The effect of service quality on customer satisfaction in railway transport service in Ethio-Djibouti

Service quality (SQ) plays an important role as a driver of customer satisfaction (CS). This paper attempts to assess the effects of SQ on CS in the Ethio-Djibouti railway transport service. A questionnaire was constructed with 42 SQ items covering 8 SQ dimensions using the ServQual model with additional dimensions added by the researchers. A total of 251 respondents were taken using the convenience sampling technique to collect the required data. Minitab software has been used to perform the data analysis and interpretation. As the finding shows, there is a gap between customers’ perceptions and expectations of SQ in the transport service. As a result, reliability, assurance, service delivery, empathy and tangibility contributed a higher value to CS, and comfort and social responsibility a higher value contribution to CS. Therefore, the provider has to focus on improving the SQ to bring CS.