Service quality and customer loyalty: adequacy of servqual model

Delivering services quality is a vital strategy for success of an organization in today’s highly competitive business context. Globalized competition has stressed the strategic importance of product quality and loyalty in the battle for winning consumer preferences. Since winning customer is not an easy task in highly spirited business context, more marketers attempt to enhance customer loyalty and remain customers by delivering services quality. In the services business context, the telecommunications industry is a high velocity industry throughout the world. When scrutinizing the telecommunications industry, the most dynamic change at current can be recognized in the field of mobile phone sector. The purpose of this study is to present empirical evidence of services quality effect on customer loyalty. The survey method was used as the main research method for the study. The sample consisted of 300 respondents. The Pierson’s Correlation and Regression analysis were employed to test the impact of services quality on customer loyalty. The study findings showed that services quality dimensions of responsiveness and empathy have significant positive relationship with customer loyalty while other three services quality dimensions namely tangibles, reliability, and assurance also indicate positive correlation with customer loyalty. Exhibiting their level of loyalty, no significant difference between male and female subscribers was reported. The result together with respondents’ comments towards SERVQUAL to evaluate service quality in mobile phone industry is also discussed.