UOS - SERVICE QUALITY ANSWERS EXAMPLE (Mystery Shopper), Papers of Service Management

Download UOS - SERVICE QUALITY ANSWERS EXAMPLE (Mystery Shopper) and more Papers Service Management in PDF only on Docsity! 1 TLH339 SERVICE QUALITY SUBMISSION DATE: 25TH APRIL 2023 UNIVERISTY OF SUNDERLAND 2 Table of Contents 1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 3 2.0 Service encounter ................................................................................................................................... 4 a) Definition of service encounter as a single and sequence ....................................................................... 4 b) Importance of service encounter .............................................................................................................. 5 3.0 Mystery shopper framework .................................................................................................................... 6 a) Exterior service scape ............................................................................................................................... 6 b) Interior service design ............................................................................................................................... 7 c) Drink and food quality ............................................................................................................................... 7 d) Quality of service ...................................................................................................................................... 7 e) Promotions and Marketing ........................................................................................................................ 8 f) Business operations ................................................................................................................................... 8 g) Customer Behavior and response to Experience ..................................................................................... 8 4.0 Findings ................................................................................................................................................... 8 (a) Exterior service scape ............................................................................................................................. 8 (b) Interior service design .............................................................................................................................. 9 (c) Coffee and snack quality........................................................................................................................ 10 (d) Service quality ....................................................................................................................................... 11 (e) Marketing and Promotions ..................................................................................................................... 11 (f) Business operations ............................................................................................................................... 12 (g) Customer behavior and experience response ....................................................................................... 13 5.0 Comparisons ......................................................................................................................................... 14 6.0 Recommendations ................................................................................................................................ 15 7.0 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................ 16 8.0 References ............................................................................................................................................ 18 9.0 Appendix ............................................................................................................................................... 22 APPENDIX 1: (Schlesinger and Heskett, 1991) CYCLES OF FAILURE AND SUCCESS .................... 22 APPENDIX 2: Heskett et al, 1994 SERVICE PROFIT CHAIN ............................................................... 22 APPENDIX 3: Zeithaml et al. (1990) SEQVUAL ANALYSIS MODEL .................................................... 22 APPENDIX 4: COMPLETED MYSTERY SHOPPER FRAMEWORK .................................................... 23 APPENDIX 5: PROVE OF MYSTERY SHOPPER COMPLETION ........................................................ 26 5 b) Importance of service encounter There are stages in which customers consume a service outlined by Tsiotsou and Wirtz (2015), which include the pre-purchase, service encounter, and post-purchase stages, which form a model viable in examining customer behavior. When a customer desires to fulfill a need arising from information acquisition of service provided through word of mouth or experience evaluation, Zeithaml et al. (1990) state that it forms the first step in examining customer behavior (see Appendix 3). Customers acquire information in different ways apart from what is outlined, for instance, the visual appearance of the coffee shop and online reviews, which is critical in reducing potential risks in the second stage. The service provider in this stage needs to provide the customer with the assurance which will fuel their intention of coming back and hence mitigate the surging competitive business environment; for instance, Starbucks focuses on product quality and differentiation example, other than coffee, the company offers hot drinks, iced and hot teas, which assures that when customers visit the coffee merchandise, they can have other products other than coffee. Based on Tsiotsou and Wirtz (2015) trilogy, service encounters the second dimension, which entails physical product consumption, generating a relationship between the employees and customers. The interaction phase can translate to indirect effects on customers regarding service engagement, for example, crowding and queuing, where other customers can hinder others’ fulfillment of their needs. As a result, Coelho et al. (2011) point out that front-line employees lack of proper training related to managing the customers can lead to a lack of balance creation. However, scholarly arguments presented in Antikainen and Valkokari (2016) research argue that the management of an organization can re-design service delivery to ensure balance creation. For instance, rather than queuing, the organization can train employees to provide similar services by introducing drive-ins and home delivery enabled by self-service technologies. Nonetheless, the inaction of drive-ins and these technologies may limit employee-customer interaction, which many customers prefer. The lack of this interaction is argued by Owusuah (2012) as a perception of poor customer service which may lead to customer dissatisfaction, leading them to seek similar services from competitors. In line with the above thought, the significant lack of customer satisfaction shows a parallel weakness in strategic management, where customer dissatisfaction leads to their placement of service encounters below the zone of tolerance outlined by Parasuraman et al. (1991). Ultimately, this gives prevalence to the ‘cycle of failure’ (see Appendix 1), coined by Schlesinger and Heskett (1991), which depicts the association between poor organizational financial performance arising from customer dissatisfaction. As outlined in the cycle, a decrease in profits 6 shows a potential lack of enough resources for a company to shift from failure, signifying the certainty of customer dissatisfaction in the overall service environment. In mitigating the failures described in the cycle, Heskett et al. (1994) developed the ‘service profit chain’ illustrated in (appendix 2), which shows business operation flow and service delivery translating to profitability and interrelationships between customers and organizational management and employees. The service profit chain, according to Homburg et al. (2009), aids managers in identifying factors relevant to improving profitability and revenue growth, which is achieved through its various elements example, employee satisfaction, productivity, and customer loyalty, among other elements. In achieving the success of a business, Hogreve et al. (2017) opine that organizational management should consider their approach by following the service profit chain framework. 3.0 Mystery shopper framework Parasuraman et al. (1991) illustrate the importance of using quantitative and qualitative research in meeting regular customer needs and expectations, considering the dynamic nature of customer preferences. For example, the SERVQUAL approach presented by Parasuuraman et al. (1994) encompasses five dimensions reliability, empathy, responsiveness, tangibility, and assurance. Subsequently, Jacob et al. (2018) highlight the mystery shopping framework as another core approach to measuring the quality of service through participant observation. Based on the importance of the framework, the progressive sections of this research encapsulate the development of the framework that will be used in collecting quantitative and qualitative data associated with the Biz-R coffee shop, Sunderland, with an attempt to create a solid comprehension of service quality. The mystery shopper framework for this report is illustrated in (appendix 4). In focus on various areas of quality, seven sections also focus on shoppers’ perceptions of service quality following Elior guidelines. This allows the research to gather ‘additional comments’ from qualitative methods in constructing the framework. a) Exterior service scape Before exploring an organization's interior based on the logic of Bitner (1992), customers usually rely on tangible elements such as visual appearance, functionality, and layout. The exterior serves the purpose of creating the impression, which generates response implications from the customers. Subsequently, this means that if the exterior of a business is poor, this may 7 negatively impact a customer’s intent to engage with the organization, hence seeking to acquire the planned services from its competitors. b) Interior service design This section deals with environmental dimensions within the service scape model coined by Bitner (1992). Concerning interior service design, for instance, furniture arrangement tends to communicate visible and invisible boundaries; again, the shop's color and furniture correlate to stimulating emotions and mood. In line with this statement, Jonnauskaite et al. (2019) explain that the human brain associates warm colors like orange, yellow, and red with feelings like comfort, power, and passion. Again, cool colors like green and purple are correlated with creating a calming environment that mitigates anxiety feelings. The interior service design also entails lighting, and researchers believe that light intensity impacts task productivity; for instance, shops with more sunlight than artificial light correlate to increased productivity. This results from Kuller (1986) logic, where lighting is associated with psychological aspects like emotional and attention processing, surpassing a place's style. Lastly, the music nature played in the shop also significantly impacts concentration; for instance, the high music volume makes customers more uncomfortable and irritable. Therefore, service providers must create an environment with pleasant sounds, cool colors, and proper lighting. c) Drink and food quality The focus on the quality of food and drinks is a critical determining factor in direct consumer behavior and parallel satisfaction with the received services. The focus on factors like freshness, taste, and visual appearance of the food and drink, according to Kuttappan et al. (2012), can influence a customer’s liking of the food and drink. d) Quality of service According to Parasuraman et al. (1991), the service level given by employees, including responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and reliability, is important in service quality, which relies on customer-employee engagement. As a result, the management must measure staff performance in comprehending how they meet customer satisfaction through their engagement, such as kindness and patience, which mirrors the company’s values. 10 Mean average 4.5 4.0 Mode 5 4 The interior scored 25/35 with an average score of 4.0 and mode of 4, contrasting the expected five scores in mode and 4.5 on average. Deriving from the comments, quoted that ‘the sits in some sections were crumbled up which limited movement,’ which led to a score of 3 in this dimension. The music from the comments of the mystery shopper, ‘the music was very relaxing and calming to the ears,’ accounted for a five score in these dimensions. Regarding Ding and Lin's (2012) academic research, background music, depending on the tempo, may influence their purchasing rate. For instance, if the music makes them feel sophisticated and calm, they tend to stay longer in the shop and become repetitive customers compared to that with a high tempo. (c) Coffee and snack quality Food and drink quality Expectation score Actual score Food display cleanliness 5 4 Full inventory 4 4 Food and drink temperature 5 5 Time to be served 5 3 Appearance of food 5 4 Taste of food 4 4 Overall quality 5 4 Total 33/40=82.5% 28/40=70% Mean average score 4.9 4.1 Mode 5 4 Table 3: food and drink quality The results show that the food and drinks scored 4.1 out of the expected 4.9, which means that the quality of food and drinks is above average. The temperature was the highest score as the quotations ‘the coffee was made upon order and snacks were preheated before being served, 11 which gave them the correct temperature.’ Time to be served was the lowest score; ‘the queues, especially in the morning, are long, and few employees take orders.’ The scores in the service need improvement, as Ji et al. (2022) explain that customer service is the backbone of organizational survival in the coffee and snack industry. (d) Service quality Service quality (table 4) Expected results Actual results Staff greeting 4 3 Staff professionalism 5 3 Order Accuracy 5 4 Staff physical appearance 5 3 Customer service 4 3 Total 23/30=76.6% 16/30=53.3% Mean average 4.7 3.9 Mode 5 3 The results in this dimension of 1-5 at Elior show different weaknesses. Only orders scored above 3; nonetheless, physical appearance, customer service, professionalism, and greeting all scored a 3, which illustrates the lack of enough training for the staff members. According to Kuamr et al. (2011), poor customer service negatively affects a company as when consumers feel dissatisfied, they tend to go to competitors, translating to poor financial performance. (e) Marketing and Promotions Marketing and promotions (table 5) Expected score Actual results Social media visibility of the coffee shop 5 2 12 Accessibility of social media 4 3 The usefulness of posted content 4 2 Total 13/20=65% 6/20=30% Average mean score 4.5 3.25 Mode 4 3 Compared to the 4.5 expected results, the mystery shopper highlighted a score of 3.25. The poor results arise from a lack of social media activity and awareness of the coffee shop on the different platforms, which implies that it relies on word of mouth. The disparity is such despite the escalated use of technologies like smartphones which increase consumers’ use of social media platforms. As a result, the lack of social media translates to poor scores and potentially poor financial actualization due to the limited consumer market (Shabbir et al., 2016). (f) Business operations Business management (table 6) Expectation score Actual score Positive footprint initiatives 5 4 Well-being and safety 5 5 Service culture 4 4 Feedback platforms 4 3 Efficient customer service promise 5 2 Total 23/30=76.6% 18/30=60% Mean average 4.75 3.9 Mode 5 4 15 Figure 2: actual and expected mode comparison. 6.0 Recommendations Concerning the results presented in the previous section, the coffee shop mystery framework presents some distinct weaknesses which lead to the need for recommendations to reduce the impact on business progression. The first weakness is its marketing and promotion, where the results show poor content on the posted content and poor use of social media networks in advertising. However, the increase of technologies and shift where users acquire information concerning their dressing to their meals from the internet more than word of mouth generates the need for effective social media integration for the shop. By increasing its social media usage and drawing from Durgam (2018) research, it is recommended that the shop use platforms that will engage users, such as inviting them to leave comments and reviews on its coffee and snacks products. This will enable it to gain invaluable insights, effectively aligning to meet customer needs. Consecutively, the results showed poor performance in service quality, which is correlated to a lack of enough training for the employees. In improving the observed weaknesses, such as professionalism and general customer service, Rodriguez and Walters (2017) recommend the importance of training and development sessions. Ideally, training and development help organizations retain and gain top talent alongside improving productivity through stimulating employee work satisfaction. In this case, the shop’s management can consider integrating 0 1 2 3 4 5 exterior interior food/drinks sevice marketing operations customer 3 4 4 4 3 4 4 5 5 5 5 4 5 5 expected mode actual mode 16 forums like barista training to ensure employees improve their coffee service. In addition, exposing workers to soft skills training will contribute to improving their professionalism, for instance, teaching the employees ways of effectively communicating and solving problems in the workplace Ibrahim et al. (2017) highlights that may help in improving the shop’s customer service as it will show the customers that the shop is reliant in effectively meeting their coffee needs. Lastly, the need for effective communication is highlighted as a weakness in the shop. According to Juanamasta et al. (2019), communicating with customers helps them easily remember the business. This implies that when the shop communicates its strategy example through different social media platforms, it improves the mutual connection between the management, employees, and existing and potential customers. Through communicating the objectives, the employees are enabled to work hard and align their objectives with those communicated by the shop. Subsequently, when there is clarity on how the customers will receive the services or the impact of the shop’s services on the customers, it generates emotional and psychological connections, which in turn improves customers wanting to associate with the shop. For example, drawing from Schrotenboer et al. (2022) logic, if the shop highlights that the coffee will be served hot and using quality beans incorporating an Omni channel will increase customer engagement, attract the target audience, and mitigate customer acquisition costs. 7.0 Conclusion In conclusion, attributed to the rising globalization pressures, the need for service quality has escalated to maintain a competitive advantage in various businesses. As a result, many ventures have focused on findings to increase service quality to achieve independent objectives and goals. Moreover, the urgency has also been expansively stimulated by the dynamic nature of consumers, who are becoming more demanding and sophisticated. Considering these, this study has included in-depth quality service provision by incorporating the mystery shopper’s framework. As illustrated in this paper, the framework helps highlight areas needing improvement as it entails different dimensions, including the exterior-interior space, service quality, business operations, marketing and promotion, service quality, and consumer behavior and feedback. The framework is both qualitative and quantitative, as it supports the inclusion of comments alongside showing numerical scores on different factors embedded in the specified dimensions. The implementation of the framework as a quality management approach is discussed and supported by comprehensive academic literature and is viable in ensuring both 17 employee and customer satisfaction, which is fundamental to business survival. This research also discusses the relevance of achieving service encounters through the framework, whereby weaknesses in the Biz-R coffee shop have been identified and viable recommendations included in the construction of the paper. 20 • OWUSUAH, E., 2012. ASSESSING THE EFFECT OF CUSTOMER RETENTION (Doctoral dissertation). • Parasuraman, A., Berry, L.L. and Zeithaml, V.A., 1991. Understanding customer expectations of service. MIT sloan management review. • Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L.L., 1994. Reassessment of expectations as a comparison standard in measuring service quality: implications for further research. Journal of marketing, 58(1), pp.111-124. • Rodriguez, J. and Walters, K., 2017. The importance of training and development in employee performance and evaluation. World Wide Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development, 3(10), pp.206-212. • Schlesinger, L.A. and Heskett, J.L., 1991. Breaking the cycle of failure in services. MIT Sloan Management Review, 32(3), p.17. • Schrotenboer, D., Constantinides, E., Herrando, C. and de Vries, S., 2022. The Effects of Omni-Channel Retailing on Promotional Strategy. Journal of theoretical and applied electronic commerce research, 17(2), pp.360-374. • Schubert, E., 1999. Measuring emotion continuously: Validity and reliability of the two- dimensional emotion-space. Australian Journal of Psychology, 51(3), pp.154-165. • Shabbir, M.S., Ghazi, M.S. and Mehmood, A.R., 2016. Impact of social media applications on small business entrepreneurs. Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review, 6(3), pp.203-05. • Singh, M., 2012. Marketing mix of 4P’s for competitive advantage. IOSR Journal of Business and Management, 3(6), pp.40-45. • Tsiotsou, R.H. and Wirtz, J., 2015. The three-stage model of service consumption. In Handbook of service business (pp. 105-128). Edward Elgar Publishing. • Verhoef, P.C., Antonides, G. and De Hoog, A.N., 2004. Service encounters as a sequence of events: the importance of peak experiences. Journal of Service Research, 7(1), pp.53-64. • Wirtz, J., 2012. Essentials of services marketing. FT press. • Wong, A., 2004. The role of emotional satisfaction in service encounters. Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, 14(5), pp.365-376. • Zeithaml, V.A., Parasuraman, A., Berry, L.L. and Berry, L.L., 1990. Delivering quality service: Balancing customer perceptions and expectations. Simon and Schuster. 21 • Zorfas, A. and Leemon, D., 2016. An emotional connection matters more than customer satisfaction. Harvard Business Review, 29(2). 22 9.0 Appendix APPENDIX 1: (Schlesinger and Heskett, 1991) CYCLES OF FAILURE AND SUCCESS APPENDIX 2: Heskett et al, 1994 SERVICE PROFIT CHAIN APPENDIX 3: Zeithaml et al. (1990) SEQVUAL ANALYSIS MODEL 25 18. Rate the temperature of the food and drink. Very cold Slightly cold Normal Slightly hot Very hot 19. How long does it take for the food to be served? 10-15 minutes 15-20 minutes 20-25 minutes 25-30 minutes More than 30 minutes 20. How would you rate the appearance of the food? 1 2 3 4 5 21. Did you enjoy the food served? No Maybe Slightly enjoy Yes N/A 22. Roughly how long they took to serve the drinks? 10-15 minutes 15-20 minutes 20-25 minutes 25-30 minutes More than 30 minutes 23. Was the coffee flavourful and rich? Unflavoured Somewhat unflavoured Perfect Somewhat flavourful Extremely flavourful GENERAL OBSERVATION 24. During your visit, did any of the staff members stand out in particular? No Maybe Yes Did not pay attention N/A 25. Would you revisit the coffee shop? Never Most unlikely Most likely Absolutely N/A APPENDIX 5: PROVE OF MYSTERY SHOPPER COMPLETION 190379402) = 1.48 Order: Siar 26