Services Marketing Project: Studying the perceptions of customers about female chauffeurs and factors influencing the perceptions

Contents:

1. Introduction and Context 2. Review of literature and gaps in existing literature 3. Research methodology (research design, data collection & analytical tools used) 4. Research Findings and Managerial Implications 5. Conclusion

Introduction:
Our project is related to cab services with female chauffeurs. We know that different factors influence the consumer buying behavior; two of such factors are culture and demographic factor Gender. We studied the perceptions of consumers about cab services with female chauffeurs and factors that are affecting the consumer perception. The consumer is influenced by a multitude of cultural factors which have an implication in their preference, this is evident in the choice they make while choosing a service. Virra cabs was selected for the research as it is one of the first cabs to offer such a service and because of it being geographically located in Mumbai and the feasibility in commuting and participate in the primary research.

Context:
Taxi services in India: Saraswathy, M. (2011) India has different taxis like auto rickshaw, traditional taxis like Premier Padmini orHindustan Ambassador Motorcycle taxis in Goa and the modern taxis like radio cabs. Different taxis are serving different customer segments. Shared taxis are serving the needs of low-income or price sensitive customers, auto rickshaws and traditional taxis are serving the customers who want more comfort ability and able to pay more fair than the shared taxis and for premium customers radio cabs are available which are comfortable, air-conditioned, responsive and professional, and can be accessed 24/7 on a single number. The companies are also integrating the latest innovations into their system for attracting customers. Cab services like Meru Cabs, Mega Cabs, Wings Radio Cabs are few examples of popular radio cabs in India.

Cabs for female: DHNS, (2012) With the increasing concern of female passengers about their safety, cab services like Sakha Cabs and For-She Cabs are providing services with female chauffeurs and for female passengers. Cabs for female became more popular with the increasing cases of violence against women especially in cities like Delhi and Mumbai and as more women are working in BPO sector where they have to work in night shifts.

Virra Cabs:

For she, (2009) As an initiative towards empowerment of women, For-She Travels and Logistics Private limited (FTL) was promoted in February 2008, FTL is committed to train and groom lady chauffeurs for commercial driving and guarantees suitable earning opportunities to those who complete their training successfully. OAIS, one of the shareholders of FTL runs an exclusive Ladies Taxi Service and absorbs lady chauffeurs graduating from FTL training academy. After some clashes with the management Revathy Roy started her own cab service called Virra Cabs The sole aim of these radio taxis is to offer clean, comfortable, safe, cost-effective and proficient transport for ladies and their families. These taxis have wonderful service features. Some of them are: They provide Tablets, magazines and nail cutters to keep the female customers busy while commuting Smart interiors with great comfort Unequaled safety Tamper-proof electronic fare meter for smooth and accurate billing Feeder service to several Metro Stations throughout the city Panic button in case of emergency Nicely groomed and skilled lady chauffeurs

Review of Literature:
Shelly, T. (2012) With the new workplace temporalities, there is a demand for trusted allies to accompany women during the night travel. This demand is fulfilled by deploying the cab as an interface of trust between parents and employers. However, the paper has found that these safety measures play twin-fold role. On the one hand, they play the function of providing some tangible security to their women employees. On the other hand, they also contributed in the production of respectability for the women employees during their travel in the night hours.

Naysmith Scott, R. C. (2012) Although there is a dearth of literature on the experiences of women in skilled blue-collar work in South Africa, previous studies from the developed world have established certain expectations for the integration of women into traditionally maledominated fields; the results of this study are discussed in relation to these expectations. Findings suggest that women are increasingly targeted for employment, beyond the requirements of affirmative action legislation, due to the perception that femaledrivers are safer, more conscientious, less likely to endanger public safety and company property, and less likely to engage in risky forms of behaviour including those associated with exposure to HIV/AIDS. This has led some employers to conclude that the femaledrivers they employ are not only equal but superior to their male colleagues. While femaledrivers note challenges in gaining entry and acceptance in the industry, they also report a near-unanimously positive experience with colleagues and supervisors Alluri (2012) When the car is stuck in one of Mumbai's notorious traffic jams, there is a magazine rack at the back for some light reading.To ensure time does not have to be wasted on the trip, a bottle of nail varnish remover is provided to get rid of the remnants of that month-old manicure and nail clippers to shape fingernails.And if you are a woman rushing from one important appointment to another, there are wet wipes and perfumed talcum powder, too, in case you need to freshen up.

Pinklady members (2006) Pink Ladies is a cab service in Britain.All Pink Ladies Cab drivers are ladies and are uniformed (in pink of course).Each Pink Cab has the latest GPRS vehicle tracking and satellite navigation.Every cab will be pink with a pink leather interior.Every Pink Ladies

passenger will be rung twice when the Pink Cab is two minutes away.All Pink Ladies Cab drivers are trained in first aid, self-defence and customer care. RevathiRoy(2010) commented, The banks have refused me loans on the premise that girls who aspire to become taxi drivers are not economically viable. They cannot offer collateral because all of them are from below the poverty line. The irony is that the micro-credit movement carried my drivers to fame and made them commercially viable. But that very institution shut its doors on me later when I needed money to pump into the business. I need money to survive and fend for the family and my crew as well Banks shut door on India's all-women cab service

Patel (2011) All drivers, whether part of the regular cab-service or whether hired by customers as personal chauffeurs, go through a training program of which the company ought to be proud. For Rs 10,000 and over a period of three months, women at Viiras motor training school undergo 155 hours of driving in addition to classes on road knowledge, traffic signs, martial arts, customer relations, etiquette and grooming. Once trained, many of these women are recruited by large corporations and hotels. Today, some of them can be seen at the front of a BMW.

Alluri (2012) A recent poll also ranked India as the worst G20 country for women and cited gender-based violence as a major reason. Delhi is not safe for women so there are multiple cab services started in support of women.Sakha Consulting Wings, the company that employees Gautam and a fleet of other women drivers, is doing just that by increasing the number of women behind the wheel as cab drivers or private chauffeurs. In Sakha cabs, men cannot ride unless a female passenger is also present.

Berger(1986: pg.258) indicates that the introduction of the electric starter in 1912 and the First World War gave women the chance to learn to drive. From this opportunity, women proved that they were capable of driving and taking on the responsibilities of their male counterparts. In conclusion, I have come to understand one possibility of how women attained the stereotype of being poor drivers or lacking the ability to drive well. I found evidence through articles that support the idea that women are equal in ability, if not better than men in driving ability. Most of all, I realize that sexism is still evident in many different aspects of society today

Zakaria (2012) Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that prohibits women from driving. The World Economic Forum 2009 Global Gender Gap Report ranked Saudi Arabia 130th out of 134 countries for gender parity. It was the only country to score a zero in the category of political empowerment.

Gaps in Existing literature:

The survey mainly aimed at knowing and evaluating customer perceptions toward female chauffeurs after the review of literature found that there are very few research papers related to this topic. The research paper by Naysmithscotttitled Cabs, male drivers and midnight commuting had relevant information regarding customer perception of female cabs in South Africa but there was no such published research paper on customer perception of female chauffeurs in India.There were numerous articles related to cab services but very few were regarding female cabs. Through the review of literature we could not find how the customer perceived of such a service in India as it is a land of diverse cultures and conservative mindset.We found numerous newspaper articles online of the inception of female cabs, their acceptance and the present problems in their existence but there was considerable amount of primary research to be done to know and evaluate the customer perceptions towards female chauffeurs as the secondary research had a dearth of articles and research papers relating to this topic.

Research Methodology:
1. Introduction:
Different factors play a role in making the perception of consumer about services he is receiving and about those offering the services. Our project is to study perception of consumers about female chauffeurs and factors influencing the consumers perception. We started our project with three null-hypotheses and tested the three hypotheses using the statistical tool Chi-Square Goodness of Fit (CSGF). Following are the three null-hypotheses: 1. Customers are skeptical(about the capability) when they prefer a cab service with female Chauffeur (H1) 2. Customers who prefer a cab service with female chauffeur are those who feel the need for it and who sympathize with women (H2) 3. Cultural factors play a major role while customers selecting a cab service with female chauffeur (H3)

2. Research Process Flow:

1. Discussed and finalized the topic: How the gender and culture influence the perception of consumers 2. Defined the context: Analyzing the influences in the context of cab services with female chauffeurs 3. Reviewed the literature: Reviewed the literature from multiple sources like EBSCO and Emerald to better understand the factors related to the project 4. Defined the null-hypotheses to be tested 5. Defined the information needed to complete the project 6. Defined the sample size and sample resources 7. Prepared the questionnaire 8. Collected and organized the data 9. Analyzed the data using statistical tool Chi-Square Goodness of Fit (CSGF) 10. Presented the findings and interpretations 11. Conclusion

3. Information needed and research sample:

For better analysis of this project it was required both quantitative and qualitative information. The questionnaire used had Yes or No and Open Ended questions to find both the quantitative and qualitative information. We conducted survey with customers and employees of Viira Cabs. The total sample size is 25(random sampling) and distribution of samples is: 20 and 5 with the customers and employees of Viira Cabs respectively.

4. Data Analyzing using CSGF:

CSGF is one of the most used statistical tests commonly used to compare observed data with data we would expect to obtain according to a specific hypothesis. We used CSGF for our project as different parameters related to our project are meeting the requirements that make CSGF a suitable testing tool: 1. The sampling method is simple random sampling (We used simple random sampling) 2. The population is at least 10 times as large as the sample(Customer base of Viira Cabs is more than 200(10*20)) 3. The variable under study is categorical(Yes or No questions to test the hypotheses) 4. The expected value of the number of sample observations in each level of the variable is at least 5 (expected number of both Yes and No is more than 5)

Steps in CSGF test:

4.1. State the hypotheses: Every hypothesis test requires the analyst to state a null hypothesis and an alternative hypothesis. The hypotheses are stated in such a way that they are mutually exclusive. That is, if one is true, the other must be false; and vice versa. For a CSGF test, the hypotheses take the following form. H0: The data are consistent with a specified distribution. Ha: The data are not consistent with a specified distribution.

4.2. Formulate an Analysis Plan: The analysis plan describes how to use sample data to accept or reject the null hypothesis. The plan should specify the following elements. Significance level: Often, researchers choose significance levels equal to 0.01, 0.05, or 0.10; but any value between 0 and 1 can be used. We have used significant level of 0.05. Test method. Use the chi-square goodness of fit test to determine whether observed sample frequencies differ significantly from expected frequencies specified in the null hypothesis. 4.3. Analyze Sample Data: It involves: using sample data, find the degrees of freedom, expected frequency counts, test statistic, and the P-value associated with the test statistic. Degrees of freedom: The degrees of freedom (DF) are equal to the number of levels (k) of the categorical variable minus 1: DF = k 1. In our case as the levels of categorical variables (Yes or No) is 2, DF= 1(2-1).Expected frequency counts Ei: Ei is the expected frequency count for the ith level of the categorical variable. Test statistic: The test statistic is a chi-square random variable (2) defined by the equation 2 = [(Oi - Ei)^2 / Ei ], where Oi is the observed frequency count for the ith level of the categorical variable, and Ei is the expected frequency count for the ith level of the categorical variable-value: The P-value is the probability of observing a sample statistic as extreme as the test statistic. Since the test statistic is a chi-square, we used the ChiSquare Distribution Calculator to assess the probability associated with the test statistic. 4.4 Interpret the results: If the sample findings are unlikely, given the null hypothesis, we should reject the null hypothesis. Typically, this involves comparing the P-value to the significance level, and rejecting the null hypothesis when the P-value is less than the significance level.

5. Limitations of the project:

As the project involves surveying different people and there are chances that the customers answers may not reflect their true thoughts of or opinions about the questions asked, the efficiency of hypotheses testing is relied on the answers of the surveyed people. However, we tried our best to eliminate this gap by further asking more open ended questions in addition to the close ended questions.

Research Findings and Managerial Implications:

Research Findings:
We have used the following three questions to test the three hypotheses along with other questions for more information. Question to test hypothesis 1: 1. Whom do you prefer? Male or female chauffeur? Question to test hypothesis 2: Why do you use a cab service with female chauffeur? Is it your requirement for safety or do you sympathize with the female chauffeur? Question to test hypothesis 3: Cab service with female chauffeur is well accepted in other countries. Do you think cultural differences especially related to gender influencing the preference of male or female chauffeurs?

Testing hypothesis 1:
Male Chauffeurs Observed (Oi) Expected (Ei) Total 17 15 32 Female Chauffeurs 3 5 8 Total 20 20 40

Test static 2 = [(Oi - Ei)^2 / Ei ] = [(17-15)^2/15] + [(3-5)^2/5] = 1.067 Significant level chosen = 0.05 and Degree of Freedom = 1. Now we need to check the significant level corresponding to test static value of 1.067 using the following distribution table. Chi-Square distribution table:

The significant level corresponding to the test static value of 1.067 lies between 0.25and 0.50 which is greater than the chosen significant level 0.05. So, the null-hypothesis H1 is accepted.

Testing hypothesis 2:
Safety requirement Observed (Oi) Expected (Ei) Total 18 15 33 Sympathy 2 5 7 Total 20 20 40

Test static 2 = [(Oi - Ei)^2 / Ei ] = [(18-15)^2/15] + [(2-5)^2/5] = 2.4 The significant level corresponding to the test static value of 2.4 lies between 0.1 and 0.25 which is greater than the chosen significant level 0.05. So, the null-hypothesis H2 is accepted.

Testing Hypothesis 3:
Yes Observed (Oi) Expected (Ei) Total 16 15 31 No 4 5 9 Total 20 20 40

Test static 2 = [(Oi - Ei)^2 / Ei ] = [(16-15)^2/15] + [(4-5)^2/5] = 0.267 The significant level corresponding to the test static value of 0.267 lies between 0.5 and 0.75 which is greater than the chosen significant level 0.05. So, the null-hypothesis H3 is accepted.

Key findings:
Based on the survey we conducted, we found the following key findings:

Findings from survey of customers:

1. Nearly 85% of respondents preferred male chauffeur over female chauffeur. Also, only 35% of respondents agreed that female chauffeur have equal driving capabilities as male chauffeurs. 2. Nearly 90% of customers who prefer female chauffeur said that they prefer female chauffeurs for safety concerns and the remaining said that they prefer female chauffeur as the sympathize with them. 3. Based on the customers responses we found that 80% of the respondents agreed that cultural factor influences in preference for the male chauffeurs over female chauffeurs. 4. Though 80% of the female customers preferred female chauffeurs for safety reasons, only 65% of female customers felt they are secured with the cab services with female chauffeurs. 5. Nearly 65% of respondents agreed that female chauffeurs can manage crisis. 6. 70% of the respondents supported the need for special cab services with female chauffeurs after considering the recent violent incidences on women.

Finding from survey of cab drivers of different companies:

1. The cab drivers were of the view that female chauffeurs are not competent enough for managing crises and emergency situations. 2. The local taxi drivers (kali-pilli taxi) were particularly insecure of the female chauffeurs as they believe that they are a major threat to their existence as they have started offering services even to the male customers. 3. About 40% of the cab drivers felt that they sympathize with the female chauffeurs and but they recommended that they should provide services only during daytime for their safety.

4. Almost unanimously everybody supported that female cabs should be there after the recent incidents like the Delhi rape case and they were willing to accept that more of such services would be coming their way in the future.

Findings from the survey of Viira Cabs management:

Through the interview with the management of Virra cabs the findings were as follows. 1.The organization mainly believes in the empowerment of the women and feel that there is a need to provide skills to women so that they can stand on their own and earn a living. 2. Most of the employees working here are from below poverty line families for whom meeting their daily needs becomes a difficult task. They hire confident women who believe that they can overcome the paradigm and earn a living to support their families. The organization believes in the customer first approach, the chauffeur are trained to be customer centric and basic etiquettes. 3.In a country like India they do not believe in bribing so it has become very difficult for them to get the driving licenses and the other clearance certificates from the local bureaucrats. They believe that the govt. norms should be lenient and incentivizing such organizations which work for women empowerment. 4.The banks in turn are themselves not supportive to such organizations because they believe that such a business model cannot succeed for a long time. 5. There is dearth of investments from both venture capitalist and other investments funding agencies which has made it very difficult for the company to scale-up its business and make it profitable. 6.They have used competitor based pricing strategy charging just Rs.1 higher than Meru Cabs.It charges Rs.28 for the first kilometer and then Rs.21 for the rest of the journey during the day and Rs.35 for the first kilometer and then Rs.21 for the rest of the journey. Virra cabs also offers 10% discount for the senior citizens who travel by their cabs. 7.The main reason for their losses is due to the unwillingness of women to take-up such jobs which are mainly dominated by men, and the problems created by the local taxi (kali- pili taxi called commonly) drivers. . 8.The conservative nature of women plays a huge role in the success of virra cabs. This services is not preferred by women because they believe it is too costly to go for such a cab instead they

can go in a normal cab during the day and use such services in case of emergencies or when their is a threat.

Managerial Implications:
It is well known that different factors like cultural, social, personal, and psychological factors play a major role in consumers pre and post buying behavior. In our context culture especially gender places a major role on perception of female chauffeurs. In a country like India with extreme patriarchical social system the capability of women in doing jobs which are considered as male jobs and acceptance of women in jobs which are considered as male jobs is always questioned. Common person both men and women in India think that female are not capable of doing certain jobs like driving and women are discouraged by their families to do such jobs. Influenced by these cultural factors, even unemployed women hesitate to do such jobs. When it comes to the driving capabilities and safe driving, most of us have a wrong perception that male drivers are more capable and safer than female drivers. According to University of New South Wales Transport and Road Safety research whether men were drivers, passengers, motorcyclists or pedestrians, they were 1.6 to 1.7 times more likely to be killed on the road. According to Russell White, a New South Wales based driving instructor with 22 years of experience, it is easy to train women than men and most men irrespective of age have worse driving habits than women. Cab service businesses based on female chauffeurs are facing many issues in running and scaling-up their businesses. Managers of such companies should be able to find solutions for changing the perceptions of customers about female chauffeurs which are obstacle to the businesses. The following are the key issues associated with such cab services and suggested solutions for the issues.

Changing the misperception:

1. Companies should try to change the misperceptions of customers about the female chauffeurs related to driving through every form of advertising. They should emphasize how capable are female drivers as male drivers and how more safer are female drivers than male drivers. The emphasizing should be supported with statistical data and other logical supporting information.

2. Few of the key factors that influence the misperceptions of female chauffeurs are their confidence and crisis managing capability. Companies should give training to female chauffeurs to improve their confidence in the male dominated society and teach defense driving to manage the crisis. For example, For-She Travels and Logistics Private limited (FTL) is giving above mentioned training to its employees. 3. Customers values personal opinions about the quality of service than any other forms of information. So, Word-of-Mouth (WoM) plays a major role in changing the misperception of customers. The companies should create positive and memorable services experiences to get positive WoM.

Attracting more female chauffeurs:

Insufficient female chauffeurs are one of the major issues faced by the cab services companies based on female chauffeurs. Influenced by the cultural factors most of the women are discouraged by their families to join as a chauffeur and many women hesitate to join as chauffeurs. Companies should educate the families and women how suitable are chauffeur jobs to the women and how these jobs can financially help them while recruiting. As per our research, some women are quite positive about chauffeur jobs irrespective of discouragement from family members and others. Companies should use the stories of such self-motivated female chauffeurs to encourage women who are aversive to join as female chauffeurs.

Attracting funds:
From our study we found that companies like Viira Cabs and Forsche Cabs are finding it difficult to raise funds to run their businesses. The reason for this is that funding agencies in India like banks believe that such business models will not successful. Asian countries like Singapore, Indonesia and even Egypt now have female cab drivers. However, as in India, they are still a small number. Companies should cite the examples of successful similar business models in other Asian countries while requesting funds from agencies and they should be able to explain the agencies how are their business models going to work with supporting information.

Conclusion:
Cab services with female chauffeurs are quite common in western countries unlike South-Asian countries like India, Myanmar and Srilanka. Though preference of a chauffeur based on gender is unbiased in western countries, there are mixed perceptions about safe driving capabilities of female chauffeurs. These perceptions are based mainly on gender differences. In case of India, along with the gender, cultural factors play a major role in creating the perception of customers about female chauffeurs. These gender and cultural factors are influencing the way the cab services companies doing their business and in most of the times these factors are obstacle to scale-up their business. This is evidence from the fact that most of customers prefer male chauffeurs which makes the companies difficult to gain more market share and most of the women are hesitate to joining as female chauffeurs which is creating scarcity of required female chauffeurs. All these factors together created an opinion that such business models are difficult to survive which in turn made the companies to attract funds from funding agencies. Managers of such companies should follow multi-staggered approach mentioned in this article to overcome the issues. As society like India which is deeply enrooted with such cultural factors, the process of change of perception about the female chauffeurs is gradual phenomenon irrespective of companies efforts to overcome those perceptions.

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