Masking problem in identification of service quality determinants with an application of the cart model – an example of the public services quality research in Poland

An important part of customer satisfaction surveys of the acquired service is to identify the key factors affecting its quality. Since customer satisfaction is a complex category thus its measurement and analysis require the use of multivariate statistical methods. One of them is the CART method (Classification and Regression Trees). Its use in the identification of the key determinants of the quality of services may, however, be associated with the emergence of the so-called variable masking problem, that was characterized in the article. Possible ways of solving it were exemplified in the customer satisfaction survey results of one of the Polish Municipal Offices.