-
文献信息
标题
:
Service Quality and its Impact on
Tourist Satisfaction
作者
:
Al-Ababneh, Mukhles
出版物名称
:
Interdisciplinary Journal of
Contemporary Research In Business
卷
:
4
期
:
12
页
:
164-177
页数
:
14
出版年份
:
2013
年份
:
2013
出版商
:
Institute of
Interdisciplinary Business Research
出版物地点
:
Belleville
出版物主题
:
Business
And Economics
ISSN:
20737122
Service Quality and its
Impact on Tourist Satisfaction
Al-
Ababneh, Mukhles
Abstract
This study aims to assess tourists'
perceptions towards quality tourism services
provided at Petra historical site,
and
to
measure
tourist
satisfaction
by
examining
the
impact
of
quality
tourism
product
on
overall
tourist
satisfaction.
In
this
study,
four
hypotheses
were
developed
are
proposed
a
study
model.
The
empirical
data
were
collected
from
tourists
via
a
survey
that
yielded
180
usable
questionnaires,
these
data
were
analysed
using
a
series
of
multiple
regressions
to
determine
the
relationship
between
service
quality
and
tourist
satisfaction.
The
findings
confirmed
that
service
quality
directly
impacted
tourist
satisfaction
throughout
destination facilities, destination
accessibility and destination attraction. As a
result, this study argued that there
is
a
significant
impact
of
the
service
quality
on
tourist
satisfaction,
and
therefore
service
quality
plays
an
important role in tourism by increasing
the level of tourist satisfaction. The results in
this study supported the
evidence
that
there
are
positive
impacts
of
components
of
tourism
product
on
tourist
satisfaction.
This
study
provided
some
theoretical
and
managerial
implications
based
on
the
findings
to
academicians
and
tourism
sector, the researcher presented
recommendations for further studies and he
discussed the main limitations in
this
study.
Keywords: Service
Quality; Tourist Satisfaction; Tourism; Petra and
Jordan.
Introduction
Tourism is one of the top
and fastest growing sectors in the world; it plays
a very important role in the economy
and stimulated the growth of other
economy (Osman and Sentosa, 2013). The Travel and
Tourism industry has
outperformed
the
global
economy
in
2012,
it
growing
faster
than
manufacturing,
retail,
financial
services
and
communications. The industry has grown
its total contribution to GDP by 3% and increased
the number of jobs
by five million to
260 million, and therefore one in 11 of all jobs
in the world are now supported by Travel and
Tourism. More than 10% of all new jobs
created in 2012 were from the industry. According
to the World Travel
and
Tourism
Council's
economic
research,
in
2012,
Travel
and
Tourism's
total
economic
contribution
was
US$$6.6 trillion in GDP. This
contribution represents 9% of total GDP (WTTC,
2013).
In Jordan, tourism
plays an important role in the national economy
and contributes highly to the country's GDP
compared with the other sectors.
Tourism's contribution to the Jordanian economy
was estimated to be US$$3.4
billion
and
accounts
for
approximately
12.4
per
cent
of
the
country's
GDP
in
2010.
It
provides
the
Jordanian
economy with hard
currency and creates new jobs. The tourism sector
is a promising sector in Jordan due to
Jordan being considered as an
attractive country for tourists in the world for
reasons such as the diversity of
nature, the deep-rooted cultural
heritage, and the country's political stability.
In addition, Petra
became one of
the
been visited by more
than 8.25 million tourists in 2010 which an
increase of 16.5% from 2009 which was about
7.08 million tourists. The tourism
statistics between 2006 and 2010 indicate that the
tourism sector in Jordan is
growing
rapidly. Hence, the tourism income in 2010 has
increased by 65% from 2006 which was about US$$2.06
billion (Jordanian Ministry of Tourism,
2013). Jordan is a destination with many iconic
tourist attractions, such as
Petra,
Wadi Rum, Jerash, and the Dead Sea. Tourism is of
vital importance to the national economy of
Jordan.
It
is
the
Kingdom's
largest
export
sector,
its
second
largest
private
sector
employer,
and
it's
second
highest
producer of foreign
exchange (Othman, 2010).
Service
quality
is
considered
as
a
standard
used
to
assess
the
effectiveness
of
a
particular
leisure
service
agency, including the tourism service
sector (Godbey, 1997), and therefore the quality
of service involved with
tourism
plays
an
important
role
in
the
process
of
delivery
(Wyllie,
2000).
Further,
the
quality
of
service
influenced
customers*
image
that
had
an
effect
on
the
process
from
expected
quality
to
perceived
quality
(Prabaharan et al.,
2008). Customer satisfaction can also be defined
as satisfaction based on an outcome or a
process (Vavra, 1997).Tourism is
arguably one of the largest self-initiated
commercial interventions to create
happiness on the entire planet (Pearce,
2007). Happiness is directly related to
satisfaction, and therefore overall
happiness is highly linked to
satisfaction in leisure travel sector (Glatzer,
2000). The majority of tourists have
experiences with destinations, and
their perceptions are influenced by comparisons
among facilities, attractions,
and
service standards (Laws, 1995). The study will
present and test three main dimensions of factors
affecting
tourist satisfaction, and
they are: destination facilities, destination
accessibility
and destination
attraction. The
purpose of
this paper is to measure the quality of tourism
services and its impact on tourist satisfaction in
Petra.
Literature review
Service Quality
Service quality is defined as what the
customer gets out and is willing to pay
for
puts in (Ducker, 1991). In some
earlier studies, service quality has been defined
to the extent where the service
fulfils
the needs or expectation of the customers (Lewis
and Mitchell, 1990; Dotchin and Oakland, 1994).
While
Zeithaml et al. (1996) has
conceptualized service quality as the
overall
impression of
customers towards the
service weakness
or supremacy. Therefore service quality frequently
has been conceptualized as the difference
between the perceived services expected
performance and perceived service actual
performance (Bloemer et
al., 1999; Kara
et al., 2005).
Parasuraman
et al. (1988) introduced the SERVQUAL model to
measure service quality including 22 items in
five dimensions: reliability, tangible,
responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. These
dimensions have specific
service
characteristic
link
to
the
expectation
of
customers.
The
SERVQUAL
scale
was
developed
in
the
marketing context and
this was supported by the Marketing Science
Institute (Parasuraman et al., 1986). Even
though this model as an instrument has
been used in various studies in across industries,
the SERVQUAL has
received
many
criticisms
from
other
scholars
(e.g.,
Cronin
and
Taylor,
1992;
Brown
et
al.,
1993).
However,
there
are
many
researchers
opposed
the
use
of
SERVQUAL
to
measure
service
quality
due
to
the
industry
characteristics
differences.
Other
previous
researches
confirmed
that
SERVQUAL
instrument
is
applicable
in
tourism industry (Fick and Ritchie,
1991; Yuan et al., 2005; Shaikh and Khan, 2011).
Medlik and Middleton (1973)
noted that 'the tourist product is to be
considered as an amalgam of three main
components of attractions, facilities
at the destination and accessibility of the
destination*. In other words, the
tourist product is 'not as airline seat
or a hotel bed, or relaxing on a sunny beach. . .
but rather an amalgam of
many
components,
or
a
package'.
While,
Middleton
and
Clarke
(2001)
indicated
that
there
are
five
main
components in the
overall product, and they are: destination
attractions and environment, destination
facilities
and services, accessibility
of the destination, images of the destination, and
Price to the consumer.
1.
Destination attractions and environment
These are the component
elements within the destination that largely
determine tourists* choice and influence
their
motivations
to
visit
that
destination.
They
include:
Natural
attractions:
landscape,
seascape,
beaches,
climate,
flora
and
fauna
and
other
geographical
features
of
the
destination
and
its
natural
resources.
Built
attractions:
buildings
and
tourism
infrastructure
including
historic
and
modem
architecture;
monuments;
promenades,
parks
and
gardens,
convention
centres,
marinas,
ski
slopes,
industrial
archaeology,
managed
visitor attractions
generally, golf courses, speciality shops and
themed retail area. Cultural attractions: history
and folklore, religion and art,
theatre, music, dance and other entertainment, and
museums. Social attractions:
way of
life and customs of resident or host population,
language and opportunities for social encounters.
2. Destination facilities
and services
These are the
component elements located in the destination,
which make it possible for visitors to stay and to
enjoy
in
that
destination.
They
include:
Accommodation
unit:
hotels,
holiday
villages,
apartments,
villas,
campsites, caravan parks, hostels,
condominiums, farms, guesthouses. Restaurants,
bars and cafe's: ranging
from fast-food
through to luxury restaurants. Transport at the
destination: taxis, coaches, car rental, cycle
hire.
Sports/interest activity: ski
schools, sailing schools, golf clubs and spectator
stadiums; centres for pursuit of arts
and
crafts
and
nature
studies.
Other
facilities:
language
schools,
health
clubs.
Retail
outlets:
shops,
travel
agents, souvenirs, camping supplies.
Other services: information services, equipment
rental, tourism police.
3.
Accessibility of the destination
These are the component elements
including private and public transport aspects of
the product that determine
the cost,
speed and convenience with which a traveller may
leave his place of residence and reach a chosen
destination.
They
include:
Infrastructure:
of
roads,
car
parking,
airports,
railways,
seaports,
inland
waterways
and
marinas.
Equipment:
size,
speed
and
range
of
public
transport
vehicles.
Operational
factors:
routes
operated,
frequency
of
services,
prices
charged
and
road
tolls
levied.
Government
regulations:
the
range
of
regulatory controls over transport
operations (Middleton and Hawkins, 1998).
A study conducted by Karim
and Geng-Qing Chi (2010), they confirmed that
destinations' food image influenced
travellers* visit intention positively.
While Awaritefe (2004) found that the most
prominent motivations for tourism
destinations
choice
in
a
third
world
country
are:
self-actualization
in
an
appreciative,
educational
or
cultural
context
and
leisure/recreational
pursuits.
Attractiveness
of
destination,
quality
services,
facilities/amenities,
favourable location and accessibility
of centres also emerged as important
considerations in tourist destination
choice.
4.
Images of the destination
The
destination
image
is
a
relatively
recent
addition
to
the
field
of
tourism
research
(Abu
Ali
and
Howaidee,
2012). The image of tourist
destinations is an element of major importance
(Hunt, 1975; Chon, 1991; Echtner
and
Ritchie,
1991;
Gartner,
1996;
Buhalis,
2000;
Laws
et
al.,
2002;
Tasci
and
Gartner,
2007),
ultimately
influencing the
final choice or behavioural intention (Chen and
Tsai, 2007). However, pioneering studies on the
image
of
tourist
destinations,
dating
from
the
1970s
and
also
the
1980s
present
some
theoretical
and
conceptual limitations
(Fakeye and Crompton, 1991; Echtner and Richie,
1993; Gartner, 1993; Gallarza et al.,
2002). However, several studies have
illustrated that destination images do, indeed,
influence tourist behaviour
(Hunt,
1975; Pearce, 1982).
Lawson
and
Baud
Bovy
(1977)
define
the
concept
of
destination
image
as
the
expression
of
all
objective
knowledge, prejudices, imagination and
emotional thoughts of an individual or group about
a particular location.
Other authors
define the image as the sum of all beliefs, ideas
and impressions that people associate with a
destination
(Crompton,
1979).
Bignè
et
al.
(2001)
define
destination
image
as
the
subjec
tive
interpretation
of
reality by the tourist. Therefore, the
image tourists have of a destination is largely
subjective because it is based
on the
perceptions each tourist has of all of the
destinations they have been to or have heard of
(San Martin and
Rodriguez,
2008).
In
other
words,
the
destination
image
is
evaluated
by
the
attributes
of
its
resources
and
attractions
(Stabler,
1995)
which
motivate
tourists
to
visit
that
destination
(Alhemoud
and
Armstrong,
1996,
Schneider and S?nmez,
1999; Gallarza et
al., 2002; Beerli and
Martin, 2004).
Those
destinations
with
strong,
positive
images
are
more
likely
to
be
considered
and
chosen
in
the
travel
decision
process
(Goodrich,
1978;
Woodside
and
Lysonski,
1989).
As
a
result,
destination
image
has
an
important role for travel decisions
(Schmoll, 1977; Moutinho, 1984; Woodside and
Lysonski, 1989).
5. Price
to the consumer
The tourism
product is made up of all the tourism destination
specific and non-specific goods and services that
are demanded during one day of holiday,
its quantity is measured through the number of
overnight stays and its
value is the
daily price of the holiday. The demand function is
known with certainty, choosing the daily price is
equivalent to choosing tourism
expenditure. The market value of the holiday is
determined by its price. Thus,
price
coordination
by
means
of
a
destination
management
and
coordination
provided
by
a
tour
operator
supplying
an
all-
inclusive holiday. The coordination of prices
provided by the destination management
allows
setting
a
more
efficient
daily
price
for
the
tourism
product,
thus
leading
to
an
increase
in
overall
tourism
expenditure (Andergassen et al, 2013).
Customer Satisfaction
Customer
satisfaction
is
defined
as
satisfaction
based
on
an
outcome
that
characterizes
satisfaction
as
the
end-state
resulting
from
the
experience
of
consumption,
or
a
process
that
emphasizing
the
perceptual,
evaluative
and
psychological
processes
contributing
to
customer
satisfaction
(Varvara,
1997).
This
definition,
assessment
of
satisfaction
is
made
during
the
service
delivery
process.
Customer
satisfaction
can
also
be
defined
as
feeling
of
the
post
utilization
that
the
consumers
experience
from
their
purchase
(Westbrook
and
Oliver,
1991;
Urn
et
al.,
2006).
It
is
the
feeling
of
happiness
or
unhappiness
as
a
result
of
comparing
the
perceived
performance
of
services
or
products
with
the
expected
performance.
If
the
perceived
performance
does not meet
the expected performance, then the customer will
feel disappointed or dissatisfied (Kotier, 2008).
A consumer is deemed to be satisfied
upon the experience weighted sum total produce a
feeling of enjoyment
when compared with
the expectation (Choi and Chu, 2001).
In tourism studies, customer
satisfaction is the visitor's state of emotion
after they experiencing their tour (Baker
and Crompton, 2000; Sanchez et al.,
2006). Customer satisfaction is one the most areas
being researched in
many
tourism
studies
due
to
its
importance
in
determining
the
success
and
the
continued
existence
of
the
tourism
business
(Gursoy
et
al.,
2007).
Destination
holiday's
customer
satisfaction
is
the
extent
of
overall
enjoyment that the tourists feel, the
result that the tour experience able to fulfil the
tourists' desires, expectation,
needs
and wants from the tour (Chen and Tsai, 2007).
* Relationship between
Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction
Several
studies
have
investigated
the
relationship
between
service
quality
and
customer
satisfaction.
For
example,
Gounaris
et
al.
(2003)
revealed
that
service
quality
has
significant
impact
and
positive
relationship
with customer
satisfaction in Greek retailing industry. A study
conducted by Jay and Hsin (2007), which aimed
to understand the relationship between
service quality and customer satisfaction in
various hotels in Murtinos.
The study
found that the image of the hotel affected by the
existence of service and customer satisfaction
that
support for the favourite image
created by the hotel through the improvement of
service quality and customer
satisfaction.
Jamal
and
Anatassiadou
(2007)
confirmed
that
service
quality
is
positively
related
to
bank's
customer
satisfaction
in
Greece.
Another
study
was
conducted
by
Hossain
and
Leo
(2008),
they
revealed
that
service
quality
is
a
strong
antecedent
and
significantly
related
to
customer
satisfaction
in
banking
industry
in
Qatar.
Similarly, Chen and Lee (2008)
confirmed that service quality has a positive
influence with customer satisfaction
in
non vessel owners and shippers in Taiwan. Akbar
and Parvez (2009) revealed that service quality
has strong
influence and significantly
and positively related to customer satisfaction in
private telecommunication company
operating
in
Bangladesh.
Munusamy
et
al,
(2010)
found
that
four
elements
of
service
quality,
including
assurance,
tangibles, empathy and responsiveness have
positive relationship with customer satisfaction,
while
one
element
'reliability'
has
negative
relationship
with
customer
satisfaction
in
banking
industry
in
Malaysia.
While
in
the
tourism
industry,
Osman
and
Sentosa
(2013)
studied
the
impact
of
service
quality
on
customer
satisfaction
in
Malaysian
rural
tourism;
they
found
that
service
quality
has
significant
impact
and
positive
relationship with
customer satisfaction.
In
the
Jordanian
tourism
industry,
Abu
Ali
and
Howaidee
(2012)
conducted
a
study
to
investigate
the
causal
relationships among the components of
tourism product and overall tourist satisfaction
in Jerash, Jordan. The
study supported
that destination facilities and accessibility and
attraction directly influenced tourist
satisfaction, it
was also confirmed
that there is a significant impact of the service
quality on tourist satisfaction Jerash as one
of the major tourism destinations in
Jordan. While Abu Alroub et al. (2012)
investigated the impact of service
quality on customer satisfaction in the
tourist restaurants in Amman, Jordan. Their study
clarified that there is a
significant
relationship between service quality and customer
satisfaction in tourist restaurants.
The review of the literature indicated
that the number of empirical studies in tourism is
very limited. However, to
date, there
has been no serious effort to critically examine
the impact of service quality on tourist
satisfaction in
Petra. Therefore, the
purpose of this study is to investigate the
quality of overall tourism product and its impacts
on tourist satisfaction in Petra.
In
this
study,
three
main
destination
dimensions
have
been
selected
as
factors
that
could
affect
tourist
satisfaction as
shown in Figure 1. In view ofthat this study
hypothesizes:
HI: There is
a positive relationship between service quality
and tourist satisfaction.
Hla:
There
is
a
positive
relationship
between
the
destination
facilities
(restaurant,
souvenir,
tour
guide)
and
tourist satisfaction.
Hlb:
There
is
a
positive
relationship
between
the
destination
accessibility
(maps,
parking,
toilet)
and
tourist
satisfaction.
Hlc: There is a positive relationship
between the destination attractions (museum) and
tourist satisfaction.
Method
The
study's questionnaire consisted of two parts, and
they are: tourist satisfaction, and service
quality including,
destination
attractions; destination facilities; and
accessibility of the destination. Using 5 -point
Likert-type scale,
the
questionnaire
was
developed
based
on
employed
validated
scales
from
the
existing
literature,
which
consists of 34 items as the following:
1 . Destination facilities
were measured with 2 1 items.
2. Destination accessibility was
measured with 7 items.
3.
Destination attractions were measured with 2
items.
4. Tourist
satisfaction was measured with 4 items
A
total
number
of
250
questionnaires
were
distributed
to
tourists
at
Petra;
the
data
were
collected
at
tourist
centre in Petra from
October 2012 until January 2013. This study
yielded 180 usable questionnaires which were
processed and analysed by using the
statistical software package of SPSS- 18 to prove
the proposed model.
Findings
An
internal consistency test was conducted in regard
to the whole data of participants for each
variable in the
study's questionnaire.
The
results
indicated
that
a
Cronbach's
Alpha
coefficient
was
a
= .949
for
destination
facilities,
a
= .881
for
destination accessibility, a
= .706 for
destination
attractions, and a
= .781
for
tourist satisfaction
as
shown in
Table
1.
The
scales
in
instrument
had
an
acceptable
internal
consistency
because
Cronbach's
Alpha
scores
were above the
recommended 0.6 level (De Vellis, 1991).
Therefore, the high Cronbach's Alpha coefficient
in
this study represents a high
consistency and reliability among statements in
questionnaire.
A total
number of tourists participated in this study was
180 as shown in Table 2. Most tourists (52.2%)
were
females. The majority of tourists
(54.4%) age between 31-50 years. But most of
tourists (45%) were Bachelor
degree
holders. Most tourists (51.1%) were people who
worked in private sector. Monthly income for the
most
of tourist (52.3%) was more than
$$1001. American tourists (30%) were the most
people visiting Petra, followed
by
European tourists (26.1%), while African people
(4.4%) were the less.
The
values of means and standard deviations for each
variable in the study's questionnaire are
presented in
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