The perception of service quality in automotive services: A comparison of consumers receiving automotive services from authorized and private service enterprises

In this study, it is aimed to compare the service quality perceived by consumers in authorized and private automotive services and to examine the effects of perceived service quality on consumer behavior. Automotive services generally consist of two groups: authorized services that are affiliated to a distributor and have standards, and special services that are largely independent and have a wide range of features. Studies show that after the end of the warranty period, automobile owners turn to private services rather than authorized services. The main purpose of this study is to understand whether there is a difference between the authorized and private services in terms of the perceived service quality, based on the idea that it will contribute to explain this situation. Because, it is thought that the service quality perception regarding the private special service is similar to the service quality perception of the authorized service, and this may be one of the reasons why authorized services lose their customers. The study also aims to examine the effects of perceived service quality on affective commitment, brand satisfaction, brand loyalty, word-of-mouth communication and brand switching behavior, and to test whether these effects differ among consumers who prefer authorized services and private services. Within the scope of the study, the SERVQUAL Scale developed by Parasuraman, Berry and Zeithaml (1991); The scales used in other studies dealing with service quality in automotive service enterprises in the literature and in line with the qualitative preliminary studies conducted within the scope of this thesis study were adapted to measure service quality in authorized and private automotive service enterprises. The telephone questionnaire method was used to test whether the cause-effect relationships between the variables in the model of the study and their effects on each other differ in terms of authorized and private service customers. Data were collected from 302 car owners who stated that they preferred to receive services from authorized services and 313 car owners who stated that they preferred to receive services from private services. According to the findings obtained as a result of the analysis of the research data, it was seen that the effects in the structural model were mostly confirmed. However, the multi-group analysis also showed that the effects for both consumer groups did not differ, but were similar. In addition, it has been observed that there are differences between the mean values of the three dimensions of perceived service quality in automotive authorized and private service enterprises, customer satisfaction, brand loyalty, word-of-mouth communication towards the brand and brand switching behavior. In addition, it has been determined that demographic characteristics, model year of the owned car and insured car status are related to the preference of authorized or private service.