Title: Does ownership matter in service quality?

Authors: Iman M. Adeinat; Charles Gregg

Addresses: Department of Business Administration, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia ' Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management, University of Missouri-Kansas City, 5110 Cherry St. Kansas City, MO 64110, USA

Abstract: The aim of this study is to assess the level of service quality by controlling for ownership and geographical location in a franchise system. A survey was distributed to customers at three outlets in the same chain all owned by the same franchisee and all located in the Midwest region of the USA. The survey questions covered five dimensions of quality: tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. The findings showed that customers had a positive response toward service quality and that there was no statistical difference in the service quality among these outlets since service quality is more likely to be emphasised and monitored closely. In addition, the results show customer satisfaction and loyalty are a result of higher service quality.

Keywords: customer satisfaction; DINESERV; franchise; service quality.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOM.2018.091908

International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 2018 Vol.30 No.2, pp.254 - 266

Received: 29 Feb 2016
Accepted: 06 Sep 2016
Published online: 21 May 2018 *

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