The Influence of Service Quality on Satisfaction: A Gender Comparison

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was to examine (1) the role of gender in predicting service quality perceptions and (2) the relationship between quality perceptions and satisfaction. The findings of this study were based on the empirical analysis of a sample of 234 respondents. Fifty three percent of the respondents (n = 124) were males while forty seven percent of the respondents were females (n = 110). The result generally support the hypothesis that gender affects service quality perceptions and the relative importance attached to dimensions of service quality. The study also revealed that that tangibles, reliability and responsiveness were critical service quality dimensions for determining satisfaction of both male and female customers.

The influence of service quality on satisfaction: Does gender really matter?

“…On the other hand, the study conducted by the public service organization indicated that male respondents rated perceived service quality better in comparison to female respondents (Mokhlis, 2012). Five SERVQUAL dimensions collectively explained 48.1% of the variance of male customers' satisfaction and 53.8% for difference of the female customers' satisfaction.…”

“…To a certain extent, these characteristics are significant determinants of consumer behaviours. Among these characteristics, gender appears to be one of the few features that are easy to recognize and access, and is a large enough segment to be profitable for market strategy (Juwaheer, 2011;Mokhlis, 2012). Therefore, this study seeks to exploit gender differences to determine the level of satisfaction in response to service quality.…”

“…Service quality is generally dominated as the significant explanatory factor to satisfaction (González, Comesaña & Brea, 2007;Ekinci, Dawes & Massey, 2008;Meng & Elliott, 2009;Rojas & Camarero, 2009). The current literature dealing with the interaction of gender to service quality and satisfaction is, however, still lacking (Mokhlis, 2012) even with a few exceptions. For instance, the moderator role of gender on perceived quality has been discussed and empirically proven in the context of hotel industry (Juwaheer, 2011), public services (Mokhlis, 2012), and banking sector (Karatepe, 2011).…”

“…The current literature dealing with the interaction of gender to service quality and satisfaction is, however, still lacking (Mokhlis, 2012) even with a few exceptions. For instance, the moderator role of gender on perceived quality has been discussed and empirically proven in the context of hotel industry (Juwaheer, 2011), public services (Mokhlis, 2012), and banking sector (Karatepe, 2011).…”

“…Several studies have noted that gender is a genuine variable sufficiently strong to be counted as a driver of market segmentation and successful marketing strategy, because gender is easy to identify and access, and substantial to be profitable (Juwaheer, 2011;Mokhlis, 2012;Ryan, Henley & Soutar, 1998). Besides that, Juwaheer (2011) also claimed that gender differences also represent a 'differential potential' deemed to be sufficient to justify whether a destination specifically draws attention to qualities that separately appealing to male and female visitors (Ryan et al, 1998).…”