Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
on customer genders and occupations
N. Zainol, M.A.A. Bashir & A.R. Ahmad Rozali
Faculty of Hotel and Tourism Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Penang, Malaysia
M.S.M. Zahari
Faculty of Hotel and Tourism Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Malaysia
ABSTRACT: Anecdotal evidence suggests that nearly two-thirds of service complaints in restaurants
are time related or having waited too long for food to be served and time is in fact one of the major area
concerns by restaurant customers. Many researchers noted too long waiting and service delay lead to the
complaint and complaint behavior has also associated with customers' socio-demographics. This study
further compares the complaints behavior between customer genders and occupation using Gerai as a
contextual study setting. Through customers' self-reported experiences, the result revealed both males and
females and regardless their occupation appears to be sensitive to service delays or too long waiting or
intolerant to it. They are likely to react negatively or to be more aggressive in complaints not only dealing
with service delays or too long waiting, but when they get a wrong food order, receive bad quality and too
long waiting during the slow period. These findings have given significant implications for the current and
potential Gerai operators in positioning themselves in the fast growing trend of food businesses.
Keywords
:
Gerai, customer, complaint behavior, gender, occupation
1 INTRODUCTION
information that help them identify sources of dis-
satisfaction (Ngai, et al., 2007). Consumers who
were encouraged to complain reported greater
increases in satisfaction and product evaluation
compared to consumers who were not explicitly
asked to complain. Ekiz and Au (2011) noted that
attitudes towards complaining are characterized
by the overall effect of “goodness” or “badness” of
complaining to the sellers.
Many researchers noted that complaint behavior
has a strong relationship with customers' socio-de-
mographics (Chiang, 2007; Low, 2003; Yan, 2005).
In the restaurant sector, Zainol Rozali, Usman,
and Mohd Zahari (2014) revealed that besides dis-
like the service delay, the young and middle aged
groups are more aggressive and easily get angry if
they had to wait long for service beyond expecta-
tion compared more tolerable of the older group.
Based on the result, this paper further compares
the complaints behavior between customer gen-
ders and occupations using Gerai as a contextual
study setting. The reasons of looking at this type
of eating place is that besides other types of res-
taurants, Gerai to be one of the fastest growing
types of eating place in the Malaysia in particular
and remain popular as it offering a range of menu
prices, particularly with cook to order foods (Ala
In order to sustain in today's competitive envi-
ronment, it is important for restaurant operators
to satisfy their customer (Susskind, Kacmar &
Borchgrevink, 2007). Restaurants provide services
that are perceived in different ways by different
customer (Ryu, Lee & Kim, 2012). The customer
develops expectations of services that may not
always match with what they receive; resultant
in customer discontent and potential complaints
seems to be inevitable in the restaurant industry
(Ngai, Heung, Wong & Chan, 2007). Anecdotal
evidence suggests that nearly two-thirds of service
complaints in restaurants are time related or hav-
ing waited too long to be served and time, in fact,
is one of the major areas of concern for restaurant
customers (Jones & Peppiatt, 1996). Customers in
a restaurant who are miserable about their service
received, such as long wait for seating or food serv-
ice may complain about it (Fraser, Mohd Zahari
& Othman, 2008). Moreover, customer complaint
behavior with the unsatisfactory products or serv-
ices may be varied (Ngai, et al., 2007).
Customer complaint behavior has attracted
(Ngai, et al., 2007). Marketers agree that con-
sumer complaints are constructive sources of
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