Pham Minh Thu-BABAIU10022

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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY HO CHI MINH CITY INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF BUSINESS MEASURING THE AFTER-SALE SERVICE QUALITY AND EXAMING ITS EFFECTS ON THE OVERALL CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AT HONDA AUTO DEALERS In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of BACHELOR OF ARTS in BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Student’s name: PHAM MINH THU (BABAIU10022) Advisor: NGUYEN THI HUONG GIANG, MBA Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 2014

Transcript of Pham Minh Thu-BABAIU10022

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY

INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

MEASURING THE AFTER-SALE SERVICE

QUALITY AND EXAMING ITS EFFECTS ON

THE OVERALL CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

AT HONDA AUTO DEALERS

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree of

BACHELOR OF ARTS in BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Student’s name: PHAM MINH THU (BABAIU10022)

Advisor: NGUYEN THI HUONG GIANG, MBA

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

2014

MEASURING THE AFTER-SALE SERVICE

QUALITY AND EXAMING ITS EFFECTS ON

THE OVERALL CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

AT HONDA AUTO DEALERS

APPROVED BY: Advisor APPROVED BY: Committee,

________________________ ___________________________________

Nguyen Thi Huong Giang, MBA

__________________________________

__________________________________

__________________________________

THESIS COMMITTEE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

To be able to complete this final dissertation as expected, I had invaluable

backup from everyone around me. So, this is time for me to express my sincere gratitude

to those who helped me to overcome the last challenge in the senior year.

First and foremost, I would like to give special thanks to my supervisor,

Ms.Nguyen Thi Huong Giang for guiding me to work in a right way and for her

enthusiasm to assist me at the right time so that I could meet my thesis schedule.

I am grateful to dealers for their support during my fieldwork period. In

specific, I really appreciate the CR employees there for giving me feedback about my

questionnaire to make it more closely relevant to the car service context. Without their

efforts, it would have been very difficult for me to make respondents understand the

questionnaire clearly.

Finally, special thanks go to my family that significantly took care of me and

motivated me to overcome some hard times that I faced within the thesis period.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES .........................................................................................................v

LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................... vii

ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... viii

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................1

1.1. Background .......................................................................................................... 1 1.2. Problem statement ................................................................................................ 3 1.3. Research objectives .............................................................................................. 5

1.4. Methodology ........................................................................................................ 5 1.5. Study scope .......................................................................................................... 6

1.6. Research significances ......................................................................................... 6 1.7. Organization of the research ................................................................................ 7

CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................8

2.1. Customer satisfaction ........................................................................................... 8 2.2. After-sale service ................................................................................................. 9

2.3. Characteristics of the car after-sale service ....................................................... 10

2.5. The importance of the after-sale service quality ................................................ 13 2.6. Conceptual framework ....................................................................................... 15 2.7. Importance - Performance analysis (IPA) .......................................................... 16

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ....................................................19

3.1. Quantitative approach ........................................................................................ 19

3.2. Questionnaire design .......................................................................................... 19 3.3. Sampling method ............................................................................................... 22 3.4. Pilot testing ........................................................................................................ 23

3.5. Data analysis ...................................................................................................... 23

CHAPTER IV DATA ANALYSIS ............................................................................25

4.1. Demographics .................................................................................................... 25

4.2. Summary of the general information ................................................................. 26 4.3. Descriptive Statistics:......................................................................................... 28

4.3.1. Tangibles ..........................................................................................................28

4.3.2. Reliability ..........................................................................................................29

4.3.3. Responsiveness .................................................................................................31

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4.3.4. Assurance ..........................................................................................................32

4.3.5. Empathy .............................................................................................................33

4.3.6. Satisfaction ........................................................................................................35

4.4. Reliability analysis ............................................................................................. 37 4.5. Factor analysis ................................................................................................... 38

4.6. Revised conceptual framework: ......................................................................... 45 4.7. Correlation testing .............................................................................................. 45 4.8. Regression analysis ............................................................................................ 46 4.9. IPA results .......................................................................................................... 49

CHAPTER V ................................................................................................................52

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION.........................................................52

5.1. Conclusion ..............................................................................................................52

5.2. Strategic recommendation ......................................................................................53

5.3. Limitation ...............................................................................................................57

REFERENCES ............................................................................................................58

APPENDICES .............................................................................................................63

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Summary of original items ................................................................................. 20

Table 2: Dealer comparison of information sources ......................................................... 27

Table 3: Tangibles ............................................................................................................ 28

Table 4: Reliability .......................................................................................................... 29

Table 5: Responsiveness .................................................................................................. 31

Table 6: Assurance ........................................................................................................... 32

Table 7: Empathy ............................................................................................................. 33

Table 8: Satisfaction ........................................................................................................ 35

Table 9: Case processing summary................................................................................... 37

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Table 10: Reliability analysis summary ........................................................................... 37

Table 11: KMO ................................................................................................................ 38

Table 12: Component correlation Matrix ....................................................................... 39

Table 13: Total variance explained .................................................................................. 39

Table 14: The first rotation .............................................................................................. 40

Table 15: Total variance explained ................................................................................... 41

Table 16: The second rotation........................................................................................... 41

Table 17: Total variance explained .................................................................................. 42

Table 18: The last rotation ............................................................................................... 42

Table 19: New factors ...................................................................................................... 43

Table 20: Total variance explained .................................................................................. 44

Table 21: Rotation for the dependent variable ................................................................. 44

Table 22: Correlation matrix ............................................................................................ 45

Table 23: Model Summary .............................................................................................. 46

Table 24: ANOVAb

.......................................................................................................... 46

Table 25: Coefficientsa ...................................................................................................... 47

Table 26: Importance mean value .................................................................................... 49

Table 27: Reliability result _ Tangibles factor ................................................................. 69

Table 28: Reliability result _ Reliability factor ............................................................... 70

Table 29: Reliability result _ Responsiveness factor ........................................................ 71

Table 30: Reliability result _ Assurance factor ................................................................ 71

Table 31: Reliability result _ Empathy factor ................................................................... 72

Table 32: Reliability result _ Satisfaction factor ............................................................. 73

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Customer satisfaction index ................................................................................ 4

Figure 2 After-sale service process ................................................................................... 11

Figure 3: Customer perceptions of quality and customer satisfaction .............................. 15

Figure 4: Theoretical framework ...................................................................................... 15

Figure 5: Importance-performance matrix ........................................................................ 17

Figure 6: Demographics .................................................................................................... 25

Figure 7: Currently used cars ............................................................................................ 26

Figure 8: Types of information sources ............................................................................ 27

Figure 9: Tangibles ........................................................................................................... 29

Figure 10: Reliability ........................................................................................................ 30

Figure 11: Responsiveness ................................................................................................ 31

Figure 12: Assurance ........................................................................................................ 33

Figure 13: Empathy........................................................................................................... 34

Figure 14: Satisfaction ...................................................................................................... 36

Figure 15: Revised theoretical model ............................................................................... 45

Figure 16: Importance-performance graph ....................................................................... 50

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ABSTRACT

In the current situation of strong competition in the automobile after-sale

service in Vietnam, the study was conducted to measure the service satisfaction level at

Honda authorized dealers, whereby the research findings could help the dealers to

improve their service quality. The research was developed on the three key theoretical

foundations; they were the five service factors adapted from the Parasuraman‘s

SERVQUAL model, the ―customer satisfaction‖ framework by Wilson (2008) and the

Importance-Performance analysis (IPA) method. The quantitative method was employed

and the questionnaire distribution was limited in Ho Chi Minh City. The sample size had

been estimated to be 150; afterwards, 151 qualified questionnaires were collected.

The data were analyzed through the use of descriptive statistics, factor

analysis, multiple regression and the IPA. As a result, the first five service factors were

narrowed down into the four groups that were subsequently labeled as personnel’s

serving skills and attitudes, first sight of tangibility, service reliability and other service

elements. Then, the regression analysis showed that the ―personnel’s skills and attitudes”

factor haD the most important influence on the overall customer satisfaction. Meanwhile,

there was not enough evidence to conclude that the ―first sight of tangibility” factor

significantly impacts the satisfaction. Later, the IPA helped pick out key specific

attributes that Honda dealers should stress.

In conclusion, all of the three tested dealers have faced similar obstacles

regarding the technician‘s skills, service speed, ability to give advice and records of car

service profiles which are perceived to be highly important to customers. Therefore, some

strategic suggestions were made, which might be useful to boost the satisfaction to a

higher level at the Honda dealers.

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter reviews the background and the problem statement which drive objectives

to conduct the study. Afterwards, the research method and the study's significance are

discussed. Eventually, the research structure is presented to make the research easier to

follow.

1.1. Background

Unlike many other countries where automobile production has become one of

the key economic sectors, the Vietnamese industry has flourished very late and just been

through the two decades of development. Before 1992, the diversity of cars was limited;

at the time, vehicles were in control of the Vietnamese government, many of which were

imported from the Union Soviet only. Then, as a part of "Reform" policies to boost the

growth of the national economy, the government granted assembly licenses to over 30

regional assemblers including local producers, joint venture and foreign owned

companies ("Vietnam's automotive component," 2007). As a result, the following years

witnessed the new factories constructed by Toyota, Mitsubishi, Mercedes-Benz, etc.

Furthermore, the young market with wide range of product segments has attracted many

domestic and foreign car importers, increasing competition and variety of choices for

customers as well.

The battle of market share is forecast to be more difficult in coming years due

to import duty reductions. Specifically, under the pressure of AFTA agreement, tariff that

is applicable to car imported from Asian nations will fall from 72 - 83% to 50% in 2014

and then to 0% in 2018. Similarly, within seven years of accession to WTO, Vietnam

government has to carry out the tax cut from 70% in 2014 to 47% in 2017 and to continue

the progress by 2019. According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the effect would

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be the annual increase of 20% in customer purchasing power, since people are able to buy

cheaper imported cars than those being produced domestically.

For any companies, especially domestic producers that aim to strengthen its

position in this increasingly competitive market, strategic emphasis on differentiation of

product offerings is not enough; alternatively, the improvement in authorized dealer's

service quality is necessary, especially its after-sale service.

After-sale service is a post-purchase stage whose purpose is to ensure that

customers feel satisfied with their product or service experiences. Unlike non-durable

goods, the car buying decision is associated with different types of risk such as physical

and functional risks; therefore, customers have high demand in special care for their cars

from the manufacturers so that they can feel more secured about their choice during the

ownership.

After-sale service has become a critical tool for any automobile producers

(Flees & Senturia, 2008), because with good management it can be a great source of

benefits. For example, after-sale service is acknowledged as relational competitive

advantages, which helps to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty to the companies.

In other words, this facilitates the development of customer relationship that plays

important role in making customer be more confident in the brand choice, creating

growth opportunities in the long term. This relationship is not easily achieved and

maintained nowadays, because of mass product alternatives or substitutes and decreasing

customer trust in conventional advertisements.

Another outcome of excellent after-sale service is profit or revenue

generation. According to Pamsari and Elham (2013), as the service market is larger than

the product's, it possibly generates higher profits than the product sales. Additionally, due

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to low dependence on economic situation, revenue obtained from after-sale service tends

to be more stable. In fact, in the recent economic downturn, where car consumption in

2013 is approximately 110,000 units which are nearly equal the 2008 figure, the dealers'

earning from providing after-sale service has partly made up for the loss in passenger car

sales.

In short, compared to the past few years, the role of after-sale service is more

fundamental for the sustainable automobile business by being a profit source and a

differentiator from competitors. Furthermore, the popularity of after sale service has

moved the industry from the totally product-centric view to customer- centric view

(Gaiardelli et al, 2007).

1.2. Problem statement

Honda Motor Vietnam was founded in 1996, in the form of joint venture from

the cooperation among three companies; they are Japan Honda Motor (42%), Asian

Honda Motor (28%), Vietnam Engine and Agricultural Machinery Corporation (VEAM).

Honda has been penetrating the Vietnam market successfully in terms of huge revenue

gained from the sales of some famous motorbikes and the credible image perceived by

local people. In a decade, Honda Vietnam only focused on the motorbike production until

2006 when it started the first business in the passenger car market.

Similarly to other automobile competitors, Honda has put considerable efforts

in the introduction of products matching local preferences and development of a qualified

after-sales service system, so as to attract new buyers and retain existing customers.

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The figures below describe annual syndicated researches of J.D Power on customer

satisfaction towards after-sales service quality among different car brands in the Vietnam

market between 2009 and 2013.

Publisher: J.D. Power Asia Pacific

Source: J.D. Power Asia Pacific 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 Vietnam Customer Service Index (CSI)

StudySM

According to the survey, the after-sale service of Honda was at the top of the

automaker list from 2009 to 2011, with the CSI of 836, 840 and 848, respectively. During

that period, Honda was in the leading position twice in 2009 and 2011, which proved

Figure 1: Customer satisfaction index

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Honda's strong attempts in perfecting the service quality. However, in 2012, Honda fell

out of the top three of the best service providers with the score of 828, even below Kia

which had not been Honda's competitor in this area before. The dramatically declining

CSI score was not reasonable for Honda that had maintained the high positions for three

years; this could be an alert message. In 2013, due to the insufficient sample size, it is

hard to say if there was any change in Honda ratings.

Therefore, there is in need of an investigation to quickly update the current

service condition and to find out which points that Honda Company and its authorized

dealers need to improve.

1.3. Research objectives

The research purpose is to measuring the after-sale service quality and

examining its effect on the overall customer satisfaction at Honda auto dealers. To fulfill

the goal, four main objectives are developed as followed.

1. Measure the current satisfaction with after-sale service at Honda authorized

dealers

2. Examine the effects of service determinants on the overall customer satisfaction

3. Set priorities of specific service attributes through IPA analysis

4. Strategic suggestion and recommendations to improve the after-sale service

quality

1.4. Methodology

The author relied on a quantitative method with a questionnaire instrument in

order to accomplish this research. At first, questionnaire was self-administered to

customers at Honda's dealers, which focused on asking them to rate the after-sale service

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quality and their overall satisfaction level. Then, the stage of data analysis was carried out

with the support of Excel and SPSS.

1.5. Study scope

As the study expected to discover the current performance of the after-sale

service at Honda dealers, the target sample included car owners who experienced/ have

been experiencing the after-sale service at the Honda authorized dealers within Ho Chi

Minh City. The numbers of qualified questionnaires were 151.

1.6. Research significances

The present research is of significance to entrepreneurs, because the findings

are helpful for service and customer relationship management. For Honda Vietnam in

general, the company can utilize them to build a more consistent and credible image of

the service offerings across its dealers. As they are considered as Honda's representatives,

any complaints about their quality may be linked directly with the corporate image by car

users. Thus, the relative consistency in dealers' quality may highly change customer

attitude towards Honda brand as a whole, raising likelihood of improvement in Honda's

CSI ratings being measured by JD Power.

As for the Honda authorized dealers in particular, the intra-brand competition

is inevitable, so the research can help each dealer recognize their strengths and

weaknesses, whereby they are able to think of their own strategies to upgrade their

service to foster relationships with existing customers, and to attract more new users than

distributors of the same brand.

Finally, this study hopefully encourages more independent researches to be

conducted in the automobile market. Although the car industry in Vietnam has developed

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for 20 years, the numbers of auto-related researches are limited; meanwhile, the recently

complicated market situation requires such kinds of works to make car businesses better

with respect to brand images and sales revenue growth. As this study only reflects a small

automobile aspect that is after-sale service, future researches should be extended to other

issues and problems of the local automobile industry.

1.7. Organization of the research

This proposal is divided into three chapters:

Chapter 1 Introduction presented the research background, problem statement,

objectives, study significance, scope and limitation, and the organization of this study.

Chapter 2 Literature review explained theories regarding after-sale service

and customer satisfaction, conceptual framework capturing their positive relationship and

IPA analysis.

Chapter 3 Research methodology included sample, sampling procedure,

questionnaire structure and analysis of the data

Chapter 4 Data analysis summarized key results of the statistic tests

performed in the research

Chapter 5 Conclusion and recommendation referred to the summary of the

research‘s findings and some strategic service advices to the Honda dealers

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CHATPER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

The chapter provides academic literatures relevant to this research in term of definitions

of customer satisfaction, after-sale service, the SERVQUAL dimensions and the

theoretical framework. Finally, the importance-performance analysis that is used to

identify service strengths and weaknesses will be reviewed.

2.1. Customer satisfaction

Satisfaction is a very familiar term and has been a discussion topic by

practitioners and researchers for years. In 1981, Oliver defined it as an overall affective

response influenced by product use or service experience. Then, Kotler and Clarke (1987)

believed that satisfaction is "a state of expectation fulfillment when a customer

experiences a performance". The two researchers ‗view point was clarified by Oliver

(1997) who stated it as a judgment that is considered as the pleasurable level of

consumption attributed to the use of a product or service and is related to fulfillment

including levels of under- or over-fulfillment. In other words, to a certain extent, this

explanation implies that a customer is frustrated when the consumed product did not meet

his or her expectation; conversely, that person feels delighted when it met or exceeded

the established expectation. Likewise, Kotler and Keller (2009, p.789) supported Oliver's

view point with a statement that satisfaction/ dissatisfaction is the pleasure feeling or

disappointment coming from the comparison of a product's perceived performance with

the expectation.

There are two opposite thoughts about the formation of customer satisfaction,

transaction- specific satisfaction and cumulative satisfaction. The former is formed

through the evaluation of one's single experience of a particular service or product

(Boshoff and Gray, 2004), which reflects the current performance of a company. On the

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other hand, the overall evaluation of consumption experience that is aggregated over time

will shape the cumulative satisfaction (Johnson, Anderson & Fornell, 1995). Although

the customers' post-choice evaluation of an event is initially thought as the transaction-

specific satisfaction (Oliver, 1977; 1980), to a certain extent, it may be influenced by

their purchase histories or their accumulated consumption experiences. Additionally,

change in customer attitude towards a company is less likely to be affected by one service

encounter than the cumulative consumption. Therefore, due to the broader influence of

the cumulative satisfaction, it is the focus of measurement in the study instead of the

transaction-specific.

Despite the familiarity of customer satisfaction in business circumstance,

understanding it is still critical and useful for any companies to maintain high level of

satisfaction towards products or services through immediate improvement in quality of

inferior product or service offerings (Anderson & Srinivasan, 2003).

2.2. After-sale service

Similarly to customer satisfaction, the term" after-sale service" has been

studied in many recent researches. The concept is commonly defined as service activities

provided to customers after delivery of the products (Vitasek, 2005) and has been called

by different names by previous studies, such as technical support, product support or

customer support activities (Pamsari & Elham, 2013). However, in the contemporary

context ,where there has been the growth of the customer-centered approach, the

"customer support" which is composed of all activities to ensure that a product is

available to customers over its useful lifespan for "trouble-free use" (Loomba, 1998;

Goffin & New, 2001) is believed to closely explain key aspects of the after-sale service.

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Goffin (1999) proposed seven types of after-sale service activities, including

installation, user training, documentation, maintenance and repair, online support,

warranties and upgrades. The importance of their contribution into the after-sale service

strategies varies across companies and industries. In the automobiles case, the core after-

sale service format is the routine maintenance/ repair supplemented with warranty policy

offered by the manufacturer. Besides, other service-related programs are sale of spare

parts, service discount, mobile car care, etc. Some of these programs are launched by

Honda Company like warranty, whereas others are solely implemented by each

authorized dealer as a sensible way of differentiating from other intra brand sellers.

After-sale service has the primary roles perceived by customers and service

providers (Patelli, Pelizzari, Pistoni & Saccani, 2004):

Ensure goods to be available continuously, re-establishing their functions as a

consequences of technical faults

Solve problems arising during the use of goods

Support them in managing and controlling issues and processes involving the

product use

Support them at the end of product life (reverse logistics)

2.3. Characteristics of the car after-sale service

Service has been associated with the "intangibility" property; in fact, many

earlier researches (Levitt, 1981; Darby & Karni, 1973 and Zeithaml, 1981) said that the

degree of intangibility acts as a means of distinguishing between products and services.

Nevertheless, opponents (Wyckham, Fitzroy & Mandry, 1975) of this view argued that

"the intangible-tangible concept is difficult for people to grasp", which was later proved

by Bowen (1990) in his empirical study. In other words, this suggests that service is not

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always purely intangible, which is thought to be true in the case of the car after-sale

service.

Bitner and Zeithaml (2000, 3-6) considered auto after-sale service as a

combination of tangibility and intangibility. Spare parts and the quality of the repaired car

are tangible goods, while the intangible service is initiated from the time when a

customer brings his car to a service center to the time when a service advisor receives it

to start diagnosing problems, repairing it and then sends it back to the owner (Juhola,

2011). The specific service process is illustrated below.

2.4. Dimensions of the after-sale service

The complexity of service has encouraged various service models (Buttle,

1996; Johnson et al., 1995) to be developed, of which SEVQUAL proposed by

Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1988) is widely applied to date by many researchers.

Initially SERVQUAL model had been suggested to have 10 service dimensions, but was

collapsed to five factors (Parasuraman et al., 1988) that are described below

Reliability refers to the ability of the service provider to deliver the promised

service accurately and dependably.

Figure 2 After-sale service process (Katarne, Sharma & Negi, 2010)

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Assurance refers to the degree of customer's confidence and trust in the service

provider, which is influenced a lot by courtesy, right manner and knowledge of

service advisors. In other words, dealership personnel can be seen as a key source

of the "assurance" attribute.

Tangibles consist of physical cues of the service delivery process that are

conveyed to customers about the expected service (Berndt, 2009) such as

appearance of dealership facilities and staff, communication materials.

Responsiveness refers to the willingness to assist customers in solving problems

or complaints promptly related to service experience or the purchased product and

to deliver prompt services.

Empathy is how customers feel they are either treated as important users or

receive individual attention from the company.

According to Parasuraman (1988), SERVQUAL can be applied across

industries, particularly banking, hospital, hotel, repair/ maintenance service. Since then,

various versions of SERVQUAL have been proposed by different authors. In the vehicle

service sector, especially the after-sale service in particular, this has been tested and

modified by Bouman and Wiele (1992), Berndt and Herbst (2006) and Berndt (2009) in

attempt to build new service dimensions that are more practical in reality. However, their

new factors may not completely be suitable in this study, since there is still inconsistency

in these researchers' findings.

In a study about car service industry, Bouman and Wiele (1992) extended 22

items of SERVQUAL and proposed three new dimensions that were originated from the

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five factors of the model, namely "customer kindness", "tangibles" and "faith". Later, to

investigate service quality in South Africa motor service, Berndt and Herbst (2006) also

utilized the original SERVQUAL with the service items employed from the research of

Bouman and Wiele (1992), presenting four factors that differed from the former findings;

they are "employees", "tangibles quality", "delivery quality" and "communication

quality". However, the results of her most recent study (2009) showed the new five

factors being identified as "customer-focused quality", "tangibles", "delivery",

"communication" and "customer care" quality.

From the brief review, their different conclusions can be explained by

differences in their research environments. That is, the study authorized by Bouman and

Wiede was done in the Netherlands, whereas Berndt carried out hers in Africa. In

addition, Berndt (2009) also admitted that result of her studies cannot be applied across

all manufacturers and reflect the whole market, while the three dimensions of Bouman

(1992) are not linked to the original SERVQUAL dimensions (Bouman & Wiele, 1992,

cited in Berndt, 2009).

Therefore, the five factors of the original SERVQUAL will be kept in this

research to test and to redefine again through factor analysis method.

2.5. The importance of the after-sale service quality

Quality can be defined as the capabilities of features of a product or service to

satisfy stated or implied needs (Kotler et al., 2002, p. 831). In business context, service

quality in general or after-sale service quality in particular is the extent to which

perception of service meets or exceeds the expectation that is built before customer

experience the service (Zeithaml et al., 1990). Both of definitions of service quality and

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customer satisfaction look similar; however, the key difference between them is that the

former only focuses on service dimensions, whereas the latter is defined more broadly.

For any companies, delivery of the excellent after-sale service will definitely

results in following benefits:

Source of revenue: after-sale market is believed to larger than the sales and is

able to generate higher turnover rate of purchase in a given product life cycle

(Cohen & Whang, 1997; Bundschuh & Dezvane, 2003). Thus, the revenue is

more likely to rise.

Source of competitive advantages (Kandampully, 1998): after-sale service is

considered as an augmented aspect of the physical product, focusing on delighting

customers with special added value along its core benefits or formal features. As

the augmented offerings are not easy to copy, the after-sale service can help the

firm stand out of the crowd.

Increase in the success rate of new products released: this likelihood results

from data retrieval and feedback collected from customers during their product

usage (Cooper & Kleinschmidt 1993).

Leverage the overall satisfaction (Athaide et al. 1996; Lele, 1997); that is, the

after-sale service quality has positive effect on customer satisfaction. Many

researchers (Saravana & Rao, 2007, p. 436; Lee et al., 2000, p. 226) supported

that the overall satisfaction is predicted by the level of service quality offered by

the service providers. The finding is important for the firms, because the high

degree of satisfaction can result in subsequent positive effects such as building

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customer intimacy, reducing advertising cost, raising the profit margin. Moreover,

according to Porter (1985) and Kotler (1997), the influence of after-sale service

on the satisfaction can generate customer loyalty, intention of revisiting the

dealers and positive word of mouth in the long run.

2.6. Conceptual framework

Figure 3: Customer perceptions of quality and customer satisfaction (Wilson et al., 2008, p. 79)

Figure 4: Theoretical framework

Assurance

Reliability

Responsiveness

Tangibles

Empathy

After-sale service

quality Overall customer

satisfaction

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Within this study scope, the framework in the figure 4 is modified from the

SERVQUAL of Parasuraman et al. (1988) and the model on customer perception and

customer satisfaction of Wilson et al. (2008). Originally, according to the figure 3,

Wilson et al. (2008) treated service quality as one of the five components affecting the

dependent variable- the overall satisfaction, along with product quality, price, situational

and personal factors. Based on their works, the study wants to test the effect of after-sale

service dimensions on the customer satisfaction.

2.7. Importance - Performance analysis (IPA)

To accomplish the third objective - priorities of specific attributes for

improvement, the importance - performance analysis is preferable. The concept was first

proposed by Martilla and James (1977) to evaluate performance of the automobile

industry in their research. Since then, this method has popularly been applied across

different industries, typically in healthcare or hospital service sector (Hemmasi, Strong &

Taylor, 1994), tourism (Hsu, Byun & Yang, 1997), restaurant and hotel (Lewis &

Chambers, 1989). In an increasing competitive environment, IPA has become an

important managerial tool to assess strengths and weaknesses of a brand, product or

service.

As the name stated, the IPA includes two components, perceived importance

and performance. The concept of "importance" is referred to the customer's perception of

product or service's attributes that play significant role in influencing his or her product

or service choice (MacKenzie, 1986). According to Lilien, Kotler and Moorthy (1993),

the important attributes that are considered as important by customers vary in products or

brands within that product category. Meanwhile, performance is found in customer

perception of attribute's performance. That is, the more the perceived performance is

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favorable, the more possibly the product or service choice stands out of similar

alternatives (Chu & Choi, 2000).

Below is the graphical interpretation of IPA results. Basically, the IPA is

expressed in a matrix, where the vertical axis represents importance ratings and the x-axis

describes the performance/ satisfaction ratings. After mean values are calculated,

attributes' scores in form of coordinates (x, y) are plotted on that matrix. Depending on

their positions on the map's quadrants, strategic decision will be made. The four

identifiable quadrants are "concentrate here", "keep up the good word", "low priority"

and "possible overkill".

Quadrant A. Concentrate here

Attributes with high perceived importance and low performance are major

weaknesses that require immediate attention for improvement.

Quadrant B. Keep up with the good work

Figure 5: Importance-performance matrix

18

Attributes with high importance and high performance indicate that they are

major strengths, so managers need to maintain these competitive advantages.

Quadrant C. Low priority

Attributes here are rated in low importance and low performance. Since they are

perceived as minor weaknesses, limited resources should be allocated in this cell.

Quadrant D. Possible overkill

Attributes are rated with high performance. However, as they are considered low

important, managers should not make too much effort on them.

19

CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The chapter discusses the quantitative method to do the study, which includes a brief

review of the questionnaire design and the sample and sampling method. Then, the way

of analyzing data is mentioned.

3.1. Quantitative approach

Quantitative approach was employed to collect data for this study because it

was helpful to classify data, to test statistical models and to generalize findings in the

broad population. Specifically, the study applied the survey method, whereby

questionnaire was distributed to target respondents to ask them to evaluate their

experience towards the after-sale services at the selected authorized dealers.

3.2. Questionnaire design

Questionnaire is a fundamental element in most of quantitative researches. In

this study, the questionnaire embraced three sections.

Section A: the first part asked the respondents for general information about

their car usage, such as the car model that is currently used; sources of media from which

customers learn about warranties, promotions.

Section B: this consisted of rating questions on service quality and customer

satisfaction. The service construct was developed based on SERVQUAL dimensions

(Parasuraman, 1988) with items modified from those in the vehicle researches of Bouman

and Wiele (1992), and Bernt (2009). These items were adjusted to be more appropriate in

the car service context in Vietnam. Respondents were required to rate each of these

attributes on two aspects regarding its importance to the after-sale service quality and its

20

currently perceived performance. The 7-point Likert scale was used, ranging from 1- not

at all important to 7- extremely important in the importance part, and from 1- strongly

disagree to 7- strongly agree in the agreement rating part. As for the measurement of

satisfaction, three items were adopted from the secure customer index model which was

built by Randall Brandt in 1996. These were also rated on the 7- point scale from strongly

disagree to strongly agree.

Section C: the final part was demographics, grasping customer profile though

questions like gender, age, employment status.

Table 1: Summary of original items

Tangibles

1. The infrastructure is neat

(Bouman &

Wiele, 1992;

Bernt, 2009)

2. There is clear signage at the dealership

3. There are enough parking places

4. Employees are well groomed

5. There is sufficient space to sit in the

waiting area

6. The dealership‘s grounds are neat

7. Promotional material is attractive

8. Car is clean after maintenance

9. Go through the warranty

10. A checklists of repairs is provided

11. Neat invoice

12. A replacement vehicle is available

Reliability

13. Appointments are kept

14. The vehicle is ready at the promised time

15. Repairs are error free

21

16. The invoice is explained to customers

17. The dealerships focus on solving

customer complaints

18. No unnecessary work

19. The dealerships control appointments well

Responsiveness

20. The telephone is answered promptly

21. Complaints are dealt with quickly

22. The service advisor delivers the car

23. The customer receive prompt attention

upon arrival

24. The service advisor explains why repairs

are carried out

25. Maintenance on short term

Assurance

26. Customers are contacted when the repairs

become more expensive

27. I know which mechanic repaired on my

car

28. Skillful employees

29. Courteous employees

30. The customer is informed what service

level can be expected

31. The dealerships give customer good

advice regarding maintenance

Empathy

32. The interest of the customers is

considered

33. The customer is informed what service

level can be expected

22

34. Personnel provides personal attention

35. Car delivery outside normal operating

hours

36. Customer are known by name

37. Personnel provides personal attention

38. Agreement is reached before hand on the

payment method

39. Customer are attended in a friendly way

Customer

satisfaction

40. I am very satisfied with the service

experience at this dealer Brandt

(1996) 41. I will revisit the same dealer in the future

42. I will recommend the dealer to others

3.3. Sampling method

Due to the lack of sampling frame, convenient sampling was applied to collect

information. According to Donald and Pamela (2006), convenient sampling is considered

as a non-probability sampling, whereby available respondents are invited to be involved

in a study. In this research, the target groups were approached at three auto Honda's

dealers in Ho Chi Minh City, namely Honda Phước Thành, Cộng Hòa and Kim Thanh;

then, questionnaires were dropped off to them.

To ensure the high response rate, assistance from the dealers‘ managers is

needed. For this reason, the whole research‘s purpose and methodology were explained

so that they could recognize how beneficial it was to their business improvement. As a

result, with their cooperation, dealer's customers were more willing to answer the

questionnaires.

23

Target respondents were those at the age of 18 and above that

experienced/have been experiencing the maintenance/repair service at Honda auto

dealers. The estimated number of qualified respondents had been 150; then, the

questionnaires were equally administered at each dealer.

3.4. Pilot testing

Before the actual fieldwork occurs, the questionnaire needed pretesting with

reasonable sample coming from the target population (Cavana et al., 2001). Hence, five

target respondents that were randomly chosen at one of the Honda's dealers were

suggested to fill in the questionnaire. Afterwards, they were briefly interviewed about its

structure and the degree of comprehensiveness with three below questions advised by

Asker, Kumar and Day (2002, p.319)

What were you thinking when answering each answer?

Were there any problems of understanding?

Are there any things that are not covered in this subject?

Their feedbacks helped revise the questionnaire, making it easy to understand

regardless of different education backgrounds.

3.5. Data analysis

The collected data was processed by Excel and SPSS. The analysis procedure

was described as followed:

Descriptive analysis was performed to provide a brief summary about the

service dimensions and demographics which were calculated as mean and percentage. By

doing so, unusual cases and outliners were identified and eliminated to improve quality of

statistical results in the next analysis steps.

24

Reliability analysis helped test the consistency of items designed within a

factor construct. The indicator of the test result is Cronbach's alpha; the higher the value

is, the more reliable the designed scale is.

Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) aimed at explaining the observed variance

in service attributes and classifying them into new underlying factors that were different

from the original dimensions.

Multiple regression analysis was employed to examine the influence of the

newly found service dimensions on the overall customer satisfaction. This test could

determine which factors significantly affect the level of satisfaction and how strongly

they predict changes in the dependent variable's variance.

Finally, IPA was employed to display mean value of service attributes on a

grid, finding out the pros and cons of the after-sale service offerings.

25

CHAPTER IV

DATA ANALYSIS

This chapter summarizes and discusses key findings to answer the research objectives

4.1. Demographics

After the fieldwork period finished, 151 qualified questionnaires were

collected in total. They are firstly summarized in term of demographic information.

According to the Gender chart, the majority of 148 qualified respondents were males

(83.8%), whereas females only accounted for 16.2%. Over 90% of 145 qualified

surveyed people were working, of which approximately 54% are self-employed while the

others were employed for wages.

As for the age group, car users who were 36-45 years old made up the highest

percentage of respondents (41%), followed by 31% people at the age of 24 - 35. The two

age groups of 46 -55 and 56-73 accounted for the lowest portions, approximately 17%

and 10%, respectively.

N= 145

N= 148 N=145

N=145 Figure 6: Demographics

26

4.2. Summary of the general information

This section provides a brief summary about respondents‘ car models and

sources of information that they have used to get updated warranty programs.

In the chart below, 40% were Civic, partly because it is the earliest model that

has been produced in Vietnam market since 2006. The Honda CR-V model was ranked

second at 23%, in term of the number of ownerships; this was followed by City that was

the latest model (17%). One noticeable point was that there were 11% non-Honda cars

that were driven to dealers‘ workshop, most of which were found at Phuoc Thanh dealer.

The graph 8 below illustrates the percentages of car buyers using information

sources. Overall, contacts from the dealers were the most popular source that respondents

rely on to get new Honda's warranty information at 51% approximately. Honda website

and dealership ones were ranked second and third in popularity at 27% and 25%.

Presumably, waiting for either phone call or reminders from the dealers' staff was a

commonly passive way for customers to get new information.

%

N= 151

Figure 7: Currently used cars

27

Kim

Thanh

(n=50)

Cong

Hoa

(n=46)

Phuoc

Thanh

(n=37)

Facebook 2.0% 0.0% 16.2%

Online newspaper 8.0% 8.7% 8.1%

In-store ad materials 20.0% 4.3% 0.0%

Dealer website 28.0% 15.2% 32.4%

Honda website 12.0% 28.3% 45.9%

Contact from dealers 48.0% 76.1% 24.3%

The right table shows the details in the use of information sources at the three

dealers. At Kim Thanh dealer, 48% of 50 Honda car respondents have been contacted by

staffs about warranty information. Meanwhile, 28% tended to get the updated news on

the dealer website, followed by 20% reviewing in-store ad materials. By comparison,

contact from the dealer was also preferred the most at 76% at Cong Hoa, followed by the

Honda website (28%).

On the other hand, Honda car users going to Phuoc Thanh generally counted

on online sources; specifically, 45% of them have used the Honda website and 32% have

accessed dealership website. Only 9 out of 37 Honda car buyers said they were contacted

by the dealer's employees.

The opposite results between the group of Kim Thanh, Cong Hoa and Phuoc

Thanh may be due to the fact that Phuoc Thanh has been operating for 2 years only, while

the two others opened in 2006; additionally, its location is not as convenient as the latter.

Table 2: Dealer comparison of information sources

N= 133

Figure 8: Types of information sources

28

Consequently, the number of service customers that the dealer staffs contact is definitely

limited.

4.3. Descriptive Statistics:

This section summarizes findings on the six factors as well as compares

percentage differences in service attributes among the three dealers.

4.3.1. Tangibles

Table 3: Tangibles

Item labels N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation

T_1 Clean facility 151 4.00 7.00 6.26 .90527

T_2 New infrastructure 151 2.00 7.00 5.94 1.02132

T_3 Spacious workshop 151 3.00 7.00 5.97 .95511

T_4 Modern repairing equipment 151 4.00 7.00 5.89 .91319

T_5 Well-groomed personnel 151 4.00 7.00 6.21 .83521

T_6 Comfortable waiting area 151 4.00 7.00 6.23 .83621

T_7 Modern entertainment devices 151 2.00 7.00 5.95 .95769

T_8 Attractive in-store ad materials 151 1.00 7.00 5.33 1.14730

Valid N (listwise) 151

Average 5.97

Generally, the average value of the tangibles factor was nearly 6.0, which is

quite good. Among the eight tangible aspects, clean facility, comfortable waiting area and

well-groomed personnel were rated above the average. Meanwhile, a noticeable point

was that the ―attractive in-store ad materials‖ item scored the lowest at 5.33; in fact, its

ratings ranged more widely than the other items, from 1 to 7.

29

N = 151, Percentage is calculated in T2B. T2B= % agree + % strongly agree

The figure above describes the percentage differences in each item among the

three Honda dealers. Clearly, for the spacious workshop, new infrastructure and clean

facility, Phuoc Thanh was ranked highest at 87.5%, 91.7% and 91.6%, respectively in

comparison with Kim Thanh and Cong Hoa. Likewise, the same pattern was repeated for

the attractiveness of in-store advertising materials with 56.2% of Phuoc Thanh customers

saying ―agree/strongly agree‖. Regarding to the ―repairing equipment‖, with the T2B

value of 59.6% only, that in Kim Thanh was not perceived as modern as the two other

dealers‘.

4.3.2. Reliability

Table 4: Reliability

Item labels N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation

R_9 Appointments are kept 151 4.00 7.00 6.25 .88669

R_10 Request is completely fulfilled 151 3.00 7.00 6.15 .86716

Figure 9: Tangibles

30

N = 151, Percentage is calculated in T2B. T2B= % agree + % strongly agree

R_11 Car ready at the promised time 151 3.00 7.00 6.06 .98137

R_12 Error-free repaired car 151 2.00 7.00 5.81 1.09181

R_13 Clear explanation of charges 151 4.00 7.00 6.25 .96068

Valid N (listwise) 151

Average 6.10

In the table, the average score of the reliability factor was 6.1, which was not

much different from that of the tangibles. Specifically, the two items that had the highest

mean values were "appointments are kept" and "clear explanation of charges" at 6.25. In

contrast, the "error-free repaired car" attribute scored the lowest and had the larger

standard deviation in the rating as well.

In the graph about the reliability of the service quality, there were some

differences among these dealers. First, 88.5% of respondents at Kim Thanh dealer

believed that their appointments were well recorded, whereas the figures were

Figure 10: Reliability

31

N = 151, Percentage is calculated in T2B. T2B= % agree + % strongly agree

approximately 82% and 71% at Cong Hoa and Phuoc Thanh. Second, as for the ―repaired

car to be ready at the promised time‖ attribute, Cong Hoa was in the leading position

(84.3%) as opposed to approximately 70% at both Kim Thanh and Phuoc Thanh. Another

difference referred to the ―errors of the repaired cars‖. As for this aspect, Phuoc Thanh

was ranked first at 75%, while the lowest figure of 57.7% belonged to Kim Thanh.

4.3.3. Responsiveness

Table 5: Responsiveness

Item labels N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation

Rs_14 Prompt attention on arrival 151 4.00 7.00 6.34 .84764

Rs_15 Quick service process 151 4.00 7.00 6.01 .92366

Rs_16 Detailed explanation of work 151 3.00 7.00 6.17 .92686

Rs_17 I get updated on my repaired car's status 151 4.00 7.00 6.17 .89763

Valid N (listwise) 151

Average 6.17

Figure 11: Responsiveness

32

In the table 5, as for the ―responsiveness‖ factor, its average point was 6.17.

Of the four statements, the "prompt attention on arrival" was scored the highest at Honda

dealerships. On the other hand, the "quick service" aspect was rated the lowest at 6

approximately.

According to the graph, it seems that the differences in ratings of the service

items between these dealers were not large, except the "prompt attention upon arrival".

The proportions of respondents at Kim Thanh and Cong Hoa that agreed/ strongly agreed

with that statement were approximately 86%, whereas the figure was only 77.1% at

Phuoc Thanh.

4.3.4. Assurance

Table 6: Assurance

Item labels N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation

As_18 Trust-worthy service advisor 151 3.00 7.00 6.08 .95585

As_19 Skillful technician 151 3.00 7.00 5.86 .99358

As_20 Courteous personnel 151 4.00 7.00 6.26 .83637

As_21 Service advisor gives me good advice 151 3.00 7.00 6.05 .98209

Valid N (listwise) 151

Average 6.06

On average, the service assurance scored 6.06. Among the four service items

in the construct, the rating of the "courteous personnel" was the highest at 6.26, followed

by that of the "trustworthy service advisor" with 6.08. Meanwhile, the "skillful

technician" statement was rated below average, 5.86.

33

N = 151, Percentage is calculated in T2B. T2B= % agree + % strongly agree

In the graph, there were quite clear differences in item ratings between Phuoc

Thanh dealer and the rest. As for the service advisor, nearly 69% of Phuoc Thanh

respondents either agreed or strongly agreed with that statement, whereas Kim Thanh and

Cong Hoa had higher ratings, 76.5% and 80.8%, respectively. Regarding the courteous

personnel, over 80% of surveyed customers at Cong Hoa and Kim Thanh agreed/strongly

agreed with that, compared to approximately 71% at Phuoc Thanh.

4.3.5. Empathy

Table 7: Empathy

Item labels N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation

E_22 Convenient operating hours 151 3.00 7.00 6.09 .98218

E_23 Car delivered in extended service hours 151 1.00 7.00 4.99 1.33914

E_24 I am greeted in a friendly way 151 3.00 7.00 6.33 .78928

E_25 My requests are respected 151 3.00 7.00 6.21 .85330

E_26 Service advisor knows my car‘s service 151 3.00 7.00 6.03 .99296

Figure 12: Assurance

34

N = 151, Percentage is calculated in T2B. T2B= % agree + % strongly agree

history

E_27 Personnel contacts me to know my

satisfaction 151 3.00 7.00 6.18 .91714

Valid N

(listwise)

151

Average 5.97

According to the descriptive table, the average score of the "Empathy

"construct was 5.97. The Honda dealers did well in greeting customers with the mean

score of 6.33 and respecting customers' requests with the mean of 6.21. On the other

hand, the "car delivered in extended opening hours" statement scored below the average

level.

Figure 13: Empathy

According to the chart, there were two noticeable T2B differences in the

service offerings among the three Honda dealers. First, 58.3% of Phuoc Thanh customers

35

agreed/strongly agreed that they could bring their cars to the dealer outside its usual

opening hours, whereas The T2B figures were 34.6% and 15.7% at Kim Thanh and Cong

Hoa, respectively. Another difference referred to respecting customers' requests.

Specifically, the number of surveyed customers at Kim Thanh and Cong Hoa that

agreed/strongly agreed with the statement approximately made up 87% and 80%,

respectively; meanwhile, Phuoc Thanh's figure was lower at nearly 67%.

4.3.6. Satisfaction

Table 8: Satisfaction

Item labels N Minimum Maximum Mean Std. Deviation

S1 Feel pleasant with the service quality 151 4.00 7.00 6.15 .82783

S2 My service expectations are met 151 3.00 7.00 5.97 .95880

S3 Satisfied with the service experience 151 1.00 7.00 5.96 1.01246

S4 Revisit the dealer in the future 151 1.00 7.00 6.03 1.02253

S5 Recommend the dealer 151 1.00 7.00 5.95 1.10958

Valid N (listwise) 151

Average 6.01

The findings show that the average score of the overall satisfaction factor was

6.01 and that the ratings of the five items were not much different from each other. Of the

five questions, the ―feeling pleasant with the service quality‖ item had the highest score

of 6.15.

36

N = 151, Percentage is calculated in T2B. T2B= % agree + % strongly agree

According to the graph, it seems that the number of customers that

agreed/strongly agreed with the five items of the satisfaction construct accounted for at

least 70% of respondents at all the surveyed Honda dealers. Regarding the service in

specific, T2B values on "feeling pleasant with the service quality" and "satisfied with the

service experience" were not much different among the three dealers. However, Phuoc

Thanh was rated the highest at 84% in term of meeting customer's expectations. In

contrast, the figure was approximately 69% at Kim Thanh and Cong Hoa.

Another clear result in the bar chart refers to the customer intention to revisit

in the future and recommend to other people. Specifically at Phuoc Thanh, despite the

high T2B values that were all above 77% on the service satisfaction, only 73% of

surveyed customers would intend to go back to the dealer, compared to approximately

79% and 81% at Kim Thanh and Cong Hoa, respectively. A similar pattern was repeated

Figure 14: Satisfaction

37

Table 9: Case processing summary

for the "recommend the dealers to others" item. A possible explanation may be that

Phuoc Thanh's location is far away from the central city, thereby discouraging people to

drive there, except car users coming from the western Vietnam.

4.4. Reliability analysis

Reliability test was employed to examine consistency in the questionnaire

design. The test shows that all of the 151 cases were valid for the test.

The table 10 summarizes the internal correlation within each factor in term of

Cronbach's Alpha. According to the rules of thumb (George & Mallery, 2003),

Cronbach's Alpha should be at least 0.7. Thus, as the alpha values of the six factors are

above 0.7, the internal consistency between items within a construct is good.

Table 10: Reliability analysis summary

Factors Cronbach's Alpha N of Items

Tangibles 0.823 8

Reliability 0.852 5

Responsiveness 0.808 4

Assurance 0.854 4

Empathy 0.742 6

Satisfaction 0.893 5

Case Processing Summary

N %

Cases Valid 151 100.0

Excludeda 0 .0

Total 151 100.0

a. Listwise deletion based on all variables in the

procedure.

38

According the table 31 ―Reliability result _ Empathy factor‖ in the Appendix,

"Empathy" is the only factor that has improvement in the value of Cronbach's alpha if the

item" extended opening hours" is removed. As the Cronbach value increased from 0.742

to 0.797, this item was eliminated from the "Empathy" factor (for more details, refer to

the appendix).

4.5. Factor analysis

Exploratory factor analysis was performed with 27 items from the five

original factors, namely tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy.

Based on the rules of thumb, the valid EFA result must satisfy the following criteria.

KMO must be at least 50%

The cumulative variances explained must be at least 50%

Item with the factor loading must be greater than or equal to 0.4

The discrepancy between the maximum and minimum loading must be greater

than or equal 0.3 (Jabnoun & Al-Tamimi, 2003)

In the first table, the KMO value for the test fell within the range of 0.8-0.9, so

the sampling adequacy was supposed to be great and the test continued.

Table 11: KMO

To rearrange the items, the "Promax" rotation was applied instead of the

"Varimax" as usual. The orthogonal varimax method theoretically classifies items into

totally unrelated factors, whereas the oblique promax assumes that there are still

KMO and Bartlett's Test

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. .888

Bartlett's Test of Sphericity Approx. Chi-Square 2.181E3

df 351

Sig. .000

39

Table 13: Total variance explained

correlations between the rotated components. According to Matsunaga (2010), findings

based on the former method may not be reasonable, since to some degrees, factors are

related to each other in the area of social science. In fact, it can be implied that there is a

threshold of correlation indicating when either Promax or Varimax is used.

Tabachnick and Fidell (2007, p. 646) proposed that if the component

correlations exceed the cutoff of 0.32 at which there is at least 10% overlap in factor

variances, the oblique rotation is used. According to the table 12 that describes the

correlation degrees among rotated components, as most of the values were above 0.32,

the oblique Promax was necessary in this research.

Table 12: Component correlation Matrix

Component Correlation Matrix

Compo

nent 1 2 3 4 5 6

1 1.000 .572 .423 .530 .419 -.064

2 .572 1.000 .470 .527 .375 .203

3 .423 .470 1.000 .333 .383 .074

4 .530 .527 .333 1.000 .345 .150

5 .419 .375 .383 .345 1.000 .042

6 -.064 .203 .074 .150 .042 1.000

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Rotation Method: Promax with Kaiser Normalization.

Total Variance Explained

Compon

ent

Initial Eigenvalues Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings

Rotation Sums of

Squared

Loadingsa

Total % of Variance Cumulative % Total % of Variance Cumulative % Total

1 10.518 38.957 38.957 10.518 38.957 38.957 8.156

2 2.094 7.755 46.712 2.094 7.755 46.712 7.601

3 1.477 5.470 52.183 1.477 5.470 52.183 5.525

4 1.192 4.413 56.596 1.192 4.413 56.596 6.340

5 1.137 4.213 60.808 1.137 4.213 60.808 4.205

6 1.035 3.834 64.643 1.035 3.834 64.643 1.563

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

a. When components are correlated, sums of squared loadings cannot be added to obtain a total variance.

40

Table 14: The first rotation

After the first rotation, the cumulative variance value was 64.643%. Deleted

items included the following: Rs_17, E_24, R_11, E_25 and R_12.

Pattern Matrixa

Component

1 2 3 4 5 6

E_26 .781

E_27 .701

As_20 .668

As_18 .632

E_22 .625

Rs_17 .600 .366

As_21 .574

As_19 .563

Rs_15 .726

Rs_14 .710

T_4 .648

E_24 .441 .591

Rs_16 .564

R_11 .534 .477

E_25 .469 .491

T_1 .887

T_2 .823

T_3 .734

T_5 .551

R_10 .890

R_9 .774

R_13 .662

R_12 .408 .535

T_7 .801

T_8 .783

T_6 .520

E_23 .795

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Rotation Method: Promax with Kaiser Normalization.

41

Table 15: Total variance explained

Table 16: The second rotation

Table 16: The second rotation

Pattern Matrixa

Component

1 2 3 4 5

As_19 .832

As_20 .823

Rs_14 .778

Rs_16 .737

Rs_15 .684

As_21 .683

As_18 .653

E_26 .530

T_4 .500 .344

E_27 .496 .310

E_22 .314

T_1 .818

T_3 .802

T_2 .795

T_5 .349 .516

R_10 .919

R_9 .798

R_13 .677

T_8 .835

T_7 .765

T_6 .547 -.322

E_23 .838

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Rotation Method: Promax with Kaiser Normalization.

a. Rotation converged in 8 iterations.

Total Variance Explained

Compon

ent

Initial Eigenvalues Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings

Rotation Sums of

Squared

Loadingsa

Total % of Variance Cumulative % Total % of Variance Cumulative % Total

1 8.383 38.105 38.105 8.383 38.105 38.105 7.489

2 1.996 9.074 47.179 1.996 9.074 47.179 4.539

3 1.282 5.829 53.008 1.282 5.829 53.008 5.141

4 1.133 5.149 58.157 1.133 5.149 58.157 4.043

5 1.077 4.897 63.055 1.077 4.897 63.055 1.418

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

a. When components are correlated, sums of squared loadings cannot be added to obtain a total variance.

42

Table 18: The last rotation

Table 17: Total variance explained

In the second rotation, the total explained variance was 63,055%. Deleted

items were T_4, E_27, E_22, T_5, and T_6.

Total Variance Explained

Compon

ent

Initial Eigenvalues Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings

Rotation Sums of

Squared

Loadingsa

Total % of Variance Cumulative % Total % of Variance Cumulative % Total

1 6.543 38.491 38.491 6.543 38.491 38.491 5.883

2 1.831 10.768 49.259 1.831 10.768 49.259 3.239

3 1.250 7.353 56.612 1.250 7.353 56.612 3.935

4 1.074 6.320 62.932 1.074 6.320 62.932 2.589

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

a. When components are correlated, sums of squared loadings cannot be added to obtain a total variance.

Pattern Matrixa

Component

1 2 3 4

As_20 .871

As_19 .784

Rs_14 .745

Rs_16 .700

As_18 .698

As_21 .654

Rs_15 .637

E_26 .597

T_1 .811

T_3 .803

T_2 .792

R_10 .896

R_9 .784

R_13 .651

T_8 .748

E_23 .662

T_7 .448

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Rotation Method: Promax with Kaiser Normalization.

a. Rotation converged in 6 iterations.

43

Table 19: New factors

The third rotation shows that the cumulative variance value was 62.932% and

that all of the remaining items completely loaded in separate factors.

Based on the meanings of items within each construct, the four underlying

groups were generally summarized and labeled in the table below. Similar to the original

factors, they were perceived as independent variables and their prediction of the overall

satisfaction was tested by the multiple regression analysis.

Group 1: Personnel's serving skills and attitudes

As_20 Courteous personnel

As_19 Skillful technician

Rs_14 Prompt attention on arrival

Rs_16 Detailed explanation of work

As_18 Trustworthy service advisor

As_21 Good advice on service given to me

Rs_15 Quick service process

E_26 Service advisor knows my car‘s service

Group 2: First sight of tangibility

T_1 Clean facility

T_3 Spacious workshop

T_2 New infrastructure

Group 3: Service reliability

R_10 My requests are fulfilled thoroughly

R_9 Appointments kept

R_13 Clear explanation of charges

Group 4: Other service elements

T_8 Attractive in-store ad materials

E_23 Car delivered in extended opening hours

T_7 Modern entertainment devices

44

Table 20: Total variance explained

The tables above describe the EFA‘s results of the satisfaction factor. Only

one component was extracted with the cumulative explained variances of 70, 298%; thus,

all of the five items remained in the "Satisfaction" dimension.

Total Variance Explained

Compo

nent

Initial Eigenvalues Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings

Total % of Variance Cumulative % Total % of Variance Cumulative %

1 3.515 70.298 70.298 3.515 70.298 70.298

2 .673 13.450 83.749

3 .380 7.592 91.341

4 .263 5.256 96.597

5 .170 3.403 100.000

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Component Matrixa

Component

1

S1 .784

S2 .771

S3 .896

S4 .862

S5 .872

Extraction Method:

Principal Component

Analysis.

Table 21: Rotation for the dependent variable

45

Table 22: Correlation matrix

4.6. Revised conceptual framework:

Due to some changes in the factors‘ components, the proposed model is

revised

x

The hypotheses for testing were developed as followed:

H1: Personnel's serving skills and attitudes significantly affect the overall satisfaction

H2: First sight of tangibility significantly affects the overall satisfaction

H3: Service reliability significantly affects the overall satisfaction

H4: Other service elements significantly affect the overall satisfaction

4.7. Correlation testing

Figure 15: Revised theoretical model

Personnel's skills and

attitudes

Reliability

Other service elements

First sight of tangibility

After-sale service

quality Overall customer

satisfaction

46

Correlation is the pre-stage of the regression analysis to examine whether

there are linear relationships among factors, especially between the independent variables

and the dependent variable - the overall satisfaction. In the last column, it shows that the

findings were significant (α = .000 < .05); thus, the research concluded that each of the

four factors were correlated with the satisfaction component.

4.8. Regression analysis

Table 23: Model Summary

Model R R Square

Adjusted R

Square

Std. Error of the

Estimate

1 .739a .546 .533 .56639

a. Predictors: (Constant), Group4_mean, Group3_mean,

Group2_mean, Group1_mean

Table 24: ANOVAb

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.

1 Regression 56.257 4 14.064 43.841 .000a

Residual 46.837 146 .321

Total 103.094 150

a. Predictors: (Constant), Group4_mean, Group3_mean, Group2_mean,

Group1_mean

b. Dependent Variable: Satisfaction_mean

47

The summary table shows the model explains 54.6% of the variation in the

overall customer satisfaction at Honda dealers and that result is significant (α = 0.000 <

0.05, in the ANOVA table).

In the coefficients table, the collinearity represents the degree of correlation

among the independent variables. According to many researches (Ethington, "Multiple

regression,"), a variable is considered problematic in a regression equation, if its VIF is

greater than or equal to 5. Since the four VIF values above were below 2, they were kept

in the model.

As the significance values were less than 0.05, "Personnel's skills and

attitudes", and "Reliability" and "Other service elements‖ significantly influenced the

overall satisfaction. On the other hand, there was not sufficient evidence to conclude that

the "First sight of tangibility" variable had influence on the dependent variable.

The B value expresses the units of the satisfaction change equivalent to one

unit change in an independent variable. The higher it is, the more powerful the factor's

Table 25: Coefficientsa

Model

Unstandardized Coefficients

Standardized

Coefficients

t Sig.

Collinearity Statistics

B Std. Error Beta Tolerance VIF

1 (Constant) -.155 .483 -.321 .749

Personnel .574 .092 .480 6.241 .000 .526 1.902

First sight .126 .065 .123 1.943 .054 .772 1.295

Reliability .181 .078 .167 2.314 .022 .598 1.673

Other service elements .145 .064 .145 2.252 .026 .748 1.337

a. Dependent Variable: Satisfaction_mean

48

impact is. As a result, according to the findings, the "Personnel's skills and attitudes"

factor (.574 or 57.4%) had the largest impact on the satisfaction, followed by the

"Reliability".

The final equation on the relationship between independent components and

the dependent one is expressed below:

Satisfaction= Personnel‘s skills*.574 + First sight*.126 + Reliability*.181 + Other

service elements*.145 - .155

Hypotheses Results of the

regression analysis

H1: Personnel's serving skills and attitudes significantly

affect the overall satisfaction Supported

H2: First sight of tangibility significantly affects the overall

satisfaction Not supported

H3: Service reliability significantly affects the overall

satisfaction Supported

H4: Other service elements significantly affect the overall

satisfaction Supported

49

4.9. IPA results

In this section, service items of the four factors above are prioritized for

improvement based on the customer's perceived importance degree.

Table 26: Importance mean value

Mean value

Factor 1: Personnel's serving skills and attitudes Importance Performance

As_20 Courteous personnel 6.34 6.26

As_19 Skillful technician 6.48 5.86

Rs_14 Prompt attention on arrival 6.26 6.34

Rs_16 Detailed explanation of work 6.6 6.17

As_18 Trustworthy service advisor 6.49 6.08

As_21 Good advice on service given to me 6.61 6.05

Rs_15 Quick service process 6.47 6.01

E_26 Service advisor knows my car‘s service

history 6.46 6.03

Group 2: First sight of tangibility

T_1 Clean facility 6.3 6.26

T_3 Spacious workshop 6.09 5.97

T_2 New infrastructure 5.84 5.94

Group 3: Service reliability

R_10 My requests are fulfilled thoroughly 6.5 6.15

R_9 Appointments are kept 6.56 6.25

R_13 Clear explanation of charges 6.66 6.25

Group 4: Other service elements

T_8 Attractive in-store ad materials 5.4 5.33

E_23 Car delivered in extended opening hours 5.66 4.99

T_7 Modern entertainment devices 5.88 5.95

Average 6.27 5.994

50

According to the graph‘s results, "skillful technician" was the only item in the

concentrate here quadrant; therefore, the study implies that Honda dealers should

significantly allocate more resources to improve this aspect.

In the keep up the work quadrant, most of the attributes of the "reliability" and

―personnel serving skills and attitudes‖ factors are located here, which meant that the

factors' performances considerably met customer's needs and the dealers should maintain

them or achieve a higher level. Of these service offerings in the quadrant, the "prompt

attention upon arrival" attribute had performance that exceeded the perceived importance

rating of 6.26. The ―detailed explanation of work", "good service advice", "appointment

are kept" and "clear explanation of charges" items were perceived as top criteria to

determine dealer's service quality, with the mean ratings being all above 6.5.

T_1

T_2

T_3

T_7

T_8

R_9

R_10

R_13

Rs_14

Rs_15

Rs_16

As_18As_19

As_20

As_21

E_26

E_23

5

5.1

5.2

5.3

5.4

5.5

5.6

5.7

5.8

5.9

6

6.1

6.2

6.3

6.4

6.5

6.6

6.7

6.8

4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 5 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 6 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5

Importance-performanceKeep up

Low priority

Concentrate here

Overkill

Figure 16: Importance-performance graph

Importance

Performance

51

Nevertheless, despite being located in the keep up the work quadrant, "quick

service process" and "service advisor knows my car‘s service history" ratings of 6.01 and

6.03 were slightly higher than the average performance ratings, but service customers

perceived their importance at 6.47 and 6.46. The "good advice on service given to me"

attribute also faced a similar pattern, as its performance rating was 6.05 relatively to 6.61

for the importance level. As a result, among items in the quadrant, dealers need to pay

more attention to the three mentioned attributes.

The low priority quadrant identifies items that dealers perform adequately, but

they were considered less important than other attributes. The result shows that three

attributes of the factor ―other service elements‖ fell in the quadrant, which implies that

dealers should make less effort in them. On the contrary, the regression findings indicate

the factor's impact on the overall satisfaction level. A possible reason was that "modern

entertainment devices" and "in-store ad materials" were basic facilities to service

customers, because they are offered at the dealers. Thus, without them, customers would

feel dissatisfied.

However, for the "car delivered in extended opening hours" item in particular,

it is believed to be a value-added element. Its low rating may be due to the fact many

surveyed customers have not driven their cars to workshop outside the opening hours, or

have not expected of the dealer to offer this. In fact, when being asked about this

question, many of them said they should follow the usual working hours at the dealer. For

this reason, due to the lack of past experiences, it is hard for customers to determine if

that attribute is beneficial to them or not. Nevertheless, letting customers know about that

offering can make a dealer stand out from the others.

In the overkill quadrant, there were not any service items that the dealers

allocate unnecessary resources on.

52

CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION AND RECOMENDATION

The section is summarizing primary points of the data findings and suggesting strategic

ideas to improve the after-sale service at Honda dealers

5.1. Conclusion

The study was conducted to understand the after-sale service impacts on the

overall customer satisfaction at Honda dealers. Questionnaires were administered at the

three main dealers in Ho Chi Minh, namely Kim Thanh, Cong Hoa and Phuoc Thanh.

The fieldwork finished with 151 qualified questionnaires returned, compared to the target

of 150.

To achieve the research purpose, descriptive statistics, reliability test, EFA,

regression IPA were performed. The descriptive results showed that over half of the

respondents are self-employed and they are 30-40s years old. The data summary also

showed that high portions of car users tend to wait for reminders about warranty service

from dealers' staff. Besides, the findings told that the overall satisfaction was

approximately rated at 6 out of 7, indicating that the Honda's auto after-sale service have

currently satisfied car users and the ratings are alike among the three dealers.

The findings of the reliability analysis showed the high internal consistency of

items in all the six factors, namely "tangibles", "reliability", "responsiveness",

"assurance", "empathy" and "satisfaction". In the "empathy" construct, the "car delivered

in extended opening hours" item was deleted, since the removal raised The Cronbach's

alpha by 0.05. Afterwards, the exploratory factor analysis reduced 27 original items to 17

in the four new groups. They are "Personnel's serving skills and attitudes", "First sight of

tangibility", "Service reliability" and "Other service elements".

53

The regression implied that "Personnel's serving skills and attitudes", "Service

reliability" and "Other service elements" are predictors of the overall satisfaction at

Honda dealers, of which the most impactful factor is the personnel‘s skills and attitudes.

Then, the importance-performance analysis showed that the majority of items in the

personnel and service reliability groups are considered as top criteria to assess the

maintenance service quality. In the personnel group, the dealers should put more efforts

and resources into four important service attributes " skillful technician", "quick service"

and "car service history", "good service advice" subsequently. On the other hand, for

service reliability, the dealers all perform the three attributes well.

5.2. Strategic recommendation

Based on the data findings, the research is giving suggestions to raise the

dealership service quality. In the ―personnel's serving skills and attitudes" factor which

plays the most fundamental role in satisfying customers, there are four primary

concerning issues in the order of importance.

First, the perceived skills of technicians must be improved. Since service

customers have limited technical knowledge, they are prone to evaluate that aspect of

dealers' technicians in two ways, communication (1) and the quality of their repaired car

(2).

1) Communication. Although customers directly talk with a service advisor rather than a

technician, sometimes they visit the workshop in order to ask the latter for their car

status. Thus, the way for that technician to answer customer's questions will affect

what customers think about his skills. The study suggests Honda Company as well as

the dealers to carry out more communication training courses that strongly focus on

practical cases or real-life situations so that technicians can practice easily, getting

54

high confidence when handling customer‘s questions. Those courses should also

teach them how to illustrate technical responses in a more understandable way.

Besides trainings, another recommendation is to pair an entry-level staff with an

experienced mentor in a team; therefore, the experienced employee can assist him to

answer difficult questions accurately.

2) Quality of the repaired car. Checking errors of the car that was fixed is the second

way to assess the skill level of technicians. Customers will feel unhappy or annoyed if

they find that errors that need fixing still exist, because they have to spend more time

driving their car back to the dealer. The remaining glitches might be due to either the

lack of ability to diagnose right technical glitches (1), or the tehnician‘s insufficient

care (2). As for the technician's ability (1), Honda Motors and the dealers might

minimize that problem in the following ways.

- Training courses and technician contests should be held more regularly not only to

help staff update knowledge about new car technologies, but also give them

opportunities to exchange skills and experiences to each other.

- Honda dealers should create profiles of technical errors that either car users

commonly complain about, or technicians have failed to fix completely.

Specifically, such computerized profiles should consist of information about

common errors of which car models, which methods have been applied to solve

them, etc. The accumulated information can be used as sources of references to fix

similar car errors, or used by the engineering team to discuss to find better solutions

for future cases.

To improve the technician's engagement (2), dealers not only need to monitor and

evaluate effectiveness of their performances periodically, but also provide incentives

55

for their equivalent efforts. Awards should be in both extrinsic forms like cash, gifts,

and intrinsic values like compliments. Moreover, the importance of serving customers

with high work accuracy or low rate of technical mistakes should be conveyed widely

to the engineering team.

The second concerning thing is the efficiency of the service process regarding

the maintenance/repair service. To many customers, quick service is crucial, since they

do not like to wait for their car being repaired long in the lounge or go back and forth

between their house and the dealer. However, to a certain extent, it is supposed the

service speed is inversely associated with the quality that is considered to very important

service standard; for this reason, it is not easy to balance both sides of service. In order to

speed up the maintenance/repair process, the most sensible way is to review the current

flow chart of the service, analyzing specific relevant stages in terms of average timing,

tasks being performed. Afterwards, the dealers can try to simplify tasks at the stages that

they think it is possible to do more efficiently with computer supports, thereby reducing

the total service time.

The third issue is the record of customer’s car service history that is used to

keep track on customers‘ car statuses to remind them of upcoming routine maintenance

dates. To improve the tracking process, the study suggests personalizing customer‘s

profile. In other words, the current profile should include more specific data like main

purposes of the car usage, their regular driving conditions. More-detailed profiles help the

dealer staff forecast customers‘ next maintenance dates precisely, avoid them from

forgetting to call the customers. Information for the personalization process can be

obtained through either upgraded software or communication between dealer‘s customer

relation staff and the customers.

56

The ability to provide good advice for customers also needs improving. The

research suggests that the service advisor should first try to understand and express

sympathy for customers‘ requests instead of jumping into conclusions that it is

impossible to do. Afterwards, he needs to think of many possible solutions, discussing the

pros and cons of each of them to provide the best recommendation. Flexibility is the

second requirement for service advisors to help customer solve their service problems;

for this reason, to a certain extent, the dealers should empower their employees to make

their own decisions when they deal with customer‘s demands.

Overall, to monitor the customer satisfaction towards the dealers ‗service, the

study recommends integrating the following methods. The first thing to do is to increase

the flow of feedback by administering short service surveys periodically. Such surveys

need to be focused and updated through the accumulated customer complaints. Besides,

feedback can directly be collected by the dealer‘ staff, particularly the customer relation

team. Specifically, conducting deep interviews in the form of relaxing conversations at

the store or on the phone can make customers more open to share. However, to do so, the

employees need to be active and dynamic in approaching them and getting insights into

their thoughts as well.

In addition, it is fundamental for dealers to check customers‘ online comments

on forums of websites like otofun.net or otosaigon.com. Online webs are a common

means to share their complaints accurately. This is due to the facts that many customers

are afraid that their negative comments might make the dealer‘s staff not treat them well

subsequently, or some feel annoyed to be called if the employees know their personal

contacts though surveys.

57

5.3. Limitation

There are several limitations in the study. First, the sample that was collected

in the limited geographic area may not represent the targeted population completely.

Moreover, due to the limited sample, the research findings may not be valid enough to be

generalized in all cases. For this reason, if possible, future researches should cover the

North and Middle area in Vietnam. Finally, the lack of comparative investigations against

Honda's competitors is attributed to time and budget limit. In fact, this kind of study is

necessary to find out a new service trend, to benchmark Honda service against the best

manufacturers. Therefore, more competitors should be included in further studies instead

of one single automaker.

58

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63

APPENDICES

Questionnaire Hello, I am senior student at the International University, conducting a survey about the after-

sale service at Honda‘s dealers to fulfill my thesis. I am glad that you can spend around 5-10

minutes to fill out the questionnaire. The collected information is guaranteed to be kept

confidential and used for the research purpose only.

Section A: General information

1. Which model(s) that you are using? (you can choose more than one answer)

City

Civic

Accord

CR-V

Other brands:………(move to question 3)

2. From which sources do you get the updates of Honda‘s warranty/ maintenance programs?

(you can choose more than one answer)

Honda‘s website

Dealers‘ website

Online newspaper

Facebook

Promotional materials at dealer

Dealer‘s personnel contacts me

Others: …………

Section B: Main question

3. The table below is the list of after-sale service statements,

a. In the question 3a, please give scores from 1 to 7 in the blank to express how

important each service item is to you (1= not at all important, 7= extremely

important)

1 7

Not at all

important

Extremely

important

64

b. In the question 3b, please rate your degree of agreement/ disagreement with the

dealer’s current performance of each service item.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Strongly

disagree Disagree

Somewhat

disagree Neutral

Somewhat

agree Agree

Strongly

agree

3a.

Importance

3b.

Service performance

Tangibles Points 1-7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Appearance of facilities is clean …………

Dealer infrastructure looks new …………

Spacious repairing workshop …………

Modern equipment for repair and maintenance …………

Well-groomed personnel …………

Comfortable waiting area …………

Modern entertainment devices …………

Attractive in-store ad materials …………

Reliability Points 1-7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Appointments are kept …………

My requests are fulfilled thoroughly …………

Car is ready at the promised time …………

Error-free repaired car …………

Clear explanation of charges …………

Responsiveness Points 1-7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

I receive prompt attention on arrival …………

Quick service process …………

Detailed explanation of work to be performed …………

I get updated on my car's status …………

Assurance Points 1-7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Trustworthy service advisor …………

Skillful technician …………

Courteous personnel …………

The service advisor gives me good advice on

maintenance/ repair service …………

65

Empathy Points 1-7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Convenient operating hours …………

Customers can deliver their car outside the

operating hours …………

Personnel greets me in a friendly way upon

arrival …………

My requests are respected …………

Service advisor knows my car‘s service

history …………

Personnel contacts me after the service

completion to know if I am satisfied …………

4. Please use the scale below to rate your degree of agreement with the below statements

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Strongly

disagree Disagree

Somewhat

disagree Neutral

Somewhat

agree Agree

Strongly

agree

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

I feel pleasant with the service quality at this dealer

I feel my expectations of the after-sale service are met

I am very satisfied with the service experience at this dealer

I will revisit the same dealer in the future

I will recommend the dealer to others

Section C: Demographics

Gender Employment status Year of birth

Male Self-employed

……………. Female Employed for wages

Housewife

Retired

THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION!

66

Bảng câu hỏi Xin chào, tôi hiện đang là sinh viên năm cuối của trường Đại học Quốc Tế vả đang tiến hành

một cuộc khảo sát về dịch vụ hậu mãi tại các đại lý của Honda để hoàn thành luận án. Tôi

mong anh/ chị có thể dành khoảng 5-10 phút giúp tôi trả lời bảng câu hỏi. Thông tin thu thập

đảm bảo được giữ bí mật và chỉ sử dụng cho mục đích nghiên cứu

Phần A: Thông tin chung

1. Anh/ chị đang sử dùng mẫu xe nào? (Có thể chọn nhiều câu trả lời)

City

Civic

Accord

CR-V

Hãng xe khác: ………….. (Trả lời tiếp câu 3)

2. Anh/ chị thường biết những thông tin cập nhật về bảo hành/ bảo dưỡng của Honda ở đâu?

(Có thể chọn nhiều câu trả lời)

Website chính thức của Honda

Website của đại lý Honda

Trang báo trực tuyến

Facebook

Tài liệu quảng cáo đặt tại đại lý Honda

Người của đại lý gọi

Nguồn khác: ………….

Phần B: Câu hỏi chính

3. Bảng câu hỏi bên dưới bao gồm các yếu tố của dịch vụ hậu mãi,

Thang điểm 1-7 thể hiện mức độ quan trọng dùng cho cột 3a trong bảng câu hỏi bên

dưới

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Hòan tòan

không quan

trọng

Cực kì quan

trọng

67

Thang điểm dùng cho cột 3b trong bảng câu hỏi bên dưới

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Hoàn

toàn

không

đồng ý

Không

đồng ý

Hơi

không

đồng ý

Bình

thường

Hơi đồng

ý Đồng ý

Hoàn

toàn đồng

ý

3a. Vui lòng cho

biết tầm quan

trọng của

từng yếu tố

dịch vụ sau

đây đối với

anh/chị như

thế nào?

3b. Vui lòng thể hiện mức độ

đồng ý/không đồng ý về khả

năng thực hiện hiện tại

từng yếu tố dịch vụ của đại

lý này

Vật chất Cho điểm 17 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Cơ sở vật chất sạch sẽ …………

Cơ sở hạ tầng nhìn mới …………

Khu vực sửa chữa rộng rãi …………

Trang thiết bị sửa chữa bảo dưỡng hiện đại …………

Nhân viên ăn mặc chỉnh tề …………

Khu vực chờ thoải mái …………

Trang thiết bị giải trí (TV, wifi,etc. ) hiện đại …………

Tài liệu quảng cáo trong cửa hàng nhìn thu

hút …………

Độ tin cậy Cho điểm 17 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Cuộc hẹn của tôi được ghi nhớ …………

Yêu cầu của tôi được đáp ứng hoàn toàn …………

Xe sẵn sàng được giao vào thời gian đã hứa …………

Xe sau khi sửa chữa không có lỗi …………

Chi phí dich vụ được giải thích rõ ràng …………

Khả năng đáp ứng Cho điểm 17 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

68

Tôi được chú ý và tiếp đón ngay khi đến …………

Quá trình dịch vụ nhanh chóng …………

Nhân viên giải thích chi tiết công việc được

thực hiện …………

Tôi nhận được cập nhật về tình trạng xe của

mình …………

Sự đảm bảo Cho điểm 17 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Cố vấn dịch vụ đáng tin cậy …………

Nhân viên kĩ thuật lành nghề …………

Nhân viên đại lý lịch sự …………

Cố vấn dịch vụ cho tôi lời khuyên hữu ích về

dịch vụ bảo dưỡng / sửa chữa …………

Sự cảm thông Cho điểm 17 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Giờ làm việc của đại lý thuận tiện …………

Khách hàng có thể đem xe đến đại lý ngoài

giờ làm việc …………

Nhân viên chào đón một cách thân thiện …………

Yêu cầu của tôi được tôn trọng …………

Cố vấn dịch vụ biết lịch sử dịch vụ của xe tôi …………

Nhân viên đại lý liên hệ với tôi để biết liệu

tôi có hài lòng về chất lượng dịch vụ không …………

4. Vui lòng sử dụng thang đo sau để thể hiện mức độ đồng ý của anh chị đối với các câu

sau:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Hoàn toàn

không

đồng ý

Không

đồng ý

Hơi

không

đồng ý

Bình

thường

Hơi đồng

ý Đồng ý

Hoàn toàn

đồng ý

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Tôi thấy hài lòng với chất lượng dịch vụ tại đại lý này

Những mong muốn về dịch vụ hậu mãi của tôi được đáp ứng

Tôi thỏa mãn với trải nghiệm dịch vụ tại đại lý này

69

Table 27: Reliability result _ Tangibles factor

Tôi sẽ tiếp tục đến đại lý này trong tương lai

Tôi sẽ giới thiệu đại lý này cho người khác

Phần C: Thông tin cá nhân

Giới tính Tình trang nghề nghiệp Năm sinh

Nam Tự kinh doanh

…………… Nữ Công nhân viên

Nội trợ

Nghỉ hưu

XIN CHÂN THÀNH CÁM ƠN SỰ GIÚP ĐỠ CỦA ANH/ CHỊ!

TABLES

Reliability Statistics

Cronbach's

Alpha

Cronbach's

Alpha Based on

Standardized

Items N of Items

.823 .827 8

Item-Total Statistics

Scale Mean if

Item Deleted

Scale Variance if

Item Deleted

Corrected Item-

Total Correlation

Squared Multiple

Correlation

Cronbach's

Alpha if Item

Deleted

T_1 41.5099 20.665 .530 .432 .804

T_2 41.8278 19.290 .614 .527 .792

70

Table 28: Reliability result _ Reliability factor

T_3 41.8013 19.374 .661 .511 .786

T_4 41.8808 21.039 .474 .286 .811

T_5 41.5629 20.741 .579 .398 .799

T_6 41.5364 20.744 .578 .430 .799

T_7 41.8212 20.548 .505 .365 .808

T_8 42.4371 19.914 .451 .292 .820

Item-Total Statistics

Scale Mean if

Item Deleted

Scale Variance if

Item Deleted

Corrected Item-

Total Correlation

Squared Multiple

Correlation

Cronbach's

Alpha if Item

Deleted

R_9 24.2715 10.412 .578 .462 .843

R_10 24.3709 9.742 .741 .578 .804

R_11 24.4570 9.383 .692 .556 .814

R_12 24.7020 8.877 .682 .581 .819

R_13 24.2649 9.716 .645 .431 .826

Reliability Statistics

Cronbach's

Alpha

Cronbach's

Alpha Based on

Standardized

Items N of Items

.852 .854 5

71

Table 29: Reliability result _ Responsiveness factor

Table 30: Reliability result _ Assurance factor

Reliability Statistics

Cronbach's

Alpha

Cronbach's

Alpha Based on

Standardized

Items N of Items

.808 .808 4

Item-Total Statistics

Scale Mean if

Item Deleted

Scale Variance if

Item Deleted

Corrected Item-

Total Correlation

Squared Multiple

Correlation

Cronbach's

Alpha if Item

Deleted

Rs_14 18.3444 5.134 .616 .395 .764

Rs_15 18.6689 4.743 .652 .439 .746

Rs_16 18.5166 4.705 .660 .438 .742

Rs_17 18.5166 5.091 .573 .340 .784

Reliability Statistics

Cronbach's

Alpha

Cronbach's

Alpha Based on

Standardized

Items N of Items

.854 .855 4

72

Table 31: Reliability result _ Empathy factor

Item-Total Statistics

Scale Mean if

Item Deleted

Scale Variance if

Item Deleted

Corrected Item-

Total Correlation

Squared Multiple

Correlation

Cronbach's

Alpha if Item

Deleted

As_18 18.1656 5.752 .707 .500 .809

As_19 18.3841 5.531 .725 .532 .801

As_20 17.9868 6.333 .683 .480 .821

As_21 18.1987 5.760 .675 .462 .823

Reliability Statistics

Cronbach's

Alpha

Cronbach's

Alpha Based on

Standardized

Items N of Items

.742 .772 6

Item-Total Statistics

Scale Mean if

Item Deleted

Scale Variance if

Item Deleted

Corrected Item-

Total Correlation

Squared Multiple

Correlation

Cronbach's

Alpha if Item

Deleted

E_22 29.7417 10.886 .573 .350 .679

E_23 30.8411 11.428 .259 .117 .797

E_24 29.5033 11.772 .586 .533 .686

E_25 29.6225 11.543 .568 .560 .686

E_26 29.8079 10.823 .575 .372 .678

E_27 29.6556 11.747 .474 .268 .708

73

Table 32: Reliability result _ Satisfaction factor

Reliability Statistics

Cronbach's

Alpha N of Items

.893 5

Item-Total Statistics

Scale Mean if

Item Deleted

Scale Variance if

Item Deleted

Corrected Item-

Total Correlation

Cronbach's

Alpha if Item

Deleted

S1 23.9205 12.567 .670 .885

S2 24.0927 11.951 .650 .889

S3 24.1060 10.709 .822 .850

S4 24.0331 10.899 .776 .861

S5 24.1126 10.327 .789 .859