Subject Title | Research Methods |
Subject Code | RES 800 |
Assessment Title | Research Questions and Literature Review |
Learning Outcome/s |
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Assessment type (group or individual) | Individual |
Weighting | 25% |
Word count | 1100 |
Assessment instructions (clear, succinct, without repetition) | In this assignment, students need to:
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Readings for the assessment (instructions where they can be found e.g. MyAthens database, Moodle etc.) |
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Grading Criteria / Rubric | The following criteria will be used to assess this assignment:
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Peer Review Evaluation (group work – optional) | N/A |
Analysing the impact of service quality on customer satisfaction: A case of IBIS hotels
I. Background or introduction to the issueA brief problem statement
Customers or visitors are the real assets for the hotel industries, and hence the primary task of hotel sector is to focus on their requirements. Due to poor service quality offering by the hotel industry in the international market is reasoning to increase the gap between visitors’ expectations and perceptions (Hargreaves, 2015). This is an important factor to focus because in the service sector only the perceptions of customers are the only source to calculate the future market.
A set of objectives
A set of research questions
II. A mini review of the relevant literature
Concept service quality
Service quality is the marketing concept, used or implemented by service-based organisations in order to make their customers satisfied. Beltagui et al. (2017) commented that services are intangible and hence the service providers try to satisfy their customers. The statement has deduced that, for a service-based organisation, its services are the only factor to attract new range of customers as well as retain them for a long time in the market. The statement has even helped to understand the value of the quality services that are needed to satisfy the customers or visitors in the leisure industry.
SERVQUAL Model
Figure 1: SERVQUAL Model
Source: (Ali and Raza, 2017)
The Servqaul model has been defined for the service sector organisation with the aim to provide quality services to the targeted customers in the market. Ali and Raza, (2017) stated that quality in the services is an intrusive factor for any of service provider in the market because services are intangible. The statement has defined that for the leisure sector quality services would be like best accommodation services, parking facilities, hotel booking facilities and other facilities. The leisure sector is needed to keep focus on the requirements as well as expectations of the customers in the market based on which the authorities could make relevant changes in the organisation.
Concept of Customer Satisfaction
Customers are the part of an organisation also they are the most important stakeholders of an organisation who are dependable on the organisation. In addition, they have a huge interest in the growth of the business. Tsai, Chang and Ho, (2015) stated that the satisfaction level of the visitors or customers is important for a service sector organisation because the authorities have the concern to satisfy their customers by fulfilling their needs and wants. The statement has deduced that the leisure industries are focused on the perception as well as expectations of their customers by reading their past reviews after consuming any hotel services.
Buying behaviour model
The buying behaviour model has been defined as the procedural model for analysing the behaviour of the customers in the proposed market. Hargreaves, 2015) commented that for an organisation, the most important factor is to analyse the buying or purchasing behaviour of the customers in the market by the help of which future market can be estimated. The statement has deduced that the behavioural approach is required by the service providers in the market to judge the expectations or purchasing behaviour of the customers. The buying behaviour model is an effective tool for service providers to estimate future demand or need of the customers from the leisure sector.
Impact of SERVQUAL model and buying behaviour model on the satisfaction level of customers in the Leisure sector
In the leisure sector, the perspective of the hotel service providers is to provide better services to the customers or visitors in the targeted market based on the analysis of the past buying behaviour of the visitors. The Servqual model and buying behaviour model is the effective model that would be helpful for the leisure sector for analyzing the purchasing behaviour of the customers in the market. These tools would be helpful for the leisure market or sector, to analyse the future demand for leisure services in the market. In a further detailed study, organizational development would be explained more descriptively.
III. Research design and conduct:
Choice of methodology
As per the research onion suggested by Saunders and Bezzina, (2015), a researcher has the option to select required tools and techniques for performing a research study, based on the type of research issue.
Choice of research instruments
As per the nature of the research issue, the researcher would be proceeding with positivism philosophy, deductive approach as well as descriptive design in the field. This will help to collect relevant data from the chosen sample area.
Sampling scheme and sample size
For completing the study, the researcher has chosen Australian leisure market and targeted 100 customers from the sample area. The researcher would select qualitative data analysis technique for collecting relevant views of respondents.
Data collection approach
As per the data collection approach, the researcher would focus on the primary sources to collect fresh data from the chosen sample area. Along with this, the researcher will even choose survey questionnaire for collecting data from the respondents.
Choice of the analytic method
There are two kinds of analytical methods quantitative and qualitative for reviewing the responses of respondents (Mackey and Gass, 2015). The researcher would go with the quantitative analytical method under which responses would be analysed in the form of tabular and graphical format.
Limitations of the research
Cost and time constraints are the limiting factors that will restrict the researcher to go with descriptive analysis of the chosen data. Due to time factor the researcher will try to sum up the survey part via email. In addition, due to cost constraints, the researcher will target minimum numbers of respondents from the chosen sample area.