The Impact of Train Staff on the Customer Experience

• 作者: Mark van Hagen Jessica Sauren
• 来源期刊: 交通与运输工程：英文版
• 学科: 交通运输
• 关键词: Train staff experience measure general assessment.
• 年，卷（期）: 2015,（3）
• 页码范围: 129-137
• 页数: 9页
• 分类号: U

摘要

The NS （Netherlands Railways） has developed an instrument which allows the measurement of both hard and less tangible quality aspects. This instrument, the so-called TEM （train experience monitor）, monitors the quality experiences of customers with an aim to influencing key areas and underlying aspects. The TEM is a measurement instrument based on scientific evidence and questions passengers on the most important aspects of the train and train journey. These can be either functional questions on, e.g., security, cleanliness and information provision, or more emotional questions on the atmosphere and comfort of the train, e.g., whether passengers find the train pleasant and they feel welcome, including the role of the staff. The experience of a train journey can be influenced in three dimensions： process, people and place. Our focus in this study is on the importance of the people dimension, and for this purpose, the train staff experimented with a number of scripts which varied in their approach to tannoy announcements, ticket control and service provision. The findings show that the script focusing on control in combination with a warm （instead of a rational/business-like） service provision generates the highest assessment of the staff. On scrutinizing the influence of the scripts on the general assessment of the train journey, it is quite clear that the aforementioned script has a significant and positive impact.