ABSTRACT
Many demographic characteristics and service quality studies have been carried out in western countries (for example, Webster, 1989; Gagliano & Hatchote, 1994; Webb, 1998;), but not in a developing country like Malaysia. These studies revealed that demographic characteristics are important when determining the expected service quality (Webster, 1989; Gagliano & Hatchote, 1994) but further demographic studies about predicting customers’ expectations and their relationship with service performance perceptions, satisfaction and retention cannot be identified. Moreover, customers’ demographic characteristics may be potent forces in the global business environment in the future (Webb, 1998). For example, the multi-ethnic and multicultural mix of the population of a country like Malaysia may cause local demographic characteristics to influence expectations, performance perceptions, satisfaction and retention in service contexts (Aliah, 1999). In other words, what leads to expectations, performance formations and their relationship with satisfaction and retention, and to demographics as a segmentation basis, could provide useful insights to a service provider.
