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The influence of food trucks’ Influence of

food trucks’
service quality on customer service quality

satisfaction and its impact toward

customer loyalty 3213
Bagyalakshmi Gopi Received 11 February 2020
Revised 16 July 2020
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Management and Science University, 1 September 2020
Shah Alam, Malaysia, and Accepted 2 September 2020

Nusrah Samat
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Management and Science University,
Shah Alam, Malaysia and
Cluster of Business Management, Open University Malaysia,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Abstract
Purpose – Service quality has been highlighted as the vital element in fulfilling customers’ needs, which
contributes to the customers’ evaluation on the services given. As food truck business is increasingly popular in
Malaysia, it is important for the food trucks’ service provider to ensure that their service quality meets the
standard to satisfy the customers in order to build customer loyalty. Therefore, the aim of this study is to
investigate the relationship between food trucks’ service quality with customer satisfaction and its impact
toward customer loyalty. The customer service was measured using service quality (SERVQUAL) attributes
(tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy).
Design/methodology/approach – A quantitative study was conducted to examine the influence of food
trucks’ service quality on customer satisfaction and its impact toward customer loyalty. A total of 100 food
truck customers have been randomly selected to answer the self-administered questionnaire. Data collected
were analyzed using frequency, descriptive, reliability, Pearson correlation and regression analysis.
Findings – Findings indicated that three out of five attributes of service quality have significant relationships
toward customer satisfaction. They are tangibles ( β 5 0.225, p < 0.05), reliability ( β 5 0.349, p < 0.05) and
assurance ( β 5 0.311, p < 0.05). Moreover, the customer loyalty ( β 5 0.643, p < 0.01) has a significant
relationship with customer satisfaction.
Originality/value – Service quality can be characterized as the discrepancy between customer service
standards and actual service. When expectations are higher than performance, perceived quality is less
than acceptable and therefore consumer disappointment exists which eventually decreases customer
loyalty toward a product or services. The study suggested that physical image of the food trucks’ service
like physical facilities, how the service being performed and also courtesy and knowledge of the food trucks’
employees are very important to transfer confidence and trust to customers, which then will influence them
to be loyal.
Keywords Food truck, SERVQUAL, Customer satisfaction, Customer loyalty
Paper type Research paper

Introduction
Food truck is a change of road sustenance and has added to the imperatives of urban life
crosswise over societies for a considerable length of time and this business as of now turns
into the overall business pattern. The food truck industry has grown for an average of 9.3%
per year since 2012 (Bandaru and Venkateshwarlu, 2017), in which it can be seen anywhere in
Malaysia (Nuur Hafizah et al., 2019). Food trucks satisfy consumers’ expectations as it blends
a variety of food options with an appealing and innovative marketing model. Since its specific British Food Journal
concept, the food truck has grown to be popular and it gives terrific opportunity and earnings Vol. 122 No. 10, 2020
pp. 3213-3226
(Mokhtar et al., 2017). In order to run their business, food trucks provide several quality © Emerald Publishing Limited
0007-070X
services to customers that can enhance repeated customer visit to their food trucks. DOI 10.1108/BFJ-02-2020-0110
BFJ Quality is one of the facets of almost all service items most desired by the customers. High
122,10 and exclusive quality is a way of attracting customers and making them loyal for a long time
to come (Wieslaw, 2009). Several earlier studies and writers have pointed out that the
definition of quality in service varies from that existing in the goods market. Service quality
means the willingness of a service provider to serve consumers in an effective way from
which can boost market efficiency (Ramya et al., 2019).
After broad research studies on service quality, Parasuraman et al. (1985) discovered five
3214 measurements customers use while assessing service quality. They named their overview
instrument service quality (SERVQUAL) (Niveen, 2015). SERVQUAL scale was initially
created by Parasuraman (1985) by contrasting desires and recognitions on ten service quality
angles. This scale was additionally related to five measurements of service quality to be
specific tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy (Nguyen, 2015).
Tangibles concern the presence of hardware, physical facilities, correspondence materials
and work force. This measurement means the appearance and inside of the association. It
signals quality and passes on the picture of a firm (Parasuraman et al., 1998). Reliability
comprises of the correct request satisfaction, exact records, precise statement, directly in the
bill, results are more exact than commissions and keep the guarantee of services (Abdel,
2015). Responsiveness is readiness to react to the desires or needs of the customers’ help and
quick services (Rasyida et al., 2016a, b). Assurance incorporates the learning, politeness,
aptitudes and trust-value of the workers, just as free from peril, hazard or uncertainty
(Gronroos, 1990). According to Ananth (2011), empathy gives singular consideration and
simple activity time for individual consideration and comprehends the particular needs of
customers. A thorough investigation of a good service-based business surprisingly shows
that the willingness of service providers to incorporate tangibles, reliability, responsiveness,
assurance and empathy effectively in their daily work can have a significant impact on
positive customer outcomes, particularly customer satisfaction (Azman and Yusrizal, 2016).
The choice of product to satisfy precise needs relies on the perception of the customers,
approximately the product service capable of satisfying their needs. According to Jamal et al.
(2018), service quality is turning into one of the maximum essential factors inside the subject
of offerings because the customers are now more privy to the level of the service they get
which has led the organization to give extra interest to the extent of the service they provide
to their customers so that it will be able to get extra satisfaction that could result in better
loyalty from customers.
High-quality service is part of customer satisfaction, and customer satisfaction will result
in customer loyalty which influences repurchase intentions (Choi and Chu, 2001; Wicks, 2009)
and decreases purchaser switching to different shops (Wallace et al., 2004). Satisfied
customers have a higher probability of repeating purchases in time Zeithaml et al. (2006), of
suggesting that others attempt the wellspring of satisfaction, and of ending up less
responsive to the competitor’s contributions (Ghafoor and Rehman, 2014).
Meeting customer demand and desire is the businesses’ primary target resulting in
satisfaction and satisfied customers with their paying product or service level. In general,
although there is an absence of accord about the conceptualization of the service quality–
satisfaction relationship, service quality is a precursor to customer satisfaction and is
considered as a predominant position in ongoing research, particularly in the service setting
industry (Ngo and Nguyen, 2016). According to Cosmas (2019), service quality and customer
satisfaction have for quite some time been recognized as playing an essential role for progress
and endurance in the present competitive market.
In order to satisfy the consumer and build customer loyalty to acquire new productive
customer, service quality dimension has become a very important issue. Customers’ loyalty
toward food trucks’ service can be only achieved when the customer is satisfied toward
particular needs.
Research framework Influence of
Based on the past research, the research framework has been developed for this study. food trucks’
Figure 1 portrays a framework, which explained that customer satisfaction was expected to
be explained by five elements of service quality (tangibles, reliability, responsiveness,
service quality
assurance and empathy). Moreover, the customer loyalty was expected to be explained by
customer satisfaction. Service quality and customer satisfaction are closely related
(Sureshchander et al., 2002) and the value of satisfaction enhance the customer loyalty
(Homburg et al., 2003). 3215

Hypotheses development
In general, the quality of service is the finding of services provided to consumers, which
depends on the judgment of the customer (Ganguli and Roy, 2010). Service quality was
perceived to be the most significant factor in evaluating the performance of service
organizations in today’s competitive climate. It plays a crucial part in generating customer
satisfaction. According to Ladhari (2009), customers who received high quality of service are
likely to be more satisfied than those receiving low quality of service.
Meanwhile, customer satisfaction is measured by the slight difference between the desires
of consumers and the reality they encounter as they use the service. Parasuraman (1988) used
SERVQUAL to test this difference by categorizing each of the service quality dimensions in a
realistic manner. Service quality in the SERVQUAL model consists of five dimensions:
reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles, which are used in service
quality gap, which implies that there is a difference between the expectations of customers
and perception of services (Pakurar et al., 2019). According to Jamaluddin (2017), there is a
strong connection between the level of service parameters and the satisfaction of the
customer, which was also agreed by Henny and Januarko (2018) stating that the five
measurements of service quality would have a positive effect on customer satisfaction.
Moreover, Henny and Januarko (2018) indicated that the standard of service dimensions
(tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy) are assumed to have strong
effect on customer satisfaction and that customer satisfaction also has a strong impact on
customer loyalty.
In addition, customer satisfaction is said to have positive correlation with the customer
loyalty (Kandampully and Suhartanto, 2000). Understanding the role of customer satisfaction
has been agreed by Han and Ryu (2009) as a potential way to improve customer loyalty.
Based on the above discussion, the following hypotheses have been developed:
H1. The higher the level of tangibles, the higher the level of customer satisfaction.
H2. The higher the level of reliability, the higher the level of customer satisfaction.
H3. The higher the level of responsiveness, the higher the level of satisfaction.
H4. The higher the level of assurance, the higher the level of customer satisfaction.
H5. The higher the level of empathy, the higher the level of customer satisfaction.

Service Quality
• Tangible
• Reliability Customer Customer
• Responsiveness Satisfaction Loyalty
• Assurance Figure 1.
• Empathy Research framework
BFJ Customer satisfaction is measured by the difference between beliefs and experience of service
122,10 quality and is positively related to customer loyalty (Lo et al., 2010). Hag (2012) used a group
of 226 participants in the Pakistan automobile industry and gathered data to analyze the
relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Evidence indicated that the
customer loyalty is explicitly and closely linked to customer satisfaction. Thus, the following
hypothesis has been developed:
3216 H6. The higher the level of customer satisfaction, the higher the level of customer loyalty.

Methods
Participants
The purpose of this study is to explain the relationship between three variables, service
quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty of food trucks and to identify the level of
loyalty in customers when they receive satisfied services. This research has used a sample
size of 100 which comprises 100 food trucks customers at Tapak Urban Dining Street Jalan
Ampang, Kuala Lumpur. According to Roscoe (1975), for most research a sample size for a
study ranging from 30 to 500 is appropriate. An error could occur if the sample size is too
large which is more than 500. Therefore, this study has decided to use a sample size of 100.
This location has been chosen because according to Brenda (2018), it has been known that
there are over 200 food truck members who have been registered at Tapak Urban Dining
Street, which is considered as a high number of food truck vendors at the platforms.

Procedure
This research applied the quantitative research. According to Bacon-Shone (2015),
quantitative research techniques are inquired about strategies managing numbers and
anything that is quantifiable in a deliberate method of investigation of phenomena and their
connections. Therefore, through quantitative research, it can determine and examine the
relationship between independent variables and dependent variables.
This research has used both primary and secondary data. It is a first-hand experience
where information is developed and gathered by researchers. This type of questionnaires is
completed by the respondents on their own without interview (Saunders et al., 2009).
Secondary data evaluation is analysis of facts that was accrued through someone else for
some other primary motive. In this research, information has also been collected and used
through journals, articles and books due to cost and time-saving as well as easy accessibility.
A purposive sampling technique has been used in this research. Researcher purposively
chooses customers who have dining experience at food trucks. Additionally, the food truck
customers have been randomly selected to answer the questionnaire. A 100 set of
questionnaires have been distributed among food trucks’ customers at Tapak Urban Dining
Street. Targeted respondents have been given sufficient time to complete the questionnaire in
order to ensure that respondents are able to interpret and analyze the question. Hence, it
increases the validity and reliability of the data that have been collected.

Survey questionnaires
A self-administered questionnaire has been used for the data collection purposes of this
research. It allows a large amount of quantitative data to be collected and makes it possible to
generalize the results, particularly if the sample is collected randomly (Demetriou et al., 2015).
In designing the questionnaires, extra caution has been taken for better clarification of each
question. Besides, the questionnaire has been developed by adapting questionnaires from
previous studies. For the layout of the questionnaire, a brief introduction and purpose of
conducting the research attached at the cover page. The structure of the questionnaire was
designed in English language as it was more appropriate to communicate with the Influence of
respondents. The data measuring technique utilized was a five-point Likert scale ranging food trucks’
from (1) 5 “Strongly disagree”; (2) 5 “Disagree”; (3) 5 “Neutral”; (4) 5 “Agree” and
(5) 5 “Strongly disagree” (Kisang et al., 2012). According to Josefa (2008), the five-point scale
service quality
is less ambiguous and can increase the rate of reaction.
The questionnaire was divided into four sections. The first section consists of personal
data and demographic profiles of respondents such as age, gender, race, monthly income,
maximum money spent in food trucks and frequency of visits. The second section consists of 3217
22 questions using the Likert scale focusing on the service quality of food trucks, which was
adapted from Rogerio and Zulema (2006). The third section consists of eight selected item
statements regarding the customer satisfaction on food trucks from Oliver (1980) and
Sirdeshmukh et al. (2002), and the final section consists of nine selected items statements
regarding customer loyalty adapted from Chaudhuri and Holbrook (2001).

Data analysis
The analyses that have been used in this research include: (1) descriptive statistics,
(2) frequency analysis, (3) reliability test, (4) correlation analysis and (5) regression analysis.
This research calculates the frequency, percentage, minimum, maximum, mean and standard
deviation by using the elements such as gender, races, age, income, money spent and
respondent visit toward food trucks in descriptive analysis. The internal consistent and
quality of the items used in the questionnaire was tested using the reliability analysis. The
association between variables has been measured using correlation analysis, and regression
analysis has been used to gauge the estimation of one variable relating to a given estimation
of another variable.

Results
Descriptive analysis
As shown in Table 1, 43% (43) of the respondents are male and 56 % (56) of them are female.
The average age of the respondents is 26 years. Results showed that 78% (78) of the
respondents are Malays, 8% (8) of the respondents are Indians and 14% of the (14)
respondents are from other races. Moreover, the respondents’ minimum income is RM200.00
and maximum income is RM12,000.00. Their minimum spent at food trucks is RM9.00 per
day. Other than that, the maximum respondents visit to food trucks is 45% (45), which is once

Particulars Variables Frequency (N) Percentage

Gender Male 43 43%

Female 56 56%
Race Malay 78 78%
Indian 8 8%
Others 14 14%

Particulars Minimum Maximum Mean

Age (Years) 19 43 26.56

Monthly income (RM) 200 12,000 2472.12 Table 1.
Money spent (RM) 9 500 70.26 Demographic profile of
Respondent visit 12 45 2.75 the respondents
BFJ a month. The minimum respondents visit to food trucks is 12% (12), which is more than once
122,10 a week.

Reliability analysis
A reliability test was carried out to determine the results internal consistency and quality
based on the Cronbach’s alpha value. According to Mohsen and Dennick (2011), the
3218 appropriate alpha value of Cronbach is 0.70 and above. If the coefficient value of the
Cronbach’s alpha (α) is nearer to 1, the higher value is the sign of the internal consistency
(Mazyed and Ali, 2018).
Table 2 outlines the findings of the reliability test, where the Cronbach’s alpha values
varied between 0.82 and 0.91. The variance suggests consistent and reliable scales used in
this analysis. Based on the results obtained, the dependent variable which is customer
satisfaction has a strong α coefficient of 0.91 based on responses of the data collection.

Pearson correlation analysis

A term used to denote the association or relationship between two or more quantitative
variables is correlation analysis (Gogtay, 2017). In the correlated data, the adjustment in the
magnitude of one variable is related with an adjustment in the magnitude of another variable,
either in the equivalent or the other way. This coefficient is a dimensionless measure of the
covariance, which is scaled with the end goal that it ranges from
1 to þ1 (Patrick, 2018).
Based on the data shown in Table 3, results indicated that tangibles (r 5 0.612, p < 0.01),
reliability (r 5 0.683, p < 0.01), responsiveness (r 5 0.519, p < 0.01), assurance (r 5 0.685,
p < 0.01), empathy (r 5 0.564, p < 0.01) and customer loyalty (r 5 0.643, p < 0.01). It has a
significant and moderate relationship with customer satisfaction.

Regression analysis
The regression analysis was performed to establish the relationship between the independent
variables namely, tangibles, responsiveness, reliability, assurance and empathy and the
dependent variable which is customer satisfaction. In addition, the regression analysis was
also performed to establish the relationship between the independent variable customer
satisfaction and dependent variable which is customer loyalty.
Table 4 displays the result of regression analysis between customer satisfaction and
attributes of service quality. Findings showed that tangibles (β 5 0.225, p < 0.05), reliability
(β 5 0.349, p < 0.01) and assurance (β 5 0.311, p < 0.05) have significant relationships with
customer satisfaction. The adjusted R-square value of 0.545 indicated that 54.5% of the
variation in customer satisfaction was explained by tangibles, reliability, responsiveness,
assurance and empathy. Moreover, Table 5 displays the result of regression analysis between
customer loyalty and customer satisfaction. Findings indicated that customer satisfaction

Variables Initial no. of items Deleted items Cronbach’s alpha

Tangibles 4 0 0.828
Reliability 5 0 0.843
Responsiveness 4 0 0.830
Assurance 4 0 0.842
Table 2. Empathy 5 0 0.880
Reliability analysis Customer satisfaction 8 0 0.913
result Customer loyalty 9 0 0.885
Variables Customer loyalty Customer satisfaction Empathy Assurance Responsiveness Reliability Tangibles

Customer loyalty 1
Customer satisfaction 0.643** 1
Empathy 0.497** 0.564** 1
Assurance 0.453** 0.685** 0.706** 1
Responsiveness 0.415** 0.519** 0.659** 0.711** 1
Reliability 0.611** 0.683** 0.672** 0.730** 0.620** 1
Tangibles 0.472** 0.612** 0.597** 0.657** 0.553** 0.586** 1
Note(s): ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (two-tailed)
service quality

3219
food trucks’
Influence of

Table 3.

analysis
Pearson correlation
BFJ (β 5 0.643, p < 0.01) has a significant relationship with customer loyalty. The adjusted
122,10 R-square of 0.408 indicated that 40.8% of the variation in customer loyalty was explained by
customer satisfaction.

Discussion
The purpose behind this research was to recognize the connection between service quality
3220 toward customer satisfaction of food trucks and its impact toward customer loyalty. The
research showed that among the five dimensions of service quality on food truck tangibles,
reliability and assurance have positive connection toward customer satisfaction. Whereas the
other two service quality attributes such as responsiveness and empathy do not have the
significant connection toward customer satisfaction.
According to Ahmed and Nawaz (2010), service quality is simply the execution of service
and that it is a management operation, thus satisfaction represents the interaction of
consumers with the service. Positive expectations indicate that the customer will be
associated or emotionally committed to the product or service, and negative expectations will
repel the customer. If the relationship is unfavorable, there is a better risk of switching the
customer to another product (Fraering and Minor, 2013). According to Rahman (2012),
tangibles component has the huge association with customer satisfaction. Barber and
Scarcelli (2010) has characterized the tangibles component of service as physical
environmental quality which allude to work force, appearance of the physical facilities,
information materials and other physical highlights work to give service in the service
facility. According to Kincaid et al. (2010), “servicescape” comprises of various tangibles
components such as ambient conditions; spatial layout and usefulness which influence
satisfaction level of customer and indirectly impact customer loyalty.
Other than that, this research also shows that there is a positive connection between
reliability and customer satisfaction on food truck. According to Parasuram et al. (1985)

Variables Customer satisfaction

Tangibles 0.225*
Reliability 0.349**
Responsiveness
0.047
Assurance 0.311*
Empathy 0.007
R-square 0.568
Table 4. Adjusted R-square 0.545
Regression analysis F-change 24.734
toward customer Significant F-change 0.000
satisfaction Durbin– atson 1.969

Variables Customer loyalty

Customer satisfaction 0.643**

R-square 0.414
Table 5. Adjusted R-square 0.408
Regression analysis F-change 0.414
toward customer Significant F-change 0.000
loyalty Durbin– Wason 1.521
reliability element of service quality has a positive effect on customer satisfaction. Miklos, Influence of
Hossam, Janos, Jozsef and Judith (2019) characterized reliability as the capacity to do and play food trucks’
out the required service for customer reliably, precisely, and as guaranteed and the ability to
treat issues looked by customers. Reliability as a service factor guarantees that the customers
service quality
are satisfied with the opportune and privilege services. This additionally prompts expanded
trust in service suppliers and loyalty (Kumar, 2018). Thus, the reliability dimension is a
significant factor to meet customers’ satisfaction on food truck business.
Moreover, the dimension assurance shows supportive associations between customer 3221
satisfactions of food truck. According to Chowdhary and Prakash (2007), assurance is a vital
measurement in the service quality which demonstrates that the higher assurance will
prompt the higher service quality and will in general increase customer satisfaction. Lo,
Osman, Ramayah and Rahim (2010) discovered that assurance is measurably huge and has
relationship with customer satisfaction. Therefore, the assurance element in service quality
directly affects the customer satisfaction on food truck.
On the other hand, in this research the service quality dimension responsiveness and
empathy of the food truck is not significant with customer satisfaction. These are where
food truck staff need to work to improve customer view of service quality. Responsiveness
is the auspicious response toward the customers need. The previous research proposed
that responsiveness has relationship yet no noteworthy impact on customer satisfaction. It
can be concluded that responsiveness is a need in giving quality service yet not an
absolute necessity (Jayaraman, Shankar & Hor, 2010). Thus, it shows that the counter
staffs in food truck needs to be persistently prepared with legitimate ability of giving care
and brief help.
There is a positive relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The
degree of customer satisfaction will increment fundamentally when the customers end up in
agreeable and exceptionally fulfilled from the product or service where as though the
customer loyalty is influenced adversely through product or service then the degree of
customer satisfaction drops in a rapid way (Nirbhay, 2016). According to Jefry and Maskarto
(2019), the more prominent the satisfaction got by customers and the higher the value of
customer loyalty, the more prominent the benefits the organization will get. Additionally,
Selvakumar (2015) acknowledged the impact of the standard of service on customer
satisfaction on the basis that if a customer receives the level of service they deserve their level
of loyalty will increase and the organization’s reputation will have a profound effect.
Therefore, this research shows that when a food truck customer is highly satisfied then
there is an influence in customer loyalty which can benefit the food truck operations. By
maintaining a loyal customer, higher customer satisfaction is directly related. The service
quality is the aspect that connects customer satisfaction and customer loyalty (Siddiqi, 2010).
It shows that the food truck vendors have provided a truck which visually appeals to the
consumer to attract the consumer attention toward the food truck and provide a service to the
customer on a right time, on a consistent basis with error free. However the food truck
vendors have to improve on providing representation of customer service accessible and
respond quickly toward customer.

Conclusions
Service quality can be characterized as the discrepancy between customer service standards
and actual service. When expectations are higher than performance, perceived quality is less
than acceptable and therefore consumer disappointment exists which eventually decreases
customer loyalty toward a product or service. Customer satisfaction is one of the main goals
of any company. Organizations understand that it is more profitable to keep current
customers than to win new ones to replace those lost. Therefore, it is crucial for all the food
BFJ truck vendors to understand the importance of service quality that satisfied customer needs
122,10 which influence the loyalty of the customer. Thus, this research has revealed the influence of
food trucks service quality on customer satisfaction and its impact toward customer loyalty.
The SERVQUAL model was used to measure customer satisfaction which has five
dimensions: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy.
Based on the results obtained, it is known that among the five dimensions of service
quality only three dimensions highly satisfied the customers, they are tangibles, reliability
3222 and assurance. This shows that the physical image of the food trucks’ service like physical
facilities, how the service being performed and also courtesy and knowledge of the food
trucks’ employees are very important to transfer confidence and trust to customers, which
then will influence them to be loyal. Moreover the other two dimensions of service quality
which is responsiveness and empathy are least satisfied by the customers in which the food
truck vendors need to improvise in willingness to provide timely service to customers and
provide the customers with individualized service.

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BFJ About the authors
Bagyalakshmi Gopi, student of Food Service Technology at the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences,
122,10 Management and Science University. Her research project is on food trucks in which she wanted to know
the impact of service quality of food trucks on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. She is very
enthusiastic in her research. Her research has been presented at International Symposium.
Nusrah Samat is a Senior Lecturer at the Cluster of Business Management, Open University
Malaysia. She does research in Behavioral Science and Quantitative Social Research. She is interested in
3226 the area of [1] ethics-based research – especially ethical behavior, ethical climate, ethical decision-
making; [2] food and nutrition studies and [3] quality management practices – total quality
management, service quality. Previously, she has been involved in several research projects such as,
TQM in organizations, ethical behavior at workplace, food neophobia among teenagers and food
allergy among travelers. Nusrah Samat is the corresponding author and can be contacted at:
nusrah@oum.edu.my

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