Understanding the user satisfaction and loyalty of customer service chatbots

The artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot is emerging as a significant corporate customer-facing application, potentially increasin customer service efficiency while reducing costs. However, little work has sought to assess the quality of service they provide consumers. This study applies the e-service quality by incorporating conversational AI quality to predict users' satisfaction and loyalty to customer service chatbots. The proposed model was empirically evaluated using survey data collected from 219 users responding about their perceptions of customer service chatbots. The findings indicate that AI chatbot service recovery quality and AI chatbot conversational quality significantly influence user satisfaction. On the other hand, core AI chatbot service quality and satisfaction significantly influenced chatbot user loyalty. This study contributes to researchers and practitioners by proposing and evaluating a more comprehensive chatbot e-service quality that combines both fundamental (core service and service recovery qualities) and human-like (conversational quality) aspects of e-service. The results are of value in devising future AI chatbot services and related strategies.     

The effects of service quality,perceived value and trust in home delivery service personnel on customer satisfaction: Evidence from a developing country

The rapid growth of online purchasing in recent years has emphasized the accompanying role of home delivery service provided by delivery personnel in ensuring customer satisfaction. On-time delivery, better service, generating positive customer perceived value, and trust towards service providers are influential factors that contribute to customer satisfaction. The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of service quality of home delivery personnel and perceived value on customer satisfaction, with trust playing an intervening role. It was conducted in Dhaka, Bangladesh, a less developed country with a new but rapidly growing digital sector. Data was collected from 259 respondents who received home delivery service, using a structured questionnaire. The conceptual model was analysed using partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS tool. The findings revealed that service quality, customer perceived value, and trust influenced customer satisfaction. The relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction and the relationship between customer perceived value and satisfaction were both partially mediated by trust. The findings contribute to the development and validation of a trust-based satisfaction model by extending the SERVQUAL model to incorporate perceived value in the presence of trust, while complying with expectation disconfirmation theory This study provides insights for managers to develop reliability and build trust in their service delivery personnel.     

The impact of service quality and marketing on financial performance in the hospital industry: an empirical examination

Service quality and service marketing have both been studied extensively in relation to service organizations. In this paper we examine these areas simultaneously in terms of their impact on financial performance in the hospital industry. Drawing from the literature in the quality and service marketing areas, the area of service quality is represented in terms of the constructs of quality context and quality outcomes. Quality context (QC) describes the environment related to quality practices within a hospital which generally encourages and enhances service quality while quality outcomes (QO) comprises of specific clinical and patient satisfaction outcomes of the hospital. The area of marketing is represented in terms of the constructs of marketing orientation and market/product development outcomes. Market orientation (MO) is a well accepted, albeit complex, construct within the marketing literature. Generally, market orientation can be thought of as the process of effectively collecting, disseminating, and responding to information in order to enhance the marketing function within the hospital. Such information generally relates to market trends, customers, and competitors. Market/product development outcomes (MPD) refer to specific outcomes in relation to product innovation and market segmentation that are general indicators of the marketing effectiveness of the hospital. Although the evidence in the literature suggests that both service quality and marketing are independently related to organizational performance, the precise nature of the relationships among the variables described above is not clearly understood.Based on theoretical considerations, we propose a framework linking the above-mentioned constructs to the financial performance (FP) of an organization. Since QC and MO are theorized to be multidimensional constructs we use the technique of structural equations modeling (SEM) to test the model. Data were collected for the study from hospitals in a five-state region in the US. The results show that the constructs related to both service quality and marketing impact on financial performance. However, the results do not support the proposed framework of relationships. Instead, the results support a sequential chain of relationships among the constructs where MO mediates the effect of QC on QO, and MPD mediates the effect of QO on FP. Implications of these results for the hospital industry as well as for future research in the area are offered.     

The four levels of loyalty and the pivotal role of trust: a study of online service dynamics

A four-dimension scale of loyalty that reflects Oliver’s [Satisfaction, a Behavioral Perspective on the Consumer, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1997] conceptualization of a sequential loyalty chain is proposed, operationalized, and tested. Further, through both synthesizing and building on existing research into loyalty, trust, satisfaction, value, and service quality, a framework is proposed and tested that positions trust as a pivotal driver of loyalty. Data is collected and analyzed from two surveys of online customers, the first being purchasers of books and the second being a study of online flight purchasing. Analysis suggests that the hypothesized cognitive-affective-conative-action loyalty sequence is statistically most likely out of all possible variations. Although some differences emerge in the two studies, structural modeling largely supports the hypothesized framework and positions trust as central to service dynamics.     

Establishment of a performance-evaluation model for service quality in the banking industry

The study addresses the problem of service quality in the banking industry by modifying an importance–satisfaction (I–S) model in order to develop an integrated performance-measurement model for the banking industry, which would enable the priority of items for improvement to be determined. An importance and satisfaction questionnaire has been provided to determine which items do not fall into the appropriate performance-control zone of the performance-control matrix of the model. The performance-control matrix index provided enables the value of certain improvement objectives to be calculated. Finally, quality loss function is then adopted to rank the improvement objectives in terms of priority. A case study of a Taiwanese bank is then presented to demonstrate the applicability of the model in practice. The study thus presents a complete assessment model that helps managers to identify items for improvement, while simultaneously promoting cost and time efficiencies in service processes.     

Congruence in the assessment of service quality between employees and customers: A study of a public health care delivery system

Using social information processing theory, we examined the congruence between employee and customer assessments of organizations' service quality. The setting was a public health care delivery system. Contrary to expectations, employee assessments of service quality were lower than those of their customers. Also unexpectedly, employees with professional training had less congruent assessments than other employees. As expected, employees with longer tenure and those in departments with stronger customer service work climates had more congruent assessments relative to their customers. The results have implications for both management theory and for managers interested in developing customer-centered organizations.