The effects of service quality, image, and customer satisfaction on customer complaints and loyalty in high-speed rail service in Turkey: a proposal of the structural equation model

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis study proposes a structural equation model for delineating the factors affecting the loyalty of passengers travelling by high-speed rail between Eskişehir and Ankara, the capital of Turkey, and between Ankara and Konya, the geographically largest and seventh most densely populated province of Turkey, as well as the structural relationships between such factors. In the proposed structural model, functional service quality and technical service quality are defined as the exogenous latent variables, and corporate image, customer satisfaction, customer complaint, and customer loyalty are defined as the endogenous latent variables. It was concluded that as the perception of customers with positive attitudes towards corporate image in relation to the quality of functional and technical services increases, their satisfaction and loyalty increase as well. Furthermore, it was estimated that a one-unit increase in customer satisfaction results in a 0.76-unit decrease in customer complaints and a 0.97-unit increase in customer loyalty.