Traffic Police SERVQUAL Relationships in South Africa and Thailand: An Expectancy-Disconfirmation Model Approach

Abstract

This study describes motorists’ expectations and perceived performance regarding Traffic Police Departments’ service quality in South Africa and Thailand. It tests correlational and predictive relationships between SERVQUAL dimensions, biographical characteristics, and motorists’ reported level of satisfaction with service quality of traffic police departments adopting an expectancy-disconfirmation model approach. Survey data of respondents from South Africa and Thailand were analysed as overall dataset as well as separately from one another to get insights. Results is intended for re-strategizing the way traffic related services are rendered to overturn motorists’ expressed lack of trust in Traffic Police Departments. The tetrachoric and Pearson correlations and ordinary least square tests performed indicated that age correlated positively and significantly with empathy, while level of education showed a negatively significant correlation with reliability, promptitude and empathy. All six SERVQUAL dimensions and level of satisfaction correlated positively and significantly with each other. Furthermore, only two factors significantly predicted motorists’ level of satisfaction with traffic police departments: tangibility and responsiveness. Although results of analyses performed at country level followed mostly that of the overall dataset, some differences observed are pointed out like no predictive variable of level of satisfaction was found from Thailand sample while only responsiveness significantly explained it. Recommendations are made to empower traffic police officers to deliver an “ideal” service for motorists and to investigate the aforementioned relationships using three other alternative models that are performance, rational, and expectations-artefact models. Lastly, consideration to expanding the model to more behavioural and situational factors is recommended.

Keywords

• expectancy-confirmation model
• motorists’ satisfaction
• servqual
• south africa
• thailand