Assessing the service quality in Software-as-a-Service from the customers’ perspective: a methodological approach and case of use
Freitas, André Luís Policani; Freitas Neto, Michelle Maria
Abstract
Abstract: Despite the advances in the evaluation of the quality of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), new studies seem to be necessary, since the existing criticisms concerning the SERVQUAL scale and the lack of studies concerning the use of SERVPERF for this purpose. This work aims to fulfil this gap by proposing a methodological approach to assess the SaaS service quality by measuring SaaS customers’ satisfaction. Factor analysis is used to summarize the information contained in the original items into a smaller set of new dimensions and Quartile analysis is suggested to determine the most critical items. By conducting a study, the factors that most influence customer’s satisfaction are customer service, customer assistance and the reliability of SaaS. Most of the critical items are associated with the transparency and accuracy in correcting errors, the company's interest in solving customer problems, SaaS application's ability to meet business requirements, implemented updates and regularity of service performance.
Keywords
References
Babakus, E., & Mangold, W. G. (1992). Adapting the SERVQUAL scale to hospital services: an empirical investigation.
Bansal, H. S., & Taylor, S. F. (1999). The Service Provider Switching Model (SPSM): a model of consumer switching behavior in the services industry.
Barnes, S. J., & Vidgen, R. T. (2002). An integrative approach to the assessment of e-commerce quality.
Bauer, H. H., Falk, T., & Hammerschmidt, M. (2006). eTransQual: a transaction process-based approach for capturing service quality in online shopping.
Benlian, A., Koufaris, M., & Hess, T. (2012). Service quality in Software-as-a-Service: developing the SaaS-Qual measure and examining its role in usage continuance.
Bitner, M. J. (1990). Evaluating service encounters: the effects of physical surroundings and employee responses.
Bolton, R. N., & Drew, J. H. (1991). A multistage model of customers’ assessments of service quality and value.
Bolton, R. N., & Drew, J. H. (1994). Linking customer satisfaction to service operations and outcomes. In R. T. Rust & R. L. Oliver (Eds.),
Brown, T. J., Churchill Junior, G. A., & Peter, J. P. (1993). Improving the measurement of service quality.
Buttle, F. (1996). SERVQUAL: review, critique, research agenda.
Cancian, M. H. (2009).
Carman, J. M. (1990). Consumer perceptions of service quality: an assessment of the SERVQUAL dimensions.
Chou, S. W., & Chiang, C. H. (2013). Understanding the formation of software-as-a-service (SaaS) satisfaction from the perspective of service quality.
Cisco. (2014).
Costa, H. G., Mansur, A. F. U., Freitas, A. L. P., & Carvalho, R. A. (2007). ELECTRE TRI aplicado a avaliação da satisfação de consumidores.
Cristobal, E., Flavián, C., & Guinalíu, M. (2007). Perceived e-service quality (PeSQ): measurement validation and effects on consumer satisfaction and web site loyalty.
Cronbach, L. J. (1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests.
Cronin, J. J., & Taylor, S. (1992). Measuring service quality: a reexamination and extension.
Dabholkar, P., Shepherd, C. D., & Thorpe, D. I. (2000). A comprehensive framework for service quality: an investigation of critical conceptual and measurement issues through a longitudinal study.
Ding, D. X., Hu, P. J.-H., & Sheng, O. R. L. (2011). e-SELFQUAL: a scale for measuring online self-service quality.
Domínguez-Mayo, F. J., García-García, J. A., Escalona, M. J., Mejías, M., Urbieta, M., & Rossi, G. (2015). A framework and tool to manage Cloud Computing service quality.
Duarte Filho, N. F., Padua, C. I. P. S, Bermejo, P. H. S., Zambalde, A. L., & Barros, U. S. (2013). Saasquality - a method for quality evaluation of software as a service (Saas).
Freitas, A. L. P., & Albernaz, C. M. R. M. (2012). A multicriteria approach for assessing the quality of information technology support services.
Freitas, A. L. P., Manhães, N. R. C., & Cozendey, M. I. (2006, October 9-11). Using SERVQUAL to evaluate the quality of information technology services: an experimental analysis. In
Ganesan, R., Sarkar, S., & Tewari, N. (2012, June 25-28). An independent verification of errors and vulnerabilities in SaaS cloud. In
Gao, J., Pattabhiraman, P., Bai, X., & Tsai, W. T. (2011, December 12-14). SaaS performance and scalability evaluation in clouds. In
Godse, M., & Mulik, S. (2009, September 21-25). An approach for selecting Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Product. In
Goode, S., Lin, C., Tsai, J. C., & Jiang, J. J. (2015). Rethinking the role of security in client satisfaction with Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) providers.
Goscinski, A., & Brock, M. (2010). Toward dynamic and attribute based publication, discovery and selection for cloud computing.
Gupta, P., Seetharaman, A., & Raj, J. R. (2013). The usage and adoption of cloud computing by small and medium businesses.
Hair, J. F., Black, W. C., Babin, B. J., Anderson, R. E., & Tatham, R. L. (2006).
Iacobucci, D., Ostrom, A., & Grayson, K. (1995). Distinguishing service quality and customer satisfaction : the voice of the consumer.
Ju, J., Wang, Y., Fu, J., Wu, J., & Lin, Z. (2010, June 22-23). Research on Key Technology in SaaS. In
Kang, S., Myung, J., Yeon, J., Ha, S. W., Cho, T., Chung, J. M., & Lee, S. G. (2010). A general maturity model and reference architecture for SaaS service. In H. Kitagawa, Y. Ishikawa, Q. Li, & C. Watanabe (Eds.),
Karadsheh, L. (2012). Applying security policies and service level agreement to IaaS service model to enhance security and transition.
Kim, D. (2010). An integrated framework of HoQ and AHP for the QOE improvement of network-based ASP services
Kuo, Y.-F., Wu, C.-M., & Deng, W.-J. (2009). The relationships among service quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction, and post-purchase intention in mobile value-added services.
Lee, H., Lee, Y., & Yoo, D. (2000). The determinants of perceived service quality and its relationship with satisfaction.
Lee, J. Y., Lee, J. W., Cheun, D. W., & Kim, S. D. (2009, December 2-4). A quality model for evaluating Software-as-a-service in cloud computing. In
Lian, J. W., Yen, D. C., & Wang, Y. T. (2014). An exploratory study to understand the critical factors affecting the decision to adopt cloud computing in Taiwan hospital.
Loiacono, E. T., Watson, R. T., & Goodhue, D. L. (2002). WEBQUAL: a measure of website quality. In K. R. Evans & L. K. Scheer (Eds.),
Loukis, E., & Charalabidis, Y. (2011). Why do eGovernment projects fail? Risk factors of large information systems projects in the greek public sector.
Low, C., Chen, Y., & Wu, M. (2011). Understanding the determinants of cloud computing adoption.
Mahesh, S., Landry, B. J. L., Sridhar, T., & Walsh, K. R. (2011). A decision table for the cloud computing decision in small business.
Malhotra, N. K. (2007).
Mesquida, A. L., Mas, A., Amengual, E., & Calvo-Manzano, J. A. (2012). IT service management process improvement based on ISO/IEC 15504: a systematic review.
Parasuraman, A., Grewal, D., & Krishnan, R. (2004).
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1985). A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research.
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1988). SERVQUAL: A multiple-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality.
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1994). Reassessment of expectations as a comparison standard in measuring service quality: implications for further research.
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Malhotra, A. (2005). E-S-QUAL: a multiple-item scale for assessing electronic service quality.
Peppard, J. (2003). Managing IT as a portfolio of services.
Raciti, M. M., Ward, T., & Dagger, T. S. (2013). The effect of relationship desire on consumer‐to‐business relationships.
Rimal, B. P., Choi, E., & Lumb, I. (2009, August 25-27). A taxonomy and survey of cloud computing systems. In
Roses, L. K., Hoppen, N., & Henrique, J. L. (2009). Management of perceptions of information technology service quality.
Sahinoglu, M., & Cueva-Parra, L. (2011). CLOUD computing.
Sureshchandar, G. S., Rajendran, C., & Anantharaman, R. N. (2002). The relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction – a factor specific approach.
Teas, R. K. (1993). Expectations, performance evaluation, and consumers’ perceptions of quality.
Ueltschy, L. C., Laroche, M., Eggert, A., & Bindl, U. (2007). Service quality and satisfaction: an international comparison of professional services perceptions.
Walz, J., & Grier, D. A. (2010). Time to push the cloud.
Wei, Z. W. Z. (2010, November 4-6). An initial review of cloud computing services research development. In
Wen, P. X., & Dong, L. (2013, September 9-11). Quality model for evaluating SaaS service. In
Wolfinbarger, M., & Gilly, M. C. (2003). eTailQ: dimensionalizing, measuring and predicting etail quality.
Yang, Z., Sun, J., Zhang, Y., & Wang, Y. (2015). Computers in human behavior understanding SaaS adoption from the perspective of organizational users: a tripod readiness model.
Yee, R. W. Y., Yeung, A. C. L., & Edwin Cheng, T. C. (2010). An empirical study of employee loyalty, service quality and firm performance in the service industry.
Zeithaml, V. A., Bitner, M. J., & Gremler, D. D. (2006).
Zhang, Q., Cheng, L., & Boutaba, R. (2010). Cloud computing: state-of-the-art and research challenges.
Zhou, X., Yi, L., & Liu, Y. (2011, July 10-12). A collaborative requirement elicitation technique for SaaS applications. In
Facebook
Google+
Twitter
LinkedIn
Mendeley
StumbleUpon
CiteULike
Reddit
Email