GAEDDU COLLEGE OF BUSINESS STUDIES

ROYAL UNIVERSITY OF BHUTAN

RESEARCH PROPOSAL FORMAT

BBA 6th Semester

Research Topic: A Study of Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction in Restaurants in

Gedu
Research Team:
1. Sonam Dorji (03160315)
2. Sonam Dorji (03160316)
3. Sonam Dendup (03160313)
4. Sangay Wangchuk (03160281)

Programmed: BBA (Programme)

Specialized in: Marketing
Mentor/Guide: Mr. Kalpak Chaudhuri
Chapter 1: Proposal Description

1.1 Problem Statement

In a highly competitive restaurant industry, attracting customers with dedicated service and
high quality food, along with satisfying them and making converting them into loyal
customers is critical for the success of the business (Murad & Ali, 2015). The importance of
providing quality services (service) in restaurants has attracted intense attention among
researchers and service managers. Restaurants play a vital role in tourism industry (Binti
Muhammad, 2013).

According to Ms. Chimmy Pem, the Head of Marketing and Promotion at the Tourism, “For
a small land-locked country like Bhutan, tourism plays a very important role in generating
employment opportunities and revenue.” As Gedu lies on the highway between
Phunetsholing and Thimphu, there are many restaurants in the area. As the current services
(service) and food quality provided by them is poor, most of time the restaurants fail to attract
customers. (how do you know? Any newspaper article...)
Hospitality is The major challenge is to match and provide service quality which at least
matches the expectations to perceived value of the customer as tangible factor such as food
facilities are easier measure to intangible aspect such as employer mood, time and place.
Where, Quality of the food and time of delivery determines the perceived value of the
customer (is this sentence necessary?). According to BTM, 2014, TCB, there are 12
standalone (what? restaurants) and 53 restaurants that currently fulfilling (fulfill) the
guidelines and standard (of?) and are registered under the tourist standard restaurant. (What is
BTM, TCB?)

HRAM is the a non-profit organization for the mission to represent the interest of the
restaurants and to provide professional training for the growth of standard services. However,
very few activities were carried out by the office till date. Inactive participant (participation)
and limited enthusiasm from the hotels and restaurants are seen as the major drawback in
functioning of these offices (Hotel & Restaurant Association of Bhutan, 2016). (Is this
paragraph necessary?)

Bhutan Tourism Monitors, TCB, 2014, reports that there are increasing numbers of food
related complaint by the visitors every year. The report stated that the buffet 4system
(system) by many hotels and restaurants is the one of the reasons why for tourists
complaining that about food in the country is being monotonous. The chairperson of the
Guide Association of Bhutan (GAB), Grab (Garab) Dorji, mentioned that every time they
take their guests to a restaurant, the menu is the same. “It is either rice, chicken, or seasonal
vegetable.”

Even though government implemented the regulation of “High value Low impact”, Bhutan
has lifted top five lists in international visitor in a consequent year (can you reframe the
sentence?). However, there are repetitive complaint of bland food and poor service quality
from restaurants (Tourists find food in Bhutan monotonous, 2013)And According to BTM ,
2015 report, 45.8% of visitors feel that restaurant service is important and 42.1 % regarded
restaurant service as very important and only 21.7% of visitors were satisfied with
restaurants’ the service quality.

It is expected that the findings of this study can will be useful for managers of restaurants.
This It can be useful to in identifying what is right or wrong in providing services, with the
ultimate aim of retaining their customers while in turn capturing market share and revenue.
Very little, if any, research has been undertaken to measure service quality of restaurants in
the context of Bhutan. The purpose of this study is to contribute to the literature of
importance of service quality in restaurant industry of Bhutan (Shaikh & Khan, 2011).
(referencing for this sentence or the previous sentence?)

Service firms like other organizations are realizing the significance of customer centered
philosophies and are turning to quality management approaches to help manage their
business. SERVQUAL is the most popular instrument to ascertain service quality. The model
is the most utilized model in service quality research and application; it seems interesting to
analyze how well the SERVQUAL structure can be applied to restaurant services. (is this
portion needed in problem statement?)

1.2 Research Questions

I. What are the students’ and lecturers’ expectations of service quality of restaurants in
Gedu? (You are talking about tourism industry? Will you collect data from students and
staff of the college or tourists visiting the restaurants?)
II. Are they the students and lecturers satisfied with the service quality of the restaurants
in Gedu?
III. What are the shortcoming and drawbacks of service in the restaurants in Gedu?

1.3 Research Objectives

I. To analyze the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction.

II. To study the dispensary gap between customer perception and customer expectation
of service of restaurants in Gedu.

1.4 Research Hypothesis

H1: The more reliable the services provided by the restaurant, higher the level of customer
satisfaction. (There is a positive relationship between reliability and customers’ satisfaction.)
Chapter 2: Review of Key Literatures

This section will introduce the concepts of customer satisfaction, service quality, relation
between customer satisfaction and service quality and perception of customer. It will also
present an overview of the findings from the past research studies

a. Service quality

A study conducted (Khan, Hussain, & Yaqoob, 2013) has concluded that there is a significant
positive relationship between the promotion, service quallity, customer expectations, brand,
physical environment, price, taste of the product and customer satisfaction. It also shows that
service quality and brand are the key factors for satisfaction in fast food industry in Peshawar,
Pakistan. The failure or success of a fast food industry is based on some factors like
Promotion, Service quality, Customer expectations, Brand, Physical Environment, Price, and
Taste of the product.

Researchers (Katona & Komáromi, 2013) have concluded that a well-planned, central
strategy cannot be prepared for the whole catering industry as even enterprises with the same
profile (warm food kitchen) show significant differences. Further, the most important task for
an enterprise is to establish and know its appropriate clientele well in order to suit its
services, selection to their requirements. However, guidelines can be sketched, providing
support for the establishment of a strategy targeting the increase of consumption and more
profitable operation.

However (Almohaimmeed, 2017) reveals that all the restaurant quality dimensions examined
have a significant and positive influence on customer satisfaction. Moreover, it can be
concluded that quality is unquestionably influential as none of the restaurants serve
prohibited foods. However, other dimensions are also very important, particularly food
quality (taste, freshness of meals and amount of food), hygiene (clean dining area and clean
staff), responsiveness (prompt service) and menu (display, variety and knowledge of items).

The study conducted at United States on The effects of restaurant attributes on Satisfaction
and Return Patronage Intentions examines the interrelationship among restaurant attributes
(including food, service, and physical environment), satisfaction and return patronage
intentions with a focus on solo diners’ experiences. The findings show that perceived quality
of food, service, and physical environment were positively related to solo diners’ satisfaction.
Satisfaction mediated the relationships between three service quality components and return
patronage intentions. Additionally, perceived food quality had a direct positive effect on
return patronage intentions of solo diners (Bae, Slevitch, & Tomas, 2018).

A study was conducted on Fast Food Restaurants in Melaka with an objective to assess
customer expectations and perception level towards service quality of the staff in five
dimensions and to analyze the discrepancy gap between customer’s expectation and
perception towards service quality of the staff.

The main objective behind conducting research on Impact of Service Quality on Customer
Satisfaction in Hotel Industry is to analyze the discrepancy gap between customers’
expectation and perception towards service quality of the front office staff. It has been
concluded that most respondents identified tangibility as the most important factor in
determining satisfaction. Further, they found that by focusing on assurance and reliability, a
hotel could achieve high levels of satisfaction and service quality. Moreover, they concluded
that the front office staffs are the nerve center of all hotels, and the front office is essential to
keep up with what is happening in all areas of the hotels (Rao & Sahu, 2013).

Service Quality Assessment within Notable Chain Restaurants of Tehran, (Ghazali &
Inanlou, 2015) has found out that among the service quality factors on time servicing,
accountability, and staff interaction were the most significant ones for the customers while
decoration and face validity was the least significant factor.

International Journal of Management and Marketing Research has conducted a research on

Percevied Service Quality in Restaurant Service: Evidence From Mauritius with an objective
to investigate service quality dimensions in restaurant services. It has come to the conclusion
that, three distinct dimensions were identified by the customers, “Food Quality-Reliability”,
“Responsiveness-Assurance-Empathy” and “Tangibles”. The findings are expected to help
the owners of restaurants in Mauritius to address the gaps and improve satisfaction level of
their customers, thereby bringing about repeat business and improving profits (Munhurrun,
2012).

Research conducted on the Influence of Service Quality on Restaurants' Customer Loyalty by

(Keshavarz, Bakhtazma, & Jamshidi, 2016), concludes that the customers’ expectation
yielded a significant effect on the customer’s perceived quality and loyalty. Although, the
effect of customers’ expectation on the customers’ satisfaction was not statistically supported.
Moreover, it was discerned that the customers’ perceived quality toward the service had a
significant effect on the customers’ satisfaction and customers’ loyalty. Finally, the result
demonstrated the existence of a significant influence imposed by the customers’ satisfaction
on the customers’ loyalty. And it also concluded that the customer loyalty has causal
relationships with satisfaction, perceived service quality, and expectation toward service
quality. In this research, four indicators were considered as dimensions of perceived service
quality including the tangible, assurance, responsibility, and reliability.

Analysis result demonstrates that the service quality dimensions consisting of responsiveness,
assurance, empathy, and tangible aspects are able to satisfy customers; meanwhile, reliability
aspect does not satisfy customers since the gap result is negative (Yulisetiarini, 2014).

The purpose of a study was to determine the effects of price, food quality, service quality,
and physical environment on customer satisfaction and brand loyalty at McDonald’s
restaurants in Morocco. After the research it came to the conclusion that generalization of
findings regarding customer satisfaction and brand loyalty at McDonald’s Maroc must be
made with caution. Different rules, backgrounds, cultures etc., exist in different Muslim
countries and should be taken into consideration when generalizing the results of this study to
other Muslim countries (Massey & Raduzzi, 2018).

b. Customer satisfaction

Another study conducted by (Sabir, fran, Akhtar, & Perv, 2013) in Customer Satisfaction in
the Restaurant Industry; Examining the Model in Local Industry Perspective with the main
objective to construct comprehensive model of customer satisfaction in fast growing
restaurant industry covering all the major dimensions. They have concluded that owners
should focus more on these four factors of service quality, physical design, product quality
and price if they think customer satisfaction as part of their marketing strategy. Yet among all
these four variables they should take service quality as the most important tool of customer
satisfaction.

According to the report (Khan N. U., 2011), which studies the Impact of Service Quality on
Customer Satisfaction: Evidence from Restaurant Industry in Pakistan, has conclued that
tangibles and responsiveness, which are the two important dimensions of service quality,
have a significant impact on the satisfaction of restaurant customers of Pakistan. Moreover
after the detailed analysis, M-commerce marketing will be a good idea to get the customer
feedback and expend business. Hence Restaurant businesses should adopt new strategies
which may help to overcome the lacunae in their marketing activities in general and customer
satisfaction in particular. Indeed it has an overall impact on firm’s performance.

It revealed that, the core service quality (the promise) and perceived value were the most
important drivers of customer satisfaction with relational service quality (the delivery) a
significant but less important driver. A direct link between customer satisfaction and future
intentions was established. A major conclusion was that both perceived value and service
quality dimensions should be incorporated into customer satisfaction models to provide a
more complete picture of the drivers of satisfaction (Muhammed, 2013).

The research conducted on the Nepalese restaurant in Finland, where analysis reveals that the
main four factors, i.e., price, ambiance, and service quality and food quality impacts customer
satisfaction. Our four hypotheses are as follows:

I. There is a positive impact of food quality on customer satisfaction

II. There is a positive relationship between price and customer satisfaction
III. There is a positive effect of ambiance on customer satisfaction
IV. There is a positive impact of service quality on customer satisfaction

Future researchers can focus on customer’s characteristics, their perception and customer
loyalty and how it affects their satisfaction for a dining experience in a restaurant as the
factors used in this research are of restaurants perspective. However, consumer’s perspective
also affects customer satisfaction to a great extent which can be studied for future research
(Karki & Panthi, 2018).

Research conducted based on customer satisfaction in restaurant service has come to the
conclusion that quality of services and meals provided by restaurant are two core factors
which influence the customer satisfaction. The customers should be treated with maximum
respect and have access to high quality services. It is important to keep the focus on the
customer while designing the restaurant’s services, internal and external layout of the
restaurant and the (Budhathoki, 2018).
Another research conducted in Istanbul (Dogdubuy & Avcikurt) on customer loyalty in the
specialty restaurant with the main objective to identify attributes of customer loyalty for the
specialty restaurants in Istanbul concludes customer loyalty, restaurants, word of mouth,
service industry play an important role in customer retention.

A research was conducted at Kuwait city on Factors Affecting Customer Loyalty in the
Restaurant service Industry with an objective to explore the critical factors of service quality,
customer value and brand image, which help to generate customer loyalty in the restaurant
industry in Kuwait. It came to the conclusion that restaurant management should not only
build and maintain a competitive edge in the restaurant industry market but should also put
more effort into improving the service quality, provide better customer value, and attain a
brand image that will finally contribute to securing customer loyalty (Aldaihani & Ali, 2018).
Chapter 3: Conceptual Frame work

Service quality and customer satisfaction are the linked and associated with the customer
perception and service quality they received. So, among the models to measures service
quality and the satisfaction of customer, a specified concept ‘SERVQUAL’ (service quality
model) can determine the relationship.

SERQUAL model has dimension to measure the service quality.

I. Reliability: ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately.

II. Responsiveness: willingness to help customers and provide prompt service.
III. Assurance: employees’ knowledge and courtesy and their ability to inspire trust and
confidence.
IV. Empathy: caring individualized attention given to customers.
V. Tangible: appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and written
materials.

These dimensions represent how consumers organize information about service quality in
their minds (Zeithaml, Gremler, Bitner, & Pandit, 2008). On the basis of exploratory and
quantitative research, these five dimensions were found relevant for our research work. This
model will mainly focus to determine the customer satisfied focus the service quality of the
tangible dimension of SERVQUAL model. As it focuses to determine the main factors for
students/lecture satisfied or not satisfied.
Above Fig.2.representd the proposed conceptual framework on the basis of tangible like
Freshness, taste, varieties, ingredients, facilities and accommodation are the main factor that
study to determine the quality of service besides factors such as uniform, conversation
(communication skill) with customer, body language, on time delivery and product
knowledge determine the service quality.

Relating the conceptual frame work (Fig) will help to access student and lecturer satisfaction
provided by restaurant towards what they perceived using tangible SERVQUAL model as
proposed by Parasuraman et al., (1988) with satisfaction and service quality can be measured
along the same dimension.
Chapter 4: methodology

4.1 Research Approach

We are using quantitative approach based on survey method. Questionnaires will be used to
obtain the data from respondents who are current students and lecturers of GCBS.

4.2 Population and Sample Details

Sampling design

The procedure or the sampling technique that the group of researchers will use is stratified
random sampling. Stratified random sampling can when a population is heterogeneous in
nature, In such case the entire heterogeneous population is divided into a number of
homogenous groups called strata or sub population. Then units are sampled at random from
each stratum. The sample which is the set of all sampling units drawn from each strata is
called stratified sample and this technique of drawing a sample is called stratified random
sampling.

Sample size

In our research, the target population will be 1603 students, 147 lecturers and staff of GCBS.
Since the population is finite, the sample size will be determined by the formula given by
Taro Yamanes (1970).

N
𝑛 = 1+𝑁(𝑒)2

1750
𝑛 = 1+1750(0.05)2

1750
𝑛 = 5.375

𝑛 = 326

Where:

n= sample size

N= Population
e= error/ significance level

e= 0.05

Where:

n= sample size

N= Population

e= error/ significance level

e= 0.05

Student= 1603*(326/1750) = 299

n=299

Lecturer and staffs= 147*(326/1750) =27

n=27

Where the sample size comes around 326. It basically tells that the decision/ output will be
drawn from 326 respondents which include 299 respondents from the students and 27
respondents from the staffs.

[You need to mention how many units will be sampled from each stratum (staff and
students). Is it proportionate or disproportionate stratified random sampling?]

4.3 data collection procedure

The preparation of this project will be based on a large proportion on the primary data
collected using questionnaire and depth interviews.

Primary Data

We will be using primary data collected through personal interview method and questionnaire
method.
Personal Interview Method

In order to have appropriate data, information can be collected through personal interviews.

Questionnaire Method

Questionnaires Method is one of the popular methods of collecting data. In period of framing
questionnaires like open ended questions, multiple responses and real life situation are taken
into consideration.

4.4 data analysis procedure

We will be analyzing the data using SPSS. Analysis of the data collected from the sample
will be analyzed through Z-test to determine the relationship between the dependent
(satisfaction level) and independent (Responsiveness, product/service quality, physical design
and price) variables. Performing this test can be more appropriate as the sample size is large
(n>30) and the population variance is known. (Z test is used to determine relationship
between variables???)

The analysis will done by;

Scaling Technique: The students will be asked to rate using Likert five-point scale that is :
1. Strongly agree
2. Agree
3. Neutral
4. Disagree
Strongly disagree.

4.5 data presentation

The main body will be in textual form but most important data will be presented in the form
of tables, graphs (line graphs and bar graphs) and charts (pie chart).
Chapter 5: significant of study

The Gedu locality restaurants are not able to give full satisfaction to their customers and not
able to achieve certain level of the customer’s expectations. So, we would like to find what is
lacking in which field. The outcome of this study will be ways to improve the service quality
of the restaurants. It is very important for them to keep their customers satisfied as it will lead
to customer retention as well. For restaurants, it is very essential to know and understand the
concept of customer satisfaction and how they can improve and meet the requirements of the
customers.

It is expected that the findings of this study can be useful for managers of restaurants. This
can be useful to identify what is right or wrong in providing services with the ultimate aim of
retaining their customers while in turn capturing market share and revenue. Very little, if any,
research has been undertaken to measure service quality of restaurants in the context of
Bhutan. The purpose of this study is to contribute to the literature of service quality
importance in restaurant industry of Bhutan.

Therefore, this paper serves as a proposal of feasible improvements to the restaurant owners
and managers to design and deliver right offerings and strategies in Gedu. On the other hand,
the study will also serve as a reference material for any person who would like to conduct
research on the service quality and customer satisfaction in the restaurant industry.
Chapter 6: Research Schedule (not filled up)

Time table
Schedule Date Activities
xxxx Distribution of questionnaire
Xxxx Data collection
Xxxx Analysis and interpretation

Ethical Considerations

 Research participants will not be subjected to any harm in anyways whatsoever.

 Respect for the dignity of research participant will be prioritized.
 Will obtain full consent from the participants prior to the study.
 Privacy of research participants will be protected and ensued.
 Adequate level of confidentiality of the research data will be ensured.
 Communication in relation with the research will be done with honesty and
transparency.
 Respondents have right to withdraw from the study at any stage if they wish to do so
and we will ensure that the participants will participate voluntarily.

We will ensure quality, impartiality, independence and integrity of our research.

 Chapter 7: References

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