The 11th Asia Pacific Industrial Engineering and Management Systems Conference The 14th Asia Pacific Regional Meeting of International Foundation for Production Research Melaka, 7 – 10 December 2010
Investigating the Service Quality Attributes of International Backpackers using the Kano Model Henyi Jen † and Miriam Aida Sibrian Bueso Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Yuan Ze University 135 Yuan Tung Road, Jhongli, Taiwan Email:
[email protected]
Abstract
-
This study firstly aims to demonstrate the impact and the beneficial implications that international backpack ers will generate to developing countries’ economies. Furthermore, this study seeks to contribute to the lack of backpacker literature currently existing. Improving in this way the perception that government and other inst itutions have on international backpackers and there implications to their economies. Most importantly, this st udy will provide a better understanding of international backpackers’ requirements to public and private orga nizations in order to present quality services that satisfy and appeal to this unique segment. Keywords: Kano Model, Backpackers, Service Quality
1. INTRODUCTION The backpacker market is a complex and diverse one; it is composed of different individuals with different opinions and expectations about what a service should be. The importance of service quality among international backpackers has not been quite well defined among scholars. It is of interest therefore, to learn what this segment really needs. Even though public and private institutions have manifested their concern to focus on the expansion of tourism in an eco-friendly manner, many of the tourism projects that are being conducted represent a risk to the environment and society in general. The phenomenon and growth of mass tourism has led to a range of problems which have become increasingly evident and well publicized over recent years. They include environmental, social and cultural degradation, unequal distribution of financial benefits, mass displacement of communities and even the spread of disease (Mowforth & Munt, 2003). It appears that the lack of baseline data and detailed research on the economic development impacts of international backpacker tourists has contributed to the continuation of somewhat prejudicial attitudes towards these “hippies” or “drifters” by official in some less developed countries (McCarthy, 1994; Wilson, 1997). Despite its image among tourism institution, the backpacker segment merits closer consideration. Some of the economical impacts that this type of alternative tourism will bring to local communities based on the literature
________________________________________ † : Corresponding Author
review are development of non- tourist regions, demand of fewer requirements, support and empowerment of local enterprises and environmental friendly attitudes.
2. PROBLEM STATEMENT Above all, in order to create the bases for a good tourism service sector for international backpackers, the need to enforce high quality standards in the existing tourism industry service offerings is crucial. Serious consideration needs to be paid to the provision of quality tourism experiences for the backpacker market (LokerMurphy & Pearce, 1995). Although traditional methods such as SERVQUAL are widely used to measure service quality in the tourism industry, according to the research performed by Kano et al. (1984) sometimes service elements may show a different development, than the one proposed by SERVQUAL. SERVQUAL assumes a linear relationship between customer satisfaction and service attribute; the implication is that the higher the perceived product quality, the higher the customer’s satisfaction (Chen, Hsu, & Chang, 2008). Therefore, it is not enough to measure the order of importance of various service elements, but also the different effects on customer satisfaction (Huiskonen & Pirttila, 1998).
3. METHODOLOGY Kano develop an approach on Attractive quality
The 11th Asia Pacific Industrial Engineering and Management Systems Conference The 14th Asia Pacific Regional Meeting of International Foundation for Production Research Melaka, 7 – 10 December 2010 creation commonly known as “Kano Model” that challenged the traditional idea in customer satisfactions models which states that the more a company performs on each service attribute, the more satisfied the customer will be; instead he claims that the performance on products and service attributes is not equal in the eyes of the customers and performance on certain attributes will generate higher satisfaction levels. The study was conducted in Taiwan, Japan and Honduras during the first three months of 2010. The type of sample employed in this study is a purposive sample which is a non-representative subset of some larger population, constructed to serve a specific need or purpose and useful when the researcher has a precise group in mind and specifying the population is not possible (Cochran, 1977). In total, 168 questionnaires were distributed, among them 120 in Taiwan, 33 in Honduras and 15 in Japan. However for practicality issues only the results obtained in Japan will be taken into consideration. Primary data was collected using a standardized, oral questionnaire based upon Kano model’s specific questionnaire format and respective multiple choice answers. A series of questions designed to understand demographic, employment and motivational profile of the segment were also included.The questionnaire is prepared using the following steps: identifying service attributes, developing Kano questionnaire, and determining service attributes (Berger, 1993).
3.1 Developing the Kano questionnaire The questionnaire suggested by Kano et al. (1984) was used; this questionnaire consists of pairs of functional/dysfunctional questions and a group of predetermined answers for each of these two types of questions. The functional question asks the user how will he/she feel if a specific feature is presented and the dysfunctional question asks the customer how will he/she feel if the same feature is not presented. Customer have to choose from a list of 5 multiple choice alternatives (I like it that way; It must be that way; I am neutral; I can live with it that way and I dislike it that way) that best answer the two types of questions. Depending on the customers’ response, each requirement’s type of service attribute is determined. Appendix A shows the different formats of Kano questionnaire used in this study.
3.2 Determining Kano service attributes Quality elements can be classified in to three categories, Must-be, One-dimensional, and Attractive needs, depending on their ability to create customer satisfaction or
dissatisfaction Hsu et al. (2007). Indifferent, reverse and questionable attribute were also identified. The Must-Be attributes are those requirements that customers assume the product or service will have, so they do not mention them unless they are really disappointed. One-Dimensional attributes are those requirements that provide more satisfaction to customer when fulfilled and dissatisfaction when not fulfilled. The attractive attributes are those requirements unknown by customer, however if they receive them their satisfaction level with the service provider will increase. Indifferent attributes are those attributes which customers do not care about; they do not satisfy or dissatisfy customers. The reverse attributes are those attributes in which a high degree of achievement results in dissatisfaction. This occurs when a segment expects something totally different from what the service provider or the market trends perceive they want. A questionable result signifies that the question was phrased incorrectly, or that the person interviewed misunderstood the question or crossed out a wrong answer by mistake. The data provided by the Kano questionnaire was tabulated by using a special Excel spreadsheet. The analysis of the Kano questionnaire will not only provide a better understanding of international backpackers’ requirements, but will also help organizations prioritize which requirements really matter when they develop products and services intended to appeal to this specific segment and distinguishing market segment characteristics (Berger, 1993).
4. RESULTS AND ANALYSIS Table 1 presents the classification of service attributes obtained by combining the results generated in Japan, Honduras and Taiwan according to the Kano evaluation table. The most frequently occurring dimension determines the result (Attractive, One-Dimensional, Must-Be, Questionable, Reverse or Indifferent) for each of the 13 customer requirements. In order to provide more detailed information, the second most frequent response is also presented in Table 1. The results show that offering free services (free visa applications, free bus rides, free bike rentals and free attractions, among others) working opportunities, accommodation and transportation services exclusively for backpackers are considered attractive attributes by international backpackers. Providing these attributes will not only make backpackers like to travel to the country, but will make them return to the same country in a near future.
The 11th Asia Pacific Industrial Engineering and Management Systems Conference The 14th Asia Pacific Regional Meeting of International Foundation for Production Research Melaka, 7 – 10 December 2010 Table 1 Classification of Service Attributes
A: Attractive;
O: One-Dimensional;
M: Must-Be;
Table 1 provides Kano’s standard analysis. This type of analysis is generally used in the qualitative study; however it can be complemented by using: Fong’s statistical significance test (Fong, 1996), the noise level reduction methodology and the customer satisfaction coefficient, recommended by the center for quality of management (Berger, 1993) Table 2 presents the results obtained by applying this customer satisfaction coefficient. The positive customer satisfaction coefficient is calculated by adding the Attractive and One-Dimensional columns and dividing them by the total numbers of Attractive, One-Dimensional, Must-Be and Indifferent responses (The Reverse and Questionable results are ignored), as listed below.
I: Indifferent;
R: Reverse; Q: Questionable
attribute “Good quality of tourism services in general” has the highest value and is the attribute that holds the highest influence on customer satisfaction among international backpackers. At the same time, the dissatisfaction coefficient must be taken into consideration. The dissatisfaction coefficient is calculated by adding the Must-be and One-dimensional columns and dividing them by the same normalizing factor as the satisfaction coefficient. A negative sign is added in front of the result in order to emphasize its negative influence on customer satisfaction if this service quality is not fulfilled. Dissatisfaction coefficient:
Satisfaction coefficient: (1)
The satisfaction coefficient ranges from 0 to 1 and the closer the value is to 1, the higher the influence on customer satisfaction. The satisfaction coefficient of the
If the dissatisfaction coefficient approaches -1, the influence on customer dissatisfaction is especially strong if the analyzed service attribute is not fulfilled. “Tolerance, respectfulness and patience of service providers” is the attribute that has the greatest influence on international backpacker’s dissatisfaction.
The 11th Asia Pacific Industrial Engineering and Management Systems Conference The 14th Asia Pacific Regional Meeting of International Foundation for Production Research Melaka, 7 – 10 December 2010 Table 2 Customer satisfaction coefficient Question
Service attributes
1
Accommodation for backpackers
0.70
-0.41
2
Information centers for backpackers
0.64
-0.41
3
Transportation services for backpackers
0.65
-0.32
4
Offering working opportunities for
0.62
-0.24
0.73
-0.56
0.72
-0.64
0.68
-0.49
0.63
-0.34
backpackers 5
Government's positive view of backpackers
6
Governments making it easier for backpackers to travel
7
Security issues
8
Appearance in popular guidebooks and backpacker publications
9
Free services for backpackers
0.75
-0.25
10
Country's popularity among backpackers
0.59
-0.18
11
Good quality of tourism services in general
0.78
-0.64
12
Tolerance, respectfulness and patience of
0.77
-0.69
0.63
-0.40
service providers 13
Employment of expert staff
A:Attractive O:One-Dimensional M:Must-Be I:Indifferent R:Reverse Q:Questionable The statistical significance of the two most frequent responses will be tested using Fong’s statistically significance test, when the Kano category of an attribute is considered statistically significant the most frequent response can be considered as the final Kano category. However, some of these frequencies are very narrow and thus the proper classification of the requirements is not totally clear and the category turns out to be inconclusive, difficulting the labeling of a definite Kano category. The final category for those attributes considered inconclusive will be assigned by the results provided by the noise level reduction methodology proposed by the Center for Quality Management (Berger, 1993) or they can also be classified as combination attributes, which means no definite classification can be made (Baek, Seung, & Yoo, 2009). Fong (1996), created a statistical significance test that measures the extent of difference between two closely ranked categories among the different service attributes and determines if there is a statistically significant difference between the two most frequent observations at a 90%
confidence level. The Q value is defined as
Where: a, b: Frequency of the two closely ranked categories n: Total number of responses This Q value is compared with the absolute value |a-b| and if the Q value is greater than the absolute value, it indicates that the category is not statistically significant and is considered inconclusive Sireli et al. (2007). Table 3 presents the results obtained when applying Fong’s statistically significance test. 53.85% of the categories are considered statistically significant, which means that the most frequent response can be considered as the final Kano category, the rest of the attributes are considered inconclusive.
The 11th Asia Pacific Industrial Engineering and Management Systems Conference The 14th Asia Pacific Regional Meeting of International Foundation for Production Research Melaka, 7 – 10 December 2010
Figure 1 Customer satisfaction coefficient
Table 4 presents the final Kano category for each of the 13 attributes based on the noise level reduction methodology proposed by the center for quality of management (Berger, 1993) that consists of the following formula: If (OneDimensional+ Attractive +Must-be)> (Indifferent +Reverse+ Questionable) Then grade is maximum (One-Dimensional, Attractive, Must-be) Else grade is maximum (Indifferent, Reverse, Questionable)
The methodologies employed to complement the stand ard Kano analysis presents valuble information to this resea rch. The customer satisfaction coefficient provides a better i dea on those tourism service attributes important to internat ional backpackers; it shows which features add the most to their satisfaction and which ones add the most to their dissa tisfaction and both Fong’s statistical significance test (Fong , 1996) and the noise level reduction methodology (Berger, 1993) propose an approach in the evaluation of Kano categ ories with nearly equal number of occurrences. The final ca tegory provided by these methodologies can be used to com plement those attributes that are not statistically significant if further research cannot be performed.
The 11th Asia Pacific Industrial Engineering and Management Systems Conference The 14th Asia Pacific Regional Meeting of International Foundation for Production Research Melaka, 7 – 10 December 2010
Table 3 Fong’s statistically significance test
Most #
Service attributes
frequent response
1
Accommodation
for
backpackers 2
Information
centers
for
backpackers 3
Transportation services for backpackers
4
Offering
Second most frequent
Kano category |a-b|
Q
statistically significant
response
O
A
9
14.69
YES
A
O
18
>
14.06
YES
working
opportunities
for
backpackers 5
Government's positive view of backpackers
6
Governments
making
it
easier for backpackers to travel 7
Security issues
8
Appearance
in
popular
guidebooks and backpacker publications 9
Free
services
for
backpackers 10
Country's
popularity
among backpackers 11
Good quality of tourism services in general
12
Tolerance, and
respectfulness
patience
of
service
providers 13
Employment of expert staff
A:Attractive O:One-Dimensional M:Must-Be I:Indifferent R:Reverse Q:Questionable
The 11th Asia Pacific Industrial Engineering and Management Systems Conference The 14th Asia Pacific Regional Meeting of International Foundation for Production Research Melaka, 7 – 10 December 2010
Table 4 Final Kano category based on the noise level reduction method
Most #
Service attributes
frequent response
1
Accommodation
for
backpackers 2
Information
centers
for
backpackers 3
Transportation
services
for
backpackers 4
Offering
working
opportunities for backpackers 5
Government's positive view of backpackers
6
Governments making it easier for backpackers to travel
7
Security issues
8
Appearance
in
Second most frequent
O+A+M
I+R+Q
Final Category
response
A
O
131
>
37
A
A
O
120
>
48
A
A
I
115
>
53
A
A
I
105
>
63
A
O
A
135
>
33
O
O
A
136
>
32
O
O
A
108
>
60
O
A
I
105
>
63
A
A
O
129
>
39
A
A
I
88
>
80
A
O
A
147
>
21
O
O
A
147
>
21
O
A
O
128
>
40
A
popular
guidebooks and backpacker publications 9
Free services for backpackers
10
Country's
popularity among
backpackers 11
Good
quality
of
tourism
services in general 12
Tolerance, respectfulness and patience of service providers
13
Employment of expert staff
A:Attractive O:One-Dimensional M:Must-Be I:Indifferent R:Reverse Q:Questionable
The 11th Asia Pacific Industrial Engineering and Management Systems Conference The 14th Asia Pacific Regional Meeting of International Foundation for Production Research Melaka, 7 – 10 December 2010 Table 5 presents a list of those service attributes consider inconclusive as well as the category obtained by the application of the noise level reduction method
illustrated in table 4 and the two closely related attributes that make up the combination category.
Table 5 Inconclusive results Original
Final category based
Kano
on the noise level
category
reduction method
Accommodation for backpackers
A
A
A&O
Information centers for backpackers
A
A
A&O
Transportation services for backpackers
A
A
A&I
A
A
A&I
A
A
A&I
A
A
A&I
Inconclusive service attributes
Offering
working
opportunities
for
backpackers Appearance in popular guidebooks and backpacker publications Country's popularity among backpackers
Combination category
A:Attractive O:One-Dimensional M:Must-Be I:Indifferent R:Reverse Q:Questionable
5. CONCLUSIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS This study has reviewed related literature concerning international backpackers and use quality tools, specifically Kano model to study the importance of implementing high quality standards in the existing backpacker market. Furthermore this paper presented the findings from a case study conducted in Japan, Taiwan and Honduras. The findings suggest that providing free services (free visa applications, free bus rides, free bike rentals and free attractions, among others) working opportunities, accommodation and transportation services exclusively for backpackers are considered attractive attributes by international backpackers. These attributes will not only make them like the country they are visiting but will also make them return to the same country in a near future. According to the frequency analysis, Tolerance, respectfulness and patience of service providers is the attribute with the highest score among the OneDimensional attributes (57.1%), followed by governments making it easier for backpackers to travel (51.8%) and Good quality of tourism services in general (50.0%). That
is the higher the level of fulfillment of these attributes, the higher the satisfaction of backpacker’s, and vice versa. This result implies that providing quality tourism services to international backpackers is important and the idea that international backpackers are unaware of this element is not accurate. Tourism service providers should improve the quality of their services since international backpackers are not indifferent to this element. Contrary to the ideas exposed in the literature, international backpackers are indifferent if the country they visit offers them the opportunity to work. Although this study provides an important insight of the perception of the quality of tourism services attributes among international backpackers, further research is recommended in order to clearly identify the service attributes perceived by international backpackers and to fully understand the differences and similarities in the perception of this attributes among international backpackers. Expanding the geographic scope to other cities in Japan or other countries in Asia or Latin America can provide more findings and clarify those inconclusive Kano categories or identifying alternative market segment.
The 11th Asia Pacific Industrial Engineering and Management Systems Conference The 14th Asia Pacific Regional Meeting of International Foundation for Production Research Melaka, 7 – 10 December 2010
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
make product development projects more succesful by integrating Kano's model of customer satisfaction into quality function deployment. Technovation , 25-38.
REFERENCES
McCarthy, J. (1994). Are sweet dreams made of this? : tourism in Bali and Eastern Indonesia . Melbourne: IRIP.
Berger, C. (1993). Kano’s Methods for Understanding Customer-Defined Quality. Quality Management Journal, 2 (4), 3–35.
Mowforth, M., & Munt, I. (2003). Tourism and Sustainability: Development and New Tourism in the Third World. New York, NY: Routledge Publishing.
Chen, L., Hsu, C., & Chang, P. (2008). Developing a TRIZ-Kano model for creating attractive quality. 4th International Conference on Wireless Communications, Networking and Mobile Computing, (pp1-31). Dalian. Cochran, W. G. (1977). Sampling Techniques, 3rd Edition. Wiley; 3rd edition . Fong, D. (1996). Using the self-stated importance questionnaire to interpret Kano. Hsu, Y.L., Hsu, C.C., & Bing, P.C. (2007). Capturing Passenger’ Voices: The Application of KANO’S Model in the Airline Industry. International Conference on Logistics, Shipping and Port Management, 1-14. Taoyuan. Huiskonen, J., & Pirttila, T. (1998). Sharpening logistics customer service strategy planning by applying Kano’s quality element classification. International Journal of Production Economics , 253-260.
Pearce, P. L., Murphy, L., & Brymer, E. (2009). Evolution of the backpacker market and the potential for Australian tourism. Gold Coast, Queensland: CRC for Sustainable Tourism Pty Ltd. Sireli, Y., Kauffmann, P., & Ozan, E. (2007). Integration of Kano’s Model Into QFD for Multiple Product Design. IEEE Transaction on Engineering Management , 54 (2), 380-390. Wilson, D. (1997). Paradoxes of tourism in Goa. Annals of Tourism Research , 24 (1), 52-75. AUTHOR BIOGRAPHIES
Kano, N., Seraku, N., Takahashi, F., Tsuji, S. (1984), "Attractive quality and must-be quality", Hinshitsu (Quality, The Journal of the Japanese Society for Quality Control), Vol. 14 No.2, 39-48.
Henyi Jen is an assistant professor in Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Yuan Ze University, Taiwan. He received a Doctoral Degree from the Graduate School of Construction Engineering and Management at Purdue University, USA in 2005. His teaching and research interests include simulation, project management and applied operations research. His email address is
Loker-Murphy, L., & Pearce, P. L. (1995). Young Budget Travelers: Backpackers in Australia. Annals of Tourism Research , 22 (4), 819-843.
Miriam Aida Sibrian Bueso received his Master of Science degree from Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Yuan Ze University, Taiwan in 2010.
Matzler, K., & Hinterhuber, H. H. (1998). How to
