Perceived service quality and customer satisfaction: A fuzzy set QCA approach in the railway sector

This study investigates whether different combinations of service quality dimensions affect customer satisfaction. The study uses an extension of SERVQUAL with dimensions specific to the railway industry: comfort, connection, and convenience. We use a fsQCA to examine the responses from an online survey of 352 railway customers. The results show that three different combinations of the service quality dimensions lead to overall customer satisfaction. These combinations contain at least two of the three dimensions specific to the railway industry: comfort, connection, and convenience. Furthermore, the combination of comfort and connection alone captures higher customer satisfaction.