GEMİ TRAFİK HİZMETLERİNDE ALGILANAN HİZMET KALİTESİNİN KURUMSAL İMAJ ÜZERİNDEKİ ETKİLERİ: TÜRK BOĞAZLARI ÜZERİNE BİR ARAŞTIRMA

Abstract

Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) is one of the most important aids for ships in the dangerous waters. Due to the ever-increasing sea transport and thus the number of ships in this service, the importance of the services offered by VTS has increased more in the course of time. Despite the advanced technological infrastructure and the improved VTS, however the safety of sea traffic is still mostly based on human factor. Although in the relevant literature there have been some studies revealing the effects of VTS on the safety, there has been no research on the service quality. The aim of this study is, considering the views of ship masters, to analyze the effects of the VTS service quality perceptions on the corporate image. The process of this study has been two-fold; developing a VTS service quality scale for shipmasters and the required through this scale measuring the perceptions of the service quality of the Turkish Straits Vessel Traffic Services (TSVTS) and the effects of these perceptions on the corporate image. Developing the model of study has been based on the relevant literature, and SERVQUAL model has been chosen. Firstly, in analyzing the perceptions, 20 experts from four diverse field have been interviewed and a pilot study has been carried out with shipmasters (n=72). The questionnaire, which has been conducted through shipmasters (n=192) who have used the Turkish Straits, has comprised 25 statements constituting two dimensions as “Perceived Service Quality (PSQ)” and “Corporate Image (CI)”. The results reveal that there is a strong interrelationship between the perceptions of the TSVTS’ service quality and corporate image for shipmasters. The VTS-PSQ scale develop through this research is expected to contribute to evaluating the VTS service quality and thus to the safe navigation through the relevant sea ways.