The role of expectation, performance, and other elements - Essay Example

The role of expectation, performance, and other elements Abstrac to addt Introduction –to add Literature Review (5-6 pages) satisfaction has gained prominence in the marketing literature as well as in marketing practice due to its impact on customer retention and long term revenue streams. Owing to the importance of customer satisfaction, there has been considerable effort made in researching the antecedent conditions of the same. Since very early times of developing the marketing literature, customer expectations have been considered as an important aspect of customer satisfaction (Oliver, 1980). There is however some discrepancy among the scholars on how customer expectation actually affects customer satisfaction. Some scholars argue that the customer expectations are compared with the service or product performance by the customers who then make sense of the derived post-purchase feeling and assign it as satisfaction or dissatisfaction. This is done by using the expectations to provide a frame of reference for the products performance. If the performance is poorer than expected then a it leads to dissatisfaction, while if the performance is better than expected, it provides satisfaction. (Karten, 1980). Some other authors and proponents of marketing practice believe that a more direct relationship exists between customer satisfaction and customer expectation. According to author and speaker Karten, customer satisfaction is derived from the as fraction: Customer Satisfaction = Organization’s Performance / Customer Expectation. (Oliver, 1980). Customer expectation is what the customers expect to receive when they buy a product or utilize a service. The most important things that the customers expect from an organization is accuracy, availability, partnership, and advice. (Buckingham and Curt, 1999). The customers expect to receive the product and service that they paid for in its genuine and absolute form without damaged and without having to replace it. They also expect the organizations products and services are easily available, its after sales services is approachable and easy to get, as well as its customer service department is available via its call centers. In addition, the customers also expect that the organization does not shut its doors to them ones it closes it sales. They expect that after becoming a customer of the product or the service of that organization, their opinions, complaints and suggestions are not only listened to but also taken into consideration. Finally, the customers also expect the organization and its personnel to provide them support and advice related to their own needs. Rather than just providing a transactional encounter, the customers expect that the sales people explore and understand their needs and then offer the product or the service as a solution to the customer’s requirements. (Buckingham and Curt, 1999). Research Methodology It is important to explain the methodology that was adopted and the consequent methods that were employed, and also the reasons for using them. The following pages will help to elaborate upon the above so that a proper appreciation of the research and the findings is made possible. The Research Method The research method proposes to be descriptive in nature. Descriptive research is concerned with information concerning the current status of the phenomena and it is used to describe "what exists" with respect to variables or conditions in a situation. A descriptive research includes survey and fact-finding enquiries of different kinds that help in describing the status quo. (Key, 2002). In addition to the fact-finding or discovering aspect of the descriptive research, it is at times aimed at establishing the cause-effect or correlation relationships between variables. (Kothari, 1990) The current study aims at a two fold objective – one, to prepare a list of the factors that help in formulating customer expectation, and two, to find if there is any correlational relationship between these and the customer satisfaction. It is basically an ex-post facto study that will seek to discover the existing factors that go into the building of customer expectations. The latter part of the research will depend on statistical analysis aimed at discovering the correlation relationship between the customer expectation and satisfaction. As such the research can be best undertaken by using the descriptive methods of survey. The research comprises of two distinct parts – Literature Survey and Primary data collection and analysis. For the Literature Survey, the author has compiled a comprehensive data that elaborates upon the work of researchers who have undertaken studies aimed at establishing the correlation between customer expectation and satisfaction, as well as on reports on how different organizations benefited due to their better understanding of their customers. For this, numerous books, journals, and websites were researched. The primary research required the author to administer questionnaires to the 50 respondents. The questionnaire was customized to include items that detect the presence of expectations and satisfaction on the various products and services. The data thus collected was used to correlate the expectations part with the satisfaction part. The questions included in the instrument are based on the author’s understanding of expectations and satisfaction. This, in turn, has been developed through the Literature Survey, through interactive sessions with the supervisor, and through a pilot survey (conducted in organizations) that asked the HR managers to list the presumed customer expectations that they feel their customers have. The findings of the Literature Survey and the Primary Research used to answer the question: The role of customer expectation on customer satisfaction. The data collected through the Primary Research was easily be amenable to statistical analysis and interpretation, and hence lent objectivity to the overall evaluation. The above approach lead to valuable insights and helped in identifying the factors that translate into customer expectation and satisfaction. However, the scope of the primary research is limited as no actual item analysis (Singh, 1997) was carried out for the above questionnaire so, it cannot be stated with statistical proof that the questionnaire is valid. The predictive validity (Marshall and Hales, 1972) of the instrument was also not established, which made the instrument high on subjectivity. A pilot survey too was eschewed, so the reliability (Anastasi, 1968) of the Instrument is at stake. Measure of Correlation only indicates the degree and direction of relationship between two variables, but does not establish a cause and effect relationship; (Trochim and William, 1996) also, it does not differentiate which is cause and which is effect. (Woolf, 2006). Hence, even if we can establish that customer expectations and satisfaction occur together, it will be premature to say that second is the result of the first. For this, a further extensive study will be needed that eliminates other external variables (like respondents’ age, sex, background etc.) and narrows down occurrence of customer expectation and satisfaction policies and practices. Research Design As the research is descriptive in nature, a rigid research design is adopted to ensure that the bias is minimized, reliability is improved and the research is completed in an economical manner. (Kothari, C. R., 1990). The following section will be elaborating on the research objective, the population and sample, the methods of data collection, methods of analyzing the collected data, and on the reporting of the findings. Research Objective: As the primary research is to be conducted in two parts, the objectives for the different parts will differ from each other. At the first stage, a preliminary research is to be conducted that will endeavor to present a list of factors that go into making of customer expectations as quoted by the surveyed marketing managers. In the second stage, the survey is undertaken to collect the data on how the different people develop their expectations, and satisfaction. Sample: Organizations that have over 5O respondents The above preliminary survey was conducted using non-random sampling, where the people were selected on the basis of availability. The findings of the preliminary survey are based on the respondents survey in 20 Small-Medium Sized organizations located in and around London Sample Selection – The sample selection was based on convenience, and restricted by budgetary constraints. Samples were primarily selected from areas in and around London, and an important consideration was the availability and consent of the people to participate in the survey. Sample size – Preliminary research – 20 Main Research - 50 Data Collection Instrument – Questionnaire. (Appendix A) Findings Analysis and Discussion Conclusion Reference M. Buckingham, C. Coffman. 1999. First, Break All the Rules: What the Worlds Greatest Managers Do Differently. Simon & Schuster; 1 edition (May 5, 1999) Oliver, R. L. 1980. “A cognitive Model of the Antecedents and the Consequences of Satisfaction Decisions.” Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 17, No. 4 (Nov., 1980), pp. 460-469. Karten, N. 1980. Managing Customer Expectations. Dorset House Publishing. 1980. Key, 2002 Kothari, 1990 Singh, 1997 Marshall and Hales, 1972 Anastasi, A., 1968 (Trochim and William, 1996) Woolf, 2006 Read More