18 Journal of Indonesian Economy and Business
January
Parasuraman
et al.
1988 is widely used by scholars to analyze service quality. However,
there are some criticisms addressed at the SERVQUAL framework Cronin and Taylor,
1994; Shu, 2010.
Apart from its role in creating customer loyalty, scholars also claim that service quality
has an essential role in creating a positive corpo- rate image. Alfin
et al
. 2013 suggested that service quality had a positive effect on corporate
image, which implied that a higher service qual- ity, as perceived by customers, resulted in a
greater positive image of the corporation. Simi- lar to Alfin
et al.
‟s 2013 study, Cham and Easvaralingam 2012 explained that corporate
image is significantly influenced by service quality.
As an important element in the marketing field, corporate image is recognized to have an
important role in creating loyalty. Scholars sug- gest that corporate image has a significant effect
on customer loyalty Cheng and Rashid, 2013; Saleem and Raja, 2014. The more positive the
image of the company is, as perceived by its customers, the more loyalty will be shown by the
customers to the company. Although some stu- dies confirm the significant effect of image on
loyalty, scholars such Hart and Rosenberger IIaboveI 2004 found
that corporate image only had a marginally significant influence on cus-
tomer loyalty. For that reason, there is still a need to examine this relationship in a different
field.
Based on the research issues stated, we were led to the following two research objectives of
this study: 1.
To examine the hierarchical service quality dimensions as perceived by banking service
customers. 2.
To test the relationships among several essen- tial marketing constructs, namely service
quality, corporate image, and customer loyalty.
This study provided some contributions by confirming the two research objectives above.
Firstly, differing from the previous studies, this study developed and tested a comprehensive
hierarchical model that provided a complete and integrated analysis of the dimensions underlying
customers‟ perceptions of service quality, and also analyzed the relationships that exist among
several important higher order marketing con- structs in the banking industry. Secondly, this
study provided empirical support for the use of a hierarchical model to conceptualize and measure
customers‟ perceptions of service quality in the banking industry. Thirdly, the results of this
study will benefit marketers and practitioners who are already operating in or preparing to en-
ter the banking industry market, as the findings may assist these organizations in developing and
implementing successful business strategies.
LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESES
1. Service Quality
Service is any act or performance that one can offer to another that is essentially intangible
and does not result in the ownership of anything Kotler and Amstrong, 2006. In the area of ser-
vice marketing studies, Parasuraman
et al
.1985 stated that service quality was an elusive con-
struct. Furthermore, Rust and Oliver 1994 contended that service quality was a subjective
manner. Hence, Brady and Cronin 2001 claimed that the construct of service quality was
difficult to grasp.
Today the SERVQUAL scale is the instru- ment which is most widely used by scholars to
measure service quality Amin and Isa, 2008; Barroso
et al
., 2010; Huang, 2010; Yang
et al.
, 2006. This scale was developed by Parasuraman
et al.
1988 based on the disconfirmation para- digm.
According to Parasuraman
et al.,
1988 there were five dimensions of service quality
namely 1
Tangibility
– the physical facilities, equipment, and appearance of personnel, 2
Reliability -
the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately, 3
Respon- siveness
– the willingness to help customers and provide prompt service, 4
Assurance
– the knowledge and courtesy of employees and their
ability to inspire trust and confidence, and 5
2015 Hussein Hapsari
19
Empathy
– the caring individualized attention that the firm provides to its customers.
Although SERVQUAL has been used extensively to measure service quality, several
criticisms are addressed at this instrument Babakus and Boller, 1992; Carman, 1990.
Fernie
et.al
.2003 contend that two criticisms can be directed at the SERVQUAL framework.
Firstly, SERVQUAL generalises the relationship between customers and service providers;
secondly, it disregards the crucial relationship between customers and service providers. Other
scholars such as Babakus and Boller 1992 and Carman 1990 argued that SERVQUAL was
being applied inappropriately to measure service quality because: 1 the dimensions of the
SERVQUAL measures may not apply in all ser- vice settings, 2 items in some dimensions reveal
that those are not distinct during scale purifica- tions, 3 SERVQUAL focuses on the compari-
son between expectations and perceptions of actual service delivery and 4 SERVQUAL can-
not adequately cover the complexity of custom- er
s‟ perceptions. While there is no agreement about the con-
ceptualization of service quality, scholars agree that service quality is multidimensional Brady
and Cronin, 2001; Dabholkar
et al
., 1995; Parasuraman
et al
., 1988. To overcome the inadequate measurements of SERVQUAL,
Brady and Cronin 2001 proposed the hierar- chical service quality framework. This frame-
work stated that the overall perception of service quality was affected by three dimensions,
namely the interaction quality, physical quality, and outcome quality.
This study employs a hierarchical service quality framework that has been used by other
studies to measure service quality. A study by Wu 2009 of the hotel industry in Taiwan found
that the hierarchical service quality framework was a robust framework to measure service
quality in the Taiwanese hotel industry. This study revealed that service quality was formed in
a hierarchical model consisting of the interaction quality, outcome quality, and physical quality
that were taken separately as primary dimen- sions. Similar to this study, Mohi 2012 found
that a hierarchical service quality framework was a robust framework to measure the service qual-
ity of Malaysia‟s restaurants. In the telecomun-
cations industry, Clemes
et al.
2014 found that hierarchical service quality can be used to meas-
ure the quality of services provided. Further- more, this study declared that interaction quality
is the dimension which had the most dominant effect in determining the service quality.
Based on these contentions, these following hypotheses were proposed:
H1a : interaction quality has a significant effect on the overall perception of service
quality H1b : physical quality has a significant effect on
the overall perception of service quality H1c : outcome quality has a significant effect on
the overall perception of service quality
2. Corporate Image
