Improving Customer Satisfaction in Egyptian Customs Clearance Services: The Mediating Role of Blockchain Technology Adoption in the Link between Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction
This paper focuses on Egyptian Customs clearance services and investigates the impact of the adoption of blockchain technology on the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction. The five dimensions of the SERVQUAL model, including reliability, assurance, tangibles, empathy, and responsiveness, in conjunction with the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework of blockchain adoption, helped guide the collection of data from 401 employees in customs clearance operations. The results of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with AMOS indicated that the impact of service quality on customer satisfaction is significant (β = 0.495, p < 0.001), while that on the adoption of blockchain is (β = 0.801, p < 0.001). Moreover, the adoption of blockchain positively influences customer satisfaction (β = 0.410, p = 0.003). It was also confirmed that of the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction (p < 0.001), the adoption of blockchain explains 73.9% of the variance in customer satisfaction (R² = 0.739). The results show that the integration of some blockchain technologies in customs operations can facilitate the service quality and customer satisfaction relationship by enhancing transparency, clearance times, and documentation error. Lastly, this study focuses on the pertinent literature of developing countries in the midst of digital transformation and offers valuable perspective for the Egyptian customs authorities concerned with improving current trade facilitation practices..