Chapter 3 Research method
3.1 Questionnaire design
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Chapter 3 Research method
The purpose of this study was to develop a scale for measuring mobile service quality. The development process was based on the steps proposed by Hinkin (1998). The approach and processes of constructing the scale are: (1)items development, (2)items simplification and content validity establishment, (3)pretesting and initial item reduction, (4)exploratory factor analysis and item reduction, (5)confirmatory data analysis, (6)convergent and discriminant validity assessment, (7)the regression analysis between constructs of M-S-QUAL and perceived value and loyalty
intentions. Each step is explained in the following sections.
3.1 Questionnaire design
The method of developing the questionnaire items is using the deductive approach, which assumes that there is sufficient theoretical foundation to generate the initial set of items. Due to the theories about SERVQUAL are developed well, the deductive approach is suitable. The questionnaire scale will be developed from constructs of electronic services quality scale and correlative literatures. The questionnaire is including four parts: (1) demographic data, (2) handheld devices usage, (3) Mobile service use experiences, (4) overall service assessment. The third part mobile service use experience is M-S-QUAL measurement, and the fourth part is the overall quality assessment to establish nomological validity.
3.1.1 Modifying E-S-QUAL to mobile scenario
The foundation used for constructing the questionnaire was the multiple-item scale for assessing electronic service quality, including both of its original parts E-S-QUAL and E-RecS-QUAL parts. E-S-E-RecS-QUAL is a 22-item scale with the four dimensions of efficiency, fulfillment,
system availability, and privacy. E-RecS-QUAL is salient to consumers who have non-routine
encounters with a site, and contains 11 items in three dimensions: responsiveness, compensation, and contact. E-S-QUAL defines the degree to which a website allows for effective and efficient shopping, purchasing, and product or service delivery. This is different from assessments of the‧ 國
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quality of traditional e-commerce services. E-S-QUAL is an important instrument with an extensive scope, it not only includes the traditional dimensions of service quality, but also covers the technical level, such as ease of use, speed of browsing, privacy and security, and other technical considerations. Mobile commerce is a subset of electronic commerce, and in this context consumers use different devices to purchase online. When consumers use mobile service applications, they will have opinions about the site or application’s usefulness, ease of use, speed of launching, and functions. Thus, the dimensions of technical quality are needed to assess the technical aspects of mobile services.
The original 33-item SERVQUAL scale developed by Parasuraman et al. (2005) forms the foundation of M-S-QUAL. As the survey respondents are likely to be of different ages and their main language will be Chinese, the formal questionnaire was generated in Chinese by translating the original items into Chinese, with some modification of the descriptions to suit the mobile service context. There are also slight differences in the consumer behavior of electronic commerce and mobile commerce customers. E-commerce consumers buy products or services online because it is convenient and can save both time and money. However, in m-commerce, consumers want to consume in their present location and at a certain time. Further, there are additional types of intangible products in m-commerce, such as applications and ring tone downloads. To avoid making it difficult for the respondents to answer the questionnaire, some of the dimensions were thus separated into two parts: tangible and intangible shopping. For example, the dimension of fulfillment was separated into tangible and intangible products. The delivery of intangible products such as application downloads is different from tangible product delivery.
Consumers accomplish application downloads in a matter of minutes, whereas tangible products need deliverymen and may take several days.
3.1.2 Developing a preliminary scale
According to Hinkin’s guide to the development of scales, item generation can be conducted using a deductive approach based on a theoretical foundation. There are many studies of m-commerce satisfaction, consumer loyalty, and mobile service quality. Turela and Serenko
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(2006)0 used the construct of perceived expectations to represent both previous service experience and forward-looking beliefs about a provider’s ability to offer the desired quality.
Perceived quality is the served market evaluation of recent service usage experience. It is derived
from degree of personalization and service reliability. Perceived value is the price dimension of perceived quality, and addresses the perception of value for money. The three constructs are all related to service quality, but as the service quality assessed in our research relates to mobile services and consumer expectations before use are not considered, the construct of perceived expectations was not used. Perceived service quality is applied instead. The price dimension of perceived quality is not considered in E-S-QUAL. The mobile service quality measurement dimensions are identified as network coverage, mobile device, value-added services, billingsystem, convenience, and price structure (Choi et al., 2007). Santouridis and Trivellas (2010)
identified the crucial factors that lead to consumer loyalty in the mobile telephone sector to be service quality and consumer satisfaction. The mediation effect of consumer satisfaction on the relationship between service quality and consumer loyalty was also examined. We adapted theirbill construct to measure the perception of quality in terms of price and billing, which includes
how economical the service is and whether it provides convenient payment procedures (Wang &Liao, 2007). Other items were modified from the basic scale to fit the new dimensions.
Although the basic scale contains a technical dimension, the content of mobile services varies. Wang and Liao (2007) addressed this concern by using the conceptualization and measurement of m-commerce user satisfaction (MCUS) constructs. The MCUS is separated into four sub-constructs that include content quality, appearance, service quality, and ease of use. Kuo, Wub, and Deng (2009) developed an instrument to evaluate the quality of value-added mobile services and further investigated the relationships among service quality, perceived value, consumer satisfaction, and post-purchase intention. The construct of service quality was initially grounded on four dimensions (content quality, navigation and visual design, management and consumer service, and system reliability and connection quality) and was measured by 24 items adapted from Chae et al. (2002). The construct of content quality measures whether the mobile site provides the appropriate and correct information.
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The M-S-QUAL scale contains some additional dimensions and items to the original scale, such as billing and content quality. The billing issue of m-commerce is different from e-commerce and payment method is also usually different. Due to the content richness of mobile service is more various than electronic service, mobile site’s content should be assessed, too. The research model in Figure 3 shows the dimensions we used to measure the mobile service quality.
An exploratory QUAL instrument involving 50/ 49 items representing all facets of the M-S-QUAL domain formed our initial scale of tangible/ intangible products shopping scope, with two global measures perceived value (10 items) and loyalty intentions (5 items) as criterion (Parasuraman et al., 2005). The M-S-QUAL instrument was developed using a seven point Likert-type scale, ranging from ‘‘strongly disagree’’ to ‘‘strongly agree’’. The 50/49 items cover 9 dimensions (as shown in Appendix A), and the concise definitions of which are stated as follow.
Figure 3. Research model
Efficiency: The degree to which the site is easy and quick to use
System Availability: The possibility of getting the required technical functions and an accurate service promise
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Content: Whether the information on the mobile site is appropriate and correct
Fulfillment: The extent to which the site’s promises about order delivery and item availability are fulfilled
Privacy: The degree to which the consumer perceives the site to be safe and the extent to which their personal information is protected
Responsiveness: The effectiveness of problem handling and the returns policy of the site
Compensation: The degree to which the site compensates consumers for problems that they encounter
Contact: The availability of assistance through telephone or online representatives
Billing: Value for money and billing
3.1.3 Items simplification and content validity establishment
After items have been generated, they should be subjected to an assessment of content validity. This process will serve as a pretest, permitting the deletion of items that are deemed to be conceptually inconsistent. It is to provide ten naive respondents with construct definitions, asking them to match items with their corresponding definition, also providing an “unclassified”
category for items that are determined not to fit one of definitions. An acceptable agreement index is the percentage of respondents who correctly classify an item which minimum of 75%
(Mackenzie et al., 1991). The retained items should represent a reasonable measure of the construct under examination and reduce the need for subsequent scale modification.
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