T

A Study of Quality Based Service Design for

Wedding Photography Services
Master of Science Thesis in the Masters Program Management and Economics of Innovation

JING WANG
Department of Technology Management and Economics
Division of Service Management
CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
Gothenburg, Sweden, 2012
Masters Thesis E 2012: 079

MASTERS THESIS E 2012: 079

A Study of Quality Based Service Design for

Wedding Photography Services

JING WANG

Tutor, Chalmers: Jan Brchner

Department of Technology Management and Economics

Division of Service Management
CHALMERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
Gothenburg, Sweden, 2012

A Study of Quality Based Service Design for Wedding Photography Services

Master of Science Thesis in the Masters Program Management and Economics of Innovation
JING WANG

JING WANG, 2012

Masters Thesis E 2012: 079

Department of Technology Management and Economics

Division of Service Management
Chalmers University of Technology
SE-412 96 Gteborg, Sweden
Telephone: + 46 (0)31-772 1000

Chalmers Reproservice
Gteborg, Sweden 2012

ABSTRACT
Wedding photography has changed dramatically from the early film generation to the
current digital times. Hence, an updated service design of wedding photography services
is important for the success of its business. The purpose of this study is to refine the
design and quality aspects of wedding photography services, and meanwhile testing
whether the quality measure model SERVQUAL is relevant in the context of wedding
photography services.
Online survey was the main research method for this study. Simple random sampling
was first used to select target respondents, and finally 200 customers, who have
purchased wedding photography services from the wedding photography firms/studios
in China in the last five years, were chosen as a valid sample for this research. A
questionnaire containing a number of service quality statements of wedding
photography services was designed based on the SERVQUAL model, to investigate
customers expectations on wedding photography services and post-purchasing
perceptions of the actual services. After that, factor analysis was employed to identify
the quality dimensions under the context of wedding photography services, and to
discuss whether there were any differences from the five quality dimensions of the
SERVQUAL model. Finally, a multiple regression analysis was conducted to find which
quality dimension of wedding photography services had significant impact on overall
service quality.
The results of the survey revealed that customers expected highly on some aspects of the
services like the photographers guidance and the quality of the photos. In addition, an
adapted construct, based on 18 quality statements of wedding photography services,
was established with three quality dimensions --- service delivery process and service
product, physical conditions and empathy. They were different from the five
dimensions of the SERVQUAL model, and only empathy was the same as the one
dimension included in the SERVQUAL model. The new dimension service delivery
process and service product had the biggest influence on the perception of the overall
quality of wedding photography services, followed by physical conditions and
empathy. These findings could help wedding photography firms/studios reallocate
their resources and highlight the important quality aspects which could significantly
improve overall service quality. Furthermore, the findings also demonstrated that the
SERVQUAL model should be adapted under specific service contexts.

Key words: Wedding Photography Services; Service Design; Service Quality; SERVQUAL

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT

CONTENTS

II

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

IV

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

1.2 Purpose

1.3 Delimitation

1.4 Disposition

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Service design

2.1.1 Overview of service design

2.1.2 Design considerations on wedding photography services

2.2 Service quality

2.3 SERVQUAL model

2.4 Summary of literature review

METHODOLOGY

3.1 Data collection

3.1.1 Design of the questionnaire

3.1.2 Pilot test

12

3.1.3 Sample selection

12
14

3.2 Data analysis

3.2.1 Descriptive statistics analysis

14

3.2.2 Method of factor analysis

14

3.2.3 Method of multiple regression analysis

15

3.3 Quality Criteria

15

3.4 Workflow

16
II

RESULTS

17

4.1 Results of the Survey

17

4.1.1 Sample profile

17

4.1.2 Respondents expectations before purchasing

18

4.1.3 Respondents perceptions after purchasing

20

4.1.4 Overall evaluation of the services

21

4.2 Results of the Statistical Analysis

22

4.2.1 Descriptive statistics

22

4.2.2 Factor analysis

25

4.2.3 Multiple regression analysis

29

DISCUSSION

32

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

36

REFERENCES

38

APPENDIX 1: Questionnaire for the survey

41

III

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Firstly, I would like to express special thanks to my supervisor Jan Brchner for your
immense practical help during the whole process of my thesis work. Thank you for
giving me an opportunity to work on such a special research area. Thanks for your
guidance and knowledge which are of great help for the work. Your kindness and
patience encourage me to be tough in dealing with the challenges during the work. Your
experiences will continuously inspire me in my life.
Secondly, I want to thank all the friends and teachers who helped me during the thesis
work. Without your help, I dont think the work could be completed successfully.
Thirdly, I would like to thank my family for your care and love on me during the two
years study in Sweden. With your support, I become brave to meet different challenges
and finally gain many valuable experiences for my life.

Jing Wang
Gothenburg October 2012

IV

1 INTRODUCTION
The background about wedding photography services is introduced in this chapter with the reasons why
it is interesting to study it. Then the purpose of this study is presented followed by the delimitation and
the disposition of the thesis.

1.1 Background
Wedding photography is generally referred to photographs of the couple before
marriage as well as coverage of the wedding. With development of the technology from
early film era to current digital times, wedding photography has evolved from a luxury to
a necessity of a wedding (Gentry, 2012; McEwen, 2012).
Wedding photography services were chosen as the research area for some reasons. First,
there were hardly any academic researches on wedding photography services before.
The author of this thesis thought it would be interesting to do research on this service
area, and would be helpful for the theoretical advancement on wedding photography
services as well. Moreover, the author has personal experiences on wedding
photography services, especially the services in China, which would be also valuable for
this research. Although wedding photography services are generally regarded as small
business or artistic business that is beyond the mainstream business world, this service
area is still worth more attention.
As the competition of the Chinese wedding photography market is increasingly fierce,
the importance of service quality is paid much more attention by both wedding
photography firms/studios and their customers. According to the report of Chinese
wedding industry development, which was released on March of 2011 by the survey
centre of Chinese wedding industry, there were around 450,000 wedding photo studios,
photography firms, photo agency and photography studios. However, the number of
couples married every year in China is around 10 million (Wenku Baidu, 2011). Hence, it
is learned that the market of wedding photography services in China is huge but really
competitive. Therefore, for those photography firms/studios, improving the quality of
wedding photography services could be one effective way to attract more customers and
survive in this business.
Naturally, one of the most commonly used instruments for evaluating service quality is
referred to. It is the SERVQUAL model (Zeithaml, Parasuranam & Berry, 1988). It
suggests that perceived service quality could be measured by the differences between
customers expectations about the performance of service providers and their
assessment of the actual performance. Since the SERVQUAL model was developed in the
80s and 90s, its application context was unlike the current digital photography Age.
Parasuranam et al. (1988) claimed that the SERVQUAL model could apply in various
1

service contexts, but its five-dimensional structure was not relevant in many previous
researches on different service areas (Ladhari, 2009). Therefore, it is interesting to
investigate whether the five-dimension SERVQUAL model is relevant in this new context,
since the SERVQUAL model has never been applied to wedding photography services
before. In addition, the significant quality aspects of wedding photography services
could also be identified through investigation and analysis.
1.2 Purpose
The purpose of this study is to improve the quality of wedding photography services, and
meanwhile to investigate whether the five-dimension SERVQUAL model is relevant in
this new context. Therefore, to achieve this purpose, three research questions have been
formulated:
(1) What are customers expectations and post-purchasing perceptions on the quality
aspects of wedding photography services?
(2) To what extent would the SERVQUAL model apply in the new context of wedding
photography services?
(3) How important is each quality dimension of wedding photography services for the
customers?
1.3 Delimitation
This research does not aim for generalization but extended insights of quality-based
service design in one particular service area. The selected sample is limited to 200
customers who have ever purchased wedding photography services in the last five years
in China. Since the empirical data were collected in China, cultural differences might
impact the results. The service quality statements were developed mainly according to
the situation of the Chinese wedding photography services, which might have some
differences from other countries wedding photography services.
1.4 Disposition
This thesis consists of six chapters as following:
Chapter 1

The introduction describes background briefly with the purpose of this

study including delimitation.

Chapter 2

The literature reviews cover the theory of service design, service

quality and the SERVQUAL model. Then, a summary is given as a link
between the theory and the empirical research.

Chapter 3

The methodology explains how this study was conducted and how the

results were analyzed. The test on validity and reliability of this

research is also discussed.
Chapter 4

In this chapter the most important findings are presented. The results
of the survey and the statistical analysis are presented with tables.

Chapter 5

The discussion contains the analysis of the important findings, and

also responds to the three research questions.

Chapter 6

This chapter is about conclusions and implications for future study.

2 LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter presents a theoretical foundation for the thesis. The topics service design, service quality
and the SERVQUAL model are selected purposely to provide a theoretical foundation for a
quality-based service design of wedding photography services. Finally, a summary is given as a bridge
between the theoretical foundation and the following empirical research.

2.1 Service design

2.1.1 Overview of service design
Historically, business innovators and researchers focus on physical product design,
which has brought a long tradition of excellent work in marketing, technology, and
industrial engineering (Ostrom et al., 2010). However, with the boom of service
economy, the increasing focuses on the unique aspects of service design have begun to
be heard. Since the market is full of products and highly competitive, organizations need
to find new ways of competing and to offer new values for customers. This trend leads to
considerable attentions on service design, which could help to create a new relationship
between organizations and customers (Moritz, 2005).
Generally, services include different components such as space, products, people,
facilities, etc (Moritz, 2005). The total service experience that clients have is made up
from different encounters with these components. Every encounter is called a
touch-point (Zomerdijk & Voss, 2010). Unlike products, services are intangible, and
supplying and consuming services mostly occur at the same time. Following these
features, it could be generalized that services are complex experiences happening over
time and across some touch-points. Therefore, an organization providing services needs
to address development in a different way compared to that of product design (Moritz,
2005).
Ostrom et al. (2010) pointed out that service design was a systematic approach that
orchestrated service elements such as physical environment, people (customers and
employees), and service delivery process to help customers co-create their desired
experiences. Similarly, Zomerdijk and Voss (2010) proposed six service design principles
as well that covered designing elements of physical environment, service encounters and
cues, customers, employees and frontline & backstage supports. As such, service design
is no longer limited to the design of tangible products only but the design of complex and
interactive experiences, processes, and systems by placing customers at the heart of the
process (Trischler & Zehrer, 2012). Consequently, the offered services will be
user-friendly and competitive for customers.

2.1.2 Design considerations on wedding photography services

With a clear understanding on the type of services researched, it could facilitate service
design and evaluation of service quality (Kellogg & Chase, 1995). There are many
different service classification schemes, from the early classification focusing on the
definition of services to the recent view of classification with the service product &
process elements orientation (Cook, Goh & Chung, 1999). As to the wedding
photography services studied in this thesis, it could be classified as the type of services
combining the attributes of direct customer contact, close interaction with service
workers, fluid process and processing of information/images, the classification
scheme of which was proposed by Wemmerlv (1990).
Since the customers of wedding photography services have to be physically present
during the service delivery process and would have a sensory perception of the services
through eye contact, hearing, touching, etc., it is apparent that customers would interact
closely with service providers. For fluid process, it is identified according to the degree
of routinization of the service process, which is relatively uncertain for wedding
photography services. In general, wedding photography services have many
uncertainties in the process, since environmental conditions, customers performance
and even the performance of photographers would influence the serving process and
consequently affect the quality of photos. As to the object of the service process, photos
(information/images) are the purpose of wedding photography services. An example of
a similar service type as wedding photography services was given as portrait painting
by Wemmerlv (1990) in his paper, which confirms the reasonable classification of
wedding photography services.
For the type of services as wedding photography services, some design considerations
have been suggested (Wemmerlv, 1990). First of all, service facility must be catered to
customers needs, which specifically means that the design of site location, layout and
atmosphere should be attractive to customers. The professional equipment for
processing information/images is required. The design of service delivery process must
also be customer-oriented. Furthermore, strong interpersonal skills, a neat appearance,
knowledge of procedures, technical skills and expertise are required from service
providers, especially the photographers under the context of wedding photography
services since they interact with customers closely. In addition, frequent exchanges of
information between customers and service providers are necessary for reducing any
serious consequences. Information/images as the product of service process should be
paid enough attention. All of these design considerations above could be helpful for
understanding the design and quality aspects of wedding photography services in the
next chapter.

For wedding photography services, one special attribute that has to be mentioned is that
it is generally a one-off service, and would rather attract new customers than rely on
customer loyalty. The service providers of wedding photography services cannot fail to
serve the customers, since they hardly have the second chance to make it better.
Therefore, service providers should learn to understand customers needs and
expectations well before serving them, minimizing the possibilities to fail (Bowen,
1990).
2.2 Service quality
Service design is the very first opportunity the service providers have to influence
service quality (Gummesson, 1990). It is also one reason that why this study focuses on a
quality-based service design on wedding photography services. Generally, service quality
is recognized as a critical success factor in a firms endeavors to differentiate itself from
its competitors (Ladhari, 2009). Slightly different definitions of service quality are given
by researchers, but their emphases on customers are all the same (Yoo & Park, 2007).
For example, Parasuranam et al. (1990) defined service quality as the extent of
discrepancy between the customers expectations and their perceptions, and other
researchers as Dabholkar et al. (2000) viewed service quality as a set of dimensions such
as reliability and responsiveness that precede customer satisfaction. It is apparent that
the needs of customers are always put in the first place.
Service quality involves both the process and the outcomes of service production,
delivery and consumption (Parasuranam et al., 1985), which is developed through the
general procedure of service design. Researchers have demonstrated that good service
quality leads to the retention of existing customers and the attraction of new ones,
reduced costs, an enhanced corporate image, positive words of mouth, and, ultimately,
enhanced profitability (Ladhari, 2009). In particular, the relationship between service
quality and customer satisfaction and word of mouth is testified in many studies. Overall
service quality has a positive influence on customer satisfaction, and customer
satisfaction positively affects words of mouth (Bitner et al., 1990; Cho, 2009; Lloyd & Luk,
2011).
2.3 SERVQUAL model
Much research effort regarding service quality has been devoted to the development of
reliable and replicable instruments for measuring the construct. One of the most
commonly used instruments is the SERVQUAL model (Parasuranam et al., 1985; 1988;
1991), which suggests that service quality could be measured through the differences
between customers expectations about the performance of service providers and their
assessment of the actual performance results in perceptions of service quality.

Parasuraman et al. (1985) concluded that consumers evaluated service quality by

comparing expectations with perceptions on ten dimensions - tangibles, reliability,
responsiveness, understanding/knowing customers, access, communication, credibility,
security, competence, courtesy. These ten dimensions were subsequently collapsed into
five dimensions by Parasuraman et al. (1988), as follows:
(1) Tangibles Physical facilities, equipment, and appearance of personnel;
(2) Reliability Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately;
(3) Responsiveness Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service;
(4) Assurance Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust
and confidence;
(5) Empathy Caring, individualized attention the firm provides its customers.
These five dimensions are assessed by a total of 22 service quality items. Each item is
measured on the basis of responses to two statements that measure 1) the general
expectations of customers concerning a service; and 2) the perceptions of customers
regarding the levels of service actually provided by the company within that service
category (Ladhari, 2009).
The SERVQUAL instrument was originally applied in five different service areas: retail
banking, credit card services, repair and maintenance of electrical appliances,
long-distance telephone services, and title brokerage. Subsequently, the instrument has
been used to measure service quality across a wide variety of service areas, since
Parasuranam et al. (1988) believed that the SERVQUAL model could be adapted or
supplemented to fit specific research needs of a particular organization. However,
several researchers have identified potential difficulties with the conceptual foundation
and empirical operation of the model. In particular, critics have questioned whether the
five dimensions of the model, and its psychometric properties, are generically applicable
in all service contexts. As a result, adaptations and/or replacements of the SERVQUAL
model have been suggested for various service contexts in many empirical studies
(Ladhari, 2009).
2.4 Summary of Literature Review
The introduction on service design, service quality and the SERVQUAL model,
established a theoretical foundation for studying a quality-based service design on
wedding photography services. The differences existing between products and services
lead to a unique way of service design that strengthens not only the tangible things like
physical environment and service products, but also people involved and the service
delivery process. Furthermore, knowing the classification and attributes of wedding
7

photography services help to facilitate the design process and service quality
improvement. The way to measure service quality was studied and the SERVQUAL model
for evaluating service quality was found interesting to be further investigated. Based on
this theoretical foundation, the way how to do this research will be introduced in detail
in the next chapter.

3 METHODOLOGY
The chapter explains how the whole of this thesis was conducted and what approaches were employed
for collecting and analyzing data. The test on validity and reliability of this research is also discussed.

3.1 Data collection

3.1.1 Design of the questionnaire
Online survey was used as the main research method. According to Introduction to
Using Online Surveys (Ritter & Sue, 2007), online survey works best in a situation where
a list of potential respondents is known to have emails and Internet access, and it is
especially useful when the target respondents are geographically dispersed. Given a
relatively large sampling size, online survey is more economical than other research
methods like face-to-face interview or telephone survey. However, online survey has its
limitations. Respondents might abandon to finish the questionnaire if it is too
complicated and takes much time. Hence, it is better to ask a variety of closed-ended
questions which are relatively easy to answer. The length of the questionnaire should not
be too long. The instruction of the questionnaire should be clearly formulated so that the
respondents could understand the questionnaire well without guidance from
researchers. Another problem that cannot be avoided is that respondents of the online
survey might have a bias on the group of potential respondents who do not use Internet
properly. When designing the questionnaire for this research, the advantages and
disadvantages of online survey research method were carefully taken into consideration.
Based on the theoretical foundation and informal interviews with professional wedding
photographers, 26 service quality statements associated with wedding photography
services were developed, using the SERVQUAL model as a source of inspiration. These
service quality statements are key components of the survey. The following Table 3.1
shows how these quality statements for wedding photography services were formulated
based on the 22 service quality items of the SERVQUAL model.
To improve the likelihood of response, the questionnaire was formulated with easy to
understand close-ended questions that would take five to ten minutes on average to
complete. It was divided into three parts. The first part, containing 26 service quality
statements, was designed to measure the respondents expectations on the quality
aspects of wedding photography services before purchasing. The second part, composed
of the same 26 statements, was to measure the respondents perceptions regarding the
quality of services actually received; apart from that, a number of outcome variables,
which included customers perceptions of overall service quality, customer satisfaction
and word of mouth, were included in the second part as well. A five-point Likert scale
was applied not only for evaluating each of the 26 service quality statements in the first
9

and second part respectively, but the variables associated with the overall service quality,
customer satisfaction and word of mouth as well. The last part was designed to collect
respondents demographic information. Since the target respondents were customers of
wedding photography services in China, the questionnaire was translated into Chinese,
and its wording and meaning was checked carefully.

10

Table 3.1 Formulating the 26 quality statements for wedding photography services
SERVQUALs 22 service quality items

Wedding photography services 26 quality statements

Tangibles

Tangibles

1.

They have up-to-date equipment.

1.

High-end gear is equipped.

2.

Their physical facilities are visually appealing.

2.

The studio/firm has visually appealing decoration and facilities.

3.

Their employees are well dressed and appear neat.

3.

The atmosphere of studio/firm is comfortable.

4.

The appearance of the physical facilities of these firms

4.

Employees are properly dressed in offices or when shooting.

is in keeping with the type of services provided.

5.

The location of the studio/firm is convenient for visiting.

Reliability

Reliability

5.

6.

When these firms promise to do something by a certain

time, they do so.

6.

the photos.

When customers have problems, these firms are

7.

Photographers could inspire your confidence when shooting.

sympathetic and reassuring.

8.

The studio/firm provides supportive services, such as make-up,

7.

These firms are dependable.

8.

They provide their services at the time they promise to

do so.

9.

Photographers provide guidance to you that make you perfect in

They keep their records accurately.

stylizing, etc.
9.

The studio/firm provides multiple service packages and price

options.

10. The final product is finished in time.

11. The photos you get finally are in good quality.
12. The final product (album, photo books, DVD) is in good quality.

Responsiveness

Responsiveness

10. They tell customers exactly when services will be

13. Photographers always respond to your inquiries promptly.

performed.
11. You receive prompt service from employees of these
firms.
12. Employees are always willing to help customers.

14. It is easy to contact with the studio/firm (via phone calls, email,
msn, QQ, etc.).
15. Employees (except photographers) deliver warm service.
16. Photographers are always friendly.

13. Employees respond to customer requests promptly.

Assurance

Assurance

14. You can trust employees of the firms.

17. The interactions between you and photographers are comfortable.

15. You feel safe in your transactions with the firms

18. The studio/firm provides post-purchase service.

employees.

19. Photographers have assistants.

16. Employees are polite.

17. Employees get adequate support from their firms to do
the jobs well.
Empathy

Empathy

18. The firms give you individual attention.

20. Photographers put extra efforts on your specific needs.

19. Employees give you personal attention.

21. The studio/firm has a well-managed website.

20. Employees know what your needs are.

22. The studio provides online viewing of proofs after shooting.

21. The firms have your best interests at heart.

23. The studio/firm offers delivery service regarding the final product.

22. The firms have operating hours convenient to all their

24. Photographers pay attention to your friends and family when

customers.

shooting.
25. Photographers could clearly understand your specific needs,
especially the abstract ones such as style, aesthetics, etc.
26. The studio/firm has a flexible working schedule convenient for you.

11

3.1.2 Pilot test

A pilot test was conducted first to evaluate the reliability of the initial set of quality
statements of wedding photography services, and to ensure that the wording of the
questionnaire was clear enough. Twelve questionnaires were completed by respondents
who were selected randomly by the author from a pool of population having bought
wedding photography services in recent years. After that, the feedbacks, especially about
the design of the questionnaire and the wording as well as the sequence of the 26 service
quality statements, were collected from the respondents. Furthermore, by studying the
results of pilot test, re-phrasing on some statements was made to avoid confusion,
especially the wording of some service quality statements to make them more applicable
to the context of wedding photography services. For example, the statement high-end
gear is equipped was revised to professional gear is equipped, since professional is a
relative general term than high-end. A well-managed website was changed to a
website with updated portfolio in order to make the meaning clear. In addition, some
service quality statements were deleted or merged mainly because of 1) repetition of
similar meaning in different statements, 2) low importance of the statement from
respondents points of view. Finally, 18 service quality statements were left and arranged
in a sequence of the general workflow of wedding photography services. Table 3.2
presents the service quality statements before and after pilot test respectively. The final
version of the questionnaire is presented in Appendix 1.
3.1.3 Sample selection
After pilot test, the formal survey was conducted with the support of five wedding
photography firms/studios in China in July of 2012. The targeted sample of the survey
was all customers who have ever purchased wedding photography services in the last
five years at one of the following regions Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and
Guangdong Province. Compared to other regions in China, those regions are more
developed and people there are relatively more open-minded and willing to spend
money on wedding photography services. Regarding the location of those five regions,
they are crossing China from north (Beijing) to east area (Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangsu)
then to south area (Guangdong). Given the timeframe that was measured from the date
of purchasing wedding photography services till now, five years were specified as the
maximum, since the restriction on the context of wedding photography services within
recent five years was necessary to improve the reliability and validity of the survey.
A list of the contacts of the targeted sample was attainable in advance. A simple random
sampling approach was employed, and around 400 links of the survey online were
distributed by email to the potential respondents. The sample size was predefined as
200. When the valid questionnaires received were up to 200, the survey was stopped
12

Table 3.2 Service quality statements before and after pilot test
26 quality statements before pilot test

18 quality statements after pilot test

Tangibles

Tangibles

1.

High-end gear is equipped.

2.

The studio/firm has visually appealing decoration and

1.

Professional gear is equipped.

2.

The atmosphere of studio/firm is comfortable.

3.

Getting touch with the studio/firm is easy.

facilities.
3.

The atmosphere of studio/firm is comfortable.

4.

Employees are properly dressed in offices or when shooting.

5.

The location of the studio/firm is convenient for visiting.

Reliability
6.

Reliability

Photographers provide guidance to you that make you perfect

4.

Photographers guide you how to look perfect in the photos.

5.

The studio/firm provides supportive services, such as make-up,

in the photos.
7.

Photographers could inspire your confidence when shooting.

8.

The studio/firm provides supportive services, such as

make-up, stylizing, etc.

9.

stylizing, etc.

The studio/firm provides multiple service packages and price

6.

options.

The studio/firm provides multiple service packages and price

options.

10. The final product is finished in time.

7.

The final products are finished in time.

11. The photos you get finally are in good quality.

8.

The photos you get in the end are in good quality.

12. The final product (album, photo books, DVD) is in good

9.

The final products (album, photo books, DVD) are in good

quality.

quality.

Responsiveness

Responsiveness

13. Photographers always respond to your inquiries promptly.

10. Photographers respond to your inquiries promptly.

14. It is easy to contact with the studio/firm (via phone calls,

email, msn, QQ, etc.).
15. Employees (except photographers) deliver warm service.

11. Employees (photographers and frontline workers) are friendly.

16. Photographers are always friendly.

Assurance

Assurance

17. The interactions between you and photographers are

12. The interactions between

comfortable.

you

and photographers are

comfortable.

18. The studio/firm provides post-purchase service.

19. Photographers have assistants.
Empathy

Empathy

20. Photographers put extra efforts on your specific needs.

13. In the shooting, photographers put extra efforts on your needs.

21. The studio/firm has a well-managed website.

14. The studio/firm has a website including updated portfolios.

22. The studio provides online viewing of proofs after shooting.

15. The studio provides online viewing of proofs after shooting.

23. The studio/firm offers delivery service regarding the final

product.
24. Photographers pay attention to your friends and family when
shooting.

16. In the shooting, photographers take photos for your friends and
family as well.

25. Photographers could clearly understand your specific needs,

especially the abstract ones such as style, aesthetics, etc.

17. Photographers clearly understand your needs, especially the

abstract ones such as style, aesthetics, etc.

26. The studio/firm has a flexible working schedule convenient

for you.

18. The studio/firm has a flexible working schedule convenient for

you.

13

intentionally. Actually, a total of 248 questionnaires were received during the session of
investigation, but 48 were not included in the analysis because that 1) unreasonable data
was contained in the answers; or 2) the timeframe from purchasing the wedding
photography services till now was more than five years; one question included in the
questionnaire was especially designed to collect the information for rejecting the invalid
results, from which the respondents were known that they bought the wedding
photography services before five years. Finally, the data of the 200 questionnaires was
collected and usable for further analysis.
There are two rules of thumb regarding the sample size for factor analysis and multiple
regression analysis that two methods would be applied later, that 1) maintaining
statistical power at 0.8 requires a minimum sample size of 50 and preferably 100 for
most research situations, and 2) the minimum ratio of observations to variables is 5:1,
but the preferred ratio is 15:1 or 20:1 or even 40:1 (Hair et al., 2011, p. 102&176 ). Given
this research, the sample size of 200 meets the guidelines for the minimum ratio of
respondents to variables (5:1) with an actual ratio of 11:1 (200 observations with 18
variables). Therefore, the sample size of 200 falls within acceptable limits for this
research.
3.2 Data analysis
3.2.1 Descriptive statistics analysis
Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) is one of the most widely used
programs for statistical analysis in social science (Muijs, 2004). For this research, the
IBM SPSS version 19.0 was used to analyze the data. All the data collected was carefully
coded before being subject to statistical analysis in the SPSS.
Descriptive statistics analysis, one function included in the software that quantitatively
describing the main features of a collection of data (Greasley, 2008, p. 33), was used to
summarize the results of respondents expectations and post-purchasing perceptions on
the quality aspects of wedding photography services. Furthermore, paired samples t-test
(Archambault, 2000) was carried out to test the significant difference between two
groups of the means of expectation scores and post-purchasing perception scores on
each service statement.
3.2.2 Method of factor analysis
To explore the dimensions of the eighteen service statements, exploratory factor analysis
was employed. Factor analysis (Hair et al., 2011, p. 16) is a statistical approach that can
be used to analyze the interrelationships among a number of variables and to explain
these variables in terms of their common underlying factors. Generally, the objective of
exploratory factor analysis is to condense the information contained in a number of
14

original variables into a smaller set of factors with a minimal loss of information.
Principal component analysis and Varimax rotation (Hair et al., 2011, pp. 107-115) were
chosen in the factor analysis to compute the information contained in the eighteen
service statements into several new dimensions.
3.2.3 Method of multiple regression analysis
Based on the new dimensions derived from the factor analysis, a multiple regression
analysis (Hair et al., 2011, p. 16) was used to identify the relative importance of the
dimensions in predicting the overall service quality of wedding photography services. In
general, multiple regression analysis is appropriate when the research problem involves
a single metric dependent variable presumed to be related to two or more metric
independent variables. According to these principles, the dependent variable in this case
was the overall service quality, while the independent variables were the newly
summarized quality dimensions from the eighteen service quality statements. One thing
needed to mention is that multicollinearity, which refers to the correlation among the
independent variables, would reduce the predictive accuracy of the regression model
(Hair et al., 2011, pp. 164-165). It is suggested to have independent variables that are in
low multicollinearity with the other independent variables but also have high
correlations with the dependent variable. Actually, factor analysis applied before the
multiple regression analysis in this research helped to reduce the multicollinearity to a
low level.
3.3 Quality Criteria
To confirm the adequacy of the measures, a series of validity and reliability analyses
were performed. Reliability is an assessment of the degree of consistency between
multiple measurements of a variable, while validity is the extent to which a set of
measures accurately represents the particular concept to be measured (Bryman & Bell,
2003).
Firstly, when designing the questionnaire, the format and the content were carefully
checked by the author and the professionals. The eighteen service quality statements
were established through a long period of investigation, discussion, and refinement. All
these activities aimed for improving the reliability and content validity of the survey.
Secondly, internal consistency, one common form of reliability, was applied for testing
the consistency 1) among all the eighteen service quality statements, 2) among the
variables in the modified scale by factor analysis. Generally, Cronbachs alpha is used to
measure the reliability, with a threshold of 0.7 or even possibly decreasing to 0.6 in an
exploratory research (Hair et al., 2011, p. 125). The high alpha value indicates good
internal consistency among the items, and the high alpha value for the overall scale

15

indicates that the convergent validity of the questionnaire met (Parasuraman et al.,
1991). The results showed that the Cronbachs alpha for all the eighteen quality
statements measuring customers expectations and perceptions in this research, ranging
from 0.872 to 0.904, were high enough to claim that all the statements were internally
consistent and reliable. As to the reliability of the modified scale developed by factor
analysis, the results will be given later in the following chapter. Thirdly, construct validity
that refers to the extent to which what is to be measured is actually measured, could be
examined by variance extracted in factor analysis (Peterson, 2000). The higher the
variance extracted, the more valid is the measure.
3.4 Workflow
The following flowchart presents how the investigation was conducted and what
approaches were employed for collecting and analyzing data.
Figure 3.1 The process of the investigation
Initial Research
- Background Information
- Research Questions

Sample Selection

Conducting the Survey

Literature Review

Pilot Test

Data Collection and

Data Analysis

Formulating Service
Quality Statements

Design of the
Questionnaire

Conclusion

16

4 RESULTS
In this chapter, the results of the survey are summarized including customers expectations and
post-purchasing perceptions of wedding photography services. In addition, the important findings
regarding the factor analysis and the multiple regression analysis are presented.

4.1 Results of the survey

4.1.1 Sample profile
Table 4.1 shows the demographics of the respondents. Of the 200 respondents, the
majority (28.5%) is from Guangdong Province, while the minority (11.5%) is from
Beijing. The number of female respondents is almost twice the number of male ones.
Most of the respondents are in the age of 20 to 35, only ten respondents over 35 years
old. In terms of their occupation, a significant majority of the respondents (70.5%) are
white collars, and more than 80% of the respondents are above junior college level. As to
the specific services that the respondents bought from wedding photography
firms/studios, an overwhelming majority (93.5%) choose the photographic service of
pre-wedding portraits, and almost 50% choose wedding documentary service. These
results reflect the general market situation of wedding photography services in China
nowadays. Among the 200 respondents, 85% of them purchased wedding photography
services within the last three years, and no one who purchased wedding photography
services long before 5 years is included in the sample. Regarding the channels by which
the respondents knew the wedding photography firms/studios, friend/relative referral
is selected by a majority part (73.5%) of the respondents, followed with the channel of
aware of the physical store (58%) and website search (45.5%) respectively.
Compared to other channels, the channel of social network as blog, micro-blog, etc. has
a relatively low proportion (19.5%).

17

Table 4.1 The demographics of the respondents (n=200)

Variables

Items

Frequency

Percentage

Geographical Distribution

Guangdong Province

57

28.5%

Shanghai

53

26.5%

Zhejiang Province

36

18%

Jiangsu Province

31

15.5%

Beijing

23

11.5%

Male

68

34%

Female

132

66%

20~27

93

46.5%

28~35

97

48.5%

Over 35

10

5%

Executive/Manager

36

18%

Self-employed

11

5.5%

White collar

141

70.5%

Blue collar

4%

Student

2%

At or below the high school level

2%

Junior college level

33

16.5%

Bachelor Degree

147

73.5%

At or above Master degree

16

8%

Pre-wedding portraits

187

93.5%

Wedding documentary

96

48%

Engagement shooting

58

29%

Others

1.5%

Length of time from buying

Less than 1 year

57

28.5%

wedding photography services

1~3 years

113

56.5%

till now

3~5 years

30

15%

The channels by which the

Friend/relative referral

147

73.5%

respondents knew the wedding

Got

photography firms/studios

friends/relatives wedding

82

41%

Vendor referral

56

28%

Aware of the physical store

116

58%

Website search

91

45.5%

Social network as blog, micro-blog, etc.

39

19.5%

Bridal magazine

49

24.5%

Others

0.5%

Gender
Age

Occupation

Education

Specific services bought

contacts

when

attending

4.1.2 Respondents expectations before purchasing

Table 4.2 shows the results of respondents expectations on wedding photography
services before purchasing. The importance of these eighteen service quality statements
were rated by 200 respondents using a five-point scale from 1 Very low to 5 Very high.
18

The figures on the left side in each cell indicate the number of the respondents who
believe that one specific quality statement is important to some degree (from 1 Very
low to 5 Very high), while the percentages in the right of each cell are the ratios
between the number and the total 200 respondents.
Table 4.2 The results of respondents expectations on the wedding photography services
Scale

Frequency (percentage*)

Statements
1. The atmosphere of studio/firm is comfortable.
2. Getting touch with the studio/firm is easy.
3. The studio/firm has a website including updated
portfolios.
4. Professional gear is equipped.
5. The studio/firm provides multiple service packages
and price options.
6. The studio/firm has a flexible working schedule
convenient for you.
7. The studio/firm provides supportive services, such
as make-up, stylizing, etc.
8. Employees (photographers and frontline workers)
are friendly.
9. Photographers respond to your inquiries promptly.

Very low

Low

Moderate

High

Very high

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

35 (17.5%)

128 (64%)

37 (18.5%)

1 (0.5%)

2 (1%)

26 (13%)

117 (58.5%)

54 (27%)

1 (0.5%)

12 (6%)

64 (32%)

96 (48%)

27 (13.5%)

0 (0%)

1 (0.5%)

39 (19.5%)

95 (47.5%)

65 (32.5%)

2 (1%)

1 (0.5%)

27 (13.5%)

97 (48.5%)

73 (36.5%)

0 (0%)

5 (2.5%)

33 (16.5%)

88 (44%)

74 (37%)

0 (0%)

2 (1%)

24 (12%)

98 (49%)

76 (38%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

23 (11.5%)

108 (54%)

69 (34.5%)

0 (0%)

4 (2%)

26 (13%)

107 (53.5%)

63 (31.5%)

0 (0%)

1 (0.5%)

27 (13.5%)

115 (57.5%)

57 (28.5%)

0 (0%)

5 (2.5%)

40 (20%)

101 (50.5%)

54 (27%)

0 (0%)

2 (1%)

25 (12.5%)

78 (39%)

95 (47.5%)

4 (2%)

19 (9.5%)

74 (37%)

83 (41.5%)

20 (10%)

0 (0%)

1 (0.5%)

28 (14%)

121 (60.5%)

50 (25%)

1 (0.5%)

9 (4.5%)

41 (20.5%)

108 (54%)

41 (20.5%)

1 (0.5%)

3 (1.5%)

35 (17.5%)

109 (54.5%)

52 (26%)

0 (0%)

2 (1%)

35 (17.5%)

83 (41.5%)

80 (40%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

21 (10.5%)

96 (48%)

83 (41.5%)

10. Photographers clearly understand your needs,

especially the abstract ones such as style, aesthetics,
etc.
11. In the shooting, photographers put extra efforts on
your needs.
12. Photographers guide you how to look perfect in the
photos.
13. In the shooting, photographers take photos for your
friends and family as well.
14. The interactions between you and photographers
are comfortable.
15. The studio provides online viewing of proofs after
shooting.
16. The final products are finished in time.
17. The photos you get in the end are in good quality.
18. The final products (album, photo books, DVD) are
in good quality.

Looking at the last vertical column of Table 4.2, it is obvious that No.12 statement
Photographers guide you how to look perfect in the photos (47.5%) is given the most
19

attention at the degree of 5 Very high, followed by No.18 statement The final products
(album, photo books, DVD) are in good quality (41.5%) and No. 17 statement The
photos you get in the end are in good quality (40%). As to the degree of 4 High, No. 1
statement The atmosphere of studio/firm is comfortable (64%) has a larger percentage
compared to the percentages of other seventeen service statements, and the importance
of No.14 statement The interactions between you and photographers are comfortable
(60.5%) is in the second place. However, according to the figures at the degree of 1 Very
low and 2 Low, No.13 statement In the shooting, photographers take photos for your
friends and family as well (2%+9.5%) is the least important one among all the eighteen
statements.
4.1.3 Respondents perceptions after purchasing
Table 4.3 shows the results of respondents perceptions of wedding photography
services after purchasing. The quality level of each service quality statement was
evaluated on the five-point scale as well. Similar to Table 4.2, the figures on the left in
each cell indicate the number of respondents who evaluated the post-purchasing quality
of each service statement to one particular degree (from 1 Very low to 5 Very high),
and the percentages in the right of each cell are the ratios between the number and the
total 200 respondents.
Compared to other seventeen service statements, the quality level of No.13 statement In
the shooting, photographers take photos for your friends and family as well (3%+14%) is
lower at the degree of 1 Very low and 2 Low, followed by No.15 statement The studio
provides online viewing of proofs after shooting (1%+8%) and No.3 statement The
studio/firm has a website including updated portfolios (2%+4%) respectively. In other
words, No.13, 15 and 3 service quality statements are relatively at a low quality level
through respondents evaluation on its actual wedding photography services.
No.1 statement The atmosphere of studio/firm is comfortable was rated by a majority of
the respondents (66%) at the level of 4 High, followed by No.14 statement The
interactions between you and photographers are comfortable (65.5%). According to the
figures of the last vertical column in Table 4.3, the wedding photography firms/studios
by which those respondents were served, generally did quite well in No.7 statement The
studio/firm provides supportive services, such as make-up, stylizing, etc (25% at the
degree of 5 Very high), followed by No.5 The studio/firm provides multiple service
packages and price options (24.5%) and No.17 statement The photos you get in the end
are in good quality (22.5%).

20

Table 4.3 The results of post-purchasing perceptions on the wedding photography services
Scale

Frequency (percentage)

Very low

Low

Moderate

High

Very high

1. The atmosphere of studio/firm is comfortable.

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

37 (18.5%)

132 (66%)

31 (15.5%)

2. Getting touch with the studio/firm is easy.

0 (0%)

1 (0.5%)

27 (13.5%)

128 (64%)

44 (22%)

4 (2%)

8 (4%)

70 (35%)

93 (46.5%)

25 (12.5%)

0 (0%)

1 (0.5%)

42 (21%)

114 (57%)

43 (21.5%)

0 (0%)

5 (2.5%)

34 (17%)

112 (56%)

49 (24.5%)

0 (0%)

4 (2%)

55 (27.5%)

98 (49%)

43 (21.5%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

30 (15%)

120 (60%)

50 (25%)

0 (0%)

5 (2.5%)

35 (17.5%)

118 (59%)

42 (21%)

0 (0%)

5 (2.5%)

42 (21%)

116 (58%)

37 (18.5%)

0 (0%)

5 (2.5%)

50 (25%)

117 (58.5%)

28 (14%)

0 (0%)

9 (4.5%)

67 (33.5%)

91 (45.5%)

33 (16.5%)

0 (0%)

2 (1%)

42 (21%)

112 (56%)

44 (22%)

6 (3%)

28 (14%)

81 (40.5%)

65 (32.5%)

20 (10%)

0 (0%)

3 (1.5%)

41 (20.5%)

2 (1%)

16 (8%)

55 (27.5%)

88 (44%)

39 (19.5%)

16. The final products are finished in time.

0 (0%)

4 (2%)

31 (15.5%)

121 (60.5%)

44 (22%)

17. The photos you get in the end are in good quality.

0 (0%)

1 (0.5%)

48 (24%)

106 (53%)

45 (22.5%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

39 (19.5%)

118 (59%)

43 (21.5%)

Statements

3. The studio/firm has a website including updated

portfolios.
4. Professional gear is equipped.
5. The studio/firm provides multiple service packages
and price options.
6. The studio/firm has a flexible working schedule
convenient for you.
7. The studio/firm provides supportive services, such as
make-up, stylizing, etc.
8. Employees (photographers and frontline workers)
are friendly.
9. Photographers respond to your inquiries promptly.
10. Photographers clearly understand your needs,
especially the abstract ones such as style, aesthetics, etc.
11. In the shooting, photographers put extra efforts on
your needs.
12. Photographers guide you how to look perfect in the
photos.
13. In the shooting, photographers take photos for your
friends and family as well.
14. The interactions between you and photographers
are comfortable.
15. The studio provides online viewing of proofs after
shooting.

18. The final products (album, photo books, DVD) are

in good quality.

131
(65.5%)

25 (12.5%)

4.1.4 Overall evaluation of the services

Table 4.4 shows the results of three questions asking for respondents perceptions of the
overall wedding photography services after purchasing. The measurement of each
question was made on a five-point scale here as well, from 1 Very low to 5 Very high.
Similar to Table 4.3, the figures on the left side in each cell indicate the number of
respondents and the percentages beside are the ratios between the number and the total
200 respondents.
21

The first question is to collect information about the respondents perceptions on the
overall service quality after purchasing wedding photography services. 64.5% of the
respondents thought that the quality of services received from the wedding
studios/firms was at the level of 4 High, but only 4% of the respondents thought it at
the level of 5 Very high. The second question is about customer satisfaction. There are
62% of the respondents falling into the level of 4 High, while 8% of the respondents fall
into the level of 5 Very high. As to the third question, it is to ask for the possibility of
recommending the wedding photography studios/firms to others. 53.5% of the
respondents thought that it would be highly possible for them to recommend the
studios/firms to others, and even 17.5% of the respondents fall into the highest level of
5 Very high, which means that they would be extremely likely to recommend the
studios/firms to others.
Table 4.4 The results of respondents perceptions of the overall wedding photography services
Scale

Frequency (percentage)

Statements
Overall, how would you rate the quality of services you
received from the wedding studio/firm?
Overall, how would you rate the level of your satisfaction
regarding the service you received?
To what extent would you recommend the wedding
studio/firm to others?

Very low

Low

Moderate

High

Very high

0 (0%)

2 (1%)

61 (30.5%)

129 (64.5%)

8 (4%)

0 (0%)

1 (0.5%)

59 (29.5%)

124 (62%)

16 (8%)

1 (0.5%)

14 (7%)

43 (21.5%)

107 (53.5%)

35 (17.5%)

4.2 Results of the statistical analysis

4.2.1 Descriptive statistics
Descriptive statistical methods in SPSS were used to research respondents expectations
and post-purchasing perceptions on wedding photography services. The results are
presented in Table 4.5. The means of expectations (E), perceptions (P) and gap (P-E),
another gap subtracting means of expectations (EM) from means of perceptions (PM),
standard deviations (SD) and the paired samples t-test values were computed for each
service quality statement.
The means were calculated by adding up the scores allocated by respondents for each
statement and dividing all the 200 respondents. As shown in Table 4.5, the highest
means of expectations is 4.33 referred to No.12 statement Photographers guide you how
to look perfect in the photos, while the highest mean of post-purchasing perceptions on
the wedding photography services is 4.1 referred to No.7 statement The studio/firm
provides supportive services, such as make-up, stylizing, etc. The gap scores (PM-EM) for
22

the eighteen statements are all negative scores. According to the previous researches on
service quality (Parasuranam et al., 1988; Akababa, 2006), positive gap scores (PM-EM)
imply that the quality of services in reality are better than expected, while negative gap
scores imply poor quality. Therefore, regarding all the eighteen service quality
statements, the wedding photography services studied are in poor service quality.
The standard deviations (Bryman & Bell, 2003) were estimated measuring the average
amount of variations around the means. And a low standard deviation indicates that the
different data collected tends to be very close to the mean, whereas high standard
deviation indicates large variation among the data. The standard deviations of
expectations and perceptions, ranging respectively from 0.601 to 0.874 and from 0.584
to 0.940, are all in low variations. However, it is noticeable from Table 4.5 that standard
deviations of the gaps (P-E) are all much greater than their means, which indicates that
the gaps (P-E) are unreliable. As a result, the perception-minus-expectation gap scores
would be close to nonsense for the following factor analysis.
There are two values t value and significance value listed as the results of the paired
samples t-test for post-purchasing perceptions and pre-purchasing expectations in Table
4.5. If the significance value is less than 0.05, there is a significant difference between the
mean of expectation and perception of its service quality statement. On the contrary, if
the significance value is greater than 0.05, there is no significant difference
(Archambault, 2000). The results of paired samples t-test reflect that most of the 18
quality statements have significantly different means before and after purchasing, except
the quality statements of No.1, 2, 3 and 16.

23

Table 4.5 Descriptive statistics of the eighteen service statements (n=200)

Items

Expectations

Perceptions

Gap

Gap

Paired

(E)

(P)

Scores

(P-E)

Samples

Statements

1.

The

atmosphere

of

studio/firm

is

comfortable.
2. Getting touch with the studio/firm is easy.
3. The studio/firm has a website including
updated portfolios.
4. Professional gear is equipped.
5. The studio/firm provides multiple service
packages and price options.
6. The studio/firm has a flexible working
schedule convenient for you.
7. The studio/firm provides supportive
services, such as make-up, stylizing, etc.
8. Employees (photographers and frontline
workers) are friendly.
9. Photographers respond to your inquiries
promptly.

Means

SD

Means

SD

PM-EM

Means

SD

T-Test (sig.)

4.01

0.601

3.97

0.584

-0.04

-0.040

0.608

0.930 (.354)

4.10

0.690

4.08

0.609

-0.02

-0.030

0.687

0.618 (.537)

3.68

0.801

3.64

0.828

-0.04

-0.045

0.791

0.804 (.422)

4.12

0.727

4.00

0.669

-0.12

-0.125

0.820

2.155 (.032)

4.19

0.759

4.03

0.719

-0.16

-0.165

0.831

2.807 (.006)

4.16

0.784

3.90

0.750

-0.26

-0.255

0.902

3.997 (.000)

4.24

0.696

4.10

0.626

-0.14

-0.140

0.716

2.764 (.006)

4.23

0.640

3.99

0.698

-0.24

-0.245

0.780

4.443 (.000)

4.15

0.712

3.92

0.701

-0.23

-0.220

0.758

4.105 (.000)

4.14

0.650

3.84

0.683

-0.3

-0.300

0.808

5.249 (.000)

4.02

0.757

3.74

0.785

-0.28

-0.280

0.973

4.071 (.000)

4.33

0.731

3.99

0.687

-0.34

-0.340

0.865

5.559 (.000)

3.48

0.874

3.33

0.940

-0.15

-0.155

0.897

2.443 (.015)

4.10

0.634

3.89

0.616

-0.21

-0.210

0.720

4.124 (.000)

3.90

0.792

3.73

0.901

-0.17

-0.165

0.923

2.528 (.012)

4.04

0.736

4.03

0.676

-0.01

-0.015

0.760

0.279 (.780)

4.20

0.759

3.97

0.698

-0.23

-0.230

0.748

4.347 (.000)

4.31

0.653

4.02

0.642

-0.29

-0.290

0.662

6.196 (.000)

10. Photographers clearly understand your

needs, especially the abstract ones such as
style, aesthetics, etc.
11. In the shooting, photographers put extra
efforts on your needs.
12. Photographers guide you how to look
perfect in the photos.
13. In the shooting, photographers take
photos for your friends and family as well.
14. The interactions between you and
photographers are comfortable.
15. The studio provides online viewing of
proofs after shooting.
16. The final products are finished in time.
17. The photos you get in the end are in good
quality.
18. The final products (album, photo books,
DVD) are in good quality.

24

4.2.2 Factor analysis

A factor analysis was performed to reduce the eighteen service quality statements to a
meaningful set of factors. The 18 service statements were factor analyzed in relation to
their perception scores, since these better reflected the service quality compared to both
the perception-minus-expectation gap scores and the expectation-only scores on
wedding photography services. Actually, some previous studies (Babakus and Boller,
1992; Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Brady et al., 2002) also supported the use of
perception-only scores, which were evident to have superior reliability and convergent
validity for measuring service quality in some cases. The reason that the
perception-minus-expectation gap scores are unsuitable for factor analysis is explained
above, while the expectation-only scores are not suitable for factor analysis because
customers expectations on wedding photography services might not well reflect the
service quality. The customers of wedding photography services, in general, are not
experienced purchasers, since most of them probably purchase this service only once in
their life. Hence, customers expectations before purchasing are inadequate for
evaluating the service quality of wedding photography services. Finally, the
perception-only scores were employed for factor analysis.
Before conducting factor analysis, the test of Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) and Bartlett's
Test of Sphericity were established, which measure sampling adequacy and the
correlations among the variables of the factor analysis respectively (UCLA: Academic
Technology Services). These two tests provide a minimum standard which should be
passed before a factor analysis conducted. From the results in Table 4.6, the value of
KMO is 0.919, which is over the suggested minimum of 0.6 and indicates a good
sampling adequacy for a satisfactory factor analysis. And the significance value of
Bartlett's Test of Sphericity is 0.000 (sig. < 0.05), which indicates that sufficient
correlations exist among the variables to proceed with factor analysis.
Then, factors with eigenvalues equal to or greater than 1 were chosen for interpretation.
As a result, three factors were extracted and associated statistics are presented in Table
4.6. According to the guideline that the factor loading values considered significant at
the sample size of 200 should be equal to or greater than 0.40 (Hair et al., 2011, p. 117),
the eighteen variables with factor loading values ranging from 0.402 to 0.769 are all
included in the analysis. However, the three initially extracted factors are quite different
from the five quality dimensions of the SERVQUAL model. Hence, to find the best
structure of service quality dimensions on wedding photography services, factor
analyses on four and five factors to be extracted respectively were conducted as well.
The results of four- and five-factor analysis are presented in Table 4.7 and Table 4.8.

25

Table 4.6 Results of three-factor analysis

Statements

Factor

Eigen

loading

value

variance

7.097

39.427

Factor 1
17. The photos you get in the end are in good quality.

0.769

6. The studio/firm has a flexible working schedule convenient for you.

0.688

18. The final products (album, photo books, DVD) are in good quality.

0.660

7.The studio/firm provides supportive services, such as make-up,

0.616

stylizing, etc.
8. Employees (photographers and frontline workers) are friendly.

0.608

16. The final products are finished in time.

0.605

12. Photographers guide you how to look perfect in the photos.

0.572

9. Photographers respond to your inquiries promptly.

0.552

5. The studio/firm provides multiple service packages and price options.

0.539

14. The interactions between you and photographers are comfortable.

0.402

Factor 2
0.642

4. Professional gear is equipped.

0.628

2. Getting touch with the studio/firm is easy.

0.482

Factor 3

Cronbachs

tive %

alpha

39.427

0.886

Service delivery process and Service product

7.823

47.250

0.549

Label of Factor 2:
Physical conditions

1.041

13. In the shooting, photographers take photos for your friends and

Cumula

Label of Factor 1:

1.408

1. The atmosphere of studio/firm is comfortable.

of

5.784

53.034

0.764

0.758

family as well.
3. The studio/firm has a website including updated portfolios.

0.693

15. The studio provides online viewing of proofs after shooting.

0.636

11. In the shooting, photographers put extra efforts on your needs.

0.603

10. Photographers clearly understand your needs, especially the abstract

ones such as style, aesthetics, etc.

Label of Factor 3:
Empathy

0.488

Notes: KMO (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy)=0.919; Bartlett's Test of Sphericity=1388.281(sig.=0.000); Overall
Cronbachs alpha=0.903; Rotation converged in 7 iterations.

By comparison of the results of three-, four- and five-factor solutions, it is found that the
three-factor solution is more acceptable since it has superior reliability than the other
two solutions. Compared to the three-factor analysis, Factor 2 of the four-factor
analysis is related to Factor 3 of the three-factor analysis. Additionally, Factor 2
containing No.1, 2 and 4 three quality statements in the three-factor analysis, changes to
Factor 3 containing No.1, 2 and 14 three statements in the four-factor analysis. It is
obvious that Factor 2 of the three-factor analysis belonging to the category of the
physical conditions of wedding photography studios/firms, has better explanatory
power than Factor 3 of the four-factor analysis, since No.14 quality statement is not in
the same category with No.1 and 2 service quality statements. Furthermore, the results
26

reveal that two factors of the four-factor analysis have low Cronbachs alpha as 0.630 and
0.564. As to the five-factor analysis, although it explains more of the total variance
(62.7%) than three- and four-factor analysis, its overall reliability and power of
empirical explanation decrease to a lower level. Three of its five factors have the
Cronbachs alpha lower than 0.7, and each factor could not be clearly defined because of
varied quality attributes included in a single factor. Therefore, among the three-, fourand five-factor analysis, the results of the three-factor analysis is better both according to
statistical criteria and empirical explanation, and finally chosen for further analysis.
Table 4.7 Results of four-factor analysis
Statements

Factor

Eigen

% of

Cumula

Cronbachs

loading

value

variance

tive %

alpha

7.097

39.427

39.427

0.881

Factor 1
17. The photos you get in the end are in good quality.

0.805

18. The final products (album, photo books, DVD) are in good quality.

0.701

9. Photographers respond to your inquiries promptly.

0.678

7.The studio/firm provides supportive services, such as make-up,

stylizing, etc.

0.672

8. Employees (photographers and frontline workers) are friendly.

0.635

6. The studio/firm has a flexible working schedule convenient for you.

0.619

12. Photographers guide you how to look perfect in the photos.

0.543

5. The studio/firm provides multiple service packages and price options.

0.536

16. The final products are finished in time.

0.500

Factor 2

Factor 1

1.40

13. In the shooting, photographers take photos for your friends and

7.823

0.749

family as well.
15. The studio provides online viewing of proofs after shooting.

47.250

0.630

Factor 2

0.723

Factor 3

1.01

2. Getting touch with the studio/firm is easy.

0.738

1. The atmosphere of studio/firm is comfortable.

0.688

14. The interactions between you and photographers are comfortable.

0.414

Factor 4

53.034

0.564

Factor 3

0.902

3. The studio/firm has a website including updated portfolios.

5.784

5.009

58.043

0.706

0.777

10.Photographers clearly understand your needs, especially the abstract

ones such as style, aesthetics, etc.

0.554

4. Professional gear is equipped.

0.547

11. In the shooting, photographers put extra efforts on your needs.

0.467

Factor 4

Notes: KMO (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy)=0.919; Bartlett's Test of Sphericity=1388.281(sig.=0.000); Overall
Cronbachs alpha=0.903; Rotation converged in 13 iterations.

27

Table 4.8 Results of five-factor analysis

Statements

Factor

Eigen

% of

Cumula

Cronbachs

loading

value

variance

tive %

alpha

7.097

39.427

39.427

0.882

Factor 1
17. The photos you get in the end are in good quality.

0.787

9. Photographers respond to your inquiries promptly.

0.694

18. The final products (album, photo books, DVD) are in good quality.

0.689

7.The studio/firm provides supportive services, such as make-up,

0.651

stylizing, etc.

Factor 1

8. Employees (photographers and frontline workers) are friendly.

0.609

6. The studio/firm has a flexible working schedule convenient for you.

0.568

4. Professional gear is equipped.

0.547

5. The studio/firm provides multiple service packages and price options.

0.510

12. Photographers guide you how to look perfect in the photos.

0.503

Factor 2

1.40

15. The studio provides online viewing of proofs after shooting.

0.745

13. In the shooting, photographers take photos for your friends and

0.717

7.823

47.250

0.631

Factor 2

family as well.
16. The final products are finished in time.

0.520

Factor 3

1.01

3. The studio/firm has a website including updated portfolios.

0.838

10. Photographers clearly understand your needs, especially the abstract

0.541

5.784

0.703

Factor 3

ones such as style, aesthetics, etc.

11. In the shooting, photographers put extra efforts on your needs.

53.034

0.509

Factor 4

0.902

2. Getting touch with the studio/firm is easy.

0.779

14. The interactions between you and photographers are comfortable.

0.593

5.009

58.043

0.526

Factor 4
Factor 5

0.841

1.The atmosphere of studio/firm is comfortable.

0.869

4.675

62.718

None

Factor 5

Notes: KMO (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy)=0.919; Bartlett's Test of Sphericity=1388.281(sig.=0.000); Overall
Cronbachs alpha=0.903; Rotation converged in 12 iterations.

As presented in Table 4.6, the extracted three dimensions of the factor analysis explain
53.0% of the total variance, which is close to the values (around 56% ~ 70%) produced
by Parasuraman et al. (1988, 1991) works. And the internal consistency reliability test
conducted for each dimension indicates that the Cronbachs alpha for the three
dimensions are respectively at 0.886, 0.549 and 0.764, the second factor of which does
not exceed the recommended significant level of 0.70. From theoretical viewpoint, the
factor with 0.549 Cronbachs alpha value does not have a good internal consistency
among the statements, but from the empirical view, the three statements included in that
28

dimension could be clearly categorized as physical conditions of wedding photography

studios/firms. Furthermore, the threshold of Cronbachs alpha could possibly decrease
to 0.6 in exploratory research (Hair et al., 2011, p. 125), so that the Cronbachs alpha
0.549 should be regarded as acceptable for the exploratory research on wedding
photography services.
Through studying the statements within each factor, new labels are established for each
factor as Service delivery process and service product, Physical conditions and
Empathy. The naming of these three factors is based on Parasuraman et al. (1988)
SERVQUAL structure and Rust & Olivers (1994) three-component service quality model
as well. Rust & Oliver proposed three service quality components as service delivery
(functional quality), service product (technical quality), and service environment.
Similarly, Parasuraman et al. (1991) summarized that service quality evaluation could
consist of two parts - the nature of the core (outcome) and the relational constructs
(process). For the factor Service delivery process and service product, No.17 quality
statement The photos you get in the end are in good quality and No.18 The final
products (album, photo books, DVD) are in good quality refer to service product;
and other quality statements as Nos.5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14 and 16 together are associated
with service delivery process.
Based on the results of three-factor analysis, factor 1 Service delivery process and
service product, appears to contribute most to service quality evaluation in the context
of wedding photography services. As seen in Table 6, factor 1, containing 10 of the 18
service statements, accounts for 39.4% of the total variance, while Physical conditions
and Empathy have relatively lower percentages of the total variance with 7.8% and 5.8%
respectively.
4.2.3 Multiple regression analysis
To further investigate the relative importance of the three factors in predicting overall
service quality of wedding photography services, a multiple regression analysis was
applied. Table 4.9 shows the results of regression analysis in which the three service
quality factors are used as independent variables and the overall service quality
evaluation as dependent variable.

29

Table 4.9 Results of Multiple Regression Analysis

Independent variables

Unstandardized

Standardized

Coefficients

Coefficients

Std. Error

(Constant)

3.715

0.029

Factor

0.247

0.029

Factor

0.228

Factor

0.168

Collinearity
t

Sig.

Beta

Statistics
Tolerance

128.732

0.000

0.448

8.550

0.000

1.000

0.029

0.412

7.878

0.000

1.000

0.029

0.304

5.796

0.000

1.000

Notes: Adjusted R2=0.454; F=56.253; Significant F=0.000; Significant at p<0.05 level.

According to Hair et al. (2011, p209), R2 indicates the proportion of the variance in the
dependent variable which is accounted for by the set of independent variables, whereas
adjusted R2 value, taking into account the number of variables in the model and the
number of respondents, gives a better measure of the prediction of the regression model.
As shown in Table 4.9, the three factors together account for 45.4% (Adjusted R2=0.454)
of the variance in the measure of the overall service quality, which is acceptable and
above the minimum level of R2 (0.06-0.08) under the situation of three independent
variables employed in the model with a sample size of 200 and a statistically significant
level of 0.05 specified with a statistical power of 0.8 (Hair et al., 2011, p174). The
significant values of three factors are all lower than the preset significant level of 0.05,
which mean that all three factors positively affect the evaluation of the overall service
quality. The F value of 56.253 with a significant level of 0.000 indicates that the overall
model fit is good. Consequently, the regresion model could be deemed statistically
significant.
The tolerance values, varying between 0 and 1, are a measure of the correlation between
the independent variables (Brace et al., 2000, pp. 205-212). The closer to zero the
tolerance value is for a variable, the stronger the relationship between two variables. As
presented in Table 4.9, the tolerance value 1 in this research means no correlation
between any two service quality factors. Hence, there is no problem of multicollinearity
in this regression model.
The standardized coefficients give a measure of the contribution of each variable to the
model. A large value indicates that a unit change in this independent variable has a large
effect on the dependent variable (Brace et al., 2000, pp. 205-220). The standardized
coefficients of three factors are 0.448, 0.412 and 0.304 respectively, which indicate that
factor 1 has slightly bigger effect on the overall service quality, followed by factor 2
and then factor 3. The t and significant (p) values give a rough indication of the impact
of each independent variable a big absolute t value with a small p value suggests that
an independent variable has a large impact on the dependent variable (Brace et al., 2000,
30

pp. 205-220). From Table 4.9, t values for the three factors again prove that factor 1
has the biggest influence on the overall quality of the investigated wedding photography
services, followed by factor 2 and factor 3. Hence, the t and significant values support
the interpretation of the standardized coefficients.

31

5 DISCUSSION
This chapter provides the discussion in response to the research questions. The findings are interpreted and
reflected on, using the theoretical foundation established in Chapter 2.

The results of the survey have given information about customers buying habits on
wedding photography services, their expectations on the quality aspects of services
before purchasing and perceptions of the actual services after purchasing. These results
provide service providers with useful knowledge for improving the design and quality
aspects of their services effectively. In the following sections, suggestions for improving
the design and service quality in wedding photography services will be given, as well as
the answers responding to the three research questions.
Learnt from the survey, friends/relative referral was the main channel by which the
customers knew wedding photography studios/firms. This means that positive words of
mouth were of great importance for wedding photography services. Given the fact that
wedding photography services are special one-off services, they hardly have
repurchasing behavior from the old customers but rely much on attracting new
customers. This fact again strengthens the importance of positive words of mouth for
wedding photography services.
Aware of the physical store, rated as the second main channel for customers knowing
the wedding photography studios/firms, proves that the location of the physical store is
essential for attracting potential customers. Hence, it is suggested that a good location
for wedding photography studios/firms is where potential customers usually congregate
or pass by. Moreover, it is better to have attractive window display and decoration for the
physical store. These findings also support Wemmerlvs (1990) service design
considerations stated in the literature review that the design of site location, layout and
atmosphere should be attractive to customers for the type of services that wedding
photography services belong to.
Another issue worth mentioning is having a well-designed and updated website for a
wedding photography studio/firm. It is advised that each studio/firm should have its
website with updated portfolios and information. The website could be regarded as the
studios/firms virtual store on the Internet. Based on the survey results, website search
was on the third place among all the channels by which the customers knew the wedding
photography studios/firms, although the customers had low expectations on the
studios/firms website. It seems these results are conflicting, but the importance of a
website cannot be questioned in an age of digital information. Moreover, some successful
wedding photographers (Becker; Jasmine Star; Zach & Jody; Cliff Mautne) in western
countries especially the USA strengthen the importance of their websites for attracting
32

new customers and promoting their businesses. They believe it is efficient to market
wedding photography business through the Internet, and also convenient for customers
to learn more about the specific services provided. Hence, it is suggested for each
wedding photography studio/firm to have a well-designed and updated website.
The first research question is about investigating customers expectations and
post-purchasing perceptions of the quality aspects of wedding photography services.
From the results of customers expectations on wedding photography services, it is
noticeable that customers regard the guidance of photographers in the shooting as
important. And they also strongly would like to have other supportive services such as
make-up and stylizing provided by the wedding photography firms/studios. In addition,
the outcome (photos and albums, etc.) of the photography services are important for the
customers as well. Furthermore, customers think that the interaction between the
photographers and them is essential for the smooth delivery of the services. All these
findings support Wemmerlvs (1990) design considerations again, which refer to strong
interpersonal skills, knowledge of procedures, technical skills and expertise from service
providers, and frequent exchanges of information between customers and service
providers as well. However, whether or not the photographers are taking photos for
customers friends/relatives would not impact much on the overall service quality.
Therefore, wedding photography studios/firms could put relatively more resources and
energy on the quality aspects that customers have higher expectations on.
From the results of customers post-purchasing perceptions of the actual services, it is
found that the service quality statements with high perception scores are almost the
same statements expected as important by the customers before purchasing. For
example, No.1 statement The atmosphere of studio/firm is comfortable was rated up to
64% (highest at the 4 High degree) regarding customers expectations and 66%
regarding customers perceptions of its actual service quality. It is similar for No.14
statement The interactions between you and photographers are comfortable and No.7
statement The studio/firm provides supportive services, such as make-up, stylizing, etc.
as well. To some degree, the investigated wedding photography firms/studios did well in
some quality aspects that customers had high expectations on.
The second research question is to investigate whether the application of the SERVQUAL
model is relevant under the context of wedding photography services. As mentioned in
Chapter 2, the SERVQUAL model used perception-minus-expectation gap scores to
measure service quality. However, for this research, the perception-only scores
outperform the gap scores in evaluating the quality for wedding photography services.
Actually, some critics have questioned the extent to which the gap scores used in the
SERVQUAL model empirically reflect the overall service quality. Additionally, some of the

33

previous studies support the use of perception-only scores which have a good predictive
validity in some cases (Brown et al., 1993; Durvasula et al., 1999).
Apart from that, the five-dimension structure of the SERVQUAL model is not confirmed
in this research. From the results of factor analysis, three factors are established, with
factor 1 - service delivery process and service product, factor 2 - physical conditions
and factor 3 - empathy. Only one factor empathy included in the five-dimension
SERVQUAL structure is identified as basically the same factor in the investigated
wedding photography services, while other four dimensions as reliability, tangibles,
responsiveness and assurance included in the SERVQUAL model are combined or
changed to new forms of quality dimensions under the context of wedding photography
services.
According to Rust & Olivers (1994) perspective on service quality, which consists of
functional quality (service delivery), technical quality (service product) and the service
environment, the factor service delivery process and service product in wedding
photography services could be regarded as combining the functional quality of the
services with the technical quality together. When looking into Parasuramans et al.
(1991) view on the quality dimensions of the SERVQUAL model, the dimension
reliability, concerned more with the service outcome, and responsiveness with
assurance, concerned relatively more with the service process, are combined into one
dimension service delivery process and service product under the context of wedding
photography services. The service products such as photos or albums, etc. are the main
forms of the presentation of wedding photography services, so that it is understandable
that service product plays a significant role in determining the overall quality of
wedding photography services. These findings also support Wemmerlvs (1990)
suggestion on service design that information/images as the product of a service
process should be paid attentions on.
As to the factor physical conditions, it is similar to the tangibles dimension in the
SERVQUAL model that usually refers to the appearance of physical facilities, equipment,
and personnel. The physical conditions in this investigation refers to the location and
atmosphere of wedding photography firms/studios and the professional equipment for
shooting. The importance of these conditions was stressed by Wemmerlv (1990), and
they appear as necessary for improving the design and quality of wedding photography
services.
For the factor empathy, it refers to service providers caring behavior and
individualized attention to customers. The empathetic behavior such as photographers
understanding and extra efforts on customers needs, and the facilities for customers
convenience such as a well-designed and updated website and the software for online
34

viewing of proofs after shooting, would be all helpful for bringing a feeling of concern
and care to customers. These caring behaviors and activities are especially important for
wedding photography services, which have the attributes of direct customer contact
and close interaction with service workers (Wemmerlv, 1990). When designing the
services, wedding photography studios/firms should not underestimate the empathy
dimension.
The third research question of this study is about identifying the level of importance of
each quality dimension for determining the overall quality of wedding photography
services. The results of multiple regression analysis in this research imply that service
delivery process and service product is the most influential factor on the overall quality
of wedding photography services, followed by physical conditions and empathy.
Given these three service quality dimensions, it is found that not only that the basic
activities around the shooting process are paid adequate attention to, but the service
outcome, such as the quality of photos and albums, is regarded as very important as well.
In addition, a location convenient for customers, comfortable atmosphere of wedding
photography firms/studios, and all the caring and empathetic behaviors towards
customers are considered helpful for service quality improvement.
Since the positive relationships between service quality, customer satisfaction and word
of mouth has been proved in previous research (Bitner et al., 1990; Cho, 2009; Lloyd &
Luk, 2011), it is probable that the positive relationship among them is also applicable
under the context of wedding photography services. According to the results of the
survey (Table 4.4), there seems to be a positive relationship between service quality,
customer satisfaction and word of mouth in wedding photography services, although no
attempt to use propensity to recommend as the dependent variable in multiple
regression here. However, to pinpoint their relationship in wedding photography
services, it should be further studied in future research. Meanwhile, the aspects that
significantly increase positive words of mouth could be investigated, since they are of
great importance for wedding photography services.

35

6 CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

The chapter presents the major findings and the reflections on the purpose of the thesis. To be specific, it
summarizes the answers to research questions and provides proposals for further research in the related
areas.

This study has identified the specific expectations of customers on wedding photography
services, the quality dimensions extracted through customers perceptions of the
performance of the services, and the importance of these quality dimensions for
predicting the overall service quality. Learning from the findings, the service providers
could know how to design or improve the design of their services to meet customers
needs, and know how to improve service quality effectively through the key service
quality aspects.
This study has contributed to the theoretical advancement of the design and service
quality issues around wedding photography services. First of all, this research develops
eighteen service quality statements for wedding photography services, which are all
significant aspects for the general workflow of wedding photography services.
Customers expectations on these 18 quality statements are studied, and consequently
valuable considerations for the design of wedding photography services are summarized
as follows. The design of the studios/firms location, layout and atmosphere are
suggested to match customers needs; professional gear is necessary; service providers
communicating skills, knowledge of operational procedures and photographers
expertise and interpersonal skills are given high customer expectations, and could
significantly influence the overall service process; service products such as photos and
albums, etc. need considerable attention and effort, since customers expected much from
them and they also play an important role in determining the overall service quality.
As to the theoretical advancement on the evaluation of service quality, this study
identifies three quality dimensions as service delivery process and service product,
physical condition and empathy through the method of factor analysis using
perception-only scores (instead of perception-minus-expectation scores). The
perception-only scores are to be better to measure the overall service quality than the
perception-minus-expectation scores for this study, which differs from Parasuramans et
al. (1985; 1988; 1990) opinions on the measure of service quality. The three quality
dimensions for wedding photography services differ from the five dimensions of the
SERVQUAL model. The findings indicate that the most influential factor on the overall
service quality of wedding photography services was service delivery process and
service quality, followed by physical condition and empathy respectively. The
findings also demonstrate that the SERVQUAL model should be adapted to develop other
measures when applying it to different service contexts, and the number of service

36

quality dimensions is dependent on the particular service being offered (Babakus and
Boller, 1992; Carman, 1990).
Some limitations existing in this study should be addressed. The investigation conducted
was on the Chinese wedding photography services, which might have slight differences
from other countries wedding photography services. Additionally, the service quality
statements identified might omit some important items, although they were checked
carefully by the author and the experienced wedding photographers. Future studies
could try to investigate some other countries wedding photography services, to identify
or adapt the quality statements based on the ones established in this research, and to
find out whether the findings of this research are valid in other countries. Another
limitation is that deeper analysis could have been made of the relation between
customer satisfaction and word of mouth, which are closely related to the improvement
of the design and quality aspects for wedding photography services. Future studies could
specially work on exploring the relationship between service quality, customer
satisfaction and word of mouth under the context of wedding photography services, and
learn how to improve customer satisfaction and increase positive referrals. Finally,
regarding that there are different sizes of wedding photography studios/firms
co-existing in China, from couple-run studio to hundred-employee firm, it is interesting
to identify the advantages and disadvantages of different sizes of studios/firms.
Furthermore, from a strategic perspective, to investigate what is the optimal size for
wedding photography studios/firms is meaningful and suggested for future research.

37

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APPENDIX 1: Questionnaire for the survey

Dear participant,
The survey is to investigate what you think is important for a wedding photography service, and then your
perception about the service you have received. The purpose is to improve the quality of wedding
photography service. It will take approximately 5 minutes. Thank you very much for your cooperation!
Part 1 Before choosing a wedding photography studio/firm, how important are the following
elements for you? Please select the number which indicates your judgment on importance from 1 very
low to 5 very high.
Very low

Low

Moderate High

Very high

The atmosphere of studio/firm is comfortable.

Getting touch with the studio/firm is easy.

The studio/firm has a website including updated portfolios.

Professional gear is equipped.

The studio/firm provides multiple service packages and price options.

The studio/firm has a flexible working schedule convenient for you.

The studio/firm provides supportive services, such as make-up, stylizing, etc.

Employees (photographers and frontline workers) are friendly.

Photographers respond to your inquiries promptly.

such as style, aesthetics, etc.

In the shooting, photographers put extra efforts on your needs.

Photographers guide you how to look perfect in the photos.

In the shooting, photographers take photos for your friends and family as well.

The interactions between you and photographers are comfortable.

The studio provides online viewing of proofs after shooting.

The final products are finished in time.

The photos you get in the end are in good quality.

The final products (album, photo books, DVD) are in good quality.

Photographers clearly understand your needs, especially the abstract ones

Part 2 After you received the service from the wedding photography studio/firm, how would you
evaluate the level of the following service elements? Please select the number which indicates your
judgment from 1 very low to 5 very high.
Very low

Low

Moderate

High

Very high

The atmosphere of studio/firm is comfortable.

Getting touch with the studio/firm is easy.

The studio/firm has a website including updated portfolios.

Professional gear is equipped.

The studio/firm provides multiple service packages and price options.

The studio/firm has a flexible working schedule convenient for you.

The studio/firm provides supportive services, such as make-up, stylizing, etc.

Employees (photographers and frontline workers) are friendly.

Photographers respond to your inquiries promptly.

41

Photographers clearly understand your needs, especially the abstract ones

such as style, aesthetics, etc.

In the shooting, photographers put extra efforts on your needs.

Photographers guide you how to look perfect in the photos.

In the shooting, photographers take photos for your friends and family as well.

The interactions between you and photographers are comfortable.

The studio provides online viewing of proofs after shooting.

The final products are finished in time.

The photos you get in the end are in good quality.

The final products (album, photo books, DVD) are in good quality.

Very low

Low

Moderate

High

Very high

the service you received?

-To what extent would you recommend the wedding studio/firm to others?

Overall evaluation
-Overall, how would you rate the quality of service you received from
the wedding studio/firm?
-Overall, how would you rate the level of your satisfaction regarding

Part 3 Basic information

1. You are:
Female

Male

2. Your age:
20-27

28-35

over 35

3. Your occupation:
Executive/Manager

Self-employed

White collar

Blue collar

Student

4. The level of education you received:

At or below the high school level

Junior college level

Bachelor Degree

At or above Master degree

5. The specific service you had: (possible to select more than one)
Pre-wedding portraits

Wedding documentary

Engagement shooting

Others, please specify________

6. How long has it been since you purchased the wedding photography services?
Less than 1 year

1~3 years

3~5 years

More than 5 years

7. You knew the wedding photography firm/studio by: (possible to select more than one)
Friend/relative referral

Got contact when attending friend/relatives wedding

Vendor referral

Aware of the physical store

Social network as blog, micro-blog, etc

Website search

Bridal magazine

Others, please specify_______

42