Evaluation of the effect of socio-demographic, reputation and word of mouth on customer satisfaction regarding service quality: Case of Atatürk Öğrenci Yurdu (AÖY)

In this study the relationship between satisfaction, reputation and WOM in Turkey's most modern dormitory has been analyzed. For a quantitative study, data have been collected from a sample of 355 students via online questionaire and analized with SPSS.20. The validity of these data has been tested with Cronbach's Alpha. The result reveiled every item as relevant. When any item is deleting, Cronbach's alpha value decreases. An analyze of socio-demographic factors showed 89,6% of the customersas benefiting AÖY's services between ]9 -15 months] and 10,4% [0 - 9 months]. They come from Marmara (21,7%), Black sea region, Aegean (10,4%), East Anatolia (9,6%) and Central Anatolia (9%) region. 35,4% of the customers are completing their first university degree while 27,9% are in their second year and 1,4% in their master degree. 46,8% are studying scientific, 43,9% social sciences and 9,3% other fields. Concerning the monthly stipend, 3,9% perceive more than 1200TL while 48,5% have [401 - 600TL], 21,4% [601-900TL] and 17,5% less than 400TL. With 6,2% doing part time and 2,7% full time job, the majority of customers (90%) are jobless. The evaluation of customer satisfaction with SERVQUAL model resulted in finding a level of customer expectancy higher than the perception of service quality. With ANOVA test of socio-demographic factors, we concluded that there is only a relationship between education, customer satisfaction, reputation and WOM. As for the relationship between satisfaction, WOM and reputation, the Moderator Regression analysis showed a significant positive relationship between these variables altogether. Key words: Customer satisfaction, Word of Mouth, reputation, socio-demographic factors