**5. Results**

After a brief but concise explanation of the methodology in the previous section, we will now read what the outcomes of the survey were and determine if they justify the hypotheses that were formulated earlier in the chapter.

First and foremost, the results related to the descriptive statistics revealed that the majority of the respondents are in total agreement with the item of Customer Satisfaction. Therefore, it is concluded that customers are satisfied with the service provided by the Australian Consulting Engineers (ACE) consultant. In addition, their experiences with the ACE consultant are excellent and they are highly pleased with overall performance.

To clarify, let us explore the results of each of the variables that are the focus of this study. In terms of customer needs and expectations, the results confirm that mainstream participants revealed their total agreement. Hence, it is concluded that ACE consultants always offered as much information as needed. Moreover, employees spent an adequate amount of time sharing their needs with the ACE clients during the project. It is also found that ACE consultants surpassed the level of expectations and never disappointed their clients. The above is also related to timely delivery and entails that a large proportion of respondents agree that ACE consultants met deadlines and are highly punctual. In other words, ACE consultants made excellent choices and implemented time management. In short, ACE consultants are extremely dependable.

As for the quality of products and services, the data revealed that adequate agreement levels were observed. It is thus concluded that services provided by the ACE consultant are reliable and demonstrated overall quality. Additionally, the analysis of outcomes stressed that due to adequate training and development, ACE consultants are always expected to perform satisfactorily. This is because all in-house processes are instigated professionally so as to achieve successful project completions that meet client requirements.

Overall, the findings were clear to state that ACE consultants constantly kept their clients well informed about what was going on with relevant projects and were very transparent about all pertinent issues. In the same manner, engineering advice can be easily obtained from ACE consultants, and they are always available and present for the job. It is noteworthy at this point to mention that ACE services offer good value and so clients are satisfied with 'return on investment'.

Similarly, the data and results related to employee experience and knowledge confirmed that all respondents revealed the higher scale agreement with the statement that products and services that ACE consultants presented have demonstrated the expected quality for money. In addition, ACE consultants are well informed and knowledgeable affirming that they are proficient, competent and experts in their fields and execute their jobs both effectively and efficiently.

In particular, the findings regarding employee motivation confirm that overall greater motivational levels are found to be prevalent. The strong agreement level confirms that ACE consultants verified strong commitment and loyalty towards their jobs and fulfil their goals in the best possible fashion. Unquestionably, ACE consultants are found to be highly motivated.

#### *Quality Determinants of Client Satisfaction: A Case Study of ACE – Australian Consulting… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.113988*

Correspondingly, the survey findings regarding employee professionalism that was highlighted previously attested that strong agreement is evident for the demonstration of respect by ACE consultants. These consultants readily presume responsibility for decisions, choices, and errors. The results also confirmed that ACE consultants' clothing, grooming, and hygiene consistently portrayed a professional appearance. As such, the ACE consultant is considered be highly straightforward, sincere, truthful, and sincere, but the results did not reflect that professionalism influenced Customer Satisfaction.

The outcomes regarding the Employee Proximity confirms that higher agreement scale affirms that ACE Consultant connected to life and experiences and takes an account of other perspectives. The ACE Consultant knows how to construct a close relationship during a project. The results also confirm those ACE consultants are aware about the effective treatment of client.

Furthermore, the outcomes of the employee care factor especially confirmed that ACE consultants displayed extra effort to meet their clients' needs. For instance, they were always ready to comply by working late, extra hours or on weekends; they were always accessible. Obviously, this ascertains that ACE consultants were well equipped to provide a suitable resolution to any problem encountered during the project.

Finally, the data regarding customer retention and word-of-mouth revealed that clients are loyal to the consultants of ACE. In the forthcoming future, clients are more prone to utilise the ACE consultant for any engineering deliberation. Besides, most respondents confirm that ACE is the firm of choice when it comes to engineering consultancy services. Likewise, the result regarding word-of-mouth validates that respondents are more inclined to maintain a positive attitude where ACE consultants are involved. In sum, most respondents are in harmony and are adamant and keen to recommend the services of ACE consultants to others.

Accordingly, the eight hypotheses stated above are justified and fully supported except for the effect of Professionalism and Proximity on Customer Satisfaction.

Clients that have strong relationships with consultants are assured that they will continue to meet their expectations due to precedence. Switching to a new consultant means confronting uncertainty in the quality of the project. This explains why clients are more likely to do business with people they have a good relationship with. As such, employee relationship quality is an essential element in ensuring the repeat purchase decision by clients as compared to the price competition or contractual agreement. Thus, Employee Proximity is good, and the employee is aligned with the Client then this should lead them directly to repurchase decisions.

We therefore suggest a direct and positive influence of perceived employee proximity on client retention, and this hypothesis has been tested and successful.

#### **6. Discussion**

At this point, the authors would like to emphasise that this study was conducted for the requirements of a Doctorate in Business Administration dissertation. This chapter has aimed to present as fully and as concisely as possible the findings of the data analysis that contributed to the overall justification of context. It is worthy to note that all documentation-text clarifications, full interview transcripts, letters sent to participants to ensure ethical behaviour, descriptive analysis of data, quantitative and qualitative analysis in the form of matrixes, tables, graphs etc.-is available in the original dissertation.

This research conducted a Structural Equation Model (SEM) analysis on the influence of human resource determinants of engineering consultants on client satisfaction. In the initial proposed conceptual model, there were determinants such as experience and knowledge, motivation, proximity, professionalism, and the care factor. Namely, the results showed that experience and knowledge, motivation, and care led to a positive effect on client satisfaction, which in turn directly influenced client retention and word of mouth. More precisely, the results from the analysis revealed that employee professionalism had a negative effect on customer satisfaction which is a strange effect which needs to be explored further and that employee's proximity had no effect on customer satisfaction but rather on customer retention. It was further demonstrated and supported that client satisfaction leads to a higher likelihood of client retention and positive word of mouth.

Based on these basic findings, Engineering Consultancy Firms (ECFs) can now understand that a consultant's experience and knowledge are crucial behavioural dimensions. If ECF's are aiming to retain their clients and create a positive word of mouth, they must initially ensure client satisfaction and guarantee that their employees offer effective and efficient outcomes. Specifically, perceived employee experience and knowledge followed by perceived employee motivation and then followed by perceived employee care factor show a standardised direct effect of 0.47, 0.335, and 0.202 respectively. Moreover, the data analysis proved that the effect of client satisfaction on client retention was very high and positive with a standardised direct effect of 0.45. Following that, the effect of client satisfaction on word of mouth was also high with a standardised direct effect of 0.559. Furthermore, the effect of client retention on word of mouth was also positive but with a smaller standardised direct effect of 0.433. All the above-mentioned hypotheses were supported with significant p-values.

Whilst the engineering consultant's professionalism had no significant impact on client satisfaction, then this study failed to propose a mediating or moderating effect that is necessary to understand the underlying phenomena but must be addressed in the future. For clarification, the professionalism dimension asked clients about consultant attitude and whether they respected clients, assumed responsibility, were straight forward, truthful, and sincere. Furthermore, it is concluded that experience, knowledge, motivation, and care factor all had positive and significant influence on client satisfaction. Regardless of the results of the other behavioural dimensions, the results of the afore-mentioned factors are important and engineering consultants should consider and prioritise them.

What is more, the findings conclude that client satisfaction, client retention, and word of mouth are all strongly related to each other in the engineering consulting industry. That is, satisfied clients are more likely to continue to employ the services of an engineering consultant and recommend them to others, whilst the opposite is also true. This finding confirms the importance of client satisfaction for engineering consulting firms as it is directly related to the ability to better retain clients and enhance the firm's overall reputation in the industry.

From the results presented, it can be concluded that the engineering consultant's proximity did not have a direct impact on client satisfaction and was not supported in this study. This result suggests that Proximity is a relationship management construct that leads to intention to continue the relationship but is not necessarily related to client satisfaction towards the delivered services. This is a meaningful result that must be considered, as it tells that the loyalty is towards the employee him or herself and not towards the consulting company and its services.

#### *Quality Determinants of Client Satisfaction: A Case Study of ACE – Australian Consulting… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.113988*

Moreover, it can be concluded that through the alternative model, the engineering consultant's proximity has a positive and significant impact on client retention. The proximity dimension asked the clients about the consultant's connection to the client's life and experience, if the consultant was able to consider the perspective of the client, if the consultant was able to take into consideration the input from the client, and if the consultant knows how to treat the client.

In fact, 34.6% of the clients in the survey totally agree that ACE consultants connected to the life experience of the clients. Similarly, 44.7% of the clients totally agree that ACE consultants were able to incorporate the needs of the clients whilst 46.2% totally agree that ACE consultants were able to establish rapport with the clients. Overall, 55.8% of the clients were in total agreement that that ACE consultants understand and know how to treat clients. Equally important is that over 50% of the clients totally agreed that ACE consultants consistently showed respect for others, readily assumed responsibility for performance. In short, consultants are always well groomed and display professionalism at all levels.

Furthermore, evidence revealed 45.2% of the clients in the survey totally agree that ACE consultant always took initiative and went out of their way to meet their needs. In doing so, clearly 51.9% of the clients agree that ACE consultants provided satisfactory resolutions to any problems encountered throughout the job. In general, over 50% of the clients also agree that ACE consultants have very good client relationship management and regard them highly in the industry. This is not surprising knowing that ACE just celebrated 25 years of service to the construction industry and the majority were repeat clients and over 45% have been dealing with ACE for more than 10 years.

In summary, it is noteworthy that the real managerial implications and outcomes of the research are the importance of the HR determinants in reaching client satisfaction especially for experience and knowledge, motivation, and the care factor. For all the above reasons, almost 60% of the clients that were surveyed totally agree that they are likely to say positive things about ACE consultants, are likely to recommend the services of ACE consultants, and are likely to suggest ACE consultants if they are asked to recommend an engineering consultant.

#### **6.1 Limitations and future research**

Initially, the original scope of the study aimed to compare results based on different demographics such as gender, age, project type and size, engineering discipline, and prior experience with engineering consultants. However, an accurate analysis [50] should consist of a minimum of 100 samples per group but unfortunately, this was not possible. The study showed 88.1% of the respondents were males, 70.4% of the responses were from the structural discipline, and 74% of the responses were based on residential projects. Surely, the results from this study should be carefully applied universally. Thus, it is unknown if the data would differ for female clients, other disciplines, and different project categories. Moreover, when identifying the determinants of client satisfaction, this study focuses only on the human resource determinants of the consultant whereas client satisfaction has been found to also include non-behavioural determinants, such as time, cost, and quality.

Overall, the scope of this research focused on the context of Engineering Consulting Firms (ECFs) in Sydney, Australia. Indeed, client satisfaction is a broad concept and can be extended to various frameworks. However, to keep the scope of this study applicable and relevant to engineering firms in Australia as a whole, then a study should certainly focus on the industry of engineering consultancy in Australia. Nevertheless, caution must be taken when extending the findings of such a study to other fields or regions as it is possible that the results may vary depending on cultural differences and industry norms.

Hence, further research that can be conducted to heighten the findings for future implementation may include the following themes, to list a few:

