A study on service quality of refurbishment contractors towards clients satisfaction

Abstract

This study aims to examine contractors' service quality performance and to explore the relationship between service quality and client satisfaction when undertaking refurbishment projects for public institutions of higher education in Malaysia. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was generated based on the five service quality determinants in SERVQUAL, namely, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles. From these five determinants, thirty-two attributes that may affect project service quality in refurbishment projects are identified to ascertain clients' service quality expectations. The results indicate that the reliability factor is the most important variable of service quality and that clients at public institutions of higher education have high expectations in terms of service quality from refurbishment contractors. The results also show that the values of service quality scores were negative for all attributes and that contractors are not currently meeting clients' expectations in refurbishment projects. Finally, the study indicates that the dimensions of empathy and assurance had significant effects on customer satisfaction.