This document summarizes a presentation given at a transport forum on January 13-14, 2010. The presentation discusses a study of how service quality is specified in public transportation contracts. It finds that service quality descriptions in contracts can be categorized into three levels: operational, strategic, and rhetorical. The operational level focuses on resource prerequisites. The strategic level monitors the operator. The rhetorical level focuses on missions and visions. The study analyzed 21 contracts and identified factors relating to punctuality, cleanliness, and environmental standards. It contributes new perspectives on incorporating non-customer quality factors into contracts.

1. Transportforum 13-14 januari 2010
Service quality on three management levels
- a study of service quality in public
tendering contracts
Presentation at VTI
13-14 January 2010
Carolina Camén
Introduction
• Today many organisations and local authorities
contract out different public services, but aim to
control these activities by contractual means.
• Contracts are used to ensure that the contractor
deliver the service as intended.
• The public transport industry faces a challenge in
providing an attractive public service using limited
financial resources.
• To meet these challenges service quality has
become important.
Introduction continue..
• Provide a service of high quality can be difficult.
• In some cases, the service needs to be specified in
advance, as does the service quality.
• This is the case in the public transport industry where
the service is contracted out to external operators in
competition with others.
• Contracts do not just involve the obligations and duties
of the parties, they also stipulate the service to be
provided to the end user.
Carolina Camén

2. Transportforum 13-14 januari 2010
Aim
• The aim is to contribute towards
understanding how service quality factors are
stipulated in advance in contracts in order to
achieve a service of high quality to its user
when the service is contracted out to an
external partner.
Theories used
• Formal contracts serve a number of purposes (Mouzas and Ford, 2007;
Roxenhall and Ghauri, 2004; Malhotra and Murnighan, 2002; Roxenhall,
1999; Hart and Holmström, 1987; Macneil, 1978; 1981; Williamson, 1975;
Macaulay, 1963)
• Theories about service quality (, Grönroos, 1984; Parasuraman, et al., 1988;
Zeithaml et al., 1990; Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Fisk et al., 1993; Brown et al.
1994; Rust et al., 2002; Schneider and White, 2004; Johnston and Clark,
2005; Furrer and Sollbergs, 2007 Rust et al., 2002;
• Theories about quality connected to public transport (Milan, 1996; Prioni
and Hensher, 2000; Ben-Akiva, and Morikawa, 2002; Hensher and Prioni,
2002; Hensher, 2003; Hensher et al., 2003; Davidsson, and Knowles 2006
Paulley, N et al., 2006)
Research design
• Qualitative approach
• An exploratory design were chosen, aimed at
developing a better understanding of the service
quality design of contracts.
• The paper is based on case studies and centres
on a comparison of the quality descriptions in
contracts.
Carolina Camén

3. Transportforum 13-14 januari 2010
Research context – the public
transportation business
• First, contracts are widely used and a part of day-to-
day operations, and not a context wherein contracts
that are signed are never used.
• Second, we needed a context wherein contracts are
used to monitor operations.
• Third, practical considerations required the context to
allow data collection using contracts and acquaintance
with the content of contracts without revealing
business secrets and limiting the research object.
Method and sample
• The research sample comprised 21 contracts
between contractors and operators
• (a) contracts between PTA (contractors) and their
operators (fulfillers);
• (b) written internal materials such as articles of
partnership, traffic planning reports, and other
internal materials, e.g. educational materials,
presentations, minutes etc;
• (c) external materials, e.g. annual reports, traffic
planning reports
Analysis
• The analysis had three stages.
• Identifications of how service quality identified
descriptions of service quality in the contracts.
• Identifying categories concerning how service
quality was described in the contracts.
• Coding data according to identified categories
(factors and levels).
Carolina Camén

4. Transportforum 13-14 januari 2010
Findings
• Service quality in the contracts can be related to
three management levels, operational, strategic and
rhetorical level
• Operational - A resource-based level focusing on
the prerequisites for the outcome of the offering
• Strategic - A monitoring level focusing on
monitoring the operator.
• Rhetorical - A visionary level focusing on the
mission and visions
Operational - A resource-based level focusing on the
prerequisites for the outcome of the offering
• The bus should be driven safely. The buses must be performed in a secure way.
Services must be perceived as reliable and safe by travellers.
• Low floor buses, numbers of seats, and space aboard vehicles and numbers pc
small river places, onboard climate (heat), cleanliness inside and outside
• Punctuality, total bus kilometres, frequency, service intervals, schedule delays, and
the waiting environment are important factors.
• A customer will not be satisfied straight off… it is important that drivers have a
strong sense of service in their dealings with their customers.
• It is the operators that have the responsibility for service levels and these being
adjusted according to demand.
• Vehicles must always be and feel clean and tidy throughout the journey and on all
occasions... In the form of litter, lack of cleaning and vandalism shall be remedied
as soon as possible.
• Co2, emissions, Environmentally-labelled products should be used wherever
possible, e.g. when washing.
Strategic - A monitoring level focusing on
monitoring the operator
• Quality work should be structured on the basis of some form of
model.
• Fulfillers undertake, in providing services, to act in accordance with
public transport authorities’ long-term objectives and goals in order to
get more people to use public transport.
• Quality is not an independent activity or thought. It should be
integrated into all processes and should not be considered external to
these.
• An environmental management system such as ISO 14001 should be
used.
The operator needs to follow normal laws and regulations concerning
environmental factors.
Carolina Camén

5. Transportforum 13-14 januari 2010
Rhetorical - A visionary level focusing on the
mission and visions
• It is good to have public transport.
• High-quality public transport can lead to more satisfied customers.
• It is important to stimulate public transport
• The same applies, in order to increase the level of access for the
disabled and the elderly.
• Public transportation forms part of the ‘zero vision’ endeavour when
it comes to road traffic safety.
• Having satisfactory public transport at the lowest possible cost.
• It is important to have high-quality public transport.
Contributions
• The identified management levels and defined
levels.
• The factors that can be found in the contracts are
rather similar to previous research
• That service quality is a complex matters
• The relation between the levels
• To use contracts as a unit of analysis
Contributions
• Contrasts to previous research due to the fact
that not customer related quality factors has
been incorporated in the contratcs.
Carolina Camén

6. Transportforum 13-14 januari 2010
Thank you!
Carolina Camén, Ph D Candidate
Phone: +46-54-7001559
E-mail: Carolina.Camen@kau.se
Carolina Camén