Date of Award

2021

Document Type

Dissertation - Open Access

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Business Administration (DBA)

Advisor(s)

Dr. Robert Ford

Second Advisor

Dr. Keenan Yoho

Third Advisor

Dr. Ginger Killian

Keywords

customer feedback, service quality, delivery of brand promise, SERVQUAL, employee behavior, mixed-methods, Twitter, social media, longitudinal study

Abstract

The main objective of this research study is to evaluate the degree to which customer feedback can assess the quality of the delivery of the brand promise as defined by the dimensions of service quality. Second, the study investigates if customer feedback changes departments’ employee behaviors delivery of the brand promise over time. The study provides theoretical and practical understanding in areas of management, marketing, and human resources through evaluation of customer feedback on memorable experiences. A mixed-methods approach of manual and auto-coding qualitative analyses of 171,022 tweets from 2015 to 2020 from a single-site firm, followed by a quantitative analysis utilizing frequency tables and Z-tests to test three hypotheses is performed.

The study found the five dimensions of SERVQUAL are more prevalent in customer feedback above all other factors in the quality of the delivery of the brand promise. The results indicate the ability for employees to perform the promised service dependably and accurately (i.e., the reliability dimension of SERVQUAL) is the most important to customers. The study provides inconsistent results on the relationship between customer feedback on service quality and the departments’ employee delivery of the brand promise over time.

The results encourage further research in delivering service recovery, using social media, and evaluating the impact of customer feedback on employee behavior. The results urge practitioners and academics in marketing, operations, and management to build integrated strategies using customer feedback to implement advertising campaigns, employee training and recognition programs, and future projects.

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