Factor Affecting on Service Quality

AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF INFLUENCES ON RETAIL SERVICE QUALITY:
A FOCUS ON KUWAIT AND LEBANO

Abstract:
The Middle East is a growing and lucrative marketplace. This exploratory study examines retail
service in Kuwait and Lebanon, regions with long histories of trade. Retail service, however, has
not been well documented in this region. To our knowledge, this is the first study that examines
customer and salespeople perceptions of service encounters in these countries, in light of their
culture, religion, and nationalities. As retailers expand into new markets worldwide, such
information is vital to their success. Future research directions are discussed.
Article:
INTRODUCTION
Prior to the Gulf War and the 9/11 attacks on the United States, many in the U.S., and other
Western countries, knew little about the Middle East. Besides Islamic terrorists primarily
conducting operations in Israel and other foreign countries, Westerners generally recognize the
Middle East as an oil-rich region, but few have a deeper understanding of the market
opportunities in this region (Abbasi and Hollman 1993). The discovery of commercial quantities
of oil in several countries of the Gulf Region in the 1930s has enabled the transformation of
these nomadic desert societies to the economically and ethnically varied countries of today
(Commerce 2001).
For clarity, we refer to the Middle East as all the countries in the region, including the two of
primary interest in this study—Kuwait and Lebanon. Gulf Region or Gulf States are generally
interchangeable terms referring to the typically oil-rich countries along the Persian Gulf, from
Kuwait to the United Arab Emirates and including Iraq and Iran. Lebanon is not a Gulf State.
The term ―Arab‖ is a cultural and linguistic definition and not a ―racial‖ definition. It refers to
the many peoples in the Middle East and North Africa. While the countries without oil reserves
have generally remained relatively poor, the... [continues]

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