Towards customer satisfaction and loyalty : what cuts it in a hair salon?

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.