Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the perception of customers in Saudi Arabia towards Saudi quality mark and to identify the customers’ evaluation of both Saudi and international quality marks and products. For that purpose, 481 questionnaires were distributed online and 479 questionnaires were found usable for analysis. The largest groups of respondents were males, Saudi nationals, hold bachelor degrees, work for the government and residents of the Western region. The study revealed that the vast majority of customers in Saudi Arabia are uncertain if they have had a positive experience concerning products that have been certified by Saudi quality mark and hence they are uncertain if they would recommend others to purchase products that have been certified by Saudi quality mark and are uncertain if they can recognize Saudi quality mark logo. Customers also do not have high trust to the certification process of SASO and they lack enough information about Saudi quality mark. Moreover, customers’ satisfaction about Saudi quality mark is not high as compared to other international quality marks. When performed, T-test indicates a statistically significant variation in the perception of customers related to nationality and gender in terms of awareness and satisfactions where female and non-Saudis respondents were found to be more positive towards Saudi quality mark. ANOVA indicated differences in the levels of awareness about Saudi quality mark in educational, occupation and region of residency. On that regard, it was found that respondents with bachelor or higher degrees along with residents of the Southern region are also more positive than others. Customers in Saudi Arabia evaluated products from Germany, Japan, USA, UK, France and Italy as of excellent quality, respectively; while Switzerland, South Korea and Brazil as of good quality, respectively; nevertheless, UAE, Saudi Arabia, India and China products were evaluated as being of reasonable quality, respectively as well. Finally, the study includes some practical and constructive recommendations.

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