Chapter 2 Literature review
2.2 Service quality
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2.2 Service quality
There is a large volume of studies that discuss service quality. The most influential research is the SERVQUAL instrument of service quality developed by Parasuraman, Berry, and Zeithaml (1988). Although the scale has been criticized because of the reliability and validity of the research, today most service quality research is based on their concept and original framework. With the development of technology and the shifting of the service delivery channel from offline to online, an electronic service quality measurement scale (E-S-QUAL) was developed by the same authors to measure the quality of the services provided by online shopping websites. The concept of service quality is reviewed in the following section.
2.2.1 Conceptualization of service quality
Service quality is more difficult for consumers to evaluate than the quality of tangible goods because service is intangible, and price sometimes becomes a pivotal quality indicator when information is not available. Service quality perception is the gap between consumer expectations and actual service performance. Quality perception includes not only the outcome of the service, but also the service delivery process. Parasuraman et al. (1985) conducted an exploratory study to investigate the concept of service quality in which they suggested that there were gaps between consumers and marketers, and that if marketers wish to satisfy the demands of consumers, then they must strive to bridge these gaps.
Parasuraman et al. (1988) developed the SERVQUAL service quality model and identified the determinants of perceived service quality components to be reliability, responsiveness,
competence, access, courtesy, communication, credibility, security, understanding/knowing
consumers, and tangibles. The same authors later published several articles about the
development of multiple-item scales for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality. The final scale consists of three dimensions: expectations, perceptions, and a point-allocation question assessing the importance of features the service company providing to consumers. The first two parts measure service quality across five dimensions: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness,‧ 國
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assurance, and empathy. Tangibles construct is about tangible facilities, equipment, and the
appearance of personnel. Reliability assesses the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately. Responsiveness is about willingness to help consumers and provide a prompt service. Assurance assesses the knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and confidence. Empathy is about caring individualized attention the firm provides its consumers (Parasuraman et al., 1991).The focus of the SERVQUAL scale is on the traditional services provided by banks, appliance repair firms, assurance companies, and telephone companies. Services of these service types are delivered by companies’ staffs. Consumer’s perceived service quality is involving full service delivering process and abilities and attitude of staffs of service provider.
2.2.2 Electronic service quality
The original SERVQUAL instrument measures offline and people-delivered services. The later e-service quality multiple-item scale is more appropriately used to measure the service quality delivered by websites. The scale has two parts. The first is the basic E-S-QUAL scale consisting of 22 items in four dimensions: efficiency, fulfillment, system svailability, and privacy.
The dimension of efficiency measures the speed and ease with which the website is accessed and used. Fulfillment assesses the extent to which the service provider deals with problems concerning order delivery and item availability. System Availability measures the technical functions of the website. Privacy is the degree to which the site protects consumer information.
The items of these four dimensions can be answered by respondents having online shopping experiences because they are about routine works.
Because of the ambiguity of meaning of certain items, the researchers further developed a new e-recovery service quality scale (E-Rec S-QUAL) that consists of 11 items in three dimensions: Responsiveness, compensation, and contact (Parasuraman et al., 2005). The items of these three dimensions are about non-routine process of online shopping, so not all respondents have experiences about incurring online shopping problems. Responsiveness is to assess effective
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handling of problems and returns. Compensation is defined as the extent to which the site compensates consumers for problems. Contact is about telephone or online representatives the site providing to assist consumers.
2.2.3 Mobile service quality
There are some discrepancies between Internet-based and non-Internet-based service quality measurements. Because of the features of m-commerce, mobile service quality is different from either traditional or electronic service quality. E-S-QUAL not only considers the service that companies deliver but also the effect of technology on the service quality. Mobile commerce refers to the mobile characteristics of wireless devices that support electronic service transactions.
Although mobile commerce is frequently characterized as an extension of e-commerce, it can also be regarded as a separate channel that delivers unique value to consumers (Balasubramanian et al., 2002). Several studies have investigated the quality of mobile services. According to the suggestions of developing a scale provided by Hinkin (1998), converged related reviews which discussed mobile service in this research to develop scale items (The related dimensions in mobile service quality construct are shown as in Table 2). Some dimensions in mobile service quality construct which are not focusing on service, but on service providers’ corporate image, technical network quality, or other influences will not be considered in this research.
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Table 2. Dimensions related to the mobile service quality construct in previous studies
Author Title Dimensions related to the mobile service quality construct
Turela, Serenko, 2006 Satisfaction with mobile services in Canada:
An empirical investigation Perceived quality Wang & Liao, 2007 The conceptualization and measurement of
m-commerce user satisfaction Content quality
Service quality The relationships among service quality,
perceived value, customer satisfaction, and post-purchase intention in mobile value-added services
Content quality
Navigation and visual design
Management and customer service
System reliability and connection quality
Lu, Zhang, & Wang, 2009
A multidimensional and hierarchical model of
mobile service quality Design
Punctuality
Tangibles Denga, Lua, Weib, &
Zhanga, 2010
Understanding customer satisfaction and loyalty: An empirical study of mobile instant messages in China
Service quality
Akter, D’Ambra, & Ray, 2010
Service quality of m-Health platforms:
development and validation of a hierarchical model using PLS
Service reliability
System efficiency
System availability
System privacy
Responsiveness
Assurance
Empathy
Functional benefit
Emotional benefit Kumar & Lim, 2008 Age differences in mobile service perceptions:
comparison of Generation Y and baby boomers
Functional quality
Mobile service quality
Billing service
Consumer service Santouridis & Trivellas,
2010
Investigating the impact of service quality and customer satisfaction on customer loyalty in mobile telephony in Greece
Value-added services
Customer service
Pricing structure
Billing system
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