FACTORS INFLUENCING WORD-OF-MOUTH OF USERS AT SAKON NAKHON IMMIGRATION, THAILAND

Abstract

           The objective of this study was to examine 1) the influence of service quality on user satisfaction and word-of-mouth and 2) the effect of user satisfaction on word-of-mouth. Data was collected from a sample of 400 respondents who were a user of Sakon Nakhon Immigration, Sakon Nakhon Provinces, Thailand. They were 147 of Thai people and 253 of foreigner. Questionnaire was developed by two steps as follows. Firstly, language validity was checked by using Back-Translation technique (a method for translation and validation was showed in detail). Secondly, Cronbach’s Alpha was conducted to test reliability. Then, Multiple Regression Analysis was used for analyzing data.The results revealed that four dimensions of service quality significantly impacted user satisfaction and word-of-mouth. However, there was only one dimension of service quality “reliability” did not significantly impact user satisfaction and “assurance”did not significantly impact word-of-mouth. Moreover, the results presented that user satisfaction significantly affected word-of-mouth. This finding could be applied to increase user satisfaction and word-of-mouth. The Sakon Nakhon Immigration should improve and develop their service quality, especially in reliability and assurance dimension. Research implications and directions for future research were suggested.