International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology (IJMET)

Volume 9, Issue 2, February 2018, pp. 74–87, Article ID: IJMET_09_02_008

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ISSN Print: 0976-6340 and ISSN Online: 0976-6359

© IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed

IMPACT OF CONSUMERS’ PERCEPTION ON

THE SERVICE QUALITY OF FAST-FOOD
SECTOR
Gautam Shandilya
Department of HMCT, BIT, Mesra, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India

Saumya Singh
Department of Management Studies, ISM, Dhanbad, Jharkhand, India

A.R. Srivastava
Department of Management, BIT Lalpur, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India

ABSTRACT
Service Quality is one of the important parameter which have to be taken into
consideration by firms within the service industry. Given that the business
environment which is highly competitive, there is the need for firms to ensure that they
have in place various kinds of measures which can ensure that there are
improvements in the quality of the services which they are offering. This report is
mainly aimed at offering a literature review on consumers’ perception of the service
quality of fast-food sector in Jharkhand. It has given an overview of the food service
industry, fast food restaurants, and fast-food sector of Jharkhand besides exploring
the service quality research. The report explores that some of the five service
dimensions which the customers care about includes reliability, responsiveness,
assurance, empathy and tangibles. At the same time, the research has to a great extent
explored the service quality in the restaurant industry. Conceptualization of service
quality within the fast-food restaurant industry has also been provided by the
research.. As the work investigates, firms in the fast food industry ought to devise a
number of strategies in order to ensure that they offer high quality work. This will play
a major role in enhancing their profitability through a number of ways
Key words: Food; Quality; Service; Industry; Customer; Pattern.
Cite this Article: Gautam Shandilya, Saumya Singh, A.R. Srivastava, Impact of
Consumers’ Perception on the Service Quality of Fast-Food Sector, International
Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Technology 9(2), 2018, pp. 74–87.
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 Impact of Consumers’ Perception on the Service Quality of Fast-Food Sector

1. INTRODUCTION
Foodservice, also referred to as the catering business generally refers to the institutions,
businesses, as well as the firms which offer meals which are prepared outside homes (Vinagre
& Neves, 2008). The industry is composed of schools, restaurants, hospital cafeterias, catering
operations among others. The firms which supply foodservice operators are referred to as
foodservice distributors (Nitin, Deshmukh & Perm, 2005). Foodservice distributors are selling
goods such as small wares as well as foods. The food service industry involves every activity,
services, as well as the business functions which are involved in the preparation and in
serving food to individuals who are eating away from the home. This entails every kind of
restaurant from fine dining to the fast food providers. At the same time, it entails institutional
food operations at locations like hospitals and schools together with other specialty vendors
like the catering businesses as well as food truck operators (Cavana, Corbett & Lo, 2007).
The changes within the modern society like an increase in the number of working women
and single households has resulted into the growth in the food service industry market. The
food service industry is generally characterised by an increase in the level of competition and
a rise in the costs of operations within the industry (Bakar, C., Akgůn & Al Assaf, 2008). At
the same time, a change in the needs of the consumers is also one of the key issues which
have to be addressed by the firms in the foodservice industry (Beatson, Lings & Gudergan,
2008). The study provides the in depth detail regarding the customer perception regarding
food sector in Jharkhand.

2. FAST FOOD RESTAURANTS

Fast food restaurant, is also referred to as quick service restaurant (QSR). This refers to a
given kind of restaurant which is serving fast food cuisine and which is also having a minimal
table service. Foods, which are served by fast food restaurants are indicated in a limited menu,
cooked in large quantities in bulk and kept very hot. They are often packaged to order. In a
number of cases, they are available for take away. Seating might also be offered by some of
the outlets (Bakar, Akgůn & Al Assaf, 2008).
In India, the main fast food chains include McDonald's, KFC, Burger King, Starbucks,
Pizza Hut, Subway, as well as Dominos. The chains mainly offer western products. A number
of the Indians generally like local cuisine like samosas, pav Bhaji, panipuri, as well as vada
pav. Some of the food chains which are now emerging in India generally include Faaso's,
Haldiram's, Pitstop, Chick King, as well as Café Coffee Day.

3. FAST-FOOD SECTOR OF JHARKHAND

Jharkhand is the 28th state of Indian Union. It was brought formed through the Bihar
reorganization Act on 15th Nov 2000. It has a huge potential for industrialization with the
high deposits of minerals which amounts to 40 percent of the whole mineral wealth of the
nation. The State has made big strides in the last years when it comes to industrialization. The
fast food industry in the nation is rapidly growing due to the potential that has been seen in
the industry.
Jharkhand state is also endowed with rich cultural heritage besides being bestowed
liberally with various bounties of nature. This has played a key role in the growth of hotel and
hospitality industry in the state. Just like any other sector, there are a number of challenges
which are faced by the sector, and various kinds of measures ought to be put into place in
order to ensure that there is improvement in the service levels in the fast food industry. This

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 Gautam Shandilya, Saumya Singh, A.R. Srivastava

paper is mainly aimed at exploring the consumers’ perception of the Service Quality of Fast-
Food Sector of Jharkhand.

4. SERVICE QUALITY RESEARCH

According to Agus, Barker & Kandampully (2007), the service industry generally plays a
significant role in the economy of numerous nations. In the current global business
environment which is highly competitive, delivery of high quality service has been considered
to be a necessity for the overall success of the organizations. All the sectors of the economy
are under intense pressure to offer high quality services. The needs and expectations of the
customers is also rapidly changing, and this calls for services providers to ensure that they
have in place various kinds of measures which are aimed at ensuring the ever changing needs
and expectations are met effectively (Todd & Greig, 2007).
According to Sharkey, Horel, Han & Huber (2007), service quality refers to the overall
judgment towards a service and is accepted as the antecedent of the overall satisfaction of the
customers. Service quality can also be defined as the capacity of the businesses to meet or to
exceed the expectations of the customers (Barber & Scarcelli, 2010). It refers to the difference
between the expectations of the customers regarding the service being offered and perceived
service. Perceived service quality emanates from comparisons by the customers of
expectations with their perceptions of the services which are delivered by suppliers. When the
expectations are bigger than performance, perceived quality is generally less than satisfactory
and therefore, customer dissatisfaction takes place (Sharkey, Horel, Han & Huber, 2007).
According to Barber & Scarcelli (2009), services are different from tangible products
because their production and consumption takes place at the same time in the customer’s
presence and in the presence of the service producer (Ha & Jang, 2009). Human element
presence during the process of service delivery significantly increases the chance of error on
the part of the customers or employees. The error is brought about by the intangible
behavioural processes which can’t be controlled or monitored easily (Namkung & Jang,
2007).
The service encounters are generally human interactions (Morland, Wing, Diez Roux &
Poole, 2002). The customers together with the providers of the services play various different
roles during and after the service encounters. The roles are founded on ―interpersonal
interactions‖ between the customers and the organizations. Service quality in every service
encounter is therefore intrinsically influenced by the perspectives of the provider of the
service and the receiver of the service (Brownell, Harris & Bargh, 2009). Studies on service
quality have to always involve the perspectives of the receivers and the providers. Due to the
fact that service delivery takes place during the interactions between the contact employees
and the customers, the behaviours and the attitudes of contact employees are capable of
influencing the perceptions of the customers of service quality (Ha & Jang, 2009).
Previous research like the ones carried out by Andaleeb & Conway (2006) and
Chowdhary & Prakash (2007) indicate that perceived employee loyalty, perceived employee
satisfaction, as well as perceived employee commitment are having a huge effect on the
perceived quality of the products and on the perceived quality of the services which are being
provided. Contact workers generally represent the firm and are capable of directly influencing
the level of satisfaction of the customers. They also serve the purpose of the marketers. The
service staff also perform marketing functions. They are capable of performing the functions
very well, to the advantage of the organizations or poorly, to the detriment of the organization

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 Impact of Consumers’ Perception on the Service Quality of Fast-Food Sector

(Smoyer-Tomic, Spence, Raine, Amrhein, Cameron, Yasenovskiy, Cutumisu, Hemphill &

Healy, 2014).
According to Johnsson Kvist & Klefsjö (2006), service quality refers to the degree to
which the perceptions of the customers of service are meeting or exceeding their expectations.
Therefore, service quality may intend to be the manner in which the customers are served
within the organization, and this could be poor or good. Service quality refers to the
differences between the expectations of the customers and the perceptions of the services
(Nestle, 2006). Service quality can be measured as the difference which is existing between
the perceived and the expected service. It is capable of making the management to note the
gaps to what they are offering as services (Kim, Ng & Kim, 2009). The main aim of offering
high quality services is for the satisfaction of the customers. Measuring the quality of the
service is a better way of dictating if the services are bad or good and whether customers are
satisfied or will be satisfied with it (Brownell, Harris & Bargh, 2009).
According to Kim, Ng & Kim (2009), some of the main components of service quality
generally include physical facilities, processes as well as procedures which are used by the
organizations; personal behaviour of the serving employees; and professional judgment of the
serving employees. An appropriate and carefully balanced mix of the three components have
to be attained. What generally constitutes appropriate mix, in part, is generally influenced by
the relative degrees of labour intensity, customization of the service process and the
interaction and contact between customers and service processes. A number of the service
providers generally want to know what the customers care about. A good guess is service
quality. Price, and to a small extent service quality, also count (Terry & Heatrher, 2008;
Schlosser, 2001).
A client’s expectation of a given service is influenced by different factors like personal
needs, recommendations, as well as past experiences (Shanka, 2012). The services which is
expected by the customers and the perceived service in some cases might not be equal,
therefore leaving a gap. Customers always tend to compare the service which they are
'experiencing' with the service that they 'expect'. When the experience is not matching the
expectation, then there always a gap. Ten determinants which may result into gaps were
described by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry through the SERVQUAL model, which
generally involves responsiveness, reliability, access, competence, communication, courtesy,
security, credibility and understanding the customers. After sometimes, the determinants were
reduced to just five: reliability; tangibles; service assurance; responsiveness; as well as
empathy (Jukka, 2010; Wolfinbarger & Mary, 2003).
After carrying out a highly extensive research, Zeithaml, Parasuraman and Berry
established that there are five major dimensions which the customers employ when they are
assessing service quality. They referred to their survey instrument as SERVQUAL. In simple
terms, if service providers get the dimensions right, the clients will be very loyal because they
will have got service excellence based on what is of significance to them.

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 Gautam Shandilya, Saumya Singh, A.R. Srivastava

The five SERVQUAL dimensions have been provided in the table 1.

Table 1 Five SERVQUAL Dimension for Survey

TANGIBLES Appearance of the physical facilities, personnel,
equipment, as well as the communication
materials
RELIABILITY- Capacity to carry out the promised service
dependably and in a manner that is very accurate
RESPONSIVENESS Willingness to help the customers and to offer
very prompt services
ASSURANCE Knowledge and courtesy of the staff and their
capacity to convey confidence and trust
EMPATHY Caring and individualized attention that the
company offers the customers

As Parasuraman, Valarie & Arvind (2005) further points out, not all the dimensions are
similar. Every dimensions are highly significant to the customers, however, there are some
which are more important in comparison to the others (Wu & Liang, 2009). There is the need
for the service providers to know the ones which are more important so as to avoid majoring
in the minors. SERVQUAL research indicated the significance of each of the dimensions
through asking the customers to assign 100 points across each of the five dimensions. Based
on that, their importance to the customers are indicated below: The 5 Service Dimensions
Customers Care about food sector are shown in figure 1.

Figure 1 Five Service Dimension of Customer Care in Food Sector

5. SERVICE QUALITY IN THE RESTAURANT INDUSTRY

Developments within the restaurant industry and several other factors which customers use
for the selection of restaurants have significantly increased the level of competitiveness
among different restaurant settings (Sulek & Hensley, 2004). The provision of services which
are of high quality and maintaining the satisfaction of the customers are highly significant
factors which results into the success of any business (Namkung & Jang, 2008). Therefore,
understanding the customers of the restaurants and bearing in mind the significance of service
attributes are highly significant criterions that can be used by the restaurants to gain a
competitive advantage within the restaurant marketplace (Ryu & Han, 2010).

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 Impact of Consumers’ Perception on the Service Quality of Fast-Food Sector

According to Namkung & Jang (2008) and Marković, Raspor & Šegarić (2010), the
provision of high quality service is highly significant for the overall success of the businesses.
It makes them to be able to survive in the highly competitive business environments besides
being in a position to enhance their level of competiveness (Ryu & Han, 2010). The restaurant
industry is not exempted from increased competition or huge customer demands for superior
service quality (Parasuraman, Valarie & Arvind, 2005). Currently, customers are having a
wide array of restaurant services to choose from. Service quality conditions to a great extent
affect the competitive advantage of the restaurants. Because service quality is a highly
significant factor that affects the overall success of businesses, it ought to be taken into
consideration by the restaurants (Kim, Ng & Kim, 2009). There has been a rise in the number
of research linked to customer satisfaction, service quality, as well as behavioral intentions
within the restaurant industry. A number of the studies have generally been focused on the
US, Hong Kong, Korea, China, as well as Europe (Johnsson Kvist & Klefsjö, 2006).
According to Johnsson Kvist & Klefsjö (2006) and Chowdhary & Prakash (2007), there
are three main elements contributing to the overall satisfaction of the customers within the
restaurants. They include good service, good food, as well as a pleasant setting. Dinning out
has generally become an integral component of the lifestyles of the customers, therefore, a
number of the customers have raised their expectations concerning good service, quality,
well-cooked food as well as very clean interiors (Andaleeb & Conway, 2006). A number of
them always seek for value for money. A number of researchers have tried to test
SERVQUAL framework so as to measure the levels of satisfaction of the customers within
the restaurant industry.
According to Kim, Ng & Kim (2009) and Marković, Raspor & Šegarić (2010), service
quality is one of the key factors which influences the overall success of the firms within the
restaurant industries. Therefore, there is the need for the management in those firms to ensure
that they have in place various kinds of measures, which are aimed at ensuring that there is
improvement in the quality of the services which they offer to their customers (Namkung &
Jang, 2008). Service quality within the restaurant industry plays a major role in ensuring that
there is an increase in the level of customer satisfaction. This is translated into improvement
in the sales which are made by the firms. It is also worth pointing out that in the restaurant
industry, there has been an increase in the level of competition among the firms, and
therefore, in order for a given restaurant to stand out, they need to ensure that there is an
improvement of the quality of the service which they offer to their customers (Ryu & Han,
2010).
In the highly competitive restaurant industry, service quality is one of the key factors
which makes the firms to gain a competitive edge. This has made a number of them to survive
the highly competitive business environments in which they operate (Wu & Liang, 2009).
Considering the fact that there is intense competition in the restaurant industry, the fast-food
restaurants should strive to make sure that they get different means of distinguishing
themselves from their competitors through making sure that they offer superior service to
their customers as they also ensure that the ever changing needs and expectations of the
customers are adequately met (Sulek & Hensley, 2004). A number of researchers like
Parasuraman, Valarie & Arvind (2005) have always pointed out that provision of superior
services to the customers is one of the key strategies that can be adopted by the restaurants to
make sure that they survive. As such, there is the need for the fast food managers to not only
measure but also to continuously enhance the overall quality of the services which they are
offering to their customers (Wolfinbarger & Mary, 2003). They should strive to make sure

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 Gautam Shandilya, Saumya Singh, A.R. Srivastava

that they not only monitor but also improves the overall quality of the services which they are
providing (Jukka, 2010).

6. CONCEPTUALIZATION OF SERVICE QUALITY WITHIN THE

FAST-FOOD RESTAURANT INDUSTRY
The service quality instrument which was provided by Oyewole (1999) indicated that there
are 57 attributes which can be grouped into 10 key dimensions which includes: courtesy;
hygiene and efficiency; child-friendliness; health consciousness; comforts; ease of complaint;
availability; orderliness; communication as well as expeditiousness. These service quality
attributes have been described below:

6.1. Hygiene and Efficiency

According to Jukka (2010) and Shanka (2012), some of the key factors which ought to be
taken into consideration with regards to hygiene and efficiency includes a number of
indicators such as: clean rest rooms, clean facilities, fresh-tasting food, well-prepared food,
fulfilling orders accurately, the taste of food, having employees who are very clean, having
very clean working areas, having staff who have proper hygiene habits, high food quality,
attending to the different kinds of complaints which are raised by the customers, having very
clean tables, having in place employees who are highly respectful, ensuring that food is
served at the right temperature and making sure that there are cordial and good mannered
attendants (Schlosser, 2001; Terry & Heatrher, 2008; Nestle, 2006; Brownell, Harris &
Bargh, 2009).

6.2. Hygiene
The restaurant’s cleanliness as well as service attitudes are highly significant customer
satisfaction determinants. It plays a major role in motivating as well as in encouraging the
customers to revisit the given restaurants. Food hygiene is linked to the safety of the foods. In
the recent past, food safety has generally become one of the key factors which are always
taken into consideration by the customers before choosing a given restaurant (Smoyer-Tomic,
Spence, Raine, Amrhein, Cameron, Yasenovskiy, Cutumisu, Hemphill & Healy, 2014).

6.3. Efficiency
According to Morland, Wing, Diez Roux & Poole (2002), efficiency with which the staffs at
the restaurants are carrying out their activities has also been found to be one of the key factors
which are taken into consideration to enhance service quality by the restaurants. When the
employees are highly efficient, they will offer highly effective customer service in a manner
that will ensure that the customers are highly satisfied with the services which are offered (Ha
& Jang, 2009). The waiting staff should be trained very well in order to make sure that their
technical skills, product knowledge as well as their interpersonal skills do not make the
businesses to incur losses (Brownell, Harris & Bargh, 2009). The consumers’ perception of
restaurants is often affected by the provision of highly effective and highly efficient customer
service. A number of customers always organize their perceptions based on the feelings which
they have concerning the services which are being offered. How the customers perceive the
restaurants to a great extent is affected by the quality of the customer service which is offered
by the firms (Namkung & Jang, 2007; Barber & Scarcelli, 2009).

6.4. Courtesy
According to Barber & Scarcelli (2010) and Sharkey, Horel, Han & Huber (2007), courtesy
can be defined as the friendliness of the employees, the manner in which the customers are

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 Impact of Consumers’ Perception on the Service Quality of Fast-Food Sector

greeted, the communication of the staff serving the customers, and making sure that the
customers are feeling at ease. A number of researchers have always pointed out that the most
valuable assets for the firms within the food service industries are their employees (Todd &
Greig, 2007). As a result, there is the need for the food outlets to make sure that the
employees who are charged with the responsibility of serving the customers are highly
knowledgeable and can offer the customers with a very quick service (Bakar, Akgůn & Al
Assaf, 2008). The front-line employees generally determine the quality of the service which is
delivered because they create the first impression which customers get as they are getting into
the restaurants. Appearance of the personnel is generally having a very strong effect on
customer’s pleasure as well as on their arousal state (Agus, Barker & Kandampully, 2007).

6.5. Health consciousness

According to Beatson, Lings & Gudergan (2008), health consciousness generally relates to
healthy eating, for instance, the fat and energy content of the foods which are being served,
nutritional information which is offered, healthy choices of food, environmental concerns,
low-noise atmosphere as well as displaying government health certification. Provision of very
healthy options within the restaurants has generally become one of the major strategies which
are adopted by the businesses to make sure that they survive in the highly competitive
business environment (Beatson, Lings & Gudergan, 2008). A larger menu variety as well as
availability of healthy options on the menu hence plays a key role in improving perceived
value as well as satisfaction of the consumers. A number of the customers are nowadays
concerned regarding healthy lifestyles. At the same time, they are always more interested in
having in place very healthy menu items. Availability of highly nutritious food items on the
menus has been taken seriously by a number of restaurateurs. As a result, there is the need for
the restaurants to make sure that they are health conscious (Cavana, Corbett & Lo, 2007).

6.6. Child-friendly
According Nitin, Deshmukh & Perm (2005), child-friendly attributes involves making sure
that attention is paid to the children’s menus through the provision of various kinds of
incentives like toys, making sure that play areas are available with toys for young children
and also making sure that the different needs of the children are taken into consideration
(Vinagre & Neves, 2008). A number of the fast-food outlets generally target children as the
main consumers. As a result, they have introduced numerous items which are mainly aimed at
attracting the attention of the children in order to ensure that they entice their parents to
patronize them (Acebro´n & Dopico, 2000).

6.7. Ease of complaint

The restaurants should strive to make sure that the grievances of the customers and their
complaints can easily be received and also addressed in a manner that is highly effective.
They should strive to ensure that they have different avenues where the consumers are
capable of complaining and giving feedback. This way, the restaurants are in a good position
to receive the complaints which are got from the customers and therefor, they are always in a
good position to respond to the different needs and expectations of the customers. Feedback
from the customers is also highly significant given that the comments which are given by the
customers can be highly significant in making sure that the restaurants initiate changes in a
manner that there is improvement in the food or in the service which is offered. When the
customers are satisfied, they always buy from the restaurants. Customer satisfaction is one of
the major ways through which service outcomes and quality can be measured. Customers who
are not satisfied generally tend to complain so as to seek compensation. At the same time,
they are generally not loyal to the restaurants (Acebro´n & Dopico, 2000).

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 Gautam Shandilya, Saumya Singh, A.R. Srivastava

6.8. Comfort
According to Agnes, Law & Hui (2004), comfort can be defined as the provision of various
kinds of attributes like convenient seating facilities, comfortable seating, a highly spacious
internal area as well as playing background music (Akbaba, 2006). Good food is also forming
part of the whole dining experience. Individuals are also attracted to restaurants by other kinds
of different factors like environment which also to a great extent affects the perception of the
consumers of the image or the brand of the given restaurant or the given food outlet (Akbay,
Tiryaki & Gul, 2007). Some of the other design factors like the style, the architecture, as well
as the general layout of the given restaurant is contributing to the creation of an atmosphere
which is capable of attracting or discouraging the customers. The ambience within the
restaurant or the food outlet generally entails the creation of an atmosphere through the use of
various things which are linked to the brand, design, décor, colour scheme as well as the wall
texture (Andaleeb & Caskey, 2007). Some of the other non-visual senses which also
influences the overall perception of the customers include background music, the smell and
scent within the given restaurants as well as the overall temperature of the given restaurant
(Andaleeb & Conway, 2006).
The physical environment as well as the atmospherics influences the perception of the
customers regarding the overall quality of fast-food outlets or the offerings of the restaurants
(Dave, An, Jeffery & Ahluwalia, 2009). The physical environment is capable of generating
feelings of pleasure, excitement, as well as the feelings of relaxation. Hence, different
elements of atmospherics are employed as tangible cues for the assessment of the quality of
services. For the creation of an ambience within the fast-food outlet, there is the need for
attention to be placed on the interior design, lighting, décor, temperature, music, as well as
odour. This plays a major role in introducing the customers to the chosen theme as they are
getting into the given food outlets. This also help them when it comes to making of the food
choices (Andreyeva, Kelly & Harris, 2011).

6.9. Orderliness
There is the need for orderliness within the establishments. There ought to be order in the
waiting line for the customers and at the same time, measures ought to be put into place to
ensure that there is order at drive-through facility and also at the counters (Ariffin & Maghzi,
2012). The dining experiences of the customers is also affected by a number of the aspects of
the service like waiting time, as well as orderly queuing within the food outlets (Clemes, Gan,
Kao & Choong, 2008). This is generally forming part of the first impression which is got by
the customers as they are getting into the fast food outlets. This often remains to be a highly
memorable part of the whole experience. The customers generally don’t expect long waiting
time at the fast-food restaurants (Berry, Leonard & Bendapudi, 2003). One of the major
features which ought to be taken into consideration in the fast food outlets is making sure that
there is short waiting time for the customers. There is a direct link between this and the
customer satisfaction (Berry, Wall & Carbone, 2006).
According to Bhattacherjee & Premkumar (2004), information concerning the waiting
time is having a huge effect on the clients’ assessment of the services being offered within the
fast-food industry. The waiting time is a very strong determinant of the level of satisfaction of
the customers and at the same time, it is having a huge effect on the level of satisfaction, the
level of loyalty of the customers as well as the customers’ repurchase behaviour (Chavadi &
Kokatnur, 2008). Waiting time is of great significance to the fast food service operations
because the individuals visiting the fast-food outlets are majorly doing so due to the fact that
they are in a hurry. As such, there is the need for the service managers to ensure that they

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 Impact of Consumers’ Perception on the Service Quality of Fast-Food Sector

have in place a number of measures which are mainly aimed at ensuring that here is a
reduction in the customer waiting times. Some of the key measures which ought to be put into
place include increasing the number of the service personnel (Bigne, Andreu & Gnoth, 2005).

6.10. Availability
According to Binkley (2006), availability involves late-hour operations, early-hour operation,
as well as convenient hours of operation. Due to the fact that the consumers in most cases do
not have the time to prepare own meals because of the extended working hours, the extended
operating hours of the fast-food outlets are valued highly (Cao & Kim, 2015). The fast-food
outlets which are operating for very long hours or which provide delivery services, or which
are conveniently located like the shopping malls, generally make it even more accessible and
also very easy for the customers to make use of the facilitates (Block, Scribner & DeSalvo,
2004; Dave, An, Jeffery & Ahluwalia, 2009).

6.11. Expeditiousness
According to Blumberg (2008), expeditiousness can be defined as the attributes which are
related to crowding and having in place different menu choices. Variety generally refers to the
number of diverse menu items which are available (Chandon, Wansink & Laurent, 2000).
New menus ought to be developed constantly so as to attract customers. The restauranteurs
should have in place a wide array of food, as well as beverage offerings (Boutell, Fulkerson,
Neumark-Sztainer, Story & French, 2007).

6.12. Communication
According to Bowman, Gortmaker, Ebbeling, Pereira, & Ludwig (2004), communication
attributes generally relate to the opportunities for the customers to ask various questions
regarding the different kinds of services which are being offered by the restaurants. The
employees who are serving the customers ought to be in a good place to ensure that they can
communicate in a manner that is highly effective and efficient. Highly effective
communication is one of the key ways through which the level of satisfaction can be
enhanced (Bowman & Vinyard, 2004).

6.13. The food quality

According to Bowman & Vinyard (2004), the quality of the food which is offered to the
customers should be taken into consideration by the restaurants. Numerous studies which are
carried out in the past have indicated that the quality of the food which are offered by the
restaurants to a great extent affects the levels of satisfaction of the customers. The foods
which are provided by the restaurants ought to strive to meet the needs as well as the ever
changing expectations of the customers (Buckley, Cowan, McCarthy & O’Sullivan, 2005).
Some of the key strategies which can be adopted by the restaurants in order to ensure that
high quality foods are offered generally include hiring highly competent chefs. At the same
time, it involves making sure that the comments and suggestions which are offered by the
customers are taken into consideration. This will play a major role in ensuring that the high
quality food is offered to the customers (Campos & Nobrega, 2009).
Various scales are existing which can be adopted in order to ensure that service quality
level are measured. This research adopted scale offered by Oyewole (1999) which was
specifically designed to be used in the fast food establishments industry. The scale as used in
this study has ten dimensions which have been explored thoroughly. This can be adopted by
the restaurants in the Jharkhand

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 Gautam Shandilya, Saumya Singh, A.R. Srivastava

7. CONCLUSIONS
This report has provided a literature review on consumers’ perception of the service quality of
fast-food sector of Jharkhand. It has given an overview of the food service industry, fast food
restaurants, and fast-food sector of Jharkhand besides exploring the service quality research.
The work revealed that some of the five service dimensions which the customers care about
includes reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles. At the same time, the
research has to a great extent explored the service quality in the restaurant industry.
Conceptualization of service quality within the fast-food restaurant industry has also been
provided by the research. The ten key dimensions which have been explored to conceptualize
service quality are courtesy; hygiene and efficiency; child-friendliness; health consciousness;
comforts; ease of complaint; availability; orderliness; communication as well as
expeditiousness.

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