Service characteristics and customer satisfaction in the container liner shipping industry

Abstract

This research is mainly devoted to investigating key service characteristics in the container liner shipping (CLS) industry and its impact on customer satisfaction. It maps service quality dimensions to a new set of service characteristics based on the latest priorities of container liner shipping companies. The data collected through online survey is regressed in a non-linear model. The results indicate that the top three service characteristics influencing customer satisfaction are (1) quality of customer service representative, (2) quality of digitalisation and (3) quality of sales representative in that order. The research also suggests that the ability to offer long term rates is not effective in enhancing customer satisfaction as it is usually perceived; digitalisation tops the liner shipping managers’ agenda. Keywords: Container Liner Shipping, Service Characteristics, Service Quality, Customer Satisfaction, Survey Method, Ordered Logit, Digitalisation