The Role of Intercultural Communication Competence on Service Reliability and Customer Satisfaction

• Published in: Journal of Economic and Social Studies (Online) Vol. 5; no. 1; p. 145
• Main Authors: Ihtiyar, Ali, Sh. Ahmad, Fauziah
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sarajevo International Burch University 01.04.2015
• Subjects: Competition; Cultural differences; Customer satisfaction; Customer services; Intercultural communication; Literature reviews; Marketing; Multiculturalism & pluralism; Perceptions; Quality of service; Retail stores; Structural equation modeling; Studies
• ISSN: 1986-8499; 1986-8502
• DOI: 10.14706/JECOSS11518

The article presents an inclusive framework on three major constructs namely intercultural communication competence, service reliability and customer satisfaction in the grocery retail settings in Malaysia. The constructs' validity and reliability were examined based on structural equation modeling. Based on the proposed framework, a number of propositions were developed to facilitate empirical investigation on intercultural communication competences of the selected grocery retail outlets. This contributes to the development of a theory based path model that links the intercultural communication competence to service reliability and customer satisfaction. While numerous scholars have considered the extensive topics of service quality and customer satisfaction, however, none of those studies explored on the critical role of intercultural communication competence and incorporated the construct with perceived service quality and customer satisfaction. One of the most critical finding of the study is the dimension of perceived service quality and intercultural communication competence have positive relationship and it also progressive finding for further research on other dimensions of perceived service quality.