Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY 3.

1 Research Objectives The objective of this study was to find out whether the level of customer involvement affects perceived relational benefits and, in turn, the relational response behaviors. While the theory was already proven in the United States, partly influenced by the growth of the service industry and the changing demographics of the American citizen (Kinard & Capella, 2006), it remains to be seen whether the same principle applies to the Indonesian service industry landscape specifically hairdresser, travel agent, and dry cleaner; something which the researcher attempts to explore.

3. 2

Scope of Research The survey for this research was conducted to respondents who are above 20 years old living in Jabodetabek (Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi). The researcher managed to obtain 225 valid data comprising of 75 hairdresser customers, 75 dry cleaner customers, and 75 travel agency customers in Jakarta.

The main reason why the researcher chose to obtain answers directly from customers was that they can give the most accurate insight on this issue. The questionnaire for this research is aimed at getting opinions from people who have prior experience in using high contact services (hairdresser industry), moderate contact standardized (travel agency industry) and moderate contact non-personal (dry cleaning industry).

3. 3

Research Design Unit of Analysis The unit of analysis in this study was individuals who have prior experience in using the services because the researcher would like to know how differing degree of customer involvement can affect perceived relational benefits and, in turn, the relational response behaviors of the customers. As mentioned in the previous chapter, there are 3 types of service: high contact customized, moderate contact non-personal, and moderate contact standardized. The researcher needs to probe into the mindset of customers on the three different industries representing each service types.

Sampling Method The sampling technique used in this study was convenient judgment sampling. It was impractical to do probability sampling technique due to the fact that it was not possible to predict the number of customers visiting the service sites per day, which made the researcher unable to assign equal chances for a customer to be selected as participant of the survey. Therefore, convenient sampling is deemed the most suitable technique. It is also relatively inexpensive and enables the researcher to gather data faster (Maholtra, 2012).

The questionnaire was distributed using direct intercept technique, where the researcher will ask the customers directly for their help by filling in the questionnaire.

Number of Samples

The number of respondents who participated in the survey was 225 respondents (75 administered to measure hairdressing industry, 75 on travel agency industry, and the remaining 75 on the dry cleaning industry). Before conducting the full-scale survey, there a pre-test involving 30 respondents was administered.

3. 4

Data Collection The researchers will collect the data by distributing printed questionnaires to 225 people, 75 each for saloons, travel agency, and dry cleaning customers. The data collection for this study is carried out by distributing hairdresser questionnaire at Plaza Indonesia (many upscale saloons situated there, such as Luvaze, Peter F. Saerang, JF Lazartigue), travel agent questionnaires at Mall Taman Anggrek (many travel agents open its branch offices, such as Bayu Buana and Panorama) and dry cleaner questionnaires at Plaza Senayan (Londre and Prima). The respondents will be asked to return the questionnaires upon completion. The researchers will check whether the questionnaire has been wholly completed or not. If there are questions which have yet to be answered, the respondents will be asked to kindly fill the remaining questions.

3.4.1. Questionnaire Design The questionnaire is divided into 3 parts: the cover letter introducing the nature of the research, demographic questions and variable questions. The demographic part consists of 9 questions; where respondents are asked to specify their age, marital status, occupation, monthly expense, etc. There is a filter question at the end to determine whether a respondent have prior experience in using the services or not. Those who answer No are not qualified to continue filling out the questionnaire. Moving on, there are 7 sub-variables (Confidence, Social, Special Treatment, Loyalty,

Word-of-mouth, Satisfaction, and Involvement, respectively) each consisting of 3-4 questions, which bring the total number of questions to 28.

3.4.2. Language Language used in the questionnaire is Indonesia and has been reviewed by the researchers supervisor. The reasons for the usage of Bahasa Indonesia were: (a) Indonesia is the national language of the country; therefore it is assumed that the respondents will understand the questions more clearly, and (b) not every Indonesians possess an extensive comprehension on English.

3.4.3. Operationalization of variables The term operationalization of variables, according to Sekaran and Bougie (2009), refers to the reduction of abstract concepts to render them measurable in a tangible way. In this study, there are 2 attributes and 2 main variables: (1) Service Characteristics and (2) Personal Involvement serving as the attributes; whereas (1) Perceived Relational Benefits and (2) Relational Response Behaviors serve as the main variables. These variables need to be made more tangible, and below is the breakdown on the operationalization of each respective variable; consisting of several statements and questions (adapted from Kinard & Capella (2006)).

Table 3.1 Operationalization of Variables

No.

Variables Confidence

Statements/Questions Adapted from Gwinner et al. (1998)

1.

I feel I can trust this (service provider)

2.

I am confident the service will be performed correctly by this (service provider)

3.

I know what to expect from this (service provider)

Social

Adapted from Gwinner et al. (1998)

1. 2. 3.

I am recognized by this (service provider)s employees I have developed a friendship with this (service provider) I am familiar with the employee(s) that perform the service(s)

Special Treatment 1.

Adapted from Gwinner et al. (1998) I get discount or deals from this (service provider) that most consumers do not

2.

The prices I get from this (service provider) are better than those other customers get

Loyalty 1.

Adapted from Price and Arnould (1999) I feel a commitment to continuing a relationship with this (service provider)

2. 3. 4.

I feel loyal to this (service provider) I intend to use this (service provider) again I plan on visiting this (service provider) in the future

Word-of-mouth 1.

Adapted from Price and Arnould (1999) I would recommend this (service provider) to someone who seeks my advice

2. 3. 4.

I say positive things about this (service provider) to others I would recommend this (service provider) to others I have told others about positive experiences with this (service provider)

Satisfaction 1. 2. 3.

Adapted from Price and Arnould (1999) Services offered by this (service provider) satisfy me I am happy with the services provided by this (service provider) Visiting this (service provider) in the future would be a wise choice

Involvement 1. 2.

Adapted from Zaichkowsky (1985) I view the service employees involvement as a necessity I view the service employees involvement as

important/essential 3. 4. I view the service employees involvement as relevant I view the service employees involvement as something significant

3. 5

Scale The data collected from the survey will be analyzed by using SPSS 17.0. The scaling method used in the questionnaire will be similar to the one used by Capella & Kinard, which is the 7-

point Likert scale (1 is for Strongly Disagree; 2 is Disagree, 3 is Slightly Disagree, 4 is Neither Agree nor Disagree, 5 is Slightly Agree, 6 is Agree, and 7 is Strongly Agree). Regarding the method to test the hypothesis, the researcher decided to use MANOVA and multiple regression analysis; whereas to test reliability and validity, Cronbachs Alpha and Confirmatory Factorial Analysis (CFA) will be used respectively.

3.5.1.Reliability & Validity Cronbach Alpha

Cronbach Alpha is a useful tool to check the internal consistency reliability of the survey. It indicates how well the items measuring a concept hang together as a set. In the questionnaire, there are 7 main categories: (1) Confidence; (2) Social, (3) Special Treatment, (4) Loyalty, (5) Word-of-mouth, (6) Satisfaction, and (7) Involvement. 1.0 indicates a perfect reliability; however the minimum acceptable level is 0.6 (Sekaran and Bougie, 2009, p.325).

Confirmatory Factorial Analysis (CFA) Confirmatory Factorial Analysis is a procedure mainly used for data reduction and summarization. It is very useful in identifying underlying dimensions which can explain the correlations among a set of variables (Maholtra, 2012). CFA is used to assess the validity of the research. In factorial analysis, the value of MSA (Maximum of Sampling Adequacy) is an index used to examine the appropriateness of factor analysis. Values of more than 0.5 indicate factor analysis is appropriate. Additionally, factor loadings will also be analyzed to measure how well the questions in the survey probe into the variables on the model. Factor loadings of more than 0.50 imply that the measurement scales as an adequate and valid indicator of the variable.

3.5.2.Data Analysis Method Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) MANOVA is a multivariate technique to test the significance of group differences in some m-dimensional space where each dimension is defined by linear combinations of the original set of dependent variables. (Cardinal & Aitken, 2006). MANOVA is appropriate when there are several dependent variables which all measure different aspects of some cohesive theme (Hair, Anderson, Tatham, and Black, 1998).

MANOVA will be used to test the first hypothesis (service characteristics on perceived relational benefits) and the third hypothesis (effect of consumer involvement on perceived relational benefits). Specifically on the third hypothesis, separate MANOVA tests were conducted for each service industry (hairdressing, travel agent, dry cleaning). There are 4 parameters from MANOVA that can be used to evaluate whether the null hypothesis can be rejected or not. If all 4 of them (Pillais Trace, Wilks Lambda, Hotellings Trace, and Roys Largest Root) have significance level of below 0.05, the null hypothesis can be rejected.

Multiple Regression Analysis Regression analysis is a procedure to analyze associative relationships between a metricdependent variable and one or more independent variables; to determine whether the changes in independent variables explain a significant variation in the dependent variable (Maholtra, 2012). Multiple regression will be used to test the second hypothesis (perceived relational benefits confidence, social, special treatment influence on relational response behaviors loyalty, word-of-mouth, satisfaction level). If the p-value is 0.05, then the null

hypothesis can be rejected. Example of a multiple regression equation: Y = x1 + x2 + x3 + + xn

3. 6

Comparison between Original & Current Research Below is the comparison between the original research and the authors current research: No. Description Original Research 1. Title Relationship marketing: the influence of consumer involvement on perceived service benefits Relationship Marketing: The Influence of Different Level of Service Characteristics and Personal Involvement towards Relational Response Behaviors 2. Demographic US citizen Indonesian citizen Since the study is conducted in Indonesia, it is deemed appropriate to use Indonesians as Slight modifications are made to suit the researchers objective in analyzing the relational response behaviors across 3 different service industry in Indonesia Current Research Remarks

respondents 3. Number of Respondents 91 225 To adequately measure the differences between each service industry, there need to be additions of 134 respondents compared to the original study 4. Language English Indonesian The language of the questionnaire is translated to Bahasa Indonesia so that respondents can give more accurate answer 5. Industry Observed Hairdresser, Fast Food Restaurants Hairdresser, Travel Agency, Dry Cleaning Dry cleaning is added to measure moderate contact non-personal service industry; travel agent is used to replace fast-food restaurant

because fast-food restaurant also offer physical goods (for example, food & drinks); therefore travel agent is used because it purely belongs in service industry 6. Scale in questionnaire 7. Hypothesis Testing MANOVA; multiple regression MANOVA; multiple regression 7-point Likert 7-point Likert No modifications are made No modifications are made

Table 3.2 Comparison between original and Current Research