Title: Assessment of impact of after sales service attributes on customer satisfaction for a home-appliances manufacturing firm

Authors: Sivanesan Murali; Singaram Pugazhendhi; Chandrasekaran Muralidharan

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, Vels University, Chennai 600117, Tamil Nadu, India ' Department of Manufacturing Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, Chidambaram 608 002, Tamil Nadu, India ' Department of Manufacturing Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, Chidambaram 608 002, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract: After sales services (ASSs) are activities that take place after the purchase of the product and are devoted to supporting customers in the usage and disposal of goods. ASS can create sustainable relationships with customers and contribute significantly to customer satisfaction. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of ASS on customer satisfaction and to establish the influence of chosen ASS attributes on customer satisfaction. For this purpose SERVQUAL model coupled with multiple regression analysis is employed. A case company involved in manufacturing the home appliances is considered, the opinion of customers on its ASS operations were collected and then analysed using the SPSS-AMOS 21. The results of the study revealed that SERVQUAL-based ASS attributes are positively correlated with customer satisfaction and the reliability dimension plays the role of mediator in the effects of ASS quality. Finally the recommendations are presented to improve the performance of ASS operations of the case organisation.

Keywords: after sales service; SERVQUAL; customer satisfaction; multiple regression; home appliances; appliance manufacturing; reliability; service quality.

DOI: 10.1504/IJENM.2016.075172

International Journal of Enterprise Network Management, 2016 Vol.7 No.1, pp.27 - 41

Received: 12 Nov 2014
Accepted: 28 Dec 2014
Published online: 06 Mar 2016 *

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