Applying Servqual to Web Sites: an Exploratory Study

International leadger of prime(prenominal) & reliableness circumspection Emerald Article Applying SERVQUAL to meshing berths an explorative take aim Jos train Iwaarden, long ton vanguard der Wiele, Leslie B tot completelyy, Robert Millen Article info To cite this document Jos van Iwaarden, short ton van der Wiele, Leslie Ball, Robert Millen, (2003),Applying SERVQUAL to vane state of affairss an wildcat study, International daybook of property & reliability precaution, Vol. 20 Iss 8 pp. 919 935 Permanent link to this document http//dx. doi. org/10. 1108/02656710310493634 Downloaded on 27-01-2013References This document contains references to 26 other(a)(a) documents Citations This document has been cited by 25 other documents To copy this document emailprotected com This document has been transfered 2679 multiplication since 2005. * exploiters who downloaded this Article also downloaded * Jos van Iwaarden, net ton van der Wiele, Leslie Ball, Robert Millen, ( 2003),Applying SERVQUAL to wind vane internet billets an exploratory study, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 20 Iss 8 pp. 919 935 http//dx. doi. org/10. 108/02656710310493634 Jos van Iwaarden, Ton van der Wiele, Leslie Ball, Robert Millen, (2003),Applying SERVQUAL to wind vane sites an exploratory study, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 20 Iss 8 pp. 919 935 http//dx. doi. org/10. 1108/02656710310493634 Jos van Iwaarden, Ton van der Wiele, Leslie Ball, Robert Millen, (2003),Applying SERVQUAL to sack up sites an exploratory study, International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, Vol. 20 Iss 8 pp. 919 935 http//dx. doi. org/10. 1108/02656710310493634 accession to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription rund by UCSI EDUCATION SDN BHD For Authors If you would standardised to frame for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please phthisis our Emerald for Authors swear out. info a bout how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines argon procurable for all. 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The Emerald Re await Register for this journal is forthcoming at http//www. emeraldinsight. com/ investiga teregister The modern stretch out and full text archive of this journal is available at http//www. emeraldinsight. om/0265-671X. htm NEW RESEARCH Applying SERVQUAL to mesh sites an exploratory study Applying SERVQUAL 919 Jos van Iwaarden and Ton van der Wiele Erasmus University Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and Leslie Ball and Robert Millen Received August 2002 Revised December 2002 genuine December 2002 Northeastern University, Boston, Massach put ontts, USA Keywords Worldwide wind vane, SERVQUAL, Electronic commerce synopsis In an effort to identify the bore brokers perceived to be near authorised in congeneric to the physical exercise of nett sites, a look was undertaken. The questionnaire utilized was based on the SERVQUAL instrument that identi? s ? ve fictitious character dimensions in dish up environments. The res ults indicate that the persona dimensions institute applicable in the work vault of heaven ar also applicable to nett sites. The item s that abide been identi? ed as intimately weighty in relation to the choice of meshwork sites be tangibles (the appearance of the entanglement site, water depart, search options, and structure), reliability (the ability to settle the institutionaliseworthiness of the byeed service and the organization dressing the service), responsiveness (the leave behindingness to help guests and provide prompt service), self-assertion (the ability of the meshwork site to convey trust and con? ence in the organisation behind it with respect to trade protection and privacy), and em passy (the purvey of caring, individualized at cardinaltion to clients, including exploiter recognition and customization). Introduction In the archean 1990s three technologies (communications speed, memory capacity, and computer speed) were rapidly growing in terms of capabilities they had for over 20 years. Howalways, their combined S-curve growths suddenly enabled iodine of the keenest technol ogy revolutions ever seen the explosion of the earnings.Originally designed as an information conduit, entrepreneurs concisely saw the great power of a selling channel that enabled browsing, selecting, and acquire without leaving the comfort of the home. Businesses realized that they could interact at one time with other businesses over the net in tot up, as well. Additionally, government agencies caught on and began delivering services online, collecting wagesments for licenses and taxes, providing information, etc. The muniment of this explosion is well documented as both computer and lucre utilization strike increased substantially in the past few years (US plane section of moneymaking(prenominal)ism, 2002).Since 1997 computer occasion has self-aggrandizing at a rate of 5. 3 portion on an annualized basis. net uptake has grown at a rate of 20 per centum per year since 1998, and in the 13 months prior to the September 2001 survey by the US subdivision of Comme rce, over 26 million more Amerifannys went online. The authors atomic design 18 thankful to all anonymous referees for their valuable comments. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management Vol. 20 No. 8, 2003 pp. 919-935 q MCB UP Limited 0265-671X DOI 10. 1108/02656710310493634 IJQRM 20,8 920While in that respect is a great talk about the digital divide, the US Department of Commerce reported that 54 percent (or 143 million Ameri cornerst cardinals) nominate admittance to the mesh in their homes and that nearly 100 percent of the US universe has access through schools and libraries. Thousands of companies were formed to sell greats and services over the lucre during this period creating the New Economy. Subsequently, some(prenominal) of those companies ar now deceased as witnessed by the huge recite of bankruptcies (Baldwin, 2002). Different experts baron de? e e-commerce polarly, but close to agree on bingle thing the field represents a growing piece o f the overall commerce pie, and its p showtime is abide to increase steadily though gradually over the next ? ve years. conf utilize parties urinate forecast different results. For example, Forrester reports that online gross revenue in the USA accounted for $51. 3 billion in gross during 2001, and revenue for 2002 is expected to a total of $72. 1 billion, a 41 percent increase over the precedent year (Hirsh, 2002). However, this accounts for only 2 percent of the overall retail spending.It has been predicted that this sh argon will grow by about three-tenths of a percentage prognosticate each year through at least 2005, marking a slow but steady climb. As for e-commerce sales, a nonher projection estimates that online revenue will total about $90 billion in 2002, $160-$ clxx billion in 2004, and $287. 9 billion by 2006 (Hirsh, 2002). The value of the internet goes beyond adding another selling channel. Researchers at McKinsey and Company report that the computer storage of guests online is easier than in traditional bricks and mortar companies where the online confederacy spends three to ? ve times little(prenominal) to retain them.Companies that bear customers exhibited traits of reliable basic operational effect. Their sites downloaded quickly they responded to customer queries quickly they delivered more than 95 percent of their orders on time and they do it palmy for customers to return or exchange procures. One social club embossed its on-time pitch rates from 60 to 90 percent, and cut customer stir in half (Agrawal et al. , 2001). The network also lowlife play a pivotal role in enhancing trademark relationships and corporate reputations. Nike, Disney, Coke, and Toyota argon all well-established scrapes that drive us to search for and ? d their products. mark is a small component of the design of web sites. It is about building a brand or corporate reputation to create relationships with customers (Chiagouris and Wansley, 2 001). Branding is rede? ned online, says Caroline Riby, vice president-media director at Saatchi & Saatchi Rowland. We argon moving beyond representing a brand to experiencing it (Chiagouris and Wansley, 2001). The mesh site must capture the attention of those hatful who enjoy nothing or very little about the come with, but be sakied in its category.It must also build aw arness of what the come with does within the context of the industry in which it is competing. Earlier network sites were real by giving alliances, which required that they adhere to the corporate logo and wile scheme, attach to the corporate infobases, and comply with some(prenominal) other corporate requirements. This translated to mellow cost and signi? money box development time. Others (those created for Mom and Pop operations and early entrepreneurial operations), built over the weekend, did not connect to large infobases, and had no standards. While the come with was in operation fast, the s ites were often unattractive and dif? ult to use. Is it not surprising that the companies that atomic number 18 most successful selling over the Internet atomic number 18 the former and not the later? Certainly, we can ? nd examples of the up-starts that have succeeded, but they have usually adapted to the model of the corporation that requires high standards. Just as in the bricks and mortar world, companies have to offer beautiful service on the Web. Web sites will become very authoritative to companies as more products and services will be bought both over the Internet or by fashioning use of the Internet before purchasing in a bricks and mortar store.Therefore, companies need to have Web sites that live up to customers expectations. The purpose of our research is to provide confirmable assure on the genes that contribute to the musical note of Web sites. Our most Copernican research questions ar . How do customers distinguish a good Web site from a bad one? . What co nstituents determine the quality of a Web site? Customer gladness Companies offer quality to fulfill their customers (Dale, 1999). Because a Web site is part of the connection amid a company and its customers, it is evident that it should re? ct the quality efforts that argon in place throughout the company. Besides this apprehension there is another reason why a company should provide high quality Web sites to its customers there is no humankind stir through Web sites. The interaction via the Internet between a company and a customer is forever and a day through technology. This style the moment of truth between a company and a customer is the Web site. Although companies may try to emulate human behavior with technology, the interaction remains different because most(prenominal) scenerys of human interaction cannot be replaced with technology, e. g. ourtesy, friendliness, helpfulness, care, commitment, ?exibility and cleanliness (Cox and Dale, 2001, 2002). The absence of these sentiments of human interaction through which quality can be delivered to customers will have to be compensated by breach performance on other quality fixingss or by excellent performance on new speci? c Web quality factors. A key outlook in customer cheer is the way a customer can attain satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a companys service. If a company indirect requests to satisfy its customers the ? rst question it needs to break up is what is it that Applying SERVQUAL 921 IJQRM 20,8 22 satis? es customers and, evenly authorized, what is it that makes customers dissatis? ed with the company and its products and services. Satisfying customers depends on the balance between customers expectations and customers experiences with the products and services (Zeithaml et al. , 1990). When a company is able to come near a customers experience to a level that exceeds that customers expectations, then that customer will be satis? ed. Because customers have ever increa sing expectations it is necessary for companies continuously to improve their quality and hence customers experiences with the company.The issue is what should be improved to defend the customers satis? ed. What customers experience is not honest one unbiased aspect of a company, but a whole range of aspects. Some of these aspects are concerned with the way customers experience the company itself, rough are concerned with the way customers experience the physical product and, ? nally, some are concerned with the way customers experience the service the company offers. analyze customers expectations and their perceptions of actual performance can be do by making use of the SERVQUAL outperform of Berry, Parasuraman and Zeithaml (Zeithaml et al. 1990). This ordered series has been developed for the service sector. It has ? ve generic dimensions or factors and are stated as follows (1) Tangibles. Physical facilities, equipment and appearance of personnel. (2) Reliability. Abilit y to perform the promised service dependably and accurately. (3) reactivity. Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service. (4) authorisation (including competence, courtesy, credibleness and security). Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and con? dence. (5) Empathy (including access, communication, disposition the customer).Caring and individualized attention that the ? rm provides its customers. In the SERVQUAL instrument, 22 statements measure the performance crossways these ? ve dimensions. For each statement, the expectation and the experience of a customer is determined. There is some criticism on the long-term stability of the results of the SERVQUAL home (Lam and Woo, 1997) and on the general applicability of the ? ve dimensions (Buttle, 1996 Crosby and LeMay, 1998). Although alternative models have been proposed for the measurement of service quality, e. . SERVPERF (Cronin and Taylor, 1992), the SERVQUAL scale has been wid e used by schoolmans and practitioners to measure service quality. Therefore, this model has been used as a point of reference in this paper. SERVQUAL dimensions in relation to e-business Tangibles Examples of the tangibles factor are has up-to-date equipment, physical facilities are opticly appealing and materials are visually appealing. These aspects might be even more important in e-business as there is no face-to-face contact between the customer and an employee.The visual aspects of the equipment (i. e. the Web site) are the only visual contact between a customer and an organization. Therefore, the need to have well surgical operation and good-looking Web sites is par hail. There are a great number of customers who dispose their shopping carts on the Internet because they get frustrated with the technology, or the design and lay out of the Web site interface (Hager and Elliot, 2001). The visual aspects of Web sites are also judged differently by the people of different age . While young people may be attracted by ? unsure artistry, sounds and a high-speed interface, older people do not inadequacy blinking texts that are hard to read or animations that distract from the use of the Web site (Houtman, 2002). Although a number of Web sites offer exploiters the prospect to customise the Web site to their needs, this customization process is mostly aimed at the content of the Web site and not at the graphics, animations and sounds. Reliability Some of the aspects in the reliability factor have to do with doing what is promised and doing it at the promised time.Although many organizations seem to think that the major reason why customers shop via the Internet is because of the low prices, this does not always need to be the case. Some organizations found out the hard way that there are also a lot of customers shopping via the Internet because of convenience considerations (Riseley and Schehr, 2000). If customers cannot trust an organization to do what t hey ask, those customers will be dissatis? ed. Priceline, for example, ran into big problems by the end of 2000 because of its focus on the lowest prices. People could buy a plane ticket at a very low price, but because of possible inconvenient ? ing times there was a big risk for customers. This resulted in dissatis? ed customers who were content to trade off Pricelines discounts for the convenience of a competitor (Riseley and Schehr, 2000). Responsiveness One of the aspects in the responsiveness factor is gives prompt service. The amount of time it takes to download a Web page appears to be of great importance to the users of the Internet. Research in 1999 found that fewer than 10 percent of users set out a Web site if page response time is kept below 7 s. However, when it rises above 8 s, 30 percent of users leave.When delays exceed 12 s, a staggering 70 percent of users leave a Web site (Cox and Dale, 2001, 2002). It can be assumed that people expect Web sites to be even mo re quicker than in 1999 because of the technological advances. Thus, it is very important Applying SERVQUAL 923 IJQRM 20,8 924 for organizations to have a Web site that is quick, but on the other hand users expect Web sites to be visually appealing. As the number and size of animations, pictures and sounds increase to make a Web page more visually appealing, the time it takes to download that Web page will also increase, which is judged negatively by users.Hence, there is a trade-off between the looks of a Web site and the speed of that site. administrations will have to try to ? nd the right balance between good looks and speed. The trade-off between looks and speed is complicated by companies demand that their Web sites convey the corporate image (Manning et al. , 1998). The design department of a company wants Web pages to be easily recognisable as belonging to that company. In their view, Web pages have to display company and product logos as well as other graphics that undersc ore the corporate identity.These graphics add to the overall size of Web pages and thereby increase the download time for Internet users. It is questionable whether users are willing to accept pokey pages in return for more logos and graphics that do not improve the functionality of the Web site (although they might improve the visual appeal). Assurance One of the aspects in the arrogance factor is knowledge to answer questions. Customers expect to ? nd everything they want on a Web site. In a bricks and mortar store, people feel comfortable with a limited inventory. On the Internet, people are not satis? ed if they cannot ? nd everything they want.Web shops need to have great depth of inventory and rich and relevant product information (Dayal et al. , 2002). Two other aspects in the assurance factor are employees can be trusted and feel safe in your transactions with employees. first gear, there is the risk for users to share personalised information with an organization they d o not know. Research on this topic (Statistical Research Inc. , 2001) shows that at least 50 percent of users are very concerned about misuse of credit entry card information given over the Internet selling or sharing of personal information by Web site owners and cookies that course of action customers Internet activity.Second, the corresponding research shows that two-thirds of active Web users typically abandon a site that requests personal information and one in ? ve has entered fancied information to gain access to a Web site. Aspects in the assurance factor that could be very important in e-business are (Daughtrey, 2001) . accessibility of a formal privacy and con? dentiality policy on a Web site . secured access to a Web site (that customers are prompted to acknowledge) . general reputation of supplier . certi? cations or guarantees of assurance and . reports of experiences of other customers.The ? rst aspect in this list is also acknowledged by the International Organiz ation for Standardisation in Geneva. The Code of Practice for nurture Security Management (ISO/IEC 177992000) provides a basis for establishing and maintaining the actor of handling sensitive data (Daughtrey, 2001). Certi? cations and guarantees of assurance are also important in e-business. more(prenominal) and more organizations are trying to obtain certi? cation by an objective, consensus-based standard, just as they did earlier with quality management standards (Daughtrey, 2001).These organizations are becoming aware of the advantages of such certi? cation in relation to customers trust in these organizations. Empathy In the dimension of empathy there are several aspects that are usually not found on a Web site. Because of the fact that there is no human interaction, Web sites normally do not offer personal attention. To achieve this, a number of Web sites have a design that can be personalized by the users of these sites, so people can have their own version of the Web site. This kind of Web site design is aimed at giving users the experience of getting personal attention.The idea is that the more a Web site is tailored to a particular customers needs, the more liable(predicate) that customer will return again and again (The economic expert, 2001). The most sophisticated technologies in this area aim to create a face-to- realistic-face interaction. A kind looking face of a virtual help on your riddle is supposed to make customers feel more comfortable. With the use of arti? cial intelligence, the virtual assistant can suggest products or services that might be of interest to a customer based on previous bargain fors and on reactions to the questions of the virtual assistant.The latter possibility of asking users of a Web site questions via a virtual assistant will enable companies to tailor their offerings to the wishes of the user to go along customer dissatisfaction. The only purpose of all these technological gadgets is to add one of the Webs key missing ingredients warmth (The Economist, 2001). Other aspects It seems that most of the dimensions and aspects that have been de? ned for general service environments are also important in e-business. Besides the ? ve dimensions as de? ned by Zeithaml et al. (1990), empirical evidence might come up with more speci? c dimensions think to e-business.Some preliminary research has been through in this area (Cox and Dale, 2001, 2002 Fink and Laupase, 2000 Schubert and Dettling, 2001 Wan, 2000), but no de? nitive results have been attained. Hence, more research is needed (Zeithaml, 2002). Research methodology The research was conducted by immorals of a questionnaire survey. Employment of this approach provides a relatively wanton means to study the perceptions and Applying SERVQUAL 925 IJQRM 20,8 926 opinions of a large group of people in a limited time frame and at low costs. The survey was undertaken with the learner population at Northeastern University (NEU), Boston, USA.Stu dents were expected to be familiar with e-business and the Internet. Students line an electronic mail with a hyperlink to the Web site containing the questionnaire allowing them to respond to the questionnaire electronically and to evoke by clicking a button. The purpose of the questionnaire survey was to develop empirical evidence on the quality factors of Web sites that are important to people who are familiar with the Internet and grass Internet users. The survey comprised the pursuance questions . personal information ( sex, age, academic discipline) . respondents use of Internet (equipment, frequency of use) . peci? c Web sites that are visited by respondents (a prede? ned list of 20 categories of Web sites) and . aspects of Web quality (a prede? ned list of 50 aspects). The core of the questionnaire consists of the list of aspects of Web quality. For every aspect we ask the respondent to indicate the importance of that aspect and at the same time we ask for their satisfac tion with that aspect. The structure of the questions is based on the SERVQUAL scale (Zeithaml et al. , 1990). The aspects have been de? ned according to the categories of the model developed by Cox and Dale (2001, 2002) and are as follows clarity of purpose . design . communication . reliability . service and grassly asked questions . accessibility and speed . product or service plectrum . order con? rmation . product purchase . user recognition . unnecessary service and . frequent buyer incentives. For each of these categories a number of aspects have been de? ned in the questionnaire. The questionnaire has been discussed with experts in the ? eld of quality management and a pilot program study has been conducted amongst a small number of students. This lead to an improved questionnaire which has been used for the esearch presented in this paper. Survey results Sample and response rate totally students who obtained a university e-mail account at NEU (approximately 6,000) rece ived an e-mail about the study and the questionnaire. Responses were received from 293 students. The response rate for the direct mailings to students was rather low (approximately 5 percent of the number of e-mails sent out), although acceptable for this type of mailing. Applying SERVQUAL 927 Descriptive statistics In dining tables I and II, the response sample is described in terms of gender and age, respectively.A comparison of the response sample with the total population at NEU leads to the purpose that the response group is representative for the total population. The respondents were enrolled across many academic disciplines, and judged by the age of the respondents, most students were at the undergraduate level. confuse cardinal shows the respondents use of the Internet in terms of the quality of their own equipment. general the students are rather satis? ed with their equipment and do not seem to have problems with speed and download time. circumvent IV summarizes the frequencies of respondents Internet visits.They visit the Internet on an average 18 times per week, for about an hour per visit. So, it is stool that students make frequent use of the Internet. Male Female Total 104 188 292 Table I. Number of respondents by gender , 21 years 21-25 years 26-30 years 31-35 years . 35 years Total 192 71 19 4 7 293 Table II. Number of respondents by age PC partnership speed Printing from the Web Downloading from the Web Notes On a ? ve-point scale from very dissatis? ed to very satis? ed 3. 83 3. 59 3. 53 3. 57 Table III. Satisfaction of respondents with the equipment they use IJQRM 20,8 928 Table IV. The use of the WebIt is interest to note the types of Web sites that are used most often by our respondents (Table V). The types of Web sites that are used most often are search engines, university sites, daily news and entertainment sites. Web sites that are used less frequently are e-shops and chat rooms. Sites with stock exchange information are not visited very often both. In Table VI (top ten) and Table VII (bottom ten) the importance (expectations) and the satisfaction (experiences) are summarized on prede? ned aspects related to the quality of Web sites. The top ten aspects seem to relate to reliability issues in pure e-commerce.Customers who buy a product on the Internet want Web sites and the organizations behind them to be trustworthy. E-commerce Web sites need to be fast, simple and always available. Customers want a sort out overview and con? rmation of what they bought and what they have to pay for. smooth to ? nd desired Web site 3. 80 Easy to use Web page link 3. 92 Easy to ? nd relevant information 3. 38 Time spent on one site , 12 min Time on the Web per Internet visit , 60 min Number of Internet visits per week , 19 visits Note If not indicated otherwise, on a ? ve-point scale from very dif? craze to very easy remember Table V. Web sites stratified by requency of visits Search engines Daily newspapers Ente rtainment Universities Electronic libraries Personal Web sites Information portals Games Travel Sports Banking Company information E-shops Book stores Music stores Movie stores Second-hand products linage exchange information Who is where Chat rooms Note On a ? ve-point scale from never to once a day or more 4. 64 3. 63 3. 47 3. 38 3. 02 2. 99 2. 92 2. 82 2. 72 2. 62 2. 60 2. 58 2. 57 2. 41 2. 39 2. 27 2. 16 2. 02 1. 84 1. 76 Top ten with highest slews on importance Finding your way on the Web site is easya Access is fasta A complete overview of the order is presented before ? al purchase enda Tax and/or other charges are take careably detaileda The registration process is simplea Access to anticipated delivery times is available at all timesa All relevant order con? rmation detail sent by e-maila gild cancellation and returns details are con? rmed within three geezerhooda Order-tracking details are available until deliverya There are well programmed search optionsa grandeur Satisfaction mean mean Delta S-I 4. 61 4. 60 3. 44 3. 31 2 1. 17 2 1. 29 4. 55 4. 50 4. 50 4. 46 4. 46 3. 75 3. 47 3. 36 3. 18 3. 84 2 0. 80 2 1. 03 2 1. 14 2 1. 28 2 0. 62 4. 43 4. 40 4. 39 3. 24 3. 30 3. 08 1. 19 2 1. 10 2 1. 31 Notes a Mean values on ? ve-point scales difference between importance and satisfaction signi? toss at 0. 01 level based on a t-test (two-tailed) Bottom ten with lowest scores on importance Applying SERVQUAL Importance Satisfaction mean mean Searches on related sites are provideda 3. 81 The privacy policy is brotherlya 3. 79 The security policy is accessiblea 3. 76 The Web site contains company detailsa 3. 70 3. 68 Scrolling through pages and text is kept to a minimuma golf links are provided to pages on related products and servicesa 3. 67 Web site animations are meaningfula 3. 52A customer program is provided for exchange of ideas 3. 36 The user is invited into a frequent buyer programa 3. 31 Brand image is important 3. 22 Notes a Mean values on ? ve -point scales Difference between importance signi? cant at 0. 01 level based on a t-test (two-tailed) 3. 40 3. 52 3. 51 3. 32 3. 29 929 Table VI. Importance of and satisfaction with aspects of Web quality Delta S-I 2 0. 41 2 0. 27 2 0. 25 2 0. 38 2 0. 39 3. 40 2 0. 27 3. 21 2 0. 31 3. 29 2 0. 07 3. 08 2 0. 23 3. 29 0. 07 and satisfaction The bottom ten aspects seem to relate to scanty service (e. g. customization of Web sites) and information (e. g. ecurity policy and company details) that is provided to the customer. Apparently respondents do not ? nd these extras very important in their use of the Internet. Tables VI and VII also show the open ups between experiences and expectations (satisfaction minus importance). It can be think that the gap is widest for the aspects that respondents perceive as most important. The aspect with the largest gap is access is fast (satisfaction score 3. 31 and importance score 4. 60). In the top ten aspects there are no aspects with a unequivoc al delta, meaning Table VII. Importance of and satisfaction with aspects of Web qualityIJQRM 20,8 930 that for every aspect the experience is less than expected. In the bottom ten aspects there is just one aspect with a (very small) positive delta brand image. actor analyses (varimax, capitulum components) on the importance data (KMO value ? 0. 91) and satisfaction data (KMO value ? 0. 93) based on Eigenvalues greater than one indicated 12 factor solutions. These factors cluster the aspects more or less according to the structure of the questionnaire. nearly of these factors also become too speci? c and do not recrudesce the profound structure of customers perceptions of the quality of Web sites.The Scree plots indicated solutions with fewer factors, perchance around ? ve factors. A comparison of the results of factor analyses with varying numbers of factors led to the conclusion that ? ve-factor solutions ? t the data best. These ? ve-factor solutions were used to ? nd eviden ce for the populace of the ? ve dimensions according to the SERVQUAL scale (Zeithaml et al. , 1990). The results of these ? ve-factor solutions are summarized in Table VIII. In Table VIII we only include the aspects with factor loadings greater than 0. 5. The aspects are bedded under each factor according to their factor loadings.It can be seen from the table that the two ? ve-factor solutions (importance and satisfaction) come to the same conclusions regarding the clustering of the aspects. There are some minor differences in the clustering of the aspects between the two factor solutions however, these differences are related to the aspects with low factor loadings. It can be concluded that the factor analyses on both the importance of the Web quality aspects and the satisfaction with the Web quality aspects are compatible with the ? ve factors of the SERVQUAL scale. coefficient of correlation between Web sites and Web quality factors The importance of any of the ? e factors of the SERVQUAL scale might differ per type of Web site, just like it differs per service sector in the bricks and mortar world. Therefore, a correlation between the ? ve SERVQUAL factors and the different types of Web sites is useful to determine these differences. In order to categorize the fairly large number of different types of Web sites, a factor analysis (varimax, principal components, KMO value ? 0. 83) on the data on the use of Web sites (Table V) is conducted. The results of this factor analysis indicate that there are clearly ? ve groups of sites that form the underlying usage pattern.These are (1) e-shops for books, music, movies, etc. (Cronbachs alpha ? 0. 75) (2) university and study information (Cronbachs alpha ? 0. 64) (3) games, entertainment, and sport (Cronbachs alpha ? 0. 66) (4) company information, stock information, and banks (Cronbachs alpha ? 0. 69) and (5) general information on daily news, travel, libraries, and search engines (Cronbachs alpha ? 0. 58). Imp ortance Satisfaction factor out 1 (Reliability) A complete overview of the order is presented before ? nal purchase decision Tax and/or other charges are clearly detailed Different payment options are stated clearlyAll relevant order con? rmation details are sent by e-mail within 24 hours Access to anticipated delivery times is available at all times Terms and conditions of sales are accessible Order-tracking details are available until delivery Order cancellation and returns details are con? rmed within three days practiced details of product or service pricing are available The registration process is simple Full product or service characteristics are available Registration process details are retained The Web site offers free shipping and handling within a set of rules Access is fast The user can make a purchase without Web ite registration Factor 1 (Reliability) All relevant order con? rmation details are sent by e-mail within 24 hours A complete overview of the order is prese nted before ? nal purchase decision Terms and conditions of sales are accessible Order-tracking details are available until delivery Different payment options are stated clearly Tax and/or other charges are clearly detailed Access to anticipated delivery times is available at all times Order cancellation and returns details are con? rmed within three days The home page features options for new and registered users Registration process details are retainedFactor 2 (Tangibles) Finding your way on the Web site is easy Information is found with a minimum of clicks Navigation is consistent and regularize There are well programmed search options Instructions are directly available Opening of new screens is kept to a minimum Applying SERVQUAL Factor 2 (Tangibles) Finding your way on the Web site is easy Information is found with a minimum of clicks Navigation is consistent and standardized The number and type of links are meaningful The purpose is clear Scrolling through pages and text is kept to a minimum Instructions are directly available It is easy to print from the WebFactor 3 (Empathy) Factor 3 (Empathy) Links are provided to pages on related products Links are provided to pages on related products and services and services A customer platform is provided for the On travel sites a ? ight/hotel search is provided exchange of ideas A standard navigation bar, home button and On travel sites the user can tailor-make seat and back/forward button are available on every meal preferences and the information is page retained (continued ) 931 Table VIII. victimise? rmative factor analysis (? ve-factor solution) IJQRM 20,8 Importance Satisfaction It is easy to print from the WebOn travel sites a ? ight/hotel search is provided Web sites that focus on brand cognizance have a store locator The user is invited into a frequent buyer program Factor 4 (Assurance) The security policy is accessible The privacy policy is accessible External validation of trustworthiness is im portant The Web site contains company details Brand image is important Page availability information is given on entry The user is invited into a frequent buyer program A customer platform is provided for exchange of ideas Factor 4 (Assurance) The privacy policy is accessible The security policy is accessibleThe Web site contains company details External validation of trustworthiness is important 932 Factor 5 (Responsiveness) The frequently asked questions and answers contain links that take the user to the relevant page(s) Information is provided to frequently asked questions and answers Queries or complaints are inflexible within 24 hours User feedback is sought to measure customer satisfaction An e-mail address for queries and complaints is provided Table VIII. Factor 5 (Responsiveness) User feedback is sought to measure customer satisfaction Queries or complaints are resolved within 24 hoursThe frequently asked questions and answers contain links that take the user to the relev ant page(s) Access is fast Opening of new screens is kept to a minimum Graphics and animation do not detract from use Full details of product or service pricing are available Notes Principal component analysis. Varimax with Kaiser normalization. Rotation converged in nine iterations (importance) and ten iterations (satisfaction). Factor loadings . 0. 5, ranking based on factor loadings from high to low Table IX shows the correlation matrix between the frequency of use of types of Web sites and the importance of the Web quality factors.Some results are as follows . All ? ve quality dimensions are most strongly correlated with e-shops, indicating that frequent users of e-shops be given to have higher quality expectations. . An increase in the frequency of use of the types of Web sites is in all cases most strongly correlated with either empathy (E-shops), assurance (company sites and search engines) or responsiveness (study related sites, Reliability Coef. signboard E-shops (books, music, movies etc. ) Study-related sites Games and sports sites Company and banking sites Search engines, daily news, travel Tangibles Coef. mansion house EmpathyCoef. Sign Assurance Coef. Sign Responsiveness Coef. Sign 0. 220 ** 0. 174 ** 0. 239 ** 0. 232 ** 0. 233 ** 0. 171 ** 0. 167 ** 0. 183 ** 0. 156 ** 0. 202 ** 0. 114 * 0. 124 * 0. 168 ** 0. 112 n. s. 0. 171 ** 0. 144 ** 0. 136 * 0. 151 ** 0. 166 ** 0. 144 ** 0. 122 * 0. cxv * 0. 115 * 0. 123 * 0. 115 * Notes * Correlation is signi? cant at the 0. 05 level (two-tailed) ** Correlation is signi? cant at the 0. 01 level (two-tailed) n. s. ? no signi? cant correlation . Applying SERVQUAL and games and sports). More frequent users of the Internet tend to ? nd reliability and tangibles less important.All correlation coef? cients are positive, indicating that for all types of Web sites more usage leads to higher importance of all quality dimensions. The experienced user seems to have higher expectations of the quality of Web sites. Conclusion The results of this research can be summarised in the following way. Of a prede? ned list of Web quality aspects these aspects are considered to be the most important access is fast ? nding your way on the Web site is easy a complete overview of the order is presented before ? nal purchase decision and the registration process is simple. Of the ? e factors that can be found by means of factor analyses (reliability, tangibles, empathy, assurance and responsiveness) various aspects related to the factors reliability and tangibles are included in the top ten important aspects. Various aspects related to the factors empathy and assurance are included in the bottom ten aspects ranked according to their perceived importance. Both the importance of the Web quality aspects and the satisfaction with the Web quality aspects are compatible with ? ve-factor analyses that support the existence of the ? ve factors of the SERVQUAL scale of Zeithaml et al. (1990).The importance of any o f the ? ve factors of the SERVQUAL scale differs per type of Web site, just like it differs per service industry in the bricks and mortar world. So far, it can be concluded that the quality dimensions developed by Zeithaml et al. (1990) for service environments are equally useful in e-business. 933 Table IX. Correlation between the frequency of use of types of Web sites and the importance of the Web quality factors IJQRM 20,8 934 Further analysis of the data is needed. While this research project yields a number of very arouse results, we believe that there are a number of things that should be done to con? m our results as well as to expand our hypotheses. First, with the number of Internet users now over one billion, our sample is relatively small. Therefore, research with larger samples that pose the same or similar questions would be appropriate. Second, Internet users come from all over the globe. One has to suspect that there are differences between a sample taken from studen ts of the USA and what might be found among students elsewhere. Possible, language, culture, religion, and a host of other factors may be important to a users im matterion of the quality of a Web site.Finally, quality is an area of critical importance for commercial companies. Businesses need to understand what attracts people to their Web sites, what keeps them there, and what keeps them coming back. They need to understand the differences between the free-and-easy buyer versus the user who visits their Web sites on a daily basis. Web sites for companies like Dell, Cisco, Orbitz, and Covisint do millions of dollars of business each day. They need to understand the factors that keep these businesses growing better by understanding what encourages buying and what brings them back to the Web sites.Likewise, their competitors need to understand these factors even more to compete in this exceedingly competitive marketplace. Due to the signi? cance of this to business, we expect that t his type of research will be ongoing for many years to come. The results of that research will be easier to use Web sites that are more customer focused and evolving as the user evolves. A Chinese proverb says, May you live in kindle times. We are certainly living in interesting times. References Agrawal, V. , Arjona, L. and Lemmens, R. 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(2001), Even veteran Web users remain uneasy about sites that get personal, 7 June, available at www. statisticalresearch. com/press/pr060701. htm (accessed 15 March 2002). US Department of Commerce (2002), A province Online How Americans Are Expanding Their Use of the Internet, US Department of Commerce, Washington, DC, February.Wan, H. A. (2000), Opportunities to enhance a commercial Web site, Information and Management, Vol. 38 No. 1, pp. 15-21. Zeithaml, V. A. (2002), Guru view, Managing Service Quality, special issue on service excellence, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 135-8. Zeithaml, V. A. , Parasuraman, A. and Berry, L. L. (1990), Delivering Quality Service Balancing Customer Perceptions and Expectations, The Free Press, New York, NY. Further reading Cutler, M. and Strene, J. (2000), E-metric Business Metric for the New Economy, NetGenesis Corp. Applying SERVQUAL 935