Developing a service performance assessment system to improve service quality of academic libraries

Abstract

This article proposes an assessment model for the evaluation and improvement of the service performance of academic libraries. It presents a Service Performance Control Matrix (SPCM), an instrument to report the level of service performance and to simultaneously provide strategic directions to sustain, improve or recover service quality. SPCM also provides a guideline for determining the order of improvement for service. The model is applied to five public university libraries in Bangladesh, using a modified version of the SERVQUAL questionnaire. This questionnaire asks students to indicate their opinions on desired, minimum, and actual service performance by the university library on a 7-point Likert scale. The results of this study indicate the applicability of the SPCM model in determining the service quality of academic libraries. With more research effort, we expect this model to be evolved as a practical solution to assessing library service performance worldwide.

An Investigation of Service Expectations: Developing and Validating an Alternative Scale for Service Quality Assessment in Academic Libraries

“…Researchers have used SERVQUAL in different service organizations, including libraries, with some modifications as required (Hernon & Altman, 1996;Andaleeb & Simmonds, 1998;Cook & Thompson, 2000;Simmonds & Andaleeb, 2001;Martin, 2003;Yu, Hong, Gu, & Wang, 2008;Kaur, 2010;Shoeb, 2011;Hossain & Ahmed, 2013). Despite the broader spectrum of its utility for measuring service quality, SERVQUAL has also been subjected to a number of criticisms, notably with regard to the general applicability of SERVQUAL dimensionalities (Van Dyke, Kapelman, & Prybutok, 1997;Taylor, Sharland, Cronin, & Bullard, 1993;Babakus & Boller, 1992;Carman, 1990;Crompton & MacKay, 1989), to the lack of a clear link between satisfaction and perceived service quality (Duffy & Ketchard, 1998), and to the use of difference scores in the information service sector (Cronin & Taylor, 1992;Van Dyke et al, 1997).…”

“…In an earlier article (Hossain & Ahmed, 2013), the authors of this article, introduced an alternative scale "real service expectation" (RE) for developing a service performance assessment system to improve service quality of academic libraries. The main aim of this article is to develop and validate the scale further by incorporating more universities, students, and service items.…”

“…This is an alternative measure of the MSS method offered by the authors of this article. As discussed in Hossain and Ahmed (2013), 'RE' is calculated as the average of DE and ME scores. Finally, the difference between perception and minimum service expectation (P-ME) was calculated.…”

“…Despite its greater acceptance and use in developed countries, the authors of this article feel that LibQUAL+ TM is not equally appropriate for developing countries, like Bangladesh, because it is a web-based proprietary tool which requires adequate information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure to properly administer the survey. Therefore, the use of SERVQUAL rather than LibQUAL+ TM has received greater acceptance for evaluating library service quality in Bangladesh (see, for example Hossain & Ahmed, 2013;Hossain & Islam, 2012;Shoeb, 2011;). This article, therefore, used the SERVQUAL instrument to gain a more comprehensive understanding of service quality in university libraries.…”

“…This article, therefore, used the SERVQUAL instrument to gain a more comprehensive understanding of service quality in university libraries. The goal is to develop and validate an alternative item-scale for assessing service quality derived from an earlier work (Hossain & Ahmed, 2013).…”