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Relationship Between Service Quality and User Satisfaction: An Analysis of Ride-Sharing Services in Bangladesh Based On SERVQUAL Dimensions
Relationship Between Service Quality and User Satisfaction: An Analysis of Ride-Sharing Services in Bangladesh Based On SERVQUAL Dimensions
Relationship Between Service Quality and User Satisfaction: An Analysis of Ride-Sharing Services in Bangladesh Based On SERVQUAL Dimensions
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ABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to explore the influence of service quality dimensions (SERVQUAL
dimensions) on the satisfaction level of RSS users in Bangladesh. The SERVQUAL dimensions
(assurance, empathy, reliability, responsiveness, and tangibles) were applied to develop the research
model and to carry further statistical analysis. A structured questionnaire was used to conduct
survey and collect data for quantitative analysis. A Multiple Linear Regression Analysis (MRA)
was used to analyze the data and to test the hypotheses with SPSS. In outcome, it is found that the
overall satisfaction of RSS users is above the satisfactory level. Moreover, the result of the
regression analysis supports only the three service quality dimensions and their influence on the
satisfaction level of RSS users (tangibles, responsiveness, and empathy). Rests of the dimensions
(reliability and assurance) were not significantly correlated with user satisfaction representing an
insight that RSS providers should disburse added focus on these service quality dimensions with a
view to ensuring improved user experiences and increased satisfaction.
Key words : Ride-sharing services; User satisfaction; Service quality; Servqual dimensions.
Obhai Solutions Limited, Chaldal Limited, Zeithaml (1988) stated that customer’s
Pathao Limited, Ezzyr Technologies satisfaction is correlated with five service
Limited, Akash Technology Limited, Segesta quality dimensions- assurance, empathy,
Limited, Shohoz Limited, Uber Bangladesh reliability, responsiveness, and tangibles. On
Limited, Buddy Limited and Akij Online the other hand, Kuo et al. (2009) identified
Limited areen listed for providing ride- that there is significant relationship among
sharing servicesin Bangladesh (BRTA, service quality, perceived value, customer
2019). On the other hand, BRTA has satisfaction, and post-purchase intention.
commenced issuing enlistment certificates to Moreover, users’ attitude, whether they are
the ride-sharing companies of BD from 1st satisfied or not, towards the service
July 2019 with a view to ensuring proper providers, undeniably depends on the
service management, safety, and customer promised and delivered service quality
satisfaction (The Daily Star, 2019). Some of (Homburg et al., 2011). Keeping these ideas
these services are very good at providing in mind, throughout this study, we tried to
premium ride quality and quality services. explore the relationship between service
Others are not so great but get the jobs done quality of RSS and their users’ attitudes
somewhat. Despite all RSS sare becoming (more precisely user satisfaction) using
trendy day by day and operators are SERVQUAL dimensions from the
gradually expanding their operations to most perspective of Bangladesh. Thus, the specific
of the divisional cities of Bangladesh. Now, objective of the study is-“to explore the
this service sector is being considered as one influence of service quality dimensions on
of the most potential grounds for business in the satisfaction level of RSS users in
Bangladesh. Although, RSSs have brought Bangladesh.”
dynamism in the daily life of the city
RSSs are disrupting the way we commute in
dwellers of Bangladesh removing traffic
our day to day life. The dimension of
congestion problems, dropping rate of
possibilities faced by downtown citizens has
environmental pollution by reducing the
been changed through these new transport
number of vehicles, and making life go
alternatives and traveling by a private car is
easier than ever. However, there remain
now economical and easier without the
some questions regarding the service quality
necessity of owning the vehicle (Haddad et
of RSS providers in Bangladesh- Are the
al., 2019). Chorfi et al. (2015) have carried
RSS providers able to give prompt responses
study on Smart Real-Time Ride-Share for
to the users of Bangladesh? How much
Riyadh City and have found that number of
commitment do they maintain in delivering
vehicles in ride-sharing services has been
promised services? Do the providers have
rising tremendously and that's why the
willingness to consider the needs of the
condition of traffic jam is getting
users? Do RSSs are available whenever
unendurable day by day but still the service
demanded? Do RSSs truly meet users’
is being accepted by the city dwellers. Every
expectations? In Bangladesh, RSS service
vehicle has the ability to adjust up to four
guideline-2017 is in action and BRTA is
people comfortably but in most of the cases
strictly monitoring the service providers
these spaces remain unused because a large
continuously (BRTA, 2018). However, some
number of users of ride-sharing services are
recent unexpected incidents of users’
single-user. Chaudhry et al. (2018) found
experience have set us think about the
that while in public transportation individual
reliability, responsiveness, commitment,
security, support and compassionate growing
proximity, compassion issues of ride-sharing
issues. The snappy demand and reputation of
service quality.
ride-sharing services along with the lack of
By service quality, it is meant that transparency has enforced many countries to
conformation to the customer specification develop regulations and policies for RSS
and commitment (Zeithaml et al., 1988). providers. However, the coin has another
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Tonmoy et al.
38
Relationship between service quality and user satisfaction
service quality dimensions were discussed in H1: There is a strong relationship between
two particular works by the same authors. service quality of RSSs and satisfaction of
The components are described in the RSSs users’.
following table-
The key hypothesis of the study was further
Table 01: Explanation of the dimensions divided into five sub-hypotheses with a view
to justifying the research questions of the
SERVQUAL Explanation Sources study and consequently justifying the test of
Dimensions the key hypothesis. The five hypotheses are:
Tangibles It represents the (Parasuraman
physical et al., 1985) H1a: There is a strong relationship between
evidences as tangibility of the RSS and user satisfaction.
well as H1b: There is a strong relationship between
facilities of the
service responsiveness of the RSS and user
providers. satisfaction..
Responsiveness It represents H1c: There is a strong relationship between
willingness or reliability of the RSS and user satisfaction.
readiness of the
service H1d: There is a strong relationship between
providers to assurance of the RSS and user satisfaction.
provide H1e: There is a strong relationship between
services. empathy of the RSS and user satisfaction.
Reliability It represents
quick, error free
and consistent 3. RESEARCH MODEL
service
performance. The research model (Figure- 01) indicates
Assurance It represents the
knowledge, (Zeithaml et that service quality of RSS depends on the
skill and ability al., 1988) SERVQUAL dimensions (tangibles,
of the service responsiveness, reliability, assurance, and
providers, empathy). Therefore, in this study, user
safety and
security issues satisfaction was considered as the dependent
regarding variable and independent variables were-
service tangibles, responsiveness, reliability,
delivery, and assurance, and empathy jointly representing
courteous
behavior. the service quality of RSS. Moreover, key
Empathy It represents the hypothesis H1 was tested along with the five
intention of the sub-hypotheses (H1a, H1b, H1c, H1d, and
service H1e) in order to achieve the objective of the
providers to
give quality
study and to justify the key hypothesis H1.
attention to the
customers and
ability of the
service
providers to
understand Figure-01: Research Model
specific
customer- An econometric model was used to analyze
needs. the relationship between dependent and
Based on the discussion in the literature independent variables to explain the overall
review section and the conceptual framework findings. Hair et al. (2014) suggested that for
development section, a key hypothesis was analyzing the relationship between one
derived for obtaining the objective of the dependent variable and several independent
study: variables multiple regressions analysis can be
39
Tonmoy et al.
40
Relationship between service quality and user satisfaction
Satisfaction 1 pleasant (Koivumäk applied to screen and clean data with a view
(US) experience i et al., to removing unengaged data in Microsoft
US I like using 2008) Excel platform. Total of 16 data was
2 the service removed from the raw data file. Rest of the
US I am 175 engaged data was imported to SPSS
3 satisfied
data sheet for further analysis. After
with using
the RSS importing, internal consistency and reliability
of the data set were measured using
3.4 Questionnaire Design and Data Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability Test. Some
Collection descriptive statistical methods were applied
to summarize the overall responses. Finally,
A structured questionnaire was developed for all the hypotheses were tested using
collecting data through survey method. In regression analysis method.
this study, survey method was considered as
the most appropriate tool for collecting 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
quantitative data. The survey was conducted
on the Dhaka city dwellers of different ages 4.1 Background Information of the
and professions who have RSS app installed Respondents
in their smart phones and used RSS at least Table 03 represents the background
once or more. RSS service providers and information of the respondents where
concerned authorities to Dhaka’s traffic majority of the respondents were male
control system were brought under the study (65.7%). Among the respondents, 52% were
population for analyzing organizational from 18-25 ages which were highest in
view-point to the research problem. The number. In addition to that 54.9% of the
questionnaire was developed in English and respondents were service holder which
a five-point Likert scale ranging from 1 covers the maximum portion of the
(strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) was respondents. The respondents were asked to
used for collecting responses. Five-point inform about the mostly used RSS in their
Likert scale was chosen as it is not day to day life. Based on their responses
ambiguous to understand for the respondents (55.4%) it was understandable that foreign
and it avoids cognitive favoritism (Revilla et venture Uber was the most popular among
al., 2014). The questionnaire has two parts, the RSSs in Bangladesh. However, local
i.e. Part 01, and Part 02. Background startup Pathao was in the second position of
information of the respondents including the preference list of the users. Another
name, gender, age, occupation, mostly used insight could derive from the respondents
RSS, and the frequency of using RSS are that they use RSSs frequently which is an
included in the Part 01 of the questionnaire. excellent mark of acceptance of such
On the other hand, measurement items are disruptive technology.
included with five-point Likert scale as the
range of responses in Part 02. There were Table 03: Summary of the Respondents’
different views and suggestions regarding the Background Information
sample size. However, a total of 191
Variable Frequency Percentage
responses were collected for conducting
Gender Male 115 65.7%
statistical analysis from September 2019 to
Female 60 34.3%
October 2019. Other 0 0%
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Tonmoy et al.
42
Relationship between service quality and user satisfaction
respectively, which was greater than ride-sharing services (Haddad et al., 2019;
0.05(Bland & Altman, 1995). Hence, sub Man et al., 2019; Mikhaylov et al., 2015; Ojo
hypotheses H1c, and H1d has been rejected. et al., 2014). Information regarding
customers’ expectation form ride-sharing
Table 06: Regression Model Summary service providers discussed in a study by
Model R R2 Adjusted Std. Ghosh (2018) are found comparable with the
R Square Error of finding of current study. Linares et al. (2017)
the also found these factors as challenges for
Estimate operational success of the ride-sharing
1 .681a .645 .614 .12192 service. On the other hand, rejection of
Source: SPSS output hypotheses H1c and H1d provides an insight
that RSS service providers should work more
Table 07: ANOVA on the reliability and assurance dimensions.
Model Sum Df Mea F Sig
Different studies on disruptive technology
of n Statis . like ride-sharing services came out with
Squa Squ tic these suggestions also (Ghosh, 2019; Haddad
res are et al., 2019; Islam et al., 2019). Some recent
1 Regres 46.93 5 9.38 24.37 .00 incidents of criminal activities using RSSs
sion 2 6 5 0a made users agonized about the service
Residu 65.07 16 .385 quality of RSSs. Moreover, before taking the
al 9 9 initiatives of vehicle registration by BRTA
Total 112.0 17 people having a driving license could easily
11 4 register and earn money by sharing their
Source: SPSS output
personal vehicles. This result showed in
many cases of unprofessionalism.
Table 08: Coefficients Punctuality of the drivers and failure in
Model Unstandardized Standardized t Sig. delivering promised services were also the
Coefficients Coefficients
B Std. Beta
reasons for creating dissatisfied users.
Error Therefore, RSS providers have many things
1 (Constant) 1.361 .373 3.652 .000 to improve in bringing reliability and
Tangibility .171 .078 .164 2.192 .030
Responsiveness .149 .071 .144 2.095 .038 assurance back in the users’ satisfaction
Reliability .010 .065 .010 .157 .876 spectrum. It will consequently help to attract
Assurance .061 .060 .064 1.027 .306 more potential users of RSSs and improve
Empathy .626 .068 .611 9.268 .000
Source: SPSS output their customer-base among Bangladeshi
community. These insights were parallel
4.5 Discussion with the findings of different studies on the
same topics (Chaudhry et al., 2018; Edelman
Acceptance of hypotheses H1a, H1b, and & Geradin, 2015; Ghosh, 2018; R. Kumar et
H1e indicates that tangibility, al., 2019; Ok et al., 2018).
responsiveness, and empathy dimensions
were significantly influential to the RSS 5. IMPLICATIONS
users’ level of satisfaction in Bangladesh.
Currently, users were satisfied with RSSs’ Findings of the study may contribute to the
physical facilities, professionalism of drivers area of RSS theoretically, methodologically
and service providers, customer support, and practically. In case of theoretical
convenient operating hour etc. Therefore, contribution, this study may enrich the
RSS providers should maintain such literature on RSS and related terms.
consistent quality in tangibility, Methodologically, use of SERVQUAL
responsiveness, and empathy dimensions. dimensions in analyzing the RSS users’
These findings are also discussed as satisfaction may give the future researchers
significant by other studies on app based some research insights in research design.
Practically, ride-sharing service providers
43
Tonmoy et al.
may get insights to make their user Transportation Economics, 69, 573–582.
experience better in SERVQUAL Agatz, N., Erera, A., Savelsbergh, M., & Wang,
dimensions and reduce service related X. (2012). Optimization for dynamic ride-
deficiencies with special focus on the sharing: A review. European Journal of
Operational Research, 223(2), 295–303.
reliability and assurance dimensions. Arokiasamy, A. R. A., & Huam, H. T. (2014).
Assessing the relationship between service
6. CONCLUSION quality and customer satisfaction in the
This study aimed to explore the influence of Malaysian automotive insurance industry.
service quality dimensions on the satisfaction Middle-East Journal of Scientific Research,
20(9), 1023–1030.
level of RSS users in Bangladesh and
Balachandran, I., & Hamzah, I. Bin. (2017). The
empirical evidence is being provided through influence of customer satisfaction on ride-
this study. The mean value of the user sharing services in Malaysia. International
satisfaction construct indicates that user Journal of Accounting and Business
satisfaction on RSS is above satisfactory Management, 5(2), 184–196.
level. However, the result of the regression Ben-Dor, G., Ben-Elia, E., & Benenson, I. (2019).
analysis supports the three service quality Determining an optimal fleet size for a
dimensions’ influence on the satisfaction reliable shared automated vehicle ride-
level of RSS users and the dimensions are sharing service. Procedia Computer
Science, 151, 878–883.
tangibles, responsiveness, and empathy. On
Bitner, M. J., & Hubbert, A. R. (1994). Encounter
the other hand, reliability and assurance satisfaction versus overall satisfaction
dimensions are not significantly correlated versus quality. Service Quality: New
with user satisfaction. It represents an insight Directions in Theory and Practice, 34(2),
that RSS providers should pay more 72–94.
attentions to these service quality dimensions Bland, J. M., & Altman, D. G. (1995). Multiple
in order to amplify better user experience so significance tests: the Bonferroni method.
that more potential users can be attracted and Bmj, 310(6973), 170.
retained. BRTA. (2018). Acts, Rules and Policies.
Www.Brta.Gov.Bd.
http://brta.portal.gov.bd/sites/default/files/fi
Limitations and Future Research
les/brta.portal.gov.bd/legislative_informati
This study has some limitations. Firstly, only on/7dca74c7_fe8c_46a3_8053_1ddc64676
SERVQUAL dimensions are used to explore 7aa/Ride Sharing Service Guideline 2017
their relationship with RSS users’ (Gazette).pdf
BRTA. (2019). List of Ride Sharing Companies.
satisfaction in Bangladesh. Hence, future
Www.Brta.Gov.Bd.
studies can include other service quality http://brta.portal.gov.bd/sites/default/files/fi
dimensions or works may be done on the les/brta.portal.gov.bd/page/1758a94f_5ca7
extension of SERVQUAL dimensions. _40bc_aa1e_a00bc47dbc6b/List of
Secondly, each construct has three approved Ridesharing Companies.pdf
measurement items in case of this study. Butt, M. M., & de Run, E. C. (2010). Private
Future studies can consider more items for healthcare quality: applying a SERVQUAL
each construct. Finally, this study is run on model. International Journal of Health
the basis of the people from Dhaka city. Care Quality Assurance, 23(7), 658–673.
Chaudhry, B., El-Amine, S., Shakshuki, E., &
More divisional cities covering RSSs can be
others. (2018). Passenger safety in ride-
included in the future studies in order to sharing services. Procedia Computer
make the findings more vibrant. Science, 130, 1044–1050.
Chorfi, H., AlAtee, A., AlOqeely, A., AlMutairi,
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