Impact classes of the superclass S2 - Customers
SI 2.1 Consumer interest:
The provision of quality and reliability of the goods and services provided by a company (Morgera, 2011).
SI 2.1.1 Quality of service:
Quality of service is the description or measurement of the overall performance of a service. Infrastructure companies by maintaining the quality of their service can have a positive impact on their users and can lead to customer satisfaction and customer delight (Desiyanti et al., 2018). Good quality of service can lead to favoured usage of any given asset, positively impacting its revenue. For example, research suggests that overall airport service quality is significantly related to airport reuse and destination revisit (Prentice et al., 2019).
SI 2.1.2 Affordability of service:
Affordability can be understood as the ability of a large proportion of society (including at least the top of the bottom quartile) to pay for a service. Unaffordable services, especially basic services like energy, water, and health care, can cause stress and anxiety in customers (especially for customers in the low-income group) as it can negatively impact their quality of life. In the case of transport infrastructure, this can include expensive toll roads. Conversely, affordable infrastructure services can play a key role in the development of communities (Banerjee et al., 2008).
SI 2.1.3 Accessibility of service:
Accessibility is the degree to which a service is available and physically accessible to as many users as possible. The positive impact associated with infrastructure services (energy, clean water, transportation networks, education, health care, etc.) will only materialize if the user can physically access the service. For example, the presence of electricity distribution networks is meaningless if there is no infrastructure to bring electricity to individual houses in a given location. Similarly, if a town along the highway does not have a slip road connecting the town to the highway, the residents or potential customers cannot capitalize on any socio-economic benefits offered by that infrastructure company.
SI 2.1.4 Customer health and safety:
Provision of services to customers in a manner that is safe and does not pose a health risk to consumers during the life cycle of the asset (providing the service). For example, the provision of water of good quality, free from impurities, contaminants, and pollutants, can prevent adverse health impacts on the customers of water utilities.
Banerjee, S., Wodon, Q., Diallo, A., Pushak, T., Uddin, E., Tsimpo, C., & Foster, V. (2008). Access, affordability, and alternatives: Modern infrastructure services in Africa.
Desiyanti, N. L., Sudja, I. N., & Martini, L. K. B. (2018). Effect of service quality on customer satisfaction, customer delight and customer loyalty. International Journal of Contemporary Research and Review, 9(03), 20660–20668.
Morgera, E. (2011). Oecd guidelines for multinational enterprises. In T. Hale & D. Held (Eds.), The Handbook of Transnational Governance: Institutions and Innovations (pp. 314–322). Polity.
Prentice, C., & Kadan, M. (2019). The role of airport service quality in airport and destination choice. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 47, 40–48.