Satisfaction Level of Night Market Traders at Kuala Selangor and Tanjung Karang, Selangor: The Influence of Basic Facilities

Abstract

Night markets remain an important component of Malaysia's informal retail economy, yet research has more often examined tourists, customers, environmental management and business resilience than traders' evaluation of the facilities that support day-to-day operations. This study aimed to evaluate basic facilities and examine their relationship with trader satisfaction in Bandar Baru Kuala Selangor and Tanjung Karang, Selangor. A focused re-analysis was conducted using original cross-sectional survey data from 150 night market traders, with 75 respondents from each market. Basic facilities were measured through seven items covering prayer-room convenience, public toilets, parking for customers and traders, market accessibility, portable toilets and public transport. Descriptive statistics, Cronbach's alpha, Pearson correlation and a multivariable regression robustness check were examined. Parking for traders recorded the highest evaluation (mean (M) = 3.70, standard deviation (SD) = 0.97), followed by parking for customers (M = 3.61, SD = 0.98), whereas portable toilets (M = 2.33, SD = 0.94) and public transport (M = 2.31, SD = 0.92) were rated lowest. The basic-facilities index showed modest internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = .636). Basic facilities were strongly and positively associated with trader satisfaction at the bivariate level (r = .70, p < .001; r² = .49). However, in the original multivariable model, basic facilities did not independently reach the .05 significance threshold (beta = .107, p = .054), while location remained significant (beta = .785, p < .001). The findings show that trader-oriented facilities are an important part of the operating environment and should be planned together with location and other market conditions.