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The purpose of this paper is to compare the e‐service quality perceptions of US and South Korean consumers in relation to overall e‐service quality, e‐satisfaction, and e‐loyalty to understand geographic and cultural differences in relation to the international expansion of e‐business.

The data for the study were collected from college‐age internet users in the USA and Korea. A total of 361 questionnaires were deemed as usable for data analysis. Regression analyses were used to test the conceptual model.

Privacy and efficiency significantly affected overall e‐service quality and e‐satisfaction for respondents in both Korea and the USA. As for Korean respondents, system availability and fulfillment were significant factors that affected overall e‐satisfaction. The relationships among overall e‐service quality, e‐satisfaction, and e‐loyalty were positively significant between the two countries.

Using two sets of data from the USA and Korea, the paper examined important e‐service quality dimensions in producing overall e‐service quality and e‐satisfaction which in turn influence e‐loyalty based on respondents' actual shopping experience. The dimensions identified in the study are based on a full assessment of an e‐service experience. Global e‐retailers can use the dimensions identified by the paper to better assess their service performance on an international level.

The paper is unique in that it is one of the first cross‐cultural examinations of how consumers in two different countries perceived e‐service quality using e‐SQ scale developed by Parasuraman et al.

The aim of this paper is to explore the identification of innovative customers and the effectiveness of employing such customers to generate new service ideas in a technology‐based service setting.

The first study reported here employs the “technology readiness” (TR) construct and involves telephone surveys with randomly selected Swedish consumers. The second involves a field experiment.

Findings from Study I suggest that the TR is a useful tool for identifying users who exhibit both innovative attitudes and behaviors. The results from Study II show that users with a high TR are highly creative as reflected by the quantity and quality of new service ideas.

The sample size for Study II was relatively small and making empirical generalizations with confidence should await results from studies involving larger samples. However, in sum the research demonstrates that TR appears to be an effective tool for identifying innovative customers who would be both willing to participate in new service development and capable of generating creative ideas.

Service businesses interested in using customers to help generate new ideas could benefit from this research.

Service providers and consumers alike are increasingly adopting artificial intelligence service agents (AISA) for service. Yet, no service quality scale exists that can fully capture the key factors influencing AISA service quality. This study aims to address this shortcoming by developing a scale for measuring AISA service quality (AISAQUAL).

Based on extant service quality research and established scale development techniques, the study constructs, refines and validates a multidimensional AISAQUAL scale through a series of pilot and validation studies.

AISAQUAL contains 26 items across six dimensions: efficiency, security, availability, enjoyment, contact and anthropomorphism. The new scale demonstrates good psychometric properties and can be used to evaluate service quality across AISA, providing a means of examining the relationships between AISA service quality and satisfaction, perceived value as well as loyalty.

Future research should validate AISAQUAL with other AISA types, as they diffuse throughout the service sector. Moderating factors related to services, the customer and the AISA can be investigated to uncover the boundary conditions under which AISAQUAL is likely to influence service outcomes. Longitudinal studies can be carried out to assess how ongoing use of AISA can change service outcomes.

Service managers can use AISAQUAL to effectively monitor, diagnose and improve services provided by AISA while enhancing their understanding of how AISA can deliver better service quality and customer loyalty outcomes.

Anthropomorphism is identified as a new service quality dimension. AISAQUAL facilitates theory development by providing a reliable scale to improve the current understanding of consumers’ perspectives concerning AISA services.

This paper aims to present an in‐depth case study with student perceptions of service quality, discussing the relevance of these perceptions for the important issue of quality improvement in higher education.

The paper presents institutional research carried out in a multi‐campus system in Spain made up of institutions coming from different quality cultures. The research adopts the model of the deficiencies in service quality approach, adapting it to the construction of a questionnaire, which was answered by final year students in all the university campuses.

Comparative results between campuses and evolution in time of some meaningful variables are presented to illustrate the method's potentialities. A characterization of the main traits of the students' perceptions of service quality obtained from the data resulted in a profile of the single campuses and for the whole system. This profile is interesting in terms of ascertaining meaningful dimensions of the university brand.

Examples of practical implications for the campuses where the process was implemented are presented to illustrate the importance of some findings for quality improvement policies. This approach can be easily applied in other institutions.

Discussion of some meaningful findings illustrates the value of this methodology for other higher educational systems interested in service quality and continuous quality improvement. The study provides a questionnaire, an implicit methodology and rationale.

Drawing on insights from the extant service‐quality literature (which is dominated by an end‐consumer focus), this paper examines customer service in business‐to‐business markets. It first presents a typology of seller‐customer links and discusses the domain of customer service in business‐to‐business contexts. It then develops a research agenda by identifying a variety of issues pertaining to the scope, measurement, and potential impact of customer service in such contexts. It is hoped that this agenda will stimulate further discussion on the role of customer service in business and industrial marketing, and motivate much‐needed research on this topic.

The purpose of this paper is to replicate and refine Parasuraman's 36‐item technology readiness index (TRI) across contexts and cultures to enhance its applicability and generalizability for both researchers and practitioners.

Based on psychometric procedures of scale development, four separate research phases, each one building on the previous, are performed using several samples. Measurement invariance analyses are performed across demographics, industries, and cultures to ascertain the stability of the refined versus the original scale.

A refined 16‐item TRI scale demonstrates sound psychometric properties based on findings from various reliability and validity tests, as well as scale replications employing several samples. The four dimensions remain stable across techniques and samples, while the utility of the refined scale increases due to ease of application. Measurement invariance analyses across demographic groups, industries, and cultures provide further support for the superior stability of the refined TRI.

Assessment of TRI across different contexts and cultures enhances validity, utility, and generalizability by reducing the number of items, building a nomological network, and verifying stability.

Service firms should pay more attention to measurement of customers' technology readiness. For both researchers and practitioners, the refined 16‐item scale benefits from reduced complexity and enhanced utility of TRI across contexts and cultures. Service managers will find the refined TRI less complicated and easier to apply in customer surveys, which greatly benefits service firms attempting to better understand customers' TR when implementing self‐service technologies.

Replication and cross‐validation of new concepts play a valuable role in determining the scope and limit of empirical research findings; they allow researchers to demonstrate how broadly and in what circumstances such concepts can be used. While Parasuraman calls for studies to assess the generalizability of the TRI scale, the current lack of support for TRI's generalizability is an important gap that needs to be addressed. The current study fills that gap, increasing the applicability and generalizability of the TRI scale through refinement, replication and validation across several samples, contexts, and cultures.

This study deals with the measurement of service quality at cellular retail outlets in the South African environment. The focus is on perception and expectation of service quality from the customer’s perspective. A literature review was conducted on, models of measurement for service quality. The research was conducted via a structured questionnaire based on the SERVQUAL model. Primary data was gathered via telephonic interviews from a sample of 583 customers. The total scale reliability for this study is 0.95, indicating an overall higher reliability factor than the Parasuraman et al. study. The findings further indicated that two of the dimensions, namely, tangibles and reliability are loading into separate factors. The remaining three dimensions, responsiveness, assurance and empathy all load into one factor, indicating that there is no real differentiation amongst the three dimensions in the customer’s mind.

The purpose of this paper is to assess service quality of a call centre as perceived by its employees using the SERVQUAL model. It also aims to explore factors predicting front‐line employee satisfaction and behavioural intentions in a call centre. Behavioural intentions are to be measured in terms of employees' willingness to recommend the call centre and their intentions to stay.

Data were collected by field study in a particular call centre in Mauritius using a modified SERVQUAL questionnaire. The study explored both perception and expectation levels of front‐line employees. Using confirmatory factor analysis, the gap scores (performance minus expectation‐based model) were examined. Regression models were used to test the influence of the service quality dimensions on satisfaction and behavioural intentions.

Exploratory factor analysis uncovered three composite dimensions of call centre service quality: Assurance‐Empathy, Reliability‐Responsiveness, and Tangibles. The results for the regression model indicate that satisfaction is best predicted by tangibles, and intentions to stay and willingness to recommend are best predicted by reliability‐responsiveness.

Based on the results, service managers may consider measures in order to improve and diagnose service features in call centres.

The paper examines the structure and validity of the SERVQUAL model, given its wide use and criticism, and applies the model to an important set of related, yet distinct service organisations such as call centres.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight research avenues for improving the understanding of electronic service quality (e‐SQ) management, based on a critical review of previous literature.

The conclusions are based on a critical review of previous literature. Computer databases (e.g. Google scholar) were the main tools used to identify relevant research in the area. Then, the electronic and physical bibliographical resources from universities in two different countries were used to obtain the papers.

The authors describe the current e‐SQ research gaps (research opportunities) and indicate possible routes for future investigation.

The orientation of this study aims to reduce the efforts of researchers who desire to enter this field.

The development of new orientations and focuses for the conceptualisation and measurement of e‐SQ are crucial for the effective management of e‐SQ and a major issue on the market research agenda.

Purpose – This paper aims first, to identify online service attributes that facilitate efficient and effective shopping, purchasing, and delivery based on the modified E‐S‐QUAL scale and, second, to evaluate the extent to which current online retailers provide such service attributes as an objective measure of service performance. Design/methodology/approach – A content analysis of 111 women's apparel retail web sites was conducted to assess online retailers' performance in providing online service attributes. Findings – The overall extent to which current online retailers provide online service attributes appears to be low. Managerial implications are provided to help online retailers improve their service performance. Originality/value – This study provides an objective way to evaluate online retailers' service performance and thus complement existing online service quality research based on consumer perceptions and evaluation of online service quality. In addition, the coding guide developed in this study provides an easy and practical tool that can be used by online retailers for the self‐assessment of online service performance.