M-S-QUAL: Mobile service quality measurement

Abstract

The proliferation of wireless technologies means that consumers are increasingly coming into contact with a diverse range of mobile services. Mobile service providers seeking to deliver a superior service must understand how consumers perceive these services. Although many instruments, such as SERVQUAL and E-S-QUAL, are available to measure service quality in general, to date there has been no instrument specifically designed to measure mobile service quality. Given the many types of mobile services available, our aim in this study was to ascertain the essential characteristics of such services by conceptualizing, constructing, refining, and testing a multiple-item scale, M-S-QUAL, designed to measure service quality in the mobile environment. According to Hinkin’s guidelines on scale development, the items in our scale were generated by following a deductive approach based on a theoretical foundation. There are two parts of M-S-QUAL, which assess m-commerce shopping experiences for virtual and physical products respectively. Thus, the scale developed in this study was designed to assess m-commerce shopping experiences for both virtual and physical products. We propose and empirical test a multidimensional model of M-S-QUAL using a sample of 578 Internet respondents. Through a five-step validation, the M-S-QUAL construction concluded with five factors (contact, responsiveness, fulfillment, privacy and efficiency) for the supporting services in the process of virtual product shopping and four factors (contact, responsiveness, fulfillment and efficiency) for the supporting services in the process of physical product shopping. These two aspects of M-S-QUAL demonstrate good psychometric properties, as confirmed by exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and reliability and validity tests. The findings of this study will help mobile service providers to assess the quality of their services and assist researchers in developing mobile service quality theories.