From SERVQUAL to Platform Quality: A Scoping Review of Service Quality in App-Based Ride-Hailing

Abstract

Background: The rapid expansion of app-based ride-hailing has transformed the transport service encounter from a predominantly physical and interpersonal interaction into a digitally mediated process that combines platform technologies with physical mobility. This transformation challenges conventional service-quality frameworks, particularly SERVQUAL, which was developed for face-to-face service encounters. Despite the rapidly expanding ride-hailing literature, there remains limited conceptual integration of the digital and physical components of service quality.

Objective: This scoping review maps how service quality in app-based ride-hailing has been conceptualised, operationalised and measured, identifies its principal dimensions and determinants, examines the theoretical and methodological approaches used, and identifies important geographic, conceptual and methodological gaps.

Methods: The review followed the methodological principles of the Joanna Briggs Institute and the PRISMA extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). Searches were conducted in Scopus and IEEE Xplore. The search yielded 2,774 records, of which 59 duplicates were removed. The remaining 2,715 records underwent title and abstract screening using ASReview LAB, an active-learning screening platform. Thirty-eight reports were sought for full-text retrieval; 33 were assessed for eligibility and 33 empirical studies were included in the final synthesis.

Results: The evidence indicates a transition from predominantly SERVQUAL-based conceptualisations toward a multidimensional, platform-mediated understanding of service quality. Four interrelated domains emerged: digital quality, transaction quality, physical ride quality, and relational quality. Quantitative cross-sectional surveys dominate the evidence base (76%), while structural equation modelling is the principal analytical approach. The literature is geographically concentrated in low- and middle-income country (LMIC) settings (73%). Safety, information accuracy, reliability and platform functionality emerge as recurrent determinants of perceived quality.

Conclusions: Service quality in app-based ride-hailing has evolved beyond the traditional SERVQUAL paradigm. It is better understood as an integrated digital–physical construct in which platform performance and physical service execution jointly shape consumer experience. Future research should move beyond cross-sectional perceptual measures toward mixed-method designs that integrate perceived quality with objective operational indicators and explicitly examine equity and contextual differences.