MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTATION

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION & TRAINING

VIETNAM MARITIME UNIVERSITY

STUDENT NAME: LE THI THAO HIEN

DISSERTATION
GLOBAL STUDIES AND MARITIME AFFAIRS

RECOMMENDATIONS TO ENHANCE
E-CUSTOMS DECLARAION SERVICE QUALITY OF
VIET KHAI ONE MEMBER LIMITED COMPANY

HAI PHONG – 2015


MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTATION

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION & TRAINING

VIETNAM MARITIME UNIVERSITY

STUDENT NAME: LE THI THAO HIEN
CLASS: GMA02
ID: 50063

DISSERTATION
GLOBAL STUDIES AND MARITIME AFFAIRS

RECOMMENDATIONS TO ENHANCE
E-CUSTOMS DECLARAION SERVICE QUALITY OF
VIET KHAI ONE MEMBER LIMITED COMPANY
Supervisor:

Vu Thi Thu Hang

Division:

Global Studies and Maritime Affairs

Faculty:

Economics

HAI PHONG – 2015


Recommendations to enhance e-customs declaration service quality at Viet Khai
one member limited company

PREFACE
I declare that this report is my own unaided work. It has not been submitted before.
If violated, I am solely responsible for and bear the punishments of the Institution
and University.

Student Name and Signature

Le Thi Thao Hien


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ACKNOWLEGEMENT
Firstly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor Vu Thi Thu Hang
for the continuous support of my study and related research, for her patience,
motivation, and immense knowledge. Her guidance helped me in all the time of
research and writing of this thesis. I could not have imagined having a better
advisor and mentor for my study.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE..................................................................................................................i
ACKNOWLEGEMENT...........................................................................................ii
LIST OF ABBREVIATION.....................................................................................vi
LIST OF FIGURES.................................................................................................vii
LIST OF TABLES..................................................................................................viii
INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................1

CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL FOUNDATION.......................................................3
1.1 Literature review..............................................................................................3
1.1.1 Customs declaration...................................................................................3
1.1.2 Service.......................................................................................................3
1.1.3 Service quality...........................................................................................5
1.1.4 Service quality measurement.....................................................................8
1.1.5 Introduction to ECUS5............................................................................12
1.2 Research methodology...................................................................................13
1.2.1 Research framework................................................................................13
1.2.2 Research approach...................................................................................14
1.2.3 Variable measurement..............................................................................16
1.2.4 Questionaire design..................................................................................17
CHAPTER II: OVERVIEW OF VIET KHAI ONE MEMBER LIMITED
COMPANY.............................................................................................................18
2.1 General information of Viet Khai One member Limited Company................18
2.2 The foundation of Viet Khai One member Limited Company........................18
2.3 The structure of Viet Khai One member Limited Company...........................19
2.3.1 Organizational Chart................................................................................19
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2.3.2 Functions and responsibilities of each department...................................19
2.4 Services of Viet Khai One member Limited Company..................................20
2.5 Customs declaration via ECUS5....................................................................20
2.5.1 Documents for customs declaration via ECUS5......................................20
2.5.2 Procedure of performing e-customs services...........................................22

CHAPTER III: RECOMMENDATIONS TO ENHANCE E-CUSTOMS
DECLARATION SERVICE QUALITY IN VIET KHAI ONE MEMBER LIMITED
COMPANY.............................................................................................................30
3.1. Evaluation.....................................................................................................30
3.1.1 Description of study sampling.................................................................30
3.1.2 Cronbach alpha analysis with service quality scales................................31
3.1.3 Research results.......................................................................................34
3.2 Analyzing priorities........................................................................................36
3.2.1 REL3: Provide service at the time promised............................................37
3.2.2 REL4: The declaration is performed right the first time..........................38
3.2.3 EMP3: Employees provide personal attention.........................................38
3.2.4 EMP4: Convenient operating hours.........................................................38
3.3 Recommendations..........................................................................................39
3.3.1 REL3: Provide service at the time promised............................................39
3.3.2 REL4: The declaration is performed right the first time..........................39
3.3.3 EMP3: Employees provide personal attention.........................................40
3.3.4 EMP4: Convenient operating hours.........................................................40
CONCLUSION.......................................................................................................41
REFERENCES........................................................................................................42
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APPENDIX - QUESTIONNAIRES........................................................................43

LIST OF ABBREVIATION
ECUS5

VNACCS
VCIS
L/C
C/O
HS
I-P matrix
UN / LOCODE

Electronic Customs Services (Version 5)
Vietnam Automated Cargo Clearance System
Vietnam Customs Intelligence System
Letter of Credit
Certificate of Origin
The Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System
Important – Performance matrix
United Nations Code for Trade and Transport Locations

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1.1 Importance – Performance Matrix..........................................................11
Figure 1.2 Research Framework..............................................................................14
Figure 2.1: Organizational chart of Viet Khai One member Limited Company.......19
Figure 2.2: Process of performing e-customs services in Viet Khai........................22

Figure 3.1 Importance – Performance Matrix..........................................................36

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 3.1 Descriptive statistics results on characteristics of subjects interviewed...30
Table 3.2 Cronbach alpha Analytical results for the scale of customer satisfaction
when using services at Viet Khai Company.............................................................31
Table 3.3 Statistics of observed variables and Cronbach alpha coefficient of the
scale components for e-customs service quality at Viet Khai one member limited
company.................................................................................................................. 33
Table 3.4: Result of SERVQUAL and IF.................................................................34

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INTRODUCTION
Necessity
E-customs service is not a new kind of service since it has been in the market for

more than five years as the first version of e-customs software was introduced in
2009. Throughout the period, e-customs process has been standardized and
simplified to encourage companies change from paper works to electronic work.
However, because of rapidly changes in e-customs software, companies needs to
take time to update, master and comply with newest version as well as laws and
regulations. That is reason why the implementation of the customs services and
freight forwarding are not always smooth. It is also important to notice that the
customs procedures is a stage when fulfilling contracts of customers, so when this
stage is not performing well, it will affect the whole process of implementation of
the contract. In addition, it also results in bad consequences: waste of time,
additional expenses, slow customs declaration, slow delivery of cargoes to the
customer; even, it can affect the reputation of the company with clients and customs
authorities… therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that it is important to thoroughly
implement customs services and freight forwarding for company.
During the time being a trainee in Viet Khai One Member Limited Company, I
found out it is necessary to reevaluate e-customs services after a period of
implementing new software ECUS5. Therefore, I decided to choose topic:
“Recommendations to enhance e-customs declaration service quality in Viet Khai
One Member Limited Company” to be the topic for my dissertation.
Research Object
This paper will measures the e-customs service quality in Viet Khai Company and
find some prioritized factors that needs to be improved.
Research Scope
This paper focus only on the e-customs service in Viet Khai Company and use data
in 2015.

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Research Findings
From the analysis carried out, it was found out that, services provided by Viet Khai
Company has not met the expectation from customers because the expectation score
exceeded perception score. From I-P matrix, there are 4 priorities for improvement.

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CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL FOUNDATION
1.1 Literature review
1.1.1 Customs declaration
1.1.1.1 Traditional customs declaration
According to the International Convention on the Simplification and Harmonization
of Customs procedure (Kyoto Convention) of World Customs Organization customs
procedure is all activities that concerned parties and customs officers perform to
comply with customs law.
In Vietnam Customs Law 2014, customs procedure is all tasks that customs
declarant and customs officials perform under regulations to products and means of
transport.
1.1.1.2 Electronic customs declaration (e-customs)
The electronic customs declaration (e-customs) project initiated by the Vietnam
Bureaus of Customs aims to replace paper format of customs procedures with

electronic ones, thus creating a more efficient and modern customs environment.
The project's dual objective is to enhance security at the external border and to
facilitate trade. It should therefore benefit both businesses and citizens.
E-customs is the form of declaring customs via application in computer, then
transfer data of customs declaration via the internet to customs office in order to
perform customs clearance.
1.1.2 Service
1.1.2.1 Definition
It is widely known that service is a large filed. Apart from the sector of
manufacturing physical products, service now is more and more important as a great
contributor to gross domestic products with high proportion.

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Following the development of productive forces and the improvement of
civilization in human beings, service filed has been developing significantly.
Service is known as an economic activity of providing labor, science, technology,
and art in order to meet the requirements of manufacturing, business, physical life,
spirit and so on.
In terms of economics, service, one of two keys components of economics, the
other one is product, is an intangible commodity. Due to the nature of service that is
complicated, diversity and intangible, the researchers have not provided a united
definition of service.
Philip Kotler believed that “a service is an act of performance that one party can
offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of

anything. Its production may or may not be tied to a physical product”.
According to Vietnamese Law in 2013, service is a tangible commodity, consumed
at the point of sale including many service types in product system of Vietnam
under regulations.
In fact, the understandings about service are not completely agreed by common
consent. Therefore, in The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) the
World Trade Organization (WTO) member have generally used a classification
system comprised of 12 core service sectors in which each sector included many
sub-sectors with 155 sub-sectors in total.
From different views, service regards to the result of labor forces in intangible
products aiming at meet the requirements of human beings.
1.1.2.2 Characteristics
Although there is no agreed definition of service in the world, in general, despite of
any descriptions, service has its own key characteristics as follows: perishability,
fluctuating demand, intangibility, inseparability, heterogeneity.
Primarily, service is highly perishable and time factor has great influence in service
marketing. Service is consumed at the point of sale, if not being used in time it will
be lost forever since service cannot be stored.

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Secondly, service demand has high level of fluctuations. The changes in demand
can be seasonal or by weeks, days or even hours. Most of the services have peak
demand in peak hours, normal demand and low demand on off-period time.
Next, unlike tangible product, service is intangible, it cannot be touched or sensed,

tested or felt before they are served.
Service is inseparable. It means personal service cannot be separated from the
individual and some personalized services are created and consumed
simultaneously.
Finally yet importantly, service is heterogeneous. The features of service by a
provider cannot be uniform or standardized. For instance, a Doctor can charge much
higher fee to a rich client and take much low from a poor patient.
Due to these features pricing decision about services are influenced by perishability,
fluctuation in demand and inseparability. Quality of a service cannot be carefully
standardized. Pricing of services is dependent on demand and competition where
variable pricing may be used.
1.1.3 Service quality
Service quality is a principal factor in the maintenance and development of any
business activities. The research on service quality carried out for many years brings
the completion of both theory and practice, especially in developing and evaluating
service quality scale in numerous countries in the world.
Service quality has various different definitions depending on investigated subject
and environment. It could be said that studying service quality is the foundation of
performing methods for business improvement. Therefore, the matter of defining
service quality is important since it not only sketches out target development but
also orients companies to bring into play the advantages in the best way.
From the 1930s, service quality in manufacture sector has been determined as a
competitive factor, however, the issue of quality was more important after the World
War II. The pioneers in this field were W.Edwards Deming, Joseph M.Juran and
Kaoru Ishikaw. It is no exaggeration to say that from reality, the quality of service is
one of the most important competitive elements in global business. It is the reason
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why this business era was named “quality era” (Peeler, 1996). Berry (1998, page
423) called it as the strongest competitive weapon and Clow (1993) considered it as
a vital element of an organization. Especially, customers expect service quality
when price and other costs are completed and improved frequently (Boyer and Hult,
2005). It has become a distinctive and critical aspect in trading products and
services (Wal et al., 2002). According to Leisen and Vance (2001), service quality
helps to cRELte necessary competitive advantage since it is an effective factor.
Service quality has been taken more consideration since the 1980s as new trend in
the world when marketers realized that only quality products and services could
ensure to maintain competitive advantage (Wal et al., 2002). Competitive advantage
is a wise strategy creating value and differentiating from other current or potential
competitors (Barney, 1991).
According to International Organization for Standardization, in draft DIS
9000:2000, quality was defined as following: “Quality is ability of assembling
characteristics of a product, a system or a procedure with the purpose of satisfying
requirements of customers and relevant participants”. Therefore, from the definition
it is obvious that if customers do not accept products or services for any reasons,
they are poor quality even technology standard is modern. However, definition and
method of evaluating service quality mentioned in researches is the distance
between expectation about service and awareness of customers when experiencing.
(Parasurma, Zeithaml and Berr, 1985, 1988). The researchers highlighted the
difference between quality and quality experience is objective (Garvin 1983, Dodds
and Monroe 1984, Holbrook and Corfman 1985, Jacoby and Olson1985, Zeithaml
1987).
In addition, the definition of service quality is also the result of comparison of
customers’ service expectation and their service experience (Lewis và Booms, 1983,
Gronroon, 1984, Parasuraman and at al, 1985, 1988, 1991). Lehtinen, U & J. R.

Lehtinen (1982) published a general scale including three dimensions. In terms of
essence of customers’ perception, the researchers found out another model with two
dimensions “technical quality” and “functional quality”. The model suggested by
Gronroon (1984, 1990) highlighted the role of technical quality (or productivity) or
functional quality (or process). In this model, technical quality was defined as
customers’ review, for example a dinner in restaurant or resolutions of a
consultative firm. Functional quality was mentioned as the result of the process
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providing service to customers. Service providers and attitude of staff easily affect
both psychological factors. Therefore, while technical quality could be measured
subjectively, functional quality is more difficult to evaluate. Customers’ perception
about service quality is the result of quality measurement, the expectation of them,
their experience and influences form image of business (Caruana, 2000).
SERVQUAL model foundation was shaped from investigations of a group of
researchers when they surveyed meaning of service quality (Sasser, Olsen, and
Wyckoff 1978, Gronroos 1982). From this qualitative survey, the researchers
defined the definition of service quality and pointed out the criteria customers use to
perceive and evaluate it (Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry, 1985).
Regarding to service, quality measurement is more complicated since service has
different characteristics with other tangible products. Service marketing theory
reckons that service includes three basic features, which are intangible,
heterogeneous and inseparable.
Firstly, most of services are intangible products. Service could not be weighted,
measured, counted, experimented or audited before purchasing to check quality.

With the reason of intangibility, companies meet difficulties in studying customers’
perception and evaluating service quality.
Secondly, service is heterogeneous, especially intensive labor services. The reason
is that activities of services are modified by different providers, customers and
service quality is not the same in each day, each month and each year of business.
The requirement of heterogeneous quality from staff could be hard to be met. The
reason behind is that activities of services which companies intend to provide are
different from customers’ perception.
Thirdly, manufacture and consumption in variety of services are inseparable.
Quality of service could not be manufactured in factories and preserved the status
quo of service to transfer to customers. Regarding to high intensive labor service,
service quality shows in the process of interaction between customers and
employees of providers.
For aforementioned characteristics, the issue of evaluating service quality is not
simple and easy to carry out. In long time, numerous researchers have tried to
define and measure service quality. For instance, Lehtinen & Lehtinen believed that
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service quality should be assessed in two aspects: process of providing service and
service result. Gronroos also offered two dimensions of service quality that are
technical. Technical quality regard to services provided and functional quality
shows how they are served.
1.1.4 Service quality measurement
The cases which are proposed below are the most famous models of service quality.
 Gronroos model: based on three basic dimensions of functional quality,

technical quality and mental image. The model suggests that there is a direct
relation between services quality and technical and functional aspects of
quality. Moreover, there is also a direct relationship between functional
quality and technical quality in line with the perceived service quality.
Finally, the model suggests that the service quality would create customer’s
satisfaction. The five main components of the functional quality are
tangibility, reliability, responsibility, assurance and empathy issues.
 Servperf model: Cronin and Taylor’s (1992) questioned the gap between
expectations and functionality as the basis for measuring service quality and
proposed Servperf’s measurement which evaluates the quality. Based on
their studies, the concept of function-based scaling is the adjusted form of
service quality measurement structure of SERVQUAL scale.
 Garvin (1987) has proposed eight dimensions for assessing quality. He did
not differentiate between manufacturing organizations and service providers.
He recapitulated the eight dimensions as performance, features, reliability,
compatibility (adaptation), permanence, service functionality and aesthetics
and received quality.
 SERVQUAL model: The most common model in service quality literature
to measure the quality of services is SERVQUAL, which was put forward by
Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry in 1988. They also introduced the ten
dimensions of quality including tangibility issues, reliability, responsiveness,
communication, credibility, safety/relief, merit/ competency, courtesy and
humility, empathy and availability. In 1988, they summarized these ten
dimensions into five dimensions of tangibility issues, reliability, assurance,
empathy and responsiveness following their research on SERVQUAL model
by screening and evaluating the primary dimensions. Therefore, they adopted
these dimensions as the basis for establishing a measurement scale to assess
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services. All these dimensions prepare the ground for the customer to
consider quality
1.1.4.1 SERVQUAL Model
It is no doubt that when discussing service quality, it would be a mistake to neglect
the great contribution of Parasuraman & et al (1988, 1991). Parasurman & et al
(1988) defined service quality is the gap between customers’ expectation about
service and their perception about service result. These authors promoted and used
quantity and quality methods to construct and verify the scale of service quality
dimensions, SERVQUAL model. SERVQUAL model has been modified and
audited in different types of services.
In the end, SERVQUAL model includes 22 variables to measure five dimensions of
service quality, they are reliability, responsiveness, assurance, tangible and empathy
which is also known as RATER with which to measure customers’ expectations and
perceptions (E and P). Four or five numbered items are used to measure each
dimension. The instrument is administered twice in different forms, first to measure
expectations and the perceptions. The five SERVQUAL dimensions are: R-A-T-E-R
Reliability is the ability to perform the promised service in a dependable and
accurate manner. The service is performed correctly on the first occasion, the
accounting is correct, records are up to date and schedules are kept.
Tangibles are the physical evidence of the service, for instance, the appearance of
the physical facilities, tools and equipment used to provide the service; the
appearance of personnel and communication materials and the presence of other
customers in the service facility.
Responsiveness is to the readiness and willingness of employees to help customers
in providing prompt timely services
Assurance is the customer feeling free from danger, risk or doubt including

physical safety, financial security and confidentiality. The factors include trust
worthiness, belief and honesty. It involves having the customer's best interests at
prime position. It may be influenced by company name, company reputation and the
personal characteristics of the contact personnel.
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Empathy means making an effort to understand the customer's individual needs,
providing individualized attention, recognizing the customer when they arrive and
so on. This in turn helps in delighting the customers i.e. rising above the
expectations of the customer.
Parasuraman & et al (1991) affirmed SERVQUAL is the fully worked-out scale of
service quality that could be applied for all different types of services. However,
each specific kind of service has distinctive characteristics. A number of researchers
have also audited this model in different services and in many countries in the
world. The result showed that factors of service quality are inconsistent in each
service and each market (Bojanic, 1991, Cronin & Taylor, 1992, Dabholkar & et al,
1996, Lassar & et al, 2000, Mehta & et al, 2000, Nguyen & et al, 2003). In detail,
Mehta & et al (2000) in a research in Singapore concluded that supermarket service
quality only included two elements: tangibles and responsiveness. Nguyen & et al
(2003) audited SERVQUAL in outdoor entertainment market in Ho Chi Minh City
showed that service quality comprised of four factors: reliability, responsiveness,
empathy and intangibles. In a word, due to characteristics of each form of service
researchers need to adjust SERVQUAL model for each specific surveyed subject.
1.1.4.2 Importance – Performance Analysis (IPA) model
Importance – Performance Analysis was first invented by Martilla and James (1977)

as a means by which to measure customers’ satisfaction with a product or service.
The IPA approach realizes satisfaction as the function of two elements: the
importance of a product or service to a customer and the performance of a company
providing that service or product (Martilla & James, 1977). In this way, IPA
assesses not only the performance of an item, but also the importance of that item as
a determining indicator in satisfaction to the respondent (Silva & Fernandes, 2010).
The combined customer ratings for those two components illustrate an overall view
of satisfaction with clear directives for management and performance. This model
has proven to be a applicable tool which is relatively easy to administer and
interpret resulting in extensive use among researchers and managers in various
fields. It also is a way to promote the development of effective marketing programs,
because it facilitates the interpretation of data and increases usefulness in making
strategic decisions (Slack, 1994; Matzler et al., 2003; Kitcharoen, 2004; Abalo et
al., 2007; Silva & Fernandes, 2010).
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The IPA includes a pair of coordinate axis where the ‘importance’ (y-axis) and the
‘performance’ (x-axis) of the different factors involved in the service are compared.
The four quadrants in importance-performance analysis are characterized as
(Martilla & James, 1977, p. 78):


I. Concentrate here - high importance, low performance: requires

immediate attention for improvement and are major weaknesses;


II. Keep up with the good work - high importance, high performance:
indicate opportunities for achieving or maintaining competitive advantage
and are major strengths;

III. Low priority - low importance, low performance: are minor
weaknesses and do not require additional effort;

IV. Possible overkill - low importance, high performance: indicate that
business resources committed to these attributes would be overkill and
should be deployed elsewhere.

Figure 1.1 Importance – Performance Matrix
(Source: Author collected)
To improve service quality, it needs to focus on both importance and the ranking of
satisfaction and customer needs. Therefore, Yang (2002) proposed definition of the
"improvement factor (IF)", as shown in equation.

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When I < 0, it means satisfaction is lower than importance and the factor needs to
be improved. This method will be grasping customer needs more precision, that it is
applying the different between of satisfaction and important.
Therefore, we applied IPA model and improvement factor to measure the service
quality of e-customs process of Viet Khai one member limited company.

1.1.5 Introduction to ECUS5
ECUS5-VNACCS, which was funded by Japanese Customs, is designed as
standardized modern electronic customs system to meet the requirements in
customs processes of Vietnam Automated Cargo Clearance System / Vietnam
Customs Intelligence Information System (VNACCS / VCIS), but it remains the
typical features of ECUS which has been used in the past. The new system is
designed to include more areas in the registration procedures such as: ,
simplified procedures for low value goods, registration for exempt categories,
procedures applied for both traded and non-traded goods, temporarily imported re-exported goods.
Since the operation codes are built to facilitate the customs declaration, users
could select procedure options in an very easy way. The system covers a full
range of modules[ CITATION ECU14 \l 1033 ]:


Automatic customs clearance e-Declaration



Electronic Payment Transactions e-Payment



Invoice Transactions report e-invoice



National Single Window Systems Single Window




Ship declaration System e-Manifest



Shipping declaration System

VNACCS/VCIS is the new system of customs, including two small modules:


Vietnam Automated Cargo Clearance System (VNACCS), used for customs

clearance of imports and exports.

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

Vietnam Customs Intelligence Information System (VCIS), mainly for

internal risk management and professional supervision of the customs authorities,
so if you are the shipper, you do not need to bother much.
1.2 Research methodology
1.2.1 Research framework
Customs declaration is a part of logistics activities and supply chain management. It
has undergone many changes over years with the evolution of technology and

changing characteristics of consumers. Consumers’ needs do change constantly and
so there is a need to constantly study their consumers and identify their expectation
and satisfy them. Viet Khai has to face competition among competitors because of
the similar products and services they offer. This why there is a need for the
company to focus in delivering superior service quality to achieve high levels of
customer satisfaction. Competing services often become similar in design and, as
buyers become more aware of service quality dimensions, they also become more
price sensitive and value oriented (Bojanic & Rosen, 1994, p.3). This clearly
highlights the impact of service quality in e-customs dealing with. It is very critical
to measure service quality and find out how consumers perceive it in order know
dimensions that need improvement in case weaknesses are found. In order to do
this, firms must know what service quality is and how it is measured so that data
can be used for quality management.
This is why I chose to use the SERVQUAL instrument to enable us to assess service
quality in grocery stores. This model seeks to know the difference between
consumers’ expectations of how grocery stores should be like and their perceptions
in terms of performance in provided service using various dimensions (tangibles,
reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy). Trying to meet or exceed
consumer expectations helps grocery stores to maintain a high quality image. This
shows the relevance of knowing much about the consumers in order to survive in a
competitive environment. I chose to focus our study on service quality because it
plays an important role in most service firms and it is antecedent to other constructs
customer satisfaction, profitability, customer loyalty and repurchase. All these
concepts help companies have a competitive advantage in case they have a proper
understanding of service quality and how it is measured.
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Based on aforementioned evaluation criteria of service quality I will research and
analyze the situation of those criteria in Viet Khai one member limited company
through customer satisfaction for the quality of this service

Tangible
Reliability
Customer satisfaction

Responsiveness
Assurance
Empathy

Figure 1.2 Research Framework
(Source: Author collected)
1.2.2 Research approach
1.2.2.1 Sampling and data collection
According to research framework, a survey draft was designed. To assure the
accuracy of this survey, the survey were based on 22 variables of 5 dimensions in
SERVQUAL model. Convenient sampling was applied, and the targeted sample
sized is 110. According to Hair (1998), if multivariate date analysis is in used, then
the sample size had better be from 100 to 150. In the meanwhile, Bollen (1989)
suggested a tactic of calculating the sample size in this case is that sample size is
equal to number of variables multiplying with 5 (22×5=110). With that target, 120
questionnaires were sent out, and we managed to get 110 of them back. Among
those answers, only 101 contain sufficient information for data analysis and are
usable for the study. These respondents are from all the company using service of
Viet Khai one member limited company.
This research was conducted based on customers of Viet Khai’s assessments for its

provided services, therefore the target population is Viet Khai’s customers. The
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Recommendations to enhance e-customs declaration service quality at Viet Khai
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research uses quantitative method for data collection. The data set used in this study
is obtained from the survey of Viet Khai customers conducted by the author. The
content of the surveys cover indicators to identify the satisfactory level of customers
toward services provided by Viet Khai. Non-probability sampling with convenience
method was used in this step to choose specific individuals in each company to
complete the survey. Respondents were handed 02 questionnaires and were asked to
indicate their attitude towards statements describing the service quality factors of
Viet Khai. The first questionnaire involves the expectation of customers towards the
services offered by Viet Khai while the other questionnaire aims to collect their
assessment for the real performance of Viet Khai.
Respondent’s attitude is measured by using the five-point Likert scale, ranging from
1: ‘strongly disagree/unimportant’ to 5: ‘strongly agree/important’. Upon
completion, the questionnaire was pre-tested with a small group of respondents in a
relevant company to ensure clarity before the official dispatch to a larger group of
customers. Based on the comments of pre-testing respondents, some questions
related to personal information were changed from compulsory into optional in the
final questionnaire. The questionnaire was conducted in online forms to ensure the
convenience for respondents. Companies found it more convenient to complete the
survey online, therefore, the link for online form of this questionnaire was sent to
them through follow-up mails.
1.2.2.2 Data analysis
After collecting data, I analyzed in order to find out the strengths and weakness of

services of Viet Khai one member limited company. From that, radical and feasible
recommendations would be suggested.
The data was processed by software SPSS 22. After encrypting and cleaning, data
analysis would be as follows: Statistics describe, assess the reliability of the scale,
factor analysis, analysis of variance and regression analysis.
Initially, the data is encrypted and cleaned, then through the following analysis: The
scale reliability was assessed through Cronbach Alpha coefficients trust. Thereby
the observed variables correlated variables total (item-total correlation) small (<0.4)
were excluded and the scale is accepted as Cronbach alpha coefficient reliability
satisfactory (> 0.7).
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Recommendations to enhance e-customs declaration service quality at Viet Khai
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1.2.3 Variable measurement
Assurance: Quality assurance means developing operational controls to ensure that
the results match the desired outcomes. Customer service operations are designed to
keep customers satisfied while protecting the organization. To make sure customer
service achieves these goals in business, the person responsible for quality
assurance must define the quality functions as they apply to how you serve your
customers. Once such definitions are in place, you can define the resources required
to fulfill the defined mandate and make sure your customers experience quality
service.
Reliability: The ability to perform the promised service dependably and
accurately. Reliability can be defined as the probability that a product, system or
service will performs intended function on adequately for a specified period of time,
operating in a defined operating environment without failure

Tangible: The appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel and
communications materials.
Empathy: The approachability, ease of access and effort taken I understand
customers needs. The basic definition of customer empathy is the ability to identify
a customer's emotional need or state, understand the reasons behind this state, and
respond to it effectively and appropriately. These emotional needs can include
personal feelings toward the company, interaction, or products the business has
exchanged with the customer. It also can be a single problem with the interaction.
The customer empathy should be addressed before, during and after the interaction
with the customer to give her the best experience possible with the company and its
representatives.
Responsiveness: The willingness to help customers and provide prompt service.
Responsiveness in the context of a system can be defined as the outcome that can be
achieved when institutions and institutional relationships are designed in such a way
that they are cognisant and respond appropriately to the universally legitimate
expectations of individuals.

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