CUSTOMER SATISFACTION FOR CHINESE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS IN KOREAN MARKET

Yong Tae Bang* ABSTRACT This study tries to seek an understanding of the antecedents of customer satisfaction which is a critical issue for both academics and marketers by dealing with Chinese pomegranate products consumed in Korea. As various goods are being imported into Korea especially from China, estimating Korean consumers satisfaction for Chinese import goods can be a barometer for deploying marketing strategies to Chinese companies tackling Korean market share. This study verifies that Korean female customers put priority on product safety when purchasing agricultural product imported from China. Some suggestions for Chinese exporters are exhibited. INTRODUCTION Some of the reasons that customer satisfaction has received a lot of attention can be linked to the increased attention concerning total quality management and national quality awards (e.g. Garvin 1991; Heaphy and Gruska 1995; Hayes 1997). When judging candidates for quality awards, customer satisfaction results along with activities and programs concerning customers and markets count for a considerable part of the amount of points (about 20%). As various goods are being imported into Korea especially from China, estimating Korean consumers satisfaction for Chinese import goods can be a barometer for deploying marketing strategies to Chinese companies tackling Korean market share. LITERATURE REVIEW Wang, Lo, and Yang (2004) attempt to conceptualize factors of service quality (tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy) as antecedents to customers overall evaluation of service quality, rather than as dimensions or components of the construct. However, since they focus on Chinas mobile communication market, durability and aesthetics may not be relevant. These researchers believe that measuring service quality as disconfirmation (the difference between perceptions and expectations) is valid. Hansen and Sand (2008), drawing on the conceptualizations offered by Selnes (1993)
Professor, Department of International Trade, College of Seo-Jae-Phil, Paichai University 14 Yeonja-1-Gil, Seo-Gu, Daejeon, KOREA bangyt@pcu.ac.kr

and Fombrun (1996), define image as a perceptual representation of the firms overall appeal when compared with other rivals. They argue that both benevolence and image

are extrinsic faces of the satisfaction object. They conclude that improving customer satisfaction can be achieved by combining good service quality with communicative messages focusing on the firms positive image as well as focusing on the customers perception of benevolence signaled by the firm. Helgesen (2006) focuses on the relationships between customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and customer profitability at the individual customer level. The context is the order-handling industry: four Norwegian exporters of fish products and their customers. Variations in customer loyalty explain only about 10 percent of the variations of customer profitability. The relationship seems to be degressive, which indicates that increased customer loyalty has a positive effect on customer profitability, but at a decreasing rate. Kim (2005) integrates and applies the concept of satisfaction from three fields: management information systems (MIS), marketing and e-commerce. Satisfaction affects post-purchase behavior (word-of-mouth, advocacy etc.) and future purchase behavior (repeat purchase). The obvious implication is that satisfaction goes beyond simple satisfaction with the product or purchase outcome; the channel experience also has an impact on overall satisfaction. RESEARCH DESIGN Customer satisfaction can be defined as the overall evaluation of the purchase and consumption experience, which focuses on perceived product or service performance compared with the pre-purchase expectation (Fornell 1992). While satisfaction is a feeling or an attitude after a service has been used, service quality is the customers overall impression of the relative inferiority/superiority of the organization and its services (Bitner and Hubbert 1994). According to the meta-analysis of Rao and Monroe (1989), the relationship between price and perceived quality for consumer products is found to be positive and statistically significant. For measuring overall satisfaction, participants were asked to state their level of satisfaction for their cooperation with their main bank. This study suggests the following hypotheses: H. Product features have relationships with customer satisfaction. Ha. Price of product has negative relationship with customer satisfaction Hb. Quality of product has positive relationship with customer satisfaction. Hc. Package of product has positive relationship with customer satisfaction. Hd. Taste of product has positive relationship with customer satisfaction. He. Diversity of product has positive relationship with customer satisfaction. Hf. Safety of product has positive relationship with customer satisfaction.

SURVEY ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS I performed the survey with the sample of college students in a university located at the central region of Korea in October 2009. 172 copies of questionnaire were distributed and collected simultaneously in the classes that I was teaching. I requested female students to fill in the questions, and gave notice to the male students that this study solely focused on female customer satisfaction. The model is significant at p<.000. The R square of .523 indicates that 52.3 per cent of the variance in customer satisfaction is explained by the variations in the six independent variables. The regression coefficients are all in the hypothesized direction except for price. Contrary to the suggested hypothesis price of pomegranate has no negative relationship with customer satisfaction. Thus hypotheses Hb to Hf are accepted while hypothesis Ha is rejected. The size of coefficients shows that safety of product has significantly highest impact on customer satisfaction followed by taste. CONCLUSION Customer satisfaction has a more stochastic character in the early stages. This gives managers the opportunity to influence the satisfaction judgment to a greater extent in the early stages because the satisfaction has not been crystallized. Thus, achieving customer satisfaction involves not merely disconfirmation judgments but a subjective, affective component as well. This point is particularly important when companies are in the early stages of establishing a relationship with a customer. This study verifies that Korean female customers put priority on product safety when purchasing agricultural product imported from China. The finding is totally congruent with the current situations reported by Korean media. A great variety of Chinese agricultural products are governing Korean market mainly with the exertion of price strategy. But if Chinese companies trying to take more customer share in Korea would like to sustain their market power, I strongly suggest to them to adopt agricultural safety issue as their top considerations. In addition, when the taste of agricultural product is guaranteed by Korean consumers it will supplement the market position of Chinese companies. REFERENCES Bitner, M., & Hubbert, A. (1994). Encounter satisfaction versus overall satisfaction versus quality. In R. Rust, & R. Oliver (Eds.), Service quality: New dimensions in theory and practice. London: Sage. Fombrun, C. (1996). Reputation: Realizing value from corporate image. Boston: Harvard University Press. Fornell, C. (1992). A national customer satisfaction barometer: The Swedish

experience. Journal of Marketing, 56, 6-12. Garvin, D. (1991). How the Baldridge award really works. Harvard Business Review, Nov/Dec., 80-95. Hansen, H., & Sand, J. (2008). Antecedents to customer satisfaction with financial services: The moderating effects of the need to evaluate. Journal of Financial Services Marketing, 13(3), 234-244. Hayes, B. (1997). Measuring customer satisfaction: Survey design, use, and statistical analysis method. ASQC Quality Press. Heaphy, M., & Gruska, G. (1995). The Malcolm Baldridge national quality award: A yardstick for quality growth. Addison Wesley. Helgesen, O. (2006). Are loyal customers profitable? Customer satisfaction, customer action loyalty and customer profitability at the individual level. Journal of Marketing Management, 22, 245-266. Kim, H. (2005). Developing an index of online customer satisfaction. Journal of Financial Services Marketing, 10(1), 49-64. Rao, A., & Monroe, K. (1989). The effect of price, brand name and store name on buyers perceptions of product quality: An integrative review. Journal of Marketing Research, 26, 351-357. Selnes, E. (1993). An examination of the effect of product performance on brand reputation, satisfaction and loyalty. European Journal of Marketing, 27(9), 19-35. Wang, Y., Lo, H., & Yang, Y. (2004). An integrated framework for service quality, customer value, satisfaction: Evidence from Chinas telecommunication industry. Information Systems Frontiers, 6(4), 325-340.