SERVICE QUALITY AS A PACKAGE: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO HETEROGENEOUS CONSUMERS?

The world of customer surveys is awash with satisfaction scales that assess the degree of satisfaction of each attribute independently of the levels offered by other attributes that represent the package of services provided by a transport supplier. While not denying the potential usefulness of many data collection methods, if service providers are to establish a mechanism for prioritizing the improvements in services that produce the greatest gain in consumer satisfaction, it makes good sense to understand the relationships between the attributes, given a knowledge of the weights that individuals place on each attribute. These weights represent the relative importance of an attribute in the overall determination of the satisfaction (or utility) level associated with a specific package of service attribute levels. In contrast satisfaction indicators provide little information on the importance of each attribute (one can be very satisfied with the cleanliness of a bus or train yet it is very low on the list in terms of its importance in the global measure of service quality). This paper builds on the previous research on the development of an integrated service quality index (SQI) and how it can be used to prioritize the user-based benefits from operator-driven service improvements. Contextual and socio-economic differences in the SQI index that provide useful guidance to operators in targeting the changes in services so as to maximize service effectiveness for a specific investment outlay are established.

• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/0080442749
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Full conference proceedings available on CD-ROM. Title on CD-ROM provided as: 9th World Congress on Transport Research.
• Corporate Authors:

  Elsevier

  The Boulevard, Langford Lane
  Kidlington, Oxford  United Kingdom  OX5 1GB
• Authors:
  • Hensher, D A
• Conference:
  • Selected Proceedings of the 9th World Conference on Transport Research
  • Location: Seoul, Korea
  • Date: 2001-7-22 to 2001-7-27
• Publication Date: 2001

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 20p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Consumers; Customer satisfaction; Data collection; Heterogeneity; Improvements; Indexes (Information management); Quality control; Quality of service; Serviceability; Suppliers; Urban transit; Utility theory
• Subject Areas: Administration and Management; Design; Economics; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; Society; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00970726
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0080442749
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 12 2004 12:00AM