Title: The effect of tangible and intangible service quality on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty: a SEM approach towards a five-star hotel in Thailand

Authors: Utid Tamwatin; Jirasek Trimetsoontorn; Wanno Fongsuwan

Addresses: King Mongkut's Institute of Technology, Ladkrabang, Bangkok 10520, Thailand ' King Mongkut's Institute of Technology, Ladkrabang, Bangkok 10520, Thailand ' King Mongkut's Institute of Technology, Ladkrabang, Bangkok 10520, Thailand

Abstract: Achieving success in the hospitality industry has been linked to customer loyalty and satisfaction through higher quality of services provided to the customers. However, support for the effect of tangible and intangible service quality on customer satisfaction and loyalty in Thai hotels is scant. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of tangible and intangible service quality on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in Siam Kempinski Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. A self-selection sampling technique was used to select the sample by sending the questionnaires to the guests who stayed at the hotel, out of which 425 guests returned the completed questionnaires. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to analyse the collected data, assess the model and test the hypotheses. All the hypotheses were proven and the findings confirm that tangibles and intangible services influence customer satisfaction significantly and all of these jointly influence customer loyalty.

Keywords: tangible services; intangible services; service quality; customer satisfaction; customer loyalty; SEM; structural equation modelling; luxury hotels; five-star hotels; hospitality industry; Thailand.

DOI: 10.1504/JGBA.2015.074019

Journal for Global Business Advancement, 2015 Vol.8 No.4, pp.399 - 419

Published online: 03 Jan 2016 *

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