IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nup/jrmdke/v14y2026i2211-231.html

The Effect of Service Quality on Customer Retention: Insights from Travel Agency Managers in the KRI

Author

Listed:

Abstract

This research, grounded in relationship marketing (RM) theory, investigates the relationship between service quality and customer retention in Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) travel agencies. Travel agencies have realized they cannot compete effectively in the market without retaining existing customers. The purpose of this study is to shed light on the dimensions of service quality and investigate their impact on customer retention. Purposive sampling was used to select 353 respondents from KRI travel agency managers. A quantitative approach, via a survey questionnaire, was employed for data collection, using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The data indicates that the service quality dimensions of tangibility, assurance, and empathy have a significant positive direct effect on customer retention, whereas reliability and responsiveness do not. The study's findings contribute to the literature on customer retention and service quality in the travel and tourism sector. The findings suggest that agencies should adopt hybrid models rather than relying solely on traditional travel agencies (TTAs) or online travel agencies (OTAs). Agencies that use both online and traditional methods tend to succeed more than those that use just one. This study ultimately addressed some shortcomings and proposed recommendations for further research.

Suggested Citation

  • Kawar Abdullah ALI & Ehsan Muhsen AHMED, 2026. "The Effect of Service Quality on Customer Retention: Insights from Travel Agency Managers in the KRI," Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy, College of Management, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, vol. 14(2), pages 211-231, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:nup:jrmdke:v:14:y:2026:i:2:211-231
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.managementdynamics.ro/index.php/journal/article/view/763
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.managementdynamics.ro/index.php/journal/article/view/763
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nup:jrmdke:v:14:y:2026:i:2:211-231. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Cristian-Mihai VIDU (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/fmsnsro.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.