Gopal Vasanthi et al.

, Cogent Business & Management (2023), 10: 2183568

[Link]

MANAGEMENT | RESEARCH ARTICLE

Passenger satisfaction with cleanliness and other
service quality dimensions and gender as
a moderator: Evidence from Indian Railways
Received: 20 June 2022 Magheswari Gopal Vasanthi1, Vasanthi Soundrarajan2, Nishad Nawaz3*,
Accepted: 19 February 2023 Vijayakumar Gajendran4 and Satyanarayana Parayitam5

*Corresponding author: Nishad Nawaz, Abstract: The present study’s objective is to examine the customer satisfaction on
Department of Business Management,
College of Business Administration, cleanliness and other service quality dimensions in Indian Railways. In addition,
Kingdom University, Bahrain
E-mail: [Link]@[Link] gender as a moderator in the relationship between various service quality dimen­
sions and passenger satisfaction is studied. The data was collected from 544
Reviewing editor:
Richard Wickramaratne, passengers in the Tiruchirappalli railway station (Southern Railway Zone). The data
Department of Human Resource
Management, University of was collected between September 2021 and December 2021, soon after the
Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka restoration of services after the global pandemic. Data was collected while taking
Additional information is available at precautions of social distancing and by wearing facemasks. A structured instrument
the end of the article
SERVQUAL was used, and the results indicate that passengers were satisfied with
the tangibility, assurance, and reliability dimensions of service quality. We per­
formed 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 man­
agement 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 con­
venience in train journeys with flight travel. With the increase in competition in transport from Air-
conditioned 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 passen­
gers have become a regular feature. Some complaints include a lack of cleanliness in washrooms,

© 2023 The Author(s). This open access article is distributed under a Creative Commons
Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 license.

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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, respon­
siveness, 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 differ­
ences 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 multi-
dimensional construct consisting of five dimensions: tangibility, responsiveness, reliability, assur­
ance, 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 indus­
tries, such as the hotel industry (Alnawas & Hemsley-Brown, 2019; Ren et al., 2015), banking

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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 Safety and fast
customers; Mumbai delivery
Railway Station
Prasad India 2007 South Central 70% of customers
Railway: customers were satisfied with
service quality
Cavana et al., New Zealand 2007 Customer rail Assurance,
service quality responsiveness, and
empathy
Vanniarajan & India 2008 Southern Zone Reliability and
Stephen responsiveness
Agarwal India 2008 Lucknow zone Tangibility and
reliability
Rahaman & Bangladesh 2009 Southwest zone Reliability and
Rahaman safety
Devi Prasad & Raja India 2010 South Central Zone Tangibility and
Shekhar reliability
Geetika and Shefali India 2010 Allahabad (Uttar Reliability and
Nandan Pradesh) Tangibility
Bharathi India 2010 Coimbatore Safety and
(Southern Zone) reliability
Liou &Tsao Taiwan 2010 Taiwan Railways, Safety and
and Taiwan High reliability
Speed Rail
Corporation
Saputra Sweden 2010 AB Rail service of All factors were
Sweden significant
Awasthia et al., Canada 2011 Metro All factors were
Transportation in significant
Montreal
Wu et al., Taiwan 2014 Taiwan high speed Reliability,
rail sector assurance,
responsiveness
Agunloye & Nigeria 2011 Lagos metropolitan, Tangibility and
Oduwaye Nigeria reliability
Rajaram India 2011 Trivandrum and Empathy and
Ernakulam in Kerala reliability
Vishnuvarthani & India 2012 Salem in Southern Tangibility and
Selvaraj Railway Zone reliability
Gandhimathi & India 2013 Coimbatore Tangibility and
Saravanan Railways Station reliability
Sharma &Yadav India 2013 Ujjain city All variables were
excellent
Anuradha India 2014 Southern Railway Empathy and
(Erode) reliability
Rajeshwari & India 2014 Salem Railway Tangibility and
Elangovan station (Southern reliability
Railways)
Hundal & Kumar India 2015 Northern Railways Tangibility and
empathy

(Continued)

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Table 1. (Continued)

Researchers Country Year Data SERVQUAL

(dimensions
which received
support)
Maheswari & India 2016 Coimbatore Tangibility and
Dinesh Kumar Junction (Southern responsiveness
Railway Zone)
Sathyanarayana & India 2017 Southwestern Zone Tangibility and
Sreenath responsiveness
Anantha Lakshmi & India 2018 Southern Zone Empathy, reliability
Murugesan
Mageshwari & India 2020 Southern Zone Tangibility,
Vasanthi responsiveness, and
empathy
Ranjan et al., India 2020 Northern Railway Tangibility,
responsiveness, and
empathy

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” dimen­
sion of service quality to customer satisfaction (Han et al., 2021; Lee & Moghavvemi, 2015;

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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 contribut­
ing 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 respon­
siveness 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 satisfac­
tion, 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 passen­
gers, 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 organi­
zations 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 custo­
mers, and so on. For example, introducing special trains during the busy summer season, where

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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, insuffi­
cient 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 custo­
mer 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 informa­
tion 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 influen­
cing 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

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Figure 1. The Conceptual Model.

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., tangi­
bility, 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 mea­
sured 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.

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3.3. Demographics
Among the respondents, 287 (52.8%) were males, and 257 (47.2%) were females. Concerning
education, 151 (27.8%) were having high-school diploma, 57 (10.5%) had a vocational diploma,
208 (38.2%) had undergraduate bachelor’s degree, 88 (16.2%) had professional degrees, such as
Law, Chartered Accountancy, Company Secretary, and Cost Accountancy, and 40 (7.4%) did not
disclose their educational status. As far as occupation is concerned, 95 (17.5%) were students, 157
(28.9%) were employed, 84 (15.4%) were owning their business, 53 (9.7%) were professionals in
various fields, and 155 (28.5%) did not mention employment status.

4. Results
The descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations, and zero-order correlations) are mentioned
in Table 2.

A preliminary analysis of correlation among the variables reveals that correlations were less
than 0.8, suggesting that multicollinearity is not a problem with the data (Tsui et al., 1997). We
also checked for variance inflation factor (VIF) and found that VIF values were less than 5,
suggesting multicollinearity is not a problem (Hair et al., 2016). We also assessed the common
method bias by performing Harman’s single-factor analysis and found that a single factor
accounted for 20.05% variance, thus vouching for the absence of common method bias
(Podsakoff et al., 2003).

We also assessed the normality of the constructs and presented the results (skewness and
kurtosis) in Appendix B.

4.1. Hypotheses testing

We conducted hierarchical regression to test the hypotheses and presented the results in Table 3.

The first column in Table 3 shows the regression results of the effect of control variables and
service quality variables. The regression coefficient of tangibility (β = 0.288, p < 0.001), reliability
(β = 0.525, p < .001), responsiveness (β = 0.155, p < .001), assurance (β = 0.062; p < .05), and
empathy (β = —0.027; n.s.). The regression coefficient of obstacles was negative and significant
(β = −0.838; p < .001). The regression model was significant [R2 = 0.697; Adj R2 = 0.692;
F (9,534) = 136.59; p < .001]. These results support H1, H2, H3, H4, and H6.

Hypotheses 1a to 5a were about the “gender” as a moderator in the relationship between

perception of service quality dimensions and passenger satisfaction. The results of moderation
of gender were presented in Column 2 Table 3. The regression coefficients of interactive term
tangibility x gender (β = 0.245; p < .01), and reliability x gender (β = —.306; p < .001) were
significant. Other interactions (responsiveness and gender; assurance and gender; empathy and
gender) were not significant as can be seen in column 2 of Table 3. These results support H1a and
H2a and do not support H3a, H4a, and H5a.

The interaction plots are presented in Figures 2 and 3. As shown in Figure 2, at lower levels of
tangibility, females were more satisfied than males. As the level of tangibility increased from low
to high, males were more satisfied than females. There are significant differences in slopes, though
the slopes were positive, the line for males increases faster than for females. As the tangibility
increases, the gender differences are significant and hence support the moderating hypoth­
esis H1a.

Figure 3 depicts the moderation of gender in the relationship between responsiveness and
passenger satisfaction. At lower levels of responsiveness, females were more satisfied than
males, and as the level of responsiveness increased from low to high, males tended to get more
satisfaction when compared to males. These results render support for H2a.

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 Table 2. Descriptive Statistics: Means, standard deviations, and zero-order correlations
Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
[Link]

[Link] 37.20 13.41 1

[Link] 1.47 0.50 −0.082 1
[Link] 2.05 0.72 −0.016 −.122** 1
[Link] 3.98 0.62 0.053 −.110** −0.014 1
[Link] 3.80 0.53 .086* −0.083 0.057 0.753** 1
[Link] 3.72 0.62 0.046 −0.063 −0.005 0.600** 0.675** 1
Gopal Vasanthi et al., Cogent Business & Management (2023), 10: 2183568

[Link] 3.70 0.61 0.039 −0.069 0.016 0.732** 0.658** 0.648** 1

[Link] 3.48 0.88 0.064 −0.026 0.088* 0.722** 0.599** 0.580** 0.662** 1
[Link] 3.79 0.45 0.049 0.076 −0.029 −0.714** −0.564** −0.501** −0.517** −0.613** 1
10. Passenger 3.99 0.42 0.034 −0.071 −0.005 0.556** 0.459** 0.526** 0.383** 0.464** 0.574** 1
Satisfaction
Note: ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed); * Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

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Table 3. Results of hierarchical regression analysis of the effect of Service Quality Dimensions
on Passenger Satisfaction
Variables Column 1 Column 2
Dependent Variable Passenger Satisfaction Passenger Satisfaction
STEP 1 STEP 2
Age −0.008 −0.005
Gender −0.041 −0.057*
Income −0.033 −0.028
Tangibility 0.288*** 0.503***
Reliability 0.525*** 0.308***
Responsiveness 0.154*** 0.295***
Assurance 0.062* 0.130
Empathy −0.027 −0.037
Obstacles −0.838*** −0.829***
Tangibility x Gender 0.245**
Reliability x Gender −0.306***
Responsiveness x Gender 0.054
Assurance x Gender −0.077
Empathy x Gender −0.005
R2 0.697 0.705
2
Adj R 0.692 0.697
∆R2 0.008
F 136.59*** 97.14***
∆F 2.812**
df 9,534 14,529
Standardized beta coefficients are reported (“t” values and “p” values are in parenthesis).
*** p < .001; **p < .05

A summary of the results of the hypotheses testing is presented in Table 4.

5. Discussion
The objective of the present study is to empirically examine the impact of five dimensions of
service quality on passenger satisfaction in Indian Railways. In India, Railways play a significant
role in carrying passengers from one place to another. One of the fourth largest networks globally,
it is expected that Railways satisfy the passengers’ requirements.

First, the results from this research indicate that tangibility is positively and significantly related
to passenger satisfaction (Hypothesis 1), the finding consistent with the past studies in the
literature (Boonitt & Rompho, 2012; Kaura et al., 2015; Ranjan et al., 2020). Second, the positive
association between reliability and passenger satisfaction (Hypothesis 2) was supported in this
study, corroborating the results from past studies (Han et al., 2021; Lee & Moghavvemi, 2015;
Priyadharshini & Muthusamy, 2017). Third, the results supported the positive and significant
relationship between responsiveness and passenger satisfaction (Hypothesis 3), the findings add
results from the past studies in the literature (Kumar & Jain, 2017; Ranjan et al., 2020; Slack &
Singh, 2020). Fourth, this research empirically supported the positive association between assur­
ance and passenger satisfaction (Hypothesis 4), which is consistent with studies from the literature
(Mageshwarii & Vasanthi, 2020; Vishnuvarthani & Selvaraj, 2012). Fifth, the results did not support
the positive relationship between empathy and passenger satisfaction (Hypothesis 5), which is
contrary to the studies in the literature (Anantha Lakshmi & Murugesan, 2018; Hundal & Kumar,

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Figure 2. Gender as
a moderator in the relationship
between Tangibility and
Passenger Satisfaction.

Figure 3. Gender as
a moderator in the relationship
between Reliability and
Passenger Satisfaction.

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Table 4. Summary of Hypotheses testing

Hypotheses Result
H1: “Tangibility” of services has a significant positive Supported
impact on passenger satisfaction
H2: “Reliability” of services has a significant positive Supported
impact on passenger satisfaction
H3: “Responsiveness” of services has a significant Supported
positive impact on passenger satisfaction
H4:“Assurance” of services has a significant positive Supported
impact on passenger satisfaction
H5: “Empathy” of services has a significant positive Not supported
impact on passenger satisfaction
H6: “Obstacles” are negatively related to passenger Supported
satisfaction
H1a: Gender moderates the relationship between Supported
Tangibles and passenger satisfaction
H2a: Gender moderates the relationship between Supported
reliability and passenger satisfaction
H3a: Gender moderates the relationship between Not supported
responsiveness and passenger satisfaction
H4a: Gender moderates the relationship between Not supported
assurance and passenger satisfaction
H5a: Gender moderates the relationship between Not supported
empathy and passenger satisfaction

2015). Sixth, the results indicate that the obstacles are negatively related to passenger satisfaction
(Hypothesis 6), thus supporting scant research from the literature (Johnson, 2019; Makesh &
Mathankumar, 2018).

Seventh, with regard to moderation effects, the results reveal that gender moderates the
relationship between tangibility and reliability dimensions of service quality. Males are more
satisfied than females with regard to tangibility and reliability when compared to females. This
is expected because women tend to complain when their expectations are not met. The literature
on gender provides evidence that women prefer more tangibility and reliability, and they would not
like to travel when the services are not reliable. Moreover, the tangibility dimension is very
important as women give more preference with what are immediately observable.

To sum, the results reveal that the “tangibility,” “reliability,” and “responsiveness,” and “assur­
ance” dimensions were positively and significantly related to passenger satisfaction out of five
dimensions. This is consistent with the findings from the previous studies (Agarwal, 2008;
Gandhimathi & Saravanan, 2013; Vishnuvarthani & Selvaraj, 2012). On the other hand, the results
indicate that empathy was not related to passenger satisfaction, which is contrary to the findings
from other studies in the literature.

5.1. Contributions to literature and practice

The present study contributes to the literature on service quality and customer satisfaction, especially
in India’s significant service sectors (Indian Railways). First, this study is expected to contribute to the
growing body of service quality in the marketing area. At the same time, most of the studies on service
quality concerning Indian Railways were concerned with the impact of demographic characteristics on
passenger satisfaction, a relatively small number of studies focused on testing the SERVQUAL model
comprehensively. The results indicate that all five service quality dimensions were not associated with
customer satisfaction. These results were consistent with the previous research findings on service
quality in Indian Railways, conducted in various parts of the country (see, Table 1).

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Second, the results from the study suggest the administration of Indian Railways should focus on
improving quality of service to improve empathy. As the passengers were not happy with the empathy
dimension, it is suggested that employees in Indian Railways need to undergo training to attend to the
customers timely and satisfactorily. Third, though, to some extent, Indian Railways enjoy the monopoly
of long-distance traveling, the emerging competition from air transportation and use of personal trans­
port may hinder the progress of rail transportation of customers. In the last decade, air travel prices have
been substantially reduced, thus motivating middle-income and low-income people to substitute air
transportation. As a result, the rush for rail travel is slowly getting reduced. However, there is a constant
demand for rail transportation during the festive seasons and vacations, and Indian Railways
offers special trains and adds additional compartments to meet excess demand. It is challenging to
control all the service quality dimensions in a thickly populated country like India. Despite the incon­
venience and low level of satisfaction, customers continue to avail themselves of rail transportation
because of the lack of other long-distance travel services. Introduction of luxury coach buses (road
transportation) to cover half-a-day journal is available. Still, customers who travel in these luxury coaches
feel inconvenienced because of the lack of washrooms inside the coaches. Since the level of inconve­
nience in bus travel is less than the level of inconvenience and satisfaction in rail travel, customers prefer
to avail themselves of rail transportation.

Fourth, a notable contribution of the present study to the literature on service quality stems
from examining gender differences in passenger satisfaction. In this study, gender differences
were examined as a moderating variable that changes the strength of the relationship between
service quality dimensions and passenger satisfaction. The findings thus contribute to the litera­
ture on gender. As women are different in perceiving and assessing the quality, it is crucial to
consider that tangibility and reliability should be increased to cater to the needs of women, as men
are satisfied with the current level of both dimensions, as can be seen in Figures 2 and 3.

To improve service quality Indian Railways embark upon innovation periodically to cater to the
changing requirements of passengers. The position where Indian Railways stands now compared to
two decades back, constant improvements in services have been a hallmark. For example, recently the
Railway Board made a strategic decision to implement 20 innovations to make travel safe and improve
passenger comfort. These include a bell warning to alert the passengers minutes before a train departs,
a vehicular system for ultrasonic flaw detection of rails, development of natural water coolers with zero
electric consumption, a system to monitor real-time CCTV footage onboard trains, installation of air-
quality equipment, and so on. In addition, the present global COVID pandemic has created a situation
whereby passengers prefer going contactless. Therefore, Northern Railway has developed a system
through which unreserved tickets are issued through mobile apps (Singh, 2020).

5.2. Suggestions for future research

The present study offers several avenues for future research. We documented in this research the
importance of gender differences in assessing the relationship between service quality dimensions
and customer satisfaction; future researchers can focus on some other moderating variables,
which may include demographics (e.g., age, income, experience, size of the family members, and
educational qualifications) or organizational variables (e.g., trust, justice and environmental dis­
turbances) that may influence the effect of service quality on customer satisfaction. It is also
suggested to have a more significant sample including southern, northern, western, and central
zones of Indian Railways to see any significant differences in service quality. Even within India,
there are different cultures (the culture in the north is different from the culture in the south , and
culture in the West is different from the culture in the East).

5.3. Limitations
The findings from the present study should be interpreted in light of some of the limitations. First,
social desirability bias may be a problem where some respondents favorably provide answers, thus
showing some bias. However, we do not expect social desirability bias in this research because
customers were not the Railways employees and hence not afraid of giving correct information.

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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 passen­
gers 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 Citation information

The authors received no direct funding for this research. Cite this article as: Passenger satisfaction with cleanliness
and other service quality dimensions and gender as
Author details a moderator: Evidence from Indian Railways, Magheswari
Magheswari Gopal Vasanthi1 Gopal Vasanthi, Vasanthi Soundrarajan, Nishad Nawaz,
Vasanthi Soundrarajan2 Vijayakumar Gajendran & Satyanarayana Parayitam,
Nishad Nawaz3 Cogent Business & Management (2023), 10: 2183568.
E-mail: [Link]@[Link]
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Appendix

Appendix A. The indicators of various dimensions of service quality, passenger satisfaction,

and obstacles
Constructs Indicators
Tangibility Railways have up-to-date equipment
Railways physical facilities are visually appealing
Railway employees are well dressed and appear neat
The appearance of the physical facilities of Railways is
in keeping with the type of services provided
Reliability When Railways promise to do something by a certain
time, it does so.
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)

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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

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Appendix B. Skewness and Kurtosis of the constructs

Skewness Std. Error of Kurtosis Std. Error of
Skewness 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 -0.279 0.105 0.351 0.209
Satisfaction
Obstacles 0.063 0.105 -0.949 0.209

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Publishing with Cogent OA ensures:
• Immediate, universal access to your article on publication
• High visibility and discoverability via the Cogent OA website as well as Taylor & Francis Online
• Download and citation statistics for your article
• Rapid online publication
• Input from, and dialog with, expert editors and editorial boards
• Retention of full copyright of your article
• Guaranteed legacy preservation of your article
• Discounts and waivers for authors in developing regions
Submit your manuscript to a Cogent OA journal at [Link]

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