TOURISM SERVICESCAPES: A CONCEPTUAL OVERVIEW. Binta Abubakar Swinburne University of Technology. Felix Mavondo Clayton Campus.

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1 TOURISM SERVICESCAPES: A CONCEPTUAL OVERVIEW Binta Abubakar Swinburne University of Technology Felix Mavondo Clayton Campus Abstract The growth in the tourism service sector in recent year has raised continuous interest in the development of theoretical concepts in tourism to increase understanding of customers needs in the market place. Several streams of research have contributed significantly to the understanding of the servicescape (physical surroundings) in marketing and tourism. Studies in the servicescape seek to deliver superior value to customers, creates opportunities for longer tourist stays, repeat visits and positive word-of-mouth. However, there are gaps in the literature that limit our understanding of the significance of the servicescape. This paper reviews the literature on the antecedents to customer joy and satisfaction with the tourism servicescape. The paper develops hypotheses that could address the gaps through empirical testing. Introduction Research Gaps Within a service setting, the immediate service environment affects both the employees and the customers hence the need for service providers to be sensitive to the needs of both in designing the service environment. The design of the service environments is a critical part of the product design. Bebko (2000) argues that the environment has to be taken into account even when simply assessing the tangibility of the services provided. Zeithaml & Bitner, (1996) state that, Physical evidence is the environment in which the service is delivered and where the firm and the customer interact: and any tangible commodities that facilitate performance or communicate the service (p 518). Thus, the service environment performs many functions such as communication of setting, communication of quality, communicates expectations and is an embodiment of the tangibility of the otherwise intangible. Given the size and importance of the tourism industry, it is surprising that there has been little research on customer satisfaction with the servicescape (Chadee and Mattsson, 1995). This lack of lack of research is surprising considering the demand for comparative studies in the customer satisfaction literature (Cronin and Taylor, 1992). In marketing, there has been empirical work that lends credence to the idea that consumer and employee behaviour may affect how the physical environment is designed (Bitner, 1992; Foxall & Greenley, 1998) to achieve high levels of customer satisfaction (Wirtz and Bateson, 1998, Babin and Boles, 1998; Winsted, 2000). This paper attempts to bring together a variety disciplinary perspectives into the study of the servicescape. Conceptual Framework Figure 1 (below) represents a general model of tourism servicescape and identifies the antecedents and consequences of consumer satisfaction. The model combines studies in

2 consumer satisfaction (Oliver, 1980, 1997 & 2000; Churchill and Suprenant, 1982), and studies of the physical service environment (Bitner, 1992; Foxall and Greenley, 1998). The first section of the model suggests that there are variables that influence the behaviour of consumers such as customer expectations, quality of service provision and issues related to equity as antecedents to customer satisfaction. Antecedent and Consequence of Tourist Satisfaction Service Environment The place of business in which the transaction occurs has been defined as any tangible commodities which facilitates performance or communication of the service (Baker, 1996) or as the servicescape (Kurtz et al 1998). On the other hand Bitner (1992) defines servicescape as the built environment, but allows for atmospherics of the environment. For Lovelock, Patterson and Walker (2001), the servicescape is described as covering such elements as physical layout of the service facility, ambience, and background music. According to Herrington (1996) customers in a service environment can be exposed to numerous stimuli that potentially affect how they act, what they buy and their satisfaction with the service experience. P1 The more appealing the service environment the greater that customer satisfaction, the lower the complaints and the greater the likelihood of future patronage. Service Environment Expectation Quality Equity Figure 1: Antecedents and Consequences of Customer Satisfaction with Tourism Servicescape. Customer Satisfaction Future Actions Complaint Service Quality Service quality is defined as a global judgment or attitude relating to the overall excellence or superiority of the service (Siu & Cheung, 2001), thus service quality has a direct impact on customer satisfaction. Caruana & Berthon (2000) argue that service quality and satisfaction are distinct constructs and that customer satisfaction results from experiencing a service quality encounter and comparing that encounter with what was expected. Prior research on

3 service quality has identified the dimensions customers use to evaluate services but there is little clarity on how these dimensions are held as mental structures in long-term memory. Dabholkar, et al (1996) suggests that the dimensions of service quality are held in schemas as hierarchical structures. This is consistent with research that has shown that customers categorise information about products in hierarchical memory structures (Rosch, Mervis, Gray, Johnson, and Boyes-Braem 1976; Sujan 1985; Cohen and Basu 1987). This factor structure comprises three levels of cognitive activity: an overall service quality dimension, a first order set of service quality dimensions, and a second order of sub-service quality dimensions. Dabholkar, et al s work implies that customers elicit additional dimensions of service quality as a higher order dimension becomes salient. Thus, customers may value events differently within a service encounter. Some research suggests that within any encounter there will be core, peripheral, and amenity services that prescribe what is salient given the type of service, overall this affects customers view of quality within the servicescape. Literature is not clear whether the servicescape is core, peripheral or amenity. Hence: P2 The quality of the service environment is positively associated with customer satisfaction, and negatively associated with customer complaints. Expectations Expectation provides a standard of comparison against which consumers judge an organisation s performance (Baker, 2000). It is defined as the customer's frame of reference with respect to a product/ service that allows anticipation of product/service performance (Bitner, 1990). Parasuraman et al (1990) state that customers become dissatisfied if gaps or discrepancies exist between customers' expectations on the one hand and service providers' perceptions of the quality of their services on the other. Expectations play a major role in determining consumers post consumption service quality evaluation (Bekbo, 2000). It is important to understand the nature of customers expectations in tourism servicecscape because expectations are the standard by which customers evaluate service quality. Dorsch et al 2000, argue that expectations concerning a product are beliefs about it performance, thus it is reasonable to use customer expectations as a basis for both formulating purchase intentions and establishing standards for judging service performance (Ziethaml et al, 1993). It is anticipated that the level of customer benefits expected from a service category will also positively affect intentions to use that service category. We have noted earlier that the service environment conveys indications of reasonable expectations. Hence P3. The characteristics of the servicescape are significantly associated with customer expectations Perception Perception is defined as the processes by which people select, organise, and interpret stimuli into a meaningful and coherent picture (Lamb, Hair and McDaniel, 2001). Perception is a cognitive episode triggered by causal interaction between sense and object. This interaction gives rise to a preliminary awareness of an unstructured whole. Researchers have focused their attention on how the service environment may affect perception of the service. It is argued that the physical environment wherein services are performed both contributes to the image of the service and influences behaviours in the service setting (Shostack, 1977). Evidence suggests that cues in the environment influence customers' satisfaction with services

4 Bitner (1990). Zeithaml and Bitner (2000), argue that one should always keep in mind that the entire discussion of quality and satisfaction is based on customers perceptions of the service, not some predetermined objective criteria of what service is or should be. Hence, the following proposition is advanced: P4. Customers expectations and perceptions of tourism servicescape are associated with customer satisfaction and future customer actions Satisfaction The customer's (dis) satisfaction is the outcome of complex information processing which essentially consists of a comparison of a consumer's experience with a purchased product or service and his/her expectations with regard to the fitness of this product or service for its intended purpose (Herrmann, Huber, and Braunstein, 2000). Hunt (1977) defines satisfaction as a kind of stepping away from an experience and evaluating it. Oliver, (1997) notes that satisfaction is the consumer's fulfilment response. It is a judgement of a product or service feature, or product or service itself in its ability to provide a pleasurable level of consumption related fulfilment, including levels of under or overfulfillment. The concept of satisfaction is a widely researched field in marketing, yet the scope of its application to the tourism servicescape needs to be further developed. Achieving a high level of customer satisfaction has become a major goal for many companies. Homburg and Giering (2000) note that this is more so in the tourism industry in which the dimension of satisfaction is related to two fundamental properties (Ostrom & Iacobucci, 1995). The customer s judgment of the quality of the service and evaluation of the interaction experience the tourist has made with the service provider. P5: Customer satisfaction is a function of customer perception, servicescape quality and customer expectations which lead to reduced customer complaints and increased future patronage. Equity Equity theory proposes that people have a notion of fairness that influence s whether they are satisfied with a particular product or service experience or service environment. Oliver and Swan (1989) argue that equity/inequity is one very important component of satisfactory exchange. Two basic propositions of equity theory are posited by, Walster, Walster, and Bersheid (1978). They argue that (1) individuals in an exchange seek to maximise their outcomes relative to their inputs; (2) that when individuals find themselves participating in inequitable relationships, they will become distressed; the more inequitable the relationship, the more distress individuals will feel. In the context of consumer satisfaction, the theory predicts that consumers will be more satisfied with equitable exchanges and less satisfied with inequitable exchanges. Equity, in the context of the servicescape involves how individuals are treated and how effectively they interact with other customers in the service environment. Inequitable treatment in the servicescape may override subsequent service delivery facets. Hence P6: That customer who feel that they are equitably treated are likely to be more satisfied, to offer fewer complaints, they express a willingness to patronize the service provider.

5 Conclusion & Implications With increasing competition in most service industries as well as rising customer expectations and their demand for superior services at equitable prices, there is a need to strengthen all the facets of competitiveness. This means the service environment is increasingly becoming important. We have argued that the servicescape communicates quality, expectations and is the locus of customer-provider interactions. The more conducive the interaction environment, we argue the greater the opportunities for customer and employee satisfaction, the more likely the future tourist patronage and the less likely the complaints. According to Fournier and Mick (1999) the satisfaction process often has a strong social dimension. They argue that there is a need for a substantial research on satisfaction to prevent narrow and potentially spurious conceptual and operational boundaries. They note that transaction-specific assessments of satisfaction are likely to be incomplete, if not misleading and unreliable. Fournier and Mick (1999), Anderson and Fornell (1994) and Tse, Nicosia and Wilton (1990), have all called for more satisfaction research from a non-transaction-specific view, to take into consideration other factors such as consumer interaction and experience in a service environment. The propositions advanced here and the resulting hypotheses will be tested empirically in the next phase of this study. This is hoped to answer some of the gaps in the literature. Bibliography Anderson, E.W. Fornell, C. and Lehmann, D.R. (1994) Customer Satisfaction, Market Share, and Profitabliity: Findings from Sweden. Journal of Marketing. Vol. 58, 3, pp Babin, Barry J. Boles, James S. (1998) Employee Behavior in a Service Environment: A Model and Test of Potential Differences Between Men and Women. Journal of Marketing. Vol. 62, 2. Bebko, C. P. (2000) Service Intangibility and Its Impact on Consumer Expectations of Service Quality. Journal of Service Marketing. Vol 14, 1, pp Bitner, Mary J. (1992) Servicescape: The Impact of Physical Surroundings on Customer and Employees. Journal of Marketing. Vol. 56 (2l), pp Boom, B. H. and Tetreault, M. S. (1990) The Service Encounter Diagnosing Favourable and Unfavourable Incidents. Journal of Marketing. Vol. 54, pp Caruana, A Money, A., H., and Berthon, P., R., (2000) Service Quality and Satisfaction - The Moderating Role of Value. European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 34, 11 / 12. Chadee, Doren, D. and Mattsson, Jan. (1996) An Empirical Assessment of Customer Satisfaction in Tourism. Service Industries Journal. Vol. 16 (3): Churchill, Gilbert A. and Carol Suprenant. (1982). An Investigation Into the Determinants of Customer Satisfaction. Journal of Marketing Research. Vol. 19,

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