THE INFLUENCE OF SERVICESCAPE DESIGN ON PERCEIVED SERVICE QUALITY: THE MODERATING ROLE OF SELF-BRAND CONGRUENCEرسالة ماجستير

Abstract

The services sector of the economy, in general, does have a considerable importance all over the world, it is proved that companies need to develop a better understanding of this sector, its modern concepts and strategies to face fierce competence of attracting more customers. Whenever service-based businesses increase, the variety of servicescape designs rises. These environments are important contributors to the consumer’s creation of an attitude towards the business, decision-making process, and behavioral responses towards a business. Depending on deep analysis of literature review, a model was built to investigate servicescape design effect on perceived service quality considering the potential moderating role of self-brand congruence. The study hypotheses were tested by using multiple regression based on a sample of 570 respondents. The data were collected through face-to-face interviews filling a paper-based questionnaire. Studying findings suggests that the servicescape dimensions (ambient conditions, spatial layout, functionality, and social interaction) have a significant positive relationship with perceived service quality provided by telecommunication mobile service carriers in their centers. The findings did not provide support for a positive relationship among the signs, symbols, and artifact dimension of servicescape design and perceived service quality. Furthermore, the study results did not prove that self-brand congruence has a moderating role between servicescape design dimensions and perceived service quality. In fact, the results support the idea that self-brand congruence is a significant predictor of perceived service quality. Academically, this study contributes to the understanding of how environmental and personal factors influence consumers and the importance of addressing both. This study investigates under researched constructs and relationships in literature, particularly, in West Bank. The findings of this study encourage researchers to dive into the complexity of how v both environment and non-environmental (personal, psychological, etc.) factors influence customer's behavior. Managerially, this study alerts managers to the need for systematic and deep attention to servicescape design affecting customers' perception of quality. Furthermore, it removes the shallow stereotypes of customers' perception of service. The study describes how psychological processes (self-brand congruence) and perceptions of service quality have the same importance. It seems that the limits of customer's experience design should be not only restricted to the physical spaces of service delivery, but also to other non-physical spaces where customers develop attitudes to the company and its product offerings