Daniel A. Peak

Measuring IS System Service Quality with SERVQUAL: Users' Perceptions of Relative Importance of the Five SERVPERF Dimensions

Using a library information system in an engineering research environment, this paper investigates the service quality perceptions of professional information system users. This paper also examines the relationship between the relative importance allocated by the system’s users to each of the five SERVPERF dimensions (dimensions that are shared with the SERVQUAL instrument) as measured by the points allocated to that dimension and the ratings provided for the individual items of the dimension. Findings suggest that users rate system responsiveness and reliability above other service quality dimensions. Moderating influences in SERVPERF include gender and pressure to perform. We conclude that (1) companies that provide client services and (2) designers of information systems that interface with users should emphasize responsiveness and reliability; in cases of limited user resources, responsiveness and reliability should be emphasized over other SERVPERF performance dimensions. We also conclude that the use of SERVPERF is nuanced and that moderating influences may affect measurement results.

Risks and Effects of IS/IT Outsourcing: A Securities Market Assessment

Abstract CEOs are ultimately responsible to investors for firm performance, including the results of IS/IT outsourcing. CIOs, while responsible for implementing the outsourcing contract, do not share that same level of motivation or responsibility as the CEO. Although previous studies examine market effects of outsourcing on firm stock, and of IS technology investment on firm value, no published IS research ties outsourcing to financial performance or examines its effects on firm risk. This study addresses these issues with a securities market assessment of outsourcing. It examines outsourcing announcement effects on firm value and firm risk, using empirical data. The findings of this research are: large-company IS/IT outsourcing has a value-neutral, but risk-changing effect on the firm, as measured by initial reactions in company stocks and listed options. Over time, firm value improves following outsourcing. Weak firms experience increased risk with outsourcing, while all other firms experience a reduction in risk. Given these findings, outsourcing is a tool the CEO can use to signal investors that steps are being taken to improve firm performance. By examining outsourcing from this perspective, we conclude that CEO and CIO perceptions of outsourcing differ, as do their motivations and job responsibilities. Outsourcing appears to benefit the entire firm, the investors, and the CEO, far more than it benefits the IS department and the CIO.

UCPERF: An Urgent Care Patient Satisfaction Instrument

This study creates an urgent care (UC) service quality model and contextualizes a version of SERVPERF called UCPERF. In doing so, UCPERF fills a research void by examining how the service quality constructs measure healthcare patient satisfaction within an urgent care environment. Findings indicate that UCPERF is an equally effective version of the SERVPERF model; however, unlike SERVPERF, UCPERF yields a model targeted for patient satisfaction and contextualized for use in an urgent care environment. The authors believe that UCPERF allows quick assessment of competitive issues for patients and can allow greater satisfaction with service quality, which reduces the likelihood of switching healthcare providers.

Service quality in the USA and mainland China's fast-food restaurants

This study involves a cross-cultural examination of a modified service performance (SERVPERF) instrument as well as measures of food quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions. Specifically, the attribute recoverability was incorporated into the survey instrument and empirically refined and validated in the setting of the fast-food industry in both the USA and China. Additionally, several potential antecedents of customer satisfaction in fast-food restaurants were assessed - service quality, food quality and perceived value. Finally, the direct and positive relationship between behavioural intentions and customer satisfaction was examined in the context of our model in both countries.

The moderating effect of gender on academic website impression

Abstract This study examines the moderating effect of gender differences on the relationship between website characteristics and the overall impression of two academic websites. Findings provide evidence that website quality characteristics of the website are more important to men and the website navigation characteristics are more important to women. Implications about building websites are relevant to both practitioners and academicians.

Information Systems as a Reference Discipline for Visual Design

This paper proposes that the Information Systems (IS) discipline can serve as a reference discipline for the Visual Design discipline and vice versa. To this end, this work tries to offer a pluralistic framework of visual design systems (VSD) where the primary focus is on how the Visual Design discipline utilizes the intellectual know-how of IS concerning systems of development. Because visual design is part of the aesthetic paradigm where interpretivism rules and IS is contained in the positivist paradigm, we employ a multi-paradigm approach to bridge these two paradigms and their constituent disciplines. The implications of VSD are discussed in the remainder of this paper.

Using importance ratings to create an information service quality measure

This work investigates the service quality perceptions of information system users that use a library information system in an engineering research environment. This paper also examines the relationship between the relative importance allocated by the systems users to each of the five SERVQUAL dimensions as measured by the rating allocated to that dimension and the importance ratings of the individual items within the dimensions. Findings suggest that users rate the importance of system responsiveness and reliability above other service quality dimensions and the number of questions on the SERVQUAL instrument could be reduced to a smaller, more tractable set of items.

Decision Confidence, Information Usefulness, and Information Seeking Intention in the Presence of Disconfirming Information

The increasing use of data visualization for displaying information in a transdisciplinary environment raises issues about client information seeking in the decision-making processes. Field experts and individuals with high confidence tend to seek less information for their decisions than non-experts and individuals who are less confident. This work fills a gap about the effect of the information display format, visual or nonvisual, upon the client’s decision. In the context of data visualization and confirmation bias, this work provides needed research on computer aided information seeking in a decision-making, informing environment. Guided by the theories of confirmation bias and cognitive fit, we propose and test a model that investigates the impact of apriori decision confidence on seeking more information and information usefulness. Findings indicate that both information presentation type and confirmation bias affect the decision process of the information seeker. Findings also indicate that overall, the higher the confidence, the less likely users will find disconfirming evidence useful.

User Perceptions of Aesthetic Visual Design Variables within the Informing Environment: A Web-Based Experiment

A person’s psychological and physiological characteristics influence both behavior and decisionmaking in the informing process, such that system designers should understand users to reduce biases and misinformation. Given the substantial influence that visual interfaces have on users, system designers can benefit from understanding both the visual and functional aspects of interface design. To address these issues, this study employs the visual system design (VSD) framework, which integrates a rich and varied collection of visual design variables and IS (Information Systems) variables. This study performs a visual web-based experiment with data collected from 105 participants, where results show that changes in aesthetic elements of interface design, specifically, visual value and color, do ripple across a transition zone between visual design and IS variables. Both participants with and without visual design training were able to perceive those changes as intended. This study provides preliminary support to the VSD framework. It also suggests that bias and randomness are reduced in the informing process if system interfaces are designed with mindful and skilled use of design and aesthetic elements.

Why Technology in the University Classroom is Necessary

INTRODUCTION Significant changes to higher education have followed the acceptance and adoption of internet courses, which now are being offered at a most universities in this country. Still, the vast majority of courses offered continue to be face-to-face, with a comparable majority of students wanting at least some of their courses to be face-to-face. Despite their desire for classroom instruction, students also want the benefits of current classroom technology and instructors who can use technology to enhance their learning experiences. As technology professors, I believe that we have a duty and a responsibility to make that happen.