PERCEIVED VALUE AS A MODERATOR ON RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SERVICE QUALITY AND SATISFACTION PILGRIMS IN SAUDI ARABIA
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Date
2025
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University Technology Mara
Abstract
In Umrah, service quality is paramount due to the unique nature of the Umrah experience.
Ensuring smooth and efficient services, such as transportation, accommodation, safety, and
food & beverages, is crucial for meeting pilgrims' expectations. Pilgrims' satisfaction in
Umrah is closely tied to the seamless execution of services, commitment to religious
protocols, and personalized attention from Saudi Arabia and service providers. This study
aims to assess the impact of service quality on pilgrims’ satisfaction with the services
received. And to examine the role of perceived values as the moderating factor between
service quality and satisfaction. This study employed a quantitative approach with
convenient sampling to analyze service quality in Umrah in Saudi Arabia. The sample
consists of 138 Malaysian pilgrims who have performed Umrah at least once in the last five
years. The data was gathered through the distribution of the questionnaire, following which
it was run by SPSS 27&30 for further analysis. The study results showed that the regression
model accounts for 80.5% of the variation in Perceived Value, and the correlation matrix shows
that most of the variables are positively correlated. Finally, perceived value moderates the
relationship between service quality and satisfaction in some dimensions of service quality,
enhancing its impact on satisfaction. However, in other dimensions, the perceived value did not
have a significant effect on the satisfaction of pilgrims.
Description
Saudi Arabia is the core of the Arab and Islamic worlds and represents the heartof Islam
(Liu & Fan, 2018). Around 10 million pilgrims travel annually to the Kingdomof Saudi Arabia
(KSA) for Umrah (a minor pilgrimage to Makkah) in more than 180 countries. According to
The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah, the government of KSA has issued 7,584,424 Umrah visas
since 30 May 2019 (25 Ramadan 1440 H) (Tobaiqy et al., 2021).
However, the development of the Umrah service quality has increased over timein
meeting the needs of the pilgrims to carry out Umrah worship easily and comfortably (Usanto
et al., 2023). The King ordered the establishment of a ministry dedicated to serving the Hajj
and Umrah pilgrimages under the name of the Ministry ofHajj and Umrah. It continues to play
the leading role in providing services to pilgrims throughout the Hajj and Umrah (Al Jahdali,
2021). This is one of the main duties of theMHU. The program's purpose is to tightly control
all the service providersfor pilgrims,including Tawaf formations, internal pilgrims' companies,
pilgrim transport providers,and companies supplying hospitality services (Al Jahdali, 2021)
In addition, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is responsible for providing pilgrims
infrastructure, accommodation, food and beverages, safety, and medical care. Officials must
work with commercial operators both in Saudi Arabia and overseas to provide services. Saudi
government planned for over 15 million Muslims to perform Umrah annually and to be
completely satisfied with their Umrah experience (Alammash et al., 2021). Pilgrims come from
different nationalities; therefore, the development is not limited to public services only but
also to employees to improve the services for pilgrims is an important first step (Al Jahdali,
2021). Moreover, several factors affect pilgrims' satisfaction, represented in the quality and
availability of services, such as food, amenities, and staff responsiveness. Additionally, the
physical environment of the hotel, including its location, cleanliness, and overall appearance,
are crucial indicators (Fathurrahman et al., 2021).
Consequently, administering Umrah is an extremely complicated process in which
Saudi Arabia’s private and public sectors are deeply involved (Masoud Mohammed et al.,
2024). The demand for Umrah puts pressure on Saudi Arabia, as the country sees it as its
responsibility to accept all who want to come for Hajj and Umrah.However, until recent times,
the Kingdom could not receive all pilgrims due to a lack of facilities and services. To keep up
with the fast-growing demand, Saudi Arabia proposed a seriesof initiatives and projects in
Vision 2030, including the expansion of facilities and services to cater to a better experience
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for the pilgrims (Alammash et al., 2021).
According to Alshaibi (2024), studies available currently in the literature barely
addressed Umrah quality. They lacked the application of standardized service quality
dimensions, especially with the arrival of various new elements such as new transportation
means, infrastructure expansions, and regulations. Considering the complexity of Umrah and
the overlap among the service providers involved, his study is to realize the challenges facing
pilgrims and to measure Umrah service quality and the impact of the factors involved in the
pilgrims’ satisfaction.
Therefore, to enhance the previous study due to the lack of studies to examine service
quality by measuring pilgrims' satisfaction through perceived value toward the Saudi
government and service providers. In this study, the impact of satisfaction was examined by
measuring perceived value as a moderator variable in relation to service quality. Commonly
cited definitions of perceived value are supplied by the consumer’s overall assessment of the
utility of a product based on perceptions of what is received and what is given (Zeithaml,
1988). Some past studies confirm the positive relationships between perceived value and
customer satisfaction (Samudro et al., 2020). Building on previous studies, this study applies
perceived value to assess the impact of pilgrims' satisfaction with service quality. The purpose
of this study is to measure the relationship between the predictors of the SERVQUAL model
and the perceived value, which indicates pilgrims’ satisfaction with the Saudi Arabian
government.
Moreover, the dimensions of service quality to be fulfilled are Tangibles, Empathy,
Reliability, Responsiveness, and Assurance (Bachmid & Rahmiati, 2022). Which in return
significantly affects the perceived value. Furthermore, the quality of the experience alters the
perceived value for pilgrims (Ying et al., 2012).
However, based on Masoud Mohammed et al. (2024),service qualities can be improved
to improve the services offered and enhance pilgrims’ satisfaction. The Kingdom of Saudi
Arabia and service providers are enhancing their services for pilgrims by improving
transportation, healthcare, cleanliness, security, accommodation, food & beverage, and
facilitating visa procedures. All these factors significantly impact pilgrims' perceived value,
either positively or negatively, thereby influencing their satisfaction level.
In line with the above notion, the general objectives of this study are as follows:
i. To assess the impact of service quality on pilgrims’ satisfaction with the services
received.
ii. To examine the moderating role of perceived value in the relationship between service
quality and pilgrims' satisfaction, focusing on expectations align with the actual
service experience
Keywords
Saudi Arabia, Umrah, Service Quality, Satisfaction, Perceived Value ii