• Ei tuloksia

6. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

6.3 Result discussion and comparison

6.3.2. Collectivism/ Individualism

Among three reference studies used in this thesis, only Furrer et al. (2000) suggest a correlation relationship between the cultural dimension of Collectivism and other SERVQUAL dimensions, both Kueh et al. (2000) and Tsoukatos et al. (2000) confirm that there is no correlation between this cultural dimension and other SERVQUAL dimensions. This thesis also reveals the similar result with the two studies above when there is no significant correlation to be found between Collectivism and service quality dimensions for both two service fields of education and healthcare.

In order to explain this situation of non-correlation, the nature of the service can contribute in some way. Both healthcare and education are services aimed directly to the

customer‟s body and mine. In addition, they are not daily-use services but of more importance and of higher cost. In other words, the opportunity cost of choosing a bad service provider is extremely high. For instance, choosing a wrong university can waste you several years studying or a wrong clinic can badly affect your health later. In this context, the role of cultural dimension of collectivism/individualism does not have any effect. Although you are an individualistic or a collectivistic customer, you need to search for a lot of information to find a good and suitable service provider. It leads to the fact that Assurance is very important for all of customers no matter who they are, from collectivistic or individualistic cultures. Based on the interviews, the point is that individualistic customers tend to depend more on social media as well as public rankings whereas collectivistic customers tend to consult their social networks for ideas, advices and comments more.

Furthermore, the collectivism/ individualism may have an effect on how people behave in marketing, but the service experience and the quality expectation of that service is very individual. For example, when choosing a restaurant, the collectivistic customer may make decision based on different ideas of companions and when evaluating the restaurant quality, her opinions may again be affected by others; but her real expectation of the food, the atmosphere, the staff and so on is her own thinking and her own wants, which are much less influenced by outsiders. In general, it can be concluded that the cultural dimension of collectivism/ individualism is not significantly related to service quality expectation in the context of healthcare and education.

6.3.3. Masculinity/ Femininity

This cultural dimension is quite compelling in the study field of culture and service marketing. Some researchers such as Furrer et al. (2000) distinguish between a male and a female service provider in relation to service quality expectation. For example,

“customers expect a female service provider to be more feminine than professional”

(Furrer et al., 2000). However, Kueh et al. (2007) state that, “the gender of the service provider is less important than the type of values required by the job itself”, which I totally agree with. Throughout the pilot study as well as the in-depth interview, the

gender role is not a factor influencing on the service quality expectation of the customer.

In this study, hypothesis about masculinity is suggested and analysed without the gender differentiation. In the healthcare context, Masculinity is found to be not significant with any SERVQUAL dimension. This result is similar to the one of Kueh et al. (2007) who do not either find any correlation between Masculinity and service quality dimensions.

However, Furrer et al. (2000) found that Masculinity is negatively correlated with Responsiveness and positively correlated with Tangibles while Tsoukatos et al. (2007) suggest a negative correlation between Masculinity and Reliability, Responsiveness and Empathy.

As mentioned above, the gender of the service staff is not an influencing factor but the nature of the service will be the one which has effect on the expectation from customers.

Specifically, in the healthcare service, the customer needs clear and comprehensive consultation from the doctor, no matter whose gender is. In addition, Hofstede et al.

(2005) suggest that for jobs requiring high human contact, feminine values will be of much necessity. Nurse or even doctor is exactly this kind of job. Whether the customer is masculine or feminine, he or she still needs the care from the service provider. Thus, this result is understandable and able to confirm the conclusion from Kueh et al. (2007) about the gender role in service.

In terms of the education context, it is even more interesting when masculinity is positively correlated with all of SERVQUAL dimensions. This result confirms hypotheses H11b, H12b and H13b which suggest the positive correlation of Tangibles, Assurance and Responsiveness with Masculinity. This can be explained by Hofstede‟s words, mentioned in the previous part about the teachers‟ brilliance and academic reputation as dominant factors. In addition, masculine students always try to make themselves visible and outstanding, which can be translated to Empathy as well as Responsiveness.

In details, they expect the individual care as well as appreciation or compliments from teachers. And because they are competitive and aim to leading in their study, they also demand the support from teachers which refers to Responsiveness. For the dimension of Tangibles, it is very clear that high-class buildings, facilities and even excellent schoolmates, which can be referred to social environment could be good elements for recognition of their high status in a society. In general, compared with the healthcare service, the higher education which is time-consuming and even a factor of personal brand name and future success, masculine customers will place so much importance on every aspect of the service quality that they cannot tolerate the service failure.