The Impact of Global Perceived Quality on the Behaviour of Automobile’s Consumers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5585/remark.v17i3.3843Palabras clave:
Perceived Quality. Automotive Industry. Structural Equation Modelling, Service Quality. Consumer Behaviour.Resumen
Purpose of the study: The objective of this work was to identify the perceived quality attributes of car owners and how these attributes affect satisfaction, regret, trust, pride and, word of mouth communication.
Methodology / approach: There were two phases (qualitative and quantitative) in this study. In the qualitative phase, we conducted 20 in-depth interviews with car owners, with the purpose of identifying the perceived quality attributes by them. In the quantitative phase, we surveyed 311 owners of automobiles of different brands. For the statistical analysis, we opted to test the hypothetical model through Structural Equations Modeling (SEM).
Main results: Results show that perceived quality among automobile consumers is a multidimensional construct (status and power, handling dynamics, corporate responsibility, brand heritage, resale value, durability, internal space, and trunk capacity) and impacts on satisfaction, regret, word of mouth communication, trust, and pride.
Theoretical / methodological contributions: This research measures the perception of quality of automobiles in post-purchase situations, exploring not only attributes in service quality but also the product itself while exploring other dimensions from the quality-perception construct. Furthermore, it studied how the perception of quality affects behavioral dimensions beyond the satisfaction construct: regret, reliability, pride, and word-of-mouth communication.
Relevance / originality: This work considered both physical attributes (e.g., internal space and trunk capacity) and, intangibles (e.g., Power and Status, Brand and company's tradition) perceived by car owners. Moreover, to investigate the perception of quality in service and product at the same time is not common in consumer behavior literature.