This paper presents the results of an exploratory study on how travellers form impressions of the image projected by a prestigious hotel, with data collected from 409 respondents. The main purpose of the study is to gain more insight into the cues used by travellers evaluating corporate image in the context of an intangible service offering, and to determine the importance of these cues in customers' overall assessment of image. The study identifies a set of five factors that explain corporate image. In order of importance, these factors are physical environment, corporate identity, service personnel, quality of services and accessibility. Implications for tracking and building corporate image are given:
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Ibid.
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Alvesson, M. (1990) 'Organization: From Substance to Image', Organization Studies, Vol. 11, Summer, pp. 173-194.
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38.
See ref. 14 above, Herbig et al.
39.
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L.L. (1988) 'SERVQUAL: A Multiple-Item Scale for Measuring Customer Perceptions of Service Quality', Journal of Retailing, Vol. 64, Spring, pp. 12-40; Parasuraman , A., Berry, L.L. and Zeithaml, V. (1991) 'Refinement and Reassessment of the SERVQUAL Scale ', Journal of Retailing, Vol. 64, No. 4, pp. 420-430.
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See ref. 36 above, Alvesson; ref. 28 above, Bitner et al.; ref. 29 above, Mohr and Bitner.
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See ref. 20 above, Bitner (1990) and Bitner (1992).
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See ref. 26 above, Gronroos.
46.
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47.
See ref. 34 above, Bernstein.
48.
See ref. 35 above, Gorb.
49.
See ref. 36 above, Alvesson.
50.
See ref 6 above, LeBlanc.
51.
See ref. 31 above, Taylor.
52.
See ref. 4 above, Milman and Pizam; ref. 5 above, Gilbert; ref. 6 above, LeBlanc.
53.
See ref. 20 above, Bitner (1990) and Bitner (1992).
54.
Shetty, Y.K. (1988) 'Product Quality and Comparative Strategy', Business Horizons, Spring, pp. 34-38.
55.
See ref. 39 above, Parasuraman et al. (1988 and 1991).
