REVISITING THE ROLE OF SATISFACTION IN E-GOVERNMENT LOYALTY: EVIDENCE FROM A DIGITAL TRANSPORTATION PLATFORM IN INDONESIA

Abstract

This study examines the direct and indirect effects of digital service quality, digital trust, perceived usefulness, and system quality on citizen satisfaction and loyalty among Access by KAI users on Java Island, while reassessing the mediating role of satisfaction in government-operated digital transportation platforms. A quantitative approach using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) analysed responses from 324 purposively sampled users across six provinces in Java. Validated instruments were adapted from ESERVQUAL, Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and the DeLone & McLean Information System Success Model. Perceived usefulness and system quality significantly influenced both citizen satisfaction and citizen loyalty. Digital service quality significantly affected satisfaction but not loyalty, while digital trust significantly affected loyalty but not satisfaction. Satisfaction significantly influenced loyalty but did not mediate the effects of any exogenous construct on loyalty. The model demonstrated moderate explanatory power (R² satisfaction = 0.512; R² loyalty = 0.491) with strong predictive relevance. The study's cross-sectional design limits causal inference. Future research should employ longitudinal designs to examine habit strength, switching costs, and cross-regional variations beyond Java Island. Policymakers should prioritise functional performance and technical reliability over traditional service quality enhancements. Building institutional trust proves critical for sustaining loyalty in public-sector digital platforms facing private-sector competition. This study challenges traditional mediation-based service quality models by revealing that loyalty formation in e-government transportation services is driven primarily by functional value, technical performance, and institutional trust rather than satisfaction, offering novel insights for public-sector digital service management.