Sektörel gelişim bütün sektörlerde tüm kurum ve kuruluşların ortak hedefidir. Ürün ve hizmet sağlayıcıların bu hedefe ulaşabilmesindeki kilit unsur ise, ürün ya da hizmetin sunulduğu müşteri kitlesi ile ürün ya da hizmeti üreten çalışanların memnuniyet düzeylerinin tespiti ve sürekli iyileştirilmesidir. Bu kapsamda literatürde, eğitimden bankacılık sektörüne, sağlık sektöründen genel hizmet sektörlerine kadar birçok sektörde onlarca çalışma yapılmış ve çeşitli memnuniyet ölçekleri geliştirilmiştir. Buna karşın, yapılan literatür araştırmasında sürücülerin araçtan duydukları memnuniyet düzeylerinin ve nedenlerinin belirlenmesine yönelik herhangi bir çalışma bulunmadığı tespit edilmiş ve bu çalışma kapsamında literatürdeki eksikliği gidermek üzere, hem trafik kazaları ile sürücülerin araçtan duydukları memnuniyet arasında bir ilişkinin varlığının tespiti, hem de araç tasarımlarında dünya devlerinin dikkate aldığı temel faktörlerden olan sürücü memnuniyetinin belirlenmesine yönelik olarak bir ölçme aracının sahip olması gereken geçerlilik ve güvenirlik prensipleri dikkate alınarak bir Sürücü Memnuniyet Ölçeği (SMÖ) geliştirilmiştir

Sectoral development is the common goal of all organizations and institutions in all sectors. The key element for the product and service suppliers in achieving this goal is to determine and continuously improve satisfaction level of the customer mass provided with the product and service or of the employees providing service. In this scope, tens of studies have been carried out in many sectors in the literature from education to banking, from health sector to general service sector and various satisfaction scales have been developed. Nonetheless, in the search of the literature, it has been ascertained that there isn’t any study carried out to determine the satisfaction levels and reasons of the drivers for their vehicles. Within the scope of this study, in order to make up this deficiency in the literature, a Driver Satisfaction Scale (DSS) has been developed taking into account of validity and reliability principles which an assessment instrument should have, for both determination of a relation between traffic accidents and drivers’ satisfaction from their cars and determination of the driver satisfaction that is among the principal factors taken into considered by the world’s leading organizations’ in the cars’ design 2 pilot studies have been carried out to develop Driver Satisfaction Scale. In the 1st pilot study, pre-interviews were made with randomly selected persons. In the interviews of 80 persons, their such information as age, gender, education were received and were asked an open ended question that is “what the first three things are to come to mind when the satisfaction from the vehicle is mentioned” and thus, the individuals were given the opportunity to verbalize their attitudes regarding the subject in order to collect data in the qualitative analysis. As a result of this study, the answers were collected into 62 categories. In the 2nd pilot study, item pool was formed making use of the data obtained from the 1st pilot study. Then, draft Driver Satisfaction Scale which was prepared by adding 4 more questions that are “active driving period”, “type of the vehicle used”, “traffic tickets received in the last 5 years” and “accidents made in the last 3 years” and Driver Satisfaction Scale was applied to 100 persons (50 women and 50 men) selected randomly. The data obtained from the 1st and 2nd pilot studies of Driver Satisfaction Scale have been evaluated, the statements required to be emphasized in the scale and answers of the semi open ended questions have been examined according to the demographic answers’ frequencies, such words as “ergonomics, emission, oscillation” have been reorganized in order to make it possible for everyone to comprehend regardless of their education levels and the question of “what the monthly income is” has been included in demographic section. The items obtained from the 1st and 2nd pilot studies have been gathered and Driver Satisfaction Scale of total 28 items has been formed in this way. Driver Satisfaction Scale developed within the scope of this study has been applied to 148 women and 148 men who are civil servants. The persons joining the study was informed that “all dimensions of human behavior who are road users are of great importance in transportation security”, that “there are some questions in the survey in order to determine opinions regarding drivers’ behaviors for satisfaction from the car, that “the questions don’t have any correct or right answers and the important thing is what they think sincerely”, that “all answers will be kept secret and the results will be evaluated in general. The principle of voluntariness has been based on. In evaluation of the data obtained from the study, various statistical analysis techniques considered appropriate were applied such as descriptive statistical methods, correlation, two independent sample Mann-Whitney test, factor analysis, and correlation analysis. In order to research the validity of the scale’s original structure for this sample, data obtained from the study were subjected to item-level factor analysis using principal components analysis, Varimax Rotation and 7 factors were found the Eigen value of which is above 1 and factor load above 0,50. Moreover, as a result of “scree test” and according to their interpretability it has been understood that they can be reduced to 3 factors and data were forced to 3 factor solution. Brand/model, engine power, driving speed, rapidness, driving comfort, automatic gearbox/power steering, sound insulation, interior design, internal volume, exterior appearance and color are grouped under the same factor. The Cronbach’s alfa value is calculated as 0,83 as a result of the reliability analysis of this factor consisting of 11 items and named as “Performance/Equipment/Comfort”. Ergonomics, safe drive, soundness of body, handling, fuel economy, stiffness, eligibility to the environmental requirements, maintained engine, new tires and safety for children are grouped under the “Safety” factor. This factor’s Cronbach’s alfa value is calculated as 0,82. Finally “Economy” factor is formed by the remaining 8 items (service network, meeting the need for transportation, ease of parking, ground clearance, emission release, compactness, second-hand value and tax) and its Cronbach’s alfa value is calculated as 0,76. Consequently, the Cronbach’s alfa value is calculated as 0,87 as a result of the reliability analysis of the Driver Satisfaction Scale consisting of 28 items. According to the demographic variables whether there is a difference between the scores of the items in the Driver Satisfaction Scale is compared with the Mann-Whitney test statistics. The results obtained from this analysis are as follows: - “Engine power” is more important than the other factors affecting the satisfaction for man drivers with low educational level. - “Driving speed” is more important than the other factors affecting the satisfaction for young drivers with short active driving period. - “Safe drive” is more important than the other factors affecting the satisfaction for old drivers with long active driving period and high educational level. - “Soundness of body” is more important than the other factors affecting the satisfaction for graduated drivers who have not received the traffic ticket in the last 5 years. - “Interior equipment” is more important than the other factors affecting the satisfaction for drivers with short active driving period. - “Interior design” is more important than the other factors affecting the satisfaction for drivers who have received the traffic ticket in the last 5 years. - “Internal volume” is more important than the other factors affecting the satisfaction for old and man drivers. - “Fuel economy” is more important than the other factors affecting the satisfaction for old and woman drivers with long active driving period and high educational level. - “Stiffness” is more important than the other factors affecting the satisfaction for woman drivers who have not received the traffic ticket in the last 5 years. - “Exterior appearance” is more important than the other factors affecting the satisfaction for young drivers with short active driving period. - “Service network” is more important than the other factors affecting the satisfaction for old drivers. - “Color” is more important than the other factors affecting the satisfaction for drivers with short active driving period, high educational level and high level of income. - “Ease of parking” is more important than the other factors affecting the satisfaction for woman drivers with short active driving period. - “Ground clearance” is more important than the other factors affecting the satisfaction for old drivers with low educational level. - “Emission release” is more important than the other factors affecting the satisfaction for old and woman drivers with short active driving period, low educational level and low level of income. - “Compactness” is more important than the other factors affecting the satisfaction for woman drivers who have not received the traffic ticket in the last 5 years and with short active driving period. - “Second-hand value” is more important than the other factors affecting the satisfaction for drivers with low educational level. - “Eligibility to the environmental requirements” is more important than the other factors affecting the satisfaction for old drivers. - “Maintained engine” and “New tires” are more important than the other factors affecting the satisfaction for old drivers with low educational level. - “Safety for children” is more important than the other factors affecting the satisfaction for old drivers with low educational level and long active driving period. - “Tax” is more important than the other factors affecting the satisfaction for old drivers with low educational level and low level of income.