Influence of service quality on customer satisfaction in the express bus service in Terengganu / Tuan Nur Aiman Tuan Kamaruddin, Hairil Azmie Che Harun and Azmi Mat

Customer satisfaction can be achieved through high service quality and it is very important for the business especially to the service provider. A happy and satisfied customer will not just encourage them to make a repeat order but they also will promote it to the others. This situation is essential and good for the company to sustain in the market while generate continuable profit. Hence, it is crucial for the service provider to take necessary action to meet their customer need and make them happy with the provided services. This basic research applies quantitative approach with the aims to identify which element in service quality contribute the most towards customer satisfaction in the express bus services in Terengganu. The SERVQUAL dimensions was used to determine customer satisfaction level. There are seven independent variables been examined which consist of service reliability, assurance, safety, comfort, empathy, tangibility, and responsiveness. The Five- point Likert Scale questionnaire was used to collect the data. Later, the collected data from 432 respondent had been analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software to find the most dominant factor contribute to customer satisfaction. The analysis revealed that quality of the services really correlated with satisfaction of the customer. However, only five factors have significant relationship with customer satisfaction. Comfort is the most influential factor affecting the satisfaction level followed by empathy, assurance, reliability, and responsiveness became the least. Meanwhile, tangibility and safety are found to did not give significant relationship with customer satisfaction. The study proposes the express bus provider to continue to provide better service quality especially by providing comfortable journey experience to their passenger. Strategy by replacing old fleet with new and modem buses after certain period of time especially with three-seater arrangement may increase the comfort level of the passenger. Build in Wi-Fi facilities in the bus can become a plus since nowadays everyone already go mobile.