Title: Investigation of the effect of physical evidence and word of mouth on customer satisfaction and purchase intention in professional services

Authors: Kalender Özcan Atılgan; Özge Koç

Addresses: Department of Management Information Systems, Erdemli School of Applied Technology and Management, Mersin University, Mersin, Turkey ' Department of Business Information Management, Institute of Social Sciences, Mersin University, Mersin, Turkey

Abstract: Professional services differ from other general services in many ways. Specifically, consumers benefit from physical evidence providing tangible clues in evaluating professional services. This study aims to investigate the effect of physical evidence on customer satisfaction and word of mouth in professional service purchase intentions. In this direction, face-to-face questionnaires were applied to 300 patients who received service from a dental health centre. A structural equation modelling analysis was used to test the hypothetical model. According to the results of the study, it has been determined that the ambient factors of physical evidence affect customer satisfaction and word-of-mouth communication. Also, social factors of physical evidence significantly affected word-of-mouth communication. Additionally, customer satisfaction significantly affects word-of-mouth communication, and word-of-mouth communication influences purchasing intention. In the conclusion, suggestions were made regarding the selection of various professional services for future studies.

Keywords: professional services; physical evidence; customer satisfaction; word of mouth; purchase intention.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSEM.2023.132230

International Journal of Services, Economics and Management, 2023 Vol.14 No.3, pp.249 - 269

Received: 12 Nov 2021
Accepted: 15 Nov 2022
Published online: 13 Jul 2023 *

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