Does national culture really matter? Hotel service perceptions by Taiwan and American tourists
Authors: Hsieh An‐Tien , Tsai Chien‐Wen 
Published: April 2009

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the question: should management segment the markets according to different “cultures”, serving the target consumers with the minimum “cultural shock” and providing the most appropriate service for consumers from different nations?

Design/methodology/approach

This research regards Hofstede's cultural perspective as the main basis for deduction. Drawing on a self‐administered questionnaire, the data are collected from Taiwanese and American consumers in the international tourist hotels in Taiwan. Based on theoretical considerations, hypothesis are proposed to examine what are the Taiwanese and American consumers' evaluation factors toward international tourist hotel service quality.

Findings

Based upon the empirical findings of this research, Taiwan consumers and American consumers have different cognition toward international tourist hotel service quality due to their cultural difference. The differences are most pronounced in the perceptual categories labeled “Assurance”, “Tangibles”, “Reliability”, “Reaction” and “Empathy”. Cultural differences do influence consumer behavior.

Research limitations/implications

The research problems and objectives of this research are merely to understand if there is any difference between the two and where the differences might lie. However, according to the research finding, “cultural difference” plays a significant role. Since this research is a “descriptive study” which cannot assure causality, future research can investigate effect and causality of “national culture dimension” and “service quality dimension” and further expand the theory.

Practical implications

In order to respond to different cultural values, enterprises should recognize different needs of consumers from different cultures and employ various operational strategies, diminish the gap between expectation and cognition of service quality, transcend cross‐cultural boundaries, upgrade consumers' cognition toward hotel service quality. Via the characteristic of international tourist hotel industry, which is highly connected with consumers, one can thus clarify the consumers' various responses under the influence of their different cultures. Furthermore, with the related study on service marketing, one can supplement the theory from the cross‐cultural perspective. As to the empirical aspects, the said study is able to function as a reference for upgrading the cultural sensitivity of the industry.

Originality/value

Previous researches neglect whether there is any difference between the optimal international marketing strategies with respect to “service”, the intangible product, and the “tangible product” of manufacturing industry. Confirming the difference of each country can result in valuable insight such as understanding the relationship among culture, economics, society and space. Consequently, understanding the cultural differences with respect to evaluation and cognition of service quality qualifies as the most important issue for this research.