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Prime Research on Education (PRE)
ISSN: 2251-1253. Vol. 2(10), pp. 365-372, November 29 th , 2012
www.primejournal.org/PRE
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Full Length Research
Investigation of the customers’ expectations from
service quality of the chain stores in Iran
1 Aliakbar Aminbeidohkti, 2 Mehdi Abbasian and 2 Ghader Esfandiari
1 Associate professor at Semnan University, Iran. Email:aliaminbeidokhti@yahoo.com
Tel: +98 912 122 1965
2 Marketing Specialization, DoS in Economics and Management, University of Semnan, Semnan, Iran.
Accepted 12 th November, 2012
Present research investigates the service quality of the chain stores in Semnan city, utilizing the SERVQUAL
Model. The method used in this research is of descriptive one, for which the data were collected both from
previous work in literature as well as field data. Research population is all customers of the chain stores in
Semnan city, out of which 391 were sampled, using the simple probability sampling method. The results of the
information collection and analysis regarding five dimensions of service quality in SERVQUAL model including
reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles show that in none of these five dimensions,
chain stores could reach the customers’ expectations or exceed them; the perceived quality is always less than
the expected quality. Moreover, the most important of these dimensions has been found to be reliability, after
which the empathy, assurance, responsiveness, and tangibles are the next.
Key Words: Service Quality, SERVQUAL Model, Customers, Chain Stores, Semnan City.
INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, in most developed countries, service is
receiving more and more attention and a considerable
part of such countries economy is related to service
sector (Buyukozkan, at al., 2011). The development of
other sectors will not be possible without the
development of service sector in country economy
(Buyukozkan, at al., 2011). On the other hand fierce
competition among companies and organizations has
made the organizations to excel their competitors with
satisfying their customer expectations through better
service offering. Service quality is an approach through
which business try to have satisfied customers and it also
leads to competition and efficiency in different industries
(Rahman , et al., 2011). Companies have understood that
the organization with similar product and service will be
able to overtake their competitors and create competitive
advantage only by means of service quality (Buyukozkan,
et al., 2011). Taking the above discussion in to account,
the present research try to investigate the customer
expectations from Iranian chain stores service quality.
In chain stores, customers play a vital role and there
will be no store without them. Therefore the most
important capital of the stores is their customers. The
final goal of human resource planning in stores is based
upon the link between customers and employees. A store
which holds customer satisfaction as its leading objective
puts a lot of energy and concern into its quantitative and
qualitative duties in relation to customers and serving the
customers means offering attractive and high-quality and
also accessible service to them. Therefore if a store is
trying to have a larger share in the market, excel the
competitors, create interest, commitment and loyalty in
customers and finally obtain greater benefits must be
able to understand the customers' needs and

Aminbeidohkti et al., 366
expectations through marketing research techniques and
create satisfaction in customers via high quality service.
Such a company must identify the factors creating higher
satisfaction in customers through customer satisfaction
study and try to improve it continuously by means of
appropriate solutions. The main problem from the
researchers’ point of view is that there exists a difference
between customer expectations from stores and stores
performance and this gap will have direct impact on
customers’ satisfaction. Therefore the researchers intend
to evaluate the customers' expectations from stores and
investigate the effective positive and negative factors
influencing their satisfaction. Hence one of the main
characteristics of quality management is continuous
improving of activities, the current research results will be
an aid to this factor and will be a suitable basis for chain
stores managers' decision-making. Therefore the
researchers hope to take an effective step in increasing
customers satisfaction of chain stores and customerorientedness
become institutionalized in Iranian society.
In this paper, we review the literature of service quality
and use the scale of service quality by parasuraman, et
al., (1988) for measure the gap of service quality in Iran.
This research helps to many managers to identify the gap
of service quality the basis of its dimensions in purchase
and they can improve service quality in their chain store
and cause satisfied and loyalty by their customers.
This paper encompasses five sectors. In sector 2 we
review the literature of service quality and its dimensions,
Sector 3 relevant to data collection, sector 4 relevant to
analysis data and in sector 5 we get conclusion, limitation
and guides for future researches.
LITERATURE REVIEW
A lot of researches have been conducted on service
quality up to now (Ladhari et al., 2009). Past researches
show that employees have an important role in
customers' perception of service quality (Bebko and
Sciulli, 2009; Heskett et al., 1994; Mattson, 1994;
Tansuhajm et al., 1988). Servqual have been applied in
many organizations up to now, such as banks, chain
stores, libraries, restaurants, etc. (Ladhari, 2009). Table 1
lists the different kinds of studies and researches
conducted in the field of service quality (Ladhari, 2009).
Service quality is intangible and therefore it is hard to
measure and scale it (Lovelock, 1989 & khan, 2003). In
addition to this intangibility, service providers have no
idea about how the customers will perceive the service
received (Parasuraman, 1985).
Service range is heterogeneous and varies from day to
day, place to place, product to product and customer to
customer (parasuraman, 1985 and Markovic, 2006).
Service is mortal because it cannot be saved or used
someday later (Ladhari, 2009).
Gronros (1987) defines perceived quality as follows: If
perceived service is compared with expected service,
perceived quality of service will be obtained. From
Parasuraman's point of view, service quality is the gap
between customer expectations and their perceptions of
real performance of quality (Parasuraman et al., 1987).
On the basis of Parasuraman et al viewpoint, customers'
perceptions of service quality will be affected by 5 gaps.
Figure 1 shows these gaps:
- The difference between management perception of
what customer expects and real expectation of customer.
- The difference between management perception and
service quality characteristics (service quality standards).
- The difference between service quality characteristics
and actual service offering: whether the standards have
been observed continuously or not
- The difference between service quality offering and
what is expected out of the organization: whether the
commitments have been fulfilled or not
- The difference between what customers expect from a
service and what they actually receive (Ladhari, 2009)
The fifth gap is affected by the first 4 gaps. SQ scale is
based upon the fifth gap. (Ladhari, 2009 and
Parasuraman et al., 1985) considered 10 dimensions as
the main characteristics of service quality at the first time.
These dimensions are: 1) tangibles, 2) reliability, 3)
responsiveness, 4) communication, 5) credibility, 6)
security, 7) competence, 8) courtesy, 9) understanding /
knowing customers, and 10) access.
Then day reduced the 10 dimensions to 5 dimensions
due to the overlap existing between them. The five
dimensions are as follows:
- Tangibles (measured by four items): the appearance of
physical facilities, Equipment, and personnel;
- Reliability (five items): the ability to perform the
promised service dependably and accurately;
- Responsiveness (four items): the willingness to help
customers and provide prompt service;
- Assurance (four items): the knowledge and courtesy of
employees and their ability to inspire trust and
confidence; and
- Empathy (five items): the level of caring and
individualized attention the firm provides to its customers.
These five dimensions are questioned with a 22-question
scale in two states. In the first state the customers
comment on their expectations from a service and in the
second state they express their perceptions of received
service (Parasuraman et al., 1988). In the present study,
Prasuraman's service quality model has been used to
measure the service quality of Iranian chain stores.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The present research is a functional research, because
the chractristics of the functional research resides on the
title »Seeking the dimensions of customer perceptions
from service quality offered in chain stores in Iran« and is
trying to use the results of the research to improve
service quality. From the data gathering perspective the
current research is a descriptive one which is of survey
type.

367 Prim. Res. Edu.
Table 1: literature of service quality
Study
Carman
(1990)
Parasuraman
et al. (1991)
Cronin and
Taylor (1992)
Gefen (2002)
O’Neill and
Palmer
(2003)
Gounaris
(2005)
Landrum
et al. (2007)
Large and
Konig. (2009)
Sample
characteristics
Customers of a dental
clinic, a business
school placement
center, a hospital, and
a tire store
Customers of
telephone company,
insurance company,
and bank Rang
Customers of fast
food
restaurant, banking,
pest control, and dry
cleaning
Students who had
previously bought at
Amazon.com
Visitors to theme
parks
Companies from
different industries
(B2B services)
Customers of two
army corps of
engineers research
centers
Internal and external
customers of
purchasing
departments
Data analysis
procedure for
assessing factorstructure
Exploratory factor
analysis
Exploratory factor
analysis
Exploratory factor
analysis ;confirmatory
factor analysis
Exploratory factor
Analysis,
Confirmatory factor
analysis
Exploratory factor
analysis
confirmatory factor
analysis
Structural equation
modeling
Exploratory factor
analysis
Final number of dimensions
Between six and nine
dimensions depending on
setting with “reliability”,
“tangibles”, and “security”
appearing in all settings
Five dimensions (six if
“tangibles” is split into two
dimensions)
(1) Five-factor model not
supported; (2) onedimensional
structure supported
Three factor structure:
tangibles, empathy, and a
combination of reliability,
responsiveness and
assurance
Reliability Coefficients
Ranged from 0.51 to 0.84 (tire
store), 0.52 to 0.85 (placement
center), 0.55 to 0.87 (dental
clinic), and 0.61 to 0.94
(hospital)
Ranged from 0.83 to 0.91 (Tel.
Co.), 0.80 to 0.92 (Ins Co. 1),
0.84 to 0.93 (Ins Co. 2), 0.85 to
0.92 (Bank 1), and 0.86 to 0.88
(Bank 2)
SERVQUAL: mean of 0.89
(banks), 0.90 (pest control),
0.90 (dry cleaning), and 0.85
(fast food)
SERVPERF: mean of 0.93
(banks), 0.96 (pest control),
0.93 (dry cleaning), and 0.88
(fastfood).
Ranged from 0.93 to
0.99
Four dimensions Ranged from 0.22 to 0.87
Five factors, two factors and a
single factor structure were
examined. Only two factor
model fit was acceptable
Two dimensions: behavioral
elements of service delivery
process (including empathy,
assurance, reliability, and
responsiveness), and
tangibles
Structural equation model fit
the data
Four dimensions, empathy,
reliability, responsiveness,
assurance.
Ranged from 0.77 to 0.86 for
the five SERVQUAL
dimensions Ranged from 0.80
to 0.82 for the two factors
model
Ranged from 0.84 to
0.92
For all dimensions larger than
0.7
Luoh and
Tsure.(2011)
Customers of fine
dining restaurants
Exploratory factor
analysis
Five dimensions, empathy,
reliability, responsiveness,
assurance, tangible
For all dimensions above 0.7
Ham et
al.(2012)
Passengers of airline
Exploratory factor
analysis
Four dimensions: atmosphere,
food and beverage service,
employee service, facilities
Ranged from 0.59 to 0.90 for
the four dimensions
Source: Ladhari 2009 and literature review
Statistical population, sample and sampling method
Statistical population in this research is all of the
customers of Semnan chain stores city in Iran. Statistical
population is assumed on limited and sample volume is
calculated according to on limited Statistical population
sampling formula. On limited Statistical population
sampling formula is as follows:

Aminbeidohkti et al., 368
Figure 1: Gaps of SERVQUAL (Source: Parasuraman, et al., 1985)
Z
n
Table 2: Reliability of constructs
Construct
Number
of items
Cronbach's
alpha coefficient
Reliability 5 0.753
Responsiveness 4 0.850
Assurance 4 0.903
Empathy 4 0.978
Tangible 5 0.846
Total 22 0.968
Source: Software output
2
2
p(1
p)
2
n :the number of sample volume.
z :normal variable correspondent to certainty level 95٪
p :success ratio estimation of the variable on the study
which is assumed 50٪, In this study variance will be at its
maximum 25٪.
ε :Amount of open error which is 5 ٪,therefore :
2
(1.96) 0.5(1
0.5)
0.96
n
384
2
(0.05) (0.0025)
Sampling method is simple accidental sampling and 500
questionnaire were distributed which 391 questionnaire
from gather questionnaires were acceptable.
Research method used for this study was descriptiveanalytic.
Criteria were extracted and questionnaires were
distributed among 500 customers of Etka & Refah chain
stores. Finally, 391 questionnaires were returned that
yielded a return rate of 78.20 per cent.
Reliability and validity of research tool
Data gathering tool is questionnaire in this research,
which is consisted of two set of 22 questions. In the first
set customers describe their ideal expectations within 22
questions and in the next part customer opinions on
offered service is measured using 22 questions. The
questions are based on 5 point likert scale and design
from one (completely disagree) to 5 ( completely agree).
It should be mentioned that the customer expectations
gathered in the first part have been assigned the number
5 on likert scale and only the present service offered on
the Etka & Refah chain stores have been questioned.
For reliability evaluation Cronbach's alpha was utilized.
The Cronbach's alpha reliability of all the 7 latent
variables were more than 0.7 (α>0.7) as shown in table 2,
which indicated that all scales demonstrated good
reliability.
For evaluating validity of questionnaires, content
validity and construct validity were used. For testing
content validity after devising a framework for
questionnaire, we asked 7 experts to modify it if needed.
These experts evaluated all implemented criteria in
questionnaire and modified it. Then factor analysis was
used for considering the structure of research.
Confirmatory factor analysis was used to investigate
construction of questionnaire.
The results of confirmatory Factor Analysis by using

369 Prim. Res. Edu.
Table 3: Confirmatory factor analysis
Factors and item First-order
Second-order
description
Loading t-value Loading t-value
Reliability .62 10.83
(1) .74 … a
(2) .57 8.98
(3) .55 8.72
(4) .77 11.63
(5) .80 11.64
Responsiveness .84 11.85
(1) .70 … a
(2) .75 12.14
(3) .80 11.64
(4) .79 13.00
Assurance .84 12.97
(1) .79 … a
(2) .75 14.20
(3) .87 16.42
(4) .77 13.45
Empathy .57 10.99
(1) .77 … a
(2) .91 8.68
(3) .59 9.09
(4) .48 6.47
(5) .57 8.24
Tangible .70 9.32
(1) .64 … a
(2) .48 6.67
(3) .57 6.47
(4) .77 8.24
Note: a Fixed parameter.
Source: Author's computation
LISREL 8.50, show good fitness of our model (χ 2 =243.62,
df=104; P-value=0.00000; Goodness of Fit Index
[GFI]=0.92; Adjusted Goodness of Fit Index [AGFI]=0.90;
Root Mean Square Error of Approximation
[RMSEA]=0.066). The results of confirmatory Factor
Analysis have been shown in Table 3.
As it can be seen in table 3, in first level factor analysis
the factor value will be significant if the t- value is greater
than 1.96 and it can be said that it has a positive and
significant relationship with the factors. In addition, in the
second level factor analysis the 5 dimensions measuring
service quality have significant factor value (their t-value
is larger than 1.96). Therefore it can be concluded that
the dimensions assurance, tangibles, empathy, reliability
and responsiveness have positive significant relationship
with service quality. Finally, in light of first level and
second level factor analysis results, factor analysis is
reliable and the dimensions discussed are verified.
RESEARCH RESULTS
Seek of service quality distribution
One of the preconditions for testing the research
hypothesis and determination of research components
distribution is conducting Kolmogrov-Smirinov. In order to
analyse the hypothesis in the present research we use
per comparison test as long as the dimensions of
SERVQUAL have normal distribution and we use pared
sample t test which is a nonparametric test as long as the
distribution of the dimensions is not normal. The results
of test show that the 5 dimensions of SERVQUAL
measurement have normal distribution. Therefore we
used pared comparison test to test the hypothesis.
Research hypothesis analysis
Pared comparison test is a method used for pretest and
posttest, which we use dependent samples observation.
The test statistic is t and assuming unknown dσ is:
,
We use this test in empirical research and usually to
show the influence of a particular kind of interventions.
We use the following statistical assumption in order to
test the research hypothesis.
Mean difference is equal zero in both situations.
H0: = 0

Aminbeidohkti et al., 370
Table 4. Descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations)
Dimensions Situations Mean
Std. Deviation
Reliability
Responsiveness
Assurance
Empathy
Tangible
service quality
Customer expectations of Reliability 5.0000 .00000
present Situation of Reliability 2.2145 .61885
Customer expectations of Responsiveness 5.0000 .00000
present Situation of Responsiveness 204350 .73160
Customer expectations of Assurance 5.0000 .00000
present Situation of Assurance 2.1635 .56267
Customer expectations of Empathy 5.0000 .00000
present Situation of Empathy 2.8306 .98321
Customer expectations of Tangible 5.0000 .00000
present Situation of Tangible 2.8268 .90573
Customer expectations 5.0000 .00000
present Situation of SQ 2.4941 .47763
Table 5: Paired Samples Tes
Comparison between
customer expectations
and present situation
Mean
Std.
Deviati
on
95% Confidence
Interval of the
Difference
t df Sig.
(2-
tailed)
Result
Lower Upper
Reliability 2.78552 .61885 2.72251 2.84853 86.931 372 .000 Confirm
Responsiveness 2.56501 .73160 2.49053 2.63950 67.712 372 .000 Confirm
Assurance 2.83646 .56267 2.77917 2.89375 97.359 372 .000 Confirm
Empathy 2.16944 .98321 2.06933 2.26954 42.614 372 .000 Confirm
Tangible 2.17319 .90573 2.08097 2.26541 46.340 372 .000 Confirm
service quality 2.50592 .47763 2.45730 2.55455 101.329 372 .000 Confirm
Source: Software output
Mean difference is equal zero in both situations.
H1: ≠ 0
Table 4 shows the results of pared comparison test.
As it has been show in table 6, customer expectations
from dimensions related to SERVQUAL are at maximum
(number 5 according to likert scale). Therefore, all of the
dimensions related to SERVQUAL has a lower mean in
the present situation.
As it shown in table 5, significant level for all
SERVQUAL dimensions are lower than /5 and
considering the fact that the t statistic for all dimensions is
positive, then H 0 for all SERVQUAL is rejected.
Therefore, we can say that the mean difference of
SERVQUAL dimensions between customer expectations
and present situation is different from zero. Hence, it can
be said that there is a significant difference between
customer expectations and present situation on
SERVQUAL dimensions of Etka and Refah chain stores
and subsidiary hypothesis are verify.
For a more detailed analysis the mean difference
between customer expectations and customer situations
of SERVQUAL variable has a significant level less than
5% and the t statistic is positive.
Therefore H 0 is rejected and H 1 is accepted. So it can
be said that the mean difference between customer
expectations and present situations of SERVQUAL
variable is different from zero, in other words, there is a
significant difference between customer expectations and
the present situations of Etka chain stores SERVQUAL
variable. Hence, the research main hypothesis is verified.
In view of the resulted numbers of mean test for each of
the dimensions of the SERVQUAL in two situations i.e.
customer expectations and present situations, the
dimensions related to this variable can be illustrated in
figure 2 for comparison and SERVQUAL gap
identification.
In the present situation, the empathy dimension is in
the better condition with respect to other dimensions, and
after that the tangible dimension is in the better condition
compared with other 4 dimensions. While assurance

371 Prim. Res. Edu.
Tangible
SERVQUAL
Responsivenes
s
Perception
Expectation
who have more contact with customers. Empathy means
the stores pay attention to their customers personally.
Therefore, in spite of the result, management is not so
worried about this variable and had better invest in other
variable. Tangibles refer to all tangible items in offering
service containing face internal and external stores
decoration, customers comfort facilities and so on. Therefore
management can fill this gap even go beyond customer
expectations by little investment.
Reliability
Empathy
Assurance
Figure 2: The present situations of service quality compared with
customer expectations
dimension is the worst condition among all 5 dimensions.
On the other hand figure 2 shows the gap in service
quality in chain stores in iran, so that the greatest gap is
related to assurance dimension.
CONCLUSION
In the present research 500 questionnaires were
distributed among the customers of Etka and Refah chain
stores customers in Semnan city, Where 391
questionnaires (78 per cent) were completed. In the
hypothesis test, there was a significant difference
between customers expectation of chain store service
quality with offered service by these stores. The
management can satisfy customer's expectation and
demands with planning and continues monitoring. It is
clear that those stores can have satisfied and even loyal
customer that at first step satisfies customer's
expectation and even goes beyond their expectation.
Hypothesis test showed that there was a significant
difference between customer expectations and store real
performance in all SERVQUAL dimensions. Considering
research data on customer expectations and perceptions of
reliability variable, it was concluded at the gap between
customer expectations and perceptions of this variable is
higher with respect to other variable. This means these
stores have not fulfilled their promises in most cases.
Therefore the management should invest considerably to fill
this gap.
Responsiveness dimension means the stores and its
employees are quick and efficient in responding to
customers. The stores can invest in personnel education
and servicing process to fill this gap.
Assurance dimension means the employees of
stores be polite, honest and reliable. Therefore these
stores are not well at this factor and should invest more
on improving this factor. These stores can fill this gap by
investing in their personnel knowledge and awareness
and also job time training especially for those employees
RECOMMENDATIONS
Practical program of quality culture strengthening in chain
stores:
The management had better implement a program in
order to strengthen the quality culture in chain stores.
The following actions can be useful.
- Management commitment for implementing and
controlling quality program.
- Formation quality in groups (quality circles) or selfevaluating
groups in stores which determine the
qualitative objectives of related department and
document its advantages. Also, a systematic approach to
implement the quality program is necessary. In this
approach all objectives and necessary function is
scheduled and specified.
Creating information system
It is recommended that these stores create an integrated
information system which receives information from
customers in different time periods and after analysis
gives the results to store employees. Information
gathering and analysis can be periodical regular or in
different time periods. After gathering and exploring the
results are obtained and decision making will be more
certain.
Complaints system
Responsive service organization considers Complaints
as information follow which can be used to improve
service quality and productivity. In chain stores in order to
make the customers complaints a useful research input,
the complaints must be gathered classify and
investigated in a concentrated manner. This involves
having a complaint attraction system from every source.
The most useful complaint recording method is creating a
database to deal with all complaints; therefore chain
stores can use such system to improve their service
quality.
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