Quality of service delivered by alcoholic beverage suppliers to customers in the South African hospitality industry
Date
2019
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
AfricaJournals
Abstract
Service quality can be described as the relative distance between a customer’s expectation of how they feel a
service should be performed, and their perception of how that service was executed. Anecdotal evidence
suggested that, according to this definition, a service quality “gap” exists between the service attributes
expected by businesses in the hospitality industry and those actually offered by service providers in the South
African alcoholic beverage industry.
The primary objective of this study was to investigate whether there is a discrepancy between the reselling
customer’s expectations and perceptions of the service quality delivered by South African alcoholic beverage
suppliers. This is necessary due to the importance of the South African alcoholic beverage industry within the
global and local contexts, as well as service quality's significant role in business. Secondary objectives involved
exploring service quality dimensions and what customers' actual expectations and perceptions are.
This exploratory research study was conducted through the use of online SERVQUAL surveys to obtain the
relevant data from respondents. Screened respondents were reached via email and social media platforms.
This study found that there is a discrepancy between customers’ expectations and perceptions of service
quality in this context. It also found that there are discrepancies for each of the RATER dimensions, of which
Reliability showed both the highest expectation and gap score, and that all five RATER dimensions have a
unique effect on customers’ perception of service.
Description
CITATION: Gouws, E. & Motala, T. 2019. Quality of service delivered by alcoholic beverage suppliers to customers in the South African hospitality industry. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 8(3):1-16.
The original publication is available at https://www.ajhtl.com
The original publication is available at https://www.ajhtl.com
Keywords
Alcoholic beverage industry -- Quality control -- South Africa, Hospitality industry -- South Africa, Consumers -- Attitudes -- South Africa, SERVQUAL
Citation
Gouws, E. & Motala, T. 2019. Quality of service delivered by alcoholic beverage suppliers to customers in the South African hospitality industry. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 8(3):1-16