| Author: | Ng, Kin-ching David |
| Title: | The effects of alliance relationships on customer responses : an empirical study of interior decoration service |
| Degree: | D.B.A. |
| Year: | 1999 |
| Subject: | Interior decoration firms -- Customer services Interior decoration firms -- Quality control Strategic alliances (Business) Consumer satisfaction Consumer behavior Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | Department of Management |
| Pages: | xii, 110, [18] leaves : ill. ; 30 cm |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | The quality revolution in the business world and recent academic research thereon have moved from the suppliers' perspective to a focus on the importance of viewing quality from a customer perspective. Even though a great deal of effort has been spent in studying alliance relationships, most studies have focused on factors related to firm performance, for example, sharing of resources, reciprocity and efficiency, joint synergy effect, reduced cost and uncertainty, economies of scale and risk sharing, and market entry/positioning. Hardly any studies can be found that have related the alliance effect to customer perspective. Moreover, the important relationships among alliance relationships, service quality, customer satisfaction, and purchasing behavior have remained largely unexplored, let alone been subjected to empirical testing. The objectives of this research are to study the effects of alliance relationships on customer responses and to test empirically the causal relationships among perceived cooperation, process quality, outcome quality, overall quality, satisfaction and purchase intention. In order to achieve the objectives, a conceptual framework is proposed. . But for alliance relationships, it is difficult for customers to know or to understand the nature of alliances formed between service providers and manufacturers. Instead, what customers can see is the cooperation between the parties. Therefore, perceived cooperation is used to capture the existence of the alliance relationship in the conceptual model. Integrating perceived cooperation with the framework of perceived behavior (Fishbein & Ajzen 1975, Ajzen & Fishbein 1980) forms the conceptual framework. The perceived behavior framework postulates that perceived behavior leads to attitude and ultimately to intention. Six hypotheses have been developed from this conceptual framework. A survey was used to collect the data from a sample of domestic homebuyers. A total of 306 responses were received. The results show that alliance relationships have had a positive effect on customer responses. The group using the fully furnished packages provided by the alliances is significantly different from the group employing individual decorators. It was also indicated that perceived cooperation had a positive impact on both process quality and outcome quality. The results also supported the proposition that process quality and outcome quality are significantly related to overall quality. Furthermore, overall quality has a direct effect on satisfaction, and in turn, satisfaction has a direct effect on repurchasing intention. This study supports the extant research in the measurement of quality as a kind of attitude. It further supports the incorporation of process and outcome quality into providing a more comprehensive assessment of overall quality. Furthermore, this study represents a pioneering effort to propose and empirically test a more comprehensive model of satisfaction and purchase intention from a customer perspective. This study also has practical implications. The conceptual framework suggests that customer satisfaction exerts a strong influence on purchase intentions, and managers may need to emphasize total customer satisfaction programs over strategies centering solely on overall quality. This study also provides insights into the effect of alliance relationships and customer responses. Such findings may broaden the strategic view of managers in defining their scope of alliances, not only by focusing on core or other competencies of the firm in forming their alliances, but also by becoming more customer-oriented. For easy reference, apart from the Introduction and Conclusion sections, this thesis is divided into three additional parts. The first additional part deals with theory and framework building. The second part describes the research design and methodology used. The final part recounts research findings and analysis. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
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| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| b15001234.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 3.65 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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