Sindh Economics & Business Review International Volume 1(1), 2019: 48 – 63 http://fandfonline.com/index.php/sebri Investigating Customer Satisfaction towards E-Ticketing: An Empirical Investigation from Pakistan Railways Customers Azaz Ahmed1* Hina Amin2 Abstract This study aims to find the factor that affecting Pakistan Railways customers’ preference towards e-ticketing service. Primary data was collected through a close-ended Likert-scale based questionnaire using convenient sampling from passengers who have ever experienced e-ticketing services of Pakistan Railways. The effect of customer satisfaction towards the E-ticketing service of Pakistan Railway was analyzed through a theoretical framework based on different factors which include, security, convenience, user-friendliness of the website, and privacy. The correlation results show a strong correlation between convenience and customer satisfaction of Pakistan Railways whereas privacy has low correlation customer satisfaction. In terms of regression the convenience, security and user-friendliness have an impact on customer satisfaction whereas the privacy has no impact on customer satisfaction. The finding of this study would help Pakistan railway to improve their e- ticketing service and to attract more customers and achieve their justifiable targets easily. Keywords: E-Ticketing, Customer Satisfaction, Privacy JEL Classification: D11, D12 How to Cite: Ahmed, A., & Amin, H. (2019). Investigating Customer Satisfaction towards E-Ticketing: An Empirical Investigation from Pakistan Railways Customers. Sindh Economics & Business Review International, 1(1), 48 – 63. Introduction The main theme of globalization is to reduce the distance between countries and states based on culture, business, and economy. When globalization occurred between the times of early civilization 1600 that was known as Archaic. This term described how different countries created links while they had different languages, culture, and values, in addition, they were located in different geographical areas. After this period the early modern stage came in globalization which covers the time frame from 1600 – 1800. In this period the task was to develop the commercial link and exchange the cultural values with other countries. In the history of globalization after the early modern stage came under this stage the economies and culture of different countries came closer in the fast ways especially during the year of 1980s and 90s. The economic and cultural differences occurred during the world wars which was covered in this stage (Manimaran, 2010). Under the concept of globalization, the companies of different countries were having different visions and missions to come closer to run their business and make different strategies for survival in the market. For this purpose, the marketing department of the company played an important role and marketed their product by applying different strategies which were based on human psychology. This psychology helped to create the behavior of consumers. So higher the service quality, more customers were satisfied. Now in 1 SZABIST, Karachi, Sindh – Pakistan *Email: [email protected] 2 KASBIT, Karachi, Sindh – Pakistan http://fandfonline.com/index.php/sebri 48 Sindh Economics & Business Review International Volume 1(1), 2019: 48 – 63 http://fandfonline.com/index.php/sebri modern world technology is rapidly changing which also changes the expectation of consumers. Consumers use this technology and with the help of different applications, they purchase things online to save their time and money (Manimaran, 2010). Railway in Pakistan: Pakistan railway reduces the distance and provides the service from one corner of the country to another (Pakistan Railways). It works like a backbone of the country which provides the safest journey to the people of Pakistan and also transports the goods from one corner of the country to another (Pakistan Railways). During the mid-19th century, the opportunity of Karachi seaport was identified. In the year 1847 when Sir Henry Edward Frere was hired as a commission of Sindh, he surveyed with the permission of Lord Dalhousie (Pakistan Railways). In 1858 another survey was conducted by him which was related to the railway line. He found out, with the help of a survey, that there would be a chance to build a railway line from Karachi to Kotri which was located near Hyderabad Sindh and from Kotri to Multan. Another possibility was to develop tracks from Lahore to other routes (Pakistan Railways). 13 May 1861 was the date when first-time public traffic in the context of the railway was open between Karachi cities till Kotri which was around 105 miles in distance. On 16 May 1889, the railway track between Karachi and Keemari was introduced and this route was doubled within the 8 years in 1897 (Pakistan Railways). Alexander's line which is from the Hindu Kush to the Arabian Sea was followed by railway at that time and from Karachi to Peshawar the railway track was introduced. During the last quarter of the 19th and early 20th century, this Karachi to Peshawar line was divided into multiple sections like from Karachi to Kotri then Kotri to Lahore then Lahore to Peshawar (Pakistan Railways). Delhi railway, Scinde railway, Punjab railways, and Flotilla Company these four sections of railway were working as a single company; this company later merged into Scinde, Punjab, and Delhi Railway Company and this company was occupied by secretary of the Indian state in 1885. This company was named State Railway of North West which was further changed into railway of North West (Pakistan Railways). During the partition of India, the railway route which was 1847 miles route were given to India and the remaining 5048 miles route was given to Pakistan. Later on, Pakistan Railway extended this railway line from Peshawar to Mardan and Charsadda which was located in KPK (Pakistan Railways). Besides the railway track was also upgraded from 2’-6’’ to broad gauge between Jacobabad and Kashmore from 1969 to 1973 the Kot Adu to Kashmore railway track was introduced which was also the substitute route from Karachi to other cities of Pakistan which were located on the upside of the country (Pakistan Railways). Significant Contribution of Railway Ministers in Pakistan Mr Saad Rafique was the railway minister of the Pakistan railway from 2013-2018. When he became a minister he said that at that time there was corruption, favouritism, and over the hiring of employees. He said that the Pakistan railway was near to privatization at that time (Pakistan Railway Success story 2013-2018). Further, he said that he took different steps during five years in which he assigned the right person at the right time on the job due to his hard working at the end of turnover of government he enjoyed the fruit of efforts (Pakistan Railway Success story 2013-2018). He said that during his turnover the trust of passengers increased to 70% which was previously 42% during 2012-13 (Pakistan Railway Success story http://fandfonline.com/index.php/sebri 49 Sindh Economics & Business Review International Volume 1(1), 2019: 48 – 63 http://fandfonline.com/index.php/sebri 2013-2018). The major steps are taken and railroad renewals/new railroads statistics (see Table 1) from 2013 to 2018 are given below. Introduce e-ticketing Application Reduce fare on several occasions Train up gradation Public-private partnership Restoration in Railway Table 1. Pakistan Railways (2013 – 2018) Description of 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18* track Railroad 133.2 83.51 212.16 220.56 80.51 renewals (KM) New railroad 28 77 0 33 0 (KM) Note: The table of taken from ((Pakistan railway success story 2013-2018) *the statistic of 2018 is till 31.3.2018. Mr Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed: After the turnover of Saad Rafique, Sheikh Rasheed became a railway minister in 2018. He also comes intending to make the railway successful. It’s less than one year to measure his achievement with the previous minister but he did a lot of work in his first year. The major steps are taken and in progress are discussed are given below. Inauguration of a new train: Sheikh Rasheed inaugurated 10 new trains which included Rawalpindi Express, Faisalabad Express, Jinnah express, Rehman Baba Express, and others (The News, 2018). Gwadar railway station: As Gwadar played an important role in CPEC so Pakistan railway announced Gwadar as their 8th division for this purpose railway purchased the land of 227 acres for Gwadar railway station. (Times of Islamabad, 2018). Produced new coaches: Railway minister announced that he tried to avoid imported railway coaches and made new railway coaches in Pakistan railway carriage factory PRCF. (Business Recorder, 2019) Reduced the fair: Minster railway Sheikh Rasheed reduced the fare of different trains which included Akbar Express which ran between Quetta and Lahore and Bolan express Karachi – Quetta bounded train (Pakistan Today Profit, 2018) Installed Wi-Fi: Sheikh Rasheed also installed Wi-fi at different stations which included Karachi, Rohri, Lahore, and other big railway stations of Pakistan (Pakistan Today Profit, 2018). Open new job vacancy: Within the first year of Sheikh Rasheed as a minister Pakistan railway opened 23000 new jobs for people of Pakistan in which 10,000 were based on skilled employees (Daily Times, 2019). Convert railway engine on LNG: Initially, Pakistan railway issued a tender to convert the diesel engine to LNG (Liquid Natural Gas). If it is successful then this project would be implemented to all engines. According to the railway minister, with the help of http://fandfonline.com/index.php/sebri 50 Sindh Economics & Business Review International Volume 1(1), 2019: 48 – 63 http://fandfonline.com/index.php/sebri this conversion Pakistan railway reduced 9 Billion rupees from fuel expenses as the railway spent 18 billion rupees per year (Pro Pakistani, 2019). Increase Revenue: According to railway minister revenue earned 4 billion revenue as compared to the previous year the same period (Pro Pakistani, 2019).