Journal of Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction in Transportation

International Journal for Quality research UDK- 656.025.2:658.56 Short Scientific Paper (1.03)

SERVICE QUALITY AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION IN PUBLIC TRANSPORTS
Filipa Fonseca1) Sofia Pinto1) Carlos Brito2) 1) Faculty of Economics and Management, Catholic University of Portugal, Portugal 2) Faculty of Economics, University of Porto, Portugal Abstract: The objective of the paper is to identify the determinants of service quality as well as its impact on the satisfaction of public transport commuters. The paper explores the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction in a public transport service taking into account both internal and external perspectives. In order to analyse this relationship, the concepts of service quality, consumer satisfaction and dissatisfaction are assessed. A model of analysis is developed aiming at explaining this relationship and guiding the empirical study. This is based on an exploratory case study of a metro company in Europe. The results of the study put in evidence two key findings. The first is related to the level of service quality in its main dimensions. We conclude that reliability, security, speed, comfort and punctuality are quality dimensions of greater importance for the public transport services. Secondly, the study explores satisfaction and their determinants. Despite literature stipulates the existence of a distinction between the constructs of quality and satisfaction, this study found that the transport company, non-customers and customers clearly do not make such a distinction. Keywords: service quality, satisfaction, dissatisfaction, public transport

1. INTRODUCTION Marketing researchers have, for a long time, recognized the importance of service quality as well as consumer satisfaction. Significant investigation has been conducted in both fields, particularly in services (cf. Andreassen, 1995; Edvardsson, 1998; Friman e Garling, 2001; Higgs et al., 2005). However, few studies have explored the

References: [1] Andreassen, W. (1995), “(Di)satisfaction with Public Services: the Case of Public Transportation”, Journal of Service Marketing, Vol. 9, pp. 30-41. [2] Bolton, R. and Drew J. (1991), “A Multistage Model of Consumer Assessments of Service Quality and Value”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 17, pp. 375-384. [3] Edvardsson, B. (1992), “Service Breakdowns, A Study of Critical Incidents in an Airline”, International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 3, pp. 17-29. [4] Edvardsson, B. (1998), “Causes of Customer Dissatisfaction – Studies of Public Transport by the Critical Incident Method”, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 8, pp. 189-197. [5] Erevelles, S. and Leavitt, C. (1992), “A Comparison of Current Models of Consumer Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction”, Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behaviour, Vol. 5, pp. 104-114. [6] Friman, M., Edvardsson, B. and Garling, T. (2001), “Frequency of Negative Critical Incidents and Satisfaction with Public Transport Services”, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, pp. 95-104. [7] Garvin, D. (1984), “What Does Product Quality Really Mean?”, Sloan Management Review. [8] Grönroos, C. (1984), “A Service Quality Model and its Marketing Implications”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 18, pp. 36-44. [9] Halstead, D., Hartman, D. and Schmidt, S. (1994), “Multisource Effects on the Satisfaction Formation Process”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 2, pp. 114-129. [10] Higgs, B., Polonsky, M., and Hollick, M. (2005), “Measuring Expectations: Forecast vs. Ideal Expectations. Does it Really Matter?”, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Vol. 12, pp. 49-64. [11] Howard, J. and Sheth, J. (1969), The Theory of Buyer Behaviour, New York, John Wiley & Sons. [12] Johnston, R. (1995), “The Determinants of Service Quality: Satisfiers and Dissatisfiers”, International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 6, pp. 53-71. [13] Juran, J. and Gryna, F. (1991), Juran, Controle de Qualidade, Handbook, Vol. 1, São Paulo, Makron Books do Brasil Editora. [14] Levitt, T. (1972), “Production-Line Approach to Service”, Harvard Business Review, pp. 41-52. [15] Liljander, V. (1999), “Customer Satisfaction with Complaint Handling Following a Dissatisfactory Experience with Car Repair”, European Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 4, Bernard Bubois, Tina Lowrey, L. J. Shrum and Marc Vanhuele (Eds.), pp. 270-275. [16] Maddox, R. (1981), “Two-Factor Theory and Consumer Satisfaction: Replication and Extension”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 8, pp. 97-102. [17] Miles, M. and Huberman, A. (1994), Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook, 2nd Edition, Thousand Oaks, Sage Publications. [18] Oliver, R. and De Sarbo (1988), “Response Determinants in Satisfaction Judgements”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 14, pp. 495-507. [19] Oliver, R. (1996), Satisfaction: A Behavioral Perspective on the Consumer, New York, McGraw-Hill. [20] Parasuraman, A. Zeithaml, V., Berry L. (1985), “A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and its Implication for Future Research”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 49, pp. 41-50. [21] Parasuraman, A. Zeithaml, V., Berry L. (1988), “SERVQUAL: A Multiple-Item Scale for Measuring Consumer Perceptions of Service Quality”, Journal of Retailing, Vol. 64, pp. 12-40. [22] Swan, J., and Combs, L. (1976), “Product Performance and Consumer Satisfaction: A New Concept, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 40, pp. 25-33. [23] Tse, D. and Wilton, P. (1988), “Models of Consumer Satisfaction Formation: an Extension”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 15, pp. 204-212. [24] Westbrook, R. (1987), “Product Consumption-based Affective Responses and Post Purchase Process”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 24, 1987, pp. 258-270. [25] Westbrook, R. and Reilly, M. (1983), “Value-Percept Disparity: An Alternative to the Disconfirmation of Expectations Theory of Consumer Satisfaction”, Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 10, Richard P. Bagozzi and Alice M. Tybout, Eds. Ann Arbor, M1, Association for Consumer Research, pp. 25661. [26] Yin, R. (1994), Case Study Research: Design and Methods, 2nd Edition, United States, Sage Publications. Received: 15.12.2009 Accepted: 05.05.2010 Open for discussion: 1 Year 130 F. Fonseca , S. Pinto , C. Brito