Service quality, Consumer Loyalty and Consumption Decision-making: A Case of Pangdonglai in Henan Province, China
Keywords:
Service quality; Consumer loyalty; Consumer decision-making; Demographic characteristics; Pangdonglai SupermarketAbstract
This research aimed to study 1) to examine the differences in consumer decision-making at Pangdonglai Supermarket across various demographic characteristics, including gender, marital status, age, educational attainment, monthly income, and purchase frequency; 2) to investigate the extent to which service quality influences consumers’ shopping decisions when choosing Pangdonglai Supermarket; and 3) to validate the impact of consumer loyalty on shopping decisions within the consumption context of Pangdonglai Supermarket. The sample consisted of 409 consumers who had shopped at Pangdonglai within the past year. They were selected using a two-stage sampling method, with data collected from April to July 2025 through both on-site and online surveys. The instrument was a structured questionnaire containing four parts: demographic characteristics (7 items), service quality (21 items based on the SERVQUAL model), consumer loyalty (16 items adapted from Oliver’s loyalty framework), and consumer decision-making (4 items from Zeithaml et al., 1996) All items used a five-point Likert scale, and instrument reliability and validity were confirmed through Cronbach’s alpha (0.857–0.961) and factor analysis. Data analysis employed descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA, and multiple regression.The research results revealed that 1) demographic characteristics significantly influenced consumer decision-making, especially age, marital status, income, and shopping frequency; 2) service quality positively impacted decision-making, with tangibility and empathy as the strongest predictors, while complaint handling and safety assurance required improvement; 3) consumer loyalty had a significant effect, with cognitive and conative loyalty exerting stronger influences than affective and behavioral loyalty. The study concludes that Pangdonglai’s advantage lies in combining demographic alignment, service quality, and loyalty cultivation, thereby contributing to consumer behavior and service quality theories while offering managerial insights for regional supermarkets in China.
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