the influence of value orientations on service quality ... papers/jssh vol. 10 (2) sep... ·...

Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. 10(2): 97-107 (2002) ISSN: 0128-7702© Universiti Putra Malaysia Press

The Influence of Value Orientations on Service Quality Perceptions in aMono-Cultural Context: An Empirical Study of Malay University Students

HAZMAN SHAH ABDULLAH 8c RAZMI CHIKFaculty of Administrator & Law

Universiti Teknologi MARA40450 UiTM Shah Alam

Selangor, Malaysia

Keywords: Service quality, culture studies, value variations, variance analysis

ABSTRAK

Kajian hubungan mutu perkhidmatan dan nilai-budaya telah secara tradisi menggunakan kaedahantara budaya untuk membuktikan kesannya. Tujuan kajian ini ialah untuk menunjukkan bahawaterdapat perbezaan yang penting dalam sesuatu budaya dan perbezaan ini mempunyai implikasiterdapat reka bentuk, penyediaan dan mutu perkhidmatan. Selaras dengan pendirian ini, kajianini menyelidiki nilai-budaya dalam konteks suatu kumpulan budaya tertentu. Kajian melibatkanseramai 712 siswa-siswi Bumiputera sebuah universiti tempatan telah menghasilkan 2 gugusannilai yang signifikan. Analisis varian menunjukkan bahawa gugusan 'True Traditionalists'dan 'Transitory Traditionalists' memperlihatkan kesan yang berbeza kepada dimensi mutuperkhidmatan. Hasil kajian menyokong pendirian bahawa kajian hubungan budaya-mutuperkhidmatan mestilah juga fokus kepada perbezaan dalam sesuatu budaya.

ABSTRACT

Service quality and culture studies have traditionally used polar opposite cultures to make theircase. This paper argues that these cultural extremes conceal significant variations in culture andhas implications for service design, delivery and quality. The study explores the existence of valuevariations within ostensibly homogenous groups. It is posited that the knowledge of thesespectrum of value orientations will enhance the service marketers' ability to 'situate' services asthey enter new markets or introduce service innovations. A study conducted among 712 Malayuniversity students produced 2 significantly different value clusters. Variance analysis showed thatthese clusters labeled as True Traditionalist and Transitory Traditionalist have significantlydifferent impact on service quality dimensions. The findings support the argument that servicequality and culture studies must examine between as well as within culture variations.

INTRODUCTIONThe rapid extension of service products to globalmarkets has invoked the question of situatingthe services in the local cultural and socialenvironment (Matilla 1999; Stauss and Mang1999). Besides the highly general and stylizedcharacterisation of national groups that followedHofstede's seminal work, service managers havelittle to go on in designing and localizing theirservices. The globalisation of service productsand inherent intangibility and humaninteractivity that marks most services has sharplyraised the potential for service product failures.

There is, therefore, a growing interest inunderstanding the interaction between thenational and sub-national cultural influences andservice products. Concomitantly, there is anoticeable burst of research examining theculture-service nexus in regions other thanEurope and North America (Winstedt 1997;Stauss and Mang 1999). Traditionally, this meantthe need to understand the cultures of theEuropean and Asians.

Reflecting this need Anderson and Fornell(1994) in their 'consumer satisfaction researchprospectus' called for more systematic investigation

Hazman Shah Abdullah & Razmi Chik

into the variations in satisfaction across nations.Due to the interactive and intangible nature ofservices, cultural expectations play an importantrole in predisposing the customers towards theconsumption experience and their attention andreaction to cues in the service environment. Itstrongly influences the values that customers arelikely to assign to specific service attributes, theperception of the characteristics of the serviceproviders and the strength of their reaction tothe presence or absence of the attributes (Matilla1999).

Since their appeal, there have been severalstudies to examine the influence of culture oncustomer satisfaction (Winsted 1997; Donthuand Yoo 1998; Matilla 1999). Despite the obviousrole of culture in service quality, the understandingis still rather nascent. As services become moreglobal, there is need to develop betterunderstanding of the influence of differentcultures on different dimensions of servicequality.

The research thus far has exclusively focusedon national and ethnic groups/cultural groups.Because these groups are distinct and commonlybecome the basis of marketing decisions, theyare selected as the natural units of observation.While broad cultural categories still form thebasis of global market segmentation, the culturalstereotyping often conceal significant variationswithin groups that allow for finer segmentation(Matilla 1999). Yet, much of the culture andservice quality research relies on the most notablecultural denomination, the national culture.Additionally, the focus of culture-service qualityinteraction study has been on polar oppositecultures. The national cultural classifications anddistinctions conceal much of the distinct culturalsub-groups. These subgroups evince variations,which range from shades of the main culture tovastly different cultural preferences withinsupposedly homogenous cultures. As moreevidence of culture-service quality nexusbecomes available, the question is no longer ofthe connection between the two but rather theexpansion of research to even ostensiblymonocultural environments. There is need,therefore, to look for cultural variations withinsupposedly homogenous cultural groups.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Of particular interest within the service qualityresearch stream has been the interaction between

the service provider and the customer. Thedominant service quality model places thecustomer expectation as the subjective standardby which a customer evaluates the serviceperformance (Zeithaml, Parasuraman and Berry1993). Although the explanatory role of customerexpectations in service quality assessment hasbeen questioned, it still is accepted as providingvaluable means to judge performance assessmentsby the customer (Cronin and Taylor 1992). Theexpectation itself is a product of a complexnumber of factors. The values or culturalorientations of the customer are believed toprovide the broadest framework to understandexpectations. Consequently, a new stream ofresearch has begun to explore the role of culturein expectation formation and how differentcultural orientations impact their evaluation ofthe various elements in the service performance.Winsted (1997) succinctly brings out theconceptual link between service encounters andsocial encounters through the followingobservation;

"Because service encounters are social encounters,rules and expectations related to services encountersshould vary considerably according to culture, yetvery little guidance has been provided regardingthe influence of culture on perceptions of serviceprovision" (p.106).

Many writers have argued for the need forgoods and services to be adapted to the differentlocal cultures. Alden, Hoyer and Lee (1993)showed how the use of humour in advertisingmust be carefully vetted for offensive elementswhen applied cross-culturally. Generally, thecultural comparisons have been between culturesthat can be characterised as polar opposites likethe Japanese and the Americans. Winsted (1997)studied the influence of the cultural values onthe service quality expectations and evaluations.She found that the Americans expectedegalitarianism in service and higher degree ofpersonalisation while their Japanese counterpartpreferred more formality in treatment. Malhotra,Ugaldo, Agarwal and Baalbaki's (1994) study isamong the few studies on the cultural dimensionsof developing and developed countries and theireffect on the service quality dimensions. Theyfound that the value orientations as measuredvia Hofstede's 5 dimensional continua had asignificant bearing on the service qualityevaluations of the respondents. The findings

98 PertanikaJ. Soc. Sci. & Hum. Vol. 10 No. 2 2002

The Influence of Value on Service Quality Perceptions in a Mono-Cultural Context

point toward the need to localise in internationalmarketing. Donthu and Yoo (1998) examinedthe effect of cultural values captured viaHofstede's five dimensional scales and theSERQUAL dimensions of reliability, assurance,empathy, responsiveness and tangibles. On mostof the service quality dimensions there werestatistically significant differences in theirevaluations of the retail banking services.Although people processing services are positedas most susceptible to cultural effects (Furrer,Ben and Sudharshan 2000), Matilla (1999)explored the impact of culture on hedonicservices. The experience rich services permit thecultural nuances to play a greater role than inother forms of services. Accordingly, it wasreported that Western and Non-western businesstravelers responded to different service cues.Generally it was found that Asian travelers paidmore attention to non-tangible and nonverbalcues more that their western counterpart.However, the study also highlighted and alertedattention to the variations possible withinotherwise monolithic cultures. Stauss and Mang(1999) tested the hypothesis that inter-culturalservice encounters are more problematic thanintra-cultural encounters using critical incidentmethod. Interestingly, the results confirmed thereverse. Intra-cultural encounters were moreproblematic than the inter-cultural ones. Thestudy also used somewhat polar cultures in testingthis hypothesis.

Furrer et ai (2000) provide a recent study ofthe impact of culture on service quality. Theystudied the cultural orientations of American,Asian and European students. They developed acultural service quality index that captured theinteraction between the service qualitydimensions and the cultural dimensions. Theyshowed how the groups of students could besegmented on the basis of their culturalproclivities and the service quality dimensions ofvalue.

It is apparent that most of the above-mentioned studies have sought to explore theculture-service question using polar oppositescultures. The use of these 'maximally' differentcultures is understandable as they enhance thepower of the design to test the postulations. TheWestern vs. Non-Western or American vs. Non-American designs have shown that the culture-service effect is real and must be addressed byglobal service producers.

What is of significance is that thesepostulations can be more stringently tested ifthey are subjected to less extreme culturalvarieties. The exploration of the conceptuallyviable thesis of finer cultural variations and theireffect of services evaluations has been put forthby Matilla (1999) who observed that ".. .consumerexperiences do not remain stable across culturesbut instead are open to influences of specificcultures". Indeed, the study of this postulationwithin what is known as homogenous cultures,can open the same advantages to marketers ashas been suggested about inter-cultural studiesin international marketing. Niche marketing canimmensely benefit from the understanding ofthe differences in what is otherwise believed tobe mono-cultural societies, by exploiting theinteraction between specific cultural nuancesand the sensitivity to specific service dimensions.Where the service attributes can be easilymodified, the within culture value orientationscan be a basis to customise services for the nichemarkets.

Problem Statement

From the review of the literature, it is evidentthat there is a dire need for culture-servicestudies to examine the role of value orientationswithin a culturally homogenous context (Winsted1997; Matilla 1999). The focus on within culturevariations in values will add greater credence tothe culture-service studies and allow for finerdistinctions and their a t tendant serviceimplications. This study explores this new andpotentially fruitful focus question. The centralresearch question is whether there are distinctvalue orientations within a cultural group.

The Conceptual Framework

The relationship between the service and cultureemanates from the basic characteristic of servicesas intangible and interactive (Shostack 1977;Lovelock and Wright 2002). Because serviceencounters are essentially social exchanges, thevalues undoubtedly colour the perception ofboth parties. Though not directly apparent,values underpin the expectations, biases,preferences, self-confidence etc. of the customers.Though not directly observable, values have beenconceptualized along several key dimensions.One such framework is advanced by Hofstede(1980). Hofstede captured the 'collective

PertanikaJ. Soc. Sci. & Hum. Vol. 10 No. 2 2002 99

Hazman Shah Abdullah 8c Razmi Chik

» Power distance• Uncertaintly Avoidance• Masculinity-Feminity• Collectivism-individualism

Service QualityPerception

ResponsivenessReliabilityTangibleAssuranceEmpathy

Fig. 1: Conceptual framework

programming of the mind' via four valuedimensions namely, Power Distance (PD),Uncertainty Avoidance, Masculinity-femininityand Collectivism-individualism (Fig, 1). Powerdistance refers to the acceptance of asymmetricalpower distributions by members of a group orcommunity. In high PD societies, hierarchy isaccepted and may even be revered. In servicecontexts, PD conditions the perceptions of thestatus of the service provider and the desiredbehaviour on the part of the customer.Masculinity-femininity relates to the extent towhich strong, aggressive and assertive behavioursare preferred or accepted or desired. Uncertaintyavoidance is the aversion to risks andunstructured behaviour situations. The clarity ofone's role is desired as opposed to self-development of the roles in any context. Finally,collectivism-individualism indicates the premiumplaced on self as opposed to the group, be it thesociety, community or the team. These fourdimensions are landmarks of value orientationof any group. The impact of the values onservices is eventually felt in the customers'assessment of the service quality itself. The valuesare expected to impact service quality throughthe customers' perceptions of the extent ofresponsiveness, reliability, empathy, assuranceand tangibles. These dimensions are susceptibleto the preferences and biases that the customerbrings into a service encounter. The values tendto affect the customer's position vis-a-vis theservice provider by creating mental zones ofcomfort and discomfort and culturallyappropriate roles and behaviours.

However, the interaction between the valuesand the services is not likely to be the same in alltypes of service encounter (Chase 1978; Lovelockand Wright 2002: 54). Some services involvehigh contact between the customer and the

service provider. In high contact services, theextended nature of the social exchange createsmore opportunity for values to affect servicequality perceptions. In low contact services, theinteraction may be short or even momentary.Consequently, the social expectations and valueorientations are unlikely to leave much impact.

Research Hypotheses

HI: There are significantly differing valueorientations.

H2: Value orientations correlate significantly withservice quality dimensions.

H3: The influence of value orientation on theservice quality perception is more evident inhigh contact rather than low contact services.

RESEARCH DESIGNA cross-sectional correlational study was carriedout involving 712 students of UiTM to determinethe influence of value orientation of Malayuniversity students on their service qualityexpectations and perceptions. The Malays haveexperienced dramatic socio-economic changesover the last two decades. This has introducedand amplified the cultural variations within theMalay community. The current concern aboutthe lack of unity among the Malays is arguablyengendered by greater variations in values andconsequently, different expectations andassessments. The Malay university students are aclose microcosm of the larger Malay society.Therefore, it offers a good setting to test theresearch question advanced in this study. Arepresentative, though not a random, sample ofthe student population was obtained for thisstudy from two of the 13 campuses of thisuniversity. The main campus represents an urbancentre while the East Coast campus captures amore rural background.

To examine the impact of value orientationon service quality expectations, 3 types ofuniversity services having different degrees ofcustomer contact were identified. These servicesrange from counseling (high contact) to medical(moderate contact) to library services (lowcontact) (Table 1). It is well established that notall services allow or require prolonged contactwith the customer/user. The influence of theuser's value orientation is most likely to mattera great deal in shaping his/her involvement andhis/her reaction to the behaviour of the service



TABLE 1Distribution of the sample

Nature of Service Sample Size Sample Size(actual) (planned)

High ContactCounseling (S. Alam 8cTerengganu) 149 200

Moderate ContactMedical Care (S. Alam &Terengganu) 273 200

Low ContactLibrary Service (S.Alam8c Terengganu) 290 200

Total Sample 712 600

provider in high contact services. Conversely,the influence of value orientation of the studentis less likely to impact service quality where thecustomer and service provider contact ismomentary, limited and tangible. The three typesof services were used to detect the moderatingrole of contact in examining the influence ofvalues on service quality perceptions of thestudents.

Development of the Measurement InstrumentsAlthough the two constructs involved in thisstudy have been defined and measured in manyprevious studies, a conscious decision was madeto review this definition and the performance ofthese instruments. Hofstede's measures of valueswere work organisation based. Their relevanceand performance in the context of the servicesand the sector under study in this research arequestionable. Therefore, several items weregenerated for each of the five value dimensions.The item development followed the processsuggested by Dunn et al (1994). The items werereviewed by peers familiar with the subject asrecommended by Dunn et al. (1994). Twoacademics were required to link the items to thedimension the item appears to measure. Throughthis process the items that were not identified bythe peers as linked to a dimension were dropped.This process of substantive validation is stated byDunn et al. (1994) as the most crucial step inconstruct validation because substantiveconvergence should precede statisticalconvergence.

The value orientations were measured usingHofstede's 5 dimensional instrument (Hofstede1980,1991). These dimensions are Power-

Distance, Individualism-collectivism, UncertaintyAvoidance, Masculinity-femininity and TimeOrientation. Although this instrument wasdeveloped and used to measure the nationalvalues, it has been successfully used to studyculture at an individual level (Matilla 1999).

The original measures of value orientationdeveloped by Hofstede were specifically focussedon work-related values. Since this study addressesa university context, the original items weredeemed inappropriate. Based on the 5 key valueorientation dimensions, 28 items were generated.Only items that passed the substantive validationprocess were finally accepted for use in the pilottest. The pilot test based on a sample of 30individuals was collected and the CronbachAlphas were determined. The measure attainedthe minimum threshold of 0.7 (Nunnally 1978).In the study however, the reliability coefficientswere slightly below the recommended thresholdof .7. Collectivity, masculinity, uncertaintyavoidance and power distance achieved aCronbach alpha of 0.66, 0.60, 0.63, and 0.60respectively. Since the Cronbach alphas wereonly marginally lower than the threshold andthe lower Cronbach alphas have been used inorganisational studies, we did not think that thiswould seriously affect the outcome.

The service quality perception was measuredusing the SERQUAL dimensions (Parasuramanet al. 1988). This instrument has five servicequality dimensions namely; tangibles,responsiveness, reliability, assurance andempathy. Parasuraman et al. (1989) viewed servicequality as the difference between the perceptionand the expectation. As Cronin and Taylor(1992) pointed out, the measure of perceptionitself is sufficient measure of the service withoutthe weighting by expectation attached by theclients. Because Cronin and Taylor's approachyields a simpler measure, we have adopted it forthis study. Just like Hofstede's measures, theSERQUAL items are generic items that may beinappropriate for the present educationalcontext. Therefore, the items were developedreflecting the dimensions and put through thesame substantive validation process as in thecase of value orientation measures. The itemswere measured on a 7-point Likert scale with 1denoting Strongly Disagree. All measures attaineda minimum Cronbach Alpha of .60 in the mainsurvey, slightly less than the values obtainedduring the piloting stage. Though the reliability

Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. 8c Hum. Vol. 10 No. 2 2002 101


coefficients were lower than Nunnally's .70, lowerreliabilities have been used in published studies(Hinkin 1995).

Data Collection and Data AnalysisData were collected from two campuses namely,the Shah Alam and the Terengganu campuses.Trained enumerators were positioned at theservice centres to identify and sample therespondents (based on the quota samplingmethod) as they left the service centre after aservice encounter. This method allowed foraccurate recollection of the experience than at alatter time. They were asked to complete aquestionnaire containing the instruments. Inthe case of the counseling service, the counselorsprovided the questionnaires to the respondentswhen the students came in for consultation.This deviation was unavoidable because of theunplanned and irregular nature of the serviceneed. Basic descriptive statistics was used toexplore the distributional and locationalcharacteristics of the variables and determinethe appropriateness of the statistical techniquesgiven the descriptive properties. Unlike otherstudies that have used demographic factors toexamine the existence and the influence ofvalue orientations on variables of interest, thisstudy follows a method suggested by Furrer et ai(2000). Value orientations are composed ofunique combinations of the value dimensions.Demographic, ethnic and other common a prioriclassifications may not necessarily correlate withvalue orientations. As such, using any one ofthese a priori groups may result in erroneousfindings. Therefore, Furrer etal (2000) suggestedthat the value groups must be empirically derivedthrough the use of grouping techniques likecluster analysis. Accordingly, cluster analysis wascarried out to examine the cluster properties ofthe respondents. Subsequent analyses of variance(ANOVA) used the value clusters (Traditionalistsand Transitory Traditionalists) to examine therelationship between the value clusters andservice quality dimensions.

Profile of the Respondents

There is a greater representation of studentsfrom the Terengganu campus than from theShah Alam campus in the sample. This reflectsmore the accessibility to respondents and theintensity of use of the selected services thananything else.

There is two to one ratio of female to malestudents. This skewed distribution is reflective ofthe overall student composition in UniversitiTeknologi MARA. From Table 2 it is clear thatthe respondents are preponderantly Diplomaholders. This reflects the general distribution ofstudents and also because these students aregiven priority for campus housing. They,therefore, are in campuses and presumably, alsouse the services more than others who areaccorded the same privileges.

In keeping with the university's socialcommitment, the bulk of the respondents fallunder the category of the lower income group.The distribution is also influenced by the greatershare of the Terengganu campus in the totalsample, which attracts students from the EastCoast which is a lower income region in Malaysia.The distribution of the sample is weighted slightlyin favour of the library services. This is, asexplained in the methods section, an outcomeof the nature of the use of the library services.Library services are more intensively used ascompared with medical and counseling services.The former are dictated by the nature of thecampus activity while the latter are peripheralservices.

FINDINGSIntra-Cultural Variations

The correlation matrix in Table 3 displays thespecific dynamics of the culture-service qualityrelationships. All correlation coefficients > .10are significant. The 4 dimensions of the culturalorientations are not strongly correlated,indicating that the dimensions are distinct andnot overlapping ones. The highest correlation isbetween uncertainty avoidance and collectiveorientation (.410). The correlation between theservice quality dimensions and culturaldimensions is of particular interest. Powerdistance is significantly correlated with all servicequality dimensions except responsiveness.However, the correlation values are small or low.This suggests that while the relationship issignificant, the impact of this orientation onservice quality is quite limited at best. Thecorrelation between the service quality and thecultural orientation dimensions is low. This is tobe expected given that this study is focussed onexamining relationship between thesedimensions within a mono-cultural context.Uncertainty avoidance also displays similar

102 PertanikaJ. Soc. Sci. 8c Hum. Vol. 10 No. 2 2002


TABLE 2Profile of respondents

No.

CampusShah AlamTerengganu

GenderMaleFemale

ProgrammeDegreeDiplomaCertificateOthers

Parents Income*<500501-10001001 -15001501 -20002001 - 25002501 - 30003001 - 35003501 - 4000>4000

Type of ServiceCounselingMedicalLibrary

* n = 622

297415

234478

246449

98

16722415563329272447

149273290

4258

3367

356311

27362955448

213841

TABLE 3Correlation between the service quality and culture variables

No Variables 1 4

123456789

EmpathyAssuranceResponsivenessTangibleReliablePower DistanceUncertainty AvoidanceMasculinity-FemininityCollectivism-Individualism

.585**

.696**

.608**

.530**

.106**

.121**.043

.217**

.529**

.523**

.465**

.108**

.187**.088*

.252**

.602**

.581**.030.076*-.051

.183**

.566**

.182**

.174**.061

.282**

.172**

.249**

.107**

.265**

.197**

.187**

.132**.295**.410** .285**

p<.005, **p<.001 (2-tailed test).

correlation with all service quality dimensionsbut appears to be relatively more correlated withReliability. Masculinity is least significantlycorrelated with the value orientations.

The value orientations of the students weremeasured via 5 dimensional continua providedby Hofstede (1990) but time orientation itemsfailed to show satisfactory convergence andtherefore, have been excluded from further

analysis. It has been argued that since culturalvalues condition the mind and behaviour in acollective fashion, it should be combined tocreate recognisable value groups for analysis(Furrer et al. 2000). Consequently, it is imperativethat the value orientations are understood as abundle or cluster rather than individual variables.Following in the footsteps of Furrer et al (2000),

PertanikaJ. Soc. Sci. 8c Hum. Vol. 10 No. 2 2002 103

Hazman Shah Abdullah 8c Razmi Chik

the data was cluster analysed to detect groupsthat have distinctive combinations of the 4 valuedimensions. Cluster analysis generated twodistinct groups. We have labeled the clusters asTrue Traditionalist (cluster 1) and TransitoryTraditionalist (cluster 2).

The value orientations were measured on a7-point scale with 1 denoting low and 7 high.Cluster 1, the True Traditionalists display agreater proclivity to the collective interest,appears to accept the appropriacy of greaterassertiveness, greater power distance in generalrelationship and greater aversion to uncertainty.Typical Malay society places a very high premiumon collective rather than individualistic interest,the culture can only be classified as feminine innature with its emphasis on gentleness, decorumand politeness in social encounters and even indisagreement, accepting and also veneratingpower distance and preferring to avoiduncertainty. The Transitory Traditionalists(cluster 2) scored lower on all dimensions of the

value orientations but in case of Masculinity, it isonly marginally lower than their TrueTraditionalists peers. The Transitory Traditionalistsare a group experiencing some dilution of thecultural values that typify the Malay communityat large. Based on the evidence from Table 4, wecan conclude that there are distinctly differinggroups within the Malay student community.Therefore, the 1st hypothesis that there aredistinct sub-cultural groups within presumablyhomogenous groups is supported.

Table 5 provides some answers to thequestion whether there is significant relationshipbetween the value clusters and the perceptionsof service quality. The one-way ANOVA showsthat the service quality dimensions differsignificantly between the 2 value clusters. Thisthen provides the support for the hypothesisthat value orientations influence or have someimpact on service quality perceptions. Thus, thesecond hypothesis is also supported.

TABLE 4Value clusters

Value Orientations Clusters

True TransitoryTraditionalists Traditionalist

(Means) (Means)

CollectivityMasculinityPower DistanceUncertainty Avoidance

6.14 (high)4.69(med)4.18(med)5.58(high)

4.72 (med)3.99(med)3.90(med)4.69(med)

N 417 295

TABLE 5Influence of cultural clusters on service quality

Service QualityDimensions

Empathy

Assurance

Responsiveness

Tangible

Reliable

ValueClusters

Between groupsWithin group





Sum ofSq.

33.596925.860

13.076407.631

18.063763.768

37.252742.772

42.572724.217

df

1710

1710

1710

1710

1710

MeanSq

33.5961.304

13.076.574

18.0631.076

37.2521.046

42.5721.020

&g

.000

.000

.000

.000

.000

104 Pertanika J. Soc. Sci. & Hum. Vol. 10 No. 2 2002


The last hypothesis advanced was whetherthe postulated relationship between valueorientation and service quality differs given thetype of service involved. Multivariate analysis ofvariance showed that that there are nointeractions between service type and valueorientations. Therefore, the last hypothesis thatthe relationship between value orientation andservice quality will be more distinct in highcontact service was not supported.

In summary, the findings of this studysupport two of the three hypotheses advanced.Significant variations in values can be observedeven within such homogenous groups as Malayuniversity students. These variations are notwithout influence on the service qualitydimensions.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONFrom a theoretical standpoint, this study expandson the current culture-service quality researchby seeking out finer distinctions and how theymay be pertinent to service providers. Pastresearches tended to use cultural extremes orpolar opposites to show the effect of culture ofservice perceptions (Furrer et al 2000; Winsted1997; Matilla 1999). While this is an admirableapproach and design, the design is intended toshow the postulated relationship. In fact, it couldbe argued that the design is too powerful andtherefore, the outcome is almost a certainty.This study by examining the same issue in anintra-cultural setting is actually putting thepostulation to a much more stringent test thanhas been the case thus far. By seeking out therelationship between service quality and valueorientations intra-culturally, the hypothesis is putto a more stringent test.

The study also provides some evidence ofthe existence of a spectrum of value orientations(though the range is limited) within an ostensiblyhomogenous group. Although polar oppositecultures dominate culture-service studies, valueorientations within homogenous cultures areequally valid and fruitful areas of scrutiny(Winsted 1997). This study established that therewere two cultural clusters. These groups, labeledas Transitory Traditionalists and TrueTraditionalists, provide a significantly differentvalue profile. While both groups display Malaycultural proclivities, the Transitory Traditionalistsis markedly less respectful of old values. Theuniversities have become grounds to question

the wisdom of the old ways. The value profileshowed here reflects the changing socio-psychological landscape within the universitystudent population and to some extent, withinthe society at large. The lack of strongly distinctvalue orientations among the groups is more afunction of the homogeneity of the sample thananything else. If a more heterogeneous samplehad been acquired, the value profile would havevaried much more than observed in this study.

From a managerial standpoint, the serviceproviders in the public sphere, especially thepublic tertiary institutions must be more awareof the value orientations and how they impactthe many quality initiatives that are currentlyinstituted (Cheong 2000). Students still haveand are therefore, likely to display values thatplace a high premium on collective interests.Therefore, services that explicitly or implicitlyrequire one to show individualistic tendenciesmay cause significant discomfort or dissonance.Students are likely to feel at ease when doingthings together and for the benefit of all ratherthan self only. Relatively high tolerance for powerdistance is expected to manifest itself in ratherpassive, meek and unassertive behaviour. Thisdisposition will prevent effective feedback fromthe service users. Users are likely to be verycognizant of the structure, hierarchy, order andauthority and thus less inclined to question orcomplaint or provide feedback which is notanonymous. Quite unexpectedly, the respondentshave expressed a more masculine interest. Thisproclivity for assertive behaviour does not quitefit with the other orientations especially powerdistance and collective interest. Given that theMalay community is in the midst of intense andoften acrimonious changes socially and culturally,conflicting behaviour especially among theimpressionable population may account for thecontradiction (Mastor, Jin and Cooper 2000).Making services changes without understandingthe cultural nuances of the users will result insupplier-orientated changes. The interactionbetween the value orientations and service qualitydimensions allows for changes that are alignedwith the cultural preferences of the students.Many service innovations have strong implicitvalue base. Most, if not all innovations wereborn in Caucasian cultures. The effectiveness ofthese innovations is implicitly a product of thevalue orientations of the co-producers orco-creators - the service recipients. Changes that



embody greater egalitarianism or empowermentmay actually have the effect of inconveniencingthe service users because of their value system.The total quality management initiatives willonly be effective if the user values are capturedand used to bring about service innovation.

As is customary, some caveats are in order.The measures did not display a high level ofreliability as was expected. Improvements andfurther purification of the measures will enhancethe strength the correlations and the clarity ofthe nomological network. The use of a fairlyhomogenous sample (Malay university students)probably did restrict the range of valueorientations. Perhaps, a more representative mixof the members of the Malay community willdisplay even greater variation in valueorientations than is the case here. Future studiesshould examine the interactions between valueorientations and the service quality dimensionsin specific service sectors to reveal profitablepossibilities in service adaptation.

In summary, the study has shown that thereis risk in stereotyping the cultural traits of Non-Western societies and in this particular case, theMalays. There exist significant value variationswithin ethnic and sub-cultural groups.Recognising this will open up new possibilitiesfor service adaptations, which is necessary tocompete in the highly competitive market placeas well as the non-competitive public sector. Aswe move beyond the first round of TQMinitiatives, finer distinctions will become a centerof focus in further service improvements andadaptations.

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