Abstract:
BACKGROUND: The importance of customer loyalty, and customer satisfaction as well as patron’s
perceptions of service quality and value cannot be over-emphasised. Despite this, academic
literature remains scant as it relates to possible relationships that could exist between these
important variables within the hairdressing industry, although emerging entrepreneurs appear
to find the hairdressing business attractive.
OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to determine the existence and nature of the
relationships between perceived value, perceived service quality, customer satisfaction and
customer loyalty in hairdressing salons.
METHOD: The quantitative study was executed from a positivist philosophical position and
employed a non-probability sampling method to select its respondents. The study utilised
data that were collected from customers of hair salons in Pretoria, South Africa. Responses
were obtained in a cross-sectional manner by relying on the central-location intercept
survey technique. Descriptive and inferential statistical tools were utilised for the analysis of
the data.
RESULTS: The hypothesised relationships between the independent variables of customer
satisfaction and perceived value and the dependent variable of customer loyalty were
statistically significant and positive. A similar association was found between perceived
service quality and perceived value as independent variables and customer satisfaction as the
dependent variable. The study also revealed that perceived service quality correlates positively
with perceived value.
CONCLUSION: These findings contribute to broadening the scope of academic discourse in the
quality management and customer service domains, particularly from a South African
perspective, and the identified relationships bear important practical implications for hair
salon owners or managers.
