1
Marketing & Management
DENTIST LTD
By: Rangel Ognemirov Dimitrov
2
Marketing & Management
DENTIST LTD
By:
Rangel Dimitrov – S2036037 Faculty of Economics and Business University of Groningen
Competition date: 24th July 2012
Address: Bulgaria, Kuystendil Slaveikov 12 Phone number: 00359896602958
E-mail: dimitrov.rangel@gmail.com Student number: S2036037
3
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1:
1.Introduction………..………..…
2.Background of the company...
3. Problem definition………..…………...
4. Research objective and review questions……...
Chapter 2:
Theoretical framework (conceptual model)5. Determination of the factors that participated in the creation of the service quality in Dentist LTD: - Service employees………. - Service processes………... - Service environment………. - Service product………. - Strategic orientation……….
5.1 Visual representation of the conceptual model………
5.2 Positive links- customer satisfaction- customer loyalty and profitability growth...
Chapter 3: Research design
4
7. Data collection instrument- Quantitative and Qualitative………
8. Comparison sample/population- Quantitative and Qualitative………
9. Estimation of the required sample-Quantitative………
10. Plan of the analysis - Both analyses………...
Chapter 4: Results
11. Description of the sample………
12. Description of the sample on the basis of the factors……….
13. Deeper analysis………... -Independent t test
14. Results………..……… -Service process - Service environment
- Service product - Service employees - Satisfaction
15. Multiple regression analysis……….………. -Model 1
- Model 2
5
Chapter 5: Conclusion and recommendation
6
Chapter 1
Introduction
7
primary education was namely connected with the nationalization of the domestic economy (Rokanov, Stoyanova, 2011). Twenty one years after the liberation of the economy and the creation of the private sector the issues are improving but the existence of the economic crisis and the slow development of the marketing as a tool in the past two years made the business environment hard for surviving (Ilieva and Stoyanova, 2010) .
8
2.
Short Introduction of the Dentist LTD9
resolve them. Recently the clinic started to lose market share as well as to receive negative feedbacks from the customers concerning the prices and the services as a whole.
3. Problem Definition- Research objectives and review questions
10
Sub- questions:
What are the antecedents of established service quality?
Which of these antecedents are significant and insignificant for the satisfaction in the specific business?
Are these segments with respect to sevice quality antecedents?
Are the diverse clients evaluated differently a component or/ and the components (antecedent/s) which contributed to the establishment of the quality in this service sector?
Which of the antecedends is evaluated negatively?
What is the leading component for satisfaction for the present clients in the company?
Which is the foremost factor for establishing satisfaction in the alter segments in Dentist LTD?
What is the present strategic orientation that the company adopted?
Is the strategic orientation that is accepted is efficiently implemented and is this orientation is the most appropriate one for a dentist company?
Are there any important and major similarities among the clients that can be helpful to improve the overall quality in general for the industry as well as in the specific case?
Social and scientific relevance
11
of the conceptual model is to comprehend which factors influencing the service quality and which factors are the primary in the creation of the satisfaction in the customers mind. The purpose of the following chapter will be namely to establish the conceptual model of the dental industry as well as in Dentist LTD in order to find the answers of the research questions.
Chapter 2 : The establishment of the theoretical
framework
Conceptual model (backbone of the analysis)
In order to make the conceptual model first I identified the central concept in the research namely which are the factors that determine the service quality. The first step in the creation of the conceptual model is to make literature review in order to discover the factors that participated in the creation of the contentment in Dentist LTD. On the basis of them we will be able to answer the research questions and to find a potential way to resolve the current problems in Dentist LTD. The necessity of the conceptual model is to help us organize the key elements in one concise, plausible and easy to comprehend model which will be the backbone of the analysis. This model must be based on credible information which will be gathered on the basis of the following literature review
5. Determination of the factors that participated in the creation of the satisfaction
Service employees
12
authors implied several dimensions of the service quality. The dimension that the authors identified for the service employees is namely the assurance dimension. They defined the assurance, as the knowledge and courtesy of employees, and their ability to inspire trust and confidence in the consumer mind.
Moreover Kottler and Keller (2008) also identified this factor as the primary in the formation of the satisfaction in the service industries. They stated that because there is no physical product the service employees implied a physical possession of the service itself. Namely because of that reason one of the most important attribute of the service quality are the service employees. Confirmation to this theory was stated by Gronroos et all (1990) and Gwinner et all (1998) where both of the authors implied that employees behaviours are important in a service company as they connect with its customers and they represent a critical factor in developing effective working relationships with customers. According to Saad and Amy (2007) the three most important attributes that explained the customer satisfaction in the services industries are the staff behaviour, the service quality and the price. The employees of an organisation are therefore vital for ensuring success in customers ’ perceptions and satisfactions, as they are the persons ultimately responsible for providing a quality service that meets the expectations of customer ( Zeithaml et al., 1996 ). Last but not least is the research that was made by Kattara et all (2008) where the authors connoted that human contact is a critical determinant of customer satisfaction, and when customers are satisfied with the human interaction, they may be forgiving other problems that occurred.
On the basis of the above literature review the first factor which will be included in the conceptual model of the Dentist Ltd will be namely the service employees. It appears that this factor will be crucial in establishing the service quality, which leads to the satisfaction on the basis of the conducted literature review.
Service processes
13
and hospitality. Lovelock and Weitz (2011) even adapted the marketing mix to the service industries. One of the attributes of the marketing that they accommodate is the 8 ps of the mix itself. One of these attributes is namely the service process. The authors explicitly stated that this factor is crucial in the creation of the satisfaction. Parasuraman (1998) also defined the service processes as part of the dimensions of the service quality. The dimension that the authors identified for the service processes is the reliability of the firm to deliver the promised service dependable and accurately. According to Smith et all (2002) the service process participated not only important but leading in the formation of the service quality. Moreover the authors defined the service encounter and the moment of truths as the leading issues in the formation of the service processes. Other crucial finding that can be used in the finding Ching-Fu et all (2010) where the author explicitly stated that the service process is tremendously linked with the perceived service quality. The author identified four dimensions of the service process- ease of use; design, information accuracy, and functionality he proved that all of these dimension have positive effect on the service quality. Moreover he implied that importance of process quality is in the link between beneficial service process and the building customer loyalty.
It can be infer that this factor will have great impact in the formation of the contentment of the customers because of the emotions towards the specific industry- dentistry. Moreover the service processes in this case can be characterized as the level of pain that a client felt, the overall comfort that the clinic provided during the treatment and even the following feel after the end of the treatment. All of above information proved that the service processes are essential in the creation of the satisfaction because of that this will be the second factor in the conceptual model of Dentist LTD.
Service environment
14
servicescape does not only has a direct influence on the perceived service quality, but they also found a positive connection between the tangibles and the intangibles. So the servicescape has a direct and indirect effect on the perceived quality, which makes the servicescape even more important overall.
15
Service product
The succeeding factor that is identified by the Lovelock and Weitz is the service product. They mentioned that planning, creating, guarantees, the customer service and the service encounter are the primary issues that determine this factor. Moreover the authors also adapted the four p into the eight ps of the service marketing. On the first place they positioned the product elements which actually are the core and periphery service elements at the centre of the company's marketing strategy (In the specific case of Dentist Ltd the product can be explored as the processes linked with the teeth or the implementation of new ones. Consequently the product will also be identified as a factor in the creation of the satisfaction of the customers. Maklan et all (2011) stated that the service product is the major component in the evaluation of the overall service by the customers. Moreover in the service quality model that was performed by Saravanan et all (2007) the product is the core part of it. The author also stated that the quality of the product has a direct effect on the perceived service quality. Complementary to this information Ofir et all (2009) also identified the product as the crucial part in the evaluation for any service because the quality of it has strong impact on the behavioural intentions of the customers. Last but not least the Kennedy et all (2011) identified that if a company provided superior product in terms of quality and performance there will be great financial outcome for the firm. Therefore in the conceptual for the Dentist Ltd the last factor is already identified- service product.
These factors are detected on the basis of a literature review and especially by the authors Lovelock and Weitz. In order to comprehend the conceptual model in a more efficient way a visual representation will be made.
Strategic orientation
According to Lovelock Et all (2011) one of the main factor in the establishment of the service quality is namely the positioning of the company, which defined the strategic orientation of the company.
16
relations formulated the orientation itself (Treacy and Wiersma, 1993) .The authors defined three categories for any biasness in order to become a market leader in its sphere-product leadership, customer intimacy and operational excellence. In that way they defined the first steps in establishing the three distinctive paths to profitability. The complementary steps which can be defined as higher levels concerning the strategic orientation were made by Rust et all (2002) and Mital et all (2005). According to Rust et all (2002) all the strategic orientation that a company can adopt can be two options- revenue emphasis or cost reduction. The revenue emphasis represents a preposition of high service quality as well as efficient tools for customer attraction and retention. In his work he assigned which orientation will lead to increase in the profitability and the identified tool to accomplish this is namely the revenue emphasis orientation which actually is offering high levels of satisfaction as well as retention to the final customer. In order for the reader to better grasp the purposed implementation and the consequences of it I will present a table that summarized the steps of application of the revenue emphasis.
17
the article are that the association between customer satisfaction and long-term financial performance is positive and relatively stronger for firms that successfully achieve a Dual Emphasis.
It is significant to assess the present strategic orientation of the company because in that way we can easily comprehend the present business strategy of Dentist Ltd and what actually they choose as a path to achieve their present and future goals. Actually the strategic orientation in this case will be how the company offers the factors that were already identified and the issues interaction factors-customers. Last but not least when we explored the strategic orientation of Dentist LTD we will easily identified if the implementation of the different revenues is efficiently performed and is the followed emphasis is proper for the dental clinic.
18
Visual representation of the conceptual model
Positive links- customer satisfaction- customer loyalty and profitability growth in the conceptual model
19
growth and custmer satisfaction drives customer loyalty. Complementary to these findings Anderson et all (2007) also elaborated in his work that the link between satisfaction loyalty and profitability is not only postive and strong but also it is determining the success in every service organization. Moreover in order to justificate that the research on the present service quality in Dentist LTD that is obligatory and it should be the main research Luo et all (2007) provide outcomes of the customer satisfaction. The author intricated that the consequences of the satisfaction are: customer satisfaction has a positive influence on company’s future advertising and promotion efficiency as well as that the customer satisfaction has a positive influence on a company’s future human capital performance. Last but not least the author also identified the strong relationship with these two findings with the profitability and loyalty. Furthermore Heglesson et all (2006) also proved that there is a positive link between the satisfaction, loyalty and profitability he suggested that if to a customer is offered sufficient service quality there is a positive chance to become loyal and to bring more financial benefits to the organization. Complementary to this finding Chang et all (2009) also identified that the service quality is a predetermining of a loyalty profitability and satisfaction in the customers minds. On the basis of the literature review that was conducted we can infer that if we improve the service quality there will be positive consequences for the customer loyalty, customer satisfaction and profitability.
After the identification of the factors in the conceptual model, the following step is namely to choose a methodology to assess the satisfaction among the patients in Dentist LTD. The conceptual model will be used as a foundation of the following analyses.
Chapter 3: Research design and methodology
This chapter will present the description of the types of the researches, the method of data collection, the data collection instruments, the population samples and the plan of the analyses.
Research design- Quantitative and Qualitative
20
descriptive one. In other words quantitative research it will provide us with raw information like the main differences in the evaluation of the factors(conceptual model) as well as present problems in the factors, present marketing and how different segments based on gender, education, income and visits evaluated the different factors and the service as a whole. Moreover the basis of the quantitative research will be namely the theoretical framework which was presented on page 13. On the other hand the qualitative research will exploit in a more depth the beliefs and the attitudes of the respondents which will help us to locate some more detailed information. – are different segments can be distinguished on the basis of the impact of the factors as well as can we locate factors which need an improvement. In order to answer these questions an interpretation must be formulated from the results of the feelings and attitudes towards the factors and their influence in the process of satisfaction. Method of data collection- Quantitative and Qualitative
21
Data collection instrument- Quantitative and Qualitative
Quantitative instruments
As I already elaborated the data collection instrument will be administrative survey with close end up questions. The questions in the survey are divided by the factors that are identified as a leading in the creation of the satisfaction. The first set of the questions is made with one infinite purpose namely to detect different segments among the patients in the Dentist LTD. The choice of the segmentation is the demographic segmentation and in order to perform this segmentation demographic characteristics are asked in the survey- age, gender, income, home city and education. Questions such as how old are you, what is your average income specified the different groups that existed among the present customers in Dentist LTD. After the segmentation that will be performed on the basis of the demographic characteristics. The following step will be to comprehend if they are different segments which evaluate the service quality and its dimensions in a diverse way. The method that will be used is a survey with questions that can be answered on the basis of Likert scale.. For instance the first sub set of questions is for the service environment issues such as access, spatial layout, odor and music formulated the questions for this factor. In that way we can identify namely how the different customers evaluated this factor. The other factors that contributed to the creation of the satisfaction are also included in the survey (service processes, product, service employees and strategic orientation). In order to perceive how the other factors are included in the survey you can see the survey in the appendix.
Qualitative instruments
22
interview are namely pairs in these segments. In other words I conducted an interview with two people in the first two segments and three respondents in the second two because they are the primary customers in Dentist LTD. Last but not least a marketer must also use the gender as a separation of the segments not only the years because of possibility of miscellaneous feelings towards the significance of the factors as well as their place in the human conscious. The income as well as the educational level are also included and taken into consideration because based on them the evaluation of the service can be different and this can result in finding vital information.
Comparison sample/population (quantitative)
The first step in any statistical analysis is namely to compare the sample with the population in order to understand if the sample is plausible for further analysis. Generally the data which Dentist Ltd provided is not significant in any terms. The positive issue concerning the data is that they have the total number of the clients on a year basis which as I mentioned is 6732. Other detail that also can contributed to the analysis of the sample is that they delivered the separation of the gender as well which is almost 50 by 50 percent’s. Moreover any complementary information as purchase power, educational level, durance as a patient and age is missing in the information from the company. Therefore they as an organization didn’t possessed any segmentation of their market which may be the reason to the main problem of the company- the decrease in the market share in the last years as well as in the profitability. The purpose of the statistical analysis will not only locate the problems of the satisfaction but also will determine the present segments. Moreover on the basis of these groups the company can decide which segment is more profitable and less demanding and to establish a positioning of the company in accordance with the company future goals.
23
Estimation of the required sample (quantities)
24
Plan of the analysis
Quantitative:
In this section I will describe which tests I will be perform in order to answer the identified research questions. As I already elaborated the first analysis which will be the quantitative I will use to gather specific information concerning the evaluation of the respondents of the identified factors in the conceptual model.
Description of the sample
First I will perform a description of the sample on the basis of the demographics characteristics that are identified in the survey. This will provide me with general information of the respondents- their age, educational level, gender income and durance as a patient. Actually with this information I will comprehend what exact percent from the respondents are: female or male; possessed higher or average income; acquired high or low educational level and their actual age in the borders that are defined by the question in the survey.
Comparison of the means
Second I will perform a comparison of the means of the factors which actually will be the evaluation of the factors that are included in the conceptual model- service employees, service environment service processes and service product. The overall satisfaction will also be included. The goal of that test is namely to see whether there is a bigger differences in the evaluation of the different factors as well as to perceive the level of the overall satisfaction
Comparison of the means on more detailed level
25
evaluated the different factors in addition to if their overall satisfaction is different. An example that can be describe in order for the reader to better comprehend the statistical operation is if the more educated people(bachelor degree) evaluated the factors differently from the people that obtained lower educational level(high school) and if they have different satisfaction level.
Conduction of the independent t test
Fourth in order to comprehend if the differences that occurred in the previous tests are significant we must choose a technique for that. In the specific case of Dentist LTD the most appropriate will be the independent t test.
Conduction of the multiple regression analysis
Fourth a multiple regression model will be analyzed with the purpose to identify which of the factors are the most significant one and to locate the insignificant. Last but not least we will include dummy variables in order to perceive how they affect the theoretical framework and actually what is the contribution of the factors to the overall model.
Qualitative
Conduction of in-depth interviews
26
important factor for them and to give recommendation for improvement in the clinic itself. The interpretation of the participants will be structured in specific way.
First it will be made general description of the group. The second issue in the qualitative analysis will be made namely description -the general beliefs and attitudes of every specific factor .Third the positioning of the most important factor in every specified segment will be presented that is homogeneous in both of the analysis. Fourth an individual adaptation of the theoretical framework will be presented with the purpose to represent the results visually.
Third a comparison among the specified segments will be performed in order to perceive if there is a major difference in the feelings and attitudes of the participants.
Finally there will be summary of the perceived results from the qualitative section.
Chapter 4: Results
27
QUANTITATIVE
Description of the sample
After the fulfillment of the survey the following step of the analysis is the description of it. In order to perceive the sample more efficiently; an overview table will be created. The overview table divided the segments according to their demographics characteristics as well as their durance as patients.
Overview table 1
28
The next demographic criterion is the age of the participants. In order to better scrutinize the different segments in the questionnaire I identified five different age groups- 10-20, 20-30, 30-40, 40-50 and above 50 years old. The first step in analyzing the results is explicitly to present them. The first group represented the youngest segment that is from 10-20 years old. The participants that accomplished the questionnaire from this segment were only 5 which can be interpreted that this segment represented the smallest client mass compared to the others. The next segment is from 20-30 years old and represented 25% of the respondents which in numbers is 18 participants. This group is the greater in comparison with the others. The same situation is with the other segment that belongs to the group between 30-40 years, it represented the same percent 25% from the sample, which in numbers means 18 respondents. The next segment belongs to the group that is from 40-50 years which is 21% of the respondents. Last but not least is the oldest segment which is above 50 years old the participants that are in this segment are 22, 5 percent.
Another demographic criterion which is very essential in the segmentation of the patients is the educational level. Generally in Bulgaria the tendency is to increase the educational level among the citizens but the results proved different present situation. The first group in the demographic characteristic education is the minimum level of education that exists- high school. The participants with that level represented the smallest group from the respondents. The value that this group possessed is only 2, 5 % or 2 participants from 80.
The next educational level is college which in Bulgaria stands for the minimum level in order to receive job. Among the patients who participated in the survey this group is the most capacious, the next level is the group that possessed semi- bachelor degree. The people who participated in the survey and possessed this specific degree are 23, 8 percent of the respondents or 19 participants of the whole sample. Last but not least is the segment with the highest possible education for this survey. The respondents who obtained this level are thirty or 37% of the total sample. Moreover it appeared that the biggest groups are the college group and bachelor group.
29
because if are able to obtain this information we can see the current strategic orientation of the clinic. The first group of the income division is 200-300 euro the participants that received this income are 21, 3% of the whole sample. The next group which obtained from 300-500 euro represented 21, 5 of the respondents. A payment that is in the levels between 500-700 euro is 17 participants or 21, 3 of the respondents. Last but not least is the richest group compared to the minimum monthly wage which in Bulgaria is 170 euro, this group possessed the biggest purchase power and it is identified as the primary segment for targeting from most of the companies. The patients who are in this group are 35% of the respondents or 30 participants. Consequently the biggest segment in Dentist LTD possessed the biggest purchase power.
30
Description of the sample on the basis on the factors
After the description of the respondents the next step in the analysis is to explore if there any difference in the evaluation of the factors that contributed to the creation of the satisfaction. The following step will be to present short summary of the factors that participated in the creation of the satisfaction in a more general perspective. In order for the reader to better grasp the idea I will present a table with the arithmetic mean of the evaluation of every factor that the eighty respondents fulfilled. The purpose of this analysis is to assess are there any immense differences among the evaluation of the alter factors. Actually the following scrutiny will provide us with the information that is crucial in answering one of the research questions-
Overview table of the evaluation of the respondents Table2
Number of respondents
Mean of the factor Std. Deviation of the factor Service product 80 1,41 ,47 Service processes 80 1,47 ,48 Service employees 80 1,44 ,42 Service environment 80 1,65 ,65 Satisfaction 80 1,56 ,33
31
provides on a more general level that this factor possessed the highest evaluation among the factors in the Dentist LTD. On the contrary the service environment has the smallest value 1, 65. Therefore we can infer on the first sight that the service environment is evaluated in the most negative way. In order to answer one of the main research questions- Is there are low satisfaction among customers we will use again the information from this table. As we can perceive from the information that was from the means of the factors we can conclude that there is no low satisfaction among the customers. The main argument for that is the evaluation (means) of the factors. The questions in the questionnaire were constructed on the basis of the Likert Scale with possible answers from one to five. In this specific case if the respondent answers with 1 it means that he /she valuated the factor with the highest possible value. Therefore when we explore the table we can apprehend that the values of the evaluations are almost the same and they are around the highest possible appraisal of the factors.
Deeper analysis
After the result that the patients who fulfilled the questionnaire, actually possessed high satisfaction with the factors that established the atonement in their conscience, a deeper examination of the patients is necessary to be performed. The following section will be a namely the succeeding analysis -if the different segments evaluated the factors in an alter way. The basis of the different segments will be provided from the demographic characteristic that was possessed by the patients. The characteristics in the survey were the following- income, age, gender and education. In order to efficiently explore if the different segments evaluated the factors differently I will present a column in the overview table which will be labeled p value which actually is the significance of the different groups that evaluated the alter factors.
32
As I already elaborated we will use an independent t test in order to apprehend if the slightly differences that occurred in the overview table are noteworthy or not. In this statistical operation I will define two groups in a segment and test if these two groups within the cluster significantly differ on the four factors as well as the satisfaction. The analysis of the independent t tests will include four distinctive steps- arrangement of an overview table, example of how the results are interpreted, array of the results that are significant and conclusion of the section. The t-test is a very powerful statistical test in terms of rejecting a null hypothesis that is false. Like all statistical tests, it is based on a model that makes some assumptions about the data.
As long as we have enough people in each group (typically greater or equal to 30 cases) and the groups are close to equal in size, we can be confident that the test will be a good, strong tool for getting the correct conclusions. Statisticians say it is a "robust" test. (see Champion's book, Basic Statistics for Social
Research, published in 1981.) In the case of Dentist LTD we have 83 cases
based on the estimated sample. The t-test determines whether the mean from one group differs from the mean of another group. It does so by comparing the mean difference between the two groups.We use t-test for independent samples (independent t-test based on Student’s t-distribution) in the research, as different groups of people are compared at the same point in time.We select 10 percent as margin of error. It indicates that out of 100 times, the difference we observed was due to chance only 10 times. We consider 10 percent satisfactory as a level of significance in this research. In addition, we use the p-value, to make a conclusion if the difference between the means is significant or not.The lower the p-values, the more confident we can be that the observed difference is due to the group factor of interest.In performing the test we get a calculated t value.
33
than' and 'less than'; and second, they allow us to specify just how much greater-than or less-than one measure is in comparison with another.
Overview table (Table 3)
Service Environment p-value Signific Service Employees p-value Signific Service Processes p-value Signific Service Product p-value Signific Satisfaction p-value Signific
Gender Male Mean 1,64 0,90 1,46 0,70 1,47 0,40 1,31 1 1,54 0,60
Std. Deviation 0,70 0,45 0,50 0,48 0,34 Female Mean 1,66 1,42 1,52 1,31 1,58 Std. Deviation 0,62 0,40 0,47 0,46 0,32
Age 10-20 Mean 1,65 0,17 1,47 0,61 1,65 0,50 1,42 O,40 1,52 0,17
Std. Deviation 0,75 0,41 0,65 0,54 0,48 20-30 Mean 1,63 1,5 1,57 1,37 1,58 Std. Deviation 0,49 0,56 0,42 0,41 0,33 30-40 Mean 1,65 1,4 1,51 1,37 1,56 Std. Deviation 0,69 0,41 0,44 0,53 0,33 40-50 Mean 1,60 1,44 1,55 1,29 1,60 Std. Deviation 0,82 0,34 0,49 0,46 0,27 above 50 Mean 1,66 1,44 1,55 1,36 1,54 Std. Deviation 0,56 0,37 0,56 0,47 0,32 Income 200-300 Mean 1,58 0,70 1,41 0,20 1,55 0,23 1,35 0,61 1,53 0,67 Std. Deviation 0,47 0,53 0,52 0,52 0,39 300-500 Mean 1,63 1,37 1,55 1,33 1,56 Std. Deviation 0,81 0,38 0,56 0,48 0,35 500-700 Mean 1,58 1,45 1,56 1,41 1,58 Std. Deviation 0,44 0,46 0,56 0,50 0,28 above 700 Mean 1,68 1,46 1,47 1,37 1,57 Std. Deviation 0,76 0,35 0,40 0,41 0,32
Education High School Mean 1,71 0,50 1,5 0,50 1,55 0,55 1,52 0,15 1,56 0,98
34
Note for the Service environment the values of the means are the following: Gender- Male( 1,63) and Female (1,66) ; Age- with a cut point of 3. The means are (1,71) and (1,50). In order to comprehend the role of the cut point in the interpretation of the analysis there is an elaboration of this. Education- again there is identified cut point of 3 the values of the means(1,57 and 1,56) Last but not least is the Income again there is a cut point here and the means are (1,67 and 1,61)
The succeeding values of the means can be obtained from the appendix in the table 4 of the independent t tests.
Interpretation of the results:
Service processes
35
the more educated (M=1.57, SD=0.52) and the less educated (M=1.31, SD=0.38) customers’ (78) =2.3, p=0.25>0.1=alpha value. The fourth example that is necessary to be performed is to see if the people who possessed bigger education evaluated differently the service process compared with the people who weren’t obtained high education. The test was executed and the result is that there is no significant difference in the values of the clients who are less level of education (M=1.44, SD=0.51) and the clients who possessed bigger education (M=1.5, SD=0.44); t (78) =0.603, p=0.55>0.1=alpha value.
The last example is to contemplate if the people who have bigger average income evaluated the service process differently from the clients who have smaller income. Furthermore the results were the following: the people who received bigger income (M=1.51, SD=0.45) didn’t evaluate the service process compared with the clients who received smaller average income (M=1.39, SD=1.51), t (78) =1.08, p=0.28>0.1= alpha value.
The interpretation of the results that was performed will be as an example of the clarification of the following independent t tests.
Service product
After the conduction of the independent t tests with a test variable service product and grouping variables- gender, income, education and durance as a patient with their cut points that were already used in the previous example, the independent t tests showed that there are no significance difference in the evaluation (means) of service product on the basis of the demographic characteristics with their cut points. This information can be verified from the values in the table 3.
Service environment
36
the means and the independent t test namely will explore if these differences are significant or not. After the statistical operation and the values that were derived they determined that the alterations in the means (evaluations) are not significant.
Service employees
The following factor that was identified in the creation of the service quality by the literature review was the service employees. In order to conduct the deeper analysis -if the evaluation of the respondents that that fulfilled the survey are significant or not I as a researcher conducted independent t tests with a test variable service employees and grouping variable the following demographic characteristics- age, gender, income and education. The results showed (table 3) that the dissimilarities in the evaluations (means) are not significant. Consequently we are not able to distinguish particular segment that evaluated differently the factor- service environment.
Satisfaction
In order to explore the satisfaction of the respondents and to comprehend if there is a particular segment which evaluated significantly differently the satisfaction I conducted the final independent t tests. In the statistical operation I used satisfaction as a test variable and the already known demographic characteristics. The results from the independent t tests were that the differences in the means (evaluation) weren’t significant. Therefore we couldn’t detect a particular segment which evaluated considerably in a diverse way the satisfaction. This can be easily perceived from table 3.
37
The following analysis will be namely to conduct multiple regression model. This statistical operation allows us to predict someone’s score on one variable on the basis of their scores on several other variables. In the case of Dentist LTD we will find the factors (service environment, service process, service product and service environment) score on the overall satisfaction. Moreover we will find with which factor the satisfaction is most accurately predicted by the specific factors above. We will called the specific factors predictors and the satisfaction will be the criterion variable.
Method
There are different ways that the relative contribution of each predictor variable can be assessed. In the case of Dentist LTD we will use the simultaneous method also called enter because we have relatively low number of cases and we don’t have any strong theoretical predictions.
So we already identified the dependent variable as satisfaction (criterion) and dependent variables are the factors (predictors) that were identified to have impact on that dependent variable. This is the first step in the multiple regression analysis. The alpha value that I choose as a researcher is 0.1 which is the same value that I used in the previous statistics.
Reporting the results
The interpretation of the results will be the following analysis. Moreover I will present an overview table from the statistical operation, I will discuss the most important issue in the following analysis- , r square, the F statistics culinary diagnostic and the significance of each predictor and then I will present a summary of the results. I will perform all of these analyses for the first regression model and after that for the following I will only present summary tables with the results that were derived from the analysis. In other words the first model will be example of how I interpret the data.
38
Model R R Square Adjusted R Square
Std. Error of the Estimate
1 ,874a 0,763 0,751 0,16667
Model summary
So the first step is to analyze the model summary of the regression itself. When we explore the R square which has a value of 76, 3% of the factors in the case of Dentist LTD –service employees, service process, service product and service environment. This means that 76, 3% of variability of the Satisfaction in the dental clinic can be accounted by the included in the model independent variables. Moreover the adjusted R square shows us the amount of the predictive loss. In other words this means that if we apply the model for different sample we would see a slight amount of loss of predictive power from 0, 76 to 0, and 75. F statistics F-statistics Model F Sig. 1 Regression 60,453 ,000 Residual Total
Generally the F- statistics is one of the most important attributes of the regression analysis. Generally the above table represents The test of significance for the F-statistic it measures the probability that none of the independent variables in the model are correlated with the dependent variable beyond what could be explained by pure chance (due random sampling error). The adaptation of this information for the specific model in Dentist LTD can be represented in the following way:
39 Collinearity Diagnostic Tollerance VIF Serv Employ 0,727 1,376 Serv Process 0,501 1,998 Serv Env 0,853 1,172 Serv Prod 0,633 1,579
This table actually gives the values which will help us to identify if we have multicolinearity issues. Under the Collinearity statistics we have values of tolerance and vive. Actually multicolinearity is a problem to the model that is already identified because it decreases the size of the multiple correlations the interpretation also becomes an issue because there is a high confiding due to the high interrelations .If we found multicolinlinearity in our predictors (factors) that are used to establish satisfaction in Dentist LTD. Additionally our regression becomes unstable because of the high interrelation of our predictors. In order to comprehend if there is multicolinearity we will see the tolerance statistics for every factor. If the tolerance statistics is less than 0.01 we have multicolinearity issues. As we can see from the values of the tolerance all of them are above 0.01 then we didn’t have multicolinearity. Moreover in addition to this information we also will explore the vif which actually is a reciprocal is another measure of the multicolinearity if we have value which is above 10 it also indicates the multicolinearity. We can easily comprehend that the vif values are less than the 10 so we can infer again that we don’t have multicolinearity in the model of Dentist LTD.
40
Y’= 0,446+ 0,046(X1) +0,196(X2) +0,238(X3) +0,260(X4)> the
coefficients of the regression model that are significant are the X2, X3, X4. According to the t test for significance the regression coefficients are all significant without the service product p=0,353>01 alpha value.
Therefore we must conduct the regression without the service product. All of the values in the regression model are derived from the presented table.
Overview table
Model 1 B Std. Error Beta P-value
Const 0,446 0,81
Serv. Env 0,238 0,31 4,69 0 Service Emplo 0,196 0,51 0,251 0 Serv. Process 0,26 0,054 0,382 0 Service Product 0,046 0,5 0,066 0,353
RERUN- Regression model without service product (model 2)
Model Summary
Model R R Square Adjusted R Square
2 ,874a 0,761 0,751
After the identification that service product is not significant for the satisfaction we will run the model again without the insignificant predictor.
41
2. F- statistics- In order to prevent repetition I will only present the information from the F statistics that there is no possibility that the correlation among the dependent variable (Satisfaction) and the independent variables (Serv. Envy and etc.) is due solely to random sampling.
3. After the analysis of the regression model we will analyze -the correlations between the independent variable and the dependent (satisfaction).
Even without the service product we didn’t obtained any multicolinearity issue, the service product accounted for only 0,002. Moreover again the overlapping is almost the same namely because of the insignificance of the factor service product.
Regression model of the significant predictors
Y’= 0,473+0,241(X1-Serv.env)) +0,187(X2-Serv.employ) +0,288(X3-Serv.process) - The coefficients of the model are significant. For instance in the data there are customers who are evaluated the factor(Serv. Envy) with a mean 2.37 if we improve the evaluation with 1 it will be transformed with a mean of 1,37 in that way we will increase the satisfaction with 0,241. The other factor which is significant is the Service employees if we increase the evaluation with value of 1 we can increase the overall satisfaction with 0,187. Last but not least we imply the same logic so we can increase the overall satisfaction with 0,288 if we change the evaluation of this factor with one value more positive.
OVERVIEW SUMMARY TABLES (TABLE 5)
Model 1 B Std. Error Beta
42 Serv. Env 0,238 0,31 4,69 Service Emplo 0,196 0,51 0,251 Serv. Process 0,26 0,054 0,382 Service Product 0,046 0,5 0,066 Model 2 Const 0,446 0,81 Serv env 0,238 0,31 4,69 Service employees 0,196 0,51 0,251 Serv. Process 0,26 0,054 0,382
.Note R square = 0,763 for step 1; R square = 0,761 for step 2
Note for all predictors P<0.alpha level only for Serv. Product P=0,353>0, 1-alpha value.
Dummy variables in the regression model
The last rerun of the linear regression will be with included dummy variable. In the specific case of Dentist LTD the possible dummy variable is the gender, education, income and age. They will be categorical predictors in this specific case. So the first dummy variables in the regression model will be on the basis of the education of the patients that participated in the survey of Dentist LTD. The potential answers in the survey were high school, college, semi-bachelor and bachelor.
43
education significantly affect the satisfaction which in the regression is represented as a variance to the model.
The next establishment for the dummy will be age. Generally this is not categorical characteristic. Therefore I must justify the dichotomous separation in the age criterion. So I created a dummy variable with a cut point. In that case the cut point was 40 so there are two specified groups people who are to 40 years and patients who possessed age above 40 years. I separated those groups because there are almost approximately divided 50 by 50 percent’s in the present clientele in the company... Again we will see if these groups are significant to the model when the already proved significant predictors (serv.envy. serv.proc and serve employ.) Moreover we will explore if the old (above 40 years old) has significance contribution of the model. This is the justification of the dichotomous separation.
The following dummy variable will be the income where again we occur the same problem because this variable is not categorical characteristic but we will establish as categorical. So the dichotomous justification will be to assess if the patients who possessed more than 500 euro significantly affect the satisfaction in the model. The dummy variable will be created again with the purpose to identify two groups- those who receive less than 500 euro and the patients who receive above than 500 euro. The point that was served as a cut is 500 because again in the sample description we can perceive that the present clientele is distributed approximately the same. In other words 50 percent receive less than 500 euro and 500 percent’s receive more than 500 euro.
The last dummy variable will be the gender. It is categorical characteristic so a dichotomous justification is not needed. I will again create a dummy variable and this variable will define two groups- for the female it will get value of zero so it will not affect the model but for the male it will have affect. The question is if the contribution to the model of the male will be significant.
44
Model Summary
Model R R Square Adjusted R
Square
3 ,874a 0,767 0,741
So the model (3) summary as I already elaborated will reveal the variability of the satisfaction in the Dentist LTD that can be accounted for the included new independent variables- dummy variables. Therefore we can infer that 76, 4%of variability of the Satisfaction in the dental clinic can be accounted for the included independent variables- service environment, service process, service employees and the dummy variables-age, income, gender and education. Moreover the change in the R square when we included the dummy variables is only with 0,006. Moreover the second step as I already identified is the F-statistics so again as in the previous models we can elaborate that the model is significant and there is no possible random sampling error among the dependent and independent variables.
In order to explore which dummy variables are significant I will present the table which will serve for the further analysis.
Overview table 6
MODEL 3 B Std. Error Beta P-value
(Constant) 0,489 0,092 0 Servenv 0,239 0,032 0,471 0 Servemploy 0,176 0,053 0,226 0,001 Serviceprocesses 0,3 0,049 0,441 0 male -0,011 0,041 -0,017 0,78 bachelor 0,013 0,044 0,019 0,771 peopleabove40years 0,004 0,042 0,006 0,925 peopleto500euro -0,034 0,043 -0,05 0,433
Note R square for step 2 =0,761 changed for step 3 with 0,003 Note for all dummy predictors P>0, 1-alpha value
45
them are insignificant because all of the p- values>0,1 which is the alpha level in the model itself. In other words none of the dummy variable contributes to the model significantly. Therefore it is not necessary to perform coefficient analysis because their coefficients didn’t contribute to the satisfaction significantly. In this analysis there are certain limitations connected with the data. As a future recommendation I can say that if we make the analysis broader(follow ups) for practical purposes it will be better to register the data for the income in ratio level of measurement because in that way this predictor can be placed as a quantitative not as a dummy variable as well for the others predictors. This is the overall conclusion of the section of the dummy variable. In other or superior data the results and the conclusions can be different.
Results from the Qualitative research
The questions for an in-depth interview:
46
with the dentist. The questions are orientated to understand what is the present marketing and what is the present strategic orientation of the company.Because the in-depth interview is an investigation tool which in the most cases cannot be conducted in order (the interview can’t be constructed with unified structure), even a marketer cannot sometimes direct the feelings and opinions of the people. Therefore, the most vital issue is to create a common basis of the results in order to interpret them correctly. The factors that are influencing the creation of the satisfaction is the conceptual model itself with its dimension.. In order to be more precise every interview was unique but this example can direct the reader what were exactly explored in the interviews. The reader will have the opportunity to efficiently understand the questions and the responses in the interpretation of the results, because one of the interviews is placed in the appendix.
Structure of the Qualitative results:
The integration of the results will be namely on the basis of every factor within every specified segment. A description of the sample on the basis of the demographic characteristics-age, income, education and durance as a patient this will be the first point and after that there will be interpretation on the basis of the factors. The first factor will be the service environment; the second will be the service employees and etc. The following part which the clients position the most important factor will be the third outline for every cluster of patients. The final part will be description of the current strategic orientation of the Dentist LTD. Consequently all of the factors determine the present strategic orientation. Moreover an individual adaptation of the theoretical framework for every specified segment will be presented in order to perceive the results more efficiently.
Finally a comparison among the already identified segments will be presented with a summary table and a conclusion of the section.
FIRST SEGMENT:
47
Description of the segment
The remarkable fact can be observed is namely that in the quantities analysis there are only two respondents from this segment. Furthermore the number of the respondents that participated in the interviews is two – one female and one male. This is necessary to be done in order to scrutinize the feelings of the males as well as of the females. The educational level is high in this segment because they are young and the trend in Bulgaria is namely that educational level of the young people to be increased. Namely because of that their level of understanding the questions was fluent. It appeared that this segment possessed high power of purchase. This information can be derived from their income statements and some of the answer that they gave. For instance both of the respondents said that their monthly expenses are above 700 euro.
Service environment
The next step is to see whether there is a difference from the responses on the basis of the first factor namely the service environment. The two respondents said that the service environment for them is very significant and they gave the reasons namely that it can provide relaxaction of their psychological state as well as that they love the luxurious atmosphere. To prove that the male participant in the interview answered- “Absolutely I believe that this is the key factor for me’’- the question was is the service atmosphere significant for you .Moreover all of the two respondents will change some things in the service environment especially the female respondent because it is proved that that females are more critique to the environment. For instance – Peaty said: The entrance is a little bit strange I can characterize it as not convenient I mean it must be broader for me. This is an example of the critique that the female respondent gave.
Service employees
48
dentists are quite relevant it appeared that they really possessed an individual approach that is in accordance with the evaluation of them. For instance- ‘’I will characterize the doctors as professionals and psychologists because they have certain attitude that provokes trust in the patient’’ said the male respondent.The two respondents are very satisfied with the doctors but in terms of the nurses’ one of the respondents (female) stated that the nurse is not enough polite. After more questions on that issue comes out that one of the nurses who is older has not so positive attitude toward her which appeared to erode the satisfaction in the conscious of the female respondent. To sum up the feelings and the emotions towards the dentists is perfect in every term- hospitality, physical appearance and communication skills which determined the overall approach from the doctors. On the contrary the evaluation of the nurses was negative especially from the female participant.
Service Process
Other factor that is involved in the conceptual model and also has influence in the creation of the satisfaction is the service process. The choice for that factor was namely because we evaluate the dental industry and for some people the overall process determined their satisfaction. The two respondents put the process as the most crucial in determining the importance of the factors for them. For instance the male respondent answered the question- are you satisfied with the process in that way- What can I say the processes are perfect but the most significant thing for me as well as the leading is that the process must be painless . The most significant information is namely that they characterized it as perfect for this specific industry.
Service product
49
expertise of the doctors are on the first place. The differencue in their answer was that the female respondent put a lot of attention in the esthetical beauty of the teeth she said-Absolutely, first for me the most significant is the beauty in my mouth and I can say that in this clinic the doctors did that This is logical in terms of her requirements for the clinic. On the other hand the male respondent put a lot of attention to the functionality of the product. He stated that this is significant for him. Generally both of the respondents said that the product that was performed for them was perfect and their feelings towards this specific factor were only positive. The most considerable fact in this section was that the evaluation was positive and the respondents didn’t put so much importance to this factor.
Evaluation of the importance of the factors
The last part of the interviews includes what is the most significant for clients in the creation of the satisfaction as well as to position the factors in terms of their importance. The results from the question concerning the factors were similar in the two respondents they placed the process on the first place(For me the leading thing is the process because it must not be painful. Here I experienced that, that’s why I will be always patient in this clinic. Said one of the respondents (male) this means that if the clinic wants to put their orientation to this segment they must use this factor as primary. The most important factor within the segment was identified with the most pluses. In this case and the following cases the plus will be defined as the most important factor for the creation of the satisfaction in the specified segment.
50
Strategic orientation within the segment
The options for the strategic orientation is the revenue emphasis( Rust et all 2002) and dual emphasis(Mittal et all 2006). The revenue emphasis that is followed by the Dentist LTD is the revenue emphasis, because the doctors offer individual approach and they really try to meet the unique preferences of their clients- painless treatment or some preferences concerning the size nad colors of their tooth. Rust et all (2002) identified the three components of it attraction, retention and word of mouth. In order to efficiently interpret the result I will discuss the components separately and they will be foundations for apprehensions.
So on the basis of the questions concerning the attraction- how you get familiar with the clini? The two respondents said that they just took the risk to visit Dentist LTD. Consequently the attraction process towards this segment is not efficiently conducted.
51
The last component of the revenue emphasis which is the word in this specified case is a consequence if the previous two. Threfore the word of mouth is not efficienty provoke from the abominable conditions of the previous components of the reveneue emphasis.
Results- second segment
Interpretation of the segment- 20-30 years old with educational level average (Minimum college ).
Description of the segment
In this segment the age is between 20-30 years ,the educational level is high and the participants are two. Moreover the issue with the gender is again the same as the previous segment. In other words there is one man and one woman that in this segment, in order to understand if there is a difference from the responses on the basis of the gender. The purchase power will be described in the setion itself. The durance as a patience in the Dentist LTD is high- mainly the participants are customers from a long time.
Service environment
52
and the servicescape must ensure a psychological relief so the colors and the spatial layout( Lovelock and Wietz,2011) must be in harmony.
Service employees
The second factor that is crucial in the creation of the satisfaction is the service employees this segment( the two respondents) stated interesting facts concerning the employees. On the basis of the results it appearred that the doctors are characterized as professionals in terms of everything- approach, psychology relieve of the patient as well as the process that they conducted. In comparison with them the two participants said that the nurses didn’t possesed positive attitude toward the patients and their work which established the foundation of a problem in the nurses because even the previous segment had this opinion. The female respondent was quite critique about the nurse she even stated that she can compare bad experience with the current nurse team. Consequently this problem must be resolved in order to improve the satisfaction in this segment.
Service Processes
53
Service Product
The fourth factor is the product itself. According to Lovelock and Weitz (2011) the evaluation of this factor can overcome even a bad delivery to it if the quality meet the psychological compulsion that the client possesed. In other words if the quality of the product meet the requirements of the patient towards it ,the effect will be positive in the evaluation of the overall service . The participants in the in- depth interview stated that there is no better quality that they occurred during their past experience ,especially the male respondent who compared vividly his experience in Germany in the past 3 months. Moreover they evaluated the product in terms of beauty and functionality in a very positive way- like natural and etc. One common issue between the two participants was namely that they insisted on quality, not so much in price
Evaluation of the importance of the factors
The last part where they must answer questions for the importance of the factors, they answered in accordance with each other. The most significant factor for the two participants is namely the product. It appeared that not the process but actually the result of the overall service is significant for them. They put a lot of attention of it. A visual representation of the conceptual model is again presented the leading factor in the establishment of the satisfaction is presented with the more pluses.
54 .
Present strategic orientation in the specified segment
As I alrady elaborated I will interpret the data on the basis of attraction retention and word of mouth. The attraction is high in this segments which can be explained with the high rate of word of mouth all of the respondents said that they are familiar with the clinic from friends. Consequently the attractions as well as the word of mouth components are efficiently conducted. On the contrary the retention process can be improved with the suggestions that the clients marked and
Because of the primary outcome from the quantitative analysis it appeared that the main customers that Dentist LTD have are the segments between 30 and above. Consequenty in order to understand them better I interviewed three in each segment from 30-50 and above 50 years old. The justification of that choice is namely because these clients are more compared with the other on the basis of the quantitative analysis.
Third segment- Resutls:
