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IJSIM 15,3

Online service quality dimensions and their relationships with satisfaction

A content analysis of customer reviews of securities brokerage services
Zhilin Yang
Department of Marketing, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong, and

302

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 identied at the sub-dimensional level. Theoretical contribution and managerial implications of the ndings are further discussed.

At least once a week its impossible to logon, get real-time quotes, or have my portfolio quotes displayed. In some instances, I couldnt execute trades or check under key shortfalls for this company . . . (Quote from one online investors comment at www.gomez.com).

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

Web-based services (hereinafter online services or e-services) offer customers a panoply of benets 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 signicant 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 rst 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 strategies involves superior service quality. Superior service quality measurably increases a rms overall protability, 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 conrmed by Goldberg (2000, p. 42):
Many investors had difculty making trades because Web sites crashed or were glacially slow. Clients with problems or questions were kept on perpetual hold. E-mails werent answered.

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The primary reasons for these difculties 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 rms 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 rms 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 (Wolnbarger 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 Johnstons (1995) classication of satisers and dissatisers 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 15,3

research has been conducted in the context of online securities brokerage to which 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 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-dened 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 briey 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 signicantly 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 puried and distilled to ve: 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 denitions: access, aesthetics, attentiveness, availability, care, cleanliness/tidiness, comfort, commitment, communication, competence, courtesy, exibility, 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;

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Davis et al., 1989). Perceived ease of use refers to the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would be free of effort, and perceived usefulness refers 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 veried 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 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 signicant effects on perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, which in turn inuence attitude toward using the portal site, behavioral intention to reuse portal sites, and actual portal site use. More importantly, their ndings 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 ve quality dimensions that have been determined to inuence end-user satisfaction. The ve dimensions are content, accuracy, format, ease of use, and timeliness. The reliability and validity of this scale have been veried 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. Wolnbarger and Gilly, 2002. For more comprehensive review, see Zeithaml et al., 2002; Yang and Jun, 2002); Web site design quality; and narrowly dened online services other than retailing (e.g. portal services, online travel services). These studies reect 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 identied eleven dimensions of online service quality: access, ease of navigation, efciency, exibility, 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,

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IJSIM 15,3

Authors Parasuraman et al. (1985)

Methods Personal interviews with executives and 12 customer focus-group interviews Based on feedback of 431 bank customers and using critical incident technique

Key dimensions uncovered/discussed

Main focus

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Johnston (1995)

Reliability, responsiveness, Traditional service quality competence, access, courtesy, communication, credibility, security, understanding the customer, and tangibles Traditional service dimensions and their denitions

Davis (1989)

Doll et al. (1994) Liu and Arnett (2000)

Access, aesthetics, attentiveness, availability, care, cleanliness/tidiness, comfort, commitment, communication, competence, courtesy, exibility, friendliness, functionality, integrity, reliability, responsiveness, and security A total of 152 users Ease of use and usefulness and four application programs 409 end-users from Content, accuracy, format, 18 organizations ease of use, and timeliness

User acceptance of information technology End-user satisfaction with information and network systems Web site design quality

Survey of 122 Webmasters of Fortune 1,000 companies Yoo and Donthu Survey 141 (2001) students to evaluate four online retailers Web sites Loiacono et al. Survey 847 (2002) undergraduate students

Quality of information and service, system use, playfulness, and system design quality Ease of use, aesthetic design, Evaluation of online retailers processing speed, security Web site usability

Zeithaml et al. (2002) Wolnbarger and Gilly (2002) Zeithaml et al. (2001) Table I. Selected service quality literature relevant to online services

Information t to task, interaction, trust, response time, design, intuitiveness, visual appeal, innovativeness, ow, integrated communication, business process, and substitutability Literature review Efciency, reliability, fulllment, privacy, responsiveness, compensation, and contact Web site design, reliability, Focus group studies and survey privacy/security, customer service of 1013 panel members Six focus group Access, ease of navigation, interviews efciency, exibility, reliability, personalization, security/privacy, responsiveness, assurance/trust, site aesthetics, price knowledge

WEBQUAL (Web quality)

Service quality in general

Online retailing service quality Online retailing service quality

(continued )

Authors Cox and Dale (2001)

Methods Literature review

Key dimensions uncovered/discussed

Main focus Online retailing service quality Online retailing service quality Online retailing service quality

Online service quality

Accessibility, communication, credibility, understanding, appearance, availability Yang and Jun Survey 271 ISP Reliability, access, ease of use, (2002) subscribers personalization, security, credibility Madu and Madu Literature review Performance, features, (2002) structure, aesthetics, reliability, storage capacity, serviceability, security and system integrity, trust, responsiveness, product/service differentiation and customization, Web store policies, reputation, assurance, empathy Content and purpose, Kaynama and Criteria Black (2000) established by accessibility, navigation, evaluation sites design and presentation, responsiveness, background, and literature review personalization and customization Van Riel et al. Interviews and Core service, supporting (2001) survey 52 users of service, user interface a portal site

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Online travel agencies services

Portal site service Table I.

Wolnbarger 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 ndings 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 identied seven dimensions for e-service quality efciency, reliability, fulllment, privacy, responsiveness, compensation, and contact. These seven dimensions were

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further classied into two categories: a core service scale for measuring the customers perceptions of e-tailers service quality when customers experience no problems with the site (efciency, reliability, fulllment, 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 (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 t to task, interaction, trust, response time, design, intuitiveness, visual appeal, innovativeness, ow, 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 identied key dimensions of online service quality in the context of narrowly dened 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 identied 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 reected. 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 inuencing customers evaluation of service quality? RQ2. Compared to traditional services, which service quality dimensions and/or sub-dimensions are considered specic to online services?

Service quality dimensions and customer satisfaction Researchers have paid much attention to the close relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction (e.g. Bitner et al., 1990; Parasuraman et al., 1988). Oliver (1993) suggests that service quality is a more specic judgment, which can lead to a broad evaluation, customer satisfaction. The question is: how exactly will particular service quality dimensions inuence customer satisfaction formation? Johnston (1995) has found that the causes of dissatisfaction and satisfaction are not necessarily the same. Some service quality attributes may not be critical for customer satisfaction but can signicantly lead to dissatisfaction when they are performed poorly. Drawing upon Herzberg et al.s (1995) research on work motivation, Johnston (1997) has further classied all dimensions into enhancing (satisers), hygiene (dissatisers), 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) identied 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 identied service quality dimensions, which are principally leading to online customer satisfaction (satisers) and which are leading to online dissatisfaction (dissatisers)? 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) identied ve dimensions that individual investors expect for securities brokerage services personal touch, brand equity, tangibility, assurance, and efcacy. Their research, however, was conducted specically for brick-and-mortar brokerage rms, 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

Online service quality

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gauge the service performance of various online brokers in order to provide a guideline for customers to choose a better, or best, provider. Gomez.com lists ve criteria to evaluate brokerage rms, i.e. ease of use, customer condence, on-site resources, relationship services, and overall cost. Similarly, in Kiplingers 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, cost-basis information, and conduct (Goldberg, 2000). Compared to what was identied 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 reect 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 consumers 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 inuences 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 identiers present in the online context that leads to difculty generalizing community sample (Kozinets, 2002, p. 62).

Sample We employed three steps to collect qualied customer reviews of brokerage services. The rst 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 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 qualied 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 dissatised and satised reviews; and the reviews can be assessed publicly or freely. Among the above-mentioned seven Web sites, ve did not satisfy our criteria. Consumerreports.org did not allow visitors to view customer reviews freely. The number of customer reviews contributed by diversied 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 nancial services, fully met the requirements. The last step was to choose sample Internet securities brokers. Five of the most inuential online brokers were selected for study Fidelity Investment, Charles Schwab, Ameritrade, TD Waterhouse, and E-Trade. These online brokers were ranked as the top ve within 21 leading online brokers according to CNN (2001). While Ameritrade and E-Trade are Internet-only rms, the remaining three rms 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 sufcient volume of anecdotes. All messages written from January 1, 2000, to January 11, 2002 were collected. We made every effort in deleting disqualied 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 identied 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

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package designed for coding qualitative data (Wazienski, 2000). Based on the rst 100 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 dened 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 major extant studies, new dimensions were subsequently developed. The two researchers then independently coded the remaining anecdotes. Subsequent discussion identied and resolved for all disagreements. Based on reviewers attitude, each service quality dimension was classied into two categories: satised attributes (positive performance) and dissatised 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 gures are relatively high, given that the resulting classication 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 ndings in line with our three research questions. Whenever appropriate, illustrative anecdotes are quoted to explain the domain of service quality dimensions and sub-dimensions. Identied service quality dimensions and their items Our rst research question concerns customer perceived critical dimensions and sub-dimensions of online service quality. The content analysis has identied 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 identied 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 ndings 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 exibility, 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 specically 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 satised and dissatised

Dimension Responsiveness

Hybrid itema Prompt response to phone calls Quick order execution Prompt order conrmation Prompt services (others) Accurate order fulllment Accurate record Accurate quote Accuracy in billing Accurate calculation of commissions Keep service promise Keep promotion promise Condence Company reputation Ability to solve problems Knowledge to answer questions Research capacity Quickly solve problem Phone access Physical branch access Politeness Care and friendliness of contact personnel Service improvement Prompt warning (e.g. account liquidation and restrictions) Prompt notication (e.g. margin requirement changes) Old records Research reports Investment tools; Information availability (market and services) Information clarity Information accuracy Information privacy Customer protection Trade hold-up Fund hold-up

Internet-specic item Prompt response to e-mails

Online service quality

Reliability

313

Credibility Competence

Access Courtesy Continue improvement Communication

Web site accessibility E-mail access

System improvement Web site improvement

Service portfolio Content Timeliness Security

Account update Quote update Log off due to time-out Lock-out from service Attractive of Web sites Easy navigation Easy use Effective navigation Functionality Speed System shutdown or failures System error Compatibility (with some operation systems)

Aesthetic ease of use

System reliability System exibility

Note: a Items that are applicable to services over both traditional and Internet channels

Table II. Identied service quality dimensions and items

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Dimension and item 1. Responsiveness

Satised No. Pcta

Dissatised No. Pcta

Total No. Pcta

314

Table III. Frequencies of service quality dimensions, by satisfaction and dissatisfaction

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 Prompt order execution 39 20.9 66 6.4 105 8.6 Prompt order conrmation 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 fulllment 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 ofce 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 Sub-total 1 0.5 39 3.8 40 3.3 Total (eight dimensions) 146 78.1 950 92.3 1096 90.1 Grant total (16 dimensions) 187 100.0 1,029 100.0 1216 100.0 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 reliability (11.5 percent), ease of use (11.1 percent), competence (11.2 percent), access (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 speed (7.6 percent), prompt customer services (7.1 percent), accurate order fulllment (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 insignicant, 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 specic to Internet-based services Our second research question is: which service quality dimensions and items are unique to online services? In Table II, we classied 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-specic factors). Thus, the answer to the second research question resides in: Internet-specic items within hybrid factors; and Internet-specic factors (see Table III for more details). Internet-specic items within hybrid factors. The ve 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 rst and foremost attribute is prompt order execution and conrmation (C1 and C2), which requires adequate system capacity as well as staff support: C1. C2. 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. I placed a trade some time ago, didnt get conrmation for 15+ minutes. By the time I got it, the stock was already down costing me money.

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The second important aspect is accuracy of the online trading system, including accurate order fulllment, accurate quote, accurate record keeping (C3), and accurate commission calculation (C4). This aspect, together with timely order execution and conrmation, are especially vital in online securities brokerage services. C3. Their records are so hard to read and usually wrong for days after trades.

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C4.

It is very unfair for me to take the loss and pay twice the commission, (once 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.

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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 rms Web sites to be accessible and the trading system is workable all the time (C5): 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 conrmation through e-mail (C6 and C7 ). They tend to become annoyed or even angry when receiving no responses from rms (C8): C6. They respond to e-mails in reasonable time. They are reasonably efcient in taking care of problems which so far, for me, have been relatively minor ones. They send prompt, well formatted regular mail trade conrmations (or you can select secure e-mail conrmations, I believe). Ive emailed them twice since January with no response yet.

C7. C8.

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 elses 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 youre in the research area and attempt to back into the trading/quote area, after 20 minutes youll have to log in all over again. Internet-specic factors. Among eight most frequently mentioned dimensions, two dimensions, ease of use and system reliability, are specic 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 reect investors frustration: C11. Time for movement between screens is extremely slow . . . place and order, take a nap, check to see if lled, take a nap, etc. . . . Its a bit frustrating if you are intending to be actively trading.

C12. Their recent Web site redesign mysteriously did away with much of the convenience present in their previous site. Earnings look-ups and advanced 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): 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 xing. In addition, there are other Internet-specic dimensions including system compatibility with various operating systems (C16), informative and accurate online content on nancial 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 IPOs, 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 difcult and the colors are sickening. Dimensions leading to satisfaction and dissatisfaction Our third research question is: among those identied 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 nding 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.

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On the other hand, the most often-mentioned service quality factors with negative 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 and competence) information and systems quality. Figure 1 depicts the percentages of satised and dissatised 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 exibility (dissatisfaction). All the dissatisers, 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 satised and dissatised 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 rst 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; their poor performance, nevertheless, is not the major reason of complaints. Similarly, 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 Johnstons (1997) nding that some determinants of service quality tend to lead to satisfaction while others lead to dissatisfaction. It is noteworthy that Johnston (1995) adopted the concept of satisers and dissatisers 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 satised and dissatised mention quotients for some important items (. 1 percent) within four key service quality factors. For service reliability, accurate order fulllment 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 nding suggests that examining what leads to customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction

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Figure 2. The sources of satisfaction and dissatisfaction for some sub-dimensions (percentage . 1 percent)

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should be conducted at both dimensional- and sub-dimensional (item)-level in order to generate more insightful results. Discussion Listening to customer voices Listening to customer voices is the initial step in planning service quality improvement 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 rms 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-edged 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, reecting 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 specic 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 conrmations. To increase efciency, the transaction process, from logging onto the Web site, getting a quote, and taking every step to make a trade, to getting order conrmation, 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 nd 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

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this sense, online brokers should nd a relatively accurate way to forecast the demands of phone services and to allocate adequate numbers of representatives. 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 ofce often adds exibility 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 your accounts. Multi-channel delivery offers customers exibility 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 sufcient, 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 difculty 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 rms 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, rms 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

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areas as access to institutional research, advisory services, business news, and historical nancial data. Doing so can avoid unwanted customers who demand full services which could not be satised. In addition, rms 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 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 nding 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 wont 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 rms 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 rst 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 ndings. Second, consumer compliments and complaints generally reect extreme experiential satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Some neutral factors may not be revealed (Johnston, 1995). Moreover, in our sample, customers comments are biased toward dissatised ones (1,029 vs 187 comments). In other words, dissatised 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 identied dimensions by using

conrmatory factor analysis. In addition, as the online trading industry strives for greater maturity, a longitudinal study is desirable in monitoring the evolution of customer expectations and perceived performance of salient service quality dimensions. Conclusion In this study, we develop a broad conceptual framework integrating well-established 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 ndings 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 identied in this study can facilitate rms 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 identied 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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