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    "There and back again" : an examination of consumers' experiences of fantasy stories told through servicescape atmospherics : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Marketing at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2021) Sadeghzadeh Fesaghandis, Kousar
    The importance of fantasy as playful and imaginative consumption has been long noted by consumer researchers, often seen as the creation of extraordinary worlds that engage the consumers and provide them a pleasurable diversion and escape from the ordinary. While companies are increasingly coming to realise the value of fantasy and storytelling in engaging consumers and changing their emotions, behaviour, and brand perceptions, however, extant research in marketing are limited to brands and servicescapes that are marketed with an authentic story about the brand’s history or cultural stories. In addition, extant research focus on consumers’ engagement with stories presented in forms of texts, movies, and advertisements, with limited research conducted on the effects of storytelling through servicescape atmospherics. This thesis examined whether consumers experience narrative engagement in servicescapes that are designed based on fantasy stories, and how engagement with stories in servicescapes influences consumers’ emotions, behaviour, and brand personality perceptions. As consumers’ responses to a story differ depending on the story character they empathise with, this thesis, further, examined how empathy with positive (versus negative) story characters affects consumers’ subsequent responses in fantasy designed servicescapes. A sequential mixed-methods research design was employed in this thesis to address the research questions. Accordingly, the thesis begins by an exploratory qualitative enquiry conducting semi-structured in-depth interviews with retail design experts in Study 1 to understand circumstances in which implementing a fantasy story for design will be worth the effort, how the servicescape atmospherics are manipulated to present a given story, and the affective, behavioural, and brand responses designers aim to evoke in consumers in fantasy servicescapes. The researcher conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews with consumers in Study 2 to understand their experiences of engagement with stories, and subsequent responses in a fantasy designed servicescape. Based on the findings from the first two qualitative studies, the extracted propositions, together with existing scales and constructs in the literature, were replicated as part of the survey in Study 3 to examine the relationships between the servicescape atmospherics and consumers’ experiences of narrative engagement, their emotions and behaviour, and brand personality perceptions in a fantasy servicescape. Study 3, also, examined how consumers’ empathy with positive (versus negative) story characters influences their subsequent responses. This thesis contributes to environmental psychology, storytelling, narrative engagement, empathy, as well as the branding literatures and the findings have strong implications for retailers, design practitioners, and brand managers in terms of why, when, and how to use fantasy stories for designing servicescapes. Theoretically, the current thesis is the first to examine consumers’ engagement with and affective, behavioural and brand experiences in servicescapes that are designed based on a fantasy story. Based on the perceptions of both, the design experts as well as consumers, the researcher integrated narrative engagement (Busselle & Bilandzic, 2009) and empathy with characters (Van Laer, 2011) with Mehrabian and Russell’s (1974) SOR framework and brand personality (Aaker, 1997) and made a significant contribution by developing a framework that can help future studies examine consumers’ experiences of fantasy stories in servicescapes. The results of the three conducted studies were consistent in suggesting that consumers experience narrative engagement in servicescapes that are designed upon a fantasy story, and that the narrative presence dimension of narrative engagement can, by itself, explain the process underlying the effect of stories told through the atmospherics on consumers’ emotions, behaviour, and brand personality perceptions. Regardless of the character type (positive versus negative) the servicescape highlighted, consumers engaged to the same extent with the story, and experienced more positive and less negative emotions as a result of engagement with the story. Engagement with stories, further, positively affected consumers’ behavioural intentions. Higher levels of empathy with a story character, however, negatively affected consumers’ behavioural intentions, regardless of the character the servicescape highlighted. Accordingly, the design experts recommend using fantasy elements at a moderate level for design to attract not only fans but also non-fan consumers to the servicescape, enhance consumers’ engagement with the retailer’s offer, and increase return intention. Moreover, engagement with the story in the servicescape highlighting the negative character positively affected brand personality, with higher levels of empathy with the negative character strengthen brand personality. Featuring negative characters in a servicescape thus results in stronger brand experience. Finally, while product and service providing businesses both, benefit from using stories for their servicescape design, story-based designs were found to be most effective when the story is congruent with and therefore, supports the products or services offered.
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    Impact of airline service quality on overall and female passengers' satisfaction : a case study of Tonga's domestic aviation market : a 190.893 (120 credit) research report presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Aviation at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2019) Siu, Analena Talikimuli
    The primary objectives of this thesis are to determine the direct impact of airline service quality on passengers’ satisfaction in Tonga’s domestic aviation market. The determinants of airline service quality were identified by using the SERVQUAL dimensions (assurance, empathy, reliability, responsiveness and tangibles) as measurable indicators. A survey was conducted and 205 questionnaires were collected and analysed. Empirical results obtained via the structural equation modelling (SEM) approach revealed that airline service quality has a direct impact on overall and female passengers’ satisfaction. Furthermore, both overall and female passengers were mostly satisfied with the responsiveness dimension. The tangibles dimension was the dimension with the lowest level of satisfaction for overall passengers and the reliability dimension was the dimension with the lowest satisfaction for female passengers. Importantly, the research highlights the different levels of satisfaction among airline passengers in the monopolistic Tongan domestic aviation market. The findings have implications for the airline management.
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    Consumer satisfaction and maternity care: a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1993) Christensen, Tony Peter
    The present study investigated women's satisfaction with maternity care using a self-administered questionnaire. The purpose of the present study was twofold: first, to address a series of specific questions posed by the health provider and to provide feedback on the findings. Secondly, to examine the nature of consumer satisfaction with maternity care as a psychological construct from both a multidimensional and global perspective. The measure of global satisfaction was derived from items of the frequently used Consumer Satisfaction Questionnaire - 8, whilst, the discrete ( multidimensional) aspects of the questionnaire were derived from a pilot study, literature search and suggestions from the nursing personnel of the six maternity units assessed. Careful consideration was given to predispostional factors (e.g., life satisfaction) and the effects of demand characteristics, particularly reactivity, sampling error and response bias. Two hundred and forty-seven of the five hundred and thirty-eight women surveyed returned the questionnaire. The results showed high levels of global satisfaction with antenatal services, labour and delivery care, post-partum care and global satisfaction with maternity care in general. Multiple regression analysis showed satisfaction with maternity care to be a multidimensional construct with several discrete aspects of care significantly associated with the mother's global impression of each stage of their maternity care and their global satisfaction. The results also showed discrete aspects of the service with which mothers were especially dissatisfied. The methodological approach used in the present study and the statistical methods used to analyse the data were found to be especially useful in identifying areas in which the service could be improved, in addition to facilitating meaningful comparisons between similar facilities in the future.
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    An adaptation and application of the Internal Service Quality Scale (INTSERVQUAL) to the context of a Not for Profit making organisation : a case study of the YMCA Central Region in New Zealand : a research report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Quality Systems, Massey University
    (Massey University, 2016) Hove, Simplisio
    An organisation's effectiveness depends on the activities of each department, each person at each level working co-operatively because each department or person at each level is an internal customer ot supplier of products or services to each other. To date most studies have focused on how external clients perceive the quality of service provided by organisations. The five dimensions of service quality (SERVQUAL) tangibles, assurance, reliability, responsiveness and empathy have become a standard for evaluating service quality from the end consumer's perspective. Little research has been carried out to identify and measure internal service quality. These are services designed, produced and delivered from one unit or employee to other units and employees within the organisation. Studies have shown that if the internal service satisfies the internal customer there is a greater chance of the organisation being able to meet the needs of its external customer. With growing interest in internal service quality a number of researchers have suggested that external service quality dimensions apply to internal service quality value chains irrespective of industry. However this transferability to a Not for Profit commuity organisational setting is yet to be proved empirically. This study investigated YMCA Central region, a Not for Profit organisation (NPO) operating in New Zealand with its head office in Wanganui. The study sought to establish the key service quality dimensions of the organisation's internal customers, adapt and apply the SERQUAL scale to measure the internal customer's perception of the service they receive from different departments within the organisation, assess strengths and weaknesses of internal service delivery in the organisation and make suggestions for future research. The study concluded that the Internal Service Quality scale is both transferable and adaptable in its original SERVQUAL form for the purpose of measuring the internal service environment of an NPO. Future research should aim at larger sample sizes for better analysis and should expand its qualitative inquiry on the definition of internal service quality at every hierarchical level within the organisation
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    Human interaction in service delivery and its relationship to disenchantment discontinuance in the diffusion of self-service technologies : a case study in retail banking : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Marketing at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1992) Prendergast, Gerard Paul Joseph
    The concept of self-service in the consumer goods industry is not new. For instance, consider the food vending machines found in most countries. When applied to the services industry, however, the concept of self-service is more innovative. The traditional concept of channels of distribution as described in consumer goods marketing is of very little value when deciding how to distribute services, since services have unique characteristics. One such characteristic is inseparability. Services are typically produced and consumed at the same time. Since the client is also present as the service is produced, provider-client interaction is a special feature of services marketing. In the 1990s this provider-client interaction is being challenged due to self-service technology. Not all consumers, however, are satisfied with receiving a service through a machine, and prefer human interaction. Some consumers, after adopting self-service technologies, have abandoned them and reverted back to obtaining the service from a human. In other words, there appears to be a form of diffusion regression. According to Rogers (1962) when an innovation has been rejected after it has been adopted, it is called a 'discontinuance'. Supersedence discontinuance occurs when consumers cease using an idea in order to adopt a better idea which supersedes it. This has been found in many studies. Disenchantment discontinuance is a decision to cease an idea as a result of growing dissatisfaction with its performance. A literature search found that no study had set out with the objective of measuring the existence, or non-existence, of this phenomenon. This thesis used a case study approach by examining the retail banking industry. From a theoretical point of view, the main hypothesis of this thesis was that the trend towards the increased use of self-service technology in retail banking is reversing, and will continue to reverse, due to a growing consumer preference for dealing with people in banking. In other words, disenchantment discontinuance is occurring. To test this hypothesis, a survey was conducted of consumers, in conjunction with a three round Delphi study of New Zealand's leading banking technology experts. The consumer survey indicated that there were less than significant levels of disenchantment discontinuance for the three technologies under examination: Automated telling machines (ATMs), Electronic Funds Transfer at the Point of Sale (EFTPOS), and automated telephone banking. The Delphi study indicated that the experts did not believe disenchantment discontinuance is occurring, or will occur. This is not to say that human bank staff do not have a future. With more and more transaction type work moving to self-service technology, staff time will be freed up so that they will be in a position to become sales representatives and cross-sellers. In this context, the bank branch of the future can be expected to reflect more of a retail image. From a methodological point of view, the Delphi technique has long suffered high rates of attrition. Typically, large numbers of the chosen respondents fail to return the first questionnaire, and succeedingly smaller numbers of respondents return questionnaires at each iteration. No reported study has considered the problem of attrition by analysing the character of individuals who do and do not respond, or even by eliciting reasons for non response. Therefore, during the course of this research, systematic sampling effects and response patterns were identified and recorded. The results indicated that Delphi responses tend to be returned quicker in the second and third rounds than the first round, suggesting the presence of the experience effect. The main reason for withdrawing from the research before completing the requirements was that the expert had other priorities. The main reason for completing the requirements of the research was that the experts felt obliged to since they agreed to do so initially when sent the letter inviting them to take part in the research.