DOI: 10.4018/IJCRMM.2020040103
International Journal of Customer Relationship Marketing and Management
Volume 11 • Issue 2 • April-June 2020
Copyright © 2020, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited.
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Impact of Food and Beverage Quality on
Passenger Satisfaction in Indian Railways
Ravi Dandotiya, Chitkara University, Punjab, India
Pranav Aggarwal, Chitkara University, Punjab, India
Ram Gopal, Chitkara University, Punjab, India
ABSTRACT
This study uses disconfirmation theory to evaluate a theoretical model, which explains the relationship
of four constructs of the food and beverage quality, namely freshness, taste, presentation, and
temperature. In addition, the effect of price on satisfaction is also measured. Food quality has been
considered the basic component of customer satisfaction in restaurants, but there are very few studies
in railway-related food and beverage quality. The objective of the research is to study the effect of
food, beverage quality and price on passenger satisfaction in Indian railways. This study also tries
to investigate key attributes related to food and beverage quality, which are important in improving
overall satisfaction. The results show that all the food and beverage quality attributes and price
significantly affect passenger satisfaction. Subsequent regression analysis exhibits that taste followed
by presentation were the most important factors in achieving passenger satisfaction. The managers
can focus on the key food and beverage attributes, which brings out the passenger satisfaction.
KeywoRdS
Disconfirmation Theory, Food and Beverage Quality, Passengers, Price, Railways, Satisfaction
INTRodUCTIoN
Customer satisfaction and service quality are interlinked notions where one is definitely going to
affect other; good quality product leads to higher satisfaction (Oliver, 1980; Yuksel & Rimmington,
1998; Hallak et al., 2018). Service quality is a very vast phenomenon and different people have
different perceptions about it. Most commonly used definition is that it is supposed to be the study
of differences among expectation and perception of a received product or received service (Zeithaml
et al., 1988; Grönroos, 1982; Yuksel & Yuksel, 2008).
Two main factors food quality and food service quality are important in the overall customer
satisfaction in the vast realm of the hospitality sector - in the food and beverage industry. Both of
these complement each other. Success in this industry depends a lot on understanding a customer
(Kandampully et al., 2018). Survival requires surveillance and a continuous quality check to ensure
customer satisfaction. Satiation always remained the most important in food provision. There is little