An exploratory study on the relationship between stakeholder expectations, experiences and satisfaction in road maintenance

Despite the increased attention paid by road agencies to the needs of infrastructure stakeholders, little is known about how the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of infrastructure stakeholders with the agencies’ service provision is formed. From the perspective of public agencies the relationship between expectations, experiences and satisfaction of infrastructure stakeholders affected by road maintenance is explored. Drawing upon data collected during a road maintenance project in the Netherlands it is shown that expectations only played a minor role in the formation of satisfaction. Moreover, depending on the contextual setting of the maintenance project, the importance of highway performance impacts for the formation of satisfaction through expectations and experiences changed. The results suggest that the value-in-use experience and the time dependence of expectations account for the switch in importance and the limited role of expectations. A main conclusion is that road agencies should redirect their effort from trying to determine and meet stakeholder expectations to allowing stakeholders to experience the improvements of a maintenance project.