A combined fuzzy-SEM evaluation approach to identify the key drivers of the academic library service quality in the digital technology era: An empirical study

2017 ◽  
Vol 68 (10) ◽  
pp. 2425-2438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Concetta Manuela La Fata ◽  
Toni Lupo
1997 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 237-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vicki Coleman ◽  
Yi (Daniel) Xiao ◽  
Linda Bair ◽  
Bill Chollett

This study provides the results of a survey conducted in the fall of 1994 by the Sterling C. Evans Library to measure service quality. This general user survey provided feedback from customers on their minimum, perceived, and desired levels of service from an academic library. The devised measuring instrument is based on SERVQUAL, a service quality survey created by Leonard L. Berry, A. Parasuraman, and Valarie A. Zeithaml. The SERVQUAL survey is designed to measure service quality in five dimensions: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. Survey results showed a discrepancy in the quality of the services provided by the library and those desired by its customers.


2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 315-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yen-Ting Chen

Purpose – This paper aims to apply the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) to validate the service factors of an academic library. Design/methodology/approach – First, the service criteria were extracted from the SERVQUAL model and then their values were examined in the user’s mind. Second, the DEMATEL was applied to estimate the importance of the criteria and identify the causal factors. Next, an empirical study was conducted to demonstrate and validate the proposed approach. Finally, this paper offers some practical suggestions for academic libraries based on the analysis. Findings – According to the analysis’ results, “Empathy” is the causal factor in the cause–effect diagram; i.e. the library should pay more attentions to “Empathy” rather than “Reliability”, “Responsiveness” and “Assurance” factors. Originality/value – DEMATEL is a useful tool to identify the prominence and relationship of service factors; the evaluation is easy to apply and has not been used before in the discussion of library service. This paper provides an alternative for libraries to sort out the priorities of service improvement. The correspondence improvement can be addressed based on the causal analysis to make notable enhancement in service quality.


2016 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 123-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nasra Gathoni ◽  
Thomas Van der Walt

The purpose of this paper is to report on an investigation of the service quality of the Aga Khan University library in Kenya. The total quality management philosophy which forms the basis of this report has been demonstrated by the use of SERVQUAL, a user-based assessment tool, in the evaluation of service quality. The research was conducted among 123 Aga Khan University library users – nursing and medical faculty and nursing and medical students – with an aim to investigate the quality of its services based on the satisfaction of library users with the services and as expressed by and based on users’ expectations and perceptions. The data was gathered through the SERVQUAL structured questionnaire and a 63% response rate was realized. The findings generally established that the expectations of Aga Khan University library users are higher than their perceptions. The results also show that there are service quality gaps in a number of services offered by the library. This research is deemed important as there is lack of information showing libraries in Kenya having involved library users in service quality evaluation through the use of objective and user-based tools. Thus this paper may lead to libraries in Kenya embracing objective measurement tools for the evaluation of library service quality. It is hoped that this article will contribute to a better understanding of philosophies such as total quality management in an academic library environment in developing countries, users’ expectations and perceptions of quality.


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