JOURNAL OF APPLIED BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS
Current Trends in Service Quality: A Transportation Sector Review
Author(s): Jeffrey Kennedy
Citation: Jeffrey Kennedy, (2017) "Current Trends in Service Quality: A Transportation Sector Review," Journal of Applied Business and Economics, Vol. 19, Iss.12, pp. 57-67
Article Type: Research paper
Publisher: North American Business Press
Abstract:
Studies have emphasized the influence a service employee has on customer perceptions of service quality.
Results indicate that employees’ positive and negative behaviors are highly correlated to customer
overall satisfaction (Kattara, Weheba, & El-said, 2008). Moreover, research indicates that many service
firms fail in delivering service quality to their customers; their frontline employees deliver inferior value
to the end user, and this attitude and interaction performed during the service encounter influences
customer perceptions of the service delivered. Although many studies have examined general quality
management practices, industry-specific studies on quality management practices and factors that
influence their success in the shipping industry are rather few (Cheng & Choy, 2007). This review hopes
to add to the body of knowledge by positing that truck drivers acting as frontline service employees, play
a fundamental role in a company’s assessment of service quality as these drivers deliver cargo to the end
user.