MRKT20054 - Tourism Service Quality: An Annotated Bibliography

This annotated bibliography analyzes five research articles published between 2014 and 2019, focusing on service quality in the tourism sector. The analysis covers the aims, theories, methodologies, and findings of each study. Key themes include the impact of employee performance on service quality, the importance of understanding customer expectations, and the relationship between service quality and brand loyalty. The studies utilize various data analysis techniques, including confirmatory factor analysis and Bayesian stochastic models. Limitations of the research and future research directions are also discussed, highlighting the need for further investigation into global trends and customer perceptions. The report concludes that service quality is crucial for meeting customer expectations and enhancing operational standards in the tourism industry, emphasizing the importance of stakeholder involvement and continuous improvement.

Services quality
(Tourism sector)

Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................1
Annotated bibliography 1:......................................................................................................1
Annotated bibliography 2:......................................................................................................2
Annotated bibliography 3:......................................................................................................3
Annotated bibliography 4:......................................................................................................4
Annotated bibliography 5:......................................................................................................5
Concussion.................................................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................7

Abstract
The report has analyzed five different studies related to services quality in tourism to
understand the impact and significance of the services quality to meet the satisfaction level of
the customers. The report has identified in article one that, the flexibility in the services
greeting offered by the staff members has a positive impact on customers that influence the
quality of services. The analysis of second article has revealed that the quality of the service
can be managed through developing a positive environment at workplace, understanding the
needs and expectations of the customer and offering the adequate training to the staff to
behave accordingly that could influence the decision of the customer to avail the services of
the organization. Moreover, the article three has identified that the services quality and
satisfaction level of customer has direct relation which increases the value of the brand and
improves the level of trust of the existing customer groups. In addition to this article four and
five has discussed about the second-order confirmatory factor analysis suggested that there is
no significant difference between the services quality level of customer and employees
considering the performance criteria.

Introduction
The service quality plays a critical role in every business or operational activity. The
consideration of standards in quality can enhance the experience of the services users and
influence the brand effectiveness of the tourism organization. The current report will explore
past studies to understand the concept of services quality in the tourism sector and summarize
the findings and methods of the studies. The tourism sector has a significant impact of the
services standards and quality that offered to the customer which influences the level of
satisfaction and decision making of the visitors and customers. Moreover, the research will
focus on data analysis methods and limitations of the studies in an annotated bibliography.
Annotated bibliography 1:
Sari, F. O., Bulut, C., & Pirnar, I. (2016). Adaptation of hospitality service quality scales for
marina services. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 54, 95-103.
The aim of the research was to analyze and identify the perception of the customer of
the service quality. The research has made emphasis on accommodation using the
Confirmatory factors to understand the impact of services quality in marine services focusing
of the services expectations of the customers. The researcher has adopted this theory as a
suitable conceptual framework to explain the aspects of interactivity between the host and
guest within the hospitality organization. Apart from that, the researcher has developed a
questionnaire for collecting the data and used the service quality hierarchical conceptual
framework to distribute the survey questionnaire to international visitors. The sample was
chosen through two-stage sampling and analysis of data done through descriptive technique.
The major finding of research involves interconnection of the performance of the employees
that have a significant impact on the quality of the service of tourism sector as customers and
visitors can get the information easily. Moreover, the flexibility in the services greeting
offered by the staff members has a positive impact on customers that influence the quality of
services. In spite of that, the limitations of the study are involving the lack of funds for
further investigation, lack of statistical data to prove the study. The future implication of the
study will help the customers to make a better decision by using the information provided in
the study for services quality of the Five Gold Anchors. Additionally, it will help the
organization to prioritize the resources to enhance the guest experience.
1

Annotated bibliography 2:
Manhas, P. S., & Tukamushaba, E. K. (2015). Understanding service experience and its
impact on brand image in hospitality sector. International Journal of Hospitality
Management, 45, 77-87.
The purpose of the study was to analyze the services quality and its components that
have a significant impact on brand loyalty and customer engagement for a hospitality
organization. The research has focused on brand, passion and self-brand connection. The
services quality has a direct impact on the decision making of the customers as well as
influences the market share of an organization. The research methods that were used for the
study involved data collection through the questionnaire using the online method. The data
analysis was done using descriptive techniques to meet the objectives by analyzing the
response of the sample in an ethical manner. In addition to this, the key finding of the study
includes the impact of staff behaviour, physical environment and consideration of trends that
are used by the organizations for engaging the customers. The study has revealed that the
quality of the service can be managed through developing a positive environment at
workplace, understanding the needs and expectations of the customer and offering the
adequate training to the staff to behave accordingly that could influence the decision of the
customer to avail the services of the organization. Moreover, the findings of the study include
a comparison of feedbacks of first-time visitors and loyal customers to analyze the gap in the
quality of the service. The future implication of study involves consideration of the design,
facilities and customer care training to develop the customer-centric services. This kind of
approach will help to encourage the services quality as well as enduring the relationship
between customer and staff. Apart from that, the limitations of the study involve a lack of
study of different hotels and consideration of the perception of international customers.
2

Annotated bibliography 3:
Su, L., Swanson, S. R., & Chen, X. (2016). The effects of perceived service quality on
repurchase intentions and subjective well-being of Chinese tourists: The mediating role of
relationship quality. Tourism Management, 52, 82-95.
The aim of this study was to analyze the integrated model that help to examine the
relationship quality that play a significant impact on the customer satisfaction focusing on the
services quality. The study has focused on expected services quality and service offered by
the tourism organizations to the customers. The researcher has undertaken a services
management theory and integrated model to prove the assumptions and hypothesis related to
the study and meets the objectives of the research. The research methodology that used for
conducting the research includes primary data collection through questionnaire methods
considering the response from the 451 visitors and using the qualitative analysis to
understand the services quality and its impact on the customers. In this sample majorly of
female respondents were high. The major findings of the study were involving an
understanding of the management of services quality according to guest standards and
benchmarking followed by tourism sector of China. The researcher has identified that the
services quality and satisfaction level of customer has direct relationship which increases the
value of the brand and improves the level of trust of the customer groups. The limitations of
the study involve a lack of explanation of utilizing the intension of the customer and
organization as well as factors that influencing the service quality. Apart from that, the future
implication of study would the consideration of the managerial limitations and understanding
of the attitude of domestic and international visitors. The Chinese tourist prefers services
quality from the hospitality and tourism sector. Therefore, the offering of the services
requires good understanding of the expected facility of the visitors and positive
communication between both services provider and customers.

Annotated bibliography 4:
Assaf, A. G., & Tsionas, E. G. (2015). Incorporating destination quality into the measurement
of tourism performance: A Bayesian approach. Tourism Management, 49, 58-71.
The purpose of this study was to conceptualize the quality and factors of the service
that has a significant influence on the customer satisfaction, perceived values and
consideration of emotions that plays a critical role to maintain the quality in tourism
performance. The researcher has used the Bayesian stochastic model to understand the
relationship between services quality and customer satisfaction against the benchmarking
standards of tourism. The research methodology that has been used for managing study
involves the collection of data using the primary method and collected the data from the
guests (Both domestic and international). The study has followed the structured approach
using factor analysis methods to test the hypothesis. Moreover, the researcher has tested the
technical efficiency and quality performance of the destinations. In spite of that, the findings
of the study were showing that the technical aspects and performance quality is required for
the improvement and managing the quality of the service in the tourism sector. The findings
involve support for all hypotheses as to the implementation of benchmarking standards to
improve the quality of the service and meet the satisfaction level of the customers. Now the
limitations of the study were lack of detail analysis of measurements used for assessment of
services quality level offered by the tourism organizations. Apart from that, the future
implications of the study are the use of benchmarking standards that ignored by the tourism
for analyzing the services as well as evaluation of services quality through cumulative basis.
This kind of approach will be beneficial for the tourism sector to improve the quality of the
service according to global standards.

Annotated bibliography 5:
O'Cass, A., & Sok, P. (2015). An exploratory study into managing value creation in tourism
service firms: Understanding value creation phases at the intersection of the tourism service
firm and their customers. Tourism Management, 51, 186-200.
The study was aimed to evaluate services quality in tourism sector focusing on the
perception level of the customers. The research as analyzed the nature and characteristics of
differences in the services quality perception among the customers and employees. The
researcher as considered the management and customer value theory of services quality to
understand the perception and approach of managing the services as per the expiations level
of customers. The research methodology involves multivariate analysis of variance that was
used for testing the differences between stakeholder’s perceptions related to services quality.
The researcher has collected a sample from customer, manager and employees within tourism
industry. The major findings of the study related to service quality involve the performance
level of employee and support that offered by the manager has a significant impact on the
quality of the services expected by the customers. Moreover, the boundary spanning worker
value analysis suggested that there is a significant impact of employee in value creation and
managing the services for the customers. The customers perceive services quality as per their
interest and analyzed it accordingly. The lacking in understanding of services expected of
different stakeholders has a negative impact on the satisfaction level of the customers and
influences the loyalty which is essential for the growth of tourism operations. The limitation
of the study involves a lack of consideration of global trends and facilities expected by
customer and input of employees. Apart from that, the study will be useful to understand the
concept of value creation in the management of services quality in tourism sector.
Concussion
From the above report, it has been carried out that service quality plays a crucial role
in meeting the expectations of the customers and encouraging the operational standards by
focusing on the performance of the employees. According to the analysis of different studies,
it can be considered that the role of stakeholders is important in developing the plan and
implementation of the strategies to achieve the goals of organizations as well as the
understanding level of the staff members related to the expectations of the customers. The
analysis has identified that change in the quality of the global service has a direct impact on
the perception of the customers and influences their decision making. Therefore, a proper

understanding of services standards using the services management theories and Bayesian
stochastic and SERVQUAL models can be useful for the tourism sector to enhance the
quality of the service and maintain the relationship with the customers.

References
Assaf, A. G., & Tsionas, E. G. (2015). Incorporating destination quality into the measurement
of tourism performance: A Bayesian approach. Tourism Management, 49, 58-71.
<https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2015.02.003>
Manhas, P. S., & Tukamushaba, E. K. (2015). Understanding service experience and its
impact on brand image in hospitality sector. International Journal of Hospitality
Management, 45, 77-87. <https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2014.11.010>
O'Cass, A., & Sok, P. (2015). An exploratory study into managing value creation in tourism
service firms: Understanding value creation phases at the intersection of the tourism
service firm and their customers. Tourism Management, 51, 186-200.
<https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2015.05.024>
Sari, F. O., Bulut, C., & Pirnar, I. (2016). Adaptation of hospitality service quality scales for
marina services. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 54, 95-103.
<https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2016.02.004>
Su, L., Swanson, S. R., & Chen, X. (2016). The effects of perceived service quality on
repurchase intentions and subjective well-being of Chinese tourists: The mediating role of
relationship quality. Tourism Management, 52, 82-95. <
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2015.06.012>