(Comparison of Service Quality with Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty in Businesses: A Study in Thermal Accommodation Facilities with or without Environmentally Sensitive Certificate)

Abstract

Purpose – The objective of the study is to understand the relationships between service quality, satisfaction and loyalty of customers receiving services from environmentally sensitive and nonsensitive thermal facilities. Design/methodology/approach – The population of the research, in which the quantitative research method was employed, are the people who receive service from the thermal and spa facilities in the Izmir region. The research data were collected from 420 people by face-to-face survey technique with convenience sampling method. The data analyses were performed using SPSS 24 and AMOS 26 package programs. The results have been interpreted with confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis, t- test and ANOVA analysis. Findings – It has been observed that the fit indexes of model are at an acceptable level. The findings revealed that the construct validity was ensured. It has been observed that the service quality, satisfaction loyalty, the participants’ behaviours differ significantly as per their gender, age groups, professions and whether the service facilities are environmentally sensitive based on the results of the t-test and ANOVA analysis. It has been observed that there is mid-level of relationship between perception of service quality and satisfaction, high level relationship between the perception of service quality and loyalty, and a moderate relationship between the perception of satisfaction and loyalty. Discussion – The findings obtained as a result of the study revealed the importance of having an environmentally friendly certificate for thermal accommodation facilities and was supported by the findings in the literature by producing answers to the hypotheses and research questions. Since the study was carried out in the thermal accommodation facilities of the Izmir region, it covers a restricted region, and it is worth conducting comparative studies involving larger regions for further research will make significant contributions to the literature and practitioners.