The Effect of Design, Social, and Delight Dimensions on Customer Satisfaction: The Moderating Role of Value Consciousness within the beauty salons/spas in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Considering the rapid growth of the beauty salons/spas industry in Saudi Arabia and globally and the importance of providing customers with the best experience, this study aims to examine different dimensions of the service environment and their effects on customer satisfaction within beauty salons/spas in Saudi Arabia. Service environment dimensions used in this study were social, design, and delight factors. Moreover, value consciousness was examined as a moderator affecting the relationships between service environment dimensions and customer satisfaction. A quantitative cross-sectional research method was used, and an online structured questionnaire was employed to collect data. 315 complete responses were collected from customers who received a service from beauty salons/spas in Saudi Arabia in the past six months. Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analyses were conducted using SPSS 29, and six hypotheses were tested using hierarchical multiple linear regression. The findings of this study revealed that social, design, and delight factors are positively related to customer satisfaction. For moderation, value consciousness negatively moderated the relationship between service design factors and customer satisfaction, while no other significant moderation effect was found. The findings of this study extended the previous work done in the service marketing literature by adding a new factor (delight) when assessing the service environment in beauty salons/spas. Value consciousness can still further be investigated as a moderator in other contexts or cultures. The study offers practical implications to the managers of beauty salons/spas, especially in Saudi Arabia, in understanding the importance of various factors affecting the service environment in beauty salons/spas. Managers can improve the service environment through the implementation of the factors identified. Therefore, this enhances the experience and satisfies customers at the beauty salons/spas while still offering quality and competitive prices.