Browsing by Author "Asaah, Sunny"

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    The impact of service quality on customer satisfaction: a case of intercity STC coaches
    (2009-06-16) Asaah, Sunny
    This study represents an empirical assessment of service quality and customer satisfaction in ISTC. The general purpose of this study was to examine the current perceptions of ISTC bus service quality of customers. It was also to examine the service parameters that delivers satisfaction to customers and to examine the extent to which ISTC have delivered these parameters. SERVQUAL, an instrument frequently employed to assess the quality of customer services was used in ISTC, a road transport organization to identify the factors that impact on customer satisfaction. In addition, the study explored the impact of service quality delivery on customer satisfaction, as well as the implications of perceived service quality on ISTC's business and recommended options to retaining and growing repeat patronage of ISTC service. The study used the survey method to elicit the appropriate responses from respondents. Respondents were customers of ISTC from selected regions of Ghana where the company provides service. The results indicate that the SERVQUAL instrument with five-dimensions provides good measurement of service quality in the context of the transportation business. Secondly, service quality had a positive impact on customer satisfaction. The impact on satisfaction was service expectation, reliability, recent service experience and more especially safety. This shows that safety is ISTC's most important factor to customer satisfaction. It can also be inferred that respondent's attitude towards ISTC was favorable because of the safety factor and that there is the need to seriously improve on reliability, customer relations and the systematization of service delivery - the processes, procedures, systems and technology that make a service faultless. The results also indicated that the two constructs (quality and satisfaction) are indeed independent but are closely related, implying that an increase in one is likely to lead to an increase in another. The study concluded that service quality dimensions are direct antecedents to customers' satisfaction and that when improved can serve as a differentiating tool for the service provider vis-a-vis competitors.