Service Quality and Customer Perception: Whale Submarine Analysis

This Master of Business Administration project investigates the customer perspective on the service quality of the Whale Submarine in the Maldives. The research explores customer satisfaction levels, identifying factors influencing these levels, and utilizes the SERVQUAL framework to analyze service quality at both the company and employee levels. The study employs both quantitative and qualitative data analysis, including descriptive statistics, correlation, and regression analysis, along with thematic analysis of qualitative data. Findings indicate high overall customer satisfaction, particularly regarding reliability and employee performance. The research highlights the impact of tangibility, reliability, assurance, empathy, and responsiveness on customer satisfaction, providing recommendations for the Whale Submarine and future research in the tourism sector. The project includes a comprehensive literature review, detailed methodology, and analysis of the data collected through questionnaires.

customer perspective on service quality in whale submarine
By
Ali Shameem
Faculty of Business and Management
Avid College
2018
Mater of Business
Administration
(Strategic Management)

1SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
STRATEGIC MANAGEMNT
CUSTOMER PERSPECTIVE ON SERVICE QUALITY IN WHALE
SUBMARINE
2018
Supervisor: Dr. Abdulla Rasheed
Prepared by: Ali Shameem
Student ID:5246

2SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES

3SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
CUSTOMER PERSPECTIVE ON SERVICE QUALITY IN WHALE
SUBMARINE

4SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Declaration
I hereby declare that the graduation project is based on my original work except for
quotations and citations which have been duly acknowledged. I also declare that it has not
been previously or concurrently for any other course at Avid college or other intuitions.
______________________
Ali Shameem
Date:

5SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Acknowledgement
First of all, I would like praise the almighty ALLAH for providing me the opportunity
to carry out the study. I am also highly indebted to Dr. Abdullah Rasheed for his guidance
and advice in conducting this work. I would like to thank Whale Submarine Team for giving
enormous support during the work.

6SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Executive Summary
Customer satisfaction has been increasingly becoming one of the most significant
attributes in the global business scenario, over the last few decades, especially with the
increasing integration, inclusiveness, competitiveness and complexities in the global business
framework. In such a situation, it becomes immensely important for any business to analyse
and explore the factors which contribute in increasing or decreasing the level of satisfaction
of their customers, as this in turn helps the businesses to act accordingly and increase their
prospects, profitability, competitiveness and long-term sustainability.
Taking this into consideration, the current study explores the overall levels of
satisfaction of customers regarding service quality of the Whale Submarine, Maldives, which
is the deepest diving and largest tourist passenger submarine existing in the contemporary
period. The research also tries to find the factors which influence the level of customer
satisfaction regarding the service quality of the company as a whole as well as of that of the
employees of the Whale submarine, using the SERVQUAL framework.
As per the quantitative as well as qualitative analysis of the data collected, based on
the quantitative and qualitative findings, the result indicates that the overall customer
satisfaction regarding the service quality of Whale Submarine, Maldives is considerably high.
These high satisfactory levels are seen in the case of the reliability of the company as well as
in ranked highly for employees. The finding indicates that factors such as the perceptions of
the customers regarding tangibility, reliability, assurance, empathy and responsiveness
contribute considerably to determining the level of satisfaction of the customers.
Keywords
Customer satisfaction, Whale Submarine, SERVQUAL Model, employee level, company
level, customer’s perception, service quality

7SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Table of Contents
Chapter 1..................................................................................................................................13
1.1 Introduction....................................................................................................................13
1.2 Research Background and Research Gap......................................................................14
1.3 Problem Statement.........................................................................................................16
1.4 Research Purpose...........................................................................................................17
1.5 Research Objectives.......................................................................................................17
1.6 Research Questions........................................................................................................17
1.7 Significance of the research...........................................................................................18
1.8 Research Limitations......................................................................................................19
1.9 Conclusion......................................................................................................................20
Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.......................................................................................22
2.1 Introduction....................................................................................................................22
2.2 Conceptual Framework..................................................................................................22
2.3 Customer Satisfaction....................................................................................................24
2.3.1 Definitions of Customer Satisfaction......................................................................24
2.3.2 Importance of Customer Satisfaction in global business framework......................26
2.3.3 Components in businesses which lead to customer satisfaction.............................29
2.4 Theories of customer satisfaction...................................................................................33
2.4.1 Consistency Theory.................................................................................................33
2.4.2 Disconfirmation Theory..........................................................................................38
2.4.3 Cognitive Dissonance Theory.................................................................................39
2.4.4 Equity Theory..........................................................................................................39
2.5 Models to estimate customer satisfaction in business organizations.............................40
2.5.1 Kano Model.............................................................................................................40
2.5.2 ACSI Method..........................................................................................................42
2.5.3 SERVQUAL Model................................................................................................43

8SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
2.6 Literature Gap................................................................................................................47
Chapter 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...........................................................................50
3.1 Introduction....................................................................................................................50
3.2 Research Design.............................................................................................................50
3.3 Research Philosophy......................................................................................................51
3.4 Research Approach........................................................................................................52
3.5 Data Sources...................................................................................................................53
3.6 Data types.......................................................................................................................54
3.7 Population and sampling techniques..............................................................................55
3.8 Data collection techniques and instruments...................................................................55
3.9 Data Analysis Methods..................................................................................................56
3.9.1 Quantitative data analysis.......................................................................................57
3.9.2 Qualitative data analysis.........................................................................................57
3.10 Ethical Consideration...................................................................................................58
3.11 Research Limitations....................................................................................................58
Chapter 4: RESEARCH ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH RESULTS....................................61
4.1 Analysis and Interpretation of Quantitative Data...........................................................61
4.1.1. Descriptive Statistics..............................................................................................62
4.1.2 Correlation Analysis................................................................................................71
4.2.2 Regression Analysis................................................................................................76
4.2 Thematic Analysis of the Qualitative Data....................................................................81
4.3 Conclusion......................................................................................................................84
Chapter 5: DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS................................................................86
5.1 Introduction....................................................................................................................86
5.2 Discussion regarding the Research Findings.................................................................86
5.2.1 Summary of Findings..............................................................................................88
5.3 Conclusion regarding the research findings...................................................................88

9SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
5.4 Limitations of the research.............................................................................................88
5.5 Recommendations..........................................................................................................89
5.5.1 Recommendations for Whale Submarine, Maldives...............................................89
5.5.2 Recommendations for future research....................................................................89
References................................................................................................................................90
Appendix................................................................................................................................103
Appendix 1: Quantitative Questionnaire............................................................................103
Appendix 2: Qualitative Questionnaire..............................................................................104

10SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
List of Figures
Figure 1: Direct and indirect contribution of tourism industry in the Global GDP (2006-2017)
..................................................................................................................................................15
Figure 2: Conceptual Framework for the concerned research.................................................23
Figure 3: Components and their linkages with Customer Satisfaction....................................25
Figure 4: Position of the organizations with respect to the two components of customer
satisfaction................................................................................................................................30
Figure 5: Assimilation Contrast Theory...................................................................................37
Figure 6: Visual representation of the Disconfirmation Theory..............................................38
Figure 7: Customer Satisfaction or Dissatisfaction in Kano Model........................................41
Figure 8: The ACSI Model for measurement of customer satisfaction...................................42
Figure 9: Five dimensions of perceived service quality in the SERVQUAL Model...............44
Figure 10: Gaps identified in the SERVQUAL Model............................................................46
Figure 11: Types of research design........................................................................................50
Figure 12: Types of research philosophies...............................................................................51
Figure 13: Types of research approaches.................................................................................52
Figure 14: Types of data sources.............................................................................................53
Figure 15: Types of Data..........................................................................................................54
Figure 16: Structural Framework of the quantitative data analysis.........................................57
Figure 17: Thematic framework for qualitative research in the concerned study....................58

11SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
List of Tables
Table 1: Frequencies of different responses regarding overall experience of the respondents63
Table 2: Frequency distribution of different responses regarding overall level of satisfaction
with the service quality of the company itself.........................................................................63
Table 3: Frequency distribution regarding tangibility of company’s service..........................64
Table 4: Frequency distribution regarding reliability of the company’s service.....................65
Table 5: Frequency distribution regarding responsiveness of the company’s service.............65
Table 6: Frequency distribution regarding assurance in the service of the company..............66
Table 7: Frequency distribution regarding presence of empathy in the company’s service....66
Table 8: Frequency distribution regarding overall satisfaction of the service quality of the
employees.................................................................................................................................67
Table 9: Frequency distribution regarding tangibility of the employees’ service...................68
Table 10: Frequency distribution regarding reliability of the employees’ services.................68
Table 11: Frequency distribution regarding responsiveness of the employees........................69
Table 12: Frequency Distribution regarding Assurance of the service by the employees.......70
Table 13: Frequency distribution regarding Empathy in employees’ service..........................70
Table 14: Frequency distribution regarding repeat availing of the services............................71
Table 15: Tables Pearson’s Correlation Co-efficient between the different study variables...72
Table 16: Model Summary (Company Level).........................................................................77
Table 17: ANOVA Table (Company Level)............................................................................77
Table 18: Coefficients of Regression (Company Level)..........................................................78
Table 19: Model Summary (Employee Level).........................................................................79
Table 20: ANOVA Table (Employee Level)...........................................................................79
Table 21: Coefficients of Regression (Employee Level).........................................................80

12SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Chapter 1
Research Problem

13SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Chapter 1
1.1 Introduction
The global commercial and business scenario have experienced considerable changes
over the past years. Much of changes can be attributed to the changes in the economic, social,
political and demographics changes occurring across the world. These changes in turn have
been changing the overall lifestyles, as well as consumption patterns and demand preferences
of customers across the world (Wetherly 2014). On the other hand, such as globalization,
liberalization and technological and infrastructural progress in travel and communication
facilities have contributed in making the global business framework more integrated,
inclusive and complex (Dunning 2014). This in turn has led to creation of increased dynamics
as well as increased number of players in both the demand side as well as in the supply side,
in almost all types of industries in the global framework.
With more businesses becoming globalised and with a more global clientele, the
competitiveness in almost all the industries in the contemporary period has been increasing
substantially. In the current business environment, the businesses now not only have to
consider the domestic market share, but need to consider impact from local and international
competitors. In addition, the lifestyle, preferences and demands of the customers have been
changing, with global customers bringing in diverse attributes, socio-economic spending
power and market preferences. In addition, the lifestyle, preferences and demands of the
customers have been changing, with global customers bringing in diverse attributes, socio-
economic spending power and market preferences dynamics. but also have to incorporate in
their operational frameworks, the aspects of competition from local as well as international
competitors and also the opportunities of attracting not domestic but also a global population
of customers with diverse attributes, socio-economic features as well as with different
preferences (Aharoni 2014). Thus, more than ever businesses need to be considered the
satisfaction of the customers with the product or service which they offer as much as the
profitability, reputation as well as long term sustainability of these businesses, which are all
interlinked with the level of customer satisfaction (Jyoti and Sharma 2012).
Given the importance of and the relation of their perception of service quality with the
same, the current research aims to explore the perspectives of customers regarding the service

14SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
quality of the Whale Submarine Maldives, the deepest diving and largest tourist submarine
across the world. In addition, this research also aims to derive the conceptual framework of
service quality utilising empirical evidences collected and analysed, amongst of Whale
submarine.
1.2 Research Background and Research Gap
As has been discussed above, with time and with increased competition, especially
post Globalization, the business, in all sectors and in all regions across the world, have started
taking these aspects seriously and have also started taking into consideration the importance
to cater to the customers’ demands and meet their expectations, by incorporating the
perceptions of the customers and their feedbacks in their operational framework (Hines
2012). This in turn, over the years, has become an issue of immense importance and a domain
of exploration for the researchers and the scholars working in this arena.
The companies as well as the researchers, over the years have investigated and
designed different interactive methods for stimulating the demand of the customers for
various services and commodities. Various instruments and frameworks have been suggested
by the researchers across the globe, over the years for conducting the same, although not
many of these researches and models were productive and considerably insightful for real
case scenarios (Bharadwaj et al. 2013). However, through all these researchers and empirical
observations, one aspect was found to be a common contributor or instrument for the increase
in the sustainability, profitability and market share of any business, the factor being that of
the satisfaction of the customers. Most of the researchers and empirical evidences points
towards the fact that customer satisfaction acts as one of the most significant instruments for
generating desired amount of market demand and expansion of market dominance,
profitability and sustainability of any business, which works through the stimulation of the
preference of the customers and inclining them towards the concerned companies (Sun and
Kim 2013).
Customer satisfaction has thus been the topic of immense exploration and studies by
the researchers across the globe in the contemporary period and the extensive existing literary
works in this domain assert that the phenomenon of customer satisfaction is a bilateral
phenomenon, where the active participations of both the demand side players (the customers)
as well as the supply side players (the supply side providers) are present in the form of
demand supply interaction and balances (Kaura, Durga Prasad and Sharma 2015). The level

15SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
of customer satisfaction, however varies across different companies and different regions,
much of which can be attributed to the differences in the place of operations, the market
structures, levels of satisfaction of the customers due to their inherent differences in
expectations, perceptions, preferences and expectations from the similar service and other
attributes as well as due to other endogenous as well as exogenous factors of the operational
framework of the different service providing companies. Jhandir (2012), in this context,
highlights that the satisfaction level of a customer is highly subjective to the person and his or
her own attributed, but the same can however be considerably influenced by the quality of
product or service provided by a company to the customer.
In this context, it can also be asserted that with time various new businesses have been
developing and expanding in different types of industries, which primarily include the
tourism industry, one of the largest and most impressively growing industries across the
globe. Over the last few decades the industry and its components have grown significantly,
which can be seen from the direct and indirect contribution of the industry towards the global
GDP over the years, which is as follows:
Figure 1: Direct and indirect contribution of tourism industry in the Global GDP (2006-
2017)
(Source: Statista.com 2018)
The tourism industry, being one of the most significant and dynamically growing ones
in the contemporary global scenario, has been experiencing huge developments of new forms

16SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
of tourisms across the globe with time owing to the overall technological, infrastructural
innovations, the change in the lifestyle of the global population and also due to the changes in
the perceptions of travelling and touring among the recent generations along with the change
in their socio-economic structures (Theobald 2012). In this context, one of the newest
inclusions is that of submarine tourism, which is at a very nascent stage and has been
gradually spreading its popularity among the global population, especially the adventure
enthusiast ones. The Whale Submarine, in this context, is the deepest diving largest tourist
submarine which provides its services in the Maldives.
The Whale Submarine has become one of the most popular attractions in Maldives,
gaining the attention of both domestic as well as international tourist population gradually for
its unique nature of the service provided to the customers. With a 50-seats facility and with
the capacity to dive up to 150 meters into the sea, this service provides the enthusiasts with
the life time opportunity to explore and view the underwater sea-life and the mystic views
deep in the ocean. This service being hugely unique, much of its success and sustainability
thus depend on the level of customer satisfaction which in turn depends on the perception of
the customers regarding the overall quality of service of the same (Orams and Lueck 2016).
However, in spite of recognition of the importance of customer satisfaction and
customers’ perspectives regarding the quality of service of the concerned company, little
have been found to be done in the field of addressing the customer perspectives and
incorporating the implications of the same in the aspects of service quality of the different
organizations in Maldives as a whole and in the case of Whale Submarine services in
particular (Orams and Lueck 2016). Moreover, in the last few years, the service concerned
has been seen to have received positive as well as negative feedbacks from the customers,
which include both satisfied and dissatisfied customers and the lack of frameworks to address
the negative feedbacks and customers’ perceptions and perspectives about the service quality
of the same may have considerable long-term impacts on the sustainability of the company as
well as on its long-term profitability and competitiveness.
1.3 Problem Statement
The above discussion makes it evident that in the recent period, with the increasing
popularity of new types of adventure tourism, like that of marine tourism, the Whale
Submarine service in Maldives have been becoming famous among the global customers.
However, although much of its future popularity, prosperity as well as profitability and long-

17SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
term sustainability depends on the level of customer satisfactions and their positive word of
mouth, not much importance can be seen to be given by the authorities regarding the same.
There have been a considerable number of reporting of customer dissatisfaction, but not
much can be seen to be done in order to explore the issues and address the same. For
instance, there have been complains about the ambience, the cleanliness of the submarine as
well as about issues regarding the punctuality and time management of the Whale Submarine
service provision. Some customers could also be seen to be complaining about the attitudes
and behaviours of the employees in the concerned company.
1.4 Research Purpose
Keeping the above discussions into consideration, the primary purpose of the
concerned research is to focusses on is that of studying and exploring the different
perspectives of the customers regarding the service quality of the Whale Submarine in
Maldives. The concerned research precisely emphasises on studying the perspectives of the
customers regarding the same on two levels- the employee level (concerning the quality of
service by the staffs of the concerned company) as well as the company level, on the basis of
empirical evidences collected and analysed and under the structural framework of the
SERVQUAL Model, using its various dimensions.
1.5 Research Objectives
The objectives of the concerned research are as follows:
 To trace the customer perspective on service quality in Whale-submarine
 To point out the factors that measure customer perceived service quality with specific
focus to the Whale-submarine firm
 To provide a conceptual framework that measure the customer perspective on service
quality
1.6 Research Questions
Keeping into consideration the above discussion as well as the objectives of the
concerned research, the primary research question which the study aims to solve with the
help of collection, analysis and interpretation of the empirical evidences, is as follows:

18SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
What are the different perspective of the customers present regarding the service quality of
the Whale Submarine of Maldives?
Keeping the primary research question, cited above, into consideration, the other questions
which the concerned research emphasises on are as follows:
 What are the overall perceptions of the customers regarding the service of the Whale
Submarine?
 What are the different factors which influence the satisfaction of the customers of the
Whale Submarine?
 What are the implications of the different dimensions of SERVQUAL framework on
the perceptions of the customers regarding the service quality of the Whale Submarine
services:
 What is the importance of reliability of the service in the customers’
perception about the service quality of the Whale Submarine?
 What is the significance of responsiveness of the concerned service on the
perceived service quality of the Whale Submarine?
 What role does the attribute of assurance plays in the aspect of the perceptions
of the customers regarding the service quality of the same?
 What is the relation between empathy of the crew and the service as a whole
on the perceptions about the service quality of the Whale Submarine?
 How important are tangibles regarding the perceived service quality of the
Whale Submarine by the customers?
 What are the factors which ward off the satisfaction of the customers of the Whale
Submarine?
 Apart from the deep-sea diving what are the other factors what are the other factors
which encourages the customers to visit again to avail the services of the Whale
Submarine?
1.7 Significance of the research
Keeping into consideration the increasing importance of customer satisfaction in
every industry and the importance of incorporation of the perspectives of the customers
regarding the service quality of the different industries in order to assess the satisfaction level
of the customers, it becomes significant for the concerned service provider, the Whale
Submarine of Maldives to incorporate these aspects in its operational framework. This

19SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
becomes even more important as in spite of the increasing awareness regarding the
importance of customer satisfaction and their perspectives on the performance of the
company and its profitability, there is still a lack of proper framework in the commercial
sector of Maldives in general and in Whale Submarine service in particular, to incorporate the
view and feedbacks of the customers and to implement appropriate changes in the operational
and service provision framework of the company.
Moreover, in the last few years the company has also garnered several negative
feedbacks and instances of customer dissatisfactions have also been recorded for the same.
All these aspects make it crucial for the company to analyse and interpret the different
customer perspectives present regarding the service quality of the same and the results of the
concerned research, in this aspect, is expected to have considerable implications on the future
performance and profitability as well as sustainability of the company in consideration,
provided the assertions and findings of the research are taken into consideration and possible
strategies are developed and incorporated in the operational framework of the Whale
Submarine in the coming years. The positive implications of the concerned research are also
expected to be applicable for other industries and organizations in Maldives and other parts of
the world as well in the coming years.
1.8 Research Limitations
In spite of the fact that the concerned study tries to explore and analyse one of the
significant issues in the global business scenario, the aspect of customer satisfaction and the
linkage of the same with the customer’s perspectives and perceptions regarding the service
qualities, the research still faces several crucial limitations. Among these limitations the
primary one is that the research constricts itself to a very small domain, by concentrating on
the Whale Submarine service in Maldives only, which in turn makes the results and findings
of the research and their implications very subjective to the region and to the submarine
tourism industry of the region only. The customers’ perspectives regarding the service quality
may vary considerably across regions and across different industries and the same may also
have different implications, which may not be shown by the findings of the paper.
To analyse the same the research also collects data from a considerably small sample
size, which may have the risk of skewing or biasing the outcomes as it is not possible to
include all the diversities of the customers in the concerned research. Lastly, the research uses
the SERVQUAL framework to collect and analyse the relevant data, but there are also many

20SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
other theoretical and conceptual frameworks for the assessment of the dimensions of services
and service quality from the perspectives of the customers, which are not used by the
concerned research, which in turn also makes the research less inclusive and leaves scopes of
further and more inclusive research works in the concerned domain of immense importance
in the contemporary global commercial scenario.
1.9 Conclusion
In the age of increasing service marketing and the creation of a global market place for
interactions of customers and producers in each industry across the world, the importance of
customer satisfaction is being increasingly felt by the businesses in each industry. The same
is highly applicable for the Whale Submarine in Maldives as much of their profitability,
prosperity, competitiveness and long-term sustainability depends on the same. However, not
much emphasis has been given by the company, till now, regarding the issues arising in the
aspects of customer dissatisfaction and grievances regarding their services. The concerned
research, aiming to find the same with the help of the SERVQUAL method, can have
immense positive implications for the company if the same incorporates the findings of the
research in their strategic planning and decision-making in the coming years.

21SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Chapter 2
Literature Review

22SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
With the increase in the dynamics and complexities in the global business and
commercial scenario and with the simultaneous increase in the importance of the aspects of
customer satisfaction and their perceptions of service quality of different businesses,
considerable number of researches are being conducted in these aspects over the last few
decades (Abd-El-Salam, Shawky and El-Nahas 2013). A considerable amount of literary
works and empirically supported scholarly papers exist in the global domain in the
contemporary period in this aspect, trying to define the meaning and implications of customer
satisfactions in different businesses, the factors which influence the customer satisfaction
levels, the importance of customer perceptions about the service quality and about other
aspects relating to the businesses and the influences of the same on the different industries
and on the profitability, prospects, performances and long term sustainability of the different
businesses belonging to the industries across the globe (Malik, Ghafoor and Hafiz 2012).
Keeping this into consideration, this section of the research tries to extensively review
the existing literary and scholarly works as well as empirical evidences which are present in
the global framework regarding the attributes of customer satisfaction, the factors
determining the same, the importance of customer satisfaction in business framework and the
related theoretical and conceptual frameworks present regarding the phenomenon itself and
regarding the methods of measurement of customer satisfaction in different businesses
(Delcourt et al. 2013). The section also tries to review the literatures which focus on the
submarine tourism industry in particular and which analyse the notion of customer
satisfaction and aspects related to the same focussing on the concerned industry (Mason
2015). Lastly the section also tries to observe and analyse the gaps which exist in the existing
literary evidences in these aspects, thereby identifying the gaps which are to be filled by the
concerned research, which in turn is expected to contribute in the overall quality,
insightfulness and relevance of the concerned study in the contemporary period.
2.2 Conceptual Framework

23SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Service Quality
Tangibility
(Appearance, equipment,
tangible facilities,
employee behaviour,
appearances)
Reliability
(Company’s ability to
fulfil promises, reliable
service from employees)
Responsiveness
(Promptness of service,
attentiveness of
employees)
Assurance
(Trust on the company
and on the knowledge
and efficiency of
employees)
Empathy
(Individua attention to
customers both by the
company and its
employees)
The conceptual framework, which the concerned research adheres to can be shown as
follows:

24SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Figure 2: Conceptual Framework for the concerned research
(Source: As created by the author)
2.3 Customer Satisfaction
The term “Customer Satisfaction”, in the contemporary period has become a
widespread and multidimensional phenomenon with the increase in the dynamics,
inclusiveness, integration and inter-connectedness of the business framework across the
globe. However, there is no one particular and all-inclusive definition or interpretation of the
term and the implication of the same in the global business scenario and the different scholars
and researchers have tried to define the concept from different perspectives (Jung and Yoon
2013).
2.3.1 Definitions of Customer Satisfaction
One of the most comprehensive definitions of the term “Customer Satisfaction”, in
the commercial aspects, has been provided in the literary work of Jung and Yoon (2013),
where customer satisfaction is defined as the measure of the extent to which the commodities
and services of a company meet or surpass the expectation of the customers. Augmenting this
definition, Oliver (2014), gives a more positive and numerical outlook to the abstract notion
regarding the term. According to the assertions of the author, the term, Customer Satisfaction,
refers to the number or the percentage of the customers of a firm or a company, whose
reported experience of usage of the product or the service of the concerned firm, exceeds the
goals of satisfaction for the concerned product or service.
In this context, Lindström (2015), asserts that the phenomenon of “customer
satisfaction” is a bilateral or a two-way process where active participation of both the
customers, that is the demand side players as well as the service providers, that is the supply
side players are considerably present and required. The author asserted this on the basis of the
fact that customer satisfaction, being an attribute very subjective to the customers or the
demand side players, are attributed to the types and natures of services provided by the
service providers (who can be sellers of goods or services) and how the customers perceive
the same to have met or not have met his or her expectations regarding the same (Chen 2012).
A visual representation of the concept of customer satisfaction and its components as well as
their linkage can be seen as follows:

25SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Customer Satisfaction
Special requirements
of customer
Customer
Grievances
Customer
Focus
Customer
Feedbacks
Customer
Property
Timely
Supply
Figure 3: Components and their linkages with Customer Satisfaction
(Source: Kbmanage.com 2018)
Augmenting the views of the previously discussed literary works, Torres and Kline
(2013), in their elaborate and empirically evidenced detailed literary work on the aspects of
customer satisfaction as a whole and in particular in the hotel industries, suggest that the level
of customer satisfaction is not a homogenous and unified concept which can be measured
with one yardstick. As per the assertions of the authors, customer satisfaction is not an
attribute which is subjective to the customers only but also depends on the organizations, the
nature and type of operations, the place of operations, the perspective of different customers
regarding the same service provided and also on the exogenous factors like the social,
economic, political and other attributes (Setó-Pamies 2012).
Thus, from the above discussion and from the review of the existing literatures in the
aspects of customer satisfaction, it can be seen that the concept or the notion of “Customer
Satisfaction” is a highly broad and multidimensional one, with different definitions and
explanations from the perspectives of different researchers and scholars. However, from all
the literature it is evident that the term and the concept has been receiving increasing

26SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
attention and importance in the contemporary global business framework (Jeon and Choi
2012).
2.3.2 Importance of Customer Satisfaction in global business framework
As can be seen to be evident from the above discussion the phenomenon and the
notion of Customer Satisfaction has been gaining immense attention with the increasing
activities and expansion of the global framework and the importance of the same in the
domain of businesses across the world has also been increasing exponentially. There exist
numerous views and opinions regarding the reasons behind the increasing importance of
customer satisfaction in the global business framework. This section of the study emphasises
to review the existing literary works and opinions existing in the current framework regarding
the same.
a. Customer Loyalty- As per the arguments put forward by Komunda and Osarenkhoe
(2012), one of the key reasons behind the importance of customer satisfaction in the business
domain across the globe is the direct linkage between the same and customer loyalty. As per
the assertions of the authors, if a customer is highly satisfied with the service of a particular
provider, he or she usually tries to stick to the same service provider and comes back to avail
their service again and again. Supporting the views put forward by the above authors, the
works of Zafar et al. (2012) highlights that in most of the businesses it is much more
expensive and time taking to acquire new clients than to retain the old and existing ones.
Empirically supporting their assertions with the help of the observations from the banking
sector of Pakistan, the authors assert that recognizing the direct linkage of the customer
satisfaction with that of customer loyalty and analysing the benefits of the presence of loyal
and existing clients, the banks in general put extensive efforts to keep their loyal customer
happy and often in this process take extra initiatives to address to the grievances and
feedbacks of the dissatisfied customers in order to retain them back (Hussain, Al Nasser and
Hussain 2015). The authors also argue that this is highly applicable for all other industries
and companies across all parts of the world.
b. Repeat purchase intention- Another aspect of the customer satisfaction and the
importance of the same for any business, as highlighted by Kuo, Hu and Yang (2013), is that
of the power of the same to influence the repeat purchase intentions of the customers. In this
context, the concept of “Repeat Purchase Intention” of a customer can be defined to be the
urge or the intention of a customer to avail the services of a provider (can be of that of a

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commodity or service), from whom he or she has availed the services previously (Kim et al.
2012). As per the assertions of the authors, the repeat purchase intention is directly linked to
the loyalty of the customer which in turn is influenced by the level of satisfaction of the
customer, derived by availing the services of the concerned provider.
Ranjbarian et al. (2012), highlights in their work that only a considerably satisfied customer
tends to purchase or avail the products or services of the providers again, which in turn
contributes substantially in increasing the revenue of the service providers and also helps
them to increase their sustainability and profitability, thereby gaining an edge over the
competitors present in the market.
c. Word of Mouth- As per the views of Blazevic et al. (2013), customer satisfaction is also a
component of key significance for the expansion of any business, as according to the authors,
the satisfied customers are the best advertisers and promoters of the goods and services
provided by the concerned business. The authors however, do not elaborate on the method in
which the customer satisfaction acts as a promotional aspect for the products and services of
a company. This gap is however, fulfilled by Choi and Choi (2014). In their working paper,
the authors suggest that when a customer is satisfied with a particular service provider, they
in general tend to recommend the same to their friends, relatives, colleagues and
acquaintances, which is known as “Word of Mouth” and which in turn helps in expanding the
client base of the particular service providers without any promotional cost incurred from
their side.
As per the arguments of Fan and Miao (2012), in this context, in the recent period,
with the increasing innovations in the technological and communicational aspects and with
the increased usage of internet and social media platforms by the population across the globe,
the importance of word of mouth of the customers has become even more significant in the
global business domain. This is because, with the increasing popularity and usage of the
different social media platforms by increasing number of populations of the world, the people
across the globe are not well-connected with each other and can pass news, views and
information in just one click (Lovett, Peres and Shachar 2013).
Thus, while a happy and satisfied customer can share positive views about a product
or a service, thereby increasing the global popularity and demand for the same, a dissatisfied
and angry customer can also spread negative feedbacks about the same, thereby hampering
the profitability and reputation of the business significantly (Sweeney, Soutar and Mazzarol

28SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
2012). Thus, as per the assertions of the authors, in the age of internet and social media, the
customer satisfaction and word of mouth have immense implications not only on the
profitability, sustainability and competitiveness of any business but also on its intention to
expand in different countries and regions.
d. Competitiveness- Another aspect in the operational framework of businesses, in which the
satisfaction of the customers contribute significantly is the aspect of competitiveness of the
business, as can be seen to be emphasized in the work of Subramanian et al. (2014).
Focussing their studies on the e-retailing market of China, the authors assert that higher
number of satisfied customers adds to a higher number of clients and their word of mouth
also brings new customers, which together with the repeat purchase intention and increased
trust of the customers over the brands, increases the competitiveness of the concerned
companies. Sengupta, Balaji and Krishnan (2015), augments these views by suggesting that
in the increasingly competitive global framework, with the increasing number of supply side
players in each of the industries, this aspect of customer satisfaction has become even more
relevant as with increasing customer satisfaction and their positive feedbacks, a company can
capture the share of clients who are dissatisfied with the service provided by their rivals and
vice versa.
Due to the presence of higher customer loyalty, the concerned businesses enjoy
greater as well as increasing share of market and market power, thereby posing as stiff
competitors to other rivals existing in the same business (Sun and Kim 2013). Although the
work of the concerned authors focusses on a particular industry and on a particular region,
however, the assertions are highly applicable in a general global business framework as can
be seen from the robust support of many other literatures in this aspect, with the paper of Lee,
Lee and Kang (2012) being one of the primary ones, highlighting the aspect of linkage
between higher customer satisfaction and higher business competitiveness in the global
commercial level.
e. Sales and revenue generation- One of the most important contribution of customer
satisfaction, directly as well as indirectly, as has been pointed out by considerable number of
researchers and scholars, is in the field of revenue generation of the different businesses
across the globe. In this context, one of the most comprehensive views have been provided by
Yu et al. (2013), according to whom satisfied customers of a company or a service provider
directly contributes in increasing the revenue of the suppliers by staying loyal to them and

29SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
buying from them repeatedly. However, the satisfied customers also indirectly contribute in
increasing the sales and revenue of the service provides by promoting and recommending
their products to others customers, which together contribute in increasing not only the
revenue and profitability of the concerned businesses but also in increasing the long-term
sustainability as well as geographical and market domains of operations of the concerned
companies or service providers.
f. Brand trust- The increase in the satisfaction of the customers, regarding the service
provided by a particular supplier, across the globe, also contributes in increasing the brand
trust among the clientele, which is also highly beneficial for the companies in the aspects of
business expansion, increase in market share, sales and revenue increase and sustainability as
well (Ahmed et al. 2014).
Thus, from the above discussion and study of the relevant literatures it can be asserted
that the aspect of customer satisfaction has been increasingly gaining considerable
importance in the operational framework of businesses across the globe and there are various
reasons and ways, both direct and indirect in which the satisfaction and the dissatisfaction of
the customers contribute in the overall welfare of the businesses in general and in their
profitability, prospects, competitiveness and long term sustainability in particular.
2.3.3 Components in businesses which lead to customer satisfaction
The notion of “Customer Satisfaction” being an open ended and broad concept, there
has been huge debates regarding the components of customer satisfaction and the factors
which the customers perceive to be important while availing a service and which contribute
in increasing or decreasing their level of satisfaction regarding the whole process. In this
context, diverse opinions and assertions also exist among the researchers and scholars, which
this section aims to analyse and interpret in the light of the relevant literary and scholarly
works present in this domain.
a. Customer experience and Service outcomes
One of the most comprehensive and explanatory literary work in the aspects of
exploring the components of customer satisfaction in a generalised framework can be
asserted to be the work of Wu (2013). In his work, he highlights two broad components
which contribute to the satisfaction of the customers of any service provider in the global
scenario, the components being customer experience and service outcomes. According to the
author, these are the two major components of customer satisfaction from the perspectives of

30SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
the customers and hold immense significance in the aspect of the overall success of any
business.
Customer experience- The notion of customer experience, broadly refers to the perception
of the customers regarding the service or the product acquisition process. As per the
definition of the term, put forward by Srivastava and Kaul (2014), refers broadly to the way
the customers feel that they are treated by any business organization whose service or product
they avail. The aspects like the overall business and interaction environment, the overall
behaviour of the employees of the organizations who deal with the customers, the
technological aspects of the transactions, the overall facilities which the customers receive
while the process of interaction and availing of the services are the primary components of
the experience of the customers, which in turn influences the satisfaction level of the
customers in the global framework (Rawson, Duncan and Jones 2013).
Service outcomes- On the other hand, another component of customer satisfaction, as shown
by Teixeira et al. (2012), refers to the overall outcome of the service as a whole as perceived
by the customers who avail the concerned service or indulge in the product acquisition
process from any business organization. Lemon and Verhoef (2016), augments this definition
provided by the previous literary work and also highlights the different components of
service outcomes to be the emotions of the customers, their personal perception and
judgements, the intentions of the customers as well as that of the companies as perceived by
the customers and also the tangible benefits from the entire service availing or product
acquisition process as a whole. As per the assertions of the authors, these factors,
cumulatively contribute to the overall service outcomes, which in turn influences the level of
satisfaction of the customers in the global business scenario (Büttgen, Schumann and Ates
2012).
Keeping the above components into consideration, the position of any service
providing organization (both commodity and service providing ones) in the global business
scenario can be shown with the help of the following figure:

31SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Figure 4: Position of the organizations with respect to the two components of customer
satisfaction
(Source: Pls.com.ng 2018)
As can be seen from the above four quadrant figure, the service providing business
organizations can be in the following positions depending upon the magnitude of the two
components of customer satisfaction, which is as follows:
World Class- Organizations with both excellent customer experience and excellent service
outcomes
Arrogant/Complacent- Organizations with excellent service outcomes but poor customer
experience (Rawson, Duncan and Jones 2013)
Short term retainment of customers- Organizations with excellent customer experience but
poor customer service outcomes
Failing- Organizations with both poor customer excellence as well as poor customer service
outcomes
Thus, from the above assertions, it can be seen that the two attributes, namely the
service outcomes and the customer experience form two significant components determining
the level of satisfaction, perceived by the customers themselves from availing a service from
any provider in the global commercial framework. However, there are also other components
of customer satisfaction, which have been pointed out by other literary and scholarly
evidences which are discussed in the following section.
b. Effective communication

32SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Apart from the above-mentioned components of customer satisfaction, another
component in the operational framework of any service provider, which form an influencing
part of customer satisfaction, as has been pointed out by Kang and Hyun (2012), is the
presence of an effective communication framework in the company itself. As per the
assertions of the authors, the service providers who communicate with their customers (both
through inter-personal communications by the employees as well as by other non-human
method) and take into account their opinions, preferences, feedbacks and grievances, are
expected to be capable of addressing the same more efficiently, which leaves little space for
misconceptions and misunderstandings, which are in turn the most common and significant
problems in the aspect of provision of customer services (Hung and Lin 2013). This in turn,
as the author argues, contributes significantly in increasing the level of satisfaction of the
customers.
c. Consistency in service provision
Taking reference of the banking sector of the Ethiopian economy and drawing the
relevance to the global customer service and global commercial framework, Shanka (2012),
strongly emphasize on the fact that the business organizations across the globe need to
maintain consistency in their service quality and overall service outcomes in order to keep
their customers satisfied. As per the views of the author, retention of satisfied customers is of
immense importance for increasing the profitability and the sustainability of the businesses,
for which provision of good quality service to the customers only once is not sufficient. The
customers will only come back again and again if consistency is maintained in the overall
service provision by the business which can in turn lead to consistency in the level of
satisfaction of the customers (Theodorakis et al. 2013). Companies with initial high but
subsequently decreasing satisfaction levels of customers are in general found to suffer in the
long run, in terms of low revenue generation, bad reputation and lack of sustainability, which
can often also lead to permanent shutdown of the same.
d. Service Quality
The most important component of customer satisfaction, which has been highlighted
by most of the scholars and researchers across the globe, is that of the overall quality of
service which are provided by the organizations to the customers who avail the services. Shi,
Prentice and He (2014), assert that the overall quality of service of the providers, as perceived

33SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
by the customers and the extent to which the same can match the level of expectations of the
customers regarding the utilities, benefits and other aspects derived from the services, play
considerable role in increasing or decreasing the level of satisfaction of the customers and
influencing their endogenous bias towards the concerned service providers, thereby also
contributing to the customer loyalty.
e. Types of customer
Aguwa, Monplaisir and Turgut (2012), however, puts forward one of the primary
components of customer satisfaction, which is not a part of the operational framework of the
organizations but is an inherent attribute of the customers themselves. According to the
authors, the level of customer satisfaction from the same service can be different depending
upon the different in the types of customer (Valenzuela 2012). As per the authors, the
customers of a service provider, both new as well as repeat customers, can be of different
types like happy-go-lucky, in a hurry, know-it-all, nervous, angry, nervous and anxious and
many others. Depending upon these inherent and personal attributes of the customers, the
behaviour of the customers and their level of satisfaction varies.
Thus, from the above discussion of the existing literatures and scholarly works, it is
evident that there are many significant components, both subjective to the service providing
organizations as well as to the customers themselves, which influence the level of satisfaction
of the customers. These factors, with some of the primary ones discussed above, are
widespread and multidimensional and also include many other components apart from the
above components of customer satisfaction.
2.4 Theories of customer satisfaction
There have been various theoretical and conceptual frameworks which have been
developed over the years by different researchers and scholars to define, interpret and explain
the phenomenon of customer satisfaction in the global framework. These theories, in turn,
have been found to have diverse assertions, opinions and mode of explaining customer
satisfaction and thus there exist extensive literatures and empirically evidenced scholarly
works in this aspect. Keeping this into consideration the concerned section of the literature
review tries to organize and discuss the different theories which exist in the aspect of
customer satisfaction in the global scenario.

34SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
2.4.1 Consistency Theory
As per the assertions of Martínez and del Bosque (2013), all the different theories
regarding the customer satisfaction phenomenon can be categorised under the umbrella
theory of consistency. The authors suggest that as per the suggestions of the consistency
theory of customer satisfaction, there arises some degree of tension or anxiety among the
customers, in the aspect of availing a service or acquiring a product, when the actual
performance of the products or the service availed by the customer does not match with the
expectations of the concerned customers regarding the same (Fraering and S. Minor 2013).
This in turn, leads to a process of adjustments, inherently by the customers, either in the
aspect of their expectations regarding the concerned product or service or in their perceptions
regarding the actual performance of the same. The theory highlights this method of
adjustments taken by the customers, a means to relieve the tension or anxiety which they feel
when a mis-match occurs in the actual performance of the product or the service and in the
expectations of the customers regarding the product or service’s performance (Swaminathan
et al. 2014).
The primary umbrella theory of consistency in customer satisfaction, however have
many different theoretical models and concepts under its domain, which are primarily as
follows:
 Assimilation Theory
 Contrast Theory
 Assimilation-Contrast Theory
 Negativity Theory (Shahin Sharifi and Rahim Esfidani 2014)
Each of these theories are discussed and critically evaluated in the following section, on the
basis of the literary works present in the global framework:
2.4.1.1 Assimilation Theory
As can be seen to be highlighted in the work of Ha and Jang (2013), the assimilation
theory of customer satisfaction has its origin in the “Dissonance Theory”, first proposed by
Festinger (1957). As per the concerned theoretical framework, some sort of cognitive
comparison is always made by the customers between what they expect from a product or
service which they avail and their perceived performance of the same (Silverman 2017). This
in turn can be termed as the post-usage evaluation of the service or product by the customers,

35SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
which in turn is incorporated in the notion of customer satisfaction in the domain of the
assimilation theory.
As per the assertions of the concerned theory, in case of any dissonance arising in the
aspects of perception and expectation regarding the performance of a product or service, the
same is tried to be avoided by the customers as that negatively hampers their satisfaction and
gives rise to tensions (Harmon-Jones, Harmon-Jones and Levy 2015). This is primarily done
by the customers by three major ways which are as follows:
 By adjusting their perceptions regarding the product or service which they avail in
order to bring the perceptions closer to their expectations regarding the performance
of the same
 By changing and modifying their expectations regarding the performance of the
product in such a way that the same coincides or come in line with the perceptions
regarding the performance of the same (Oghuma et al. 2016)
 By increasing or decreasing the satisfaction level of the customers, which in turn
minimizes the significance of the disconfirmation which is experienced by the same in
the aspects of availing a service or acquiring a product from a service provider across
the globe
Criticisms of the Assimilation theory
In spite of being a broad spectrum, multidimensional and abstract theory, there have
been several crucial drawbacks of the assimilation theory of customer satisfaction, which
have been pointed out by different scholars. Kim, Magnusen and Kim (2014), in this context,
criticize the assimilation theory in the aspect that the theory assumes that enough motivation
is present within the customers in general, regarding adjustment of their expectations or
perceptions regarding the performance of the service availed or the product consumed, while
in reality that may not be the case for post-usage evaluation.
The theory also makes a huge generalization in assuming that there exists a
relationship between the consumer’s expectations regarding the performance of a product or
service which they avail and their satisfaction with the same, but fails to provide any
guidelines or evidences regarding the actual way in which the disconfirmation of the
customer’s expectations lead to the positive or negative level of satisfaction among the
customers, which thereby makes the theory less credible and less insightful (Aigbavboa and

36SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Thwala 2013). This in turn gives way to another improvised theoretical framework in the
domain of customer satisfaction in the global business scenario.
2.4.1.2 Contrast Theory
First proposed in 1987, this theory is a considerable contradiction to the previously
discussed assimilation theory. As seen to be highlighted in the work of Sukiman et al. (2013),
which try to view the aspects of customer satisfaction in the domain of the tourism industry,
the contrast theory represents the tendency of the customers in general, to magnify or broaden
the gap between the attitudes of others opinions or statements and the attitudes of themselves.
This in turn leads to the creation an entirely different and contradictory view regarding the
post-usage evaluation of the performance of the product or service availed by the customers,
as compared to that which is asserted by the assimilation theory.
In this context, Albayrak and Caber (2013), distinguishes between the views posited
by the assimilation theory and contrast theory of customer satisfaction more clearly. As per
their opinions, while in the domain of the former theory, the customers try to minimize the
distortions and gaps which arise between their expectations and perceptions of a product or
service performance, the latter theoretical framework opines that the surprise effects which
occur can actually lead to magnification and to a considerable exaggeration of the
discrepancy which arise in the aspects of perceptions and expectations of the customers.
Asserting the above views, Raja et al. (2013) suggest that the contrast theory of
customer satisfaction assumes that in case of any discrepancy in the experience of the
customers from a service or a product, from that of their expectations, the same will actually
be magnified and will be in the direction of the discrepancy only. That is if the experience of
the customers post-usage of a product or a service, is little lower than what he or she
expected, then it might lead to the total rejection of the product or service as a whole, thereby
making it totally unsatisfactory in the views of the customers and vice versa (Wang 2013).
Criticisms of the Contrast Theory
The primary negative aspect of the contrast theory, as has been highlighted by
Chougule, Khare and Pattada (2013), is that instead of reduction of the dissonance arising in
the aspects of customer satisfaction, under this conceptual framework, the customers actually
magnify the same, but the model only predict the same without robust evidences or proper
conceptual framework which explains the way in which this happens.

37SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
2.4.1.3 Assimilation-Contrast Theory
This theory considers the feasible assumptions of both the assimilation and contrast
theories, thereby trying to draw a linkage between these two contrasting theories in the
domain of customer satisfaction. Rego, Morgan and Fornell (2013), shows that according to
the concerned theory, each consumer has his or her own latitude or range of acceptance. If the
performance of a product or a service, as perceived by the customer, falls within this range of
acceptance, then even if it fails to meet the expectations of the customers, the customer will
try to assimilate and avoid the discrepancy. However, if the performance of the same fails to
lie within the domain of acceptance of the customer, then it moves to the latitude of rejection,
where the contrast will occur and the customer will exaggerate or magnify the discrepancy,
thereby making the product or the service unacceptable. This can be diagrammatically seen as
follows:
Figure 5: Assimilation Contrast Theory
(Source: Shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in 2018)
Criticisms of Assimilation-Contrast Theory
Davidenko et al. (2015), like many other scholars and researchers, find this theory of
combining the contradictory models of contrast and assimilation theories of customer

38SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
satisfaction to be methodologically flawed and highly hypothetical with very less support of
real life evidences, which in turn makes this theory highly abstract, reducing its relevance in
the contemporary global business scenario and in the aspects of customer-organization
interactions.
2.4.1.4 Negativity Theory
This comparatively simpler theory in the domain of customer satisfaction, as
highlighted by Nguyen and Simkin (2013), opines that in case of occurrence of any
discrepancy in the perception of performance of a product or service from that of the
expectations of the customers, a “negative energy” is produced, which in turn leads to
negative response on part of the customers. In simpler words, according to the Negativity
Theory, in case of any kind of discrepancy, both when the perceived performance falls short
of expectation as well as when the perceived performance exceeds the expectation of the
customers, dissatisfaction arises among the customers, due to the creation of negative energy
among them (Lee, Han and Suh 2014).
Criticisms of Negativity Theory
The theory has been categorized by many scholars over the years, as an over-
simplified one, which only views the negative aspects of the customers satisfaction level and
does not consider the instances which may lead to an increase in the level of satisfaction of
the customers when the perceived performances of the products or services which they avail
exceed their expectations regarding the same (Posavac 2015).
2.4.2 Disconfirmation Theory
Apart from the different theories mentioned above, falling under the umbrella of
dissonance theory, there also exist several other conceptual frameworks in the aspects of
customer satisfaction in general. One such comprehensive and explanatory theory in this
domain is that of the Disconfirmation Theory. As put forward by Fan and Suh (2014), this
theory relates the satisfaction level of the customers to the direction as well as magnitude of
the disconfirmation which the customer experiences while comparing their expectations with
that of the performance of the product or service which they avail. This theory has been
accepted by many scholars across the globe and few have also augmented the same by
updating the definitions and implications of the same, of which one primary augmentation is
that of the definition of the notion of satisfaction of the customers as their fulfilment
response.

39SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Figure 6: Visual representation of the Disconfirmation Theory
(Source: Acrwebsite.org 2018)
Criticisms of Disconfirmation Theory
Although this theory has been highly popular and accepted across the globe, however
one criticism which remains regarding the same is that the theory does not provide enough
evidences and cause and effect relationships in explaining the entire procedure of
transformation of the disconfirmation of the customers to their levels of satisfaction or
dissatisfaction (Antoniou, Doukas and Subrahmanyam 2013).
2.4.3 Cognitive Dissonance Theory
The highly popular disconfirmation theory however faces competition from another
considerably popular conceptual framework in the aspect of customer satisfaction theory,
which is known as the Cognitive Resonance Theory, which in turn indicates the presence of
discomfort among the customers regarding the presence of any kind of dissonance, which in
turn forces them to reduce the same by attitude and behavioural changes and also by
rationalizing the dissonances (Wicklund and Brehm 2013). This theory is unique in the sense
that it explores the psychological aspects of the activities and perceptions of the customers
and also cultivates the uneasiness which the customers face in case of any kind of
contradictions among the cognitive elements, which in turn makes the theory highly
exploratory (Chang, Solomon and Westerfield 2016).
Criticisms of Cognitive Dissonance Theory

40SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Metzger, Hartsell and Flanagin (2015), highlights the crucial drawback of the theory
asserting that dissonance, as a concept, is a transitory phenomenon, which in turn also makes
the process of data collection and empirically supporting the same a difficult task.
2.4.4 Equity Theory
The primary basis of the concerned theory is that the reward received by a person
should be proportional to his or her investment. Keeping this into consideration, the theory
provides the concept of “relative deprivation” among the customers as the notion of
imbalance which the customers feel to be existing between the perception of the performance
of the service which they avail and their personal expectations regarding the same (Söderlund
and Colliander 2015).
Criticisms of the Equity Theory
The theory though sounds robust in the abstract sense, however, as far as the
empirical evidences are concerned, the element of equity is not found to have significant
effect on the satisfaction levels of the customers and also on their behaviour post-purchase
(Ren et al. 2016).
There are also huge number of other theories in the aspect of customer satisfaction,
which include the adaptation-level theory, the cue utilization theory and many others, each of
which try to explain the notion of customer satisfaction and the derivation of the same from
different perspectives and angles. These theories and the concerning researches and literary
works have been increasing over the years and the concerned study highlights the primary
and relevant ones for the concerned project, as it is not feasible to analyse in depth all the
theories existing in this domain.
2.5 Models to estimate customer satisfaction in business organizations
From the above detailed discussion on the different aspects of customer satisfaction as
a whole, it can be robustly asserted that the concept has been becoming increasingly
important in the contemporary scenario of competitive global business and customer
relationship management of the different businesses across the globe. Keeping this into
consideration, major efforts have been made over the years, by scholars across the globe, to

41SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
design methods and models to measure the level of customer satisfaction from the
consumption or availing of products and services. The aspect of customer satisfaction being a
highly abstract, non-cardinal and entirely individualistic one, capturing the same in models is
a challenging task (Eisingerich, Auh and Merlo 2014). However, there do exist several
comprehensive and highly used and popular models regarding that of the measurement of the
same in the global framework, the primary ones are discussed and elaborated in the following
section of the same:
2.5.1 Kano Model
Tontini, Søilen and Silveira (2013), in their literary work, discusses this model for
measurement of customer satisfaction elaborately. The model proposes several attributes
which are based on the perception of the customers and on their implications on the
satisfaction level of the consumers, the attributes being as follows:
 Basic attributes- These do not have much significance on the level of customer
satisfaction
 Spoken/Performance attributes- These are the expectations which the customers
express regarding the product or service which they avail
 Surprise and delight attributes- These are the attributes which are beyond the
expectations of the customers (Shahin et al. 2013)
The concerned model, as asserted by (Hussain, Mkpojiogu and Kamal 2015) uses
these attributes and their performances against the perceptions of the customers to measure
their level of satisfaction and the primary assumption is that only the presence of high quality
cannot necessarily lead to high level of satisfaction in all the attributes. Instead, the model
highlights three requirements which are to be met to influence the level of satisfaction of the
customers:
 Must-be- These are the requirements, which, if not met, can lead to extreme
dissatisfaction on part of the customers
 One dimensional- These are the requirements which are demanded by the customers
explicitly and the fulfilment of which leads to higher satisfaction and vice versa
 Attractive- These have the greatest influence on the level of satisfaction of the
customers (Mkpojiogu and Hashim 2016)

42SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Figure 7: Customer Satisfaction or Dissatisfaction in Kano Model
(Source: F. Hourani 2015)
However, this model does not consider the inherent differences of different customers
which may affect the attributes and the last two requirements posited the model differently
thereby bringing ambiguity in the model, which can lead to different results for different
customers availing the same service or acquiring the same product.
2.5.2 ACSI Method
Deng, Yeh and Sung (2013), in their literary work, discusses in detail, the American
Customer Satisfaction Index, which was first implemented in 1994 and which uses direct
interviews with the customers in an econometric model to derive the level of customer
satisfaction. The model can be diagrammatically represented as follows:

43SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Figure 8: The ACSI Model for measurement of customer satisfaction
(Source: Researchgate.net 2018)
As is evident from the above figure, the ACSI Model is a cause and effect model,
where on the left-hand side the drivers of the customer satisfaction, namely the expectations
of the customers, value perceived by the customers and the perceived quality of the products
and services availed by them are present. In the centre is the primary variable of customer
satisfaction and on the right-hand side the outcomes of the customer satisfaction, that is, the
loyalty, retention of the customers, their complaints and price tolerance are present, which in
turn gives the model a wholesome and highly explanatory construct, where the cause and
effect relationships in the aspects of customer relations and customer satisfactions in the
aspects of the goods and service availing are explained clearly (Sun and Kim 2013).
Kenett (2014) highlights three primary objectives of the ACSI Model, which the author
defines to be as follows:
Measurement Objective- Quantifying the economic output quality on the basis of customer
input
Contribution Objective- Construction of a framework to explain the relation between quality
of product or service with that of the economic indicators
Forecasting Objective- To build a future economic variability indicator, for measuring the
buyer-seller relationship value

44SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
The model, though highly explanatory, far more comprehensive than that of the Kano
Model and also widely used in the contemporary period, still faces some criticisms by a share
of the researchers and scholars in the global framework in the aspect that it makes
understanding the concept and implications of customer satisfaction too complicated and the
econometric model, being highly cardinal, not always succeeds to take into account the
ordinal aspects of measurement of customer satisfaction (Uysal 2013).
2.5.3 SERVQUAL Model
One of the most comprehensive, wide-spread, multi-variable and inclusive models,
which have been developed till now, in the aspect of measuring and assessing customer
satisfaction and is most broadly used in the global business and customer relation
management scenarios is that of the SERVQUAL Model. As elaborated by Ali and Raza
(2017), the SERVQUAL Model is one of the primary research instruments, which tries to
measure the level of satisfaction of the customers in the global and generalised framework,
by capturing the expectations as well as the perceptions of the customers regarding the
performance of different acquired products or availed services in five highly defined and
multi-perspective dimensions, which according to the assertions of the concerned model are
the representations of the quality of service of any service provider.
2.5.3.1 Dimensions of the SERVQUAL Model of customer satisfaction
While trying to explain the aspects of customer satisfaction in the banking sector of
Saudi Arab, Albarq (2013), explains the SERVQUAL Model elaborately and also suggests
that the model is constructed on the paradigm of expectancy and disconfirmation of the
customers, that is, the author asserts that the customers perceive the quality of service of a
service provider as the extent of confirmation or disconfirmation of the pre-consumption
expectations of the customers regarding the service quality by the actual perceptions of the
same post utilization of the concerned service. Keeping this into account the five dimensions,
which the model highlights as the representations of the perceived service quality in general,
among the customers across the globe, can be seen to be as follows:

45SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Figure 9: Five dimensions of perceived service quality in the SERVQUAL Model
(Source: Marketingstudyguide.com 2018)
With the help of the research and literary evidences in this aspect, the five dimensions
can be explained as follows:
a. Responsiveness- This dimension of perceived service quality of a provider, as gauged by
the customers, refers to the willingness of the concerned service providers to assist their
clients in the aspects of provision of efficient as well as abrupt service performance and also
includes the employees’ willingness to be prompt and efficient in solving the problems of the
customers and addressing their feedbacks (Roslan, Wahab and Abdullah 2015).
b. Assurance- This is another perceived quality of service of the concerned service providers
which refers to the diverse attributes of the concerned companies which assure the customers
and make them confident about the services and the quality of the same of the concerned
companies and which primarily include the attributes like the trustworthy attitudes on part of
the employees and the confidence of the customers regarding the service knowledge of the
concerned companies from where they avail services or acquire products (Sulieman 2013).
c. Reliability- This attribute of the service quality of any provider refers to the ability of the
same to provide dependable as well as accurate services to the customers and the ability to
keep consistency in the accuracy and dependability of the services, as perceived by the
customers.

46SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
d. Tangibility- This aspect or dimension of service quality entirely refers to the physical
characteristics which are present in the aspects of the service availing process of the customer
from the service providers (Yarimoglu 2014). In general, the physical or the tangible
attributes of a service are represented by the following:
Objects- Design, tangible or physical objects related with the service, physical facilities and
others
Subjects- Appearances of the employees who act as mediums between the customers and the
service providing companies
e. Empathy- This is one of the abstract and personal aspect or attributes of the in general
service quality of the provider. This dimension of the SERVQUAL Model refers to the
readiness of the concerned service providers of a firm to provide personal service to each of
the customers and also the level of care shown by the company to each of the customers, as
perceived by the customers (Basfirinci and Mitra 2015).
2.5.3.2 Gaps identified in the customer-satisfaction framework
Tseng and Hung (2013), elaborates in their work, about the gaps which arise with
respect of the service quality and customer satisfaction and perception regarding the same,
which can be diagrammatically shown as follows:
Figure 10: Gaps identified in the SERVQUAL Model
(Source: Serviceperformance.com 2018)

47SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Taking reference of the above figure, the five crucial gaps are explained by the authors as
follows:
Gap 1- This gap shows the overall discrepancy between the expectations of the customers
regarding the quality of service which they avail and the perceptions of the concerned service
providers regarding the expectations of the customers
Gap 2- This crucial gap refers to the anomaly in the perception of the service providers
regarding the experiences and the actual specifications which are present regarding the
experience of the customers in the aspects of availing the services of the concerned provider
and through the entire process
Gap 3- This gap shows the difference which is present in the aspect of the specifications of
the customer experiences and the actual delivery of the concerned experience
Gap 4- This is one of the most crucial gaps referring to the discrepancies which arise
between the service which is delivered to the customers and their experiences and the
promises regarding the service quality and experiences which the company assert would be
provided to the customers, by communicating with them. According to Adil, Al Ghaswyneh
and Albkour (2013), often there arises huge differences between the exaggerated promises
regarding the service delivered by a provider and the actual service experience of the
customers, which in turn often raises their expectations and harm their perceptions
Gap 5- This gap in totality, shows the anomaly which exists between the perception of the
customers regarding the quality of service availed by them and the expectations of the
customers regarding the same
Charles and Kumar (2014), in this context, with the help of their empirically
evidenced and statistically supported paper, assert that SERVQUAL is one of the most
dynamic, inclusive and comprehensive models which exist in the contemporary scenario, in
the aspect of measurement of customer satisfactions regarding the service qualities of various
providers across the globe as the model takes into account diverse and multi-implicative
dimensions of service quality and measures the dynamics in customer satisfaction through a
well-connected network of perceptions and expectations, both on part of the customers as
well as the companies.

48SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
2.5.3.4 SERVQUAL in tourism industry
Marković, Lončarić and Lončarić (2014), in their working paper, opine that this
model of customer satisfaction is appropriate for implementation in many industries in the
real global commercial scenario and is particularly effective in industries like tourism,
hospitality and entertainment industries, where the customers’ opinions and satisfactions are
extremely important for the profitability and sustainability of the companies. Augmenting
these opinions, Nutsugbodo (2013), asserts that the dimensions of service qualities which are
incorporated in the SERVQUAL Model, in order to assess the level of satisfaction of the
customers are highly relevant and measurable in the tourism sectors, which in turn makes the
model highly relevant and appropriate to be incorporated by the service providers in these
industries.
2.6 Literature Gap
From the above section reviewing the existing literatures in the aspects of customer
satisfaction, meaning, implications and measurements of the same and the linkages of the
same with the overall service quality of the providers, extensively, it can be concluded that
considerable amount of work have been done in these aspects across the globe and over time.
Considerable and wide range of works can be seen to be existent in the aspects of the
definition of customer satisfaction, the increasing significance of the same in the global
business framework, the theoretical construct of the same as well as in the aspects of
measurement of customer satisfaction. Different models have also developed for measuring
customer satisfaction and the researchers and scholars have also emphasized on the types of
models which are suitable in the tourism industry as a whole. However, in the aspects of
submarine tourism, little literatures are found to be existing in the aspects of measurement of
customer satisfaction in these types of services. Keeping this into consideration, the
concerned research focusses on the aspects of customer satisfaction with the service quality
of the Whale Submarine, Maldives and implements the SERVQUAL dimensions in order to
measure the same. This in turn is expected to increase the relevance and importance of the
concerned study in the targeted domain of submarine tourism industry to be specific, which
may in turn create scopes for further and more exploratory researches in this domain.

49SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Chapter 3

50SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Research Methodology
Chapter 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
For any research or study to be insightful and productive, it is of utmost importance to
have a proper research methodological framework, as the same helps in executing the
research in an effective way. The research methodological framework is a combination of
both the theoretical and philosophical attributes attached with a research as well as the
explorative and analytical components of the same (Wåhlberg 2017). Thus, for effective
research, exploration of data and analysis as well as interpretation of the same it is important
to adopt proper theoretical approaches as well as research design, research philosophies, data
collection, data analysis and interpretation methods, which are relevant for the studies
(Alvesson and Sköldberg 2017). Keeping this into consideration, for the concerned research,
the research methodological framework is constructed as follows.

51SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
3.2 Research Design
The design of a particular research refers to the overall strategic framework which is
incorporated in order to integrate the different components of the concerned study logically
and coherently, such that the concerned research problem can be addressed effectively,
unambiguously and appropriately (Baldwin 2016). In general, there are three broad types of
research design, namely- explanatory, descriptive and exploratory.
Figure 11: Types of research design
(Source: As created by the author)
The explanatory research design helps in identifying different occurrences with
respect to the issues in consideration and in explanation of the same in an analytical
framework, which is mainly quantitative, in a constructed framework (Clark et al. 2017). On
the other hand, the exploratory research framework focusses on the exploring new
knowledges in-depth about the issues in consideration and there usually remains no such
designated frameworks for such researches. The descriptive approach focusses in studying
different widespread events and describing the same in the light of the concerned study and in
general does not focus much on explaining the cause and effect relationships in the same
(Choy 2014).
In this context, the concerned research focusses on analysing the different aspects of
service qualities which influences the satisfaction of the customers in the domain of Whale
Submarine in Maldives and collects and analyses empirical evidences for the same, both
qualitative as well as quantitative, for which the exploratory research design is adopted for
the concerned study.
Research
design
Explanatory Exploratory Descriptive

52SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
3.3 Research Philosophy
The philosophical construct of a research refers to the overall belief about the method
in which the evidences should be collected, analysed and interpreted in a particular research
(Humphries 2017). The primary types of research philosophies, in the generalized framework
are as follows:
Figure 12: Types of research philosophies
(Source: As created by the author)
While the positivism philosophy comprises of formation of hypothesis prior analysis
and testing of the same on the basis of the data collected and experiments performed in a
highly structured scenario, the realism method has the provision of studying both quantitative
as well as qualitative aspects in a research study, under a flexible research structure (Clark
and Creswell 2014). On the other hand, the interpretivism philosophy is specifically
appropriate for those studies where the sample size is small and there are requirements of in-
depth analysis of the attributes.
The concerned research, incorporating both the cardinal as well as ordinal aspects of
customer satisfaction regarding service quality of the Whale Submarine of Maldives, finds it
fit to implement the Realism philosophical structure for the concerned research.
3.4 Research Approach
The approach of a research, in general, shows the overall planned procedure which
spans the different steps of a research, from the assumptions formed till the data collection,
Research
philosophy
Positivism
Interpretivis
m
Realism

53SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
analysis and data interpretation, which are implemented in a particular study (Flick 2015). In
general, there are two broad types of research approaches which are as follows:
Figure 13: Types of research approaches
(Source: As created by the author)
In the deductive research approach, a theory or hypothetical assumptions are formed
at first and then the data and evidences collected are used to test the viability of the theories
or assumptions forms. Based on the results of the empirical analysis, the theories are either
accepted or rejected (Farooq and O'Brien 2015). On the other hand, in the inductive
approach, there is no provision of prior hypothesis formation. Instead, this research approach
concentrates in collecting and analysing relevant data regarding the study topic and thereby
generating new assertions or theories, which emerge from the data collected and analysed
itself (McCusker and Gunaydin 2015).
The concerned research, in this context, tries to find evidences and study the aspects
of the service quality which have influences on the satisfaction of the customers and is open
to any new kind of findings or formation of new theories or assertions based on the data
which is collected and analysed in the concerned research framework. For this purpose, the
inductive approach appears to be more relevant and is thus incorporated in the concerned
research methodological framework (Neuman 2016).
3.5 Data Sources
Research
approach
Inductive
Deductive

54SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
In conducting any research, data and empirical evidences play a major role as much of
the analysis, interpretation, assertions and implications of any research depend on the trends
shown by the data and empirical evidences collected. Thus, it is of utmost importance to
emphasize on the sources from which the relevant data are collected for a concerned study
(Wiek and Lang 2016). In this context, there are, in general, two main sources for data
required for any kind of research, which are as follows:
Figure 14: Types of data sources
(Source: As created by the author)
The primary data sources refer to those raw data sources from which the researchers
can directly retrieve or collect necessary information required for his or her study purposes.
Generally, for researches, primary data are collected through interviews, online interactions
or telephonic conversations with the direct respondents (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault 2015).
The main advantage of this type of data is presence of quality, authenticity and the lack of
intentional or unintentional biases which if present may wrongly distort the findings of the
research, thereby decreasing the credibility of the concerned study. However, collection of
primary data is a costly and time-taking process (Vaioleti 2016).
On the other hand, data can also be collected from secondary sources, which does not
involve direct interaction between the researcher and the respondents. These sources mainly
include books, journals, statistical reports and other evidences and are thus comparative cost
efficient and time-saving (Panneerselvam 2014). However, there remains the risk of lack of
Data
Sources
Primary Secondary

55SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
authenticities or biases and also threats of quality issues in the usage of this type of data
sources.
Thus, keeping into consideration the problems of quality and authenticity issues of
secondary data sources and with the objective of making the concerned study unbiased,
authentic, insightful and lack of any kind of biases and to ensure that no compromise is done
in the aspect of the quality of the research, primary data sources have been taken in the
concerned research (Reynolds et al. 2014).
3.6 Data types
In the general research framework, the data collected are of two types:
Figure 15: Types of Data
(Source: As created by the author)
The quantitative data usually focusses on the cardinal or numerically measurable
attributes of an issue and are thus relevant for those kinds of studies where the statistical or
cardinal aspects are of considerable implications. Quantitative data and methods are usually
applied in those researches where the cardinal attributes of a large sample size are studied
(Fletcher 2017). However, not all the attributes of a subject can be quantitatively assessed and
there remains various ordinal or abstract aspects, which although cannot be numerically
apprehended, have considerable importance in explaining various issues (Gummesson 2014).
These aspects can be considered with the help of qualitative data, which in general, focusses
on the overall abstract attributes and non-measurable occurrences regarding a particular issue
or topic of study.
Data Types
Qualita
tive
Quanti
tative

56SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Keeping the significance and implications of both the types of data into consideration,
the concerned study tries to consider both the cardinal as well as the ordinal or abstract
aspects of customer satisfaction regarding the service quality of the concerned company,
namely the Whale Submarine, Maldives. For this purpose, both quantitative as well as
qualitative data have been collected for the concerned study (Guest et al. 2017).
3.7 Population and sampling techniques
There exist a number of population and sample selection techniques in the domain of
contemporary research framework, diversities arising in this aspect due to increasing
complexities and varieties in the research topics and research intensions across the globe with
time (Saunders and Bezzina 2015). Keeping into consideration the domain where the
concerned research ventures, that is in assessing the customer satisfaction and their
perceptions of the same regarding the service quality of Whale Submarine, the concerned
study takes the total number of customers who avail the service of the concerned deep-sea-
diving passenger submarine as the population. Within this population, the study randomly
selects 101 people who are willing to provide necessary information as the sample size for
the concerned research (VanPatten and Williams 2014). The willing respondents have been
selected by one-to-one interaction and by receiving their consents on the same. The total
population size in in this context being 450, which showed the number of customers availing
the concerned service in the week, at the end of which the data was collected.
3.8 Data collection techniques and instruments
In a generalised framework, the data collection instruments refer those devices which
are used for the purpose of data collection, both primary as well as secondary, which include
instruments like surveys, interviews, telephonic conversations, extracting data from
secondary sources and others (Lewis 2015). On the other hand, the techniques refer to the
ways in which these data collection techniques are used.
Keeping this into consideration, the concerned research collects both the qualitative as
well as quantitative data from the primary sources, comprising of the selected 101
respondents who have been customers availing the services of the Whale Submarine,
Maldives (King and Mackey 2016). To collect quantitative data, a survey questionnaire has
been formed, containing the relevant questions related to the different dimensions of the
SERVQUAL method in the aspect of customer satisfaction regarding the service quality of
the concerned company and several other cardinal questions in order to relate their

57SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
satisfaction with the profitability and prosperity of the concerned company. The interviews
with the selected respondents had then being carried out with the help of these close ended
questions, where they needed to choose their answers from the options already given.
For the purpose of collection of qualitative data, in order to capture the abstract
aspects existing in the domain of the concerned study, which cannot be taken into account by
the quantitative questionnaires, 8 respondents from the selected sample have been selected
and an in-depth telephonic interview has been conducted with each of them in order to collect
their perceptions regarding different aspects of customer satisfaction and their perceptions or
expectations regarding the services provided by the concerned organization (Mackey and
Gass 2015). The questions asked in these in-depth interviews were open-ended so as to give
the respondents the liberty to assert their perceptions and opinions, thereby facilitating inflow
of vital information in these aspects, which were not considered in the quantitative interviews
with the help of close ended survey questionnaires. The construct of the qualitative interview
has been formed to study the gaps which exist in the service provided by Whale Submarine
and the service which is expected from them by their customers, in the light of the gaps
defined in the SERVQUAL Model. Both the questionnaires are attached in the Appendix.
3.9 Data Analysis Methods
The feasibility, effectiveness and insightfulness of any research work considerably
depends on the analytical methods and approaches taken by the concerned researches for the
purpose of analysis and interpretation of the data which are collected for the study purposes
(Ledford and Gast 2018). Keeping this into consideration, the data analytical methods
incorporated in the concerned research are described as follows:
3.9.1 Quantitative data analysis
For the purpose of analysis of the quantitative data collected from the 101
respondents, the statistical software platform SPSS has been used and the statistical methods
of correlation, regression, ANOVA tables have been formed with the help of the data
collected (Sutrisna and Setiawan 2016). For the purpose of statistical analysis, the opinions of
the respondents regarding the five dimensions of the service quality of Whale Submarine,
Maldives, have been considered as independent variables based on which the dependent
variables, that is the satisfaction of the customers regarding the quality of the service of the
company as a whole as well as that of the service of the employees have been assessed
(Simonsohn, Nelson and Simmons 2017). These variables are in turn observed in order to get

58SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Reliability
Responsiveness
Assurance
Tangibles
Empathy
Service Quality
Company level
Employee level
an overall view regarding the level of satisfaction of the concerned respondents in the aspects
of the overall service quality of Whale Submarine, Maldives and also regarding their
intention to avail the concerned service again (Silverman 2016).
The structural framework of the quantitative analysis of that of the factors
contributing to the satisfaction of the customers, can be diagrammatically shown as follows:
Figure 16: Structural Framework of the quantitative data analysis
(Source: As created by the author)
3.9.2 Qualitative data analysis
For the purpose of qualitative data analysis, thematic analytical framework has been
used in the concerned study. Under this domain, the qualitative data collected from the
randomly selected 8 participants of the total 101 sample size, in the form of narratives
through in-depth interviews, are categorized under several themes which basically highlight
the gaps which are perceived by the customers, to be existing in the services provided by the
Whale Submarine, Maldives and also the aspects which the customers feel to be changed in
the service provision framework of the same (Short 2016). This in turn gives an insight about
the attributes of the service quality of the concerned provider, which the customers perceive
to be crucial to increase their level of satisfaction with the concerned service. The themes
mainly consist of the following aspects:

59SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Theme 1: The overall quality of service perceived by the respondents
Theme 2: The aspects of the concerned service which need to be improved
Theme 3: The aspects of the concerned service which are perceived to be
satisfactory by the respondents
Theme 4: The overall satisfaction level as perceived by the respondents
Figure 17: Thematic framework for qualitative research in the concerned study
(Source: As created by the author)
3.10 Ethical Consideration
In the global research framework, especially in the contemporary period, it is of
immense importance to consider the ethical aspects in the research environment. This
becomes particularly relevant in those aspects where primary data collection and interaction
with people are involved (Merriam 2015). This is because in these cases, the integrity and
identity of the respondents are involved. Keeping this into account and acknowledging the
importance of conducting the research in an ethical framework, the concerned study has taken
required steps for maintaining the integrity of the respondents interviewed (Singh 2012).
Interviews have been conducted only after receiving consent from the selected respondents in
written form and their responses have also been recorded only after receiving their
permission. To maintain the dignity and integrity of the respondents, their identities have
been kept confidential and anonymity has been maintained such that no intentional or
unintentional biases remain in the process of analyzation and interpretation of the data of the
concerned study (Resnik 2015).
3.11 Research Limitations
The primary limitation which can be identified in the concerned research framework
is that the concerned study, being only focussed on the customer satisfaction regarding the
service quality of Whale Submarine, Maldives, thereby constricts its domain of venture as
well as implication to a very small range. Thus, the results and interpretations of the same, as
obtained in the study may or may not have relevance with the aspects of customer satisfaction

60SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
in other industries across other regions of the globe (Weathington, Cunningham and Pittenger
2012). Secondly, the sample size taken is considerably small, due to time and cost issues,
which in turn incorporates the risk of exclusion of different factors or diversities which may
be present in the aspect of the concerned issue. The research also takes reference to the
dimensions of the SERVQUAL method only, thereby leaving the other relevant models for
measuring customer satisfaction (Yousapronpaiboon 2014). Also, the paper tries to somewhat
quantify the dimensions of customer satisfaction by forming quantitative questions based on
the five dimensions of the SERVQUAL Model although customer satisfaction itself is a very
abstract and subjective attribute (Barabino, Deiana and Tilocca 2012). Thus, the statistical
results obtained in the process may differ from the actual observations to a considerable
extent and may also not be able to explain the issues related to the aspects of customer
satisfaction in Whale Submarine, Maldives as a whole.
Nevertheless, the concerned research tries to provide an inclusive qualitative as well
as quantitative view regarding the aspects of customer satisfaction regarding the service
quality of Whale Submarine, as perceived by the customers and the structures formed for the
concerned research may be of future significance in these types of research works.

61SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Chapter 4
Research Analysis and Research
Results
Chapter 4: RESEARCH ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH RESULTS
4.1 Analysis and Interpretation of Quantitative Data
As has been discussed above in the research methodology section, the quantitative
data collected for the concerned study has been analysed using the statistical software
platform, SPSS and correlation and regression analysis have been performed on the collected

62SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
data (Kuada 2012). Also, the descriptive statistics and frequency distributions of the variables
selected are analysed and interpreted in the following section of the analysis of quantitative
data.
The main purpose of the concerned study being that of analysing the overall level of
satisfactions of the customers with the service quality of Whale Submarine, Maldives and the
factors affecting the same under the SERVQUAL Model, the analytical framework of the
concerned research primarily divides the satisfaction of the customers on the basis of their
perception of the quality of service of the concerned company as a whole and their perception
of service quality of the employees of the company with whom they interacted (Wahyuni
2012).
The service quality of the employees and the company, as perceived by the customers, under
the domain of SERVQUAL Model, taken by the concerned study can be seen to be as
follows:
Appearances, equipment and physical or
tangible facilities of the company
Behaviour, manners and appearances of the
employees
Tangibility
The ability of the company to provide the
services as they promise
The presence of reliability in the services
provided by the employees
Reliability
Responsiveness and promptness in the service
structure of the company
Attentiveness of the employees to respondents’
demands and queries
Responsiveness
The level of the trust of the respondents on the
company’s service quality
Perceptions of the respondents regarding the
knowledge of the employees and their efficiency
at work
Assurance

63SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
As can be seen from the above structure, for each of the five dimensions of the
SERVQUAL Model has been taken into account for the concerned research, both in the
employee level as well as in the company level, with the objective of studying the
implications of the same in the consumer’s perceptions of quality of service of the company
in consideration and also the effects of the same on the level of the satisfactions of the
customers (Fairchild 2014).
4.1.1. Descriptive Statistics
The findings derived from the responses of the selected respondents in the above-
mentioned arenas as well as in the aspect of overall satisfaction with the service of the
concerned company and regarding their intention to avail the concerned service again can be
seen as follows:
 The overall experience with the services of Whale Submarine has been excellent
Individual attention given and care taken by the
company to the welfare of the respondents
The caring and empathetic nature of the
employees
Empathy

64SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Table 1: Frequencies of different responses regarding overall experience of the
respondents
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative
Percent
Valid
Agree 40 39.6 39.6 39.6
Disagree 11 10.9 10.9 50.5
Neutral 30 29.7 29.7 80.2
Strongly Agree 16 15.8 15.8 96.0
Strongly disagree 4 4.0 4.0 100.0
Total 101 100.0 100.0
As is evident from the above figure, in total more than 55% of the total number of
respondents agree regarding the fact that the overall service quality of the concerned
company is excellent, while less than 20% of the total population disagree to the same. A
considerable number of respondents can be seen to be remining neutral in this aspect.
 The respondents have been highly satisfied by the overall service quality of the
company itself
Table 2: Frequency distribution of different responses regarding overall level of
satisfaction with the service quality of the company itself
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative
Percent
Valid
Agree 44 43.6 43.6 43.6
Disagree 10 9.9 9.9 53.5
Neutral 22 21.8 21.8 75.2
Strongly Agree 22 21.8 21.8 97.0
Strongly disagree 3 3.0 3.0 100.0
Total 101 100.0 100.0

65SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
As is evident from the above table, major share of the selected respondents (more than
65%) have positive perceptions regarding the overall service quality of the Whale Submarine
company as a whole, while only 13% disagreed regarding the same and 22% remained
neutral, which in turn indicates towards an overall positive perception among the respondents
regarding the overall service quality of the concerned company itself.
However, in the broad domain of the overall service quality of Whale Submarine,
there are five dimensions for which the perceptions of the customers have been collected,
which are as follows:
 Level of satisfaction regarding overall appearances, equipment and tangibles of the
Submarine is high
Table 3: Frequency distribution regarding tangibility of company’s service
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative
Percent
Valid
Agree 44 43.6 43.6 43.6
Disagree 17 16.8 16.8 60.4
Neutral 18 17.8 17.8 78.2
Strongly Agree 19 18.8 18.8 97.0
Strongly disagree 3 3.0 3.0 100.0
Total 101 100.0 100.0
A significantly high percentage of the respondents (63%) show positive perceptions
and satisfaction with the tangible attributes of the company itself while a moderate number of
respondents (20 out of 101) do not find the same satisfactory. There is however a low level of
neutrality in this aspect.
 The company provides the services as promised

66SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Table 4: Frequency distribution regarding reliability of the company’s service
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative
Percent
Valid
Agree 45 44.6 44.6 44.6
Disagree 9 8.9 8.9 53.5
Neutral 22 21.8 21.8 75.2
Strongly Agree 22 21.8 21.8 97.0
Strongly disagree 3 3.0 3.0 100.0
Total 101 100.0 100.0
The extent of satisfaction and positive perceptions regarding the reliability of the
company can be found to be even higher than the previous attribute, with 67% of the total
number of respondents giving positive feedback and only 12 of the 101 respondents showing
dissatisfaction regarding the same.
 The services of the company are prompt and highly responsive
Table 5: Frequency distribution regarding responsiveness of the company’s service
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative
Percent
Valid
Agree 46 45.5 45.5 45.5
Disagree 11 10.9 10.9 56.4
Neutral 16 15.8 15.8 72.3
Strongly Agree 24 23.8 23.8 96.0
Strongly disagree 4 4.0 4.0 100.0
Total 101 100.0 100.0
70 out of 101 selected respondents are found to be agreeing regarding high degree of
responsiveness present in the service framework of Whale Submarine while only 15% of the

67SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
sample showing negative perceptions regarding the same, the rest of the population being
neutral in this aspect of the quality of service of the concerned company.
 The services of the company can be trusted
Table 6: Frequency distribution regarding assurance in the service of the company
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative
Percent
Valid
Agree 46 45.5 45.5 45.5
Disagree 7 6.9 6.9 52.5
Neutral 16 15.8 15.8 68.3
Strongly Agree 31 30.7 30.7 99.0
Strongly disagree 1 1.0 1.0 100.0
Total 101 100.0 100.0
Positive response can be found in this aspect among nearly 71% of the total selected
sample while only 8% of the respondents show lack of trust regarding the service quality of
the concerned company. 16 respondents can be found to be providing neither positive nor
negative assertions in the dimension of assurance in the service quality of Whale Submarine,
Maldives.
 High individual care and attention is given by the company to each of the customers
Table 7: Frequency distribution regarding presence of empathy in the company’s
service
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative
Percent
Valid Agree 43 42.6 42.6 42.6
Disagree 10 9.9 9.9 52.5
Neutral 25 24.8 24.8 77.2
Strongly Agree 23 22.8 22.8 100.0
Strongly Disagree 0 0 0 100.0

68SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Total 101 100.0 100.0
In the aspects of empathy also, the level of negative perceptions and responses can be
found to be significantly lower (only 10 respondents) than that of the positive perceptions
(66%) and none of the respondents can be found to be strongly disagreeing the presence of an
empathetic service on part of the company. The neutral observations in this aspect is 25%,
which is comparatively higher than the above cases.
 High level of satisfaction regarding the overall service quality of the employees
Table 8: Frequency distribution regarding overall satisfaction of the service quality of
the employees
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative
Percent
Valid
Agree 52 51.5 51.5 51.5
Disagree 7 6.9 6.9 58.4
Neutral 25 24.8 24.8 83.2
Strongly Agree 14 13.9 13.9 97.0
Strongly disagree 3 3.0 3.0 100.0
Total 101 100.0 100.0
The magnitude of positive perceptions of the respondents regarding the overall
service quality of the employees of the company is found to be tallying with that of the
magnitude of the same in case of the company’s overall service quality, as 66 respondents out
of 101 are found to be providing positive feedbacks regarding the same. 10% of the total
sample is found to be dissatisfied with the overall service quality of the employees of Whale
Submarine company. Nearly 25% of the total respondents have been found to be neutral in
this aspect.
Like that of the service quality of the concerned company as a whole, five dimensions
are also found to be incorporated in case of the employees of the company, for which the
perceptions of the customers have been collected, which are as follows:

69SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
 Presence of well-mannered and pleasant employees
Table 9: Frequency distribution regarding tangibility of the employees’ service
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative
Percent
Valid
Agree 48 47.5 47.5 47.5
Disagree 11 10.9 10.9 58.4
Neutral 21 20.8 20.8 79.2
Strongly Agree 17 16.8 16.8 96.0
Strongly disagree 4 4.0 4.0 100.0
Total 101 100.0 100.0
Regarding the appearances, manner and overall behaviour of the employees of the
concerned company, 65% of the total feedbacks are found to be positive while only 15 of the
101 respondents showing dissatisfaction in this aspect. Nearly 21% of the population can
however be seen to be neutral in this aspect.
 The services of the employees are highly reliable
Table 10: Frequency distribution regarding reliability of the employees’ services
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative
Percent
Valid Agree 44 43.6 43.6 43.6
Disagree 13 12.9 12.9 56.4
Neutral 19 18.8 18.8 75.2
Strongly Agree 21 20.8 20.8 96.0
Strongly disagree 4 4.0 4.0 100.0

70SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Total 101 100.0 100.0
Major share of the sample chosen for the concerned study (65%) can be seen to be
satisfied regarding the reliability of the services of the employees of the concerned company
while 17% of the respondents are not found to be happy in this aspect of the service quality of
the employees. The percentage of neutral respondents are seen to be moderate in this case.
 High level of responsiveness and attentiveness of the employees to respondents’
queries
Table 11: Frequency distribution regarding responsiveness of the employees
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative
Percent
Valid
Agree 49 48.5 48.5 48.5
Disagree 11 10.9 10.9 59.4
Neutral 23 22.8 22.8 82.2
Strongly Agree 16 15.8 15.8 98.0
Strongly disagree 2 2.0 2.0 100.0
Total 101 100.0 100.0
The level of positive perception of the respondents in case of the responsiveness of
the employees can also be seen to be high (65 respondents) than the level of negative
perception and dissatisfaction (13 respondents). 22.8% neutrality in the observations can be
observed in this dimension of measurement of the service quality of the employees of Whale
Submarine, Maldives.

71SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
 The employees are highly knowledgeable and efficient in their jobs
Table 12: Frequency Distribution regarding Assurance of the service by the employees
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative
Percent
Valid
Agree 46 45.5 45.5 45.5
Disagree 13 12.9 12.9 58.4
Neutral 16 15.8 15.8 74.3
Strongly Agree 24 23.8 23.8 98.0
Strongly disagree 2 2.0 2.0 100.0
Total 101 100.0 100.0
As can be seen from the above table, like other perceived attributes of the service
quality of the employees, the overall perceptions of the selected sample of the respondents for
the concerned study can be seen to be positive with only 15 respondents pointing towards
lack of assurance in the service quality of the employees of Whale Submarine. On the other
hand, 70 of the respondents are seen to be content with the service quality of the concerned
employees in the aspect of assurance. The rest of the respondents are however found to be
neutral in this aspect.
 The employees are empathetic
Table 13: Frequency distribution regarding Empathy in employees’ service
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative
Percent
Valid Agree 44 43.6 43.6 43.6
Disagree 12 11.9 11.9 55.4
Neutral 25 24.8 24.8 80.2

72SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Strongly Agree 20 19.8 19.8 100.0
Total 101 100.0 100.0
In this case, 64% of the total respondents can be seen to be ageing to the presence of high
level of empathy in the services of the employee, while only 12% disagrees to the same.
 Availing the services of Whale Submarine again
Table 14: Frequency distribution regarding repeat availing of the services
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative
Percent
Valid
Maybe 26 25.7 25.7 25.7
No 14 13.9 13.9 39.6
Yes 61 60.4 60.4 100.0
Total 101 100.0 100.0
As is evident from the above table, more than 60% of the total customers can be seen
to be keen on availing the services of Whale Submarine, Maldives, while only 14% decline
the same. The rest of the sample size are found to have confusions regarding the same.
Overall, the intention of availing the services again seen to be high, which in turn indicates
towards positive perceptions and level of satisfactions of the customers with the service
quality which they received from the concerned company.
4.1.2 Correlation Analysis
One of the most commonly used statistical method for assessing the relationships
between different variables is the correlation analysis. In this context, the Pearson Correlation
Method is used to measure the linear correlation present between two variables. The value of
the correlation coefficient in this model, varies from -1 to +1, where:
Values between ±1 to ±0.7 implies strong correlation
Values between ±0.7 to ±0.4 implies moderate correlation
Values between ±0.4 to ±0.1 implies weak correlation

73SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Value equal to 0 implies no correlation.
The values of the correlation coefficient help to observe the presence or absence of
any direct or one-on-one linkage between any two variables and the level of significance of
the same helps in validating the relation between any two variables (if any) shown by the
coefficient of correlation (Wiśniewski 2013). Keeping this into consideration, the following
table shows the correlation (if any) between the different study variables taken for the
concerned research, which can be shown as follows:
Table 15: Tables Pearson’s Correlation Co-efficient between the different study
variables
Table 15.1
Correlations
Tangibles Reliability Responsiveness
Tangibles
Pearson Correlation 1 -.025 .028
Sig. (2-tailed) .801 .784
N 101 101 101
Reliability
Pearson Correlation -.025 1 .280**
Sig. (2-tailed) .801 .005
N 101 101 101
Responsiveness
Pearson Correlation .028 .280** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .784 .005
N 101 101 101
Assurance
Pearson Correlation .238* .251* .237*
Sig. (2-tailed) .017 .011 .017
N 101 101 101
Empathy
Pearson Correlation .148 -.088 .242*
Sig. (2-tailed) .139 .380 .015
N 101 101 101
Company Pearson Correlation .437** .063 .117

74SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .534 .245
N 101 101 101
Employees
Pearson Correlation .118 .193 .058
Sig. (2-tailed) .238 .053 .561
N 101 101 101
Table 13.2
Assurance Empathy Company
Tangibles
Pearson Correlation .238 .148 .437
Sig. (2-tailed) .017 .139 .000
N 101 101 101
Reliability
Pearson Correlation .251 -.088 .063**
Sig. (2-tailed) .011 .380 .534
N 101 101 101
Responsiveness
Pearson Correlation .237 .242** .117
Sig. (2-tailed) .017 .015 .245
N 101 101 101
Assurance
Pearson Correlation 1* .571* .239*
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .016
N 101 101 101
Empathy
Pearson Correlation .571 1 .102*
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .312
N 101 101 101
Company
Pearson Correlation .239** .102 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .016 .312
N 101 101 101

75SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Employees
Pearson Correlation .044 .098 .242
Sig. (2-tailed) .661 .330 .015
N 101 101 101
Table 13.3
Correlations
Employees
Tangibles
Pearson Correlation .118
Sig. (2-tailed) .238
N 101
Reliability
Pearson Correlation .193
Sig. (2-tailed) .053
N 101
Responsiveness
Pearson Correlation .058
Sig. (2-tailed) .561
N 101
Assurance
Pearson Correlation .044*
Sig. (2-tailed) .661
N 101
Q2e_empathy_company
Pearson Correlation .098
Sig. (2-tailed) .330
N 101
Company Pearson Correlation .242**
Sig. (2-tailed) .015

76SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
N 101
Employees
Pearson Correlation 1
Sig. (2-tailed)
N 101
*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
In the above Pearson Correlation tables, the presence or absence of any direct linkage
between the five-dimensional parameters of service quality as well as the overall satisfaction
of the respondents from in the aspect of employees as well as the company as a whole are
tested. As can be seen from the above figures, barring a few exceptions, almost all the
correlations between the concerned study variables are found to be positive. The negative
correlations found are also mostly not high. For example, negative correlation can be seen to
be seen to be existing between tangibility and reliability, but the value of the coefficient is
only (-0.025) which indicates towards a very weak negative correlation between the
concerned variables. The positive correlations found between different study variables can
also be seen to be highly varied. Moderately high correlation can be seen to be seen to be
existing between empathy in the service of the concerned company as perceived by the
concerned respondents and that of the assurance of the service, with the correlation
coefficient being 0.571. Again, the correlation between assurance and reliability can be seen
to be 0.251 which is comparatively a lower value.
However, of the different correlations not many are found to be significant, both at the
0.01 level as well as 0.05 level. This in turn indicates towards the fact that the linkages, both
negative as well as positive, which can be found to be present between the different variables
taken into consideration are not robust enough to be taken as the evidences on the basis of
which the relations and linkages between the different variables taken into account,
concerning the research regarding the customer satisfaction and the dynamics affecting the
same, for Whale Submarine, Maldives, can be explained.
The primary reason behind the same can be attributed to the fact that the correlation
method tries to quantify the relationship between different perceived service quality

77SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
variables, which are highly subjective as well as subjective in nature, varying from person to
person. Also, the five dimensions of the service quality, namely tangibility, assurance,
responsiveness, reliability and empathy, under the domain of SERVQUAL Model may or
may not be connected or related to one another and may be perceived to be different
attributes, independent of each other, by the respondents. For example, the respondents, may
be satisfied by the service quality of the concerned company, in terms of assurance but may
not be satisfied with the tangibles of the service. This considerably explains the lack of
presence of significance in the values of the Pearson’s Correlation Co-efficient in many of the
cases.
Limitation of Correlation Analysis
The primary limitation of the correlation analysis between any two variables is that
the method only shows whether there is any presence or absence of any direct linkage
between the concerned variables, but the method does not show the cause and effect
relationship between the concerned variables. That is, in the correlation method, it is not
possible to identify the independent and the dependent variables, that is which among the two
concerned variables changes independently and which is influenced by the changes of the
former. However, for the concerned study purpose, with the objective of exploring the factors
present within the service quality framework of Whale Submarine, Maldives, it is of immense
importance to find out the cause and effect relationship between the different dependent and
independent variables taken into consideration. For this purpose, that is, to determine the
factors which influence the customers’ satisfaction levels regarding the service quality of
Whale Submarine, Maldives, a regression analysis is conducted, which is explained as
follows.
4.2.2 Regression Analysis
As discussed above, the gap left in the correlation analysis, of that of identifying the
cause and effect relationships between the concerned study variables and the significance of
the same, can be covered by the regression analysis. The regression analysis generally shows
the effects of the variations of the independent variables on those variables which are
dependent on them and also shows the level up to which the dynamics in the dependent
variables can be explained by the independent variables and their variation (Cohen, West and
Aiken 2014).

78SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Keeping this into consideration, for the concerned research, two sets of regression
analysis has been done, one to observe the factors contributing to the overall level of
customer satisfaction regarding the service quality of the Whale Submarine company as a
whole and another regarding the factors contributing to the customer’s satisfaction level
regarding the service quality of the employees of the concerned company.
Customers’ Satisfaction with the service quality of Whale Submarine Company
In this case, to run the regression analysis the variables considered are as follows:
Dependent Variable: Level of satisfaction of the respondents with the overall service quality
of the company
Independent Variables:
 Tangibility of the company’s services
 Reliability of the respondents on the services
 Responsiveness of the service of the company
 Assurance felt by the respondents availing the service
 Empathy in the services perceived by the respondents
Table 16: Model Summary (Company Level)
Model R R Square Adjusted R
Square
Std. Error of the
Estimate
Change Statistics
R Square
Change
F Change df1
1 .468a .219 .178 1.187 .219 5.337 5
As can be seen from the above table, in the case of the concerned regression analysis,
the value of the R square is 0.219 or approximately 0.22 approximately, which in turn implies
that nearly 22% of the total variations and dynamics of the dependent variables can be
explained by the independent variables. which is moderate for the concerned scenario. This
moderate level of explanation can be due to the fact that the effects of abstract and subjective
attributes on total satisfaction level are considered and the same are tried to be quantified.
The level of significance of the same can be seen from the ANOVA Table, which is
as follows:

79SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Table 17: ANOVA Table (Company Level)
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1
Regression 37.604 5 7.521 5.337 .000b
Residual 133.881 95 1.409
Total 171.485 100
As can be seen from the above figure, the level of significance is 0.000, which in turn
indicates towards the fact that the variation in the dependent variables which are explained by
the independent variables is strongly significant and thus, holds validation.
Keeping this into consideration, the coefficients of regression for the concerned case
can be seen to be as follows:
Table 18: Coefficients of Regression (Company Level)
Model Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized
Coefficients
t Sig.
B Std. Error Beta
1
(Constant) .992 .392 2.530 .013
Tangibles .420 .097 .407 4.342 .000
Reliability .003 .102 .003 .025 .980
Responsiveness .080 .095 .084 .850 .397
Assurance .157 .118 .162 1.337 .185
Empathy -.076 .126 -.072 -.605 .547
Given the above table, the equation for the concerned model can be formed as follows:
0.992 + 0.420*Tangibility + 0.003*Reliability + 0.80*Responsiveness + 0.157*Assurance –
0.076*Empathy = Satisfaction of the customer with service quality of the company
From the above equation, it can be asserted that apart from empathy, all the other
variables positively affect the satisfaction of the customers regarding the overall service

80SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
quality of the concerned company. However, only the coefficient of tangibility is found to be
significant among the five independent variables.
Customer’s Satisfaction with the service quality of the employees of the company
In this case, the variables considered are as follows:
Dependent Variable: Level of satisfaction of the respondents with the overall service quality
of the employees
Independent Variables:
 Tangibility of the employees’’ services
 Reliability of the respondents on the services
 Responsiveness of the service of the services
 Assurance felt by the respondents availing the service of the employees
 Empathy of the employees perceived by the respondents
Table 19: Model Summary (Employee Level)
Model R R Square Adjusted R
Square
Std. Error of the
Estimate
Change Statistics
R Square
Change
F Change df1
1 .280a .078 .030 1.242 .078 1.612 5
In this case the R Square is only 0.078. This implies that only approximately 8% of
the total variability of the dependent variables can be explained by the variations of the
independent variables which is considerably low.
Table 20: ANOVA Table (Employee Level)
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1
Regression 12.436 5 2.487 1.612 .164b
Residual 146.574 95 1.543
Total 159.010 100

81SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
The level of significance is found to be 0.164 for this regression analysis, which in
turn implies that the effects of the independent variables on the dependent one, which the
level of satisfaction of the customers with the service quality of the employees of Whale
Submarine, is not significant.
Thus, from the overall evidences it can be seen that unlike that of the case of the
company itself, the attributes of the services provided by the employees of the company,
which are considered to be the contributing factors or independent variables in the concerned
study, do not have much impact on the dependent variable, that is satisfaction with the
services of the employees and the linkage is also found to be significant.
Table 21: Coefficients of Regression (Employee Level)
Model Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized
Coefficients
t Sig.
B Std. Error Beta
1
(Constant) 1.334 .396 3.372 .001
Tangibles .137 .100 .141 1.364 .176
Reliability .136 .099 .142 1.370 .174
Responsiveness .158 .110 .155 1.438 .154
Assurance -.020 .104 -.021 -.192 .848
Empathy -.061 .108 -.058 -.566 .573
From the above model the equation can be formed as follows:
1.334 + 0.137*Tangibility + 0.136*Reliability + 0.158*Responsiveness – 0.020*Assurance –
0.061*Empathy = Level of satisfaction of the customers with the service quality of the
employees
From the above equation, it can be stated that the factors like assurance and empathy
are negatively related with the customers’ perception of satisfaction with the services of the
employees of the concerned organization, while the other three factors have positive impacts

82SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
on the same. However, none of the values are found to be significant, which in turn implies
that the different aspects of service quality of the employees of the concerned organization,
does not affect the level of satisfaction of the respondents that significantly as that of the
factors present in the service quality of the company itself.
The quantitative analysis, thus highlights that when it comes to implications of
different factors on the level of customer satisfaction regarding the quality of service in the
concerned company named Whale Submarine, the customers emphasize more on the
attributes of the service quality of the company in general and are less bothered about the
employee level service attributes.
4.2 Thematic Analysis of the Qualitative Data
As can be seen from the above discussion, the quantitative analysis, the descriptive
analysis shows that almost in all the five dimensions of service quality, both the concerned
company as well as the employees managed to gain positive feedbacks from majority of the
respondents, However, from the regression analysis, the cause and effect relationships
between these dimensions and the level of satisfaction, could not be found to be highly
significant. The main reason behind this maybe the fact that the analysis tried to quantify the
abstract attributes and their subjective influences on the overall level of satisfaction of the
respondents, which also varied due to individual differences in the perceptions of each of the
respondents.
Thus, to capture the abstract and non-cardinal aspects which are present in terms of
the cause and effect relationships between the different attributes of the service quality of the
company and the employees, on the customers’ satisfaction levels with the same as well as to
make the research robust and insightful, a thematic analysis is conducted with the help of the
in-depth qualitative data collected from 8 of the respondents selected randomly from the
sample size of 101 respondents. The four main themes, constructed in this aspect are as
follows:
Themes

83SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Theme 1: Overall perceived service quality of Whale Submarine
As can be seen from the qualitative data collected through in-depth interviews being
conducted with 8 of the respondents from the selected sample, only one out of the eight
respondents strongly detest the overall experience with the service quality of the Whale
Submarine, Maldives while the rest of the respondents can be seen to be asserting towards the
presence of an overall impressive service quality. Of these responses, some can be seemed to
be perceiving the services to be completely impressive (“It is highly recommendable”),
while some others are found to suggest that the although the service quality is high, there are
still scopes of improvement, as can be seen from one of the responses stating, “Needs to
focus on the employees' responsiveness as well. Rest is fine”.
These findings, in the aspects of the perceptions of the selected respondents, regarding
the overall service quality, can be found to be relevant to the findings from the analysis of the
quantitative data collected, which also shows more than 60% presence of positive responses
regarding the overall service quality of both the employees as well as that of the company
itself.
Theme 2: Aspects of the services which can be improved
When asked about the aspects in the overall services provided by the company and its
employees, which need to be changed, almost all the respondents (6 out of 8) suggested some
changes or other. While only 2 of the respondents asserted that nothing needs to be changed,
2 of the respondents pointed out towards the need for changes in the behaviours and empathy
levels of the employees of the company as well as changes in their appearances, as can be
Overall service quality
perceived by the
respondents
The aspects of service
which can be improved
The aspects of services
which are satisfactory
The level of satisfaction
of the respondents

84SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
seen from one of the responses, suggesting, “The staff needs to empathize with the
customers”. Five out of the 8 respondents, however, can be seen to be suggesting changes
regarding the level of responsiveness of the services of the company, the tangibility as well as
level of empathy present with the same. “There is lot of delay”, “The waiting time of the
service and the seating arrangements can be improved”, can be found to be some of the
responses in this aspect.
These responses, in turn, indicates towards the fact that the customers in general, in
this case, tend to value and emphasize on the service attributes of the company as a whole
than on the service attributes of the employees separately, when asked to highlight the issues
which need to be addressed in case of Whale Submarine service quality. This in turn
augments the quantitative findings, where the level of explanations of the variations of
overall satisfaction level with the company’s service by the dynamics in the attributes of the
services can be seen to be higher compared to the level of explanatory power of service
attributes of the employees regarding the overall variations in the satisfaction regarding the
employee’s services and also the higher significance of the former and lack of significance of
the latter.
Theme 3: The aspects of the services which are perceived to be satisfactory
Different aspects of service, of both the company as well as of their employees can be
seen to be pointed out by the selected respondents, when asked about the factors which
contributed to their satisfaction with the concerned service. These can be seen to range from
responsiveness, reliability as well as tangibility of the services of the company itself as well
as the tangibility and assurance of the employees, as can be found from one of the responses
which said, “Employees have high convincing power” and from another, stating, “They are
responsive and I liked the overall ambience”.
The qualitative findings in the concerned theme is found to be at par with the
quantitative findings in the concerned study, which also shows high level of satisfaction
regarding almost all the attributes of the service qualities of both the concerned company
itself and that of the employees of the company. However, one difference can be found to be
occurring between the quantitative and qualitative analysis in this aspect. The quantitative
analysis did not find the aspects of the different service attributes of the employees of the
concerned company to be significant in determining the perceptions and experiences as well
as the satisfaction of the respondents, as can be seen from the very low level of R Square as

85SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
well as lack of significance in the regression analysis. However, in the qualitative analysis a
contradiction can be observed in the observations, as can be seen from different customers
pointing out towards different attributes, especially the tangibility, assurance and
responsiveness of the employees’ services which they liked.
Theme 4: The level of satisfaction of the respondents
In this aspect, high number of qualitative responses can be seen to be recorded in the
positive side, with only one of the selected eight respondents showing negative level of
satisfaction with the services of the Whale Submarine. Rest of the seven respondents can
either be seen to be fully satisfied (as one of the respondents can be seen to be asserting,
“They are doing good”), or moderately satisfied with the services, citing some criteria for
further improvement (as can be seen from responses like- “Moderately satisfied. Some
things need to be changed”.
In this aspect also, the service quality of the employees of the concerned company can
be seen to be taken seriously by the respondents, while estimating their level of satisfaction
with the service quality. “Employees need to work on their behaviours. The overall service
is good and I am quite satisfied”, asserts one of the selected respondents, which in turn
imply that along with the service attributes of the company itself, the different attributes of
the service qualities of the employees also contribute to the perception of the level of the
satisfaction of the respondents from the service availed of that of the Whale Submarine,
Maldives. This in turn contradicts the findings from the quantitative data analysis, according
to which the level of satisfaction of the respondents depend more on the service quality
attributes of the company itself than on the attributes of the service quality of the employees
of the concerned company separately.
Thus, from the qualitative analysis, it can be seen that the overall perception regarding
the overall service quality of Whale Submarine Company, among the selected respondents
are mostly positive, although aspects like tangibility of the service of the employees, both
employee and company responsiveness and reliability are pointed out by the concerned
respondents, regarding the attributes which are needed to be changed. The respondents
mostly seem to be satisfied with the overall service quality of the company as well as the
employees, which can be related to the high tangibility of the company’s service,
responsiveness, reliability of the company as well as assurance of the employees, thereby
validating the quantitative findings too, where the overall satisfaction regarding the company

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and employee level services are found to be considerably high and positive perceptions of the
respondents regarding most of the five dimensions can be seen to be positively contributing
to their satisfaction regarding the service quality of the company as well as the employees.
4.3 Conclusion
The above analysis, quantitative and qualitative, thus cumulatively show that in the
concerned case of the service quality of the Whale, the customers put more emphasis on the
attributes of the service quality of the company itself and on its tangible aspects than on the
overall service quality of the employees, which in turn implies that the customers tend to link
their satisfaction level with the services provided by the company as a whole and do not tend
to perceive the employees to be a separate attribute or component of the concerned
company’s services. The findings also suggest that the respondents are mostly satisfied with
the overall service quality of the company as well as the employees, in the aspects of
assurance, reliability and tangibility, which in turn can be seen to be reflected in the positive
perceptions and responses of the participants, both in the qualitative as well as in the
quantitative data collected and analysed.

87SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Chapter 5
Discussions and Conclusions
Chapter 5: DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS
5.1 Introduction
Customer satisfaction has been increasingly becoming one of the most significant
attributes in the global business scenario, over the last few decades, especially with the
increasing integration, inclusiveness, competitiveness and complexities in the global business
framework. With more business going global and competition increasing in all types of
industries across the globe, customer satisfaction has become a mandatory criterial to be
fulfilled by any company venturing in any industry across the global framework.
In such a situation, it becomes immensely important for any business to analyse and
explore the factors which contribute in increasing or decreasing the level of satisfaction of
their customers, as this in turn helps the businesses to act accordingly and increase their
prospects, profitability, competitiveness and long-term sustainability. Keeping this into
account and considering the importance of the phenomenon of customer satisfaction in the
contemporary global business framework, the concerned study studies the overall level of
satisfaction of customers which can be seen to be present regarding the service quality of

88SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
Whale Submarine, Maldives, which is the deepest diving largest tourist passenger existing in
the contemporary period. The research also tries to find the factors which influence the level
of customer satisfaction regarding the service quality of the company as a whole as well as of
that of the employees of the concerned company, using the SERVQUAL framework and its
five dimensions of service quality.
5.2 Discussion regarding the Research Findings
The concerned study implements both quantitative as well as qualitative methods to
study the primary data collected in the form of interviews with 101 respondents selected from
the service availing customers of the concerned company and from the in-depth interviews
with 8 of the respondents selected from the 101 respondents.
From the quantitative analysis it can be seen that almost in all the dimensions of the
SERVQUAL framework, that is in the aspects of tangibility, reliability, assurance,
responsiveness and empathy of the service quality of the concerned company as well as of the
employees of the same, more than 60% of the respondents have positive perceptions, which
can also be seen to be contributing positive to their level of satisfaction regarding the service
quality of the company itself as well as its employees. More than 65% of the selected
respondents can be seen to be satisfied with the overall service quality of the company itself,
while 66% of them can be seen to be highly or moderately satisfied with the services of the
employees of the concerned company. This in turn can be seen to be positively affecting the
overall level of satisfaction of the concerned respondents, as more than 55% of the sample
can be seen to be asserting towards the presence excellent service quality in case of Whale
Submarine company. The intention to avail the services again can also found to be positive
among nearly 61% of the total population, which in turn also indicates towards the presence
of positive perceptions and an overall high level of satisfaction among the majority of the
respondents selected and interviewed. These findings can be seen to be in line with the
existing literary and scholarly works, as discussed in the literature review section, according
to which, much of the repeat purchase intension and loyalty of the customers regarding
multiple availing of goods and services, is linked directly to the level of satisfaction which
the customers perceive to attain from the concerned product or service.
The correlation analysis shows mostly positive relationships between the five
dimensions as well as the level of satisfaction with the service quality of the company and its
employees. However, not many of these values are found to be significant. On the other hand,

89SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
in the regression analysis, the level of explanation of the dependent variable (overall level of
satisfaction with the service of the company) by the independent variables (respondents’
perception about the tangibility, assurance, reliability, empathy and responsiveness of the
service) can found to be only 22%, which is however higher than the case of level of
explanation of the dependent variable (satisfaction with the service of the employees) by the
independent ones in this case, which is only 8%. This may have happened as the abstract and
ordinal attributes have been tried to quantify using statistical methods in the concerned study.
This can be explained with the help of the literary sources explaining the SERVQUAL Model
and the components of the same, which shows that the model deals with highly ordinal
aspects and yardsticks which becomes very difficult to be measured cardinally, thereby
leading to some level of ambiguity and lack of robustness in some instances.
On the other hand, the qualitative thematic analysis augments the quantitative findings
in the aspects of overall perception about the service quality of the company and its
employees, as most of the responses can be seen to be positive in this aspect. However, the
qualitative analysis contradicts the quantitative one in the sense that in case of quantitative
analysis the significance of the service attributes of the company only is found to be present
while the role of the different attributes of the employees in determining the level of
satisfaction of the respondents could be found to be insignificant. However, in the qualitative
analysis both of these can be found to considerably influence the perception of the
respondents regarding the overall service quality and their level of satisfaction, thereby
validating the SERVQUAL Model. The findings also support the literary evidences regarding
the fact that the services of a company not only include the tangible aspects like equipment,
material, but also intangible ones like the overall feelings and ambience and the employees
and their attitudes towards the customers are also integral and inseparable components of
service.
5.2.1 Summary of Findings
The findings thus, as a whole, show that the customers in general tend to perceive the
nature and quality of the service provided by the concerned company, both on the basis of
tangible as well as non-tangible attributes and also on the basis of the human as well as non-
human components of the service, which can be seen to be supported by the literatures
reviewed in this aspects, as can be found in the literature review section. From the review of
the literatures, it was also seen that trust on the company and the reliability on the knowledge
of the employees of the same tend to play major roles in the level of satisfaction and repeat

90SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
purchase intentions of the customers, which can also be seen to be relevant and valid in the
concerned case.
5.3 Conclusion regarding the research findings
Cumulatively, it can be thus asserted from the concerned study that the overall
customer satisfaction regarding the service quality of Whale Submarine, Maldives is
considerably high, both in case of the company as well as in case of its employees and the
factors like the perceptions of the customers regarding tangibility, reliability, assurance,
empathy and responsiveness contribute considerably in determining the level of satisfaction
of the customers.
5.4 Limitations of the research
As is evident from the above discussion, the primary limitation of the concerned
research is the lack of robust quantitative evidences in many cases, as is evident from the
absence of significance in some of the correlation and regression analysis. The primary
reasons behind this problem is the fact that the research quantifies ordinal and abstract
attributes of service quality in order to observe their impacts on the level of satisfaction of the
customer. The research also takes a very constricted sample size (only 101 respondents), due
to time and cost constraints, which in turn affects the results of the analysis. The qualitative
analysis however, provides a more robust and insightful interpretation of the concerned
scenario.
5.5 Recommendations
5.5.1 Recommendations for Whale Submarine, Maldives
Taking into consideration both the qualitative as well as the quantitative findings, it
can be recommended that the Whale Submarine, Maldives, needs to improve their overall
service quality in order to sustain their lucrative and prospective business in the coming
years. In spite of the fact that the company gives the customers a highly unique experience of
watching the breath-taking underwater views and the customers are considerably satisfied
with both the services as well as the employees of the concerned company, it has to be
considered that the service company may experience higher competition in the future period
owing to entry of new service providers in the currently less explored industry. Therefore, to
retain their first mover advantage, cost efficiency, higher clientele and market dominance, the
company needs to take into consideration the feedbacks and grievances of the customers

91SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
regarding various aspects of their service and employees and also needs to take necessary
steps to solve the issues raised by their clients in these aspects.
5.5.2 Recommendations for future research
From the above research and the limitations faced during analysis and interpretation
of the data, it can be asserted that for any kind of research in this domain in the future, it is of
utmost importance to choose a much bigger and varied sample size which include all types of
customers the concerned industry can get. More detailed questionnaires, both quantitative as
well as qualitative, need to be designed in order to capture all the aspects contributing to the
overall level of satisfaction of the customers from the service quality of a particular provider.
Models, except SERVQUAL also needs to be considered and a multi-model analysis can be
expected to give more detailed and insightful outcome. The qualitative research in this aspect
also needs to be expanded more in order to consider the non-cardinal factors which are
widely present in this domain of exploration. These factors, if considered, can lead to more
productive and insightful studies and assertions in the coming years.
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Appendix
Appendix 1: Quantitative Questionnaire
Respondent Serial No:
1. Your overall experience with the Whale Submarine service has been excellence.
Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
2. You are highly satisfied with the overall services provided by the company.
Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

105SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
2.a You are satisfied by the overall appearances, equipment and facilities of the Whale
Submarine service. (Tangibility)
Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
2.b The company provides the services as they promise (Reliability)
Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
2.c The overall service structure of the company is responsive and prompt (Responsiveness)
Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
2.d You trust the services and promises of the company (Assurance)
Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
2.e The company gives individual attention to the welfare and satisfaction of each of its
customers (Empathy)
Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
3 You are highly satisfied with the employees of the company
Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
3.a The staffs of the company are well mannered and pleasant (Tangibility)
Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
3.b The staffs are highly reliable in their services (Reliability)
Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
3.c The employees are highly attentive and responds to customer’s queries and issues
promptly (Responsiveness)
Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
3.d The employees are knowledgeable and do their work efficiently (Assurance)
Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
3.e The employees are caring and empathetic (Empathy)
Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

106SERVICE QUALITY OF WHALE SUBMARINE, MALDIVES
4. Do you want to avail the services again:
Yes No Maybe
Appendix 2: Qualitative Questionnaire
1. What do you feel about the overall service quality of the Whale Submarine?
2. What are the aspects of the services which according to you needs to be improved?
3. What are the aspects of the services which according to you are satisfactory?
4. What is your overall satisfaction level regarding the services of Whale Submarine?