Title: Service quality and discretionary collaborative behaviour intentions: the moderating effect of personality

Authors: Huam Hon Tat, Muhamad Jantan

Addresses: School of Management, University Science of Malaysia, Minden, 11800 Penang, Malaysia. ' Center for Policy Research, University Science of Malaysia, Minden, 11800 Penang, Malaysia

Abstract: This paper explores the relationship between service quality and Discretionary Collaborative Behaviour (DCB), with particular focus on the moderating influence of personality. It reports the results of an exploratory survey of MBA graduates of public and private educational institutions in Malaysia, using data obtained from a sample of 167 randomly selected graduates. The findings indicate that the quality of the educational experience of graduates do positively influence their intentions to perform DCB, particularly that of word-of-mouth. In particular, the impact of functional quality is greater than that of technical quality. Further, the positive impact of service quality, particularly that of functional quality, on DCB, holds for those who are high on extraversion and low on neuroticism levels. These results suggest that MBA providers should focus on how the service is provided besides maintaining sufficient standards of what is being offered. It is also imperative that MBA providers segment their alumni and use different strategies to motivate DCB amongst them.

Keywords: discretionary collaborative behaviour; service quality; functional quality; technical quality; personality; Malaysia; educational quality; higher education; MBA; motivation; customer behaviour; customer-supplier interaction.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPQM.2006.008479

International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management, 2006 Vol.1 No.3, pp.290 - 305

Published online: 21 Dec 2005 *

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