BUKU ABSTRAK - Universiti Putra Malaysia

Social Sciences
Servicescape Failure and Recovery Strategy in the Food Service Industry: How to
Satisfy the Angry Customers?
Dr. Mohhidin Othman
Chua Bee Lia, Boo Huey Chern, Muhammad Shahrim Ab. Karim and Sridar Ramachandran
Faculty of Food Science and Technology, University Putra Malaysia,
43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
+603-8946 8363; mohhidin@putra.upm.edu.my
Servicescape has become an increasingly important element in the delivery of customer expectation and delight
in services industry. However, servicescape failure can result in customer dissatisfaction. The subsequent interaction with
a service employee has a great deal of influence on customer ultimate satisfaction. Despite the acknowledged importance
of servicescape, there is a dearth of investigation on servicescape failure and the associated recovery strategy in the food
service industry. This research attempted to offer solutions on how to deal with the angry customers as a result of servicescape
failure. The Critical Incident Technique (CIT) was used to examine servicescape failures and recovery strategies in the food
service industry. In-depth personal interview was applied. The transcription was content analyzed through an inductive sorting
process. The developed classification system was measured by inter-judge reliability and content validity. Using the CIT,
data on 226 servicescape failures and 287 recovery actions were collected from 174 informants. The analysis revealed that
cleanliness issues (76.1%) were the most reported problem in the food service industry, followed by design issues (11.1%),
social interaction issues (7.1%), and functionality issues (5.7%). Customers exhibited negative reactions to those failures with
displaying of emotional and physiological responses. The recovery strategies identified through the sorting process resulting in
five major categories which were empathetic, corrective, compensatory, authority intervention, and no recovery. Combination
of prompt action-oriented responses and sincere empathetic responses was perceived as far more effective and was likely to
meet customer satisfaction, regardless of servicescape failure type. This study has implications for food service practitioners
who are seeking to improve the tangibles in their eateries. It is recommended that food service managers have to closely monitor
the servicescapes and implement appropriate recovery strategies which may greatly affect customer satisfaction. Staff training
is a necessary process in developing efficient service delivery systems.
Keywords: Servicescape failure, recovery strategy, customer satisfaction, food service industry
Relationships between Satisfaction of Muslim Women on Financial Supports After
Divorce and Ex-husbands’ Compliance to the Supports with Post-divorce Welfare
Dr. Muslihah Hasbullah@Abdullah
Najibah Mohd. Zin and Saodah Wok
Faculty of Human Ecology, University Putra Malaysia,
43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
+603-8946 7690; muslihah@putra.upm.edu.my
The main objective of this study was to assess the welfare of divorced women relating to financial
supports after divorce i.e., iddah maintenance, mut’ah, arrears of maintenance, and child maintenance. The
specific objectives were to determine the divorced women’s satisfaction with the amount of financial supports;
the ex-husband’s compliance to court-ordered financial supports; satisfaction with post-divorce welfare (level
of economic strain and level of depression); relationships between satisfaction with the amount of financial
supports and post-divorce welfare; and relationships between the ex-husbands’ compliance to court-ordered
financial supports and post-divorce welfare. Data were collected using questionnaire. The samples were 201
divorced women recruited from the recorded cases in the year of 2003 till 2005 in the Shariah Subordinate Courts
of Hulu Langat and Gombak Timur, Selangor. Pearson correlation showed that two factors were negatively
correlated with the economic welfare of the divorced women i.e., the dissatisfaction with the amount of iddah
maintenance, mut’ah, and child maintenance and the ex-husband’s none or partial compliance to court-ordered
iddah maintenance, mut’ah, and child maintenance. However, contrary to expectation, the divorced women’s
satisfaction with the amount of all types of financial supports provided by the ex-husband and their ex-husbands’
none or partial compliance to all types of financial supports were found to have no significant relationships with
depression. Findings indicate that the assessment of a reasonable sum of financial supports and the effective
enforcement of court order are the significant factors that might augment the welfare of women after divorce.
Keywords: Arrears of maintenance, child maintenance, compliance to court order, depression, economic strain, iddah
maintenance, mut’ah, satisfaction
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