Riding the Wave of Satisfaction: Exploring Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction in Ride-Hailing Services

In Malaysia, ride-hailing services like Grab Car increasingly supplement public transport. This study examines how five service quality dimensions—tangibility, empathy, responsiveness, reliability, and assurance—affect customer satisfaction. Using a quantitative method, data were collected via an online survey of 100 respondents and analyzed through regression analysis. The results show that perceived service reliability (β = 0.345, p < 0.001) and assurance (β = 0.439, p < 0.001) significantly and directly influence customer satisfaction, explaining 50.3% of the variance (R² = 0.503). Empathy (β = 0.517) and responsiveness (β = 0.355) influence satisfaction indirectly through reliability, while tangibility (β = 0.415) and responsiveness (β = 0.365) do so through assurance. However, tangibility does not significantly affect reliability, and empathy does not influence assurance. These findings suggest that improving reliability and assurance, supported by other service dimensions, can enhance customer satisfaction. This research offers practical insights for public transport and ride-hailing services to strengthen service quality and increase customer loyalty.