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Customer satisfaction and
Scuba-diving: Some insights from
the deep
Martin Maccarthy
a d
b
, Martin O'neill & Paul Williams
c
a
School of Marketing and Tourism , Edith Cowan
University , Joondalup, Western Australia
b
Auburn University , Alabama, USA
c
Marketing Department , American University of
Sharjah , United Arab Emirates
d
School of Marketing, Tourism and Leisure , Edith
Cowan University , 100 Joondalup Drive, Joondalup,
Western Australia , 6027 E-mail:
Published online: 25 Jan 2007.
To cite this article: Martin Maccarthy , Martin O'neill & Paul Williams (2006) Customer
satisfaction and Scuba-diving: Some insights from the deep, The Service Industries
Journal, 26:5, 537-555, DOI: 10.1080/02642060600722841
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02642060600722841
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Customer Satisfaction and Scuba-diving: Some
Insights from the Deep
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MARTIN MACCARTHY, MARTIN O’NEILL
and PAUL WILLIAMS
This paper explores the concept of customer satisfaction in relation to the
scuba-diving consumption experience. It investigates the myriad of tangible and intangible elements of the experience, from which scuba-divers
derive a sense of meaning and/or satisfaction. The results indicate that
satisfaction is gained from a complex array of consumers’ perceptions
of the dive itself, but also from a range of associated peripheral experiences surrounding the dive such as the service provided by the operator,
the ‘communitas’ from the social interaction with other divers and the
functional aspects of the dive. The study takes an ethnographic approach
using qualitative methods of inquiry, since the purpose of the study was to
develop a deeper understanding of the inter-relationships between the
levels of service provided; customer satisfaction of scuba-divers; and
the dive consumption experience. The findings illuminate the diversity
and complexity of dive consumption experiences themselves and the perceptual cues used by customers for determining customer satisfaction and
longer term behavioural intentions.
INTRODUCTION
July 3rd, a few nautical miles from Lone and Koh Hae islands returning to Phuket after
experiencing three of the ‘best’ local dive sites. We bobbed and rolled in a dive
charter boat sub-contracted to one of 8 or more dive shops, that tout for the dive
tourists’ dollar in Patong Thailand. It is monsoon season and the weather is building
ominously as the day goes on. The seas have turned from rolling to rough, and our
view of land is more often than not, replaced by that of incoming waves. The
boat’s Captain, a local wearing shorts tied with rope and a dirty faded blue singlet
quickly turns the vessel into one particularly large wall of water. The boat pitches
and the contents of the galley, plates, cutlery, food and more spew on to the floor. At
Martin MacCarthy is in the School of Marketing and Tourism at Edith Cowan University, Joondalup,
Western Australia; Martin O’Neill is at Auburn University, Alabama, USA; Paul Williams is in the Marketing Department of the American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
Martin MacCarthy, School of Marketing, Tourism and Leisure, Edith Cowan University, 100 Joondalup
Drive, Joondalup, Western Australia 6027. Email: m.maccarthy@ecu.edu.au
The Service Industries Journal, Vol.26, No.5, July 2006, pp.537–555
ISSN 0264-2069 print=1743-9507 online
DOI: 10.1080=02642060600722841 # 2006 Taylor & Francis
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the back of the boat several dive tanks break from their makeshift restraints and bang
noisily to the deck. The Dutch tourist wakes up from his slumber with a start, looks
bemused and returns to the eyes closed position. The dive master, young British expatriate shrugs and lights another cigarette. The Captain turns and grins to me by way of an
apology, he lets go the wheel and holds up ten fingers, indicating ten more minutes of
this before we reach the calmer waters of Chalong harbour. After securing the fallen
tanks, my fellow researcher leans over the back of the boat staring at the rolling
seas. No doubt he is pondering the elusive and fickle nature of the Scuba-diving
thrill. July in Thailand is monsoon season. The seas are high and the weather is
constantly cloudy with daily downpours and occasional storms. Diving world-wide is
supposed to be contingent on fine weather; however the local dive shops are willing
to supply, as long as there is demand. The National Park facilities at the Similan
islands are closed for the season but that does not stop the dive charters and ‘liveaboards’ from venturing out with enough tourist divers to turn a profit.
On this particular day trip three sites were visited; the wreck of the King Cruiser,
the Pinnacles at Shark Point and the underwater wall at Racha Yai. In retrospect it was
not the best of conditions for this component of the data collection phase of the
project. The seas were particularly rough for the entering and leaving phase of the
dive, the water murky (8 –10 metres maximum visibility) and the current uncomfortably strong for recreational diving. Yet when all was coming to an end there was an
excited chatter of exchanged experience and camaraderie in the long boat tender that
ferried us all back to the shore. Friendships legitimised by shared experience and lifestyle. Experiences enriched and enlivened by a captive audience of listeners who had
attempted the same activity. The community spirit and common bond that encourages
this sense of ‘communitas’ [Celsi et al., 1993; Turner, 1972]. The feeling of achievement and a sense of having, ‘been there, done that!’ [Belk, 1997].
How do scuba-divers determine satisfaction from the purchase of such a discrete dive
experience? Traditional approaches to customer satisfaction research have tended to
adopt more standardised a priori procedures using quantitative methods of inquiry such
as SERVQUAL or SERVPERF [Cronin and Taylor, 1992, 1994; Parasuraman et al.,
1985, 1988]. This study, however, proposes an alternative insight to the complex
nature of scuba-diving consumption and adds to the growing body of satisfaction literature. The opening vignette alludes to the gamut of tangible and intangible factors such as:
price; dive site attractions; marine life; service of the tour operator; social interaction
among divers; dive conditions; rough weather and poor visibility.
Against this background this paper has three overriding objectives: firstly, to
present a little background on the nature and growth of scuba-diving consumption.
Secondly, to address the issue of satisfaction in scuba-diving, and gain deeper insights
into this component of the scuba-diving experience. Thirdly, to contrast the findings
from this qualitative study with previous satisfaction and service literature.
GROWTH IN SCUBA-DIVING CONSUMPTION
The growth in adventure tourism products and services is unprecedented, not least in
Australia where there is a wealth and diversity of natural resources to facilitate their
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CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND SCUBA-DIVING
539
development. Scuba-diving, as a niche market within the adventure domain, is also a
growth market for the tourism industry in Australia, with dive tourists demanding
dive destinations that offer pristine coral reefs, interesting dive wrecks and abundant
marine life [Aiello, 1998; Davis et al., 1996; O’Neill et al., 2000].
The World Tourism Organisation [WTO, 1998] in their futuristic report ‘2020
Vision’, outlined the enormous potential of adventure tourism; with consumers
wishing to travel to high places (mountaineering), underwater (scuba-diving) and to
the ends of the earth (Antarctica trips). Scuba-diving is an important and growing
component of the adventure tourism market and is a significant part of international
and domestic travel around the world. Dignam [1990], for example, considers that
scuba-diving is one of the world’s fastest growing recreational and tourism activities.
This view is shared by Tabata [1992], who suggested that scuba-diving and
snorkelling rate as the most popular activities for tourists who travel to the tropics
and sub-tropical tourism destinations.
SCUBA, meaning Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus, was designed
and popularised by Jacques Cousteau and Emile Gagnan in 1943. The ‘Aqualung’, as
it was known then, was the device that underpinned the dive industry as we know it
today, allowing humans to travel beneath the waves to explore and experience the
underwater world. Earlier, using scuba equipment to spear fish appeared to be the
main activity undertaken by divers [Davis et al., 1996; Davis and Tisdell, 1996].
However, given that this activity is now illegal in many areas, and coupled with a
growing world-wide appreciation of the environment, diving to ‘look’ and diving
simply for the experience of diving appears to have replaced this original functional
motive of fishing. To this end, interest has grown in a number of diving possibilities,
including reef diving, wreck diving, drift diving (planning a dive that allows the
current to take you from one location to another), deep diving, technical diving,
cave diving, and competition diving (e.g., ‘spud’ hunts run by dive shops) or
simply anywhere that an unusual or attractive feature can be found.
Tabata [1992] suggests that divers are now travelling further afield in pursuit of
scuba diving holidays to view wrecks, coral reefs and caves. In essence this has led
to the emergence of dedicated dive tourism destinations such as the Great Barrier
Reef on the eastern seaboard of Australia, Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and
the Maldives [Howard, 1999]. Indeed, in the case of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef
alone, Wilks and Davis [2000] contend that a total of 243 charter operators are
licensed by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to conduct scuba-diving
activities. Windsor [1996] estimates that in 1996 alone the dive industry generated
some AU$103 million in annual revenue.
Wilks and Davis [2000] suggest that for the purposes of classification, recreational
scuba-divers generally belong to one of five groups:
.
The first group has been trained and certified by an accredited training agency.
These divers are classed as ‘dive certified’ and are easily identified by their qualification card, which is normally required to be shown before any licensed diving
activity can be undertaken.
540
.
.
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.
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The second group they class as being in the process of training. These divers must
demonstrate their competence in both artificial and open-water environments
before certification can be granted.
The third group of divers are best classed as opportunists or individuals who
have engaged in a controlled form of diving activity whilst on holiday or other
recreational endeavours. The emphasis is on safety and giving the individual a
flavour for scuba as an activity, with close supervision by certified instructors
in a controlled environment – normally a hotel swimming pool.
The fourth group of divers includes certified instructors and dive masters, who run
their own diving charter/instruction business or are employed by a particular
operator on a seasonal basis.
The final group of divers may be classed as those who engage in recreational
diving at a distance from normal commercial operations. Whilst in the majority
of instances these divers are dive certified, many are not, with divers having
their own equipment and means of getting to and from actual dive sites.
Similarly, Rice [1987] offers a similar classification for divers, proposing three
broad types of diver ranging from hard core; to tourist to potential. The hard core
diver, he suggests, is in search of the challenge of the dive destination as well as
the specific flora and fauna associated with a particular locale. The tourist engages
in scuba as part of a vacation, yet it may not be the main motivator behind the vocation. The potential diver may best be referred to as a rookie, or someone who is keen
to learn. So how do recreational scuba-divers attach meaning to the various elements
of the scuba-diving experience and/or what factors affect the satisfaction derived
from engaging in this activity?
THE SCUBA-DIVING CONSUMPTION EXPERIENCE!
Recently, writers have focused on consumption ‘experiences’ as the essence of
consumer behaviour [Hirschman and Holbrook, 1982; Holbrook and Olney, 1995;
O’Guinn and Belk, 1989]. This view is reflected by a ‘romantic spirit’ of consumption
[Campbell, 1987; Holbrook, 1996], where the experience is the end in itself, through
consumers’ desire for hedonic gratification. Hedonism is the pursuit of pleasure for
its own sake [Campbell, 1987; Solomon, 1998], where pleasure results from the
emotional significance attached to the products consumed [Holbrook, 1996].
Hirschman and Holbrook [1982: 92] defined hedonic consumption as ‘those facets
of consumer behaviour that relate to the multi-sensory, fantasy and emotive aspects
of one’s experience with products’. It is contended that recreational scuba-diving is
indeed a hedonistic experience, and dive tourism experiences share similar
characteristics with the characteristics of hedonic consumption.
This experiential ethos of consumption is supported by consumer researchers who
have recently turned their attention toward exploring the imaginative, emotional and
evaluative components of consumption experiences [Havlena and Holbrook, 1986].
These consumption activities provide objective, tangible benefits but also involve
subjective, hedonic, emotional or symbolic components [Hirschman and Holbrook,
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CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND SCUBA-DIVING
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1982]. For example, Holbrook and Olney [1995] investigated the role of emotions in
consumption, using a ‘romanticism versus classicism’ index in determining
consumer preferences for various types of vacation trips. They found women preferred ‘romantic’ emotions on holiday (e.g. warmth, luxury and pleasure), while
men preferred ‘classical’ emotions (e.g. fear, risk, and sensation seeking).
Another aspect of the dive consumption experience is the concept of efficacy of
the skill of diving. This evolves as being the basis for satisfaction once the initial
thrill of the introductory phases of experience begins to wane. Celsi, Leigh and
Rose [1993], for example, discovered a similar move to efficacy in the development
of numerous skills and technical abilities of skydivers. Regardless of scuba-diver skill
level, however, it has been postulated on a fundamental and generic level that humans
consider a number of elements when evaluations are required.
Scuba-diving and other adventure experiences can also be conceptualised as
dramatised consumption. Burke [1959] agrees and suggests the meaning of a behavioural situation is defined in the process of interaction using the following concepts;
the Act (what takes place in thought or deed), the Scene (the background of the situation in which the act occurred), the Agent (the actor/s involved), the Agency (how
the act was performed) and Purpose (why the act was performed). Similarly, Arnould
and Price [1993: 25] investigated adventure experiences, highlighting the key role of
the guide in providing a dramatised narrative of the experience with romantic overtures so that the river trip was a ‘triumph over natural forces achieved through trust
and mutual reliance’. Such an experience takes consumers beyond the realms of
their everyday realities and then returns them to their normal life ‘transformed’,
because they have overcome the challenge set by natural forces. Using this drama
analogy Burke [1959] suggests all of these concepts are considered by people in
order to achieve ‘meaning’. Consistent with this theory one appreciates the resonance
in this study of the notion of the customer considering a number of similar concepts
concurrently in order to appreciate satisfaction. These concepts include both the tangible and intangible aspects of service provision; with the tangible aspects being used
as markers or cues in the evaluation of service provision (Lovelock, 1992; Lovelock
et al., 1998).
Consistent with the notion that satisfaction is appreciated from a number of
diverse concepts, the chronology of the events lends itself to consideration.
Solomon [1998] considers consumption as the acts and thoughts of a person before
during and after actual consumption. Belk [1992] reinforces this notion with the
inclusion of prior fantasies, and also mere ‘thinking’ about consumption [Douglas
and Isherwood, cited in Belk, 1992] at any stage in the cognitive process as also
being part of consumer behaviour, and therefore impacting upon the consumption
process. Building on the suggestion of diving consumers deriving satisfaction
through a multitude of aspects involved in dive consumption and how this occurs
over a period of time, before, during and after the act of consumption, is the appreciation of the nature of consumption in itself (generic as opposed to specifically related to
diving).
Through observation and ethnography one quickly appreciates recreational scubadiving as being a social event, which has evolved through both ‘best practice’ and
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natural evolution. World-wide, the idea of diving as an individual activity is
discouraged by industry and practitioners alike for sound safety reasons. Diving as
a social event then is consistent with Urry’s [1990] post-modern understanding of
tourism being a ‘play’ experience. His findings suggest these interactions are
generally uncontrollable; however they are critical components of the experience.
It is contended in this study that in dive tourism consumption experiences there are
significant subjective, intangible components, particularly with emotional responses
to consumption situations [Richins, 1997]. Some of these interactions are controllable, however consistent with Urry [1990], while some indeed are not. In effect, this
adds some validity to the rationale for the qualitative methods used in this study.
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND THE DIVE CONSUMPTION EXPERIENCE
Service industries in the twenty-first century are competing in an environment of
increasing customer awareness and expectations of quality. Similarly, providing
service quality has been shown to be a key differentiating factor for tourism
businesses, to consistently outperform their competitors in satisfying customers and
to create competitive advantage [Saleh and Ryan, 1991; O’Neill et al., 2000; Baker
and Crompton, 2000]. With customers more willing than ever to shift loyalty to
other service providers based on their satisfaction levels gained from perceptions
of the quality of the service provided, understanding service quality has become a
core issue for tourism operators. The benefits of providing better service quality
include higher customer satisfaction ratings, better customer retention rates, attracting
new customers through improved word of mouth advertising, increased productivity
and better financial performance.
Most of the customer satisfaction and service quality research has been conducted
in the last 20 years, building largely on the seminal work of Parasuraman et al.
[1985, 1988] using the SERVQUAL methodology. More recent research has
adapted the original SERVQUAL approach and developed a similar scale using performance-only measures named SERVPERF [Cronin and Taylor, 1992, 1994]. These
performance-only measures of service quality have been found to be more valid and
reliable than using the traditional expectancy – disconfirmation paradigm of
SERVQUAL.
So far, reference has been made to the concept of customer satisfaction in the
context of perceived service quality. Indeed a review of the literature will reveal that
the two terms are quite often used interchangeably which has left confusion in the literature between them. While both concepts are related and appear to be merging there
are still gaps in the understanding of the two constructs, their relationship to each other
and their antecedents and consequences [Gwynne et al., 1998]. A distinction needs to
be made between them. According to Cronin and Taylor [1992: 57], ‘this distinction is
important to both managers and researchers alike, because service providers need to
know whether their objective should be to have consumers who are satisfied with
their performance or to deliver the maximum level of perceived service quality’.
Oliver [1981] takes the view that satisfaction is ‘the emotional reaction following
a disconfirmation experience’. Getty and Thompson [1994: 9] define it as a ‘summary
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543
psychological state experienced by the consumer when confirmed or disconfirmed
expectations exist with respect to a specific service transaction or experience’. In
fact the most commonly used representation of customer satisfaction is the disconfirmation approach [Ramaswamy, 1996], where satisfaction is related to the variation
between a customer’s pre-purchase expectations and their post-purchase perceptions
of the actual service performance. According to disconfirmation theory, the extent of
satisfaction or dissatisfaction that a customer has with a particular service encounter is
determined by the disconfirmation between the customer’s expectations of performance and the actual perceived performance of the service [Oliver, 1996]. Any difference between the two is referred to as disconfirmation.
If the service experienced is better than expected, then positive disconfirmation or
high levels of satisfaction will result. If, however, the service performance falls short
of what was expected then negative disconfirmation or dissatisfaction will result.
Confirmation or zero disconfirmation results when perceived performance just
meets the customer’s expectations or when the service experience is much as
expected in the customer’s eyes. Satisfaction may thus be viewed as being situation,
encounter or transaction specific.
Perceived service quality, on the other hand, may be viewed as a global attitudinal
judgement associated with the superiority of the service experience over time [Getty
and Thompson, 1994]. As such, it is dynamic in nature and less transaction specific
[Parasuraman et al., 1988]. In other words it has attitudinal properties and acts as a
global value judgement. According to Lovelock et al. [1998: 126] the important distinction is that ‘satisfaction is experience-dependent – you must experience the
service to feel a degree of satisfaction/dissatisfaction. Perceived service quality on
the other hand is not experience-dependent . . . perceived service quality is formed
over multiple service encounters’.
Both constructs are distinct but related concepts, which can be used to evaluate a
specific service incident or overall attitudes towards a service encounter. Service
quality does differ from satisfaction, however, in that it is a cognitive evaluation
and objective attributes are used to assess quality. While satisfaction can result
from any aspect of an organisation, whether quality related or not, service quality
perceptions are specifically related to quality attributes or dimensions [Oliver, 1993].
Not surprisingly there has been considerable debate concerning the nature of the
relationship between the constructs. While the majority of research suggests that
service quality is a vital antecedent to customer satisfaction [Parasuraman et al.,
1985; Cronin and Taylor, 1992], there is now strong evidence to suggest that
satisfaction may be a vital antecedent of service quality [Oliver, 1981; Bitner,
1990]. Regardless of which view is taken the relationship between satisfaction and
service quality is strong when examined from either direction.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Given the social, experiential and contextual nature of the consumption experience, it
is contended that qualitative research methods are appropriate to the domain of this
study. The previous standardised a priori research approaches to customer satisfaction
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and service quality through using surveys like SERVQUAL or SERVPERF to collect
the data have been often criticised for not accurately or fully representing customer
views [Bowen, 2001; Ryan, 1995]. Qualitative techniques are considered to be
more appropriate to understanding social phenomena [Godfrey and Clarke, 2000].
It is beyond the scope of this paper to argue philosophically about the relative
merits of the more positivist quantitative approaches versus the more phenomenological qualitative approaches to understanding experiential situations as each has its
strengths and weaknesses. However, there is a distinct lack of qualitative studies in
the literature which suggests that the present study can add to the existing body of
knowledge.
The study required an in-depth exploration of tourist consumer behaviour in a
real-life situation. As such, the specific qualitative method used for this project
was participant observation [Berg, 1989; Frankenberg, 1982; Glesne et al., 1992;
Hunt, 1989; Lincoln and Guba, 1985]. Participant observation seemed more closely
bound to the reality of the tourism experience and allowed for a more interactive
analysis of the data collected. Bowen [2001] suggests participant observation
provides much more than a snapshot of the tourism experience.
McCall and Simmons [1969] would have us believe it is a combination of
methods and techniques that researchers employ when studying others. Participant
observation appears to involve not only researchers immersing themselves in a
culture but also referring to a study of the social interactions that occur between
the researched and the researcher. Data collection methods can include systematic
formal and informal interviews, associated with dedicated data collection and those
informal incidental occasions that may give opportunities for data collection. Participant observation may also include the systematic collection of quantitative data or
even artefacts, for later examination or auditing [Belk, 1984]. Lastly, it can also
suggest a certain ‘open-endedness’ employed when talking about the direction the
research takes.
Primary data was collected by the authors over a 36-month period, from 2000 to
2003. Using the facilities and dive locations of four dive tour operators in the Perth
metropolitan area, two in the South West of Western Australia, one in Port
Douglas, Queensland and, for the purposes of an international comparison, one
from Phuket, Thailand. The project was largely based ‘in the field’ [Burgess, 1982,
1984], during which time there was also the systematic collection of quantitative
data from 200 respondents relating to service quality [see O’Neill et al., 2000].
During this time period, the authors conducted a series of formal interviews with
the staff of two dive tour operators, as well as informal in-depth interviews
[McCracken, 1988; Douglas, 1985; Sieber, 1982] with the staff of six other dive
charter operations. Additionally, the authors also conducted a series of informal
in-depth interviews with 45 customers on one-day dive charters.
A small measure of auto-driving was achieved with ‘memoing’ [McCraken, 1988]
occurring as often as was practicable. Typically, the return journey to port from the
various dive sites averaged two hours, and as well as data collection, the authors
would use this time for early analysis of data and to ‘fine-tune’ the future direction
of the project. Member checks [Belk et al., 1991], the process of showing the
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545
respondent all or a sample of their input was conducted with the owners of one dive
store with some success. Unfortunately, this did not happen with the customer respondents, as typically they would be either tourists passing through, or locals reluctant to
participate beyond their incidental involvement at the time. Thus all divers were interviewed or interacted with once, with none studied in sufficient depth to permit the
construction of time-line material [Yin, 1990; cited in Belk et al., 1991].
The authors also observed and participated in the dives as qualified divers, sharing
the same experiences [Becker and Greer, 1982; Douglas, 1985; Hirschman, 1986;
Jorgensen, 1989; McCall and Simmons, 1969], thus allowing for a more complete
view of the action in context. Coupled with this was arguably a greater empathy
when interpreting perspectives ‘in action’ (Gould et al., 1974; cited in Belk et al.,
1991) as opposed to watching from the sidelines and providing perspectives ‘on
action’. The decision by the researchers to immerse themselves as active participants
rather than researchers with similar skills was a conscious one. The decision was
pivotal to the project as it relates to the considered objective of ‘verstehen’ (‘understanding’) as opposed to ‘erklärung’ (‘explanation’) [Hamilton, 1994], as influenced
by the German intellectual tradition of hermeneutics. Verstehen, then, in the context
of this study, is the objective of finding and focusing on the ‘meaning’ of the social
phenomena [Schwandt, 1994], as opposed to struggling with the causal effects [ibid.]
of why scuba-divers emphasise certain aspects of their experience when describing
satisfaction. Another noteworthy implication of verstehen is the deliberate decision
by the authors not to dwell on the ethnomethodological [Holstein and Gubrium,
1994; Adler and Adler, 1994] aspects of diver behaviour at this stage. Unfortunately,
the timing and scope of the project did not allow for such thick description or thick
interpretation [Denzin, 1989]; however the authors endeavoured to use, at least in
part, a grounded theory approach promoted by Glaser and Strauss [1967].
In addition to ‘memoing’, other qualitative methods likened to reliability and
validity equivalents [Kirk and Miller, 1986] were used to improve ‘truthfulness’
[Belk, 1992; Wallendorf and Belk, 1989]. Three researchers participating in the
data collection and subsequent analysis ensured a measure of triangulation in the
findings; triangulation not only from numbers but also from academic background:
one each from marketing, hospitality and tourism. Auto-driving techniques
[Heisley and Levy, 1991], such as the showing and discussing of notes taken with
the respondents, in this case the tour operators, were also used. With the dive tourists,
however, this was not possible given they would typically depart after the dive to
continue their journeys, and therefore were treated by the researchers as transient
respondents.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The findings highlight the inadequacy of researchers and practitioners alike when they
focus on only the tangible aspects of the dive experience as being the only avenue to
customer satisfaction. For example, the dive destination itself is arguably not enough,
although this may be the reason why the divers have made the effort to be there in
the first place. Once there, customers use a myriad of other factors to determine
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satisfaction from the experience. The experience mentioned at the start of the paper is
one example of this. The Dutch diver (M40) reported afterwards that this had been his
second dive in Phuket and that the conditions had been particularly favourable for that
time of year. He spoke about the many dive locations in the world he had been to and
it soon became clear that diving was his passion. He did not seem overly fussed about
the poor conditions and an impression of ‘pilgrimage’ emerged [Belk et al., 1991].
His recreational plan appeared to be to visit all the popular dive sites in the world
at some stage in his life.
Another example of discounting obvious single attribute satisfaction was a day
dive charter trip to Rottnest Island (20 kilometres west of Perth, Western Australia)
on a fine but extremely choppy day. The underwater conditions were also less than
perfect with minimal visibility and strong currents. A British backpacker’s main
impression of the day came not from the adverse conditions but from the difference
in dive partners between the morning dive and the afternoon’s dive. In the morning he
had been paired with a lone Japanese male of about the same age who could barely
speak English. ‘He’s a total fruit-cake . . . I’m telling you . . . I was trying to make
signals at that first big rock and he didn’t have a clue’ (M20). Later, after the
second dive, he changed his energy from disparaging his earlier dive partner to
becoming happily animated about the site, the length of time he spent below
(almost an hour due to the shallow depth) and the food served on the boat.
On another half-day dive charter, the dive charter boat experienced mechanical
difficulties and stopped before the dive site could be reached. The crew decided to
limp to an alternative spot, which proved to be the worst visibility the authors experienced during the data collection phase (about 1 metre maximum), and all on a less
than perfect limestone block resting on a featureless sandy sea bed. The customers,
however, appeared relaxed and mildly amused at the breakdown. They participated
in the dive, with most coming back to the boat long before the air in their tanks
was spent and with many not even finding the limestone formation (due to the poor
visibility and poor directions by the boat crew). On the return journey, the authors
noticed that spirits were still high, and that many went straight back into the dive
shop to pay for another charter in the same boat. On quizzing one British female
dive tourist as to why she was going back out in the circumstances, she simply
shrugged and said she enjoyed the atmosphere, and they had allocated a day for
diving on her trip and were going to use it.
Another incident occurred when diving on the HMAS Swan dive wreck. The
Swan is an Australian River Class destroyer-escort which is now an artificial wreck
dive site off Point Picquet, Dunsborough Western Australia [Storrie and Strike,
1998]. The ship, purposely sunk by the Geographe Bay Artificial Reef Society in
December 1997, is 114 metres long, 12.5 metres wide and sits in 30 metres of
water. On this occasion the conditions were particularly choppy, yet six divers,
including two former officers who had served on the ship, all reported having
enjoyed the experience. The return journey on the fast but low rigid inflatable was
particularly rough and wet, with wetsuits left on. One respondent commented it
was like ‘in the movies’. In contrast, the two former serving crew members of the
Swan appeared to derive satisfaction entirely from their ‘pilgrimage’ to a symbol
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they, in essence, felt a strong attachment to [Ball and Tasaki, 1992] and certainly
derived a sense of ‘self ’ from it [Csikszentmihalyi and Rochberg-Halton, 1981;
Belk, 1988]. As one of them put it, ‘It all seems smaller than it was in real life . . .
It brings back the memories . . . A fitting end’ (M32).
Another of the divers had returned to the wreck after two years. She marvelled at
the marine life that had grown over the ship in the meantime. ‘You should have seen it
the last time I was here, there was nothing on it . . . did you see the little blue Blennies
at the mast when we were waiting at the end? . . . It was hiding in a handrail sticking
its head out staring at me . . . oh, gave me goose bumps.’ (F25)
Other intangibles used to determine satisfaction included staff rapport, the briefings and de-briefings, even the fellow diver/crew ‘communitas’ [Turner, 1972]. The
researchers noted that after a dive typically strangers/tourists would open up to each
other as if they had all passed an initiation test of sorts. They had participated in the
same effort and experience. The initial awkwardness and politeness of strangers
in proximity was now exchanged for a deeper sense of ‘phatic communion’
[Malinowski, 1923], referring to the special ‘family bond’ that ties together the
lifestyle sub-culture [Schouten and McAlexander, 1995]. Another example of the
strength and closeness of the community of ‘strangers’ in a dive boat was when
one diver helped himself to the food being placed out on the table before the ship’s
cook had given the lunch briefing. Being the only one among 40 people with a
plate full of food and eating while the crewman directed the ladies to eat first, he
instantly became the object of derision and was shunned by all as punishment for
the rest of the trip.
Further to the intangibles used when determining satisfaction are the tangibles,
such as the hire equipment, the boat and fittings, the staff, the shop layout, and the
souvenirs and photos of previous dives.
Divers are always amazed at how small the holes are that were blown in order to
sink the ship. It’s lucky we’ve got one out the back . . . we show people when
they’re drying the gear and they’re always amazed. (F24)
Yes, our photo album always gets a ‘workout’. They often look at it after the
dive as well. (M30)
The same British tourist mentioned earlier had this to say about his hired diving
equipment: ‘It’s good gear too. Check out the three dump valves on the BC, and
the computer . . . You don’t get this in the places I’ve been’ (M20).
These findings attest to the diversity and complexity of concepts scuba-divers
draw from when determining customer satisfaction. Each experience and interaction
appears to modify an increasingly rich experience until the customer finally leaves the
store after final decommissioning and return of any hire equipment. Often customers
would dwell in the store for a time after the event discussing the dive, or equipment on
display with store representatives in a friendly conversational banter. Only then
would they finally leave the store, and with them their final evaluation of product
satisfaction based on a multitude of experiences over a period of time.
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Early quantitative work published by the authors examined various criteria scuba
customers use to determine service quality [O’Neill et al., 2000]. In a performanceimportance matrix using responses gained from a modified SERVQUAL instrument
[Parasuraman et al., 1985, 1988], quadrants of criteria were plotted in order to distinguish between those attributes that were important to scuba customers and those
that were not. Along with importance, the matrix purported to establish those attributes the scuba service providers were performing adequately on and those they
were not. Criteria scoring highly on the importance scale were typically issues
such as promptness, courtesy and ‘correct’ service. The ability to impart confidence
in the customer and also the suitability of the boat rate highly on this scale.
Although earlier quantitative findings show the importance as rated by customers
on the survey instrument, there were incidents witnessed by the authors in the context
of the present study that contradict these earlier findings. The particular incident, for
example, where the boat experienced engine problems causing the dive destination to
be changed caused no more than mild amusement among the customers. Further, on
that occasion many went straight back into the shop on return to the harbour not to
complain, but to purchase another dive going straight back out on the same boat.
‘Suitability of the boat’, then, arguably needs further consideration in light of this
incident. Perhaps respondents placed in a situation of predicting issues in the case
of a questionnaire failed to take into account more important factors such as ‘communitas’ [Celsi et al., 1993] or even the dive ‘experience’ itself, which in this case served
to render boat malfunction and dive destination failure insignificant.
Another issue of contention between earlier published work and these qualitative
findings is the highly rated criteria of ‘getting it right first time’, and ‘no compromise
to safety’. Once again the authors find contradiction between qualitative and quantitative findings. The situation is essentially one of the diver descending with an air tank
not turned on properly by the staff prior to entering the water [Young, 2000], leading
to a life-threatening situation of panic at 33 metres below the surface. Later the diver
ignores the obvious failure of staff responsibility. Not only does she disregard the lifethreatening lapse but finishes by praising them, and taking full responsibility herself
for the incident.
The authors, having employed both quantitative and qualitative techniques while
using the same venues and respondents, suggest that getting to the heart of what determines diver satisfaction can really only be adequately explored using qualitative
methodology. In essence, emotions, feelings and experiences surrounding this hedonistic pursuit monopolise to such an extent the scuba-divers’ cognitive time and effort
that it simply becomes obvious during ethnography that what really determines diver
satisfaction eludes quantification [for further discussion on the comparison issue in
consumer behaviour, see Belk, 1992].
Notwithstanding the inherent inconsistency in quantitative and qualitative outcomes, specific findings from this insight into the dive tourism industry indicate
the myriad and diversity of concepts consumers use to evaluate customer satisfaction.
Consumers in the case study fail to focus on mainstream issues such as price or safety
as sole indicators, they instead evaluate the purchase through consideration of
many collective concepts, the ‘Gestalt’ of the experience. Gestalt, the German word
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549
roughly translated as whole pattern, or configuration, in essence suggests that people
derive meaning from the totality of a set of stimuli [Solomon, 1998].
These concepts relate to both the experiential as well as the functional aspects of
the dive. Consumers also appear willing to overlook some aspects that fall way below
what could be considered normal standards. Even given atrocious conditions and poor
maintenance of dive and boat equipment the diver may draw on other highlights, such
as a few treasured moments, the fact that they have now dived a particular location, or
the camaraderie on the boat in order to exact some semblance of purchase satisfaction.
It could also be argued that dive tourists accept or even invite less than perfect conditions as a way of adding value to the experience, a sense of overcoming the
elements, or convincing themselves and others that their chosen lifestyle takes skill
and effort and therefore is not for the faint-hearted.
Some of the criteria respondents use to measure customer satisfaction fall outside
the immediate control of the dive operator, thereby making it difficult for management to ‘cover all bases’ when trying to ensure customer satisfaction. The upside
of this notion is the public’s willingness to overlook operator problems and errors,
partially because of the potential to find satisfaction in aspects of the dive outside
operator control, and maybe partially due to the rapport that is built and ‘communitas’
that is expected between customers and dive operators. Perhaps also there is an
acceptance that it is simply the way of recreational diving.
All this does not mean that the operator should abandon all current efforts to
provide quality service and material to the customer, rather they should appreciate
two things about scuba service offerings. Firstly, that a broad focus on the many
aspects within their control will increase the probability of the customer perceiving
satisfaction at the end of the experience. Secondly, while a focus on all aspects associated with the dive purchase may increase the probability of diver satisfaction, it does
not guarantee it, and this is due to the customer’s use of factors beyond the control of
the operator in deriving satisfaction.
Further to the consideration of a broad focus on a multitude of controllable and
uncontrollable aspects of the diving experience is the appreciation that satisfaction
will be determined by not only what is delivered, but also how it is delivered to customers. Scuba operators must understand that in instances that include the hire and/or
the purchase of equipment, the customer receives a combination of both material and
personal service. Material service refers to the more tangible elements of the experience, such as the technical and/or mechanical elements associated with diving. Personal service, on the other hand, refers to the interpersonal and relational elements of
the service encounter. This view is taken up by Grönroos [1983], who proposes that
the customers’ experience of the service depends upon two key dimensions, namely
technical and functional quality, where ‘technical quality’ refers to the result of the
service and/or the question: ‘What has been provided?’ ‘Functional quality’ on the
other hand refers to the way the service has been delivered and relates to the question:
‘How has the service been provided?’
Grönroos [1984] purports that technical solutions are easily copied, whereas
functional quality can be used to create a competitive edge by focusing on the
more personal aspects of the scuba-diving experience. In recreational scuba-diving,
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technical aspects are often copied, with dive operators sharing the same dive sites,
selling/hiring the same equipment and using similar techniques and offerings.
Often the authors witnessed competitors’ boats moored metres away from each
other sharing a particular dive site, or in the case of the heavily used sites off
Phuket, Thailand charter boats line up waiting for their turn to drop divers at a site,
not dissimilar to aircraft in a circuit waiting to land. In Australia this situation of
sharing and competing for sites was witnessed by the authors at Port Douglas in
Queensland, and again on the HMAS Swan in Western Australia. Similar technical
‘product’ is also immediately noticeable in scuba retailers offering the same or
similar brands of merchandise all at their peak of product parity and separated by
branding alone.
Grönroos [1990] argues that technical quality is a necessary but not sufficient
condition for high quality service. Functional quality, on the other hand, is likely
to be more important than technical quality if the latter is at least of a sufficient standard. While this contention is reasonably close to data collected in this study, Young
[2000] relates an incident where the technical quality was insufficient, when the diver
ran out of air at 33 metres of depth, arguably through the contributory negligence of
the operator. What is more, we see in this case that due to the negligence of the service
provider, functional quality was insufficient, yet the diver was still happy with the
service provider. Again this situation was repeated where the authors and others
were subjected to a boat that broke down and a crew that were less than helpful,
yet still there were divers who went straight back into the shop to purchase more
dives on the same boat.
Saleh and Ryan [1991] take the Grönroos model further, suggesting the quality of
the functional service may even offset problems experienced with the technical component. While a technical problem should not occur, if it does, the reaction of the
service provider to it may contribute to more positive customer perceptions of the
service provided and a greater overall sense of satisfaction. This is even closer to
Young’s [2000] case, suggesting customers may still leave the encounter with a positive perception when technical problems occur, providing the service provider acts in
some way. The Young example and other cases witnessed by the authors take the
evolution of the Grönroos model to a third stage. Here the authors suggest that in
some situations of technical insufficiency, and where the provider does not act, the
consumer may still derive satisfaction by simply drawing on other aspects of the
service experience. These other aspects could be experiential. In this case a holistic
approach is used by the customer to determine satisfaction, whereby the customer
considers all three elements; technical, functional and experiential in a form of
service ‘bundle’ or ‘package’.
Notwithstanding the preconceived positive expectations of Scuba customers
helping to contribute to a positive service encounter, it still behoves the provider to
make efforts towards ensuring customer satisfaction. In the recreational diving industry perceived product parity and strong competition makes this suggestion difficult but
not impossible. It simply becomes a situation of channelling efforts into areas where
no parity exists. To follow the extended Grönroos model suggests that service operators should strive for a balance between both the technical and functional aspects of
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND SCUBA-DIVING
551
their offerings. Allied with this is the necessity to focus on and emphasise the
functional or relational aspects of the offering and in doing so not only value-add
to the point of differentiating their product in the eyes of the consumer, but also
insure themselves against the inevitability of technical failure.
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CONCLUSIONS
The importance of this study is threefold. Firstly it lies in the discrepancy in the data
obtained when considering the quantitative and qualitative data separately. Quantitative data collection and analysis from previous studies would suggest factors such as
equipment reliability, safety and operator efficiency (functional service) as being
important criteria in determining customer satisfaction. Qualitative data however
suggest a ‘bigger picture’, that a multitude of issues, some functional, some technical,
but many experiential and certainly subjective are also considered in determining
satisfaction.
Secondly, the findings indicate and allude to the factors that recreational divers
use in determining satisfaction. Satisfaction can be ascertained from the dive itself:
water clarity, number and quality of ‘swim-throughs’ (underwater limestone caves
where a diver can enter one part and exit another), type, colour, volume of marine
life. In addition, satisfaction can be gained from a raft of other experiences. For
example, for some people it is not so much the proliferation of marine life but
rather the presence of rare species, such as the ‘buzz’ caused by the discovery of a
single tiny seahorse on one dive in Thailand. It could be in the way teams and
buddies of divers ‘work’ together, the issue of mutual trust and support being
tested in a potentially dangerous environment. For others it is found in the camaraderie of fellow divers on the dive boat, even after problems with the boat or site are
experienced. The trip to and from the site (sometimes measured in hours of friendly
banter with strangers) appeared to contribute a wealth to the overall appreciation of
the service provision. While the list is long it is by no means exhaustive and a
future direction for this research is to tease the many factors used in the contribution
of satisfaction and then further to consider the relative importance of each one. This
would represent a shift from verstehen (understanding) to erklärung (explanation)
and perhaps between the two approaches provide a more holistic appreciation of
recreational diver satisfaction.
Lastly, the importance of this study lies in the exposition of a limiting exception to
the Grönroos [1983] model. While the authors are not contending the model per se,
they are suggesting a ‘fine-tuning’ or even an extension of the model, if you will.
Grönroos suggested the distinction of service provision into functional and technical
parts. He then goes on to suggest that as long as the technical aspects of the service
offering are ‘adequate’ the service provider could find a competitive edge in the focus
of effort on function, or the way it is delivered. Saleh and Ryan [1991] have suggested
a slight change to this model in light of their findings. They propose that when things
go wrong, or in other words the technical side of the offering is inadequate, how the
service provider performs in trying to overcome this may still result in the happy
ending of customer satisfaction. In this study of recreational diving the authors
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purport that in situations of both technical and functional dissatisfaction the customer
may still derive enough experiential satisfaction to offset the other negative aspects,
and thus leave the encounter with an overall positive feeling. Perhaps adding the
notion of ‘the experiential product’ as a third factor affecting customer satisfaction
needs to be considered in extending the Grönroos model.
Further research into the sub-cultural construction and dynamics of the recreational diving community is of interest to the authors. This because of the strong
bonds of camaraderie and communitas witnessed during data collection. The ‘importance’ and strength of this feeling was noted and discussed by the authors, possibly
because of the uniqueness of the lifestyle. Perhaps the emphasis on the recreational
diver’s moral obligation to maintain this sense of communitas is also due to the potential for danger, and thus the mutual responsibilities of diving partners to look after
each other when in the water. Whilst diving is potentially dangerous, it is this risk
along with the wondrous experience of another dimension shared with like-minded
people working together to maximise the quality of their experience that makes
diving a ‘special’ product.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The team wishes to thank the various dive tour operators who have participated in this
project, namely Shelley Blythe of Cape Dive, Dunsborough, Western Australia; Perth
Diving Academy; Sorrento Dive Shop; Mindarie Dive; and Bay Dive. We also wish to
thank SMERC (Small to Medium Enterprise Research Council) which partially
funded this project.
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