An investigation of the relationships among service quality customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and word-of-mouth communication in a retail store in Chachoengsao province, Thailand

Abstract

The retail trade in Thailand is undoubtedly one of the most important economic sectors. In response to the increasingly competitive marketplace, retailers are continually seeking strategies to insulate and increase profit. The emphasis on service quality is argued to be direct outcome of a market orientation and a search for competitive advantage. Nowadays, the number of convenience stores is increasing. Seven-Eleven is clearly the leader in this sector. Consequently, this research utilizes Seven-Eleven as a case study to explore company’s service quality. With this in mind, this research is designed to investigate the relationships among service quality, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and word-of-mouth communication. The findings of this study will benefit retail business owners and academics by providing them with new knowledge helping to understand, explain, and possibly predict the relationships among these constructs, In addition, with the application of this knowledge, business owners will improve their performance resulting in gaining more sustainable incomes and profits. This research employed survey method conducted in Chachoengsao province, Thailand using Seven-Eleven Buddha Sothorn as the research site. The hypotheses were tested by means of Pearson Product-moment coefficience of correlation. The research results indicate that service quality has a positive relationship with customer’s satisfaction, customers’ loyalty, and word-of-mouth communication. Also, the results demonstrate that each element of service quality has different relationship with customer’s satisfaction, customers’ loyalty, and word-of-mouth communication. Therefore, it can be concluded that good service quality ensures satisfaction, establishes loyalty tendencies in customers which result in the development of customer advocacy, and finally leads to positive word-of-mouth communication