Passenger satisfaction with cleanliness and other service quality dimensions and gender as a moderator: Evidence from Indian Railways

Vasanthi, Magheswari Gopal; Soundrarajan, Vasanthi; Nawaz, Nishad; Gajendran, Vijayakumar; Parayitam, Satyanarayana Article Passenger satisfaction with cleanliness and other service quality dimensions and gender as a moderator: Evidence from Indian Railways Cogent Business & Management Provided in Cooperation with: Taylor & Francis Group Suggested Citation: Vasanthi, Magheswari Gopal; Soundrarajan, Vasanthi; Nawaz, Nishad; Gajendran, Vijayakumar; Parayitam, Satyanarayana (2023) : Passenger satisfaction with cleanliness and other service quality dimensions and gender as a moderator: Evidence from Indian Railways, Cogent Business & Management, ISSN 2331-1975, Taylor & Francis, Abingdon, Vol. 10, Iss. 1, pp. 1-21, https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2023.2183568 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/294311 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. 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If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=oabm20 Cogent Business & Management ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: www.tandfonline.com/journals/oabm20 Passenger satisfaction with cleanliness and other service quality dimensions and gender as a moderator: Evidence from Indian Railways Magheswari Gopal Vasanthi, Vasanthi Soundrarajan, Nishad Nawaz, Vijayakumar Gajendran & Satyanarayana Parayitam To cite this article: Magheswari Gopal Vasanthi, Vasanthi Soundrarajan, Nishad Nawaz, Vijayakumar Gajendran & Satyanarayana Parayitam (2023) Passenger satisfaction with cleanliness and other service quality dimensions and gender as a moderator: Evidence from Indian Railways, Cogent Business & Management, 10:1, 2183568, DOI: 10.1080/23311975.2023.2183568 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2023.2183568 © 2023 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license. Published online: 01 Mar 2023. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 3187 View related articles View Crossmark data MANAGEMENT | RESEARCH ARTICLE Passenger satisfaction with cleanliness and other service quality dimensions and gender as a moderator: Evidence from Indian Railways Magheswari Gopal Vasanthi 1 , Vasanthi Soundrarajan 2 , Nishad Nawaz 3 *, Vijayakumar Gajendran 4 and Satyanarayana Parayitam 5 Abstract: The present study’s objective is to examine the customer satisfaction on cleanliness and other service quality dimensions in Indian Railways. In addition, gender as a moderator in the relationship between various service quality dimensions and passenger satisfaction is studied. The data was collected from 544 passengers in the Tiruchirappalli railway station (Southern Railway Zone). The data was collected between September 2021 and December 2021, soon after the restoration of services after the global pandemic. Data was collected while taking precautions of social distancing and by wearing facemasks. A structured instrument SERVQUAL was used, and the results indicate that passengers were satisfied with the tangibility, assurance, and reliability dimensions of service quality. We performed regressions showing the relationship between service quality variables and passenger satisfaction. We also studied gender as a moderator in the relationship between the five service quality dimensions and passenger satisfaction. The results indicate that gender moderates the relationship between tangibility and customer satisfaction and reliability and passenger satisfaction. The implications for management are discussed. Subjects: Quality Management; Human Resource Management; Behavioural Management Keywords: SERVQUAL Indian Railways; passenger satisfaction; gender 1. Introduction Starting on 16 April 1853, when the first train took off from Mumbai to Thane (33-km journey), Indian Railways became the fourth most extensive network globally, covering over 68,000 miles and meeting the needs of over one million 25 million passengers on average every day. In addition to passenger trains, Indian Railways provides freight, parcel services, and tourism. Indian Railways has 293,077 freight wagons, 12,729 locomotives, 76,608 passenger coaches, and 1.3 million employees (”Indian Railways Year-Book” 2019-”2020). Since several thousands of passengers travel daily, it is essential to assess the quality of services provided by the trains. Furthermore, as air transportation has become affordable, passengers weigh the quality of services and convenience in train journeys with flight travel. With the increase in competition in transport from Airconditioned road transportation and air transportation, Railways attempt to satisfy the passenger by providing quality services in terms of ticketing, reservation, convenient seating and berth facilities, catering in the train, and cleanliness, and so on. Despite the efforts of railway staff to increase amenities and facilities, complaints from passengers have become a regular feature. Some complaints include a lack of cleanliness in washrooms, Gopal Vasanthi et al., Cogent Business & Management (2023), 10: 2183568 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2023.2183568 Page 1 of 21 Received: 20 June 2022 Accepted: 19 February 2023 *Corresponding author: Nishad Nawaz, Department of Business Management, College of Business Administration, Kingdom University, Bahrain E-mail: [email protected] Reviewing editor: Richard Wickramaratne, Department of Human Resource Management, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka Additional information is available at the end of the article © 2023 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license. unhygienic conditions, safety, and overcrowding (Devi Prasad & Raja Shekhar, 2010; Kumar & Jain, 2017; Priyadharshini & Muthusamy, 2017). Some passengers also complain about seat conditions, spacing between the seats, behavior of railway staff, and so on, and recommend that employees undergo training. These complaints indicate that the passengers were unsatisfied with the service quality’s tangibility and empathy dimensions (Balakrishnan, 2012). A growing body of research has unraveled the problems associated with service quality in trains and suggested that railway authorities make improvements (a summary of previous studies is mentioned in Table 1). Assessing service quality in various service-based industries has been one of the widely used research areas in marketing. Ever since the publication of the seminal measure of service quality (popularly known as SERVQUAL), researchers for over three decades have examined the service quality using the SERVQUAL measure (Narteh, 2018; G. Wu et al., 2021; Zeithaml et al., 1988; Zygiaris et al., 2022). SERVQUAL measures focus on five dimensions: tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. The present study examines the SERVQUAL in Indian Railways, one of India’s largest public sector organizations, to see whether passengers are satisfied with the quality of services provided by Indian Railways. 1.1. Rationale for the present study, research gap, and research questions Several studies were conducted on service quality in Indian Railways in various locations, and the results have been presented in Table 1. Most of the studies supported that out of five service quality dimensions, only two or three of them were met by Indian Railways. In contrast, a small number of studies reported that all five service quality dimensions contributed to passenger satisfaction. Digging up the literature review, we gather that many studies conducted on Indian Railways focused on the effect of service quality dimensions on customer satisfaction. However, no study has explored whether satisfaction is homogeneous or different across genders. Since past researchers have documented gender differences in processing information by customers and subsequent purchase behaviors (Sharma et al., 2012; Sun & Qu, 2011), it can be argued that gender may play a vital role in customer satisfaction. As no previous study, to our knowledge, has explored gender as a moderator in the relationship between various service quality dimensions and customer satisfaction, especially in connection with Indian Railways, we attempt to bridge this gap. More specifically, we address the following research questions: RQ 1: How perceived service quality is related to passenger satisfaction? RQ 2: How does gender moderates in the relationship between service quality and passenger satisfaction? ‘ 2. Theoretical background and hypotheses development The theoretical background for the study comes from SERVQUAL of Parasuraman et al. (1985). The basic tenet of SERVQUAL is that the customers rate their perception and expectations about the service and assign a numerical weight to five categories of service quality dimensions (Parasuraman et al., 1988). The measurement tool has become globally popular in almost all service industries; the tool is used to assess service quality. 2.1. Service quality dimensions In their seminal piece, Parasuraman et al. (1985) advocated that service quality is a multidimensional construct consisting of five dimensions: tangibility, responsiveness, reliability, assurance, and empathy. Research over the past three decades has produced an impressive mass of studies applying service quality dimensions to customer satisfaction in various service industries (Narteh, 2018; Shainesh & Mathur, 2000; Sofyani et al., 2020; Yilmaz et al., 2018). For example, the effect of service quality on customer satisfaction has been studied across diverse service industries, such as the hotel industry (Alnawas & Hemsley-Brown, 2019; Ren et al., 2015), banking Gopal Vasanthi et al., Cogent Business & Management (2023), 10: 2183568 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2023.2183568 Page 2 of 21 Table 1. Summary of previous studies conducted in India and other countries in rail transport sector Researchers Country Year Data SERVQUAL (dimensions which received support) Shainesh & Mathur India 2000 12 industrial customers; Mumbai Railway Station Safety and fast delivery Prasad India 2007 South Central Railway: customers 70% of customers were satisfied with service quality Cavana et al., New Zealand 2007 Customer rail service quality Assurance, responsiveness, and empathy Vanniarajan & Stephen India 2008 Southern Zone Reliability and responsiveness Agarwal India 2008 Lucknow zone Tangibility and reliability Rahaman & Rahaman Bangladesh 2009 Southwest zone Reliability and safety Devi Prasad & Raja Shekhar India 2010 South Central Zone Tangibility and reliability Geetika and Shefali Nandan India 2010 Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh) Reliability and Tangibility Bharathi India 2010 Coimbatore (Southern Zone) Safety and reliability Liou &Tsao Taiwan 2010 Taiwan Railways, and Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation Safety and reliability Saputra Sweden 2010 AB Rail service of Sweden All factors were significant Awasthia et al., Canada 2011 Metro Transportation in Montreal All factors were significant Wu et al., Taiwan 2014 Taiwan high speed rail sector Reliability, assurance, responsiveness Agunloye & Oduwaye Nigeria 2011 Lagos metropolitan, Nigeria Tangibility and reliability Rajaram India 2011 Trivandrum and Ernakulam in Kerala Empathy and reliability Vishnuvarthani & Selvaraj India 2012 Salem in Southern Railway Zone Tangibility and reliability Gandhimathi & Saravanan India 2013 Coimbatore Railways Station Tangibility and reliability Sharma &Yadav India 2013 Ujjain city All variables were excellent Anuradha India 2014 Southern Railway (Erode) Empathy and reliability Rajeshwari & Elangovan India 2014 Salem Railway station (Southern Railways) Tangibility and reliability Hundal & Kumar India 2015 Northern Railways Tangibility and empathy (Continued) Gopal Vasanthi et al., Cogent Business & Management (2023), 10: 2183568 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2023.2183568 Page 3 of 21 industry (Chang et al., 2017; Karatepe et al., 2005; Teeroovengadum, 2020), tourism (Srivastava & Kumar, 2021). In addition to direct effects, some scholars examined the mediating role of affective commitment in explaining the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction (Bahadur et al., 2018). 2.2. Tangibility and passenger satisfaction Tangibles are things that can be seen, touched, and physically exist. The tangibility dimension includes the organization’s physical facilities, materials, equipment, environmental conditions, communication, and so on, which consumers can observe and feel (Davis et al., 2003; Fitzsimmons & Fitzsimmons, 2014). In the context of service quality in railways, tangibles refer to the lighting, air-conditioning, seating arrangement, and service. Therefore, the quality and usability of tangibles are significant dimensions of service quality. Extant research documented a significant positive relationship between the tangible dimension of service quality and customer satisfaction (Agarwal, 2008; Gandhimathi & Saravanan, 2013; Mageshwarii & Vasanthi, 2020; Maheswari & Dinesh Kumar, 2016). In addition, the tangibility dimension has been associated with customer satisfaction in several industries (Belás & Gabčová, 2016; Boonitt & Rompho, 2012; Cameran et al., 2010; Kaura et al., 2015; Ranjan et al., 2020). Based on the above, we hypothesize: H1: “Tangibles” of services has a significant positive impact on passenger satisfaction. 2.3. Reliability and passenger satisfaction Reliability is concerned with the ability to provide committed services to customers’ satisfaction. Customers need to feel that the services are reliable and trustworthy. In this study, reliability was operationalized in terms of the railways (for that matter, any organization) meeting the promises made to customers (or customers). In other words, reliability deals with the commitment of services promised to be delivered to customers. Attending to the customers’ needs as and when required vouch for reliability. For example, maintaining timings of arrival and departure of trains at the scheduled time, while barring exceptions to delays due to unavoidable causes, contributes to reliability. Several researchers documented a positive relationship between the “reliability” dimension of service quality to customer satisfaction (Han et al., 2021; Lee & Moghavvemi, 2015; Table 1. (Continued) Researchers Country Year Data SERVQUAL (dimensions which received support) Maheswari & Dinesh Kumar India 2016 Coimbatore Junction (Southern Railway Zone) Tangibility and responsiveness Sathyanarayana & Sreenath India 2017 Southwestern Zone Tangibility and responsiveness Anantha Lakshmi & Murugesan India 2018 Southern Zone Empathy, reliability Mageshwari & Vasanthi India 2020 Southern Zone Tangibility, responsiveness, and empathy Ranjan et al., India 2020 Northern Railway Tangibility, responsiveness, and empathy Gopal Vasanthi et al., Cogent Business & Management (2023), 10: 2183568 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2023.2183568 Page 4 of 21 Mageshwarii & Vasanthi, 2020; Priyadharshini & Muthusamy, 2017). In a study conducted in the hotel industry in Vietnam, Minh et al. (2015) found that reliability was positively associated with customer satisfaction. Based on the above arguments, we hypothesize: H2: “Reliability” of services has a significant positive impact on passenger satisfaction. 2.4. Responsiveness and passenger satisfaction Responsiveness refers organization’s ability to be flexible in providing services as demanded by a changing environment. In a recent study conducted by Ranjan et al. (2020), it was found that responsiveness on the part of the railway staff (Indian Railways) was an essential factor contributing to passenger satisfaction. A recent study conducted in supermarkets in Fiji found that service quality is positively related to customer satisfaction, increasing customer loyalty (Slack & Singh, 2020). Earlier, researchers found a positive association between responsiveness and customer satisfaction (Balakrishnan, 2012; Bharathi, 2010; Kumar & Jain, 2017). In a study conducted in military peacekeeping missions in Malaysia, it was found that responsiveness is positively related to customer satisfaction (Ismail et al., 2013). Available research evidence suggests that responsiveness is expected to be associated with customer satisfaction, though, in some studies, the relationship is not established (Anantha Lakshmi & Murugesan, 2018; Rajaram, 2011). Since the majority of studies reported a positive relationship between responsiveness and customer satisfaction, we hypothesize: H3: “Responsiveness” of services has a significant positive impact on passenger satisfaction. 2.5. Assurance and passenger satisfaction Assurance is concerned with building trust in the organization by providing quality service. When employees of Railways deal with professionalism and create unflinching trust among the passengers, the quality of services promised is provided. The positive association between assurance and customer satisfaction has been reported by several studies (Ismail et al., 2013; Saputra, 2010; Sharma & Yadav, 2013), though in some studies, the positive relationship was not documented (Mageshwarii & Vasanthi, 2020; Vishnuvarthani & Selvaraj, 2012). In their research on customer satisfaction at Ujjain Railway station, Sharma and Yadav (2013) reported that all five service quality dimensions were associated with passenger satisfaction. In another study conducted at Coimbatore Railways station, the findings indicated that passengers were satisfied with the assurance dimension of service quality (Maheswari & Dinesh Kumar, 2016). As an essential, Parasuraman et al. (1985, 1988) contend that assurances provided by organizations would enhance customer satisfaction. Based on available evidence, we hypothesize: H4:“Assurance” of services has a significant positive impact on passenger satisfaction. 2.6. Empathy and passenger satisfaction Empathy is concerned with understanding what customers want and seeing the services from customers’ viewpoints. Organizations need to consider every individual customer and attend to their requirements. Empathy was positively associated with customer satisfaction and loyalty (Fida et al., 2020). In studies on Indian Railways, several researchers documented that empathy was a critical dimension contributing to passenger satisfaction (Anantha Lakshmi & Murugesan, 2018; Hundal & Kumar, 2015; Vishnuvarthani & Selvaraj, 2012). Empathy is concerned with how organizations show personal attention to every potential customer and attend to their needs. In Indian Railways, empathy reflects how the railway staff offers concern to the customers, how they serve to change customers’ needs, how they maintain timings according to the convenience of customers, and so on. For example, introducing special trains during the busy summer season, where Gopal Vasanthi et al., Cogent Business & Management (2023), 10: 2183568 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2023.2183568 Page 5 of 21 many customers go on summer vacation and pilgrimage and adding additional coaches for customers’ convenience show empathy towards customers. Realizing the needs of passengers, Indian Railways adds other coaches and special trains during rush (Hundal & Kumar, 2015). In addition, many studies documented that passengers are satisfied with the empathy dimension of service quality. Based on the above, we hypothesize: H5: “Empathy” of services has a significant positive impact on passenger satisfaction. 2.7. Obstacles and passenger satisfaction As with any service organization, passengers in Indian Railways also encounter some obstacles. These may include problems regarding ticketing and parcel booking, timely refunding of money for canceled tickets, facilities in the waiting rooms, safety in cloakrooms, and so on. For example, in a recent study conducted in Madurai city in the Southern Zone of Indian Railways, Makesh and Mathankumar (2018) documented that passengers faced problems with ticketing facilities, insufficient rolling stock, and rolling stock and disturbance of beggars inside the coaches. In another study by Johnson (2019), it was reported that some of the problems passengers face in Kerala state included cleanliness in washrooms and inadequate water facilities. Based on these, we hypothesize: H6: Obstacles are negatively associated with passenger satisfaction. 2.8. Moderation hypotheses In addition to direct hypotheses, we propose that gender plays a vital role in changing the direct relationship between service quality dimensions and passenger satisfaction. In the marketing literature, gender has been considered a significant variable in influencing profitability and customer satisfaction (Juwaheer, 2011; Peter & Olson, 2010; Ryan et al., 1998). Some researchers examined the influence of gender on customer satisfaction found that women were more satisfied with service quality than men (Kwok et al., 2016). Researchers on gender argue that how information is perceived, interpreted, and acted upon differs for females than males (Karatepe, 2011). Biological and physical differences apart, women tend to differ from males in assessing product quality attributes and how they engage in purchasing behavior (Karatepe, 2011). In a recent study conducted in the banking industry in Mauritius, it was reported that gender differences are significant for males compared to women (Teeroovengadum, 2020). The role of gender in influencing consumption patterns and analyzing satisfaction from services stems from socialization and self-construal theories. Women tend to process information in an integrative way. Men tend to overlook the service attributes (Darley & Smith, 1995). Several researchers provided empirical evidence that gender differences exist while evaluating the service attributes and customer satisfaction (Iacobucci & Ostrom, 1993). Therefore, based on the above, we offer the following hypotheses: H1a: Gender moderates the relationship between Tangibles and passenger satisfaction H2a: Gender moderates the relationship between reliability and passenger satisfaction H3a: Gender moderates the relationship between responsiveness and passenger satisfaction H4a: Gender moderates the relationship between assurance and passenger satisfaction H5a: Gender moderates the relationship between empathy and passenger satisfaction Gopal Vasanthi et al., Cogent Business & Management (2023), 10: 2183568 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2023.2183568 Page 6 of 21 The Conceptual model is presented in Figure 1. 3. Method 3.1. Sample The sample for the present study consists of passengers traveling in Air-Conditioned coaches in Indian Railways. Tiruchirappalli Railway Station was selected for collecting data. Eighty-six express trains are originating, destined, and passing through the Tiruchirappalli railway junction. We selected six express trains randomly from various directions, which constitute 30 express trains that comprise two express trains, each operating daily, weekly once, and weekly twice and more. We contacted the passengers in Railways Station, who were waiting for the trains, and distributed the surveys. Since surveys were not lengthy, the average time taken by passengers was 15 minutes. After 15–20 minutes, we collected the completed surveys by the passengers. Since customers arrive at the railway station at least half an hour to 45 minutes before departure, they have ample time to complete surveys. It took 3 months for us to collect data from the respondents. In all, 576 surveys were collected and found that 32 were incomplete and deleted from the analysis. The final sample consisted of responses from 544 passengers. 3.2. Measures The perceived service quality dimensions were measured using SERVQUAL dimensions, viz., tangibility, responsiveness, reliability, service assurance, and empathy, adopted from Parasuraman et al. (1988). These were measured on the Likert type 5-point scale (“1” represending “strongly disagree” and “5” representing “strongly agree”). Tangibility was measured with four items, and the reliability coefficient of tangibility was 0.739. Reliability was measured with five items, and the Cronbach's alpha for the reliability measure was 0.615. Responsiveness was measured with four items, and the reliability coefficient was 0.684. Assurance was measured with four items with a reliability coefficient of 0.712. Empathy was measured with five items with a reliability coefficient of 0.814. Customer satisfaction was measured with 10 items with a reliability coefficient of 0.712. Obstacles were measured with 16 items with a reliability coefficient of 0.798. The indicators of all constructs were mentioned in Appendix A. Figure 1. The Conceptual Model. Gopal Vasanthi et al., Cogent Business & Management (2023), 10: 2183568 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2023.2183568 Page 7 of 21 Moreover, the researchers have taken personal care to explain to the customers that the purpose of the survey is to examine whether the customers are happy with the service quality with Indian Railways. Second, the sample was confined to the southern region of Indian Railways, and hence the findings may not be generalizable across other areas in India. However, the Indian Railways come under the centralized control of the Government of India, managed by the Ministry of Railways; administrators may consider the suggestions from customers and academicians to improve the working conditions for passengers’ satisfaction. The third important limitation of this study is the use of 22-item measure to capture service quality instead of 44-item measure advocated by Parasuraman et al. (1988). However, several researchers in the recent past have used short measure as the indicator show high level of reliability. Fourth, we added two new variables in addition to the service quality dimensions in this research: obstacles and gender. While the negative impact of obstacles on passenger satisfaction was investigated, gender as a moderator in the relationship between service quality dimensions and passenger satisfaction was examined. Thus, this research adds to the growing body of the literature on service quality. Fifth, in addition to gender, it is also likely that income may moderate the relationship between service quality dimensions and passenger satisfaction, which we did not consider in this study. Future researchers may focus on the variables we did not include in this research. 5.4. Conclusion The conceptual model developed and tested in this research provides a bird’s eye view of passenger satisfaction with the service quality provided by Indian Railways. The data collected from 544 passengers from southern India revealed that four out of five dimensions of service quality are significantly related to passenger satisfaction. This study also revealed gender differences in passenger satisfaction concerning two of the dimensions: tangibility and reliability. As service quality is an essential driver of customer satisfaction, the suggestions from the present study would help the administrators of Indian Railways identify the problems associated with service quality and take necessary corrective actions. It is a real challenge for the administrators to improve the quality of services for passengers’ satisfaction. Despite some problems, Indian Railways remains one of the vital components of public transportation, serving the needs of several millions of passengers every day. Funding The authors received no direct funding for this research. Author details Magheswari Gopal Vasanthi 1 Vasanthi Soundrarajan 2 Nishad Nawaz 3 E-mail: [email protected] ORCID ID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4781-7993 Vijayakumar Gajendran 4 ORCID ID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0513-0010 Satyanarayana Parayitam 5 ORCID ID: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5565-4413 1 Department of Commerce, Bon Secours Arts and Science College for Women (Affiliated to Mother Theresa Women’s University), Dindigul. 2 School of Management Studies Holy Cross College (Autonomous), Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India. 3 Department of Business Management, College of Business Administration, Kingdom University, Bahrain. 4 Department of Commerce, Sir Theagaraya College, Chennai, India. 5 Charlton College of Business, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, 285 Old Westport Road, North Dartmouth, MA 02747, USA. Disclosure statement No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s). 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When passengers have problems, Railways is sympathetic and reassuring Railway is dependable Railways provides its services at the time it promises to do so Railways keeps its records accurately Responsiveness Railways tell their passenger exactly when services will be performed Passengers receive prompt service from Railway employees Employees of Railways are always willing to help the passengers Employees of Railways are not too busy to respond to passenger requests promptly Assurance Passengers can trust the employees of Railways Passengers feel safe in their transaction with Railway employees Railway Employees are polite Employees get adequate support from Railways to do their jobs well Empathy Railways give passengers’ individual attention Employees of Railway give passengers personal attention Employees of Railway knows the needs of the passengers Railways have the passengers’ interest at heart Railways have operating hours convenient to all their passengers Passenger Satisfaction Railways is a trustworthy and a secured service sector Passengers’ have reputed image on Railways Railways take good care and diligence to serve the passengers Railways staff are kind and humble Railways provide better and fast service with updated technology and communication system Passengers are endowed with neat and hygienic ambience Passengers experience safe and comfortable journey with railways (Continued) Gopal Vasanthi et al., Cogent Business & Management (2023), 10: 2183568 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2023.2183568 Page 18 of 21 Constructs Indicators Passengers feel zest and joy while travelling by train Railway services seems wiser for me Railways provide excellent services than other modes of transport Obstacles Adequate maintenance of basic and additional amenities User friendly ticket and parcel booking Immediate response for refunding of cancellation of tickets Adequate facilities are available in waiting and retiring rooms Cloak rooms are very safe to keep our luggage Electrical fittings, windows, doors, magazine racks and water bottle facilities inside the coach are properly maintained Availability of hygienic quality of food/ catering service, drinking water and refreshments facilities Pantry car services are easily accessible Punctuality in arrival and departure of trains Safety and security arrangements at stations and in coaches are adequate Seats and berths, luggage racks, flooring and ventilation inside the coach are comfortable Provision of good quality of bedding facility, curtains, screens etc Accurate information transmission about time schedule of train, platforms, sign board display, announcement, reservation charts, signals etc Assistance and information provided to senior citizens and disabled passengers Allocation of extra coaches during peak and festival seasons Pleasant and cordial travel with co-passengers make a memorable journey Gopal Vasanthi et al., Cogent Business & Management (2023), 10: 2183568 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2023.2183568 Page 19 of 21 Appendix B. Skewness and Kurtosis of the constructs Skewness Std. Error of Skewness Kurtosis Std. Error of Kurtosis Tangibility -0.356 0.105 -0.733 0.209 Reliability -0.242 0.105 0.369 0.209 Responsiveness -0.117 0.105 -0.592 0.209 Assurance -0.851 0.105 1.280 0.209 Empathy -0.647 0.105 -1.071 0.209 Passenger Satisfaction -0.279 0.105 0.351 0.209 Obstacles 0.063 0.105 -0.949 0.209 Gopal Vasanthi et al., Cogent Business & Management (2023), 10: 2183568 https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2023.2183568 Page 20 of 21 © 2023 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license. You are free to: Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format. Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms. 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