Perceived quality of services and customer satisfaction is a concept that is increasingly important because of its impact on customer loyalty and other effects on the performance of a company. There ...is growing evidence that the links between quality of services, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty might be non-linear. However, there is no consensus about the actual functional form, since individual studies have discovered linear as well as concave, convex, S-shaped and inversed S-shaped relationships. Inconsistent results of previous studies suggest that different functional forms might be typical for different industries. The aim of this study was to examine the functional forms typical for the vehicle maintenance and repair industry, based on 34,421 computer-aided telephone interviews with customers of Slovenian automotive servicing companies performed between 2005 and 2011. For each of the connections between the constructs under consideration, we used linear and several non-linear regression models with the curve fit procedure in SPSS. The obtained results suggest that in describing the relationship between perceived quality of services and customer satisfaction, the non-linear functional model only slightly outperformed the linear one in terms of explained variance of data (R
2
). The relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty on the other hand could clearly be best described using a non-linear model. Using the non-linear model that produced a concave functional form enabled us to achieve 41-47% better explanatory power compared to the linear model. On the basis of our research, we can make several recommendations to the management of automobile servicing companies; for example to concentrate the resources of their companies on improving the satisfaction of their least-satisfied customers, because by this approach, they can expect the highest yields in terms of improved customer loyalty.
In this study, we explore the applicability of a service profit chain concept for the authorized car servicing network of five European car brands in Slovenia. Under this concept, increased quality ...positively influences customer satisfaction, which in turn leads to better financial results through increased customer loyalty. We demonstrated that there are significant differences among the three size classes of car servicing companies. At the same average level of customer satisfaction, there is a strong negative dependence between increases of customer satisfaction and financial results for the small-sized car servicing companies, and a positive dependence between those two for the medium-sized and large-sized car servicing companies, which is moderate for the former and very strong for the latter. It seems that the relationship between the overall customer satisfaction and financial results is largely dependent on the level of competition in the local environment. Bigger car servicing companies are usually located in cities, where there are often other authorised same brand car servicing companies. Hence, it is not that difficult for customers to switch to a different car servicing company if they become dissatisfied with the services. In those circumstances it makes sense to invest more into high customer satisfaction, because it leads to high customer loyalty. Loyal customers are namely less likely to change a car servicing company and are less susceptible to higher hourly rates. The results also suggest that a certain optimal level of customer satisfaction exists and when this level of satisfaction is surpassed, the financial results actually do not improve any more. Moreover, they usually deteriorate.
Koncepti, kot so kakovost storitev, zadovoljstvo strank in zvestoba strank so zaradi njihove vloge pri zagotavljanju uspešnosti poslovanja podjetij v središču zanimanja tako raziskovalcev kot ...managementa. Na teoretični ravni povezave med omenjenimi koncepti obravnava storitvena veriga dobička, ki temelji na teoriji načrtovanega vedenja. Storitvena veriga dobička predvideva, da povišana kakovost storitve vodi do višje ravni zadovoljstva strank, le-ta pa se preko višje zvestobe strank pozitivno odraža v uspešnosti poslovanja podjetij. Povezave med posameznimi elementi storitvene verige dobička so tradicionalno obravnavane kot linearne, posamezne raziskave pa kažejo na možnost, da omenjene funkcijske povezave niso nujno linearne in da bi bila za njihov opis morda ustreznejša uporaba nelinearnih funkcij. Pregled literature je pokazal, da natančna oblika funkcijskih povezav med posameznimi elementi storitvene verige dobička ostaja raziskovalna vrzel. Dosedanje raziskave oblike posameznih funkcijskih povezav so namreč pokazale nasprotujoče si rezultate, nobena raziskava pa še ni proučila oblike povezav za celotno storitveno verigo dobička od zaznane kakovosti storitev do poslovne uspešnosti podjetij, pač pa so se osredotočale zgolj na posamezne povezave. Za popolnoma neraziskano se je izkazalo tudi vprašanje časovne stabilnosti ugotovljenih oblik povezav med elementi storitvene verige dobička, kakor tudi vprašanje oblike navzkrižnih funkcijskih povezav med zadovoljstvom strank in zvestobo strank pri povezanih storitvah. Kot raziskovalno vrzel smo identificirali še vpliv lastnosti kupca in proizvoda ter izbranega merila za zvestobo na obliko funkcijskih povezav kakor tudi vpliv dejanj kontaktnega osebja na zaznano kakovost storitev, zadovoljstvo strank in zvestobo strank. Neraziskano je tudi področje vpliva zadovoljstva s servisno storitvijo na cenovno občutljivost strank ter vprašanje, v kolikšni meri je faktorska struktura zaznane kakovosti storitev odvisna od demografskih in drugih dejavnikov. Na osnovi teh raziskovalnih vrzeli smo oblikovali raziskovalna vprašanja, le-ta pa so predstavljala osnovo za oblikovanje teoretičnega modela, ki je novost na področju kakovosti storitev, saj povezuje dve storitveni verigi dobička in tako raziskuje ne le obliko povezav za celotno storitveno verigo dobička, pač pa preverja tudi navzkrižne povezave med zadovoljstvom strank in zvestobo strank med povezanimi storitvami. V naši nalogi smo raziskali povezave med kakovostjo storitev, zadovoljstvom strank, zvestobo strank in poslovno uspešnostjo podjetij na primeru avtomobilske dejavnosti. Osnovo raziskave predstavljajo rezultati rednega merjenja zadovoljstva strank s prodajnimi in servisnimi storitvami enega od evropskih proizvajalcev osebnih vozil. V analizi je zajeto 11.470 intervjujev za področje prodaje novih vozil in 34.421 intervjujev za področje servisnih storitev, opravljenih v obdobju od leta 2005 do leta 2011. Obliko funkcijskih povezav smo preverjali s pomočjo linearnega in večjega števila nelinearnih regresijskih modelov. Strukturo dimenzij zaznane kakovosti storitev in morebitne vplive nanjo smo preverjali z metodo glavnih komponent, vpliv ravnanj prodajnega in servisnega osebja ter vpliv zadovoljstva na cenovno občutljivost servisnih strank pa smo preverili s T-testom razlike srednjih vrednosti oziroma z analizo variance. Rezultati kažejo, da je prevladujoča konkavna oblika funkcijske povezave, ki jo predvidevata teorija dostopnost – diagnostičnost in teorija zadovoljevanja potreb za cilje nižjega ranga. V tem pogledu so rezultati v nasprotju s predvidevanji koncepta navdušenja strank, ki predpostavlja naraščajoč vpliv zadovoljstva strank na zvestobo strank. Ugotovili smo, da demografski in drugi dejavniki ne vplivajo na obliko povezav, deloma pa vplivajo na moč povezav. V časovnem smislu so se oblike funkcijskih povezav izkazale za izredno stabilne.
Asymmetric and Nonlinear Impact of Attribute-Level Performance on Overall Customer Satisfaction in the Context of Car Servicing of Four European Automotive Brands in Slovenia The paper examines the ...nonlinearity and asymmetry between the satisfaction with individual attributes of the service and overall satisfaction in the context of passenger car servicing in Slovenia. The data set that was analysed was acquired from a regular survey on customer satisfaction with vehicle repair and maintenance services of four European automotive brands in Slovenia, carried out in 2005 and 2006 through 12,941 computer-assisted telephone interviews. Specifically, this study utilizes regression analysis in order to test the asymmetry and nonlinearity of the link between the attribute-level performance and overall satisfaction. The results show that the influence of dissatisfaction is different from the influence of satisfaction, and that the influence of satisfaction on overall satisfaction is greater than the influence of dissatisfaction. The results also show that nonlinearity is applicable to certain attributes of vehicle servicing, but not to all. We can sum up that precise knowledge of the correlation between the attribute-level performance of vehicle servicing and overall service satisfaction is important. Results show that caution must be employed in the evaluation of the importance of individual attributes on overall satisfaction, since the importance can change depending on the level of satisfaction. It appears that focusing on improving satisfaction is more important than focusing on lessening dissatisfaction. Results also show that the improvement of attribute-level performance offers diminishing returns; therefore, selective investment in activities for increasing customer satisfaction is sensible if satisfaction levels are already relatively high.
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