Employee and Customer Perceptions of Women Entrepreneurs Leading Service Business in India

Abstract

Despite being a services economy, women-promoted service businesses have not been much researched in India. Women entrepreneurs are playing a major role and are doing pretty well in people processing services e.g. healthcare, education, beauty-care and spa, travel, catering, hospitality etc. The inherent nature of services makes these businesses unique. Literature review suggests that women entrepreneurs have significant competencies in leading service businesses offering tangible and intangible services directed at people. The purpose of this paper is to report empirical research into the perception of employees and customers in service businesses of women entrepreneurs in Kolkata, West Bengal. A questionnaire-based survey of service employees and customers of such businesses was conducted. The employees perceived high internal service quality due to women entrepreneurs’ communication, leadership and empowerment of people. The customers felt superior service with empathy, assurance and physical evidence of the servicescape. Inter-comparison of the external service quality factors revealed that reliability and responsiveness can be improved. Customers were more likely to remain loyal due to high relationship proclivity of women- promoted organizations.