RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SERVICE QUALITY AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION: A CASE STUDY OF PASSENGER SERVICES AT ENTEBBE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT- UGANDA

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction; a case study of passenger services at Entebbe International Airport, Uganda. Considering that, Entebbe International Airport (EIA) as a service industry has put in place measures to ensure provision of better services to its customers by increasing service assurance, service reliability and service responsiveness which can translate into quality service, consequentially enhancing customer satisfaction; yet, the quality of service provision at EIA was still relatively poor and had manifested itself in terms of delay of flights, poor facility management, long queues, high pricing measures, customer complaints, limited trust on employees and poor positioning of services in clients’ minds. There was need to examine the influence of service responsiveness, service reliability, and service assurance on customer satisfaction at EIA. A cross sectional survey design was employed on a population of 100 people comprising: passengers, passenger handlers, quality managers, operations officers, information desk officers, and marketing manager, operations manager, General Manager. A sample of 80 was determined by Krejcie and Morgan Table and selected using simple random sampling and purposive sampling techniques. Surveys, interviews and documentary reviews were the data collection methods that were employed to collect data in self-administered questionnaires and interview guides. The data was analysed using SPSS for measures of central tendency, frequencies, correlations and regression values. Service quality was found to explain up to 78.6% of the variability in customer satisfaction, and data on service quality statistically significantly predicted customer satisfaction (F(3, 57) = 23.121, p < .05). The statistics analysis further revealed that, customer satisfaction was statistically significantly improved by 0.573, 0.524, and 0.285 as results of unit improvements in service responsiveness, service reliability, and service assurance respectively (p < 0.05). The study recommended quick response to customers’ requests, effective supervision of the delivery of quality services at EIA, and that, EIA should create an automated diagnostic system for identification of faults and prompt resolving of arising issues so as to minimize service down time at EIA.