Cultural differences in perception and evaluation of customer service : Case: World of Delights Oy

The objective of the research was to find out whether customers who are representatives of different cultural groups perceive and evaluate customer service differently. The study was aimed to discover how representatives of different cultural groups feel about customer service offered in case company shops as well as identify those cultural differences. This study was carried out at the airport where the case company’s shops are located. Empirical data were collected by handing out a questionnaire to shops’ customers. In total 159 questionnaire forms where collected from representatives of five cultural groups: Finnish, Russians, Americans, British and Japanese. Respondents were asked to evaluate or show the level of agreement/disagreement concerning statements from questionnaire. In addition to that, data for this study were also collected by personal observations. The results of the study show that consumer behaviour is heterogeneous. Contrary to expectations, the results indicate that cultural background affects on how customers perceive and evaluate customer service. Further study is required to create a guideline for sales assistants about how to offer great customer service to culturally diverse clientel