article

Measuring information systems service quality: concerns for a complete canvas

Authors:

Leyland F. Pitt,

Richard T. Watson,

C. Bruce KavanAuthors Info & Claims

MIS Quarterly, Volume 21, Issue 2

Pages 209 - 221

https://doi.org/10.2307/249420

Published: 01 June 1997 Publication History

Abstract

This paper responds to the research note in this issue by Van Dyke et al. concerning the use of SERVQUAL, an instrument to measure service quality, and its use in the IS domain. This paper attempts to balance some of the arguments they raise from the marketing literature on the topic with the well-documented counterarguments of SERVQUAL's developers, as well as our own research evidence and observations in an IS-specific environment. Specifically, evidence is provided to show that the service quality perceptions-expectations subtraction in SERVQUAL is far more rigorously grounded than Van Dyke et al. suggest; that the expectations construct, while potentially ambiguous, is generally a vector in the case of an IS department; and that the dimensions of service quality seem to be as applicable to the IS department as to any other organizational setting. Then, the paper demonstrates that the problems of reliability of difference score calculations in SERVQUAL are not nearly as serious as Van Dyke et al. suggest; that while perceptions-only measurement of service quality might have marginally better predictive and convergent validity, this comes at considerable expense to managerial diagnostics; and reiterate some of the problems of dimensional instability found in our previous research, highlighted by Van Dyke et al. and discussed in many other studies of SERVQUAL across a range of settings. Finally, four areas for further research in this area are identified.

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Measuring information systems service quality: concerns for a complete canvas

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Information

Published In

cover image MIS Quarterly

MIS Quarterly Volume 21, Issue 2

June 1997

104 pages

ISSN:0276-7783

Editor:
Robert Zmud
Florida State Univ., Tallahassee

Issue’s Table of Contents

Publisher

Society for Information Management and The Management Information Systems Research Center

United States

Publication History

Published: 01 June 1997

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Zahn EDickhaut E(2024)Theory-Driven Design of a Negotiation Canvas for Reaching Win-Win AgreementsDesign Science Research for a Resilient Future10.1007/978-3-031-61175-9_9(123-138)Online publication date: 3-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1007/978-3-031-61175-9_9
Benmoussa KLaaziri MKhoulji SKerkeb MEl Yamami A(2018)Impact of System Quality, Information Quality and Service Quality on the efficiency of information systemProceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Smart City Applications10.1145/3286606.3286818(1-6)Online publication date: 10-Oct-2018
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Al‐Ghaith WSanzogni LSandhu K(2017)Factors Influencing the Adoption and Usage of Online Services in Saudi ArabiaThe Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries10.1002/j.1681-4835.2010.tb00283.x40:1(1-32)Online publication date: 5-Dec-2017
Rabaa'I A(2015)Conceptualising IS-service quality as a multi-dimensional formative constructInternational Journal of Information Systems and Management10.1504/IJISAM.2015.0722971:3(240-263)Online publication date: 1-Oct-2015
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1504/IJISAM.2015.072297
Mora MPhillips-Wren GMarx-Gomez JWang FGelman O(2014)The role of decision-making support systems in IT service management processesIntelligent Decision Technologies10.3233/IDT-1301848:2(147-163)Online publication date: 1-Apr-2014
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Lee HKim C(2014)Benchmarking of service quality with data envelopment analysisExpert Systems with Applications: An International Journal10.1016/j.eswa.2013.12.00841:8(3761-3768)Online publication date: 1-Jun-2014
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Xu JBenbasat ICenfetelli R(2013)Integrating service quality with system and information qualityMIS Quarterly10.25300/MISQ/2013/37.3.0537:3(777-794)Online publication date: 1-Sep-2013
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Gorla N(2012)Information Systems Service Quality, Zone of Tolerance, and User SatisfactionJournal of Organizational and End User Computing10.4018/joeuc.201204010424:2(50-73)Online publication date: 1-Apr-2012
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Benlian AKoufaris MHess T(2011)Service Quality in Software-as-a-ServiceJournal of Management Information Systems10.5555/2448803.244880728:3(85-126)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2011
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