KAFM-WF 002

The Impact of Language Service on The Shopping
Experience of International Tourist

Hunag Jingting・Yasunaga Wakabayashi
2021年4月28日

京都大学大学院経営管理教育部 WS レポート

題目：

The Impact of Language Service on The Shopping
Experience of International Tourist

提出日：令和 ２年 ２月 １２日

入 学 年

平成 ３０年

学 生 番 号

７５３０-３０-７４４４

所属プログラム

サービス＆ホスピタリティプログラム
観光経営科学コース

氏

名

WS 担当教員氏名

ＨＵＡＮＧ ＪＩＮＧＴＩＮＧ若林 靖永Chapters

Chapter1. Introduction・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・3
1.1 Increasing international arrivals and the current state of tourism industry
1.2 Voice from international tourists and multilingual investment
1.3 Definition for language service
Chapter2. Theoretical framework・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・6
2.1Preceding research on language in service
2.2Theoretical framework
Chapter3. Research methods・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・10
3.1General description for research methods
3.2How to categorize language service
3.3Details for quantitative research
3.4 Details for qualitative research
Chapter4. Results・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・15
4.1Results for quantitative research
4.2Results for qualitative research
Chapter5. Discussion for findings・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・24
5.1About how to understand and apply the limited impact of language service
5.2About how to understand the positive impact mother tongue service may have
5.3About how to take advantage of Japanese service-2-Chapter1. Introduction

1.1 Increasing international arrivals and the current state of tourism industry
In 2007, Tourism Nation Promotion Basic Law came into effect. Since then the tourism industry began to
be positioned as a new pillar of national policy. Japan had made great efforts to increase foreign visitor
arrivals after that. Many national scale campaigns were created and put into practice with the aim ofdeveloping international tourism industry and branding the country. Targeting the Asian market, travel visa
requirements in the region has been gradually easing since 2013. On the other hand, the Japanese yen was incontinuous trend of depreciation. LCC, the new entrant into Japanese aviation market, showed a rapid growthin both numbers and size. As a result, the number of international tourists increased year over year.
However, the story doesn’t stop here, for that the ultimate goals of developing tourism industry into a newpillar of the economy is far more than just increasing the number of international arrivals. The government
is managed to address an “imbalance” of welcoming more foreign arrivals but not more spending (Daisuke
Kobayashi). Over the years, the negative impact that tourism has on daily life of local citizens has received
attention. Critics about over-tourism or culture losing has been heard more frequently.
According to JNTO (Japan National Tourism Organization) and JTA (Japan Tourism Agency), in 2018,
more than 30 million foreign visitors traveled in Japan on business or for pleasure, a rise of 8.7% over theprevious year. Meanwhile, the total consumption of international tourists was approximately 4.5 trillion with
year-on-year growth of 2%. Comparing with it, in 2019, growth rate for the number of foreign visitors is
2.2%, while for the total consumption is 6.5%.
Figure 1. Number of International Tourists and Consumption During Travel made by author based on JNTO
and JTA statistics.
(10thousand people)
5,000

4.4

4,500
4,000

4.5

3.7

3.5

4.8
(trillion yen) 5.0
4.5
4.0

3,500

3.5

3,000
2.0

2,500
2,000
1,500

0.8

3,188

1,974

836

2011

2012

2.5
1.5
1.0

1,341
622

3.0
2.0

2,404

1.4
1.1

1,000
500

2,869

3,119

1,036

0.5

0

0.0
2013

2014

2015

2016

Number of international travelers

3

2017

Consumption

2018

2019

Tourism industry in Japan is experiencing a transition period with more concern for the quality of tourism,
which makes it imperative for Japan to increase tourism revenues to correspond with the increasing numberof international arrivals.

1.2 Voice from international tourists and multilingual investment
With such transition in tourism industry, one business popularizing around the nation, and the improvementof which has lasted for past several years, is to create a multilingual environment. Multilingualism in Japan,of course, mainly caused by a demographic change in the society more than just for international tourists.
However, a visible increase of foreign visitors is no doubt to be a trigger.
From the fiscal year of 2016, Japan Tourism Agency began to conduct a survey at three main international
airports every year, named "Questionnaire on Creating a More Welcoming Environment for International
Visitors to Japan". The survey collected answers from international tourist respondents to investigate thetroublesome when they were travelling around Japan.
Results of this survey showed that “unable to communicate with staff of facilities”, “lack of multilingual
information” and “free public wireless LAN” most confused foreign travelers, two of which could be
categorized as language related troublesome. Besides, the most confused thing was “unable tocommunication with the staff of facilities”. Although such voice has been weakening, successive years of thesame troublesome still make it become a sensitive issue, especially when referring to satisfaction ofinternational tourists.
Nationwide activities of creating multilingual environment soon followed. It is not hard to imagine howchallenging it is to a country without multilingual background. Moreover, uncertainty, suddenness anddiversification characteristic of information demands from international tourists added the complexity anddifficulty to breakthrough.
The government invested vastly on improving the multilingual environment. Especially from 2019, theinvestment increased substantially. Budget of Japan Tourism Agency for multilingual related businessreached 14,050million yen in 2019, 7.4 times more than 2018.

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Table 1. Investment on multilingual environment creating

Multilingual hospitality using ICT to upgrade satisfaction of international(million JPY)

3,050

tourists at the local destination
Multi-language guidance for tourism resource of local regions

1,000

Environment improving for inbound tourists by developing cultural properties

10,000

Enriching and enhancing the interpreter guide system

55(Data excepted from budget report for Japan Tourism Agency 2020)

1.3 Definition for language service
Language service in my research is defined as conversational offerings whenever guidance or oral
communication is needed in the service encounter between service providers and international tourists.
Language service provided in Japan is considered to fall into two styles. One is in a literal style, whichis the written information for products or service, mainly offered in English, Chinese and Korea, sometimes
in French or Spanish as well. The other is spoken style service, which is often provided by staffs who are
fluent in English or native speaker staffs hired by service providers.
The literal style of language service is more common than spoken style, and there has been a great
number of relevant research focus on it. The spoken style of language service, which was called as“interactive language” in previous studies also, is likely to be more difficult to focus on. In the practice ofmultilingual investment, with items listed in table 1, most of them mean literal style of multi-language too.
Some of the investment are for internet-based, others are for paper-based like brochures, tourist map,
information board.
However, the expansion of international tourism as well as increasingly needs for multilingual service
makes it urgent to study the spoken style of language service. Furthermore, multilingual investment
including oral guidance for shopping and other travel consumption is already under way in Japan. Not only
public sectors, more and more private business units, no matter the size of their business, have added
language service or prepare to do so.
With such background, language service in this research is defined as conversational offerings
implemented by service providers in a face-to-face communication between service personnel andinternational tourist, which is the spoken style of language service referred above.
The purpose of this paper is to address the impact of such defined language service on shopping
experience of international tourists, then on business. Whether language service can bring returns that5

providers expect? In another word and to the point directly, will language service help increase provider’ssales? If yes, how does it work? If no, can we then jump to a conclusion that language service is offerings
without value? How do international tourists view language service? How should we view it objectively inthe context of business? This paper attempts to give answers or at least clues to answer these questions.

Chapter2. Theoretical framework

2.1 Preceding research on language in service
There was a great deal of research on the role language plays in tourism. Majority of them were carriedout from geographic, cultural, technical or educational perspective. Awareness of technical application andhigh concern for paper-based or internet-based multilingualism were shown in Japanese literatures.
In Japan, research on related subject has always shown high awareness of the practice or progress oftechnology. HMI (human machine interface) or something similar has been gaining attentions early in the
1960s in Japan. Recorder machines offering details of local tours appeared in travel buses at the early stage.
By the 1990s, intense discussions and analyses were carried out to determine how automatic guide systems
could be wisely launched, which technically based on immensely complex blending between Natural
Language Understanding and Speech Recognition.
Besides, multilingualism related discussion in Japanese literatures saw an expansion either in the numberof papers or diversity of research perspective since 2000s, when tourism revitalization began to be considered
as a national policy in Japan. It can be found that linguistic subject was generally defined as a written rather
than a spoken communication issue, as most discussion was a content analysis of printed promotion media.
The research focused on paper-based (travel brochures, magazines, pamphlet, booklet, guidebook) orinternet-based (tourism websites) information dissemination. High frequency for using expressions like“linguistic landscape” (言語景観) of certain travelling spot or a local city, “multilingual signs” (多言語案
内標識) along the route, as well as website multilingualism, sightseeing brochures edited by foreign language,reflects the great efforts put into and directions about how to create and further improve service environment
for inbound tourists in Japan over the past few years. Some diversified research was seen as well, for instance,a proposal to launch a non-verbal service system was given in Abe, Miki and Yamamoto’s research, in which
they call the system as Language-Barrier-free interfaces. Although their proposal might completely be aheterogeneous voice among many endorsements for multilingualism, their cutting-edge opinion might breakthrough vital bottleneck of multilingualism.
Comparing to Japanese literatures, discussion flourished in tourism marketing research which took
language as a part of service can be found in English literatures.

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From the angle of tourism business, the impact of language came to researchers’ attention as early as
1980s, when they undertook some research on tourist behavior which is a part of tourism marketing. Some
conceptual recognitions formed. Researchers were conscious of the different features showed between
foreign and domestic tourists in terms of shopping experience evaluation. Reasons for such difference were
given as (Laing 1987) foreign holiday makers are less able to become involved with the host population andgain local information from them because of the language barriers. Combining with inadequate understanding
for local surroundings, language was recognized as a kind of obstacle during travel.
The linguistic impact on tourism, after that, was further discussed both in positive and negative ways.
Tourism related business, aviation, accommodation and travel agency which were playing a pillar role intourism industry, as well as retailers which were sometime overlooked in tourism industry, all came up witha great deal of practical implications and attempts to enrich language service in their business. Researchfindings reflected such involvement. The service providers’ ability to speak the customer’s language will be
an indication of the hosts’ welcoming and caring attitudes (Reisinger &Waryszak 1994). Retailers andtourism planners could encourage frontline staff to improve their language ability …by organizing workshops
and practical training (Vincent C.S. Heung). Shop assistants may modify their speech and language verballyand non-verbally to accommodate international visitors (Atila Yuksel).
Negative result of inadequate language service was clarified not far behind. As a major component ofservice environment, language began to be considered as a must and it seemed that operators were compelled
to invest on improvement of it. As sometimes language barrier and complexity of getting travel documents
are inhibitors for individual tourists to visit, operators had to bear the consequences when they refused to do
any efforts to conform with wishes from foreign tourist in terms of language service. Besides, a phenomenon
that salesperson's opinions and product information are insignificant in affecting foreign customers’ decisionmaking was illustrated as well (Tsan-Ming).
Even though the research perspective was different from each other, both Japanese and English researchdeveloped discussion with the same assumption, language service has a positive impact on business. Does
language service affect tourist experience and business in a positive way as which is taken for granted?
However, to this more fundamental point, research was so rarely found that still needs to be advanced. This
paper will back to this point.

2.2 Theoretical framework
2.2.1 Introduction for JCSIThe JCSI, which is the abbreviation of Japanese Customer Satisfaction Index, is the largest customer
satisfaction survey in Japan based on the theoretical model of ACSI (the American Customer Satisfaction
Index)

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Before ACSI was carried out in America, research on the association among customer perception ofquality, satisfaction, repurchase intention and recommendation, containing casual links and definition foreach factor, had gone through long and complicated arguments.
Dr. Chieko Minami made a good summary of such theoretical development in the paper of ‘Service
Quality and Customer Satisfaction’. Minami pointed out, the argument first came to service quality andsatisfaction, and the outcome of which was employed into ACSI as well as an earlier one, SCSB (Swedish
Customer Satisfaction Barometer). As to details for the development, she wrote as below:
Expectation-disconfirmation paradigm (EDP) became the dominant framework for the assessment ofcustomer satisfaction with hospitality and tourism services. According to EDP, perceived value leads tocustomer satisfaction.
Conversely, some researchers raised their opinion that perceived value is an overall attitude for the service
rather than an assessment just for specific experience. The addition to this argument is, customer satisfaction
is for specific piece of service experience, while perceived value is the result of multiple service experience.
Hence, scholars who had asserted like this reached a conclusion that perceived value resulted from customer
satisfaction.
Besides, during such discussions with reversed casual and effect, compromising arguments appeared aswell. It was pointed out that perceived quality and customer satisfaction have interactive effect that cannot
be distinguished from each other. Meanwhile, contingency framework suggested that the causal link between
customer satisfaction and service quality varies because of the customer contingency.
Soon after arguments of casual links between service quality and customer satisfaction, the research on
the linear regression causality was developed in which discussion extended to repurchase intention.
The linear regression causality said repurchase intention and recommendation are influenced by customer
perception of service quality and satisfaction. Here quality and satisfaction began to be integrated into one
considered factor.
Minami also pointed out in the same paper, that another important discovery to note was, negative
experiences have more impact than the positive ones on customer satisfaction and repurchase intention,
which are also final concerns of service marketing.
As a conclusion, Minami said, SCSB, ACSI, JCSI appearing in different countries is outcomes of suchtheoretical development. Any of them is a highly integrated model with an achievement for indexing thecustomer satisfaction in respective country.
The JCSI is a causal model containing antecedents and consequences of satisfaction. Considering theactual situation in Japan, JCSI reviewed metrics and estimation method adopted by ACSI and remodeled with
six latent variables. As antecedents of satisfaction, there are three variables estimated. They are customer
expectation, perceived quality and perceived value. While two other variables, recommend intentions and8customer loyalty are estimated as consequences of satisfaction. Customer satisfaction, being at the center ofmodel, plays a mediating role between antecedents and consequences variables. It is both the consequenceof expectation, perceived quality, perceived value and the antecedent of recommend intentions and customer
loyalty.
The annual JCSI consumer survey is a nationwide comprehensive consumer survey applying JCSI modeland covering approximately 300 companies from 30 sectors in the service industry. It started from 2010 on acommercial basis with the aim of improving productivity of service industry in Japan. Besides, as the
productivity is the ratio of output to input, and the JCSI measures customer satisfaction as a service “output”,
results of annual JCSI survey were adopted by many companies to improve marketing activities leading tohigher level of customer satisfaction.

2.2.2 Introduction for SERVQUAL
From the lecture of service marketing given by Dr. Spring H. Han (the autumn semester 2018 at GSM in
Kyoto University), author acquired cognition about SERVQUAL, the model for service quality. It is adominant instrument to measure service quality with great number of context-specific applications. Thismeasurement method was developed by A. Parasuraman, Valarie Zeithaml and Leonard L. Berry when they
were managed to measure quality in the service sector in 1980s. In SERQUAL, service quality is measured
from five dimensions which are reliability, assurance, tangibles, empathy and responsiveness. SERQUAL
offers conceptual framework for assessing the overall service delivered by service providers.

2.2.3 Framework for this research
Since this paper is trying to measure the language service, it is necessary to make a proper position for it
and then decide KPI to measure.
In this research, language service is placed at the center of the service encounter. It means language
service exits everywhere in the service encounter. From various of definitions for service encounter, weknow it includes the customer, the service provider or say service personnel, behavior of acting out theirrespective role, and the interaction of such roles. As the most common medium, language is used to express
needs by customer side while being used to deliver a guidance service by service provider side. The
permeability of language make it melt into roles the customer or the provider plays. And an effective
interaction happens with an understanding between the two sides which is achieved by language incommon. Therefore, it is not difficult to find that language is everywhere in the service encounter.
However, such is limited to the condition that there is a common language used by both sides, as it waspointed out, the active role of the consumer and the importance of the communicative interaction, build on
the assumption that the consumer and the service personnel are able to interact and communicate

9effortlessly (Holmqvist). During the interaction with international tourists, such assumption will be broken.
If language is everywhere in the service encounter, so it is language service.
As to the KPI used to measure, inspired by the JCSI model, this research adopted a measurable
indicator, purchase results, which is explained as an international tourist’s purchase amount, the number ofpurchase items and a calculated result based on these two, the average price of per purchase item. Besides,
as a part of entire service, if language service is well improved in the perspective of dimensions suggested
by SERQUAL, the hypothesis is made that it will induce a higher level of satisfaction, then expected sales
performance. In summary, this research builds on a framework combining SERQUAL and JCSI model toillustrate the impact of service language.

Figure 2.
Framework combining
SERVQUAL and JCSI tomeasure language service________________________

Chapter3. Research methods

3.1 General description for research methods
Both quantitative research and qualitative research were undertaken to investigate the impact of language
service on international tourists and on business of service provider.
In the quantitative research, a field survey was carried out to observe the association between language
service and purchase result. The survey was done at a physical store located in a scenic area with several
attractions full of classical atmosphere of Kyoto around by. Gifts that are characteristic of Kyoto local cultural
with exquisite design are sold in the store. And the most meaningful attribute of this selected store to theresearch is that more than half of customers visiting there are international tourists.
In the qualitative research, a questionnaire was designed to investigate how international tourists feel
about and evaluate language service offered by service providers. Contents of the questionnaire took major
elements of SERVQUAL model and JCSI model as references. In view of associations between language
service and purchase endings will be clarified in the quantitative analysis somewhat, the questionnaire wasaiming to gather information from tourists’ answer and comparing or matching them to the quantitative results,
thereby achieving a deeper understanding about the impact of language service. As a timeline arrangement10

for the research, quantitative investigation was implemented before the qualitative survey.

3.2 How to categorize language service
With the same respondents who are international tourists, either the field survey or the questionnairerequires a definite classification of language service.
First, international tourist respondents, as receivers for language service in this research, were categorized
into three groups.
English or Chinese native speakers who the service can be offered in their own language were categorized
as the first group. Other language speakers who don’t speak English or Chinese, cannot understand any
Japanese as well, were categorized as the second group. And the third group consisted of tourists who wereable to give some response to Japanese somewhat.
Accordingly, language service was categorized into three different groups as well. They are mother tongue
service offering to the first group tourists. English service corresponding to the second group, and Japaneseservice corresponding to the third group tourists.
There may be different ideas for categorization mentioned above. For instance, the idea that categorization
based on nationality would be better was commonly heard, as language is always binding up with anindividual’s nationality. It is only natural for a Japanese to say that “I am from Japan, so I speak Japanese”.
Opinion holders for this idea argued if you want to find how foreign language service differs from thatprovided in provider’s language, it’s necessary to know at the beginning, which country the service receiver
come from and what language does he or she say, because people from different country may feel totallydifferently on this issue.
Although such objection was raised, author insisted on the categorization of three groups on basis of someconsiderations as follows.
For one thing, object of this research is language service, and the language service here is to allinternational tourists with universal significance rather than to tourists from some specific country. Currently,
language service providing to international tourists in Japan exists in three main forms. Japanese service
given in provider’s language and English service given in the most common language worldwide, also themother tongue language service given in tourist’s own language, most of which are English, Chinese or
Korean. International tourists visiting Japan can come from any country and their needs for language service
generates with contingency. However, language service able to be provided is very limited. From theperspective of service providers, no matter what nationality or what linguistic attribute a customer has, as forthe language service, they just want to provide the best they can afford, that is in customer’s language, if
impossible, then in English, or without alternative in Japanese.
For another thing, although the observation that language is always binding up with nationality cannot be11denied, but people cannot say so it is also a rigorous standard suitable for this research. Americans andChinese made up a large proportion of customers visiting the store. Tourist with nationality of either of themis likely to have more complicated linguistic background. Besides, it is nothing unusual among international
tourists that tourist’s own language is another language differing from the main language used in his or her
nationality country. Some of international tourists can speak several different languages and it is just difficult
to tell with certainty which is his or her most wanted language in the context of tourism consumption.
Categorization simply based on language is considered as the most appropriate way to the purpose of thisresearch, since it can get rid of various unpredictable factors influencing the objectiveness of judgement, andthus be able to keep the research to focus more on language service itself. But if the object of research is tocompare the impact that language service has on tourists from some specific country, for example, how
English service differs from Japanese service on American tourists, or what is Chinese tourists’ willingness
to language service, then the categorization based on nationality might be more considerable and persuasive.

3.3 Details for quantitative research
The field survey collected data of purchase results from international tourists who had received language
service during shopping. The purchase result was explained as purchase amount and the number of purchaseitems which play role of Key Performance Indicator for the effect of a language service.
The survey was conducted without attention of tourist. And judgement for the language of specific tourist
was typically given according to what language the tourist spoke when he or she responded to staff’s welcome
word, or the language use with other fellows coming in together. However, service using language wouldchange if the tourist responded in Japanese at the very beginning and it was later found that the language ofwhom was English.
First, an international tourist visiting the store was given a welcome in word. If the tourist seemed to beinterested in the goods, then he or she would be asked if some guidance for shopping is needed or not.
Language service continued all the time during the tourist’s choosing and buying whenever it was needed.
Even when a recommendation for guiding-purchase was refused at first, some simplest guidance like aconfirmation for the price or payment method was still given to the tourist. The content of language service
is mainly about performance, package and use method of merchandises or sometimes a gift idea.
285 data were collected including 74 purchase results getting from Japanese service, 92 from English
service and 119 results from mother tongue service. The method of data collection was through actual
language service implemented by author, or through observation for language service given by staffs
working in the same store.
Analysis for 285 data applied three method. The first was correlations analysis. The second was oneway ANOVA. The third was logarithmic function analysis. Analysis values the Japanese service as 1, the12English service as 2, and the mother tongue service as 3.

3.3.1 Correlations analysis for 285 data
If connection happens between language service and purchase results, or in another word, when a store
providing service only in Japanese decides to add English service or some else, will investment for such
multilingual service pull sales up?
As a fundamental analysis for the impact of language service, correlations between purchase result andlanguage service was attested in a statistical way. An individual international tourist was guided during
shopping, after that, his or her purchase amount and the number of purchase item was recorded. Except forthe purchase amount and the number of purchase item, average price per purchase item was calculated aswell. Purchase result in this research is explained as the purchase amount, the number of purchase items
and the average price per purchase item. Correlation analysis using Pearson product-moment correlation
coefficient was conducted respectively for each of the three.
During data collection for purchase result, there were some specific details to note. Many ofinternational tourists visited the store with their families or friends. Different from coming in single,
customers coming in group paid for their buying together or separately. In order to reduce subjective
mistakes, sample data collected for purchase amount and the number of purchase items were basicallykeeping the same with cash register’s recordation.

3.3.2 One-way ANOVA for purchase result differences between three language service groups
How does language service change purchase result? After investigating if there is a connection between
language service and purchase result, a deeper exploration to the differences of purchase result between
different language service groups was done. With a consideration of applicability, test of homogeneity ofvariances (Levene's) was undertaken before ANOVA to check if there is stable equality of variances
between three language service groups. Like correlations analysis, ANOVA was done respectively for threedifferent purchase results: the purchase amount, the number of purchase items and the average price perpurchase item. Although the results of correlation analysis show a relative high probability that thelanguage service has no correlations with the number of purchase items or average price per purchase item,but since the small size of sample with 285 in total may limit its representativeness for a population andlikely correlations may occur in population, ANOVA for the number of purchase items and the average
price per purchase item between three language service groups were conducted as well.

3.3.3 Logarithmic function analysis
Discovers based on the correlations analysis and the one-way ANOVA were confined to analysis for 285

13data. In order to explore a potential performance of language service in the future, an estimation analysis
using log linear trend was added.
Histograms help to go into details about how service language result in a distribution on purchaseamount. In order to make it possible to compare distributions between different language service, setting
for purchase amount applied the same interval of 3,000 yen. In another word, each distribution used thesame range of purchase amount with the same interval of 3,000 yen as its X-axis in histogram.
Log linear trend estimation was done after an observation for each of distribution in histogram.
Histograms were used to find characteristics or regularities of distribution throughout purchase amountrange, while log linear trend was expected to discover some clues or proofs for estimating performance ofeach language service in future.

3.4 Details for qualitative research
The qualitative research was conducted with a questionnaire which enable international tourist
respondents to tell their needs and feelings for language service they had experienced or expected.
Contents of the questionnaire was generally divided into two parts. The first part questioned respondents
directly about how they viewed the impact of language service on their purchase results. Questions in thispart were partly made working in concert with findings of quantitative research, and partly made taking JCSI
model as references since this model had inspired author to think cause and effect of satisfaction which might
become a result of language service. Respondents were questioned will the language service change theirpurchase amount, purchase willingness, and their satisfaction or recommendation for shopping. Questions
contain the question 3, 4, 5 and 6 in Appendix 4.
The second part consisted of questions aiming at gaining insight into respondents’ shopping experience,
during which language offered. The language service is placed at the heart of service encounter in theframework as illustrated in figure 2. In order to assess the impact language service may have on a tourist’s
perceived quality for whole shopping experience, question designing for this part took SERVQUAL as
references, inspired by factors like ‘assurance’ ‘empathy’ given in the model. Respondents were asked to telltheir Japanese level and to choose their preference among mother tongue, English and Japanese service. And
then they were asked to tell reasons for such selection. Moreover, they were also required to tell their feelings
about language service in the moment of truth they experienced in Japan and what kind of thing influenced
their satisfaction during shopping. Question1, 2, 7, 8 and 9 in Appendix 4 are the second part related questions.
The questionnaire paper was made in English and Chinese. The English version contains papers both forEnglish native speakers and non- English speakers, while the Chinese version includes both simplified
Chinese and traditional Chinese. A reliability test was done to attest the internal consistency of questionnaire
before starting the survey.

14

Questionnaire was distributed to international tourists visiting the area where the store providing samples
for quantitative research located in. 69 international tourists who speak different language responded to thequestionnaire. The population of English-native speakers is 21, of Chinese native speakers is 24, of otherlanguage speakers is 24, with roughly equal representation of international tourist receivers categorized into
three groups.

Chapter4. Results

4.1 Results for quantitative research
4.1.1 Results of correlations analysis
Table 2, 3, 4 present the correlations between purchase result and language service. Table 2 is for thepurchase amount, table 3 for the number of purchase items, table 4 for the average price per purchase item.
A significance level of 0.05 works.
The first result is, comparing to the significance level, p-value for purchase amount is lower (0.048),
while that for both the number of purchase items (0.114) and the average price per purchase item (0.486)
are higher than significance level. The explanation is that among three purchase results, the probability ofno correlation exists between language service and purchase amount is extremely low. That is, correlations
with purchase amount was verified with statistical meanings.
The second result is, the association between language service and purchase amount is rather weak withminute value of Pearson Correlation (0.117).
The third result is, correlations with purchase amount and with the number of purchase item arepositive, while correlation with average price per purchase item is negative. Although no correlations moreprobably exists in the case of the number of purchase item or the case of the average price per purchase
item, there can still be likely explanation for this result, that international tourists purchase in higher
amount and with more items when they are provided service in their own language or in English, while
they purchase higher unit-price merchandise when they are guided in Japanese.

15

Table 2. Correlation coefficients between the language service and the purchase amount

Table 3. Correlation coefficients between the language service and the number of purchase items

Table 4. Correlation coefficients between the language service and average price per purchase item

4.1.2 Results of one-way ANOVA
The premise conditions of ANOVA are that data should be normally distributed and should have thehomogeneity of variance. Table 5 indicates the homogeneity of variance is violated due to p=0 (<0.05). It
seems that ANOVA is not likely to be applicable as variances are not equal. However, with regarding to therobustness of one-way ANOVA pointed out by some studies on statistics in recent years, one-way ANOVA
is considered as a feasible method to use in this research.

16

Table 6 presents a statistically meaningful difference of purchase amount between different language
groups when significance level of 0.1 works. Table 7 shows such difference originated from the difference
happening in the pair of Mother tongue-Japanese, and the pair of Mother tongue-English. In the pair ofJapanese-English, no significant difference is found.
Table 5. Homogeneity of variances for purchase amount

Table 6. One-way ANOVA for purchase amount differences between three language service groups

Table 7. Multiple comparisons in ANOVA to show detail differences of purchase amountAs for the number of purchase items, table 8 shows unequal variances between groups (p=0.006). Table
9 shows the null hypothesis, there is no difference in means between three of language service groups
cannot be rejected (p=0.240). That is to say, the number of purchase items is quite possible to keep thesame level in any language service.
In contrast to other two purchase results, the average price per purchase item shows (table 10) an
extremely high probability of equal variances between groups (p=0.964). Table 11 shows the null
hypothesis in ANOVA cannot be rejected (p=0.633), so one-way ANOVA is suitable for difference
attesting here. In addition, the result of ANOVA shows differences between groups can be ignored as they
are not significant statistically.

17

Table 8. Homogeneity of variances for the number of purchase items

Table 9. One-way ANOVA for differences in the number of purchase items between three language service
groupsTable 10. Homogeneity of variances for the average price per purchase item

Table 11. One-way ANOVA for differences in the average price per purchase item between three language
service groups

Comparing means plots of the purchase amount, the number of purchase items, and the average priceper purchase item, it can be found that mother tongue service lead to the highest purchase amount as wellas the largest number of purchases item, while Japanese service lead to the purchasing for merchandises
those with highest level of unit price.

18

Figure 3. Means plots for purchase result differences between language service groups

4.1.3 Results of logarithmic function analysis
All of three histograms in figure 4 show a skewed distribution to the right under any of language service.
Most international tourists purchase within a relative low purchase amount range no matter what type of
language service they receive. Besides, each distribution has a long tail along X-axis (axis for purchaseamount) because of the skewed shape. Long tail shows potential performance of different language service
in the high purchase amount range.
In order to acknowledge more about potential performance of each service, which also means theanalysis for the long tail, log linear trend was added to explore. Equation of logarithmic function for mothertongue service is y = -17.95ln(x) + 40.302, for English service is y = -15.33ln(x) + 33.674, for Japaneseservice is y = -12.12ln(x) + 26.721. From the equation, value of X intercept is calculated respectively as:
Mother tongue service (X intercept=2.2452), English service (X intercept=2.1966), Japanese service (X19intercept=2.2047). The value of X intercept also means purchase amount in this analysis. The X intercept
difference of 0.05 between mother tongue and English or Japanese represents a difference of approximate
1,500 yen.
Figure 4. Histogram and log linear trend of each language service

Purchase amounty = -15.33ln(x) + 33.674
R²= 0.8749

Purchase amountFrequency

y = -17.95ln(x) + 40.302
R²= 0.8586

Service in JapaneseService in English

Frequency

Frequency

Service in customer's
Mother Tonguey = -12.12ln(x) + 26.721
R²= 0.8931

Purchase amountBecause of the biggest value of X intercept that mother tongue service has, it is concluded that among
three language service, mother tongue service is most likely to have longest tail along the purchase amountaxis. In another word, mother tongue service is most likely to lead to a highest purchase amount, which isapproximately 1,500 yen higher than English service and Japanese service.
There is no distinctive difference between Japanese service (X intercept=2.2047) and English service (Xintercept=2.1966). However, from the comparing for X intercept value of each, it is found that the long tailof Japanese service is not the shortest one. It is shorter than mother tongue service but longer than English
service.

4.2 Results for qualitative research
4.2.1 Result of reliability test for internal consistency of questionnaire
Reliability test for the questionnaire was done only for the first part of the questionnaire because thesecond part consisted of open questions for a deeper exploration which is considered not suitable to be tested.
The Cronbach’sαis 0.0723 is above 0.7 threshold, attesting the consistency of related questions. (Details areomitted here)
4.2.2 Results of frequency analysis on tourists’ views for the relationship between language service
and purchase results
Results of frequency analysis for the first part of questionnaire are listed in table 12. 55.1% of the20

respondents say their purchase result will not change even if they receive language service, whereas 43.5%
admit that language service will play an active role for their shopping experience which will be reflected to
an increase in their purchase amount. Beyond purchase results, 66.7% of the respondents feel they will be
more likely to recommend the brand or the shop they visit with language service, and 69.6% of them feel
their satisfaction for shopping will improve after experiencing language service provided by staffs. Moreover,as to the change of willingness to repurchase in future, over half of the respondents (55.1%) feel there will
be no change, but many respondents who agree with the positive impact of language service show acomparative percentage of 42.0%. Not noticeable, 2.9% of respondents show their resistance to language
service which is not delivered in Japanese during shopping.
Table 12. Frequency table of respondence to questions about what change language service will bring forpurchase result.

21

4.2.3 Results of exploratory analysis on psychological and behavioral characteristics of international
tourists
Question 1 asked respondents to tell their Japanese ability. If different Japanese ability influence how dorespondents understand the impact of language service on their purchase results? Correlation analysis was
carried out to investigate the association between answers for Japanese ability and answers for the first partquestions. As a result, Japanese ability a respondent has is not related to purchase amount (p=0.703) orwillingness of repurchase (p=0.923), but it is related to satisfaction (p=0.012), and somewhat related torecommendation to someone else (p=0.187). Moreover, results show negative correlations (Pearson productmoment correlation coefficients) between Japanese level and satisfaction (-0.3) or recommendation (-0.161).
It might be explained as tourists with higher level of Japanese are more likely to receive less influence fromlanguage service on their assessment for the shopping. Details for the results is shown as Appendix 1.
As a response to questions 2, most English or Chinese native speakers tell they preferred mother tongue
service. Similarly, majority of non-English native speakers tell they prefer English service. Conversely, there
are still someone tell they prefer Japanese service although it is the minority. Multi-Response analysis forquestion 2 is to investigate motives respectively for choosing mother tongue or English service, and thosefor choosing Japanese service.
Figure 5 shows the first motive for choosing mother tongue or English service is convenience, followedby reliability. Other three motives: Responsiveness, Possibility to be in control, and Empathy, tie for the third.
Comparingly, Figure 6 shows motives for choosing Japanese service. The first is the experience and realityof traveling in Japan, with responsiveness behind. Empathy and, the Experience and reality of travelingaboard, tie for the third motive.
Details for the results and statistic significance analysis for the differences are attached as Appendix 2.

22

Figure 5. Reasons for preference to mother tongue or to English service

Figure 6. Reasons for preference to Japanese service*FSAC: Feeling to be in a service as a customer*ERTA: The experience and reality of traveling aboard*ERTJ: The experience and reality of traveling in Japan

Multi-Response analysis for question 8 is to investigate factors that influence shopping satisfaction ofinternational tourists.
Figure 7 shows that cost performance influence satisfaction most, followed by expectation which means

23

‘shopping experience was as I expected’. Other important influencing factors are given as ‘state of my mind
today’ or ‘knowledge or image for what I bought’. It seems that the factor of language service doesn’t
influence the satisfaction so much compared to other optional factors.
Details for the results and statistical significance analysis for the differences are attached as Appendix 3.
Figure 7. Factors affecting shopping satisfaction of international tourists*Mind: State of my mind today*Expectation: Shopping experience was as I expected

Chapter 5. Discussion for findings

The 1st finding.
Combination of several results listed below demonstrate that language service has impact on purchaseresult. However, such impact is weak.
1) The results of correlations analysis between language service and the purchase amount2) The results of one-way ANOVA for attesting differences between different groups
3) The results of frequency analysis on tourists’ views for the association of language service with the24purchase amount, also with the willingness to repurchase.
4) The results of frequency analysis on factors affecting shopping satisfaction of international tourists.
Discussion of the 1st finding.
5.1 About how to understand and apply the limited impact of language service
Correlation analysis and one-way ANOVA attested a fact that service delivered in tourist’s own language
or in the common language, English, will lead to a better sales result with higher purchase amount and larger
number of purchase items, while frequency analysis on tourist views for the role of language service showsuch impact is very limited. Consequently, a selective investment on language service according to thebusiness goal and periodical evaluations for the necessity of it are recommended.
For instance, the product or the service is newly created one, or maybe there is a new shop which is little
known by people. Increasing popularity or expanding market of it among international tourists is justregarded as the urgent goal of business. Then findings of this research suggest launching language service atcurrent stage will be an effective choice that might help to achieve business goal early, as service delivered
in tourist’s own language or English show advantages in related expected terms. Furthermore, such
advantages of language service are explained as the power to attract more international tourists coming in,according to a common thinking that foreigner visitors will feel easy to visit where without language barriers.
However, when tourists have been well acquainted with the product, the service or the shop, necessity ofadding language service in business might have a change. Especially for products that are highly dependent
on a single or some specific raw materials, the service or the shop relying mainly on a small number ofprofessional and technical personnel with limited output, mature deliberation is needed on the necessity oflaunching language service.
Small value of correlation coefficient and the results of frequency analysis on satisfaction affecting factors
show a weak and limited impact language service may have. To this point, author think in tourist shopping
experiences, the factor of language service should be regarded as a hygiene factor rather than motivation
factor. According to Herzberg’s dual-factor theory, motivation factors cause job satisfaction in the workplace
while hygiene factors do not, even lack of which cause dissatisfaction. Although the job satisfaction is
replaced by customer satisfaction in this research, the theory can still be applied. International tourists maypurchase for a good quality, good price, unique design or experience, but it is difficult to imagine they motive
to buy some in a store just because staffs working there can speak their language or English. Of course, somespecial merchandise or service is exception. Thus, language service will eliminate the reason for difficult tovisit the store, and then bring visiting increase of international tourists. Besides, when an international tourist
catches sight of many other tourists speaking different language around the store during his or her shopping,a lack of language service might naturally be considered as a slight thereby induce dissatisfaction. Author’s
discussion to this point suggests service providers ought not to complain there is no improvement on

25

satisfaction or sales performance although they have paid some for language service. Language service isnothing but a hygiene factor, and service providers should create other advantages to motivate international
tourists to come and to buy if their real concern is to have an excellent performance on sales or customer
satisfaction.

The 2nd finding.
Combination of several results listed below demonstrate that service given in international tourists’ own
language is more possible to lead to a high purchase amount, large number of purchase items, a high level of
shopping satisfaction as well as a good word of mouth.
1) The results of one-way ANOVA for differences in terms of the purchase amount.
2) The comparable results of logarithmic function analysis for potential performance of mother tongue
service.
3) The results of frequency analysis on tourists’ views for the association of language service with the
shopping satisfaction, also with the recommendation to someone else.
Discussion of the 2nd finding.
5.2 About how to understand the positive impact mother tongue service may have
The advantage of mother tongue service on purchase amount was a finding with an absolute value
obtained from 285 data, while the potential power of it on purchase amount was a finding at a predictable
perspective. Additionally, an effective role of it on satisfaction and recommendation was discovered as well.
Advantages of mother tongue was fully confirmed in this way. However, in author’s opinion, the 1st findings
should not be forgotten when a heated discussion on advantages is being developed. JCSI (customer
satisfaction index) model suggests a consequence about Satisfaction, in which good purchase result is a resultof customer satisfaction. With slight difference, in this research, satisfaction was improved after launching
service delivered in customer’s own language, while increase of purchase amount might be happenings
without consequent. A broke may happen in the causal chain originated from mother tongue service andended in purchase results. Consequently, advantages of mother tongue service should be strengthened inbusiness, but absolute approval for them should be avoided in business practice, especially when talking to
its positive impact on sales performance.
In addition, comparing to sales performance given at present moment, either satisfaction or
recommendation is a result which will have a profound effect on business in the long run. It may be conducive
to branding or may increase visiting in the future. In business practice, service providers are suggested totake advantages of mother tongue service to build brand and meanwhile keep calm and objective to its effecton sales performance.

26

The 3rd finding.
Combination of several results listed below demonstrate that Japanese service plays an active role withininternational tourist’s shopping experience.
1) The result of one-way ANOVA for differences in terms of the average price of purchase item.
2) The results of logarithmic function analysis for potential performance of Japanese language service.
3) The result of frequency analysis on motives for choosing Japanese service.
Discussion of the 3rd finding.
5.3 About how to take advantage of Japanese service
Advantage on average price of purchase item is found in Japanese service. Besides, Japanese service isestimated to be some degree of potential in terms of purchase amount with the second longer tail among three
types of language service. Moreover, although it was minority of respondents, some of them stated the viewthat only service delivered in Japanese would make them feel travelling in Japan. Even more, some
respondents with advanced Japanese skill or deeper experience in Japan told what they are eager for can justbe understood by Japanese service providers. Such findings suggest when we consider advantages language
service may generate, we should know Japanese service is also included in such say language service andacknowledge the role it plays on international tourists’ shopping experience. As a speculation of author, suchactive role may possibly be explained as a function to keep original cultural looks. Motives of international
tourists for travelling in Japan might be totally different with contingency, however after eliminating factorsof dissatisfaction, original character and novel shaped through Japanese are more likely to be a possible
satisfaction factor.
To this point, it suggests that the key to manage language service is to seek for the balance. The best
situation is to create synergy between Japanese service and other language service. In Japan, it means asynergy between Japanese service and English service, or sometime Chinese service or Korean service.
Service providers who can achieve such synergy creation are most likely to be returned from their language
service investment, which may even be possible to provide resource for succeeding in differentiation. Besides,
what should be cautious of is getting slack or tendency to give up that might appear in Japanese service, as it
will make international tourists lost opportunities to get experience which might be rare outside of Japan, ina long run, affect the potential to acquire new customers, thereby bring negative impact to businessperformance in an indirect way.
Author also wishes this finding can offer a breakthrough or at least some courage to the business that have
not yet added multilingual service. Giving fully play to advantages of existing Japanese service might be agood way to strengthen the competitiveness as well. From results of survey in this research, being managed
to minimize disadvantage of Japanese service may contain efforts to build trust in the service encounter, orto let the international tourist feel to be in control over the process of shopping.

27

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author wishes to thank the corporate supporting the data collection and Dr. Yasunaga Wakabayashi and
Dr. Yoshikazu Maegawa for their valuable suggestions on this research.

APPENDIXAPPENDIX 1
Results of correlation analysis between Japanese ability and international tourists’ understanding on theimpact of language service

28

APPENDIX 2
Motives for preferred language service and statistical significance analysis for the differences between
reasons.
Details of frequency analysis for reasons to choose mother tongue or English as preferred service language.

Responses
N
Reliability

Percent ofPercent

Cases

13

12.9%

24.1%

11

10.9%

20.4%

Assurance

7

6.9%

13.0%

Control

11

10.9%

20.4%

Convenience

25

24.8%

46.3%

Empathy

11

10.9%

20.4%

FSAC

5

5.0%

9.3%

ERTA

5

5.0%

9.3%

Cultural

2

2.0%

3.7%

ERTJ

2

2.0%

3.7%

Other

9

8.9%

16.7%

101

100.0%

187.0%

Responsivenes
s

Total

a. Dichotomy group tabulated at value 1.
Chi-square Test to attest significance of difference getting from above table*FSAC: Feeling to be in a service as a customer*ERTA: The experience and reality of traveling aboard*ERTJ: The experience and reality of traveling in Japan29

Details of frequency analysis for reasons to choose Japanese as preferred service language.

Responses

Percent
ofN

Percent

Cases

3

6.7%

20.0%

8

17.8%

53.3%

Assurance

2

4.4%

13.3%

Control

4

8.9%

26.7%

Convenience

3

6.7%

20.0%

Empathy

6

13.3%

40.0%

FSAC

3

6.7%

20.0%

ERTA

6

13.3%

40.0%

ERTJ

9

20.0%

60.0%

Other

1

2.2%

6.7%

Reliability
Responsivene
ss

Total

45 100.0% 300.0%

a. Dichotomy group tabulated at value 1.
Chi-square Test to attest significance of difference getting from above table*FSAC: Feeling to be in a service as a customer*ERTA: The experience and reality of traveling aboard*ERTJ: The experience and reality of traveling in Japan30

APPENDIX 3
Frequency analysis on reasons for shopping satisfaction

Responses
N

Percent

Percent of Cases

Cost

38

22.9%

56.7%

Weather

17

10.2%

25.4%

Mind

30

18.1%

44.8%

Expectation

35

21.1%

52.2%

Language Service

14

8.4%

20.9%

Image

30

18.1%

44.8%

Other

2

1.2%

3.0%

166 100.0%

247.8%

Total

a. Dichotomy group tabulated at value 1.
Chi-square Test to attest significance of difference getting from above table.

*Mind: State of my mind today*Expectation: Shopping experience was as I expected

31

APPENDIX 4
Questionnaire
The purpose of this questionnaire is to collect data for research on The Impact of Language Service on
Shopping Experience of International Tourists. This study is conducted by Jingting Huang, directed by
Yasunaga Wakabayashi Professor Office at Graduate School of Management, Kyoto University. The
information you offer for this questionnaire will be used only for research purposes and in ways that will
not reveal who you are. Thanks for your cooperation.

(English native speaker version)-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I am an English native speaker ☐ （please check if yes）
I visited shops of ☐Incense ☐Pottery ☐Pickles ☐Sweets ☐Crafts Any other ( )1. About your Japanese skills （please select one）
☐ I don’t understand Japanese.
☐ I understand a little Japanese and I can have a simple conversation with Japanese.
☐ I am fluent in Japanese and has got a certificate of JLPT1.
☐ I can easily switch from my native language to Japanese.
2. When communicate with shop staffs, I prefer to use ☐English ☐Japanese.
Why? (Either Multiple or Single selection is OK)
Due to its ☐Reliability ☐Responsiveness ☐Assurance ☐Possibility to be in control☐ Convenience ☐ Empathy ☐Feeling to be in a service as a customer☐The experience and reality of traveling aboard☐It is the symbol of my cultural background☐The experience and reality of traveling in Japan）

Any other（

3.Will service offered in English bring change to your satisfaction? (please select one)
☐My satisfaction will deteriorate.
☐There will be no change.
☐My satisfaction will be improved.

4.Will service offered in English bring change to your purchase amount? (please select one)
☐My purchase amount will decrease.

32☐My purchase amount will have no change.
☐My purchase amount will increase.

5. Will service offered in English bring change to your recommendations to someone else like your families
or friends? (please select one)
☐I am less likely to recommend to someone else.
☐There will be no change.
☐I am more likely to recommend to someone else.

6.Will service offered in English bring change to your willingness to repurchase? (please select one)
☐ I am less willing to repurchase.
☐There will be no change.
☐I am more willing to repurchase.

7. If the shop staff tries to communicate with you in not fluent or even broken English mixed withJapanese, which one is closer to your feeling? (please select one)
☐Unwelcome.I don’t need this kind of communication.
Comparing to interact with shop staff like this, I prefer to enjoy shopping by myself.
☐I am not used to communicate with people who speak broken English,
however, I will interact with shop staff according to my own needs.
☐Welcome. I don’t mind if the English is spoken in a correct way or not. I will communicate with shop
staff positively and acquire more information about merchandise as possible as I can.
Or any other opinion ()

8. Please check all factors you consider having an influence on the satisfaction for your shopping.
☐①Cost performance ☐②Weather ☐③State of my mind today ☐④Shopping experience was as I
expected ☐⑤English service☐⑥Knowledge I have or image left on me for what I bought☐⑦Any other（）

9. Please rank what you have checked at VIII according to how strong you feel their respective influence.
※For example, if you check ①②③ and sort them descending as ②>③>①, it means you think ①②③
influenced your satisfaction, and the impact of ② was stronger than ③, ③was stronger than ①.
（ _______>_______>_______ >_______ >_______ >_______ >______ ）33

(Non-English native speaker version)-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------) native speaker （Please tell your language）

I am (

I visited shops of ☐Incense☐Pottery ☐Pickles ☐Sweets☐Crafts

Any other ()

1. About your Japanese skills （please select one）
☐ I don’t understand Japanese.
☐ I understand a little Japanese and I can have a simple conversation with Japanese.
☐ I am fluent in Japanese and has got a certificate of JLPT1.
☐ I can easily switch from my native language to Japanese.
2. When communicate with shop staffs, I want to use ☐my mother tongue ☐English ☐Japanesemost.

(please select one)
Why? (Either Multiple or Single selection is OK)
Due toits ☐Reliability☐ Convenience☐Responsiveness ☐Assurance ☐Possibility to be in control☐ Empathy☐Feeling to be in a service as a customer☐The experience and reality of traveling aboard☐It is the symbol of my cultural background☐The experience and reality of traveling in Japan）

Any other（

3.Will service offered in English bring change to your satisfaction? (please select one)
☐My satisfaction will deteriorate.
☐There will be no change.
☐My satisfaction will be improved.

4.Will service offered in English bring change to your purchase amount? (please select one)
☐My purchase amount will decrease.
☐My purchase amount will have no change.
☐My purchase amount will increase.

5. Will service offered in English bring change to your recommendations to someone else like your families
or friends? (please select one)34

☐I am less likely to recommend to someone else.
☐There will be no change.
☐I am more likely to recommend to someone else.

6.Will service offered in English bring change to your willingness to repurchase? (please select one)
☐ I am less willing to repurchase.
☐There will be no change.
☐I am more willing to repurchase.

7. If the shop staff tries to communicate with you in not fluent or even broken English mixed withJapanese, which one is closer to your feeling? (please select one)
☐Unwelcome.I don’t need this kind of communication.
Comparing to interact with shop staff like this, I prefer to enjoy shopping by myself.
☐I am not used to communicate with people who speak broken English,
however, I will interact with shop staff according to my own needs.
☐Welcome. I don’t mind if the English is spoken in a correct way or not. I will communicate with shop
staff positively and acquire more information about merchandise as possible as I can.
Or any other opinion ()

8. Please check all factors you consider having an influence on the satisfaction for your shopping.
☐①Cost performance ☐②Weather ☐③State of my mind today ☐④Shopping experience was as I
expected ☐⑤English service☐⑥Knowledge I have or image left on me for what I bought☐⑦Any other（）

9. Please rank what you have checked at VIII according to how strong you feel their respective influence.
※For example, if you check ①②③ and sort them descending as ②>③>①, it means you think ①②③
influenced your satisfaction, and the impact of ② was stronger than ③, ③was stronger than ①.
（ _______>_______>_______ >_______ >_______ >_______ >______ ）35

(Chinese native speaker version. Simplified Chinese character)-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------我的母语是汉语 ☐ （符合请勾选）我逛了☐熏香店 ☐陶瓷店

☐泡菜店

☐点心店 ☐工艺品店 其它（）

一、请问您的日语程度？ （请选择一项）1.完全不懂

2.略懂,可以简单会话 3.流利,JLPT1 水平 4.汉语和日语切换时游刃有余☐日语二、与店员交流时我最希望使用☐英语☐汉语。（请选择一项）

因为：
（可多选）
☐信赖感

☐及时性・反应速度☐保障感☐实在感・可控性☐便利性☐工作人员更容易感我之所感，产生共鸣 ☐服务感
☐在国外旅游的真实感・体验感 ☐我的文化背景的象征 ☐在日本旅游的真实感・体验感其它（）

三、体验过汉语导购服务后，您的购物满意度会有变化吗？（请选择一项）
1.会降低

2.没有变化3.会提升四、体验过汉语导购服务后，您的购买金额和数量会有变化吗？（请选择一项）1.会减少

2.没有变化3.会增加

五、体验过汉语导购服务后，您推荐给家人朋友等的可能性会发生变化吗？（请选择一项）1.推荐可能性减小 2.没有变化

3.推荐可能性增大

六、体验过汉语导购服务后，您再次购买商品的可能性会发生变化吗？（请选择一项）
1.再次购买的可能性变小

2.没有变化

3.再次购买的可能性变大

七、如果店员操着不流利甚至生硬的汉语尽力与您沟通，以下哪一种更接近您的想法。
（请选择一项）1.不需要这种交流，比起与之互动，我更乐于享受独自选购的过程
2.虽然对不流利的汉语会有不适感，但我仍然会根据需求与店员互动
3.欢迎，我会积极与店员互动，尽量从店员处获得更丰富的商品信息36

八、哪些因素影响了您的购物满意度？（可多选）☐①商品性价比 ☐②今天的天气 ☐③我今天的心情 ☐④购物体验如我所期☐⑤中文导购服务 ☐⑥我对所购产品、品牌的知识或印象
☐⑦其它（

）

九、请为您在上一问中勾选出的因素进行重要性排序。
例如②>③>①，意味着您认为②比③更重要，③比①更重要。
（ _______>_______>_______ >_______ >_______ >_______ >______ ）37

(Chinese native speaker version. Traditional Chinese character)-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------我的母語是漢語 ☐ （符合請勾選）
我游覽了 ☐熏香店 ☐陶瓷店 ☐泡菜店

☐點心店

☐工藝品店 其他（）一、請問您的日語程度？ （請選擇一項）
1.完全不懂

2.略懂,可以簡單會話

二、與店員交流時我最希望使用

3.流利,JLPT1 水平

☐日語

☐英語

4.漢語和日語切換時游刃有餘☐漢語 （请选择一项）因爲：（可多選）☐信賴感☐及時性・反應速度☐保障感☐工作人員更容易感我之所感，產生共鳴☐實在感・可控性

☐便利性

☐服務感

☐在國外旅游的真實感・體驗感 ☐我的文化背景的象徵 ☐在日本旅游的真實感・體驗感其它（）

三、體驗過店方提供的漢語導購服務會後，您的購物滿意度會有變化嗎？（請選擇一項）
1.會降低

2.沒有變化3.會提升

四、體驗過漢語導購服務後，您的購買金額和數量會有變化嗎？（請選擇一項）
1.會減少2.沒有變化3.會增加

五、體驗過漢語導購服務後，您推薦給家人朋友等的可能性會發生變化嗎？（請選擇一項）
1.推薦可能性減小 2.沒有變化

3.推薦可能性增大

六、體驗過漢語導購服務後，您再次購買商品的可能性會發生變化嗎？（請選擇一項）
1.再次購買的可能性變小

2.沒有變化

3.再次購買的可能性變大

七、如果店員操著不流利甚至生硬的漢語盡力與您溝通，以下哪一種更接近您的想法？（請選擇一項）
1.不需要这种交流，比起与之互动，我更倾向享受独自选购的过程
2.虽然对不流利的汉语会有不适感，但我仍然会根據需求与店员互动
3.欢迎，我会积极与店员互动，尽量从店员处获得更丰富的商品信息八、有哪些因素影響了你/妳的購物滿意度？（可多選）38☐①商品性價比 ☐②今天的天氣 ☐③我今天的心情 ☐④購物體驗如我所期☐⑤中文導購服務☐⑥我對所購產品、品牌的知識或印象

☐⑦其他（

）

九、請為上一問中所選因素進行重要性排序。
例如②>③>①，意味著您認爲②比③更重要，③比①更重要。
（ _______>_______>_______ >_______ >_______ >_______ >______ ）39

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