RESEARCH TITLE

IDENTIFYING SMILING FACE & STORE ENVIRONMENT AS KEY

COMPONENT TOWARDS CUSTOMER SATISFACTION WITH
MODERATING EFFECT OF JIT (JUST IN TIME).

PERSONAL INFORMATION
Name:
Usman Nisar (032)
Zain Arif (116)
Faiza Fayyaz (044)
Ayesha Arshad (152)
Salman Ali (026)
Umer Iftikhar (122)

E-mail:

usman.nisar1994@yahoo.com

Full Time/ Part Time:

Supervisor:

Full Time
Ms. Rizwana Hameed

Institute of Business & Management

University of Engineering and Technology
Lahore

Project Background:

Consumer buying behaviour is a very complex method, which is getting more

complex with the passage of time. In the early 1800 the choice for the consumer was
very limited so the buying behaviour was simple. But after the industrial revolution
and development of societies the awareness of brands spread and choice of buying
increased for the consumer. There are two major ways for the consumer to purchase a
product i.e.; impulse buying and planned buying. When a consumer is buying routine
products he does not emphasize on the details of quality and price of that product,
otherwise known as impulse buying. (Bellenger, Robertson and Hirschman 1978).
Whereas, on the other hand when a consumer is looking for infrequently purchased
product he carefully evaluates the quality and price of that product, which is known as
planned buying (Halpern, D.F. 1989). Planned buying is done through a series of
processes which are: 1) problem recognition 2) information search 3) evaluation 4)
purchase.
The element of encounter satisfaction (customer satisfaction) affects the purchase
decision of the customer. It means if a customer has carefully searched and evaluated
the information to make a purchase decision but if at that time he does not feel
comfortable with the service providers behavior who is selling that product,
regardless of the evaluation of the overall firms services, the customer will not buy
that product and thus the encounter satisfaction will ultimately diminish.
It has been proved through different studies that in service sector when selling a
product, the sales person uses different type of tactics to increase the customer
satisfaction (Ashforth and Humphrey, 1993; Gosserand and Diefendorff, 2005;
Grandey, 2003; Judge et al., 2009). These tactics include the use of body language in
an effective way such that the customer would feel comfortable while dealing with the
sales staff of a firm. Facial expressions are most prominent while using the body
language and smile is the key factor to gain the customer attention. Many studies have
shown that now a day almost every renowned firm in the world is accumulating
service with a smile as a job requirement (Tidd & Lockard, 1978). Because when a
service provider deals a customer with a smile the customer feels emotional
connection towards the service provider, which ultimately affects the purchase
decision. Moreover, the customers intention to return to a store increases.

Emotions of the service provider are not the only factor that can influence customer
satisfaction, service environment is also a key factor that can affect customer
satisfaction. The emphasis of service environment in not limited to the customers, it
also affects the behavior of the service providers, which will ultimately lead toward
satisfaction. The ambiance of the store, music, air quality, light, and odor are the
foremost elements of service environment. Presence of these elements can lead
towards delight resulting from service environment influence the in-store behaviors
such as spending levels, amount of time spent in the store, and keenness to revisit
(Donovan and Rossiter, 1982). Therefore, service environment plays a vital role in the
delivery of services because environment can boost up not only the emotions of
customers but also the emotions of service providers.
As discussed earlier that customer satisfaction can be affected by a number of
variables and in this study we are going to study the impact of JIT (just in time) as a
moderator on encounter satisfaction Just in time is a concept of manufacturing its
application makes the manufacturing environment relatively easier. Just in time do
not focus on product, but on process. In service it includes both employee process that
add value in the input and create end product, much like manufacturing. Unlike the
usage of JIT in the production sector, the service sector applies JIT on the time taken
to the deliver a specific service, and this phenomenon is also known as response time
(Stevenson, 1999). As JIT focus on the processes, its application can be applied to any
industry related to processes whether manufacturing or services. It makes processes
more efficient. The service aspects essential in JIT operation are examined by
Mclachlin (1990). He argues that operations of service firm are similar to the essential
service aspects of JIT operations to respond the operational problems JIT firms will
act in ways characteristics of service firm.
To further simplify the concept of JIT, it is a waste elimination and process oriented
philosophy. JIT techniques should be applied in both manufacturing and service firms,
employ processes to create an end product or service (Chase and Aquilano1992)

Literature Review:

One should hide personal problems with a smile on face because if customer left
your place unhappy there is no comeback (Steinberg & Figart, 1999). In another
research smile is quoted as fundamental element in service encounter regardless of
how authentic customer perceive it. (Rafaeli & Sutton, 1987). But another research
also proposed that inauthentic emotion display weakens the perceived advantages of
service with smile (Ashforth &Humphrey, 1993; Grandey, 2000). It is also said that
authentic smile boost customer positive response although other encounter agents may
act as constraint to this. (e.g., Frank et al., 1993; Surakka & Hietanen, 1998). With
passage of time and emergence of new technologies, theories and researches many
concepts which were limited only to manufacturing proved equally important to
service sector as well. JIT is one of these concept on which recently researchers laid
stress on its importance in services. JIT is a functional concept in order to banish
anything except those processes which add value to product or (chase et al., 1998;
Hernandez, 1989; Krajewski and Ritzman, 1999; Schlesinger and Heskett, 1991).
Unlike JIT in manufacturing in case of services JIT includes emphasis on rapidness of
service delivery to customer. (Stevenson, 1999). In another research it is also cleared
that services with monotonous operations with big volumes can gain more from JIT
concept. (Krajewski and Ritzman, 1999). Satisfaction is assessment relying on
buying and consuming any commodity

over time. (Anderson,Fornell and

Lehmann,1994).In reality satisfaction is a positive response of a person

which he resulting after using a product. (Westbroom, 1980). Satisfaction
is an intuitive medium that is observational and best evaluated after using
any product or service. (Ostrom and Lacobucci, 1995). Satisfaction is in
general emotional respond to a imagination difference between previous expectations
and imagination presentation after its consumption (Oliver, 1980, 1999).The main
asset of an organization is its customers, an organizations success fully depends upon
its customers, the more the customer happier from the services the more the
organization will be successful, so the organizations are focuses on how to fully
entertain the customers by meeting customer expectations through putting the best
forth efforts. Organizations provide services through different ways; positive facial
expression is one of them.

Relationship between Variables

When youre smiling, keep on smiling
The whole world smiles with you.
Providing service with a smile is found to enhance customer satisfaction, and a job
requirement as well (Tidd & Lockard, 1978), increasing number of return to a store
(Tsai, 2001), and satisfaction (Brown &Sulzer-Azaroff, 1994). In the past, service
researchers have suggested that providing service with a smile generate more
customers, positive attitudes and behaviors throughout the process till and even after
the customer expectations met, (Oliver, 1997; Parasuraman, Zeithaml, & Berry, 1985).
Providing service with a smile has been shown to result in satisfying encounters
(Brown &Sulzer-Azaroff, 1994).
In the United States a well-known job expectation is providing services with a smile,
and as such is linked with quality service in customers minds (Rafaeli& Sutton,
1987). According to general perspective, smiling shows a desire to connect with
others and to continue a current relation and indicates a better customer service
(Manstead, Fischer, &Jakobs, 1999). More explicitly, customer satisfaction can be
created by smiling employees through influencing appraisals of service quality
(Grove & Fisk, 1989; Oliver, 1997).
Moreover, positive expressions have been associated to proficiency attributes, such as
overall efficient performance and high service quality particularly (Grandey, Fisk,
Mattila, 1230 Academy of Management Journal December Jansen, & Sideman, 2005;
Staw&Barsade, 1993), High service quality appraisals directly forecast encounter
satisfaction (Cronin & Taylor, 1992; Gottlieb, Grewal, & Brown, 1994), by improving
the customers appraisal of the service quality; a smiling employee may increase a
customers satisfaction.
Service with a smile in these brief encounters was satisfying to the customers because
it led to high ratings of quality service. This finding was consistent with those of other
studies showing that a smiling person is viewed more positively on both interpersonal
and competence dimensions than one who smiles less frequently (e.g., Clark
&Taraban, 1991; Staw&Barsade, 1993. Past researches have proved customers
positive moods, enhanced through positive emotions display by the service providers,

in turn, increases satisfaction (Brown and SulzerAzaroff, 1994; Hennig-Thurau et al.,

2006), and leads to willingness to return and positive word-of mouth which are the
elements of positive behavioral intentions (Brown and Sulzer-Azaroff, 1994; HennigThurau et al., 2006; Ford, 1995; Tsai and Huang, 2002).
During service transactions front-line employees are required to display positive
emotions, such as warmth and friendliness, in most service industries, (Ashforth and
Humphrey, 1993). A combination of spoken words and socially acceptable facial
expressions and tones of voice are the parts of such sentimental service delivery (Tsai,
2001; Wharton and Erickson, 1993) About the appropriate emotions and expressions
in service encounter, employees are usually trained What the employee is really
experiencing at the time are not always these emotions. While coping with unpleasant
customers and circumstances, the efforts it takes to maintain a smiling face often leads
to emotional labor (Hochschild, 1983; Grandey, 2000). It is therefore important to
differentiate between true inner emotions and the emotions that they learn to express
(Pugh, 2001; Rafaeli and Sutton, 1990). Employees can be trained not to show
personal emotions that they are actually felt; however, research suggests that the inner
emotions remain significant in emotional delivery (Sutton, 1991; Pugh, 2001). Ekman
(1985) it is found that accurate emotions (both positive and negative) are usually
articulated even when attempting to differentiate them usually through facial cues
and vocal expressions. During service delivery employees will display more positive
emotions if they are experiencing a positive inner emotional state, suggested in the
past (George, 1991; Pugh, 2001).Services provided by the service provider that
customer just has experienced, customer attitude about that service is referred to as
encounter satisfaction (Oliver, 1997). Customer attitude about service experienced is
an important performance indicator; researchers have shown that encounter
satisfaction is connected with desired customer behaviors (e.g., Athanassopoulos,
Gounaris, & Stathakopoulos, 2001; Gottlieb, Grewal, & Brown, 1994
For making judgments customers are likely to use store environment as tangible cues
(Jang and Namkung, 2009). Customers respond sensitively to a variety of store
environments have shown in many empirical studies (e.g. Bitner, 1992; Sherman et
al., 1997; Wakefield and Baker, 1998), which include both design and ambient factors
(Baker et al., 1994; Sherman et al., 1997). Store environmental elements are related to
design factors that are more visual in nature, including layout, facilities and colour,
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Elements such as air, lighting, music, and scent, are non-visual, background
conditions in the environment of ambient factors. Customer satisfaction is linked with
physical environment creates in-store experiences (Babin and Darden, 1996; Chebat
et al., 1995; Burns and Neisner, 2006; Morrison and Beverland, 2003). In other words,
physical environments prompt emotional reactions in customers (Babin and Darden,
1996; Baker et al., 1992; Donovan et al., 1994; Tsai and Huang, 2002; Wakefield and
Blodgett, 1999).
Just in time is a concept of manufacturing its application makes the manufacturing
environment relatively easier. Just in time do not focus on product, but on process. In
service it includes both employee process that add value in the input and create end
product, much like manufacturing. In the context of services just in time focuses on
the time to deliver the service (Stevenson, 1999) so it can be relate to response time.
As JIT focus on the processes, its application can be applied to any industry related to
processes whether manufacturing or services. It makes processes more efficient. The
service aspects essential in JIT operation are examined by Mclachlin (1990). He
argues that operations of service firm are similar to the essential service aspects of JIT
operations to respond the operational problems JIT firms will act in ways
characteristics of service firm.
To further simplify the concept of JIT, it is a waste elimination and process oriented
philosophy. JIT techniques should be applied in both manufacturing and service firms,
employ processes to create an end product or service (Chase and Aquilano1992).
Processes oriented manufacturing adopt following JIT concept (Benson 1986), as

total visibility of equipment, people, material and processes

synchronization and balance of production to sales and supply to

production
respect for people line operators are responsible for production,

problem solving and improvement

flexibility adapt production to customer needs
continuous improvement never satisfied with the process
responsibility for the operations environment those who design,
manage and operate the processes are responsible for the outcome

Holistic approach company-wide philosophy of elimination of

waste. Each of these JIT themes may be applicable to service
organizations.

These JIT concepts can be applied in service organizations. Benson (1986) argues
that, in real, service operations are based on organized systems of production
processes with same improvement potential as manufacturing operations, through the
application of JIT concepts (Berry,1980), while a service firm produces a deed, a
performance, or an effort. A research study shows a negative relationship between
long response time and consumer satisfaction (Chebat and Filiatrault, 1993; Katz et
al., 1991).
Problem Statement:

This research paper is to find out the relationship between smiling face, store
environment and customer satisfaction taking JIT (Just in Time) as a moderator in
service sector.
Objectives:

To develop a conceptual framework for assessing the impact of store

environment/smiling face of service provider upon customers.
To test the models practicability in evaluating the impact of smiling face/store
environment by using quantitative research conducted in the actual service
setting.
Hypothesis:
H1: There is a significant relationship between store environment and encounter
satisfaction.
H2: There is moderating role of JIT (just in time) on the relationship of store
environment and encounter satisfaction.
H3: There is a significant relationship between smiling face of service provider and
encounter satisfaction.
H4: There is moderating role of JIT (just in time) on the relationship of smiling face
(service provider) and encounter satisfaction.

Theoretical Framework:

Store Environment
Music
Light
Odor
Layout
Display
Space

Smiling Face
Attractiveness of Smile
Satisfaction with Smile

Encounter Satisfaction

JIT (Just in Time)

Methodology:

Research design:
The type of this study is Exploratory Study because we use Just in time as a
moderator in the relation of smiling face, store environment and customer satisfaction
first time in history. No researcher before identified this relation in the sector of fast
food restaurants. This could not be descriptive or explanatory because in descriptive
we describe characteristics and explanatory we describe after effect of something.

Time Setting
This is cross sectional study because we gather data from our sample only one time.
This is a non-contrived setting because this is correlation study and field study with
minimum interference in it.

Extent of Researcher Interference

The extent of researchers interference is minimum and known as Field study.

Study Population
The population of this research is customers of all fast food chain restaurants.

Sampling Technique/Sample size

The sampling technique which is used is convenient sampling and the sample size is
150.

Data Collection
Data will be collected from the customers of fast food chain restaurants of Lahore

Instrument(s) Used
The instruments used for this research study was questionnaire with
the response based on a Likert Scale. Each question offered a 5
scale optional answer for each question that stood for

1=Strongly Disagree
2=Disagree
3=Neutral
4=Agree
5= Strongly Agree

The questionnaire was filled by 150 employees of bank. Who were

selected as the samples there were no right or wrong answers and

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responses to each question by each participant were recorded in the

SPSS software

Statistical Procedure Used

Raw data of the questionnaire will be computed directly into the
Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS), which will be
employed to compute the data gain in the study.

Limitations of the study

The study is limited because the use of a questionnaire as a data collection Instrument.
It is limited to customers of fast food chain restaurants. Another limitation is that it is
only for fast food restaurants located in Lahore However, their ethnic backgrounds
and ages will be taken into consideration.

Time Line
This graph shows the proposed time frame in which the study will be completed.

FEEDBACK SHEET

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Feedback on Project Proposal:

Quality of the Strategic Project overview and objectives (50%)

Literature review synopsis and methodological synopsis (50%)

FINAL MARK:

/ 100 marks

Any actions to be discussed with Local Tutor:

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and service relationship on customer tipping behavior .
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management ,
293-306.
PUGH, S. D. (2001). SERVICE WITH A SMILE: EMOTIONAL CONTAGION IN
THE SERVICE ENCOUNTER. Academy of Management Journal , 10181027.
Qiang Tua, M. A.-N. (2001). The impact of time-based manufacturing
practices on mass customization and value to customer . Journal of
Operations Management , 201-217.
Rosengren, M. S. (2008). Revisiting the smiling service worker and
customer satisfaction . International Journal of Service Industry
Management, 552-574.
John T. Bowen Shiang-Lih Chen, (2001),"The relationship between
customer loyalty and customer satisfaction", International Journal of
Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 13 Iss 5 pp. 213 217.
Leslie K. Duclos Samia M. Sih Rhonda R. Lummus, (1995),"JIT in services: a
review of current practices and future directions for research",
International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 6 Iss 5
pp. 36 52.
Steve Greenland Peter McGoldrick, (2005),"Evaluating the design of retail
financial service environments", International Journal of Bank
Marketing, Vol. 23 Iss 2 pp. 132 - 152

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