Research Title The relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction: a case study of Pizza hut

Abstract This dissertation is to explore the relationship between high level of service quality and customer satisfaction in the context of Pizza Hut Restaurant, London. The success of the business depends mostly on the customers satisfaction. Satisfied customers ensure the profitability to the business by ensuring the repeat purchasing. Customer satisfactions lead a firm to ensure customer loyalty and repeat purchasing. The higher the offerings of the firm become superior in term of quality the higher the possibility of the sustainable advantages. This study will evaluate the relationship between the customer satisfaction and the high level of service quality provided by the staff of the Pizza hut. This study will be conducted by following qualitative research method. Necessary primary data will be collected through completing a survey of the chosen sample. The people who come at Pizza Hut and take food from Pizza Hut are the population for this study. The sample size will be 60 for this study; this sample will be determined by simple sampling technique. Keywords: service quality, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty.

Table of contents Contents CHAPTER ONE (INTRODUCTION) 1.1 BAKGROUND OF THE STUDY 1.2 RESEARCH PURPOSE 1.3 RESEARCH AIM OR OBJECTIVES 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED 1.5 JUSTIFICATION OF THE SELECTED RESEARCH TOPIC 1.6 PROPOSED STUDY STRUCTURE 1.7BACKGROUND OF THE CASE COMPANY CHAPTER-TWO (LITERATURE REVIEW) 2.1 INTRODUCTION 2.2 SERVICE QUALITY 2.3. CUSTOMER SATISFACTION 2.4 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HIGH LEVEL OF SERVICE QUALITY AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION 2.5. SUMMARY CHAPTER THREE (RESEARCH METHODOLOGY) CONCLUSION REFERENCE Page No. 04 04 04 05 05 05 06 07 08 08 08 10 11 13 14 15 16-17

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

1.1 BAKGROUND OF THE STUDY The operation of the companies are now a days becoming more and more complex and uncertain as the number of the competitors are rising and the environment of the business approaching to dynamic. According to Kantaburta and Vimolratana (2009) the operation of the companies are rapidly changing as different firms are emerged from different areas of business. According to the Ismail et al (2009) the major factor crucial in sustaining the competitive advantages is the ensuing of the quality of the services to the customers. Satisfied customers are considered as the assets to the customers. Satisfied customers ensure the profitability to the business by ensuring the repeat purchasing. Through the fulfillment of the customers needs the service provider should fulfill the core needs of the customers by offering differentiation in their services. According to Young (2008) the satisfaction of the customers emerged as the crucial point of research. In this study the relationship between the satisfaction of the customers of the Pizza Hut and the quality of the services will be evaluated. The satisfaction of the customers is considered as the prerequisite in ensuring the customers loyalty. When the core needs of the customers are fulfilled they become satisfied. 1.2 RESEARCH PURPOSE In this study the researcher will explore the relationship between high level of service quality and customer satisfaction in the context of Pizza Hut Restaurant, London. 1.3 RESEARCH AIM OR OBJECTIVES To explore the relationship between high level of service quality and customer satisfaction is the aim of this dissertation. Through this study following objectives will be achieved. i. To explore the relationship between the customer satisfaction and the high level of service quality provided by the staff of the Pizza hut; ii. To identify the factors of service quality; iii. To evaluate the effects of customer satisfaction resulting from high level of service quality;

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED i. How are customer satisfaction and high level of service quality related to each other? ii. What are the factors of service quality? iii. How does customer satisfaction resulting from high level of service quality affect the performance of the Pizza Hut? 1.5 JUSTIFICATION OF THE SELECTED RESEARCH TOPIC There exists a severe competition in the retail industry. The companies in such mass competition should provide better value to the customers by providing qualified services. The higher qualities of the products ensure the customers satisfaction and it turns into the company as sustainable competitive advantages. The research conducted by Mittal and Kamakura (2001) expressed the process through which satisfaction of the customers results the competitive advantage to the

company. Another research by Darian et al (2001) also represented how the success of the service provider becomes affected by the customers satisfaction. Thus the operation of a research regarding the customer relationships and the service quality becomes an imperative and contemporary issue.

1.6PROPOSED STUDY STRUCTURE

1.7 BACKGROUND OF THE CASE COMPANY

Pizza Hut Restaurant is one of the most popular and biggest restaurants of the world. It started its business in 1958. Pizza Hut was founded by Frank and Dan Carney. Pizza Hut started its first shop in UK after fifteen years of its inception. Pizza hut is the leading restaurant for pizza in UK. Almost six hundred outlets are operated through the UK. Pizza hut is under the control of Yum! Brands, Inc., the parent company of the Pizza Hut. To be the UKs best pizza hut restaurant brand is the mission of the Pizza Hut.

CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTION Customers are considered as god for any business. The success of the business depends mostly on the customers satisfaction. The major point in this case involves the better value provided to the customers. According to the Ismail et al (2009) the key to the competitive advantage is considered as the higher satisfaction provided to the customers. The satisfied customers are considered as the assets for the business. Thus the satisfactions of the customers have a constructive influence on the profitability of the business. In this study, the relationship between high level of service quality and customer satisfaction will be explored in the context of Pizza Hut Restaurant, London. 2.2 SERVICE QUALITY The service quality refers to the overall judgment of the customers in the context of making fulfill their core needs (Eshghi et al, 2008). According to Ladhari (2008) each and every organization are trying to provide a differentiated products and services to the customers with an eye to ensuring the service quality and customer satisfaction. The competitive advantages of a firm are accelerated by the degree of the service quality. The importance of the service quality is regarded by both the practitioners and the academicians (Negi, 2009). The service quality can also be regarded as the total judgment of the customers in terms of the marketing strategies of the firms. The continuous improvement of the quality of the service of the company can facilitate the company to ensure the customer satisfaction and the increased profitability of the firm. According to the Ladhari (2008) the concept of the service quality should be involved with the unique, distinct, and heterogeneous characteristics of the services. The quality of the services in this case can easily be estimated. According to Parasuraman et al (2005) there are ten determinants of the service quality like courtesy, access, competence, responsiveness, reliability, understanding the customers, security, credibility, tangibility to prepare the structure and the communication. Then the 5 factors are identified as the key determinants like responsiveness, empathy, tangibles, assurance and reliability. The quality of scale RSQS (retail service quality scale) was emerged when the SERVQUAL becomes failed. Seven factors were taken from the SERVQUAL and other eleven were taken from their own research. The high reliability and validity including department store includes the following:

The dimensions of the service quality have been presented in the following graph:

2.3. CUSTOMER SATISFACTION: The satisfaction of the customers mainly involves the function of the performance of the products and services comparing with their expectations. The buying behavior of the customers toward particular organization represents the customers satisfaction (Cicerone et al, 2009). The customers satisfaction occurs when the practices of buying serves the qualities that are expected by the customers (Huddleston et al, 2008). The evaluation process through which the customers value the performance of the products and services quality provided to them is considered as the customers satisfaction (Wicks & Roethlein, 2009). He further postulated that the organization having a pool of satisfied customers becomes more profitable in comparing with the major competitors.

Figure: Conceptual framework of customer satisfaction (Source: own)

The customer service and the service quality dimension are strongly correlated. According to Anderson and Sallivan (2003) the overall customer satisfaction is represented by the quality of the services. The quality of service may not be separated from the total customer satisfaction (Mishra, 2009). The degree to what the customers satisfaction and the service quality is correlated are found by several researchers. The emotional aspects of the human and cognitive aspects together form the customers satisfaction. The expectations from the customers regarding the products and services along with the combinations of perceptions together form the customer satisfaction. The perception of the products and services is represented by the service quality. There exists a strong association between the customer loyalty, customer satisfaction and the service quality perceived by customers (Magi and Julander, 2009). The customer satisfaction also represents customers loyalty as the perceived quality of the customers is fulfilled by this. Thus the organization should try to satisfy their customers in ensuring the customer loyalty. The following hypothesis have been developed having reviewed the above studies.

2.5. SUMMARY The satisfaction of the customers is considered as the asset for the firm. The satisfaction of the customers plays a vital role on the profitability of the business. Customer satisfactions lead a firm to ensure customer loyalty and repeat purchasing. The higher the offerings of the firm become superior in term of quality the higher the possibility of the sustainable advantages.

CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY In this section I described how the study will be conducted. In this study qualitative research method will be used. Saunders et al., (2007) said that, qualitative method is efficient for qualitative data collection.

Yin (2004) stated that, there are mainly five kinds of study policies; for example Survey, Case study, Experiment, History, and Archival analysis. Among these strategies case study strategy is the most useful strategy; hence the case study strategy will be used for the proposed study. Pizza Hut Restaurant, London, UK is the case company for this study. Secondary data and primary data are the two common sources of data and from both sources necessary data will be collected. Secondary data will be taken from internet, article, journal, etc. and primary data will be collected through completing a survey of the chosen sample. The people who come at Pizza Hut and take food from Pizza Hut are the population for this study. The sample size will be 60 for this study; this sample will be determined by simple sampling technique. During the primary data collection a predetermined questionnaire will be used. Descriptive statistics (mean, and Std. deviation) and MS Excel Spreadsheet will be used to present and analyze the collected data. Yin (2003) said that, gather the chain of evidence that may augment the validity of the research. To maintain the validity of the findings of the proposed study I will follow all necessary steps. Yin (2003) said that, the purpose of reliability is to provide declaration that if the similar study is done with the similar cases by other investigators once more, he might obtain the similar result as well as ending. The researcher himself will conduct the study to improve the reliability. In conducting research the ethical consideration is essential. I will study Code of Ethical Conduct for Research to apply ethics in this study.

CONCLUSION The success of the business depends mostly on the customers satisfaction. Satisfied customers ensure the profitability to the business by ensuring the repeat purchasing. Through the fulfillment of the customers needs the service provider should fulfill the core needs of the customers by offering differentiation in their services. The satisfaction of the customers is considered as the prerequisite in ensuring the customers loyalty. Customer satisfactions lead a firm to ensure customer loyalty and repeat purchasing. The higher the offerings of the firm become superior in term of quality the higher the possibility of the sustainable advantages. This study will evaluate the relationship between the customer satisfaction and the high level of service quality provided by the staff of the Pizza hut. This study will be conducted by following qualitative research method. Necessary primary data will be collected through completing a survey of the chosen sample. The people who come at Pizza Hut and take food from Pizza Hut are the population for this study. The sample size will be 60 for this study; this sample will be determined by simple sampling technique.

Reference 1. Abu, N. K. (2004). Service quality dimensions: A study on various sizes of grocery retailers A conceptual paper, Proceeding of IBBC . 2. Badri, M. A., Abdulla, M. & Al-Madani, A. (2005), Service quality assessment and application of SERVQUAL. 3. Bloemer, J., & de Ruyter, K. (2008). On the relationship between Store Image, Store Satisfaction and Store Loyalty. European Journal of Marketing, 32(5/6), 499-513. 4. Bloemer, J., & Odekerken-Schroder, G. (2002). Store Satisfaction and Store Loyalty Explained by Customer- and Store- Related Factors. Journal of Customer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior, 15, 68-80.

5. Bougoure, U. & Lee, B. (2009), Service quality in Hong Kong: wet markets vs supermarkets, British Food Journal. 6. Brady, M.K., & Cronin, Jr. J. J. (2001). Some new thoughts on conceptualizing perceived service quality: a hierarchical approach. Journal Marketing, 65(3), 34-49. 7. Bryman, A. & Bell, E. (2007), Business research methods. 2nd edition. New York: Oxford University Press Inc. 8. Burns, D. J., & Neisner, L. (2004). Customer satisfaction in a Retail store: the contribution of emotion. International Journal of retail & Distribution Management 34(1), 49-66. 9. Churchill, Jr. A. G.; Dawn, L. (2002), Marketing Research Methodological Foundations, Eighth Edition, South-Western, a division of Thomson Learning. 10. Dabholkar, P. A., & Overby, J. W. (2005). Linking process and outcome to service quality and customer satisfaction evaluations: An investigation of real estate agent service. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 16(1), 10-27. 11. Dabholkar, P. A., Shepherd, C. D., & Thorpe, D. I. (2000). A comprehensive framework of service quality: an investigation of critical conceptual and measurement issues through a longitudinal study. Journal Retailing, 76(2), 139-173. 12. Eshghi, A., Roy, S. K., & Ganguli, S. (2008). Service quality and customer satisfaction: An empirical investigation in Indian mobile Telecommunications services, Marketing Management Journal. 13. Fen, Y. S. & Meillian, K. (2005), Service quality and customer satisfaction: Antecedents of customers re-patronage, Sunway Academic Journal. 14. Frank, B., & Enkawa, T. (2009). Economic influences on perceived value, quality expectations and customer satisfaction. International Journal of Consumer Studies. 15. Garca, J. A. M. & Caro, L. M. (2010), Rethinking perceived service quality: An alternative to hierarchical and multidimensional models. Total Quality Management; 16. Ghylin, K.M., Green, B. D., Drury, C. G., Chen, J., Schultz ,J.L., Uggirala, A., Abraham, J.K. & Lawson, T.A. (2006). Clarifying the dimensions of four concepts of quality, Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science; 17. Hoffman, K.D. & Bateson, J.E. (2001). Essentials of Service Marketing: Concepts, Strategies, and Cases (p.324). (2nd. Ed.). Australia: South Western Thompson Learning. 18. Huddleston, P., Whipple, J., Mattick R. N. & Lee S. J. (2008), Customer satisfaction in food retailing: comparing specialty and conventional grocery stores, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management. 19. Ismail, A., Abdullah, M. M. B., & Francis, S.K. (2009). Exploring the relationships among service quality features, perceived value and customer satisfaction. Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management, 2(1), 230-250. 20. Ladhari, R. (2009), A review of twenty years of SERVQUAL research, International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences. 21. Negi, R. (2009), Determining customer satisfaction through perceived service quality: A study of Ethiopian mobile users, International Journal of Mobile Marketing. 22. Oliver, R. L. (2007). Satisfaction: A Behavioral Perspective on the Consumer. New York, NY: Irwin/McGraw-Hill. 23. Sahin, B., Demir, C., Celik, Y., & Teke, A. K. (2006). Factors affecting satisfaction level with the food services in a military hospital, Journal of medical systems. 24. Saunders, M.; Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A. (2007), Research methods for business students, Financial Times/Prentice Hall. 25. Yin, R. K. (2003) Case Study Research Design and Methods, Third Edition, Sage Publications Inc: Thousands Oaks, California