The Role of Service Quality in Shaping Customer Satisfaction in the Hospitality and Tourism Sector

Section 1: Critical literature review

Introduction

Tourism and Hospitality sector are related to accommodation, food and beverages, and other connected services, which intend to satisfy visitors, and provide multiple services (Barusman, et al. 2019). Over time, the hospitality and tourism industry has grown as one of the largest service sectors and has a direct and indirect impact on the world economy. This sector is one of the major components of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and is an active source of employment for local people, in different nations (Rao, 2014). On the other hand, market players in the hospitality industry face a lot of competition and rivalry and adopt cut-throat strategies to survive. Additionally, Hospitality companies aim to meet customer’s needs and expectations to remain sustainable and get repeat business (Ali et al. 2021). This means that the hospitality and tourism business focuses on customer satisfaction or satisfaction, which is related to multi-dimensional factors, including: service or product quality, customer value, destination image, perceived values, based on customer loyalty and word of mouth (WoM), etc. (Prayag et al. 2019).  

Due to its popularity, academic researchers have taken an interest in this domain and conducted prolonged research.  Past studies have presented that customer satisfaction is a major component in measuring satisfaction in the hospitality and tourism industry. Also, past studies have claimed that customer satisfaction directly influences customer retention, loyalty, and overall area success (Barusman, et al. 2019). Hence, it is important to understand and accurately measure the level of customer satisfaction, as it helps companies refine their services, and products, to meet customer needs, and remain competitive, in the market. Therefore, this literature review aims to explore past studies to evaluate issues, concepts, methods, and techniques associated with measuring customer satisfaction in the hospitality and tourism industry. Furthermore, the critical literature view will be followed by a critical reflection section.

Discussion

Due to the rapid growth of the hospitality industry, past researchers and scholars have paid a lot of attention to this sector, which involves businesses like: hotels, restaurants, leisure clubs, and resorts. Before, initiating the critical review of concepts and issues related to this domain, some authors defined hospitality as the basic provision of products, like: food, drinks, shelter, and other hygienic amenities for travelers (Pijls et al. 2017). While some explained hospitality as the attitude and behaviour of the service employees toward their guests (Noor et al. 2017). Whereas, tourism is defined as a service sector, which entertains travelers, traveling for business, and leisure, etc. (Nurmatov, et al. 2021). Furthermore, research journals have increased the credibility and acceptability of the tourism and hospitality sector, by conducting different aspects of this area. Many research papers have discussed the evolution of this sector and emerging topics related to it. According to (PJ et al. 2023), service quality and customer satisfaction (SQCS) have emerged as a leading topic in the tourism and hospitality sector in most research studies. Therefore, this critical review will mainly focus on this theme.

Service quality and customer satisfaction (with sub-themes) in the tourism industry