Service quality, image and loyalty towards Malaysian hotels Tat-Huei Cham*
Faculty of Accountancy Management,
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman,
Bandar Sungai Long, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia
E-mail: jaysoncham@gmail.com
*Corresponding author
Yalini Easvaralingam
Faculty of Business, Communications and Law,
INTI International University,
71800 Putra Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
E-mail: yalini.easvaralingam@newinti.edu.my
Abstract: The rapid growth of the hotel industry in the first decade of the
21st century forced hotel operators to critically acknowledge the importance of service improvement in order to gain competitive advantage. Therefore, identifying the factors that influence the quality of services of hotels is critical for the success of the hotels. Corporate image and customer loyalty should also be emphasised to ensure the sustainability of the hotels in this competitive industry. Hence, this study is conducted to discover the factors influencing perceived service quality of Malaysian hotels, as well as exploring the relationship between perceived service quality with customer loyalty and corporate image. Additionally, this study is one of the few studies on quality certification related to the demand perspective and also on the mediating role of image on the relationship between service quality and loyalty in the hotel industry. Keywords: service quality; customer loyalty; corporate image; quality certifications; International Organization for Standardization; ISO; cultural differences; Malaysia.
Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Cham, T-H. and
Easvaralingam, Y. (xxxx) ‘Service quality, image and loyalty towards
Malaysian hotels’, Int. J. Services, Economics and Management, Vol. X,
No. Y, pp.000–000.
Biographical notes: Tat-Huei Cham is currently a PhD candidate at the
Faculty of Accountancy and Management, Universiti Tunku Abdul
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