Effect of retail service quality on switching intentions among hypermarket customers

Retail service quality is a vital driver in determining customer satisfaction, which in turn promotes customer loyalty and reduces switching intentions. Based on disconfirmation theory, the difference between expectations and delivered service quality, determines the level of a customer satisfaction. Service quality is a solution to build customer satisfaction which could lead to customer loyalty hence reducing switching intentions. The concept of switching intentions has received significant attention in the field of marketing, however, little is known about the application of this concept in the context of retail business. Consumer research has neither verified the relationships among constructs like retail service quality, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and switching intentions, in a single framework, nor explored the possible influence of store ethnicity and price discounts on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty to switching intention. The current study has investigated the interrelationship among service quality, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty with switching intentions, and the moderating role of price discounts and store ethnicity, in a single framework. Random sampling was used by administering standardized questionnaires personally to 450 hypermarket customers located in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. The quantitative data was analyzed by the structural equation modeling technique using AMOS 20 software. The study extended the existing body of knowledge by introducing new moderators of price discounts and ethnic store on the relationships between satisfaction and switching intentions, and loyalty and switching intentions. The results confirmed that retail service quality has significant positive influence on customer satisfaction, and the positive effect of customer satisfaction on customer loyalty. Besides that, the study verified in marketing literature that store ethnicity and price discounts acted as moderating mechanism for explaining the switching intentions of satisfied and loyal customers. The results of the study may serve as a guideline for top managers of the hypermarkets to design appropriate policies and strategies in terms of retail service quality, price discounts and needs of ethnic groups in a particular region. This will help to enhance customer satisfaction and customer loyalty hence reducing switching intentions of customers

Impact of knowledge management capabilities on new product development performance through mediating role of organizational agility and moderating role of business model innovation

In several studies, knowledge is witnessed as one of the foundations of long-term competitive edge and is also a basic source of new product development (NDP) performance. The aim of this study is to investigate the role of knowledge management capabilities (KMC) in new product development performance with the mediating role of organizational agility. Additionally, this study also intends to examine the moderating role of business model innovation on the relationship of KMC with organizational agility. This study was conducted on the Chinese automobile sector, and the NPD project managers, supervisors, and engineers of the sector were respondents of this study. A survey questionnaire was used to collect the data from 201 respondents, and data were analyzed using the Smart PLS 3 software. The findings of this research, although limited to the automobile industries, indicate that knowledge sharing and knowledge application have significant and positive effects on the development of new products. Organizational agility significantly mediates the relationship of KMC with NPD. The results found that business model innovation has a significant moderating role in the relationship between KMC and organizational agility. Moreover, the results of this study will assist the managers in developing a modern competitive business environment by implicating KMC in the process of NPD. Lastly, organizations may improve the sustainability of their product and their overall performance by using organizational agility and modern ways of value delivery

Switching intentions: a case of Saudi Arabian hypermarkets

Switching intention (SI) of consumer is sought as main issue of retailing due to its negative effects on market share and profitability of retail outlet. Now firms need to know the factors, which contribute to choose another outlet, and customer changes its patronage elsewhere. For this reason, it is very important for firm to understand the reasons of consumer switching to maintain their long lasting relationship with customers. This study is about the impact of retail service quality on customer satisfaction (CS) by using retail service quality model and moderating role of ethnic store (ES) in SI of satisfied customers. The purpose of the paper is to looks into the determinants of SI and attempts to answer why satisfied customer switch and do not maintain the relationship with current store. Statistical population is the customers of hypermarket in Saudi Arabia. The research method is based on descriptive – survey and data analysis method is by structural equation modeling by using Amos software. Significant positive effect of dimensions of retail service quality model on CS is found. Moreover, the moderating role of store ethnicity is also proved for CS-SI links, which exhibits that store ethnicity affects the behavior of satisfied customers and they intend to switch to their ES

Factors affecting entrepreneurial intention among graduate students of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

This paper empirically assesses the relationship of entrepreneurial intention and its antecedents among graduating students of UTM. This study is based on the models developed by Davidsson [7] and Autio et al. [1]. Research framework has utilized the modified version of the original study. Work experience, vicarious experience, general attitude, image of entrepreneurship and other demographic variables are tested against entrepreneurial conviction and entrepreneurial intentions. This study supports the proposition that conviction is the strongest variable that has direct influence towards entrepreneurial intention, whereas general attitude has a significant influence as well as those male students with work experience were found to have higher entrepreneurial intention. Based on the outcomes of the study, the paper is concluded by giving the recommendations and a finalized model of entrepreneurial intention