amount of research has been undertaken in the area for
several years found that there are customer gaps that obstruct company to meet
customer satisfaction. The overall gap which results in dissatisfied customer is the
gap between expectations and experience, which can usually be traced back to
one of five earlier gaps (promotional, understanding, procedural, behavioral and
perception)
No organization intends to provide poor service. Gaps usually arise because of
differences in perception between what the business thought it was providing and
what the customers believe they received. Only regular customer satisfaction
measurement will enable the business to identify and close the gaps.
2.2 Previous studies in relevant area
As for previous studies in customer satisfaction and service quality in some
relevant areas, these studies are taken into consideration
• Johnson and Anuchit (2002) studied about service quality in the
Thai telecommunication industry. Their research question was
firstly about the correlation between the service quality rating and
the competitive advantage among Thai telecommunication firm and
secondly about the reliability of SERVQUAL techniques to assess
service quality perceptions/ expectations among customers in the
Thai telecommunication industry. Which are land line telephone
subscribers; Telecom Asia (TA) and Thai Telephone and Telegraph
(TT&T), and mobile phone subscribers; Advance Info Services (AIS)
and Total Access communication (TAC). It is remarkable that the
study does not include TrueMove, which is the third mobile
subscriber in the industry.
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The study utilized at cross-sectional survey design to investigate service quality
perceptions and their competitive analysis in the Thai telecommunication
industry. Questionnaires were distributed utilizing a convenience sampling from
walk-in customers at a service centre during May-June 1999 time period. In
addition, this study also was conducted under the same natural environment in
which employees’ service providers normally function, thus offering a greater
degree of reality.
This study used a seven-point Likert scale range from “strongly agree” (7) to
“strongly disagree” (1), to assess all five dimensions of service and considered
the maximum score of customer perceptions service quality as a basis for
competitive assessment.
The result showed the Thai telecommunication industry received strong ratings on
the tangibles dimension, particularly customer service staff’s dress, and low
ratings on the empathy dimension, particularly service providers, interest
differences.
From the result of empirical study, they recommended the SERVQUAL scale as a
starting point for assessing service quality. The five original service quality
dimensions showed impressive reliability and were surprisingly influential. They
also accentuated that SERVQUAL does seem to be better suited for process-
driven service firms, e.g. telecommunication, banking, retailing, health care, etc.
Furthermore, finding of their research indicated a distinct importance for the
process aspects of a service (Tangible, Responsiveness, Assurance, and
Empathy).
• In a study of Ryan air customer satisfaction in Sweden,
Thanataveerat and Jiajia (2007) employs SEVRQUAL
technique to analyze Ryan air’s five dimensions of service
quality and compare the perceived quality with customer
expectation to found the gap which was explained in gap
model. The main method was to use questionnaires to get
customers’ evaluation toward Ryan air service Quality. The
study is based on the questionnaire which have been proved
by psychological test to not to be bias or misunderstood by
the respondents. Moreover, they employed SERVQUAL
technique which have been attested and developed for
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decades by several researchers across context since
Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry launch it in 1988.
Unfortunately, by time and financial limitation , the researchers had not enough
sample size to reach margin of error of least 5%(their margin of error were 7%),
and were only able to distribute questionnaire’s at Vasteras and Skavsta Airport,
not cover Gothenburg city Airport which lead to construct or measurement
validity problem according to fisher’s criteria (Fisher, 2007). Then it becomes
difficult to claim that the sampling represents the population statistically.
Srijumpa, Chiararakul and Speece (2007) examined customer
satisfaction and dissatisfaction with interpersonal versus
internet service encounters in Thai retail stockbrokerage and
corporate banking. This is one of the few papers to show with
strong empirical data that customers view satisfaction and
dissatisfaction as distinct dimensions. An additional contribution
is demonstrating that dissatisfaction can be measured with
industry specific scales, which are nevertheless comparable
across industries.
The study being divided into two projects and have been investigated separately.
We found interesting research technique in it’s interpersonal part while
customers meet the company, which be the same situation as this report , in
same country and similar social context (mostly done in urban area), even though
it investigates different industries, but it’s still the service industry. Mainly the
study comparing expected and perceived service quality. The result show
preferably of interpersonal service, indicate the important of further study in the
real service encounter area.
The indicators, which in the project call the schema, were adopted and mostly
work well for these two industries in Thailand. In the study, the authors
developed their own indicators from prior research which has developed useful
indicators/Schema for categorizing satisfaction; mostly from Bitner et al. (1990)
and Meuter et al. (2000). After that, they tested it in two levels, first in depth
interviews and second the pilot project with the experts in each industry.
14
The experts were given the full list of the items relevant to their industry, a
definition of each category of dissatisfaction and satisfaction for interpersonal and
internet interactions, and asked to allocate each item to a single category
The following is their indicators/schemas for stockbrokerage industry.
Interpersonal service encounters satisfaction items.
1. Your broker provides reasonable comments for helping you to make the right
decisions
2. Your broker informs you instantly and continuously of relevant and useful
information
3. Your broker will inform you about unavailable service
4. Your broker informs you when and why brokerage service is very slow
5. Your broker provides services in a professional and friendly manner and voice
6. Your broker is able to perform well under adverse circumstances
The problem is that it’s difficult to understand/ evaluate whether those six
questions cover all facets of service quality or not. In this TrueMove study, we
decided to apply Parasuraman Berry, and Zeithaml technique.
As for service quality measurement; found in prior literature discussed above,
customer satisfaction is strongly relevant to service quality, especially in service
industry. This last part of literature review dedicated numerous confirmations
from a consideration number of academics and practitioners and will also discuss
about the most reliable service quality measurement tested by several studied.
There is substantial evidence that service quality functions as a predecessor to
customer satisfaction (Reidenbach and Sandifer-Smallwood, 1990; Cronin and
Taylor, 1992, Reichheld and Sasser, 1990.)
With the evidence that service quality leads to satisfaction, considerable
practitioner interest has centered on programs to improve service quality (Farber
and Wycoff, 1991; Schlesinger and Heskett, 1991).One of the fundamentals in
the service quality improvement programs has been the measurement of service
quality.
Service quality measurement is important as it has the potential to offer insights
into areas of service quality strengths and weaknesses. Zeithaml et al. (1988)
15
have developed and tested a forceful measure of five dimensions: reliability,
responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles. Measuring customer
“expectation” and “perceptions” of these five dimensions assesses service quality.
Service quality is positively disconfirmed when customer perceptions exceed
expectations. Parasuraman, Berry and Zeithaml (1991) found the reliability
dimension to be an extremely important one. (These concepts will be discussed
further in Methodology and Theory part).
2.3 Core theories discussed
In conclusion, SERVQUAL can serve as an effective diagnostic tool to guide
management in its service quality improvement efforts by focusing attention in
the areas that are most needful (Berry et al., 1994).
All of the above discussion lead to the understanding that; to find out how to
study customers perception/expectation which lead to customers satisfaction. It is
important to investigate the knowledge in the service quality measurement area.
The series of Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry articles in the 1980s have been
found to be useful to depict the developing of the service concept from the
empirical studies to the approved service quality measure model; SERVQUAL.
For instance, the articles ‘Understanding Customer Expectations of Service’ by
Parasuraman, Berry, and Zeithaml (1991) discuss the understanding about five
dimension of service
‘A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and Its Implication for Future Research’ by
Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1985) illustrate the conceptual of gab model,
in which identify the gap between customer perception and expectation in its fifth
gap, the last customer’s gap in the model.
‘Delivering Quality Service’; also by Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1990)
further the understanding of the relevant theories and techniques of measuring
customer satisfaction/service quality.
16
The explanation of GAP Model and the Five Dimensions of Service; in the
theoretical framework part, are partly sourced by the information gained from
these articles.
Besides the three American academics famous studies, Ghobadian, speller and
Jones(1994) extended the understanding of service quality measurement in their
article about service quality concepts and models., provided some understandable
criteria to assess customer satisfy by the three key possible quality outcomes;
satisfactory quality ideal quality, and unacceptable quality. The detail will be
discussed in theory part.
Finally, even though less pertinent to the subject of customer satisfaction, the
authors found other literatures that are also relevant and beneficial to the study.
The main literatures mentioned here are ‘Improving Customer Satisfaction,
Loyalty, and Service’ by Michael D. Johnson and Anders Gustafson, ‘Best
Practices in Customer Service’ edited by Ron Zemke and John A. Woods, ‘Quality
of Service’ by Bo Edvardson, Bertil Thomasson, and John Øvrerveit, and, lastly,
‘Measuring Service Quality: Practical Guidelines’ by John Øvrerveit. These books
provide the knowledge of service quality from the perspectives of the company.
Somehow, they are found advantageous to this study as they reveal the relevant
dimensions of service.
17
Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY
3.1 The Selected Topic
The authors decide to research on customer satisfaction towards customer service
at TrueMove as the authors see the importance of ‘customer’ and ‘customer
satisfaction’. As Scheuing E. (1999) stated that “Customers are the lifeblood of
any organization. Without them, it loses its meaning and purpose” and Zikmund
W and D’Amico M (1989) supported its importance to marketing that “Customer
satisfaction is the aim of the marketing concept. According to the marketing
concept, an organization should try to satisfy the needs of customers or clients
through coordinated set of activities that, at the same time, allows the
organization to achieve its goals”.
Furthermore, TrueMove is chosen to study because of reasons. First of all, it is in
the industry of mobile service; whose approach to customers has been successful
and whose nature is well-known as the importance of telecommunication has
spread for some considerable time. Next, TrueMove is the chosen company
because the authors see the potential and challenge of being ‘the third’ in
Thailand market. ‘Potential’ is because the company has gained more than 20%
of the entire market share of which the competition field comprised of as many
competitors as five. ‘Challenge’ is because of the possibility to gain more market
share, and profitability in the market. Its convergence strategy has supported a
potential for TrueMove as the only fully integrated communication solution
provider, which is unique and differentiated from the other competitors. What’s
more, the emerging segmentations of the customers aging during 13-18 and
other minor segmentations lie for TrueMove to strike sales, profitability, and
market share.
3.2 The Chosen Theories
In order to fulfill the research on measuring and evaluating customer satisfaction
towards customer service provided at TrueMove shop, Gap Model and SERVQUAL
18
are chosen; provided that their purpose of use is appropriate and corresponds to
the research problem.
As for Gap Model, its purpose is as Bitner (2007) stated “…to determine how well
the service meeting or exceeding customer satisfaction”. According to
Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1991), there are five different gaps on
measuring customer satisfaction on both customer’s and the company’s
perspective. However, this research focuses specifically on GAP 5 ‘the Service
Quality Gap’ – which measures the gap between customer expectation towards
service quality and their perception of the service after experiencing. In addition,
The Service Quality Gap is limited to only measuring and evaluating customer
satisfaction from the customer perspectives; as the consideration is that the
result of customer satisfaction would not be biased as well as be of advantageous
to the focal company because the research result could reveal the aspects of
current customer service that can be further implemented as well as its primary
information concerning customer expectation could perform its role similar to a
compass directing a company to a peaceful shore. The further detail of the
Service Quality Model is provided in the later part of theoretical framework.
As for SERVQUAL, this theory further illustrates the understanding of Service
Quality Gap by defining dimensions of service to be considered for expectation
and perception. These dimensions of service include Reliability, Tangibles,
Responsiveness, Assurance, and Empathy. All the dimensions are chosen as it
assists in synthesizing and analyzing customer expectation towards and
perception on service quality. For further detail of SERVQUAL please refer to the
theoretical framework chapter.
3.3 Data Collection of the Research
All the empirical findings of this research are collected from both primary data
and secondary data. The detail of each is explained as following.
19
3.3.1 Primary Data
The primary data was collected by two sources; that are, interview and
questionnaire.
3.3.1.1 Interview
Due to the necessity to defining the sampling size of the respondents aimed to be
distributed with the questionnaire and the limitations that no information
specifically about the number of TrueMove’s customers in Bangkok region,
especially limited to only the customers of TrueMove Shops, can be found out by
secondary sources, the authors contact TrueMove Company – to gain the
knowledge of the number of TrueMove Shops customers in Bangkok region.
To do so, the authors contact TrueMove through personal contact with Miss
Kanchanawan Siraya; Assistant Director of TrueMove of TrueMove Bangkok. The
contact person is in charge of administrating TrueMove Shops in Bangkok region;
therefore, is considered able as well as reliable to answer the required question
concerning total customers of TrueMove Shops in Bangkok region as well as the
average customers per each TrueMove Shop per month in Bangkok region.
The interview questions were first e-mailed to the contact person; as it is
convenient for her to manage the time to answer. However, as some information
required are confidential of the company but as the contact person well
understands the necessity to define the sampling size, telephone interview was
agreed. Finally, the questions concerning specific information about total
customers of TrueMove Shops in Bangkok region as well as the average
customers per each TrueMove Shop per month in Bangkok region were answered
with the numerical data; under the agreement that the authors would use the
information only to define the sampling size of questionnaire and NOT to reveal
the number.
3.3.1.2 Questionnaire
In order to answer the core of the research problem; Customer Satisfaction
towards Customer Service of TrueMove Shops in Bangkok region, the information
from the customer perspectives play an important role. Therefore, the authors
20
decide to conduct the questionnaire interview; with the close-ended questions to
customers of TrueMove Shops in Bangkok region.
3.3.1.2a Sampling Size
As for sampling size, Fisher (2007) explained that “the size of sample you need
depends in part on the size of the margin of error you are prepared to accept and
the size of the population from which you are going to take the sample”. In
addition, it is added in Fisher (2007, P.190) that; with 5% Margin of Error and the
approximate respondent population between 1 to 10 millions , the sampling size
for the questionnaire to be distributed could be by 384 copies.
Constrained not to reveal the confidential information concerning the total
number of TrueMove Shops’ customers in Bangkok region, the authors could,
however, identify; by the information gained from telephone interview that the
exact amount of TrueMove Shop’s customers in Bangkok region is in between 1 to
10 millions number of population.
Therefore, with the acceptable 5% Margin of Error, the authors decided to
distribute 384 questionnaires through, directly, with the assistance of the
company, TrueMove Shops in Bangkok region.
3.3.1.2b Sampling Frame
Due to the practical method of questionnaire distribution; which would be
distributed directly through TrueMove Shops in Bangkok region, and the
confidential information gained from telephone interview with the company
concerning the average customers per each TrueMove Shop per month in
Bangkok region; which is not allowed to reveal to public, it could, however, be
revealed that the customers going to TrueMove Shops in Bangkok each month are
not numerically equally constant by each group. To explain, customers of
different demographic group go to each TrueMove Shop in different number by
each month and each day. Therefore, the sampling technique chosen is random.
Fisher (2007, p.59) stated about the random survey that “Random surveys of a
suitably large sample allow you to determine what is average and what the
variations around the average are, to a definable level of statistical confidence”.
21
By distributing directly through TrueMove Shops in Bangkok region, the random
sampling technique is considered appropriate as the authors could gain the real
knowledge of which target group of TrueMove Shops’ customers in Bangkok
region really are and which demographic groups are more and less in proportion –
which is considered advantageous to management of TrueMove.
3.3.1.2c the Development of Questionnaire
The questionnaire is developed in accordance with the theoretical framework
consisting of the Service Quality Gap and the SERVQUAL Dimensions.
In considering an appropriate way of designing a questionnaire, the authors are
concerned with the intangible pitfall of measuring satisfaction. To explain,
satisfaction questions rely very much on the interpretation on each question’s
meaning by the respondents. Given that the interpretation of meaning stems
from the psychological matter, the authors choose to adapt a questionnaire
format initiated by Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Berry (1991) – as this questionnaire
has been psychometrically tested already and could assumingly lessen the
intangible pitfall.
The mentioned questionnaire; generally stated, is designed in accordance with
the SERVQUAL Dimensions and Service Quality Gap. The authors separate the
questionnaire into three parts as following.
Part I: This part inquires about the general demographic and other information of
the respondents e.g. age, gender, frequency of visiting TrueMove Shops per
month etc. This part is designed for the use of management application.
Part II: This part is in the format of Likert Scales; a five-point scale between
strongly agree and strongly disagree for the respondents to choose (Fisher 2004,
p.65). The first 22 questions in this Likert Scales format are designed according
to SERVQUAL Dimensions – to enquire about customer expectation towards
customer service at TrueMove Shops in Bangkok region. The other 22 questions
are designed similarly but it, instead, enquires about customer perception
towards customer service at TrueMove Shops in Bangkok region after
experiencing. The result gained from these two parts are aimed to analyze the
22
gap between customer expectation and perception, hence, it is able to see
whether customers are satisfied or not and how.
Part III: This part is for customers to prioritize the importance of each SERVQUAL
Dimension from the consideration of the respondents. It is aimed to perform as
the confirmation of part II as well as consideration of customer satisfaction.
As the target respondents are the Thais, the questionnaire is designed in two
versions; one in English and one in Thai. The English version is created first as it
is easier and more convenient for the adaptation of the original format initiated
by Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Berry (1991). Then, it is translated into Thai
because of the consideration that Thai version would ensure the correct
understanding of the target respondents as well as clearer to them for the
psychological interpretation on the questions. The translated version was proved
by Kasetsart University Language Center, as an author was a former student of
the university.
Ultimately, Johnson & Sirikit (2002) confirmed the appropriateness of adapting
the questionnaire that it is appropriate to base the measurement of services
quality with the use of SERVQUAL scale in telecommunications services field. “We
can recommend with some confidence the SERVQUAL scale as a starting point for
accessing service quality” (Johnson & Sirikit, 2002). Furthermore, the SERVQUAL
scale mentioned by Gabbie & O’Neill (1996) while studying service quality in
northern Irish hotel sector agree with the appropriateness of the questionnaire.
3.3.1.2d Distribution of Questionnaire
The questionnaire is distributed directly through TrueMove Shops in Bangkok
region; with assistance from the company in contact with the authors. The
distribution had been taken within seven days during April 24
th
to 30
th
; in Thai
version.
3.3.2 Secondary Data
Because of the consideration that the full knowledge about the focal company, its
parental conglomerate, its position in Thailand mobile operator market should be
23
implemented in order to best answer the research question, the authors decide to
collect all the mentioned data from different reliable sources.
The main ones are through the database of Marketinfo.co.th, TrueMove’s official
site, and the official site of True Corporation; which is TrueMove’s parental
company. Other referred-to sources generate the understanding of TrueMove’s
position in Thailand mobile operator market. They are assured to be reliable by
taking from the sites of governmental organization, private companies, renowned
business newspaper in Thailand and other related ones.
Further detail about the database of Marketinfo.co.th and the searched through
websites could be referred to the former part of Literature Review. For further
detail, the full list of reference supports the track of secondary information.
3.4 How to analyze
The data collected after research will be analyzed and presented using descriptive
statistics. With the help of Mean & Frequency figures generated through SPSS;
Statistical package for social sciences, graphical charts will be used.
Cross tabulation of the data would be conducted to further estimate to visibly
come upon prevalent trends.
In addition, Rating Scale will be used to analyze the result of the expectation and
perception mean. . The defining of satisfaction towards each aspect of SERQVUAL
model is done by comparing the Average with Rating Scale setting the
interpretation as following.
3.4.1 Rating Scale to Defining the Interpretation
The Average between
4.21–5.00
Opinion is the Most
The Average between Opinion is at Much
24
3.41–4.20
The Average between
2.61–3.40
Opinion is Moderate
The Average between
1.81–2.60
Opinion is Less.
The Average between
1.00–1.80
Opinion is at the Least.
25
Chapter 4: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
4.1 Service Quality Gap
The gap model is a useful framework for understanding service quality in an
organization. Even though there are several gaps existing between the
expectation and real service performance/delivery, the most critical service
quality gap to close is the customer gap that is the difference between customer
expectations and perceptions.
According to Parasuraman, Berry, and Zeithaml (1991), customers have some
expectations towards the quality of service. However, Chakrapani C (1998) stated
that ‘There is the difference between customer expectations and what the
management delivers. Therefore, the perceptions of service served may be
different from what expected; as management may fail to deliver what customers
want.” Hence, it is important to understand that customer satisfaction stems from
the balance somewhere between customers expectations and customers
perceptions of service.
As to measure and evaluate customer satisfaction on service, Service Quality Gap
is an appropriate means to conduct the research. For customer gap, Zeithaml,
Bitner and Gremler (2006) explained that “The customer gap is the difference
between customer expectations and perceptions. In order to satisfy the
customers, firms need to clear the different customer expectation and make a
balance in expectations and perceptions.”
Customer Expectations of Service, Customers Perceptions of Service, and
Customer Satisfaction are briefly explained as following.
26
4.1.2 Customer Expectations of Service
According to Zeithaml, Bitner, and Gremler (2006), customer expectations are
“beliefs about a service delivery that serve as standard against which
performance is done”.
4.1.3 Customers Perceptions of Service
As explained by Parasuraman, Berry, and Zeithaml (1991), the expected service
quality may not be answered because of constraints, thus, the perceived service
for customers can be different from what expected. They stated that “In short, a
variety of factors – resource constraints, market conditions, and/or management
indifference may result in discrepancy between management perceptions of
consumer expectations and the actual specifications established for a service.
This discrepancy is predicted to affect quality perceptions of customers.
4.1.4 Customer Satisfaction of Service
Ultimately, customer satisfaction of service is as Parasuraman, Berry, and
Zeithaml (1991) stated “The gap between consumer expectations and the firm’s
service quality specifications will affect service quality from the customer’s
viewpoint”. Customer satisfactions are stemmed from the balance between what
is achieved and what needs to be achieved (Chakrapani, C 1998).
To deliver a high quality of service, service provider needs to close these gaps.
4.2 SERVQUAL Dimensions
According to Parasuraman, Berry, and Zeithaml (1991), “Customer Service
Expectations can be categorized into five overall dimensions; reliability, tangibles,
responsiveness, assurance, and empathy.” In the same way as customer
expectations aspect, customer perceptions of service are explained by Schneider
27
and White (2004) as “the result of the dimensions”. Hence, the five dimensions
are the keys to measure and evaluate expected and perceived service. Each of
the dimensions is explained briefly as following.
1) Reliability: the ability to perform the promised service dependably and
accurately.
2) Tangibles: the appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and
communication facilities.
3) Responsiveness: the willingness to help customers and provide prompt
service.
4) Assurance: the knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to
convey trust and confidence.
5) Empathy: the caring, individualized attention provided to the customers.
We can also divide the five dimensions into two main categories considering
which part of the service they are more involved in; process or outcome. While
reliability dimension is mainly concerned with the service outcome, other
dimensions of service are more concerned with the service process. We then can
demonstrate the whole dimension of service again here following the two
categories discussed above;
Service Outcome Reliability
Service Process Tangibles
Responsiveness
Assurance
Empathy
The reliability , in which include the accuracy and dependability determinants of
service, can be judged after the service was delivered to customers, but the other
dimensions must be judged when the service is being delivered.
28
Parasuraman (1991) stated that “although reliability is the most important
dimension in meeting customer expectations, the process dimensions (especially
assurance, responsiveness, and empathy) are most important in exceeding
customer expectations”. They also state that in their study in 1991 “when we
asked our respondents to discuss what companies could do to exceed their
expectations, they in variably answered in term of the process dimensions. In
general companies are supposed to be accurate and dependable and provide the
service they promised to provide, in other words, meeting the reliability
dimension. However, to go beyond what is expected and provide the excellence of
service to customers, the providers need to “surprise customers with uncommon
swiftness, grace, courtesy, competence, commitment, or understanding.”
(Parasuraman, 1991, p.41-42) That is, in other words, meeting the tangibles,
responsiveness, assurance and empathy dimensions.
4.3 Service Quality Measurement
Ghobadian, Speller and Jones (1994, p.49) stated that quality in a service
business is a measure of the extent to which the service delivered meets the
customer’s expectations. The nature of most service is such that the customer is
present in the delivery process, which means that the perception of quality is
influenced not only by the service outcome but also by the service process. The
perceived quality lies along a continuum. Unacceptable quality lies at one end of
this continuum, while ideal quality lies at the other end. The points in between
represent different degrees of quality. The perceived quality can be represented
as:
PQ = PCA + APQ + AOQ
Perceived Quality (PQ) = Prior Customer Expectations (PCA) + Actual
Process Quality (APQ) + Actual Outcome Quality (AOQ)
29
PQ
(PerceivedQuality) (PerceivedQuality) (PerceivedQuality) (PerceivedQuality)
PCE
(PriorCustomer
Expectations)
APQ
(ActualProcess
Quality)
AOQ
(ActualOutcome
Quality)
Figure 1: The Three Key Possible Quality Outcome
Source: Ghobadian, Speller & Jones 1994, “Service quality concepts and models”, International
journal of quality & reliability management”, vol.11, no 9, pp. 43-66
“Prior customer expectation” is the image of what will be received when the
customer purchases a service. “Actual quality” is the real level of service quality
provided, which can be determined and controlled by the service provider.
“Perceived quality” is the customer’s feeling for the quality of the service. It
determines the extent of customer’s satisfaction.
The three key possible quality outcome:
From the above equation, the measuring of quality can fall in to three main
levels;
1. Satisfactory quality, where customer’s expectations (CE) are exactly
met: that is to say , PCE = PQ;
2. Ideal quality, where perceived quality is higher than customer’s
expectations: that is to say, PQ > PCE;
3. Unacceptable quality, where perceive quality is lower than customer’s
expectations: that is to say, PQ < PCE.
30
4.4 Conceptualization of Theory
Figure 2: Conceptualization of the Theoretical Framework
Finally, the authors decide to conduct the research of measuring and evaluating
customer satisfaction; from customer perspectives, towards TrueMove customer
service provided at TrueMove shops within Bangkok region through the
framework of Customer Gap and the Five Dimensions of Service. The above
model of ‘Theoretical Framework of This Research’ presents that the Model of
Customer Gap is used in this research in the broader sense of measuring
customer satisfaction by evaluating the balance between expected service quality
and perceived service quality. In order to research on each of the mentioned
aspects, the Five Dimensions of Service model is used to see what and how
customers expect for the aspects of reliability, tangibles, responsiveness,
assurance, and empathy. Likewise, the stated dimensions are to determine the
perceptions of service served according to each dimension.
SERVICE QUALITY GAP
SERVQUAL DIMENSIONS
1. Reliability
2. Tangibles
3. Responsiveness
4. Assurance
5. Empathy
EXPECTED
SERVICE
QUALITY
PERCEIVED
SERVICE
QUALITY
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
31
Chapter 5: FINDINGS & ANALYSIS
5.1 Total Respondents
Totel Respondents
3.84
3.72
3.7
3.84
4.73
4.94
5
4.96
4.97
4.96
Tangibles
Reliability
Responsiveness
Assurance
Empathy
S
E
R
V
Q
U
A
L
D
i
m
e
n
s
i
o
n
s
Level of Customer Expectation and Perception
Expectation
Perception
Figure 3: Total Respondents Expectation and Perception
5.1.1 Reliability
For the total respondents, the first priority expected is from Reliability at the
mean score of 5. This means that the customers of TrueMove Shops in Bangkok
fully expect that the service will be performed dependably and accurately as
promised. Further into detail, the SERVUQUAL Likert Scale part of the
questionnaire distributed reveals that customers appreciate any service to be
performed right at the planned time and duration. When customers have any
problems, the customers wish for TrueMove Shops’ staff to be sympathetic and
reassuring in service. In addition, all the records at TrueMove is expected to be
kept right at the first time. These expectations, by mean at 5, are so high that
they fall to ‘the Most’ level by the Rating Scale. However, the perception mean of
Reliability amounts 3.72; ‘Much’ level by the Rating Scale. This means that the
32
expectation mean and perception mean for Reliability rated by total respondents
are different by one level by the Rating Scale.
By the lower mean of Reliability perception; compared to its expectation mean;
and as defined by the authors that one level of Rating Scale would be considered
as one number, this could be used to analyze customer satisfaction by ‘the Three
Possible Quality Outcome initiated by Speller and Jones (1994, p.50). By the
Three Possible Quality Outcome, the result that perception mean is less than
expectation mean could be calculated as PQ < PCE – Perceived Quality is less
than Prior Customer Expectations. Thus, the result for customer satisfaction
towards Reliability could be analyzed as ‘unacceptable’.
5.1.2 Assurance
The second priority expected is Assurance. By the information gained from
SERVQUAL Likert Scale part of the questionnaire distributed, it is indicated that
customers expect staff at TrueMove Shops in Bangkok region to be trustable,
polite, and capable to give relevant information to customers. Moreover,
customers expect that they could feel safe for their financial transactions. The
expectation mean for Assurance is rated at 4.97; ‘the Most’ by the Rating Scale.
Meanwhile, the perception mean for it is rated at 3.84; ‘Much’ by the Rating
Scale. Again the perceived service is rated lower than expected one – by one
level of Rating Scale. This could be calculated by Speller & Jones’ ‘the Three Key
Possible Quality Outcome’ (1994, p.50) as PQ
Customer service is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase. According to Turban et al. (2002),[1] "Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation."
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION TOWARD
TRUEMOVE CUSTOMER SERVICE
Program: MIMA International Marketing
Course: EFO705 International Marketing Masters Thesis
Supervisor: Jan Löwstedt
Date: June 8th 2008
Abstract
Date: June 8th, 2008
Program: Master Thesis of International Marketing
Course Code: EFO705
Supervisor: Jan Löwstedt
Authors: Chokaew Koobgrabe: 840721
Haider Raja Abbas: 820909
Punyanuch Chuttima: 750812
Title: Customer Satisfaction toward TrueMove Customer Service
Problem Statement: How are TrueMove customers satisfied with the customer
service provided at TrueMove shops in Bangkok?
Purpose: To evaluate “whether” and “how” TrueMove customers are satisfied or
dissatisfied with the customer service provided at TrueMove shops in the Bangkok
region with the help of evaluation of service quality by customers of the shop.
Theory and Methods: The research bases mainly on quantitative method; that
is questionnaire method. The Service Quality Gap which aims to measure the
customer satisfaction by comparing their expectation and perception of service
after experiencing the service serves as the theoretical framework for the
research. Moreover SERVQUAL dimensions covering Reliability, Assurance,
Empathy, Responsiveness and Tangibles are used in the further development of
theory and modeling of the questionnaires for this research.
Conclusion: TrueMove customers are not yet fully satisfied with customer
service provided at the TrueMove shops in Bangkok region. The service quality
perceived cannot yet meet the expectation of customers in any SERVQUAL
Dimensions.
Recommendations: The issue of reliability in service aspect needs to be dealt
with an overhaul of systems and routines while other aspects of service call for
equipping employees with required knowledge. A focus on specific services to the
target group of customers also needs to be established.
Keywords: TrueMove, Customer Satisfaction, Customer Service, Thailand Mobile
Operator Market, TrueMove Shops Bangkok
Acknowledgement
The accomplishment of this study is a continuous result of contributions by individuals
whose continuous help and assistance during each phase of researching process is greatly
appreciated by the authors. First of all, the authors would like to thank Professor Jan
Löwstedt whose supervision had enlightened the authors with a lot of knowledgeable
advice and whose assistance had been with the authors since the very first steps of
researching until the end.
Equally important is TrueMove Company; contact person Miss Kanchanawan Siraya,
Assistant Director of TrueMove, whose devotion had been in replying the interview
questions, giving required information, and contacting all TrueMove Shops in Bangkok
region to distribute the questionnaire. Also, the authors would like to thank Mr. Ratjiporn
Sochithamkul; Customer Correspondence of TrueMove, in contacting with the authors for
reporting the questionnaire result through TrueMove database. Without the assistance of
both, the authors would find it impossible to finish this study.
Also, the authors would like to thank Ms. Srisamorn Koobgrabe, one of author’s mothers
particularly for assisting with the contact with TrueMove, through the aforesaid persons.
The assurance of lots of contact information and other miscellaneous relevant issues could
not be addressed without her help.
The authors also are thankful to the opponent groups who had given constructive
comments for the improvement of this paper. As well as sharing great experiences with
the authors to fulfill and enhance the authors knowledge.
TrueMove Shops’ customers are thanked as their answers to the questionnaire are the
heart of this research. This study would not reach its goal without these respondents.
Furthermore, every personnel at TrueMove Shops in Bangkok and every colleague at
Mälardalen University had enhanced the learning experience with the authors.
After all, the authors would like to thank each other; for supporting the researching
experience, for devoting with the enthusiasm and devotion to accomplish this study, and
the last but the most important, to be friends.
Chokaew Koobgrabe
Haider Raja Abbas
Punyanuch Chutima
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.................................................................... 1
1.1 TrueMove: the Focal Company ......................................................... 1
1.1.1 TrueMove Background .................................................................... 1
1.1.2 TrueMove’s Products and Service ..................................................... 3
1.1.3 Customer Service at TrueMove ........................................................ 3
1.2 Mobile Operator Market in Thailand: An Outlook.............................. 4
1.2.1 Attractiveness of Mobile Operator Market in Thailand.......................... 4
1.2.2 An Outlook to the current situations ................................................. 5
1.3 Problem Statement .......................................................................... 5
1.4 Purpose ........................................................................................... 6
1.5 Delimitations ................................................................................... 6
1.6 Target Audience............................................................................... 7
1.7 Structure of the Paper ..................................................................... 7
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.......................................................... 10
2.1 Thailand Mobile market & customer satisfaction ........................... 10
2.2 Previous studies in relavent area.................................................. 11
2.3 Core theories discussed................................................................. 15
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY................................................................... 17
3.1 The Selected Topic......................................................................... 17
3.2 The Chosen Theories...................................................................... 17
3.3 Data Collection of the Research ..................................................... 18
3.3.1 Primary Data............................................................................... 19
3.3.1.1 Interview............................................................................... 19
3.3.1.2 Questionnaire......................................................................... 19
3.3.1.2a Sampling Size .................................................................... 20
3.3.1.2b Sampling Frame................................................................. 20
3.3.1.2c the Development of Questionnaire ........................................ 21
3.3.1.2d Distribution of Questionnaire................................................ 22
3.3.2 Secondary Data ........................................................................... 22
3.4 How to analyze .............................................................................. 23
CHAPTER 4: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK................................................ 25
4.1 Service Quality Gap........................................................................ 25
4.1.2 Customer Expectations of Service .................................................. 26
4.1.3 Customers Perceptions of Service .................................................. 26
4.1.4 Customer Satisfaction of Service.................................................... 26
4.2 SERVQUAL Dimensions .................................................................. 26
4.3 Service Quality Measurement ........................................................ 28
4.4 Conceptualization of Theory .......................................................... 30
CHAPTER 5: FINDINGS & ANALYSIS....................................................... 31
5.1 Total Respondents ......................................................................... 31
5.1.1 Reliability.................................................................................... 31
5.1.2 Assurance ................................................................................... 32
5.1.3 Empathy..................................................................................... 32
5.1.4 Responsiveness ........................................................................... 33
5.1.5 Tangibles .................................................................................... 33
5.1.6 Conclusion .................................................................................. 34
5.2 Cross Tabulation prepaid users...................................................... 34
5.2.1 Prepaid Users, Under 20 Year-Old, Female and Male......................... 34
5.2.2 Prepaid Users, Age between 21-30, Female and Male ....................... 35
5.2.3 Prepaid Users, Age between 31-40, Female and Male ....................... 36
5.2.4 Prepaid Users, Age between 41-50, Female and Male ....................... 37
5.2.5 Prepaid Users, Age over 50 Year, Female and Male .......................... 39
5.3 Cross Tabulation postpaid users .................................................... 40
5.3.1 Postpaid Users, Under 20 Year-Old, Female and Male ....................... 41
5.3.2 Postpaid Users, Age between 21-30, Female and Male...................... 43
5.3.3 Postpaid Users, Age 31-40, Female and Male................................... 41
5.3.4 Postpaid Users, Age 41-50, Female and Male................................... 43
5.3.5 Postpaid, Over 50 years old, Female and Male ................................. 44
5.4 Importance of SERVQUAL dimension............................................. 45
5.5 Conclusion of Findings & Analysis for Management Application..... 46
CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION...................................................................... 47
CHAPTER 7: RECOMMENDATIONS........................................................... 48
7.1 BRING ABOUT RELIABILITY IN SYSTEMS AND ROUTINES............................... 48
7.2 EDUCATE, TRAIN AND EQUIP THE EMPLOYEES WITH KNOWLEDGE ................... 48
7.3 SPECIAL CUSTOMER GROUPS REQUIRE SPECIAL SERVICE .............................. 49
REFERENCES .......................................................................................... 50
APPENDIX.............................................................................................. 54
List of Figures
Figure 1: The Three Key Possible Quality Outcome: Page 28
Source: Ghobadian, Spellar & Jones 1994
Figure 2: Conceptualization of the Theoretical Framework: Page 30
Figure 3: Total Respondents Expectation and Perception: Page 31
Figure 4: the Expectation and Perception of Prepaid Users, Under 20 Year-
Old, Female and Male: Page 34
Figure 5: The Expectation and Perception of Prepaid Users, Age between 21-
30, Female and Male: Page 35
Figure 6: The Expectation and Perception of Prepaid Users, Age between 31-
40, Female and Male: Page 36
Figure 7: The Expectation and Perception of Prepaid Users, Age between 41-
50, Female and Male: Page 37
Figure 8: The Expectation and Perception of Prepaid Users, Age over 50 Year-
Old, Female and Male: Page 39
Figure 9: The Expectation and Perception of Postpaid Users, Age between 21-
30, Female and male: Page 40
Figure 10: The Expectation and Perception of Postpaid Users, Age between
31-40, Female and Male: Page 41
Figure 11: The Expectation and Perception of Postpaid Users, Age between
41-50, Female and Male: Page 43
Figure 12: The Expectation and Perception of Postpaid Users, Age over 50
Year-Old, Female and Male: Page 44
1
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION
Today, the world is growing in an increasingly rapid-changing environment.
Business market has become much more competitive. To capture target
customers as well as differentiate from other competitors, marketing is a key to
companies throughout the world.
Serving customers well is at the heart of marketing as well as supports a
company’s position in nowadays competitive market. Its importance is as
Demming (1951) stated “When (service) quality improves, costs come down, and
customers are happy and tell other people. This brings in more customers. As a
result, profitability improves”.
A competitor in Thailand’s’ competitive rapid-changing mobile operator market,
TrueMove; the third-largest mobile operator company in Thailand, now
encounters with more difficulties in capturing customers as well as striking
market share. Pricing is no longer an effective tool to capturing customers.
Instead, the trend changes to emphasize on offering a better service. Unique and
differentiated expectation-answered service is the current key to success (Market
info, 2008).To improve its position as the third in the market; following AIS;
‘Advanced Info Service’ the number one in Thailand Mobile Operator market, and
DTAC; ‘Total Access Communication PLC’ the second, respectively, hence, is well
possible through its effective service quality. Customer’s expectation answered
service is indispensable to achieve the company’s marketing goal. Therefore, this
study aims to research TrueMove on the aspect of the company’s customer
service; as it is an unequivocal key to competitive capability in the market. (S
Kanchanawan, 2008, pers.comm, 11 May)
1.1 TrueMove: the Focal Company
1.1.1 TrueMove Background
TrueMove was first launched in Thailand’s mobile telecommunications service in
March 2002. It is a subsidiary of True Corporation Public Company Limited
2
Conglomeration. The brand operates along with other brands within ‘True Group’;
of which all brands include TrueMove, TrueOnline, TrueVisions, TrueMoney, and
TrueLife. As to explain each brand, TrueOnline offers fixed-line phone service and
its value-added services, DDN services, Internet and consumer broadband
Internet services and WE PCT (Personal Communication Telephone), TrueVisions
offers pay-TV business. Whereas, TrueMoney operates Digital Commerce
Business and TrueLife offers Digital Content Business. As for TrueMove, the brand
operates a digital mobile telecommunications network based on the GSM (Global
System for Mobile Communications) standard in the 1800 MHz frequency. (True
Corporation, n.d.)
Similar to all other brands under True Conglomeration, TrueMove’s vision aims to
be credible, creative, caring, and courageous. For credible and caring, TrueMove
endeavors to best treat its customers by serving the right services to the right
segments of customers. In addition, it also treats its personnel and partners well
- as the company values all these people the same way as it does to customers.
Last, TrueMove aims to be creative and courageous in order to come up with the
new desirable innovation and new ideas; the means considered as keeping it
ahead of the market. Synergy, working harmony, and honesty are the essence of
TrueMove’s vision. (True Corporation, n.d.)
As for strategy, ‘Convergence Lifestyle’ is what TrueMove emphasizes in order to
differentiate itself from the other competitors in Thailand mobile operator market
- given the advantages that TrueMove is the only mobile operator whose parent
company is the conglomeration of full range communications solutions. The
company’s convergence lifestyle gives benefits for its mobile service customers to
other additional services covering mobile service, internet, pay-TV, broadband
and other digital businesses. (True Corporation, n.d.)
As to consider the success of TrueMove’s vision and convergence strategy, by the
third quarter of last year 2007, the company announced 2.1 million subscribers-
total the amounts of overall TrueMove customers to 11.2 millions. The number is
a milestone for True Move’s historical pages – the company earned 44.1 % up
from service revenue, 87% increase compared to the same quarter of the former
year. TrueMove subscribers accounted for 22.8% of the entire market by the last
quarter of the 2007 year. For the year of 2008, the company aims to exert
continually on the convergence strategy; which means mobile service, high-
speed internet technology, and multimedia content. By the convergence, the
company believes to gain more market share and stands elegantly as one of the
3
three largest mobile operators in Thailand. (True Expected TrueMove Gain Market
Share at Least 25% From Last Year of 23%, n.d.)
1.1.2 TrueMove’s Products and Service
As a leading mobile operator company in Thailand market, TrueMove’s main focus
is to offering a service of digital mobile telecommunications network based on the
GSM standard.
However, it also sells another service of VAS; Value Added Service. Vas offers
miscellaneous services including; calling forward assistant, self number-changing,
internet service on mobile, customer service assistant number, voice mail, fax
mail, missed call alert, and, lastly, multimedia content.
As for products, TrueMove sells SIM cards both for pre-pay and post-pay. There
are different choices of SIM cards for customers to choose i.e. TrueMove Game
SIM, Triplet SIM cards, Welcome SIM, TrueMusic SIM, Body slam SIM, TrueMove
SIM with Rak Ton Rak Nan CD, Two Year Long SIM, TrueMove SIM with EPL
History CD, Took Jai SIM, TrueMove SIM Golf and Mike, and TrueMove SIM AF.
Lastly, TrueMove also sells mobile, handset, mobile accessories.
(TrueMove, n.d.)
1.1.3 Customer Service at TrueMove
As TrueMove’s vision is to be caring, creative, and credible, customer service at
TrueMove is considered an important as its importance is to impress the existing
customers, thus, create positive word-of-mouth. Moreover, the impression of
customer service brings in more customers. The importance of customer service
at TrueMove, hence, is a key factor to TrueMove Company. (True Corporation,
n.d.)
The channels for customer service at TrueMove in Bangkok; the region scope of
this research, are through call number 1331, True shop, TrueMove Shop, and
Kiosks. Call number 1331 provides the service of reporting the damage or loss of
SIM cards, payment, and other miscellaneous. Meanwhile, the other three serve
similar service plus interface contact. (True Corporation, n.d.)
4
As for True Shop in Bangkok, customer service is provided at the department
stores and buildings of The Mall, Central, Lotus, Big C, Carrefour, Future Park
Rangsit, Fashion Island, Imperial Samrong, CP Tower, IT Mall Fortune Town,
Seacon Square and others.
For Kiosks, mainly customer service of TrueMove is provided at The Mall, Big C,
Carrefour, TOPS, and others e.g. IT Mal F4, Robinson Bangkok, Central World,
Maboonkrong, and Powerbycentral.
Come lastly to the focus of this research – TrueMove shops in Bangkok. TrueMove
shops in Bangkok are served at 15 the department stores and 4 buildings. The
department stores include The Mall Ngamwongwan, The Mall Ramkhamhaeng,
The Mall Bangkae, The Mall Thapra, The Mall Ramkhamhaeng 3, Central Pinklao,
Big C Bang Plee and Rama 2, Carrefour Changwattana, Carrefour Ratchadapisek,
Carrefour Sukapiban 3, Carrefour Bangpakok, and Carrefour Bangbon, Future
Park Rangsit, and Seacon Square. The buildings include Fortune Town,
Wongsawang Town Centre, U Chu Liang building, and Ying Charoen Market. (True
Corporation, n.d.)
1.2 Mobile Operator Market in Thailand: An Outlook
1.2.1 Attractiveness of Mobile Operator Market in Thailand
The mobile operator market in Thailand is tempting. The new mobile phone
subscribers grew by 18% in the first six months of 2007, regardless of Thailand’s
slow economic growth. By just during the first half of the year, the new
subscribers rise up to 7 million; this is two-third of the total for the entire 2006.
Finally, the industry gained, approximately, 12 million new subscribers by the
end of the year. And, there lie a lot of rooms to gear forward by the year of
2008. Moreover, according to Marketinfo.co.th (2008), the segmentation of the
customers aged during 13 to 18 is emerging. This group of mobile users has not
been approached to its fullest yet. Approaching to this group of customers is
becoming is new source of profitability for mobile service. Along with this
segmentation is the group of housewife and oldie whose concern is to take care
5
of their children and grandchildren. Mobile service is increasingly becoming a
service accustomed to everyone from the age of early ten until the retirements.
Hence, the authors set for mobile operator market in Thailand as the market of
interest. (True Corporation, 2008)
1.2.2 An Outlook to the current situations
In Thailand mobile operator market, TrueMove has been the third after AIS; full
name ‘Advanced Info Service’, the number one in the market, and DTAC; full
name ‘Total Access Communication’, the second respectively. On another side,
the brand precedes ‘Hutch’ and ‘Thai Mobile’, the fourth and the fifth respectively
in the market. To compete with its competitors, TrueMove utilizes its advantage
of conglomerate brand to offer the convergence lifestyle whose advantages
supports the customer the additional benefits of internet service, insurance, and
others.
The information from Marketinfo (2008) indicates that, since the widespread of
technology and telecommunications, the world has changed rapidly and pricing
strategy is no longer the right strategy to strike sales, to capture customers, or to
improve market share. Instead, promotion and service quality have replaced the
importance of the pricing strategy. Leading mobile operator companies in
Thailand; including AIS, the number one in the market, DTAC, the second, and
TrueMove, the third, now change their trend to focus on service quality. Service
quality has become an important means to capture customers as well as retain
them for the repetitive purchase of service to the companies. (Marketinfo, 2008)
1.3 Problem Statement
The problem statement is ‘How are TrueMove customers satisfied with the
customer service provided at TrueMove Shops in Bangkok?’
The problem statement is generated from the consideration that service quality is
an important matter to bring more customers, retain the existing ones and create
loyalty among customers. Practically, somehow, service provided at a company
6
may not be fully implemented yet and needs some improvements. Also, if a
company would evaluate its own service, the understanding from the perspectives
of customers is very important. From the perspectives of customers, the
assessment of service quality will not be biased. What reflected from the
customers perspectives could provide a chance for a company to improve its
service quality to the right direction.
1.4 Purpose
The authors aim is to evaluate 'whether' and 'how' TrueMove customers are
satisfied or dissatisfied with the customer service provided at TrueMove Shops in
Bangkok region. With the help of evaluation of service quality by customers of
the shop.
The objective will be achieved with the help of evaluation of service quality by
customers of the shop. The intention is that the research result of ‘customer
satisfaction towards TrueMove customer service’ could be used by TrueMove
Company; as the assessment of its service quality. By the assessment from the
result of this research, it could be considered advantageous to see the room for
improvement as well as learn the expected service criteria from the customer
perspectives; of which, if the company could reciprocate, would be very
beneficial.
1.5 Delimitation
As the difficulty of measuring customer satisfaction towards service quality is an
intangible subject and a lot of pitfalls are possible, the purpose of the paper is
limited to ‘measure and evaluate’ customer satisfaction; from customer
perspectives, towards customer service provided at TrueMove shops in Bangkok.
7
The result of this research, therefore, is limited to aim only to report how
customers assess; in other words ‘how customers are satisfied with’, customer
service quality provided at TrueMove shops in Bangkok. For making use of the
information reflected from this research, determining what should be improved or
deciding the right set of coordinated activities to meet the customer expectation
on service quality is out of the scope of this research. Rather, the mentioned
utilization of the knowledge reported from this research should be further studied
by future research.
The authors aim for this research to be a good base for TrueMove Company to
evaluate its service quality; from the perspectives of customers, which is neutral
and not biased. In addition, for this research to be a good base for further
research studies on evaluating the causes of TrueMove strong and weak points in
customer service as well as on evaluating the appropriate ways to improve the
weak points in customer service.
1.6 Target Audience
.The main targeted audience of this paper is the customer service department of
TrueMove. The secondarily targeted audience includes TrueMove Company as a
whole, other mobile operators in Thailand market, and any people who are
customers to mobile operators in Thailand market. Last but not least, the
students writing undergraduate thesis with similar interest.
1.7 Structure of the Paper
The text is divided into seven chapters.
Chapter One, ‘Introduction’, introduces the audiences of this study to the
importance of customer satisfaction toward service quality; as it is a key tool for
marketing activities, and the necessity stemming from mobile operator market
8
trends for TrueMove to develop its service quality at the best possible. Hence,
background of TrueMove Company as well as market situations were given brief
information in this chapter; followed by Problem Statement, Purpose of Study,
Delimitation of the study, and target audiences of this research.
Chapter Two, ‘Literature review’, the need for separate chapter arose after
the fact that literature review is thorough and for the readers perspective it
needed a separate space. The literature search has been executed in three
phases serving three sequential purposes; firstly, to decide the area of focus;
secondly, to confirm the existing knowledge from the researches in the area of
study and to acquire the sufficient knowledge for further study; lastly, to find the
core theories for the study framework.
Chapter Three, ‘Methodology’, explains the reasons for selecting this topic of
study, the existing knowledge; in ‘Literature Review’, concerning the research
topic, the relevant theories chosen, and researching methodology covering data
collecting methods and analysis method.
Chapter Four, ‘Theoretical Framework’, covers the explanation of Service
Quality Gap, SERVQUAL Dimensions, the Three Key Possible Quality Outcomes,
and the Conceptualization of Theoretical Framework.
Chapter Five, ‘Findings and Analysis’, this part of the text is what is different
from the other papers. As the result of customer satisfaction toward customer
service provided at TrueMove Shops in Bangkok region is calculated by mean and
SPSS calculation, the presenting of data in the findings part is considered easier
to understand if presented in graph format. Furthermore, the findings are
numerical; thus, if separated from analysis, would create confusion as the readers
need to turn pages back to read findings in one part while the analysis is in
another. Therefore, the authors decided to combine findings and analysis
together to make it easier for readers to understand.
Chapter Six, ‘Conclusion’, concludes the research result of ‘whether’ and ‘how’
customers of TrueMove Shops in Bangkok region are satisfied with customer
service provided there and how they perceived each aspect of service. In
addition, the research result is concluded by total respondents and specific groups
of customers for management to apply.
9
Chapter Seven, ‘Recommendation’, here the authors; after conclusion,
recommend management applications for TrueMove Shops in Bangkok that could
improve customer satisfaction as well as bring in more potential customers.
Appendix is the last chapter of this paper. Here, both questionnaire; English and
Thai version, and the objectives of each part of it are presented. Besides, the
direct results from mean and SPSS are presented as well as e-mail contact with
TrueMove.
10
Chapter 2: Literature Review
2.1 Thailand Mobile market & customer satisfaction
First of all, about Thailand mobile market and customer satisfaction, Marketinfo
indicated in it’s 'Thai mobile marketing situation report’ that the mobile marketing
trends in 2008 will be effected from the great impact from the new regulation of
number portability which permits one transferable number applying for every
operating system. This policy allows customers to change their mobile operator
without changing their mobile phone number. Therefore, customer service will
become more significantly important – as, in the case that the operators cannot
provide an effective and satisfied service, customers can instantly switch brand
without anymore worry to change their contact number.
As for the necessity to preserve the existing customers, the management can be
in two directions; that are, increasing the switching cost to prevent customers to
change brand and accelerate the service quality to satisfy customers.
In their conclusion, the year 2008 will be the start of service quality war instead
of pricing war. The marketing activities of Thai mobile operators in year 2008,
therefore, are suggested to focus in service quality to keep the existing
customers, in other words, to reduce customer decay.
Besides mobile customer decay result from the lower barrier of operator
switching, Hargrave silk (2004) gave some suggestion about Thais’ consumer
behavior that Thai consumers easily change new brands. Fuelled by the high
promotional activity in the market, Thai consumers have become notoriously
unfaithful. Customers have more choices and if they have found that there is
something new, fresh and exciting, they tend to give that brand a try. If the
customers perceive significantly different or better performance in new
brand/product/ service they are likely to switch. However, a study by Lowe
Thailand suggests that consumers will gradually shift to more expensive brands
when disposable income and age increase. Nowadays, Thai economy grows fast
and one reason is because of the spending sprees, especially by young working
generation, on automobiles, homes, mobile phones and other big purchase.
11
Hill (1996) said about customer decay that the average business loses between
10 and 30 per cent of its customers each year, but often don’t know why they
were lost. Hill clarified that dissatisfaction is the fundamental reason for customer
decay. A considerable amount of research has been undertaken in the area for
several years found that there are customer gaps that obstruct company to meet
customer satisfaction. The overall gap which results in dissatisfied customer is the
gap between expectations and experience, which can usually be traced back to
one of five earlier gaps (promotional, understanding, procedural, behavioral and
perception)
No organization intends to provide poor service. Gaps usually arise because of
differences in perception between what the business thought it was providing and
what the customers believe they received. Only regular customer satisfaction
measurement will enable the business to identify and close the gaps.
2.2 Previous studies in relevant area
As for previous studies in customer satisfaction and service quality in some
relevant areas, these studies are taken into consideration
• Johnson and Anuchit (2002) studied about service quality in the
Thai telecommunication industry. Their research question was
firstly about the correlation between the service quality rating and
the competitive advantage among Thai telecommunication firm and
secondly about the reliability of SERVQUAL techniques to assess
service quality perceptions/ expectations among customers in the
Thai telecommunication industry. Which are land line telephone
subscribers; Telecom Asia (TA) and Thai Telephone and Telegraph
(TT&T), and mobile phone subscribers; Advance Info Services (AIS)
and Total Access communication (TAC). It is remarkable that the
study does not include TrueMove, which is the third mobile
subscriber in the industry.
12
The study utilized at cross-sectional survey design to investigate service quality
perceptions and their competitive analysis in the Thai telecommunication
industry. Questionnaires were distributed utilizing a convenience sampling from
walk-in customers at a service centre during May-June 1999 time period. In
addition, this study also was conducted under the same natural environment in
which employees’ service providers normally function, thus offering a greater
degree of reality.
This study used a seven-point Likert scale range from “strongly agree” (7) to
“strongly disagree” (1), to assess all five dimensions of service and considered
the maximum score of customer perceptions service quality as a basis for
competitive assessment.
The result showed the Thai telecommunication industry received strong ratings on
the tangibles dimension, particularly customer service staff’s dress, and low
ratings on the empathy dimension, particularly service providers, interest
differences.
From the result of empirical study, they recommended the SERVQUAL scale as a
starting point for assessing service quality. The five original service quality
dimensions showed impressive reliability and were surprisingly influential. They
also accentuated that SERVQUAL does seem to be better suited for process-
driven service firms, e.g. telecommunication, banking, retailing, health care, etc.
Furthermore, finding of their research indicated a distinct importance for the
process aspects of a service (Tangible, Responsiveness, Assurance, and
Empathy).
• In a study of Ryan air customer satisfaction in Sweden,
Thanataveerat and Jiajia (2007) employs SEVRQUAL
technique to analyze Ryan air’s five dimensions of service
quality and compare the perceived quality with customer
expectation to found the gap which was explained in gap
model. The main method was to use questionnaires to get
customers’ evaluation toward Ryan air service Quality. The
study is based on the questionnaire which have been proved
by psychological test to not to be bias or misunderstood by
the respondents. Moreover, they employed SERVQUAL
technique which have been attested and developed for
13
decades by several researchers across context since
Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry launch it in 1988.
Unfortunately, by time and financial limitation , the researchers had not enough
sample size to reach margin of error of least 5%(their margin of error were 7%),
and were only able to distribute questionnaire’s at Vasteras and Skavsta Airport,
not cover Gothenburg city Airport which lead to construct or measurement
validity problem according to fisher’s criteria (Fisher, 2007). Then it becomes
difficult to claim that the sampling represents the population statistically.
Srijumpa, Chiararakul and Speece (2007) examined customer
satisfaction and dissatisfaction with interpersonal versus
internet service encounters in Thai retail stockbrokerage and
corporate banking. This is one of the few papers to show with
strong empirical data that customers view satisfaction and
dissatisfaction as distinct dimensions. An additional contribution
is demonstrating that dissatisfaction can be measured with
industry specific scales, which are nevertheless comparable
across industries.
The study being divided into two projects and have been investigated separately.
We found interesting research technique in it’s interpersonal part while
customers meet the company, which be the same situation as this report , in
same country and similar social context (mostly done in urban area), even though
it investigates different industries, but it’s still the service industry. Mainly the
study comparing expected and perceived service quality. The result show
preferably of interpersonal service, indicate the important of further study in the
real service encounter area.
The indicators, which in the project call the schema, were adopted and mostly
work well for these two industries in Thailand. In the study, the authors
developed their own indicators from prior research which has developed useful
indicators/Schema for categorizing satisfaction; mostly from Bitner et al. (1990)
and Meuter et al. (2000). After that, they tested it in two levels, first in depth
interviews and second the pilot project with the experts in each industry.
14
The experts were given the full list of the items relevant to their industry, a
definition of each category of dissatisfaction and satisfaction for interpersonal and
internet interactions, and asked to allocate each item to a single category
The following is their indicators/schemas for stockbrokerage industry.
Interpersonal service encounters satisfaction items.
1. Your broker provides reasonable comments for helping you to make the right
decisions
2. Your broker informs you instantly and continuously of relevant and useful
information
3. Your broker will inform you about unavailable service
4. Your broker informs you when and why brokerage service is very slow
5. Your broker provides services in a professional and friendly manner and voice
6. Your broker is able to perform well under adverse circumstances
The problem is that it’s difficult to understand/ evaluate whether those six
questions cover all facets of service quality or not. In this TrueMove study, we
decided to apply Parasuraman Berry, and Zeithaml technique.
As for service quality measurement; found in prior literature discussed above,
customer satisfaction is strongly relevant to service quality, especially in service
industry. This last part of literature review dedicated numerous confirmations
from a consideration number of academics and practitioners and will also discuss
about the most reliable service quality measurement tested by several studied.
There is substantial evidence that service quality functions as a predecessor to
customer satisfaction (Reidenbach and Sandifer-Smallwood, 1990; Cronin and
Taylor, 1992, Reichheld and Sasser, 1990.)
With the evidence that service quality leads to satisfaction, considerable
practitioner interest has centered on programs to improve service quality (Farber
and Wycoff, 1991; Schlesinger and Heskett, 1991).One of the fundamentals in
the service quality improvement programs has been the measurement of service
quality.
Service quality measurement is important as it has the potential to offer insights
into areas of service quality strengths and weaknesses. Zeithaml et al. (1988)
15
have developed and tested a forceful measure of five dimensions: reliability,
responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles. Measuring customer
“expectation” and “perceptions” of these five dimensions assesses service quality.
Service quality is positively disconfirmed when customer perceptions exceed
expectations. Parasuraman, Berry and Zeithaml (1991) found the reliability
dimension to be an extremely important one. (These concepts will be discussed
further in Methodology and Theory part).
2.3 Core theories discussed
In conclusion, SERVQUAL can serve as an effective diagnostic tool to guide
management in its service quality improvement efforts by focusing attention in
the areas that are most needful (Berry et al., 1994).
All of the above discussion lead to the understanding that; to find out how to
study customers perception/expectation which lead to customers satisfaction. It is
important to investigate the knowledge in the service quality measurement area.
The series of Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry articles in the 1980s have been
found to be useful to depict the developing of the service concept from the
empirical studies to the approved service quality measure model; SERVQUAL.
For instance, the articles ‘Understanding Customer Expectations of Service’ by
Parasuraman, Berry, and Zeithaml (1991) discuss the understanding about five
dimension of service
‘A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and Its Implication for Future Research’ by
Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1985) illustrate the conceptual of gab model,
in which identify the gap between customer perception and expectation in its fifth
gap, the last customer’s gap in the model.
‘Delivering Quality Service’; also by Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1990)
further the understanding of the relevant theories and techniques of measuring
customer satisfaction/service quality.
16
The explanation of GAP Model and the Five Dimensions of Service; in the
theoretical framework part, are partly sourced by the information gained from
these articles.
Besides the three American academics famous studies, Ghobadian, speller and
Jones(1994) extended the understanding of service quality measurement in their
article about service quality concepts and models., provided some understandable
criteria to assess customer satisfy by the three key possible quality outcomes;
satisfactory quality ideal quality, and unacceptable quality. The detail will be
discussed in theory part.
Finally, even though less pertinent to the subject of customer satisfaction, the
authors found other literatures that are also relevant and beneficial to the study.
The main literatures mentioned here are ‘Improving Customer Satisfaction,
Loyalty, and Service’ by Michael D. Johnson and Anders Gustafson, ‘Best
Practices in Customer Service’ edited by Ron Zemke and John A. Woods, ‘Quality
of Service’ by Bo Edvardson, Bertil Thomasson, and John Øvrerveit, and, lastly,
‘Measuring Service Quality: Practical Guidelines’ by John Øvrerveit. These books
provide the knowledge of service quality from the perspectives of the company.
Somehow, they are found advantageous to this study as they reveal the relevant
dimensions of service.
17
Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY
3.1 The Selected Topic
The authors decide to research on customer satisfaction towards customer service
at TrueMove as the authors see the importance of ‘customer’ and ‘customer
satisfaction’. As Scheuing E. (1999) stated that “Customers are the lifeblood of
any organization. Without them, it loses its meaning and purpose” and Zikmund
W and D’Amico M (1989) supported its importance to marketing that “Customer
satisfaction is the aim of the marketing concept. According to the marketing
concept, an organization should try to satisfy the needs of customers or clients
through coordinated set of activities that, at the same time, allows the
organization to achieve its goals”.
Furthermore, TrueMove is chosen to study because of reasons. First of all, it is in
the industry of mobile service; whose approach to customers has been successful
and whose nature is well-known as the importance of telecommunication has
spread for some considerable time. Next, TrueMove is the chosen company
because the authors see the potential and challenge of being ‘the third’ in
Thailand market. ‘Potential’ is because the company has gained more than 20%
of the entire market share of which the competition field comprised of as many
competitors as five. ‘Challenge’ is because of the possibility to gain more market
share, and profitability in the market. Its convergence strategy has supported a
potential for TrueMove as the only fully integrated communication solution
provider, which is unique and differentiated from the other competitors. What’s
more, the emerging segmentations of the customers aging during 13-18 and
other minor segmentations lie for TrueMove to strike sales, profitability, and
market share.
3.2 The Chosen Theories
In order to fulfill the research on measuring and evaluating customer satisfaction
towards customer service provided at TrueMove shop, Gap Model and SERVQUAL
18
are chosen; provided that their purpose of use is appropriate and corresponds to
the research problem.
As for Gap Model, its purpose is as Bitner (2007) stated “…to determine how well
the service meeting or exceeding customer satisfaction”. According to
Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1991), there are five different gaps on
measuring customer satisfaction on both customer’s and the company’s
perspective. However, this research focuses specifically on GAP 5 ‘the Service
Quality Gap’ – which measures the gap between customer expectation towards
service quality and their perception of the service after experiencing. In addition,
The Service Quality Gap is limited to only measuring and evaluating customer
satisfaction from the customer perspectives; as the consideration is that the
result of customer satisfaction would not be biased as well as be of advantageous
to the focal company because the research result could reveal the aspects of
current customer service that can be further implemented as well as its primary
information concerning customer expectation could perform its role similar to a
compass directing a company to a peaceful shore. The further detail of the
Service Quality Model is provided in the later part of theoretical framework.
As for SERVQUAL, this theory further illustrates the understanding of Service
Quality Gap by defining dimensions of service to be considered for expectation
and perception. These dimensions of service include Reliability, Tangibles,
Responsiveness, Assurance, and Empathy. All the dimensions are chosen as it
assists in synthesizing and analyzing customer expectation towards and
perception on service quality. For further detail of SERVQUAL please refer to the
theoretical framework chapter.
3.3 Data Collection of the Research
All the empirical findings of this research are collected from both primary data
and secondary data. The detail of each is explained as following.
19
3.3.1 Primary Data
The primary data was collected by two sources; that are, interview and
questionnaire.
3.3.1.1 Interview
Due to the necessity to defining the sampling size of the respondents aimed to be
distributed with the questionnaire and the limitations that no information
specifically about the number of TrueMove’s customers in Bangkok region,
especially limited to only the customers of TrueMove Shops, can be found out by
secondary sources, the authors contact TrueMove Company – to gain the
knowledge of the number of TrueMove Shops customers in Bangkok region.
To do so, the authors contact TrueMove through personal contact with Miss
Kanchanawan Siraya; Assistant Director of TrueMove of TrueMove Bangkok. The
contact person is in charge of administrating TrueMove Shops in Bangkok region;
therefore, is considered able as well as reliable to answer the required question
concerning total customers of TrueMove Shops in Bangkok region as well as the
average customers per each TrueMove Shop per month in Bangkok region.
The interview questions were first e-mailed to the contact person; as it is
convenient for her to manage the time to answer. However, as some information
required are confidential of the company but as the contact person well
understands the necessity to define the sampling size, telephone interview was
agreed. Finally, the questions concerning specific information about total
customers of TrueMove Shops in Bangkok region as well as the average
customers per each TrueMove Shop per month in Bangkok region were answered
with the numerical data; under the agreement that the authors would use the
information only to define the sampling size of questionnaire and NOT to reveal
the number.
3.3.1.2 Questionnaire
In order to answer the core of the research problem; Customer Satisfaction
towards Customer Service of TrueMove Shops in Bangkok region, the information
from the customer perspectives play an important role. Therefore, the authors
20
decide to conduct the questionnaire interview; with the close-ended questions to
customers of TrueMove Shops in Bangkok region.
3.3.1.2a Sampling Size
As for sampling size, Fisher (2007) explained that “the size of sample you need
depends in part on the size of the margin of error you are prepared to accept and
the size of the population from which you are going to take the sample”. In
addition, it is added in Fisher (2007, P.190) that; with 5% Margin of Error and the
approximate respondent population between 1 to 10 millions , the sampling size
for the questionnaire to be distributed could be by 384 copies.
Constrained not to reveal the confidential information concerning the total
number of TrueMove Shops’ customers in Bangkok region, the authors could,
however, identify; by the information gained from telephone interview that the
exact amount of TrueMove Shop’s customers in Bangkok region is in between 1 to
10 millions number of population.
Therefore, with the acceptable 5% Margin of Error, the authors decided to
distribute 384 questionnaires through, directly, with the assistance of the
company, TrueMove Shops in Bangkok region.
3.3.1.2b Sampling Frame
Due to the practical method of questionnaire distribution; which would be
distributed directly through TrueMove Shops in Bangkok region, and the
confidential information gained from telephone interview with the company
concerning the average customers per each TrueMove Shop per month in
Bangkok region; which is not allowed to reveal to public, it could, however, be
revealed that the customers going to TrueMove Shops in Bangkok each month are
not numerically equally constant by each group. To explain, customers of
different demographic group go to each TrueMove Shop in different number by
each month and each day. Therefore, the sampling technique chosen is random.
Fisher (2007, p.59) stated about the random survey that “Random surveys of a
suitably large sample allow you to determine what is average and what the
variations around the average are, to a definable level of statistical confidence”.
21
By distributing directly through TrueMove Shops in Bangkok region, the random
sampling technique is considered appropriate as the authors could gain the real
knowledge of which target group of TrueMove Shops’ customers in Bangkok
region really are and which demographic groups are more and less in proportion –
which is considered advantageous to management of TrueMove.
3.3.1.2c the Development of Questionnaire
The questionnaire is developed in accordance with the theoretical framework
consisting of the Service Quality Gap and the SERVQUAL Dimensions.
In considering an appropriate way of designing a questionnaire, the authors are
concerned with the intangible pitfall of measuring satisfaction. To explain,
satisfaction questions rely very much on the interpretation on each question’s
meaning by the respondents. Given that the interpretation of meaning stems
from the psychological matter, the authors choose to adapt a questionnaire
format initiated by Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Berry (1991) – as this questionnaire
has been psychometrically tested already and could assumingly lessen the
intangible pitfall.
The mentioned questionnaire; generally stated, is designed in accordance with
the SERVQUAL Dimensions and Service Quality Gap. The authors separate the
questionnaire into three parts as following.
Part I: This part inquires about the general demographic and other information of
the respondents e.g. age, gender, frequency of visiting TrueMove Shops per
month etc. This part is designed for the use of management application.
Part II: This part is in the format of Likert Scales; a five-point scale between
strongly agree and strongly disagree for the respondents to choose (Fisher 2004,
p.65). The first 22 questions in this Likert Scales format are designed according
to SERVQUAL Dimensions – to enquire about customer expectation towards
customer service at TrueMove Shops in Bangkok region. The other 22 questions
are designed similarly but it, instead, enquires about customer perception
towards customer service at TrueMove Shops in Bangkok region after
experiencing. The result gained from these two parts are aimed to analyze the
22
gap between customer expectation and perception, hence, it is able to see
whether customers are satisfied or not and how.
Part III: This part is for customers to prioritize the importance of each SERVQUAL
Dimension from the consideration of the respondents. It is aimed to perform as
the confirmation of part II as well as consideration of customer satisfaction.
As the target respondents are the Thais, the questionnaire is designed in two
versions; one in English and one in Thai. The English version is created first as it
is easier and more convenient for the adaptation of the original format initiated
by Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Berry (1991). Then, it is translated into Thai
because of the consideration that Thai version would ensure the correct
understanding of the target respondents as well as clearer to them for the
psychological interpretation on the questions. The translated version was proved
by Kasetsart University Language Center, as an author was a former student of
the university.
Ultimately, Johnson & Sirikit (2002) confirmed the appropriateness of adapting
the questionnaire that it is appropriate to base the measurement of services
quality with the use of SERVQUAL scale in telecommunications services field. “We
can recommend with some confidence the SERVQUAL scale as a starting point for
accessing service quality” (Johnson & Sirikit, 2002). Furthermore, the SERVQUAL
scale mentioned by Gabbie & O’Neill (1996) while studying service quality in
northern Irish hotel sector agree with the appropriateness of the questionnaire.
3.3.1.2d Distribution of Questionnaire
The questionnaire is distributed directly through TrueMove Shops in Bangkok
region; with assistance from the company in contact with the authors. The
distribution had been taken within seven days during April 24
th
to 30
th
; in Thai
version.
3.3.2 Secondary Data
Because of the consideration that the full knowledge about the focal company, its
parental conglomerate, its position in Thailand mobile operator market should be
23
implemented in order to best answer the research question, the authors decide to
collect all the mentioned data from different reliable sources.
The main ones are through the database of Marketinfo.co.th, TrueMove’s official
site, and the official site of True Corporation; which is TrueMove’s parental
company. Other referred-to sources generate the understanding of TrueMove’s
position in Thailand mobile operator market. They are assured to be reliable by
taking from the sites of governmental organization, private companies, renowned
business newspaper in Thailand and other related ones.
Further detail about the database of Marketinfo.co.th and the searched through
websites could be referred to the former part of Literature Review. For further
detail, the full list of reference supports the track of secondary information.
3.4 How to analyze
The data collected after research will be analyzed and presented using descriptive
statistics. With the help of Mean & Frequency figures generated through SPSS;
Statistical package for social sciences, graphical charts will be used.
Cross tabulation of the data would be conducted to further estimate to visibly
come upon prevalent trends.
In addition, Rating Scale will be used to analyze the result of the expectation and
perception mean. . The defining of satisfaction towards each aspect of SERQVUAL
model is done by comparing the Average with Rating Scale setting the
interpretation as following.
3.4.1 Rating Scale to Defining the Interpretation
The Average between
4.21–5.00
Opinion is the Most
The Average between Opinion is at Much
24
3.41–4.20
The Average between
2.61–3.40
Opinion is Moderate
The Average between
1.81–2.60
Opinion is Less.
The Average between
1.00–1.80
Opinion is at the Least.
25
Chapter 4: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
4.1 Service Quality Gap
The gap model is a useful framework for understanding service quality in an
organization. Even though there are several gaps existing between the
expectation and real service performance/delivery, the most critical service
quality gap to close is the customer gap that is the difference between customer
expectations and perceptions.
According to Parasuraman, Berry, and Zeithaml (1991), customers have some
expectations towards the quality of service. However, Chakrapani C (1998) stated
that ‘There is the difference between customer expectations and what the
management delivers. Therefore, the perceptions of service served may be
different from what expected; as management may fail to deliver what customers
want.” Hence, it is important to understand that customer satisfaction stems from
the balance somewhere between customers expectations and customers
perceptions of service.
As to measure and evaluate customer satisfaction on service, Service Quality Gap
is an appropriate means to conduct the research. For customer gap, Zeithaml,
Bitner and Gremler (2006) explained that “The customer gap is the difference
between customer expectations and perceptions. In order to satisfy the
customers, firms need to clear the different customer expectation and make a
balance in expectations and perceptions.”
Customer Expectations of Service, Customers Perceptions of Service, and
Customer Satisfaction are briefly explained as following.
26
4.1.2 Customer Expectations of Service
According to Zeithaml, Bitner, and Gremler (2006), customer expectations are
“beliefs about a service delivery that serve as standard against which
performance is done”.
4.1.3 Customers Perceptions of Service
As explained by Parasuraman, Berry, and Zeithaml (1991), the expected service
quality may not be answered because of constraints, thus, the perceived service
for customers can be different from what expected. They stated that “In short, a
variety of factors – resource constraints, market conditions, and/or management
indifference may result in discrepancy between management perceptions of
consumer expectations and the actual specifications established for a service.
This discrepancy is predicted to affect quality perceptions of customers.
4.1.4 Customer Satisfaction of Service
Ultimately, customer satisfaction of service is as Parasuraman, Berry, and
Zeithaml (1991) stated “The gap between consumer expectations and the firm’s
service quality specifications will affect service quality from the customer’s
viewpoint”. Customer satisfactions are stemmed from the balance between what
is achieved and what needs to be achieved (Chakrapani, C 1998).
To deliver a high quality of service, service provider needs to close these gaps.
4.2 SERVQUAL Dimensions
According to Parasuraman, Berry, and Zeithaml (1991), “Customer Service
Expectations can be categorized into five overall dimensions; reliability, tangibles,
responsiveness, assurance, and empathy.” In the same way as customer
expectations aspect, customer perceptions of service are explained by Schneider
27
and White (2004) as “the result of the dimensions”. Hence, the five dimensions
are the keys to measure and evaluate expected and perceived service. Each of
the dimensions is explained briefly as following.
1) Reliability: the ability to perform the promised service dependably and
accurately.
2) Tangibles: the appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and
communication facilities.
3) Responsiveness: the willingness to help customers and provide prompt
service.
4) Assurance: the knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to
convey trust and confidence.
5) Empathy: the caring, individualized attention provided to the customers.
We can also divide the five dimensions into two main categories considering
which part of the service they are more involved in; process or outcome. While
reliability dimension is mainly concerned with the service outcome, other
dimensions of service are more concerned with the service process. We then can
demonstrate the whole dimension of service again here following the two
categories discussed above;
Service Outcome Reliability
Service Process Tangibles
Responsiveness
Assurance
Empathy
The reliability , in which include the accuracy and dependability determinants of
service, can be judged after the service was delivered to customers, but the other
dimensions must be judged when the service is being delivered.
28
Parasuraman (1991) stated that “although reliability is the most important
dimension in meeting customer expectations, the process dimensions (especially
assurance, responsiveness, and empathy) are most important in exceeding
customer expectations”. They also state that in their study in 1991 “when we
asked our respondents to discuss what companies could do to exceed their
expectations, they in variably answered in term of the process dimensions. In
general companies are supposed to be accurate and dependable and provide the
service they promised to provide, in other words, meeting the reliability
dimension. However, to go beyond what is expected and provide the excellence of
service to customers, the providers need to “surprise customers with uncommon
swiftness, grace, courtesy, competence, commitment, or understanding.”
(Parasuraman, 1991, p.41-42) That is, in other words, meeting the tangibles,
responsiveness, assurance and empathy dimensions.
4.3 Service Quality Measurement
Ghobadian, Speller and Jones (1994, p.49) stated that quality in a service
business is a measure of the extent to which the service delivered meets the
customer’s expectations. The nature of most service is such that the customer is
present in the delivery process, which means that the perception of quality is
influenced not only by the service outcome but also by the service process. The
perceived quality lies along a continuum. Unacceptable quality lies at one end of
this continuum, while ideal quality lies at the other end. The points in between
represent different degrees of quality. The perceived quality can be represented
as:
PQ = PCA + APQ + AOQ
Perceived Quality (PQ) = Prior Customer Expectations (PCA) + Actual
Process Quality (APQ) + Actual Outcome Quality (AOQ)
29
PQ
(PerceivedQuality) (PerceivedQuality) (PerceivedQuality) (PerceivedQuality)
PCE
(PriorCustomer
Expectations)
APQ
(ActualProcess
Quality)
AOQ
(ActualOutcome
Quality)
Figure 1: The Three Key Possible Quality Outcome
Source: Ghobadian, Speller & Jones 1994, “Service quality concepts and models”, International
journal of quality & reliability management”, vol.11, no 9, pp. 43-66
“Prior customer expectation” is the image of what will be received when the
customer purchases a service. “Actual quality” is the real level of service quality
provided, which can be determined and controlled by the service provider.
“Perceived quality” is the customer’s feeling for the quality of the service. It
determines the extent of customer’s satisfaction.
The three key possible quality outcome:
From the above equation, the measuring of quality can fall in to three main
levels;
1. Satisfactory quality, where customer’s expectations (CE) are exactly
met: that is to say , PCE = PQ;
2. Ideal quality, where perceived quality is higher than customer’s
expectations: that is to say, PQ > PCE;
3. Unacceptable quality, where perceive quality is lower than customer’s
expectations: that is to say, PQ < PCE.
30
4.4 Conceptualization of Theory
Figure 2: Conceptualization of the Theoretical Framework
Finally, the authors decide to conduct the research of measuring and evaluating
customer satisfaction; from customer perspectives, towards TrueMove customer
service provided at TrueMove shops within Bangkok region through the
framework of Customer Gap and the Five Dimensions of Service. The above
model of ‘Theoretical Framework of This Research’ presents that the Model of
Customer Gap is used in this research in the broader sense of measuring
customer satisfaction by evaluating the balance between expected service quality
and perceived service quality. In order to research on each of the mentioned
aspects, the Five Dimensions of Service model is used to see what and how
customers expect for the aspects of reliability, tangibles, responsiveness,
assurance, and empathy. Likewise, the stated dimensions are to determine the
perceptions of service served according to each dimension.
SERVICE QUALITY GAP
SERVQUAL DIMENSIONS
1. Reliability
2. Tangibles
3. Responsiveness
4. Assurance
5. Empathy
EXPECTED
SERVICE
QUALITY
PERCEIVED
SERVICE
QUALITY
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
31
Chapter 5: FINDINGS & ANALYSIS
5.1 Total Respondents
Totel Respondents
3.84
3.72
3.7
3.84
4.73
4.94
5
4.96
4.97
4.96
Tangibles
Reliability
Responsiveness
Assurance
Empathy
S
E
R
V
Q
U
A
L
D
i
m
e
n
s
i
o
n
s
Level of Customer Expectation and Perception
Expectation
Perception
Figure 3: Total Respondents Expectation and Perception
5.1.1 Reliability
For the total respondents, the first priority expected is from Reliability at the
mean score of 5. This means that the customers of TrueMove Shops in Bangkok
fully expect that the service will be performed dependably and accurately as
promised. Further into detail, the SERVUQUAL Likert Scale part of the
questionnaire distributed reveals that customers appreciate any service to be
performed right at the planned time and duration. When customers have any
problems, the customers wish for TrueMove Shops’ staff to be sympathetic and
reassuring in service. In addition, all the records at TrueMove is expected to be
kept right at the first time. These expectations, by mean at 5, are so high that
they fall to ‘the Most’ level by the Rating Scale. However, the perception mean of
Reliability amounts 3.72; ‘Much’ level by the Rating Scale. This means that the
32
expectation mean and perception mean for Reliability rated by total respondents
are different by one level by the Rating Scale.
By the lower mean of Reliability perception; compared to its expectation mean;
and as defined by the authors that one level of Rating Scale would be considered
as one number, this could be used to analyze customer satisfaction by ‘the Three
Possible Quality Outcome initiated by Speller and Jones (1994, p.50). By the
Three Possible Quality Outcome, the result that perception mean is less than
expectation mean could be calculated as PQ < PCE – Perceived Quality is less
than Prior Customer Expectations. Thus, the result for customer satisfaction
towards Reliability could be analyzed as ‘unacceptable’.
5.1.2 Assurance
The second priority expected is Assurance. By the information gained from
SERVQUAL Likert Scale part of the questionnaire distributed, it is indicated that
customers expect staff at TrueMove Shops in Bangkok region to be trustable,
polite, and capable to give relevant information to customers. Moreover,
customers expect that they could feel safe for their financial transactions. The
expectation mean for Assurance is rated at 4.97; ‘the Most’ by the Rating Scale.
Meanwhile, the perception mean for it is rated at 3.84; ‘Much’ by the Rating
Scale. Again the perceived service is rated lower than expected one – by one
level of Rating Scale. This could be calculated by Speller & Jones’ ‘the Three Key
Possible Quality Outcome’ (1994, p.50) as PQ