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Customer Satisfaction within Live Performing Arts The Case of Programbolaget i Jönköping Master’s thesis within Business Administration Author: Aliaksandra Ramanava Maria Franziska Scholl Tutor: Adele Berndt Jönköping May 2012 Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Adele Berndt, supervisor and associate professor of business administration, for her guidance and support in the process of writing this master thesis. The authors are also thankful for the help provided by Lotta Axelsson and Krister Hertz from Programbolaget i Jönköping, who made this research possible by giving insight into their organization and supporting the data collection. Special thanks for their outstanding help to Fredrik Arnesson and Mick Saywell. Finally grateful thanks to all visitors of Programbolaget i Jönköping who took their time to fill in the survey and participate in the interviews and special thanks to the fellow students in our thesis-seminar for their constructive feedback and advice. Aliaksandra Ramanava Maria Franziska Scholl Master’s Thesis in Business Administration Title: Customer Satisfaction within Live Performing Arts: The Case of Programbolaget i Jönköping Author: Aliaksandra Ramanava Maria Franziska Scholl Tutor: Adele Berndt Date: 2012-05-14 Subject terms: Non-profit cultural institution, live performing arts, services marketing mix, service quality, SERVPERF, customer satisfaction, customer expectation Abstract Background Live performing arts are one of the most important heritages, defining the cultural identity of a society. Since live performing arts are cultural services, the process of experiencing them is pivotal in forming satisfaction on the customer side. Achieving customer satisfaction is crucial for non-profit cultural institutions operating under the Swedish cultural model. An investigation of the achieved level of customer satisfaction and a comparison to customer expectations is therefore necessary for offering cultural services, which meet customer expectations. Since service quality and hence customer satisfaction can be controlled via the elements of the services marketing mix, the authors focused on investigating the marketing mix of Programbolaget i Jönköping (PJ). Purpose The authors wish to investigate to what extent PJ’s current audiences are satisfied with the quality of the services marketing mix provided by PJ, what customers expect from it and what managerial implications can be advised to improve the service. Method The authors use a mixed methods approach. Quantitative data about customer satisfaction is collected via a questionnaire, which applies a five point Likert scale. Descriptive and non-parametric statistics are used in the data processing. Semi-structured interviews with PJ and customers are conducted to obtain information about the nature of PJ and customer expectations. Conclusion The conclusions drawn from this study are that the overall level of satisfaction with PJs services marketing mix among PJ’s customers is satisfying, while deviations between the different elements exist, where the elements price, promotion and product score lowest. It is also found that some parameters of the marketing mix have significant levels of importance for customer groups. Customer expectations regarding the services, which scored low, were investigated through interviews. Based on the conducted statistical tests and the expectations of the customers, recommendations regarding PJ’s services are made in order to increase customer satisfaction. I Abbreviations CS – Customer Satisfaction JT – Jönköping’s Teater JK – Jönköping’s Konserthus LPA – Live Performing Art PJ – Programbolaget i Jönköping AB RP – Research Problem RQ – Research Question SERVPERF – Service Performance SERVQUAL – Service Quality SPSS – Statistical Package for Social Sciences II Table of Contents 1 Introduction ..................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background .............................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Problem statement .................................................................................................. 2 1.3 Purpose ..................................................................................................................... 2 1.4 Research questions .................................................................................................. 2 1.5 Delimitations ............................................................................................................ 3 1.6 Definitions................................................................................................................ 3 2 Frame of reference ...........................................................................5 2.1 Definition and structure of LPAs ......................................................................... 5 2.2 Peculiarities of LPA venues ................................................................................... 6 2.2.1 Customer demand ..................................................................................... 6 2.2.2 LPA economics and market structure .................................................... 8 2.2.3 Swedish cultural policy .............................................................................. 9 2.3 The marketing mix of LPA services ..................................................................... 9 2.4 Product ................................................................................................................... 10 2.4.1 Intangibility ............................................................................................... 10 2.4.2 Heterogeneity ........................................................................................... 10 2.4.3 Inseparability ............................................................................................ 10 2.4.4 Perishability............................................................................................... 11 2.4.5 Product concept in PJ ............................................................................. 11 2.5 Price......................................................................................................................... 11 2.5.1 Hedonic market approach ...................................................................... 12 2.5.2 Travel cost approach ............................................................................... 12 2.5.3 Pricing in PJ .............................................................................................. 13 2.6 Place ........................................................................................................................ 13 2.6.1 Internal scale economies ......................................................................... 13 2.6.2 External scale economies........................................................................ 14 2.6.3 PJ’s location logic..................................................................................... 14 2.7 Promotion .............................................................................................................. 15 2.7.1 Promotion in PJ ....................................................................................... 15 2.8 People ..................................................................................................................... 16 2.8.1 People in PJ .............................................................................................. 17 2.9 Process .................................................................................................................... 17 2.9.1 Service as a process in PJ ........................................................................ 18 2.10 Physical evidence ................................................................................................... 19 2.10.1 Physical evidence in PJ............................................................................ 19 2.11 Customer satisfaction ........................................................................................... 19 2.12 Service quality ........................................................................................................ 20 3 Methodology .................................................................................. 23 3.1 Research design ..................................................................................................... 23 3.2 Research approach ................................................................................................ 23 3.3 Population .............................................................................................................. 24 3.4 Sampling method .................................................................................................. 25 3.5 Sample size ............................................................................................................. 25 3.6 Data collection ....................................................................................................... 26 3.6.1 Interviews with PJ.................................................................................... 26 3.6.2 Interviews with customers ...................................................................... 26 III 3.6.3 Questionnaire ........................................................................................... 27 3.6.4 Pilot study: Questionnaire .....................................................................