Service quality at a skin care franchise: a case study of placecol skin care clinics in Durban, South Africa.

Abstract

The objective of this study is to gain insight on the perceptions and expectations of Placecol skin care clinic clients’ and staff on service quality of skin care franchises in Durban. The skin care ndustry is a private sector that is highly concerned with face to face client interaction. Challenges that Placecol skin care clinic face is, measuring service quality within a skin care franchise is an indicator of whether the franchise clients’ is satisfied or dissatisfied with the service offered. The literature review emphasized that the skin care sector, being a sector that is strongly service orientated, would achieve a greater level of trust and confidence in their relationships with their clients’ through an attainment of service excellence. An investigation on this service quality perception and expectation in the skin care franchise in Durban would inspire other skin care franchises in South-Africa. The main theories utilized in this study was the SERVQUAL and Gaps model of service quality. Both theories were created by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1985: 41). A questionnaire was used by the researcher to capture the data, the questionnaire was based on a five-point Likert scale that is linked to the quality dimensions relating to the skin care franchise. The sampling method utilized in this research study is probability random sampling. All the customers’ of Placecol skin care clinic had the same equal chance of being selected in the research study. This resulted in 53 clients and 7 staff members being selected from a population size of 100. Due to the nature and size of the skin care franchise all management and staff where used in the research study. The researcher made use of questionnaires to gather information and the data finding was administer by the researcher. According to Sekaran and Bougie (2010:296) sample size of 60 would be the most accurate examination of clients and staff if the total population is a 100. Data was presented in a form of tables, graphs and figures. Descriptive as well as inferential statistics were used to analysis the data. The research presents relevant recommendations to address these service quality gaps as well as offer short – medium term goals for the skin care sector. The study’s findings revealed the statistically significant differences between the expectations and perceptions of the service quality gaps amongst Placeol skin careclients’ and staff.