Measuring Website Service Quality For Malaysian Companies

Measuring Website Service Quality for Malaysian Companies Voon Boo Ho, Karen Kueh, Mohd Zafian Mohd Zawawi Universiti Teknologi MARA Sarawak

ABSTRACT Customer-perceived service quality is essential for enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty. This is also true online services, especially with the increasing use of websites as channel for information presentation and provision of other services. Hence, the website service quality perceptions of users need to be understood so as to be managed more effectively. In this paper, the key dimensions for website service quality were identified through qualitative and quantitative approaches. The website quality theories, focus groups and survey results were used for generating the numerous dimensions and items for understanding and measuring website service quality of Malaysian companies from the users’ perspective. The websites of the Malaysia public listed companies were assessed. Laboratory-based and mail surveys were carried out nation-wide to get the perceptual data for further quantitative analysis. The laboratory-based survey obtained data from the external website users whereas the mail survey aimed to obtain the views from the website organisations’ employees. Reliability and Exploratory Factor Analysis as well as Structural Equation Modeling were done and the research found six valid and reliable dimensions of website service quality, namely: Assurance, Tangibles, Content Quality, Technical Quality, Organisation Information, and Address. Implications and future research directions were also discussed. Keywords: Website service quality, users, measurement model. 1.

INTRODUCTION

Since the existence of Internet, or also known as Net, that act as a world wide collection of networks that links millions of businesses, government agencies, private and government agencies, educational institutions and individuals, lots of works can be done faster and smarter. This is because, each of these networks provides various types of resources such as goods, services, facts and information that can be access by users via the Internet within 24 hours a day. The fast development in information, communication and technology (ICT) has led to increasing demand in internet services and use of websites for effective online communication. According to Shelly, Cashman and Vermaat (2005), today, there are nine types of Web sites that available on Internet. Internet marketing is gaining its recognition and the quality of information presenting portals has been stressed (Yang et al., 2004). In this regards, having good websites or portals are undoubtedly essential. Many researchers and practitioners have emphasized the measurement and management of website quality (e.g. Webb and Webb, 2004; Aladwani and Palvia, 2002; Yoo and Donthu, 2001), but scant attention has been given to the website service quality. Besides, the service elements of websites have yet to be systematically identified and measured accordingly. For this, the user’s perspective is believed to be important and a marketoriented approach is necessary for achieving competitive success (Voon, 2006). Websites which can deliver quality service will most probably enhance the user satisfaction and loyalty. Therefore, this paper aims to identify the dimensions of user-perceived website service quality. 2.

RELATED LITERATURE AND RESEARCH

The related literature reveals that there is a variety of interpretations and measurement tools available for understanding and measuring website quality. Generally, studies to-date can be grouped into 3 categories, namely studies on online service quality related to online shopping (e.g. eSQ by Parasuraman et.al., 2005), studies on website quality (e.g. Aladwani and Palvia 2002) and studies on portal quality (e.g. van Riel et. al., 2001; Yang et. al., 2004). The research that has been done to date largely focuses on specific industries for overall website quality assessment. A comprehensive measurement tool for website service quality that is empirically developed and tested is necessary to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of website-based online marketing. Researchers on website quality such as Aladwani and Palvia (2002), define website quality as users’ evaluation of a website’s features in meeting their needs and reflecting overall excellence of the website. Their 25-item user-perceived website quality instrument measures four dimensions of website quality which are technical adequacy, web appearance, specific content and content quality. The scale was tested and found to display sound psychometric properties. Another model of website quality focused on website user satisfaction which was defined as the attitude towards the website by the users (Muylle et al., 2003). Nevertheless, the studies on service quality of websites mainly concerned the online retailing websites or transactional websites. For instance, Yoo and Donthu (2001) came up with SITEQUAL which is a 9-item scale to measure the perceived quality of an Internet shopping site. The instrument consists of 4 dimensions, namely ease of use, aesthetic design, processing speed and security. When examining the service quality dimensions, Yang and Jun (2002) discovered 6 dimensions which were relevant to Internet purchasers: reliability, access, ease of use, personalization, security and credibility. The E-S-QUAL scale by Parasuraman et al. (2005) is four-dimensional consisting of 22 items measuring the service quality of an online shopping website without the hedonic aspects. The 4 dimensions are: efficiency, fulfillment, system availability and privacy. They also developed a separate scale called (E-RecS-QUAL) which measured service recovery based on responsiveness, compensation and contact. In contrast, the eTransQual scale by Bauer et al. (2006) has 5 dimensions capturing both utilitarian and hedonic quality elements: responsiveness, reliability, process, functionality/design and enjoyment. These dimensions were shown to positively affect perceived value and satisfaction with the website. Another e-retailing scale is the perceived e-service quality scale (PeSQ) by Cristobal (2007). The 4 dimensions of the scale are web design, customer service, assurance and order management. In the midst of today’s ICT advancement, the information system and internet marketing professionals should consistently measure and improve accordingly their company websites, especially on its service aspect. The websites should be serving the online customers (visitor or users). However, the challenge is the development of a set of performance measurement indicators or quality criteria. Moreover, the measure should be market-oriented whereby the customer or user viewpoints are crucial for website success. Hence, the website users’ perspective of website assessment should be taken into consideration, and the service aspect matters. 3.

METHODOLOGY

This paper aims to present the empirical findings on user-perceived website service quality, from Malaysian users’ perspective. The questionnaire surveys hope to identify the dimensions of website service quality. Related literature on website quality (e.g. Aladwani and Palvia, 2002) and service quality (e.g. Parasuraman et al., 1988; Parasuraman et al., 2005) research as well as the findings from four focus groups were used to generate items for measuring the intended website service quality. Forty-three statements were used to measure the user-perceived website service quality (the development phrase). The questionnaire was carefully designed and the items were measured using 7-point Likert scale (1=Strongly Disagree and 7=Strongly Agree). The Overall Quality was a single-item measure. User Satisfaction was measured using four items,

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namely ‘I am satisfied with the website’, ‘The website can fulfill my expectations’, ‘I am not disappointed with the website’ and ‘My experience with the website is good.’ User Loyalty was measured using two items (intention to use and recommend). The pilot-tested questionnaires were administered to respondents in the computer laboratory settings. The method enables more accurate, comprehensive and reliable data collection and the computer capacity was constant. Each of the 200 invited respondents (external users) was invited to assess 30 randomly selected websites (from different industrial sectors) based on the procedures provided by the researchers. Prior to surfing and then answering of the questionnaires, the respondents were briefed on the various web-related technical terms and demonstration of the website visitation by an Information System expert. A website visit took about 20 minutes. This data collection process yielded 5939 usable questionnaires. This was followed by a mail survey to the targeted respondents (employees) of the Malaysian public-listed companies. They assessed their own company’s website using the refined questionnaire (35 items only). One hundred and one usable questionnaires were obtained for validation purposes. 4.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

The two hundred respondents who participated in the survey mainly aged 21-30 years old (62%) and female accounted for 61%, their average times of visiting websites per week was 11 times. They were mainly the diploma holders (43.2%) and degree (33.2%). The company websites (Na=5939) assessed, according to sector were Industrial (26.8%), Trading/Services (26.6%), Consumer Products (13.5%), Properties (13.1%) and Others (20.0%). On the other hand, the employee respondents (Nb=101), were also mainly female (56%). About 44% of them aged 21-30 years old and bachelor degree holders. The websites came from Industrial (20.4%), Trading/Services (4.9%), Consumer Products (25.2%), Properties (22.3%) and Others (27.2%). The results of the exploratory factor analysis (using principal component analysis with varimax rotation, on the development sample Na=5939) show that the measure for website service quality is made up of seven dimensions (Table 1, indicating a serias of 35 items). The factors (each with Eigenvalue more than 1) explained 64.7% of the total variance. The KaiserMeyer-Olkin Measure stood at 0.975 indicating good sampling adequacy. Confirmatory factor analysis was carried out using AMOS software. The 7-dimension model based on the exploratory factor analysis was tested but did not demonstrate a good fit as the goodness-of-fit index values were below the desired values as recommended in most marketing measurement literature (i.e., 0.90). With the help of the modification indices, a 6dimension model (Figure 1, indicating the original item numbers) was tested in which the Service Information dimension was omitted. This results show improved and good model fit statistics (e.g. NFI=0.91; IFI=0.91; TLI=0.90; CFI=0.91; RMSEA=0.064). Besides, all the factor loadings are significant and exceed 0.5 (0.582 to 0.865) indicating convergent validity. Results from the reliability analysis indicate that the website service quality items have satisfactory internal consistency. The Cronbach’s Alpha (α) coefficients met the mandatory level of 0.70 (Nunnally and Bernstein, 1994). The corrected item-total correlations (ITC) for items within the dimensions also portray good internal consistency (higher than 0.50). These show that the measure is a reliable scale for measuring the user-perceived website service quality. The internal consistency test results for three split-samples (N1=2364, N2=2279 and N3=1296) also indicated good reliability for the overall measure as well as all the six dimensions. The internal consistency of the validation sample (Nb=101) also indicate satisfactory results. On the other hand, the results of correlation analysis indicate that the six dimensions are satisfactorily correlated. On the other hand, the dimensions are moderately or strongly correlated with the user-perceived Overall Quality evidenced a convergent validity of the measure. The

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correlations with User Satisfaction and User Loyalty are also found to be significant, indicating the criterion validity.

Table 1: The initial website service quality dimensions and items Dimensions and items Assurance (9) 1. Feel that the website is easy to use. 2. Feel secured when using/visiting the website. 3. Website takes good care of me. 4. Never feel lost while navigating the website. 5. Website is considerate of my needs. 6. Website does help me a lot. 7. Website is responsive in meeting my needs. 8. Feel that the website is reliable. 9. Feel that website provides me good service. Tangibles (9) 10. Has adequate interactive features. 11. Website uses latest technology. 12. The website is well-designed. 13. The website looks attractive. 14. The website looks organized. 15. The website uses fonts properly. 16. The website uses colours properly. 17. Website uses multimedia features. 18. The website looks unique. Content Quality (6) 19. Content of the website is useful. 20. Content of website is comprehensive. 21. Content of website is up-to-date. 22. Content of the website is concise. 23. Content of the website is accurate. 24. Content suits cultural background. Technical Quality (4) 25. Website is easy to navigate through. 26. Always up and functioning well. 27. Web pages load fast in the website. 28. Website is easy to access. Organisation Information (3) 29. Contact information of company. 30. General information about company. 31. Details about product and/or services. Service Information (2) 32. Information on customers’ policies. 33. Information on customer service. Address (2) 34. Website address easy to remember. 35. Website address suits the company. Eigen values and Variance Explained (Total variance explained: 64.7%)

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F6

F7

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0.94 0.673

.562 .663 .702 .660 .717 .680 .684 .593 .599

0.726 0.771 0.720 0.809 0.792 0.803 0.755 0.784 0.93 0.680

.552 .616 .724 .810 .625 .556 .713 .749 .744

0.686 0.806 0.832 0.746 0.612 0.726 0.763 0.729 0.87 0.726

.550 .585 .573 .613 .592 .520

0.716 0.590 0.754 0.707 0.533 0.83 0.675

.687 .650 .764 .705

0.673 0.617 0.719 0.79 0.633

.748 .757 .606

0.709 0.540 0.79 0.651

.819 .780

0.651 0.77

.783 .771 18.8 43.6

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Figure 1: The Measurement Model for Confirmatory Factory Analysis 5.0

Conclusions and implications

This Malaysian-based survey research indicates that the user-perceived website service quality is a multidimensional construct, with six dimensions related to Assurance, Tangibles, Technical quality, Content quality, Organisation information and Address aspects of the website. These aspects of the website are closely related with the overall user-perceived quality of the website. Besides, the website service quality positively influences the users’ satisfaction and loyalty. The research findings suggest that that the performance measurement and management on website service quality should stress the user’s perspective. The quality evaluation and management of the website service quality shall focus on the various service-oriented aspects of the website quality. This newly developed measure can be potentially developed and validated to serve as an important diagnostic tool for website service quality control managers and objective performance indicators. These are crucial for strategic monitoring purposes. Nevertheless, the quality of this measure can still be improved and more validation research should be done. Future research should expand the scope to cover different types of websites to validate the measure and confirmatory factor analysis is necessary. The various model fit indices will be instrumental for confirming the goodness of the overall measurement model and its factors. Besides, longitudinal research should be undertaken to further investigate the causal effects of the user-perceived website service quality on user satisfaction and loyalty. With these, managers can prioritize resources allocation more effectively. Full structural equation modeling should be applied to

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examine the causal relationships and numerous test-retest checks using cross-cultural data will be essential. REFERENECS Adam, S. Vocino, A. and Bednall, D. (2009). The world wide web in modern marketing’s contribution to organisational performance, Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp.7-24. Aladwani, A.M. and Palvia, P.C. (2002). Developing and validating an instrument for measuring user-perceived web quality. Information and Management 39, 467-476. Bauer, H.H., Falk, T., Hammerschmidt, M. (2006). eTransQual: A transaction process-based approach for capturing service quality in online shopping. Journal of Business Research, 59, 866875. Christobal, E., Flavian, C., Guinaliu, M. (2007). Perceived e-service quality (PeSQ): Measurement validation and effects on consumer satisfaction and web site loyalty. Managing Service Quality, 17 (3), 317-340. Muylle, S., Moenaert, R., Despontin, M., 2003. The conceptualization and empirical validation of web site user satisfaction. Information and Management, 41, 543-560. Nunnally, J. C. and Bernstein, I. H. (1994). Psychometric Theory, 3rd ed. New York: McGrawHill, Inc. Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L.L. (1988). SERVQUAL: A multiple-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality. Journal of Retailing, 64 (1), 12-40. Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A., Malhotra, A. (2005). E-S-Qual: A multiple-item scale for assessing electronic service quality. Journal of Service Research, 7 (3), 213-233. Shelly, G.B., Cashman, T.J. and Vermat, M.E. Discovering Computers 2006: A gateway to Information, Web Enchanted - Complete. Course Technology: Boston, 2005. van Riel, A.C.R., Liljander, V. and Jurriens, P., 2001. Exploring consumer evaluations of eservices: a portal site. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 12 (4), 359-377. Voon, B.H. (2006). Linking a service-driven market orientation to service quality. Managing Service Quality, 16 (6), 595-619. Webb, H.W. and Webb, L.A (2004). SiteQual: An integrated measure of web site quality. The Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 17 (6), 430-440. Yang, Z., Cai, S., Zhou, Z., Zhou N. (2004). Development and validation of an instrument to measure user perceived service quality of information presenting Web portals. Information and Management 42, 575-589. Yoo, B. and Donthu, N. (2001). Developing a scale to measure the perceived quality of an internet shopping site (SITEQUAL). Quarterly Journal of Electronic Commerce, 2 (1), 31-45.

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