The Role of Customer Satisfaction as a Mediating Variable in the Influence of Electronic Service Quality and Customer Experience on Corporate Image: Empirical Evidence from Ferry Transportation Services
Keywords:
Corporate Image, Customer Satisfaction, Electronic Service Quality, Customer Experience, Ferry Transportation Services.Abstract
Corporate image constitutes a critical strategic asset that underpins customers' trust in transportation service providers. At PT ASDP Indonesia Ferry (Persero), persistent complaints pertaining to the Ferizy application and overall crossing service delivery signal that the company's image continues to confront challenges requiring sustained corrective efforts. Accordingly, this study was designed to examine the extent to which electronic service quality and customer experience are associated with corporate image, with customer satisfaction positioned as an intervening variable among Ferizy e-ticketing users of PT ASDP Indonesia Ferry (Persero). A quantitative research design was adopted, combining descriptive and explanatory approaches through a structured survey method. A total of 617 respondents were recruited by means of proportionate stratified random sampling, drawn from ferry passengers on the Merak–Bakauheni and Ketapang–Gilimanuk corridors. The collected data were subsequently analyzed employing Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The empirical findings demonstrate that electronic service quality exerts a positive and statistically significant influence on both customer satisfaction and corporate image. Customer satisfaction similarly yields a meaningful positive effect on corporate image. Conversely, customer experience did not produce a significant impact on either customer satisfaction or corporate image. Regarding mediation, customer satisfaction was found to transmit the effect of electronic service quality onto corporate image; however, no such mediating pathway was established for customer experience. These results underscore the strategic necessity of aligning digital service enhancements with core service improvements as a pathway to fortifying corporate image within the ferry transportation sector.
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