Abstract
The South African movie industry is a thriving sector that makes a substantial
contribution to the local economy. The three main competitors in the cinema
exhibition industry are Nu Metro Cinemas, Cine Centre and Ster-Kinekor Theatres.
This study focuses on the Cinema Nouveau brand belonging to Ster-Kinekor
Theatres. It is suggested that if the cinema investigates customer complaint
behaviour, they may be able to implement effective service recovery so as to create
a more favourable service experience that could lead to positive repurchase
intentions.
Consequently, this study aims to investigate the constructs of customer complaint
behaviour, service recovery and repurchase intentions at the Cinema Nouveau in
Rosebank. The research is descriptive in nature and is informed by secondary data
that provides the background to the subject areas and the industry of focus; as well
as quantitative, primary data collected with the aid of self-administered
questionnaires through a nonprobability convenience sampling method from
customers at Cinema Nouveau Rosebank who had experienced a service failure in
the previous six months. Of the 290 questionnaires distributed, 238 usable
questionnaires were submitted for data analysis.
Data analysis included descriptive tests, exploratory factor analysis, correlation tests
and multiple regression analysis. Seven factors were extracted from the exploratory
factor analysis - “knowing who to complain to”, “frustration”, “voicing complaints”;
“intangible service recovery”, “tangible service recovery”, “willing to stay with the
cinema” and “will consider leaving the cinema”.
The analysis revealed that complaint behaviour and service recovery show a distinct
influence on customers’ repurchase intentions at Cinema Nouveau Rosebank. While
intangible service recovery (acknowledgements, explanations and apologies) was
found to influence repurchase intentions, the strongest influence on customers’
repurchase intentions at the cinema was discovered to be tangible service recovery
(refunds, free movie tickets, free confectionary vouchers and gifts).
M.Com. (Marketing Management)