Determinants of loyalty to public transit: A model integrating Satisfaction-Loyalty Theory and Expectation-Confirmation Theory

Understanding passenger loyalty to public transit is important because it is a major determinant of urban and transport sustainability. An integrated framework to investigate loyalty by integrating Satisfaction-Loyalty Theory with Expectation-Confirmation Theory (ECT) is conceptualized and empirically examined in this study. A hierarchical structure is established to characterize the multidimensional features of public transit services from the passengers' point of view, which might help service providers obtain a systematic picture of public transit services by measuring overall service performance through sub-dimensional service domains. The rationale for developing this comprehensive framework for customer loyalty is justified by the significant relations between constructs, an excellent model fit, the greater share of variance explained for loyalty than that of the model without the two ECT concepts, as well as the difference regarding the confirmation-satisfaction-loyalty paradigm between male and female groups. It is expected to contribute to an improved understanding of customer loyalty in the public transit services context.