Parents` perceived service quality, satisfaction and trust of a childcare center : implication on loyalty

The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of parent’s perceived service quality on satisfaction and trust. It also explores the relationship between satisfaction, trust and loyalty in a childcare centre. Perceived service quality in a childcare centre has received increasing attention by researchers during the past decade. Research evidence has revealed that perceived service quality has an influence on satisfaction and trust. The data for this research were collected from 201 respondents in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor via survey technique. A comprehensive conceptual model was developed and tested by structural equation modeling using AMOS program. The findings unveil that perceived service quality is positively related to parent satisfaction and trust. In turn, parent’s satisfaction is the most influential determinant of trust. Furthermore this paper delineates several interesting findings that, trust holds a pre-eminent role in the formation of parent’s loyalty towards the childcare centre. However, parent’s satisfaction has no direct impact on loyalty. Implications of the findings, potential limitations of the study and directions for future research are suggested.

[1]  A. Yeung,et al.  What do parents want from day care services? : perspectives from Australia , 2001 .

[2]  M. Holbrook,et al.  The Chain of Effects from Brand Trust and Brand Affect to Brand Performance: The Role of Brand Loyalty , 2001 .

[3]  Andreas B. Eisingerich,et al.  Maintaining customer relationships in high credence services , 2007 .

[4]  Claes Fornell,et al.  A Customer Satisfaction Research Prospectus , 1994 .

[5]  F. Dwyer,et al.  Developing Buyer-Seller Relationships , 1987 .

[6]  Martin Wetzels,et al.  Linking perceived service quality and service loyalty: a multi‐dimensional perspective , 1999 .

[7]  Joseph O. Rentz,et al.  A Measure of Selling Skill: Scale Development and Validation , 2002 .

[8]  Gillian Doherty,et al.  Predictors of Quality in Family Child Care. , 2006 .

[9]  T. Keiningham,et al.  Does parent satisfaction with a childcare provider matter for loyalty , 2006 .

[10]  E. Anderson,et al.  The Antecedents and Consequences of Customer Satisfaction for Firms , 1993 .

[11]  Gilbert A. Churchill,et al.  Marketing Research: Methodological Foundations , 1976 .

[12]  Lawrence A. Crosby,et al.  Effects of Relationship Marketing on Satisfaction, Retention, and Prices in the Life Insurance Industry , 1987 .

[13]  Matthew Gray,et al.  Family-Friendly Work Practices: Differences within and Between Workplaces , 2003 .

[14]  J. J. Cronin,et al.  Assessing the effects of quality, value, and customer satisfaction on consumer behavioral intentions in service environments , 2000 .

[15]  Thomas O. Jones,et al.  Why Satisfied Customers Defect , 1996 .

[16]  J. Dietz.  Satisfaction: A Behavioral Perspective on the Consumer , 1997 .

[17]  James A. Narus,et al.  A Model of Distributor Firm and Manufacturer Firm Working Partnerships , 1990 .

[18]  E. Sivadas,et al.  An examination of the relationship between service quality, customer satisfaction, and store loyalty , 2000 .

[19]  Drago Dubrovski.  The role of customer satisfaction in achieving business excellence , 2001 .

[20]  G. Zaltman,et al.  Factors affecting trust in market research relationships. , 1993 .

[21]  A. Parasuraman,et al.  The Behavioral Consequences of Service Quality , 1996 .

[22]  T. Allen.  Family-Supportive Work Environments: The Role of Organizational Perceptions , 2001 .

[23]  K. Wulf.  The role of the seller in enhancing buyer-seller relationships : empirical studies in a retail context , 1999 .

[24]  Timothy L. Keiningham,et al.  The Impact of Customer Satisfaction on Share-of-Wallet in a Business-to-Business Environment , 2003 .

[25]  J. J. Cronin,et al.  Some New Thoughts on Conceptualizing Perceived Service Quality: A Hierarchical Approach , 2001 .

[26]  Jochen Wirtz,et al.  Services Marketing: People, Technology, Strategy , 2000 .

[27]  J. Bloemer,et al.  The complex relationship between consumer satisfaction and brand loyalty , 1995 .

[28]  Providing a critical service today for tomorrow's consumers: A relational model of customer evaluations and responses in the child care industry , 2007 .

[29]  A. Athanassopoulos.  Customer Satisfaction Cues To Support Market Segmentation and Explain Switching Behavior , 2000 .

[30]  Steven A. Taylor,et al.  Measuring Service Quality: A Reexamination and Extension , 1992 .

[31]  Shankar Ganesan.  Determinants of Long-Term Orientation in Buyer-Seller Relationships , 1994 .

[32]  A. Sohal,et al.  An examination of the relationship between trust, commitment and relationship quality , 2002 .

[33]  J. Hair.  Multivariate data analysis , 1972 .

[34]  J. E. Swan,et al.  Consumer perceptions of interpersonal equity and satisfaction in transactions: A field survey approach. , 1989 .

[35]  J. Steenkamp,et al.  A Meta-Analysis of Satisfaction in Marketing Channel Relationships , 1999 .

[36]  S. Hunt,et al.  The Commitment-Trust Theory of Relationship Marketing , 1994 .

[37]  F. Selnes.  Antecedents and consequences of trust and satisfaction in buyer‐seller relationships , 1998 .

[38]  R. Oliver.  Whence Consumer Loyalty? , 1999 .

[39]  T. Hennig-Thurau,et al.  The impact of customer satisfaction and relationship quality on customer retention: A critical reassessment and model development , 1997 .

[40]  William T. Ross,et al.  The Asymmetric Impact of Negative and Positive Attribute-Level Performance on Overall Satisfaction and Repurchase Intentions , 1998 .

[41]  A. Parasuraman,et al.  Marketing Services: Competing Through Quality , 1991 .

[42]  C. Herington,et al.  Can banks improve customer relationships with high quality online services , 2007 .

[43]  Sirkka L. Jarvenpaa,et al.  Consumer trust in an Internet store , 2000, Inf. Technol. Manag..

[44]  J. Nunnally.  Psychometric Theory (2nd ed), New York: McGraw-Hill. , 1978 .

[45]  F. Dwyer,et al.  Developing Buyer-Seller Relationships: , 1987 .

[46]  F. Selnes,et al.  Antecedents and consequences of trust and satisfaction in buyer-seller relationship, European Journal of Marketing, . , 1998 .

[47]  Richard A. Spreng,et al.  An empirical examination of a model of perceived service quality and satisfaction , 1996 .

[48]  R. Gurrea,et al.  The role played by perceived usability, satisfaction and consumer trust on website loyalty , 2006, Inf. Manag..

[49]  E. Hirschman.  Adoption of an Incredibly Complex Innovation: Propositions From a Humanistic Vantage Point , 1987 .

[50]  Jooho Kim,et al.  An empirical validation of a loyalty model based on expectation disconfirmation , 2000 .

[51]  C. Fornell,et al.  Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. , 1981 .

[52]  Uzma Iram,et al.  Socioeconomic and environmental determinants of child-care patterns of preschoolers in Pakistan , 2004 .

[53]  V. Mittal,et al.  Satisfaction, Repurchase Intent, and Repurchase Behavior: Investigating the Moderating Effect of Customer Characteristics , 2001 .

[54]  K. Ruyter,et al.  Antecedents of commitment and trust in customer-supplier relationship in high technology markets. , 2001 .

[55]  Jyh-Shen Chiou,et al.  The antecedents of consumers' loyalty toward Internet Service Providers , 2004, Inf. Manag..

[56]  Mary Jo Bitner,et al.  Evaluating service encounters: The effects of physical surroundings and employee responses. , 1990 .

[57]  Aron O'Cass,et al.  Child care services: An exploratory study of choice, switching and search behaviour , 2003 .