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IJSIM
15,3 Online service quality dimensions
and their relationships with
satisfaction
302
A content analysis of customer reviews of
securities brokerage services
Zhilin Yang
Department of Marketing, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon,
Hong Kong, and
Xiang Fang
Department of Marketing, Oklahoma State University, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
Keywords Electronic commence, Internet, Servicing, Customer satisfaction, Securities markets
Abstract This exploratory research intends to extend our understanding of service quality and
customer satisfaction within the setting of online securities brokerage services. Based upon
conceptual frameworks from the areas of services marketing and information systems
management, the authors uncovered 52 items across 16 major service quality dimensions by
content analysis of 740 customer reviews. The results indicate that primary service quality
dimensions leading to online customer satisfaction, with the exception of ease of use, are closely
related to traditional services while key factors leading to dissatisfaction are tied to information
systems quality. In addition, major drivers of satisfaction and dissatisfaction are identified at the
sub-dimensional level. Theoretical contribution and managerial implications of the findings are
further discussed.

International Journal of Service
Industry Management
Vol. 15 No. 3, 2004
pp. 302-326
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0956-4233
DOI 10.1108/09564230410540953
At least once a week it’s impossible to logon, get real-time quotes, or have my portfolio quotes
displayed. In some instances, I couldn’t execute trades or check under key shortfalls for this
company . . . (Quote from one online investor’s comment at www.gomez.com).
Web-based services (hereinafter online services or e-services) offer customers a
panoply of benefits such as enhanced control, ease of use, and reduced transaction
charges (Scullion and Nicholas, 2001; Unsal and Movassaghi, 2001; Zeithaml, 2002).
Consequently, online services have grown rapidly and have emerged as the leading
edge of the service industry. For instance, in the USA, the number of online investors
totaled 17.4 million as of the year 2001; and this user level is predicted to reach 32.4
million by 2004 (eMarketer, 2002). To accommodate this growth, not only have dozens
of Internet-only service providers materialized, but also significant numbers of
conventional suppliers have utilized the Internet to furnish online services. The
consequence of this phenomenon has been the appearance of ferocious competition
among online suppliers.
The first author gratefully acknowledges a research grant from the City University of Hong
Kong (SMA Project No. 9030907). The authors would like to express our thanks to Nancy Wong,
Wing Yeung, and Yue Shen for their research assistance.
 One effective means of achieving competitive advantage and differentiating Online service
strategies involves superior service quality. Superior service quality measurably quality
increases a firm’s overall profitability, its price premium, and its perceived and actual
market share (Zeithaml et al., 1996). Most online service providers (particularly
securities brokers), however, have encountered substantial problems and challenges in
furnishing online service quality. As confirmed by Goldberg (2000, p. 42):
Many investors had difficulty making trades because Web sites crashed or were glacially
303
slow. Clients with problems or questions were kept on perpetual hold. E-mails weren’t
answered.
The primary reasons for these difficulties reside in service providers’ lack of experience
in streamlining operations of this fairly recent channel and their limited understanding
of online customers’ usage behaviors. Moreover, as online firms often possess limited
resources, priorities must therefore be determined among alternative service attributes
when making investment decisions related to achievement of superior services
(Brandt, 1997). As such, it is desirable for online service providers to uncover what
attributes consumers utilize in their assessment of overall service quality and
satisfaction and which attributes are more important.
From the theoretical perspective, research in e-services is still in its early stages
although e-commerce has experienced explosive growth during the past decade. Online
firms operate in an environment consisting of Web-based technologies (e.g. browsers,
search engines, encryption, and databases), network systems, and digital information.
This unique feature of online services has motivated us to re-examine whether
traditional service quality dimensions and their content are truly applicable to
Internet-based services and to explore new quality dimensions (Cox and Dale, 2001).
Few scholarly studies, to date, have been undertaken to identify quality dimensions
and detailed aspects of online services and their relationships with customer
satisfaction (Zeithaml, 2002, Zeithaml and Bitner, 2003). Moreover, in current studies of
online service quality, “scholars too often move directly from the generation of items to
factor analysis, thus giving limited considerations to how consumers categorize and
think about their experiences” (Wolfinbarger and Gilly, 2002, p. 4).
Thus, our exploratory research intends to extend the body of existing knowledge
relating to service quality and customer satisfaction in multiple ways. First, we
establish a conceptual framework by integrating two major aspects of online services
– customer service quality and information systems quality. Based upon the
conceptual framework, we employ a content analysis of customer reviews on online
securities brokerage services and then identify 16 major quality dimensions of online
services. We further uncover 52 sub-dimensions or items within all major dimensions.
Third, we examine primary service quality dimensions leading to satisfaction and
dissatisfaction respectively. The results suggest that primary drivers of satisfaction
are closely related to traditional service quality dimensions with the exception of “ease
of use”, and key drivers of dissatisfaction are tied to information systems quality. In
addition, we extend Johnston’s (1995) classification of satisfiers and dissatisfiers to the
sub-dimensional level and identify the major drivers of satisfaction and dissatisfaction.
Fourth, we utilize a new approach, content analysis of 740 online customer reviews,
which enables us to identify relative comprehensive service quality dimensions and
sub-dimensions and to investigate their relationships with satisfaction. Finally, our
IJSIM research has been conducted in the context of online securities brokerage to which
15,3 virtually no empirical research, to the best of our knowledge, has been directed.

Conceptual development
Our conceptual framework has been developed on the basis of two important
characteristics of online services. First, online services invariably share some common
304 territory in relation to traditional interpersonal services. Second, Web-based
technologies have been used to automate product distribution and customer
services, including transaction and payment systems, call centers, customer
relationship management systems, as well as the underlying analytics, reporting,
and operations of these systems. In this sense, Web sites are functioning as
well-defined information systems. These two aspects are indeed overarching; they
interact with each other. Customer services may be delivered partially or even fully
through the Internet while maintaining information systems quality often requires the
aid of human beings. In line with this reasoning, we briefly review major literature on
traditional customer services quality, information systems quality applicable to online
services, and a combination of the two (i.e. online service quality).

Traditional service quality dimensions

Online customers still demand many services available through traditional channels
even if they choose pure Internet-based suppliers with basic customer services.
Numerous studies have sought to uncover the global attributes of services that
contribute most significantly to relevant quality assessments in the traditional service
environment (e.g. Hedvall and Paltschik, 1989; Kettinger and Lee, 1997; Parasuraman
et al., 1985, 1988; Paulin and Perrien, 1996; Pitt et al., 1999; Sasser et al., 1978). Among
them, two exploratory studies are regarded as the most appropriate frameworks for the
current research. Parasuraman et al.’s (1985) reveals ten detailed dimensions through
focus group studies: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, communication, credibility,
security, competence, courtesy, understanding the customer, and access. Later, these
ten dimensions were further purified and distilled to five: tangibles, reliability,
responsibility, assurance, and empathy, which constitute the base of a global
measurement for service quality, SERVQUAL(Parasuraman et al., 1988). Another
useful study conducted by Johnston (1995) provides 18 service dimensions and their
definitions: access, aesthetics, attentiveness, availability, care, cleanliness/tidiness,
comfort, commitment, communication, competence, courtesy, flexibility, friendliness,
functionality, integrity, reliability, responsiveness, and security. These two studies
offer particularly robust service quality dimensions for measuring traditional services
and could serve as a good starting point for the current exploratory research.

Information systems quality dimensions

The second stream of research relevant to e-service quality is from information
systems literature. Since the Internet is still a relatively new information technology,
research in information systems along with technology adoption provides useful
insights into identifying some important dimensions in e-service quality.
According to the technology adoption model (TAM), users’ decisions to adopt a new
information technology are principally determined by their attitudes toward two
overarching factors related to the technology: ease of use; and usefulness (Davis, 1989;
Davis et al., 1989). Perceived ease of use refers to “the degree to which a person believes Online service
that using a particular system would be free of effort”, and perceived usefulness refers quality
to “the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would enhance
his or her job performance” (Davis, 1989, p. 320). The model has been extensively
researched and been duly verified in a number of studies (Adams et al., 1992; Davis,
1989; Davis et al., 1989; Hendrickson and Collins, 1996; Igbaria et al., 1997). Since
consumers’ use of Internet-based services can be viewed as similar to the adoption of 305
new technology, ease of use and usefulness are important factors in evaluating online
service quality. Lin and Wu (2002) have employed the TAM to examine the impact of
online service quality on portal site usage. They have found that several key
dimensions of online service quality such as information content, customization,
reliability, and response have significant effects on perceived ease of use and perceived
usefulness, which in turn influence attitude toward using the portal site, behavioral
intention to reuse portal sites, and actual portal site use. More importantly, their
findings have indicated that perceived ease of use is more important than perceived
usefulness.
Online customers are end-users of both information and networked systems
(DeLone and McLean, 1992; Stockdale and Standing, 2002). With the intent of
measuring end-users’ satisfaction with information systems, Doll and Torkzadeh
(1988) devised a 12-item scale that assesses five quality dimensions that have been
determined to influence end-user satisfaction. The five dimensions are content,
accuracy, format, ease of use, and timeliness. The reliability and validity of this
scale have been verified in several studies (Doll et al., 1994; Hendrickson and
Collins, 1996).
The quality attributes employed in the two aforementioned streams of research can
constitute a workable, preliminary framework for assessing online services. To gain
more insights into recent development of online service quality research, we further
review major studies in this arena.

Online service quality dimensions

We categorize the extant research on online service quality into studies focusing on:
online retailing services (e.g. Wolfinbarger and Gilly, 2002. For more comprehensive
review, see Zeithaml et al., 2002; Yang and Jun, 2002); Web site design quality; and
narrowly defined online services other than retailing (e.g. portal services, online travel
services). These studies reflect various aspects of online service quality, which
facilitate the development of the coding scheme in our study. Table I summarizes key
literature relevant to online services.
Online retailing service quality. Drawing upon the traditional SERVQUAL scale,
Zeithaml et al. (2001, 2002) have developed e-SERVQUAL for measuring e-service
quality. In a series of focus group interviews, Zeithaml et al. (2001) have identified
eleven dimensions of online service quality: access, ease of navigation, efficiency,
flexibility, reliability, personalization, security/privacy, responsiveness,
assurance/trust, site aesthetics, and price knowledge. The further comparison of
e-service quality and traditional service quality indicates that consumers use some
common dimensions such as reliability, responsiveness, access, and assurance to
evaluate both traditional service quality and e-service quality. The study, however,
was based on consumer experience of online retailing services. In the same vein,
IJSIM Key dimensions
15,3 Authors Methods uncovered/discussed Main focus
Parasuraman Personal Reliability, responsiveness, Traditional service quality
et al. (1985) interviews with competence, access, courtesy,
executives and 12 communication, credibility,
customer security, understanding the
306 focus-group customer, and tangibles
interviews
Johnston (1995) Based on feedback Access, aesthetics, Traditional service
of 431 bank attentiveness, availability, dimensions and their
customers and care, cleanliness/tidiness, definitions
using critical comfort, commitment,
incident technique communication, competence,
courtesy, flexibility,
friendliness, functionality,
integrity, reliability,
responsiveness, and security
Davis (1989) A total of 152 users Ease of use and usefulness User acceptance of
and four information technology
application
programs
Doll et al. (1994) 409 end-users from Content, accuracy, format, End-user satisfaction with
18 organizations ease of use, and timeliness information and network
systems
Liu and Arnett Survey of 122 Quality of information and Web site design quality
(2000) Webmasters of service, system use,
Fortune 1,000 playfulness, and system
companies design quality
Yoo and Donthu Survey 141 Ease of use, aesthetic design, Evaluation of online retailers’
(2001) students to processing speed, security Web site usability
evaluate four
online retailers’
Web sites
Loiacono et al. Survey 847 Information fit to task, WEBQUAL (Web quality)
(2002) undergraduate interaction, trust, response
students time, design, intuitiveness,
visual appeal, innovativeness,
flow, integrated
communication, business
process, and substitutability
Zeithaml et al. Literature review Efficiency, reliability, Service quality in general
(2002) fulfillment, privacy,
responsiveness,
compensation, and contact
Wolfinbarger Focus group Web site design, reliability, Online retailing service
and Gilly (2002) studies and survey privacy/security, customer quality
of 1013 panel service
members
Zeithaml et al. Six focus group Access, ease of navigation, Online retailing service
(2001) interviews efficiency, flexibility, quality
reliability, personalization,
security/privacy,
Table I. responsiveness,
Selected service quality assurance/trust, site
literature relevant to aesthetics, price knowledge
online services (continued)
 Key dimensions Online service
Authors Methods uncovered/discussed Main focus quality
Cox and Dale Literature reviewAccessibility, Online retailing service
(2001) communication, credibility, quality
understanding, appearance,
availability
Yang and Jun Survey 271 ISP Reliability, access, ease of use, Online retailing service 307
(2002) subscribers personalization, security, quality
credibility
Madu and Madu Literature review Performance, features, Online retailing service
(2002) structure, aesthetics, quality
reliability, storage capacity,
serviceability, security and
system integrity, trust,
responsiveness,
product/service
differentiation and
customization, Web store
policies, reputation,
assurance, empathy
Kaynama and Criteria Content and purpose, Online travel agencies
Black (2000) established by accessibility, navigation, services
evaluation sites design and presentation,
and literature responsiveness, background,
review personalization and
customization
Van Riel et al. Interviews and Core service, supporting Portal site service
(2001) survey 52 users of service, user interface
a portal site Table I.

Wolfinbarger and Gilly (2002), through focus group interviews and an online survey,
have uncovered four online retailing experience factors: Web site design, reliability,
privacy/security, and customer service. Yang and Jun (2002) have uncovered six
prominent factors – reliability, access, ease of use, personalization, security, and
credibility – employed by Internet purchasers to evaluate e-tailers’ service quality and
seven principal service attributes – security, responsiveness, ease of use, reliability,
availability, personalization, and access – that could prevent visitors from purchasing.
These retailing services oriented studies have certain limitations in terms of the
generalization of their findings to other settings.
Some studies develop online service quality framework based on literature review.
Cox and Dale (2001) have noted that traditional service quality dimensions, such as
competence, courtesy, cleanliness, comfort, and friendliness, are not relevant to online
retailing; whereas other factors, such as accessibility, communication, credibility, and
appearance, are critical to its success. Madu and Madu (2002) proposed the following
15 dimensions of online service quality based on literature review: performance,
features, structure, aesthetics, reliability, storage capacity, serviceability, security and
system integrity, trust, responsiveness, product/service differentiation and
customization, Web store policies, reputation, assurance, and empathy. Zeithaml
et al. (2002) conducted a critical review of extant e-service quality literature and
identified seven dimensions for e-service quality – efficiency, reliability, fulfillment,
privacy, responsiveness, compensation, and contact. These seven dimensions were
IJSIM further classified into two categories: a core service scale for measuring the customers’
15,3 perceptions of e-tailers’ service quality when customers experience no problems with
the site (efficiency, reliability, fulfillment, and privacy) and a recovery service scale for
measuring e-tailers’ service recovery when problems occur (responsiveness,
compensation, and contact).
Web site design quality. From the information systems perspective, Yoo and Donthu
308 (2001) have developed an instrument for measuring online retailers’ Web sites,
SITEQUAL, with four dimensions: ease of use, aesthetic design, processing speed, and
security. Another highly cited instrument, WEBQUAL (Web quality) developed by
Loiacono et al. (2002) consists of 12 dimensions: information fit to task, interaction,
trust, response time, design, intuitiveness, visual appeal, innovativeness, flow,
integrated communication, business process, and substitutability. Liu and Arnett
(2000), through Web and e-mail surveys of 689 Webmasters of Fortune 1,000
companies’ Web site, have discovered four major factors leading to the success of a
Web site, i.e. information and service quality, system use, playfulness, and system
design quality. These scales, however, have one major limitation as they are “geared
toward helping Web site designers to better design Web sites to affect the interaction
perceptions of the users. Therefore, the scale is more pertinent to interface design than
service quality measurement” (Zeithaml et al., 2002, p. 366).
Other online service quality. Other studies have identified key dimensions of online
service quality in the context of narrowly defined online businesses, such as portal
services and travel agencies. In each of these online services, some different dimensions
emerged. For instance, Van Riel et al. (2001) have derived three key portal service
quality attributes affecting consumers’ overall satisfaction with the portal: core service,
support service, and user interface. Kaynama and Black (2000) have identified the
following dimensions for online travel agencies: content and purpose, accessibility,
navigation, design and presentation, responsiveness, background, and personalization
and customization.
The foregoing literature review suggests that most of previous empirical studies
have focused either on service quality of retailing-oriented Web sites (e.g. Yang and
Jun, 2002; Zeithaml et al., 2002), or on the technical quality of Web site itself (e.g. Liu
and Arnett, 2000; Loiacono et al., 2002). Little research has integrated models from
traditional service quality and information systems quality; and consequently, the
unique quality aspects of online services (particularly those from service-intensive
industries) could not be fully reflected. In addition, the very few exploratory studies on
online service quality have utilized focus groups and personal interviews. These
research methods usually have very limited numbers of participants, which prevents
them from uncovering more comprehensive dimensions and their sub-dimensions (e.g.
Van Riel et al., 2001). These limitations have motivated us to conduct an exploratory
study to address the following two fundamental questions:
RQ1. Which dimensions and sub-dimensions of online services assume vital roles
in influencing customers’ evaluation of service quality?
RQ2. Compared to traditional services, which service quality dimensions and/or
sub-dimensions are considered specific to online services?
Service quality dimensions and customer satisfaction Online service
Researchers have paid much attention to the close relationship between service quality quality
and customer satisfaction (e.g. Bitner et al., 1990; Parasuraman et al., 1988). Oliver
(1993) suggests that service quality is a more specific judgment, which can lead to a
broad evaluation, customer satisfaction. The question is: how exactly will particular
service quality dimensions influence customer satisfaction formation? Johnston (1995)
has found that the causes of dissatisfaction and satisfaction are not necessarily the 309
same. Some service quality attributes may not be critical for customer satisfaction but
can significantly lead to dissatisfaction when they are performed poorly. Drawing
upon Herzberg et al.’s (1995) research on work motivation, Johnston (1997) has further
classified all dimensions into enhancing (satisfiers), hygiene (dissatisfiers), and dual
factors. Enhancing factors are those which will lead to customer satisfaction if they are
delivered properly, but will not necessarily cause dissatisfaction if absent. In contrast,
hygiene factors are those which will lead to customer dissatisfaction if they fail to
deliver, but will not result in satisfaction if present. Dual factors are those that will
have an impact on both satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Johnston (1995) identified
attentiveness, responsiveness, care, and friendliness as the main source of satisfaction
in banking services, and integrity, reliability, responsiveness, availability, and
functionality as the main source of dissatisfaction.
In addition, Mittal et al. (1998) have discovered that the positive performance of a
service quality attribute has less impact on overall consumer satisfaction than negative
performance of that same attribute. This “asymmetric effect” suggests that it is
necessary to carefully investigate service quality attributes having both negative and
positive contributions, and to grant more attention to those salient
negatively-performed attributes to increase customer satisfaction. Is this asymmetric
effect applicable to online services? Are there any differences between online services
and traditional services? Thus, the third key question we intend to address is:
RQ3. Among these identified service quality dimensions, which are principally
leading to online customer satisfaction (“satisfiers”) and which are leading to
online dissatisfaction (“dissatisfiers”)?

Online securities brokerage service quality

We choose the online securities brokerage services as our research setting for two
primary reasons. First, online securities brokerage is a service-intensive and rapidly
growing industry, which suits current research purposes quite well. Second, little
empirical research has been conducted on measuring service quality dimensions and
customer satisfaction in the setting of online securities brokerage. One study by Lin
and Wei (1999) identified five dimensions that individual investors expect for securities
brokerage services – personal touch, brand equity, tangibility, assurance, and efficacy.
Their research, however, was conducted specifically for brick-and-mortar brokerage
firms, using the SERVQUAL framework (Parasuraman et al., 1988). On the
professional side, some full-service brokers have conducted customer surveys to
understand the reasons that customers adopt online trading channels. A Fidelity
Investment survey, for instance, indicated that what appealed to customers trading
online were independence, easy access to research, more control over their investments,
lower commissions, and fast trade execution (Opiela, 2000). Some customer review
Web sites such as Gomez.com and epinions.com have established a set of criteria to
IJSIM gauge the service performance of various online brokers in order to provide a guideline
15,3 for customers to choose a better, or best, provider. Gomez.com lists five criteria to
evaluate brokerage firms, i.e. ease of use, customer confidence, on-site resources,
relationship services, and overall cost. Similarly, in Kiplinger’s annual survey of online
brokers, brokers are ranked based on eight key measures – commissions, research
quality, the savvy of telephone reps, brokers’ knowledge, research and Web site,
310 cost-basis information, and conduct (Goldberg, 2000). Compared to what was identified
from studies on other service industries, the quality dimensions of online securities
brokerage services incorporate both human-based and information systems services,
such as knowledge of brokers and telephone representatives, ease of use, on-site
resources, Web site design, and controllability. The criteria used by the professionals,
though broad and practical in nature, provide useful information for the current study
concentrating on online service quality dimensions and their relationships with
customer satisfaction.

Research method
Consumer feedback, e.g. complaints and compliments have long been employed as
sources of feedback on company performance. Essentially, customer feedback is an
exception-reporting mechanism for identifying weaknesses to be corrected or strengths
to be reinforced. The fact that customers contribute time and effort for voicing their
online service experiences suggests that the attributes are salient in the post-use
evaluation process (Cadotte and Turgeon, 1988). Although consumer comments are not
likely to reflect completely their entire experiences with suppliers, they do highlight
those dimensions and detailed attributes of service quality of greatest concern (Yang
and Peterson, 2002; Yang et al., 2001). Therefore, an analysis of consumer compliments
and complaints are particularly useful in exploring the rich aspects of customer
perceived service quality (Yang and Peterson, 2003). Unfortunately, a review of the
consumer behavior literature reveals that consumer’s anecdotal feedback of online
services has not been carefully examined, and deserves more academic attention.
Our study, therefore, adopted the newly emerged “netnography” method by
utilizing a content analysis of consumer reviews of online brokerage experiences to
identify key dimensions and their respective service features. The “netnography”
approach is a qualitative research technique which employs an ethnographic research
method to study online customers (Kozinets, 2002). It “uses the information publicly
available in online forums to identify and understand the needs and decision influences
of relevant online consumer groups” (Kozinets, 2002, p. 62). Online content analysis is
part of “netnography” in the sense that it is based on content created by online
customers and intends to understand their needs and wants. Compared to content
generated by traditional methods (e.g. focus groups and personal interviews),
“netnography” is less-time consuming, less obtrusive, less costly; more timely, natural,
and elaborate. “The limitations of ‘netnography’ draw from its more narrow focus on
online communities, the need for researcher interpretive skill, and the lack of informant
identifiers present in the online context that leads to difficulty generalizing community
sample” (Kozinets, 2002, p. 62).
Sample Online service
We employed three steps to collect qualified customer reviews of brokerage services. quality
The first step was to locate appropriate Web sites that provide customers with a hub to
evaluate suppliers. By using multiple search sites (i.e. Google, Altavista, MSN search,
LookSmart, and Hotbot), we intensively reviewed the most prominent US-based Web
sites that offer online consumer reviews. Three principal criteria were set to select
appropriate sites: the site should be established by a party independent of product 311
suppliers; the site should have a review section on online securities brokerage services;
and reviews should be written by customers who have used or are using the service
and have been authorized to post their messages (Yang and Peterson, 2003). We then
found that seven Web sites were relevant for this study – bizrate.com, complaints.com,
computingreview.com, consumerreports.org, epinions.com, gomez.com, and rateitall.
com
The second step was to select qualified customer review sites. We established three
selection criteria to permit collection of the most representative samples: the number of
reviews written by online investors should be large; customers should be encouraged
to post both dissatisfied and satisfied reviews; and the reviews can be assessed
publicly or freely. Among the above-mentioned seven Web sites, five did not satisfy
our criteria. Consumerreports.org did not allow visitors to view customer reviews
freely. The number of customer reviews contributed by diversified participants in
Bizrate.com, rateitall.com, and computingreview.com was too small. Finally,
Complaints.com had limited reviews of online brokers and exclusively consisted of
complaint messages. The remaining two Web sites, epinion.com, a leading online
product review site, and gomez.com, a leading customer review site dedicated to online
financial services, fully met the requirements.
The last step was to choose sample Internet securities brokers. Five of the most
influential online brokers were selected for study – Fidelity Investment, Charles
Schwab, Ameritrade, TD Waterhouse, and E-Trade. These online brokers were ranked
as the top five within 21 leading online brokers according to CNN (2001). While
Ameritrade and E-Trade are Internet-only firms, the remaining three firms are hybrid
(or click-and-brick) brokers.

Data collection
We accessed the two online customer review Web sites, Gomez and Epinions, from
January 12 to 15, 2002, to secure a sufficient volume of anecdotes. All messages written
from January 1, 2000, to January 11, 2002 were collected. We made every effort in
deleting disqualified reviews, e.g. spamming messages, personal attacks, duplications,
messages with empty text body and a meaningless title, promotional messages written
by company insiders, and any messages irrelevant to online brokerage services. We
further identified multiple messages written by the same person for the same broker
and chose the message that best represented his/her viewpoints. As a result, a total of
740 effective consumer anecdotes were selected. The average length of each anecdote
was 124 words.

Coding process
Our coding procedure followed the guideline provided by Yang and Peterson (2002).
All anecdotes were numbered, formatted, and imported to Ethnograph 5.0, a software
IJSIM package designed for coding qualitative data (Wazienski, 2000). Based on the first 100
15,3 messages, two researchers collaborated in developing an initial 59 coding words, which
made up the primary themes or facets of the overall quality of online services.
Whenever possible, we grouped these coding words into relevant factors defined by
previous studies (e.g. Doll and Torkzadeh, 1988; Johnston, 1995; Parasuraman et al.,
1988). Since some coding words could not be assigned to the factors uncovered by
312 major extant studies, new dimensions were subsequently developed. The two
researchers then independently coded the remaining anecdotes. Subsequent discussion
identified and resolved for all disagreements. Based on reviewers’ attitude, each service
quality dimension was classified into two categories: satisfied attributes (positive
performance) and dissatisfied attributes (negative performance).
The inter-judge reliability between the coders was calculated using the percentage
agreement statistic. In turn, the inter-judge reliability was 88.5 percent for the
satisfying anecdotes and 84.3 percent for the dissatisfying anecdotes. These figures are
relatively high, given that the resulting classification scheme contained 16 categories
according to standards normally employed for statistically assessing qualitative data
(Perreault and Leigh, 1989).

Results
The results of content analysis are reported in Tables I and II. We present findings in
line with our three research questions. Whenever appropriate, illustrative anecdotes
are quoted to explain the domain of service quality dimensions and sub-dimensions.

Identified service quality dimensions and their items

Our first research question concerns customer perceived critical dimensions and
sub-dimensions of online service quality. The content analysis has identified 16 service
quality dimensions and 52 sub-dimensions or items (see Table II). Among the 52 items,
34 are applicable to both traditional and Internet brokerage services and the remaining
18 items are unique to the Internet channel. Compared to dimensions identified by
major studies on global measures of service quality (Johnston, 1995; Parasuraman et al.,
1985), this study uncovered two new dimensions, i.e. continuous improvement and
service portfolio, which are highly relevant to newly emerging online services such as
online trading. We also observed that online investors addressed almost every aspect
of information and systems quality such as system reliability and quote accuracy.
These findings are consistent with the viewpoint that service quality dimensions tend
to be context- and industry-bounded (Bienstock, 1997; Mehta et al., 2000; Van Dyke
et al., 1997).
The content analysis of customers’ critical incidents enables us to explore the rich
aspects of online service dimensions and sub-dimensions. The results thus embrace
almost all key online service quality factors proposed by previous studies. Moreover,
we have uncovered multiple new factors relevant to the new service channel, e.g.
system flexibility, timeliness, system reliability, and continuous improvement. All
these major factors are applicable for online services beyond the current research
setting. Only a few items within the major factors are specifically related to the online
securities brokerage industry (e.g. research capacity, quote update, and fund hold-up).
Among the 16 service quality dimensions, eight factors most frequently mentioned
in the reviews are reported in Table III, subdivided by satisfied and dissatisfied
Dimension Hybrid itema Internet-specific item
Online service
quality
Responsiveness Prompt response to phone calls Prompt response to e-mails
Quick order execution
Prompt order confirmation
Prompt services (others)
Reliability Accurate order fulfillment
Accurate record
313
Accurate quote
Accuracy in billing
Accurate calculation of commissions
Keep service promise
Keep promotion promise
Credibility Confidence
Company reputation
Competence Ability to solve problems
Knowledge to answer questions
Research capacity
Quickly solve problem
Access Phone access Web site accessibility
Physical branch access E-mail access
Courtesy
Politeness
Care and friendliness of contact personnel
Continue Service improvement System improvement
improvement Web site improvement
Communication Prompt warning (e.g. account liquidation and
restrictions)
Prompt notification (e.g. margin requirement
changes)
Old records
Service portfolio Research reports
Investment tools;
Content Information availability (market and services)
Information clarity
Information accuracy
Timeliness Account update
Quote update
Security Information privacy Log off due to time-out
Customer protection Lock-out from service
Trade hold-up
Fund hold-up
Aesthetic Attractive of Web sites
ease of use Easy navigation
Easy use
Effective navigation
Functionality
Speed
System reliability System shutdown or failures
System error
System flexibility Compatibility (with some
operation systems) Table II.
Identified service quality
Note: a Items that are applicable to services over both traditional and Internet channels dimensions and items
IJSIM Satisfied Dissatisfied Total
15,3 Dimension and item No. Pcta No. Pcta No. Pcta

1. Responsiveness Prompt response to phone calls 0.0 118 11.5 118 9.7
Prompt services (others) 22 11.8 64 6.2 86 7.1
Prompt response to e-mails 0.0 54 5.2 54 4.4
314 Prompt order execution 39 20.9 66 6.4 105 8.6
Prompt order confirmation 6 3.2 17 1.7 23 1.9
Sub-total 67 35.8 319 31.0 386 31.7
2. Service reliabilty Accurate order fulfillment 12 6.4 62 6.0 74 6.1
Accurate record 2 1.1 18 1.7 20 1.6
Accurate quote 6 0.6 6 0.5
Accuracy in billing 3 1.6 3 0.2
Accurate calculation of commissions 3 0.3 3 0.2
Keep service promise 27 2.6 27 2.2
Keep promotion promise 7 0.7 7 0.6
Sub-total 17 9.1 123 12.0 140 11.5
3. Ease of use Easy navigation 4 2.1 11 1.1 15 1.2
Easy to use 8 4.3 6 0.6 14 1.2
Effective navigation 5 0.5 5 0.4
Functionality/interface 8 0.8 8 0.7
Web site download speed 7 3.7 86 8.4 93 7.6
Sub-total 19 10.2 116 11.3 135 11.1
4. Competence Ability to solve problems 17 9.1 39 3.8 56 4.6
Knowledge to answer questions 5 2.7 27 2.6 32 2.6
Research capacity 6 3.2 25 2.4 31 2.5
Quickly solve problem 2 1.1 15 1.5 17 1.4
Sub-total 30 16.0 106 10.3 136 11.2
5. Access Web site accessibility 65 6.3 65 5.3
Phone access 29 2.8 29 2.4
Local office access 6 3.2 6 0.5
E-mail access 5 0.5 5 0.4
Sub-total 6 3.2 99 9.6 105 8.6
6. System reliability System failure and shutdown 49 4.8 49 4.0
System error 31 3.0 31 2.5
Sub-total 0 0.0 80 7.8 80 6.6
7. Timeliness Account update 2 1.1 41 4.0 43 3.5
Quote update 4 2.1 27 2.6 31 2.5
Sub-total 6 3.2 68 6.6 74 6.1
8. Security Log off due to time-out 22 2.1 22 1.8
Lock out from service 7 0.7 7 0.6
Personal information privacy 4 0.4 4 0.3
Customer protection 1 0.5 1 0.1
Fund or trade hold-up 6 0.6 6 0.4
Table III. Sub-total 1 0.5 39 3.8 40 3.3
Frequencies of service Total (eight dimensions)
quality dimensions, by 146 78.1 950 92.3 1096 90.1
Grant total (16 dimensions) 187 100.0 1,029 100.0 1216 100.0
satisfaction and
dissatisfaction Note: a Percentage is calculated based upon a total of 1,216 comments (16 dimensions)
groups. They are: responsiveness (a mention quotient of 31.7 percent), service Online service
reliability (11.5 percent), ease of use (11.1 percent), competence (11.2 percent), access quality
(8.6 percent), system reliability (6.6 percent), timeliness (6.1 percent), and
security/privacy (3.3 percent). These eight factors account for 90.1 percent of
remarks while the remaining eight dimensions consist only of 9.9 percent. In the same
vein, the top eight items or keywords customers mentioned are prompt response to
phone calls (9.7 percent), prompt order execution (8.6 percent), Web site download 315
speed (7.6 percent), prompt customer services (7.1 percent), accurate order fulfillment
(6.1 percent), Web site accessibility (5.3 percent), and representatives’ capability to
solve problems (4.6 percent).
The fact that the less-frequently mentioned eight factors appear in only about 10
percent of remarks obtained deserves further explanation. If the reason for such a low
number of citations is that the overall performance of these factors is in line with
customers’ expectations and/or their performance deviation from the industry
standard is insignificant, the less-frequently mentioned attributes may still be critical
for customer satisfaction. In this case maintaining high performance of these attributes
is a necessity for competition; but doing so may not gain competitive advantages. If, on
the other hand, the reason these factors are cited so infrequently is that they play a less
important role in customers’ evaluation of overall service performance, management
may strategically maintain only acceptable quality levels of these attributes and devote
more effort and resources on the other eight attributes in order to achieve competitive
advantages.

Dimensions and items specific to Internet-based services

Our second research question is: which service quality dimensions and items are
unique to online services? In Table II, we classified these dimensions into two groups:
factors that apply to both traditional and Internet channels (hybrid factors); and factors
which are unique to the Internet channel (Internet-specific factors). Thus, the answer to
the second research question resides in: Internet-specific items within hybrid factors;
and Internet-specific factors (see Table III for more details).
Internet-specific items within hybrid factors. The five primary dual service quality
dimensions include responsiveness, reliability, competence, access, and security.
Several items within these hybrid dimensions are critical for customers to evaluate
service quality and satisfaction. The first and foremost attribute is prompt order
execution and confirmation (C1 and C2), which requires adequate system capacity as
well as staff support:
C1. “Never ever execute a market order with them, because you could pay dearly.
I lost $1,400 with such an order because it took hours for my order to execute.”
C2. “I placed a trade some time ago, didn’t get confirmation for 15+ minutes. By
the time I got it, the stock was already down – costing me money.”
The second important aspect is accuracy of the online trading system, including
accurate order fulfillment, accurate quote, accurate record keeping (C3), and accurate
commission calculation (C4). This aspect, together with timely order execution and
confirmation, are especially vital in online securities brokerage services.
C3. “Their records are so hard to read and usually wrong for days after trades.”
IJSIM C4. “It is very unfair for me to take the loss and pay twice the commission, (once
15,3 on the sell short and once on the buy back to cover) since it was not a trading
error on my behalf but an execution error on your trading system.”
The third important aspect is the accessibility of Web sites. Convenience is one of
customers’ major motives of trading through the Internet. Thus, investors expect a
firm’s Web sites to be accessible and the trading system is workable all the time (C5):
316
C5. “I cannot count the times I have tried to trade only to see the message ‘Service
unavailable’ or ‘Unable to connect to site’.”
The fourth prominent aspect is e-mail response. Besides traditional communication
means such as phone call, online customers are particularly longing for prompt
responses to their inquiries and prompt confirmation through e-mail (C6 and C7).
They tend to become annoyed or even angry when receiving no responses from
firms (C8):
C6. “They respond to e-mails in reasonable time. They are reasonably efficient in
taking care of problems – which so far, for me, have been relatively minor
ones.”
C7. “They send prompt, well formatted regular mail trade confirmations (or you
can select secure e-mail confirmations, I believe).”
C8. “I’ve emailed them twice since January with no response yet.”
Finally, transaction security and personal information privacy are major concerns for
online customers (C9). Security, however, is a two-sided sword. Strict protection
measures may result in inconveniences. Clients, for example, are annoyed by frequent
automatic logoffs due to time-out while they are still visiting sections other than
transaction pages (C10). Thus, customers’ Web site usage behavior has to be
understood before the installation of security measures:
C9. “More than once I logged on and someone else’s quotes were listed on the
quotes page. That made me nervous . . . how secure is a site that confuses
investors’ information!”
C10. “The site throws you out if not active for 20 minutes, or even if you’re in the
research area and attempt to back into the trading/quote area, after 20
minutes you’ll have to log in all over again.”

Internet-specific factors. Among eight most frequently mentioned dimensions, two

dimensions, ease of use and system reliability, are specific to technology-based service
channels. As one of the primary determinants of customers’ intention to adopt online
securities trading, ease of use mainly involves easy and effective navigation along with
adequate functionality and speedy Web page download. The following complaints
reflect investors’ frustration:
C11. “Time for movement between screens is extremely slow . . . place and order,
take a nap, check to see if filled, take a nap, etc. . . . It’s a bit frustrating if you
are intending to be actively trading.”
 C12. “Their recent Web site redesign mysteriously did away with much of the Online service
convenience present in their previous site. Earnings look-ups and advanced quality
charting now required several more steps.”
The second factor is systems reliability. Customers expect to conduct transactions
without worrying about the system being clogged. System failure and errors can
seriously bring about damage, loss, and inconvenience for investors (C14 and C15):
317
C13. “But most importantly it is very conscientious about their routine system
maintenance, and I have never known their system to go down like other
online brokers.”
C14. “They have constant outages. Almost everyone I know has lost large amounts
of money because of these outages.”
C15. “I entered a sell order, was given an error message, re-entered the order and
ended up short 1000 shares. This is an IRA where I cannot be short. The Web
site needs fixing.”
In addition, there are other Internet-specific dimensions including system compatibility
with various operating systems (C16), informative and accurate online content on
financial markets (C17), timeliness of account record and stock quotes (C18 and C19),
and Web site aesthetics (C20):
C16. “They ‘upgraded’ their Web site which made the order area of the Web site
incompatible with AOL4.0 running Microsoft Explorer 3.something.”
C17. “They do not offer IPO’s, they never had one since I was there. Also market
news is lacking on the site.”
C18. “As accounts are not updated in a timely manner, I am unable to make the
best trading decision.”
C19. “Their real-time quotes are a joke. What good are real-time quotes when it
takes at least a couple of minutes to get the next quote?”
C20. “New site design is awful. Navigation is more difficult and the colors are
sickening.”

Dimensions leading to satisfaction and dissatisfaction

Our third research question is: among those identified online service quality
dimensions, which attributes are principally leading to customer satisfaction and
which are leading to dissatisfaction? In terms of frequency of mention, the most
often-cited service quality dimensions leading to satisfaction are: responsiveness (a
mention quotient of 35.8 percent), competence (16.0 percent), ease of use (10.2 percent),
service reliability (9.1 percent), courtesy (7.5 percent), service portfolio (6.4 percent), and
continuous improvement (6.4 percent). These drivers of satisfaction, except for ease of
use, are closely related to traditional services. The finding suggests that the traditional
service quality dimensions still play a vital role in determining customer satisfaction.
Furthermore, consistent with the TAM, ease of use is a primary factor leading to
customers’ adoption of and satisfaction with online services.
IJSIM On the other hand, the most often-mentioned service quality factors with negative
15,3 performance are: responsiveness (31.0 percent), service reliability (12.0 percent), ease of
use (11.3 percent), competence (10.3 percent), access (9.6 percent), system reliability (7.8
percent), timeliness (6.6 percent), and security/privacy (3.8 percent). Except for service
reliability, all the factors are either directly related to (ease of use, access, system
reliability, timeliness and security/privacy) or partially involved with (responsiveness
318 and competence) information and systems quality.
Figure 1 depicts the percentages of satisfied and dissatisfied comments of all 16
dimensions. The results reveal only one exclusive determinant of satisfaction (i.e.
continuous improvement) and four exclusive determinants of dissatisfaction: system
reliability (dissatisfaction); content (dissatisfaction); credibility (dissatisfaction); and
system flexibility (dissatisfaction). All the dissatisfiers, except for credibility, are
related to the quality of the information system employed by online services. In other
words, underperformance of most information and systems quality attributes is the
major source of dissatisfaction within the online channel.
Across the satisfied and dissatisfied groups, the four dimensions of responsiveness,
competence, service reliability, and ease of use are key determinants of both
satisfaction and dissatisfaction (i.e. dual factors). The first three factors are more
traditionally service-oriented and have been considered as critical determinants of
traditional service quality dimensions (e.g. Berry et al., 1985; Johnston, 1995). The last
factor, ease of use, is unique to Web-based services. Among the four factors, only
“responsiveness” falls within the list of dual factors uncovered by Johnston (1995).
A further comparison of the two groups indicates that the importance of each
often-mentioned factor does differ somewhat in terms of their respective weights in
determining customers’ satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Superior performance of

Figure 1.
The sources of satisfaction
and dissatisfaction for all
16 dimensions
courtesy, service portfolio, and continuous improvement can please online investors; Online service
their poor performance, nevertheless, is not the major reason of complaints. Similarly, quality
underperformance of access, system reliability, or timeliness tends to lead to
dissatisfaction: however, their adequate performance may not delight customers since
customers regarded these factors as necessities. The results are consistent with
Johnston’s (1997) finding that some determinants of service quality tend to lead to
satisfaction while others lead to dissatisfaction. 319
It is noteworthy that Johnston (1995) adopted the concept of “satisfiers” and
“dissatisfiers” only at the level of service quality dimensions. Our content analysis
enables us to take a further step in applying this notion to the sub-dimensional level of
quality dimensions. Figure 2 presents the satisfied and dissatisfied mention quotients
for some important items (. 1 percent) within four key service quality factors. For
“service reliability”, accurate order fulfillment is the most frequently mentioned item
leading to both satisfaction and dissatisfaction. For “competence”, ability to solve
problems is the main cause of both satisfaction and dissatisfaction. For the other two
factors, the major sources of satisfaction and dissatisfaction are different. For instance,
among all items of “responsiveness”, the mostly mentioned one for complaints is “long
waiting for phone responses”. However, prompt response to customer calls seems not
to be the major contributor of customer compliments. The main source of satisfaction is
prompt order execution. For “ease of use”, the main drivers of satisfaction is “easy to
use” and the main source dissatisfaction is “Web site download speed”. This finding
suggests that examining what leads to customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction

Figure 2.
The sources of satisfaction
and dissatisfaction for
some sub-dimensions
(percentage . 1 percent)
IJSIM should be conducted at both dimensional- and sub-dimensional (item)-level in order to
15,3 generate more insightful results.

Discussion
Listening to customer voices
Listening to customer voices is the initial step in planning service quality improvement
320 endeavors. In turn, identifying customer perceived service quality dimensions and
their roles in customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction provides a frame of reference for
online service providers to assess their service performance. Our online content
analysis uncovers 16 dimensions and 52 related items concerned with the role of online
service firms in facilitating clients’: choice of the right products by providing adequate
and timely information; speedy and accurate completion of a transaction; and
satisfactory resolution of any problems incurred. Once this preliminary activity has
been satisfactorily completed, full-fledged improvement efforts can be initiated.
Ideally, management should focus attention on the full spectrum of 16 dimensions.
Given the constraints of organizational resources, priority, however, has to be granted
to the following key dimensions: responsiveness, service and system reliability, ease of
use, timeliness, access, competence, and security, reflecting the mention frequency of
attributes with negative performance. These critical dimensions embrace factors from
both traditional service quality and information systems quality, which is consistent
with the unique aspects of Internet-based services. In addition, incorporating the items
specific to the Internet has enriched the content of uncovered factors.

Integrating information systems quality with traditional services quality

The integration of traditional services and information systems quality is essential for
online businesses such as securities brokerage services. For instance, in order to
provide responsive and reliable services, well-trained and technically competent
representatives are desirable. It is also critical to maintaining high levels of system
reliability and system responsiveness, including execution and Web page download
speed, service availability, accurate execution, accurate account records, and real-time
trade confirmations. To increase efficiency, the transaction process, from logging onto
the Web site, getting a quote, and taking every step to make a trade, to getting order
confirmation, should go through smoothly and quickly. With vulnerable trading
systems and technical failures so common, a human being has to standby to monitor
and support virtual transactions closely as required.
When clients encounter problems and find mistakes in their accounts, they crave a
live agent and human voice: “I want a live human being at the end of the phone line”.
Problems have to be resolved promptly and effectively. The fastest way to reach a
representative is by phone. Thus, the availability and promptness of phone services
cannot be neglected. To ease the workload of telephone representatives, management
should focus on enhancing the capabilities of alternative communication channels (e.g.
e-mail), improving frequently-ask-questions (FAQ) sources and facilitating the
diversion of routine calls into these alternative channels by integration of call
centers and Web site-based communication systems. On the one hand, customers
should be educated on how to send emails to appropriate representatives and how to
phone them. On the other hand, a company needs to judge priorities depending upon
the urgency of the problems and then assign customers to appropriate live agents. In
this sense, online brokers should find a relatively accurate way to forecast the demands Online service
of phone services and to allocate adequate numbers of representatives. quality
In the same vein, customers prefer multiple channels to make transactions and to
access online service providers, including phone, email, and physical access, even if
they intend to execute most transactions over the Web site. A local office often adds
flexibility and competitive advantage, as one investor commented: “. . . there is nothing
better than being able to walk into a local branch and ask a real person questions about 321
your accounts”. Multi-channel delivery offers customers flexibility and security. In
addition, clients expect such services as ease in reaching a support person and in
placing a trade over the phone if necessary. Thus, effective integration of multiple
channels is a crucial element in satisfying customers.

Focusing on key information systems-related factors

Our results suggest that customers are concerned with three key factors closely related
to information systems quality, i.e. ease of use, timeliness of information, and security.
Ease of use is the prominent determinant of customer adoption of the Internet-enabled
service channel. Well-organized user interfaces allow customers to locate their desired
information easily. Therefore, the organization and structure of online content should
be logical and easy to follow. The number of graphics and animated features on Web
pages needs to be minimized because they are extremely time-consuming to download
and are often the cause of computer slow-down. Additionally, adequate navigation
functions such as site search engines and clear menus are critical factors in enhancing
the usability of a Web site.
One principal advantage of Internet-enabled businesses over traditional businesses
is its power in furnishing customers sufficient, accurate, and timely information. This
is particularly prominent in the online brokerage industry as valuable, current
information is essential for investors. Nevertheless, providing quality information
requires an effective, sound management system of content development and
information selection. It demands managers’ involvement with quality control of
content and linkages of online resources. Furthermore, we observe that some investors
complained about the lack of adequate information on a Web site while others pointed
out their difficulty in handling “too much” information. Therefore, management needs
to establish a balance between information completeness and depth. Simply uploading
all documents and data to the Web site will only create a “headache” for customers. In
contrast, careful editing and outlining key points of information can dramatically
reduce customers’ burden in searching out useful information.
Online firms should also set up safety standards and systems equipped with a
variety of online safety measures, including secure browsers, to ensure account and
transaction security. At the same time, firms should seek to minimize the negative
side-effects of these security measures such as excessive logons and logoffs within a
relatively short timeframe.

Managing customer expectations

Consumers have various expectations of service quality that affect their evaluations of
online service providers. Thus, managers should communicate effectively to their
users what services they provide and also choose the right customers to serve. For
instance, discount securities brokers can state clearly their limited services in such
IJSIM areas as access to institutional research, advisory services, business news, and
15,3 historical financial data. Doing so can avoid unwanted customers who demand full
services which could not be satisfied. In addition, firms can actively manage customer
expectations of certain service attributes and determine the appropriate levels to
maintain. The most effective way is to educate customers on how the market and the
company works, and then explain reasons that cause delays in such services as trade
322 reporting and real-time quotes. Firms may also advise customers of ways to minimize
delay in transaction execution.

Investigating factors leading to satisfaction and dissatisfaction

Our results show that most key determinants of online service satisfaction are
essentially within the domain of traditional service quality dimensions. The finding
partially explains the advantage of click-and-brick service providers over their
click-and-click peers as the former already built a well-established platform to provide
quality traditional services to their customers. The only major factor unique to the
Internet setting is “ease of use”. Obviously, without user friendly Web sites, the distinct
advantages of e-commerce such as convenience and information availability won’t
materialize. Meanwhile, most factors leading to dissatisfaction are tied to information
and systems quality. The results indicate that, while excellent performance on
information- and systems-related service quality dimensions may not lead to customer
delight, failure to do so will have adverse impacts on customer satisfaction.
For dual factors, our study reveals four salient service quality dimensions leading to
both satisfaction and dissatisfaction. They are: responsiveness, reliability, ease of use,
and competence. Our results further demonstrate that even at the sub-dimensional
level, the sources of satisfaction and dissatisfaction may be different in some factors,
which suggest that it is constructive for firms to understand the cause of satisfaction
and dissatisfaction at both dimensional- and sub-dimensional levels.

Limitations and further research

Web-based customer review sites and discussion forums open a wide and feasible
avenue for managers and researchers to study customer perceived service quality and
their satisfaction with various online services. While our sampled brokers and
messages are appropriate for an exploratory study, the nature of content analysis of
customer comments, however, determines two disadvantages of the research. The first
lies in self-selected samples, which are not necessarily statistically representative. The
possibility of obtaining biased results, therefore, might be substantial. In turn, caution
should be taken in generalizing our findings. Second, consumer compliments and
complaints generally reflect extreme experiential satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Some
neutral factors may not be revealed (Johnston, 1995). Moreover, in our sample,
customers’ comments are biased toward dissatisfied ones (1,029 vs 187 comments). In
other words, dissatisfied customers are more likely to voice their complaints. It will be
interesting to see whether that is the case for other highly involved online services such
as online banking.
Our study is exploratory in nature. The dimensions are not mutually exclusive. For
instance, service reliability and system reliability may be further grouped as one
broader factor: reliability. Further studies can employ other research methods such as
questionnaire surveys to verify and purify the 16 identified dimensions by using
confirmatory factor analysis. In addition, as the online trading industry strives for Online service
greater maturity, a longitudinal study is desirable in monitoring the evolution of quality
customer expectations and perceived performance of salient service quality
dimensions.

Conclusion
In this study, we develop a broad conceptual framework integrating well-established
323
models from the areas of service marketing and information systems. We then employ
the newly emerged “netnography” method by content analysis of 740 anecdotes
written by online customers. The method enables us to uncover 16 dimensions and 52
related items, and their role in customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction. The findings
provide both theoretical contributions to the knowledge body of online service quality
and practical implications for online service providers.
Theoretically, this study extends the knowledge body of service quality and
customer satisfaction by enriching the content of traditional service quality and
information systems quality dimensions applicable for Internet-enabled services
and identifying multiple new factors. Compared to previous studies, the
dimensions and their related items developed in this research comprise a
relatively comprehensive pool of measures for assessing online services and can
serve as building blocks for further studies in relationship marketing. We further
reveal that major drivers of online service satisfaction are still strongly tied to
traditional service quality dimensions (e.g. responsiveness, service reliability, and
competence) although they contain some Internet-related contents. In contrast, the
primary determinants of dissatisfaction tend to relate to information and systems
quality dimensions. Among the factors unique to the Internet setting, ease of use
is the only major driver of both customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction.
In practice, subtle differentiation of service quality levels has become a key driving
force in enhancing competitive advantages. If online providers understand what
dimensions customers utilize to judge quality and form their satisfaction, they will then
be in a favorable position to monitor and improve company performance. In this sense,
the service quality dimensions and sub-dimensions identified in this study can
facilitate firms in detection of the weaknesses and strengths of their online services.
Management can thus devote valuable corporate resources to enhance performance of
salient service quality attributes such as service reliability, responsiveness, ease of use,
and competence identified by this study. Finally, while superior information and
systems quality may not delight customers, management still needs to maintain
quality levels that adhere to industry standards and should remedy any failure of these
attributes to avoid detrimental effects on customer satisfaction.

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