Markus Hartono

Incorporating Service Quality Tools into Kansei Engineering in Services: A Case Study of Indonesian Tourists

Abstract Due to market dynamics and challenges, it is imperative for companies to put their concern on strategic marketing orientation. In fact, products and services of similar quality are ubiquitous in todays global market. Basically, functionality and usability alone are no longer prominent success factors in product and service innovation because customers today concern themselves more on satisfying their emotions than merely their cognition. Kansei Engineering (KE) has shown its superiority in investigating and modelling customer emotion (“Kansei” in Japanese) for product development. In dealing with customer needs, service quality tools such as quality function deployment (QFD) and the Kano model, have been applied extensively. But none have been able to incorporate and model customers’emotional needs. Some attention has been given to investigate this but, thus far, there is no formal methodology that can account for customer emotional needs in service design. To fill this niche, this study proposed an integrative framework of KE incorporating the Kano model and QFD applied to services. This study extended the work by Hartono and Tan (2011) and Hartono et al. (2012) and presented a survey on luxury hotel services involving more than a hundred Indonesian tourists as the subject of study. Luxury hotels are reported to have greater strength of emotion than any other hotel segment. This work confirmed that emotion is to be more important than cognition in impacting overall customer satisfaction. Practically, it gives insight on which service attributes deserve more attention with regard to their impact on customer emotion. Indonesian tourists shared a common response to the Kansei word “elegant” which correlates with their common cultural dimension of “power distance”. Performing a Kansei evaluation to understanding cultural backgrounds may yield valuable insights for international tourist marketing strategies and companies’ business sustainability.

Exploring the mediating role of affective and cognitive satisfaction on the effect of service quality on loyalty

This research aims to test the mediating role of both affective and cognitive satisfaction on the effect of service quality on loyalty. Affective satisfaction is represented by Kansei Engineering-based measures and cognitive satisfaction is represented by overall customer satisfaction. The study is based on a survey through personal interviewing and face-to-face questionnaire. There were 102 respondents from 24 hotels ranging from three-star to five-star hotels in Surabaya, Indonesia. There are four latent variables, namely, service quality, overall customer satisfaction, Kansei and loyalty. We found that both overall customer satisfaction and Kansei partially mediate the relationship between service quality and loyalty (approximately 52% mediation effects). In particular, the two mediators, namely, Kansei and overall customer satisfaction, account for 24% and 28% of the effect of service quality on loyalty, respectively. This research complements the previous research by taking into account both cognitive and affective satisfaction as mediators at the same time. It is shown that the two-mediator model fits the data better than using one mediator or no mediator. The generalisation of the results from the study is limited because of the relatively small sample size in a single service setting.

Applying Kansei Engineering, the Kano model and QFD to services

This paper aims to present an integrative framework of Kansei Engineering (KE), the Kano model and quality function deployment (QFD) applied to services. An empirical study involving Indonesian and Singaporean tourists was conducted to showcase the frameworks applicability. The study utilises a sample of 100 Indonesian and 125 Singaporean tourists who stayed in luxury hotels and covers only services in luxury hotels. Interviews and face-to-face questionnaire surveys were carried out. Using stepwise linear regression analysis, this research models the effect of perceived hotel service performance on customer emotional needs (Kansei). House of quality (HOQ) is then used to formulate managerial strategies. We present the fruitfulness of integrating the Kano model, KE and QFD. Perceived attractive qualities have a direct significant impact on Kansei response. There is no analysis of the impact of cultural differences on Kansei. We provide insight on which service attributes deserve more attention with regard to their significant impact on customer emotions. It may guide service managers to provide and implement improvement strategies in satisfying customer emotional needs. The study proposes a unique methodology of integrative three concepts commonly used in manufacturing and service quality research to measure and model customer emotional needs.

Indonesian anthropometry update through Drillis & Contini revisited and Structural Equation Modeling incorporating children, adult and elderly populations

Research on anthropometry deals with human physical measurement, capability and limitation. Due to various body measures of user of different cultures, gender, and geographical factors, then an understanding of anthropometry characteristics is a must. This study adopts Drillis and Contini ratio scaling method and complements the previous research by incorporating Indonesian adults [150 subjects], children [200 subjects] and elderly [120 subjects] groups. By employing Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), it was shown that limb and girth & width segments were significantly correlated with stature and weight, respectively to all population groups, both for male and female subjects. Moreover, it was confirmed that the ratio scale method has been sufficiently applied to all anthropometric groups, so that the body segments measures can be predicted. Practically, the finding can be utilized to support product design and development phases, especially in the use of more appropriate anthropometric data.

Drillis and Contini revisited using correlation analysis for Indonesian adults anthropometry

Research on anthropometry, nowadays, becomes more essential and important due to the complexity of products, devices, equipment and systems for users. The most challenging part in anthropometry study is that the lack of sufficient valid, reliable and sustainable anthropometric data for certain nationalities. According to recent studies, an attempt to provide a comprehensive anthropometric measurement system has been conducted. Following to the previous study by Drillis and Contini, this study uses a similar methodology on how to predict any anthropometric measures through sufficient accuracy from a single measure of stature and weight, taken from 119 Indonesian adults. The expected contribution of this study is that to find which measures are significantly associated with stature and weight, respectively. It is of highly beneficial for product designers and any human-work system interactions.

Cultural differences in applying Kansei Engineering to services

It is imperative for companies to provide competitive products and services at a competitive price. Products and services need to offer features and properties which can make them distinguishable and attractive to customers. Emotions and feelings are prominent during product interaction and service encounter. Kansei Engineering (KE) enables interpretation and translation of customer emotions into design parameters. The application of KE covers both products and services design. Besides dealing with attractive exterior appearances, KE has an ability to optimize properties that are not directly detectable or visible, such as the comfort of hospital and concert hall. There are few empirical studies. Kansei management should recognize cultural differences in Kansei. However, for analysis of cultural values we need to understand the different needs of different customers. A study of luxury hotel services for Indonesian, Japanese and Singaporean tourists, was conducted using interviews and a tri-lingual face-to-face questionnaire. 425 responses were collected. Japanese tourists were found to be the most Kansei-oriented. They tended to value luxury hotels as “clean” and “quiet” places to stay. Indonesian and Singaporean tourists shared a common response to the Kansei word “elegant” which correlates with their common cultural dimension of “power distance”. Incorporation of cultural issues into Kansei studies can provide marketing strategies for customers of different cultural backgrounds.

An integrative fuzzy Kansei engineering and Kano model for logistics services

Nowadays, customer emotional needs (known as Kansei) in product and especially in services become a major concern. One of the emerging services is the logistics services. In obtaining a global competitive advantage, logistics services should understand and satisfy their customer affective impressions (Kansei). How to capture, model and analyze the customer emotions has been well structured by Kansei Engineering, equipped with Kano model to strengthen its methodology. However, its methodology lacks of the dynamics of customer perception. More specifically, there is a criticism of perceived scores on user preferences, in both perceived service quality and Kansei response, whether they represent an exact numerical value. Thus, this paper is proposed to discuss an approach of fuzzy Kansei in logistics service experiences. A case study in IT-based logistics services involving 100 subjects has been conducted. Its findings including the service gaps accompanied with prioritized improvement initiatives are discussed.

The application of ergonomics aspect and Kansei engineering in designing communication aid for children with autism

Autism is a psychological disorder; the symptoms include impairment in verbal and nonverbal communication. The increasing number of children with autism is not followed by the number of inclusion schools and therapists, to the point that there is still a considerable number of autistic children with little access to proper therapy. To address this issue, a communication aid called PECS was designed to help autistic children. PECS is widely used worldwide, including in Indonesia. However, PECS have several drawbacks. This paper attempts to design better PECS media. The selected design of PECS media was 7 × 7 cm in size, and made from polypropylene layer pad. The media set was also complemented with aromatherapy oil blend. After being tested with 10 autistic children, it was measured by the time needed to pick the media. It was recorded that the picking time shortened from 48.06 to 41.49 seconds.