Introduction


'The more things change, the more things remain the same. Companies that successfully compete through SSTs in the long term will provide the level of excellent service that customers demand. It's that simple and that difficult.' (Bitner, 2001, p. 11)

A number of self-service technologies (SSTs) have been introduced to complement or replace the traditional face-to-face encounters between consumers and service providers. In the 80's consumers adopted ATM's, in the mid-90's the wired Internet emerged, and in the 21 st century mobile services started to gain ground. Mobile telecommunication has progressed from offering clumsy gadgets for voice communication into developing small high-tech tools that enable data communication. The mobile Internet is believed to revolutionize communication and to bring yet not-thought-of opportunities to network operators, application and service providers, as well as end users.

The mobile Internet is said to be more than the Internet made mobile. It will give the user new personalized, location [1] - and time-based services [2] , anytime , anywhere . Asian markets are in the forefront of this development, whereas others are lagging behind. According to Matti Alahuhta, president of Nokia Mobile Phones (http://www.coastline.fi, 2002), the main purpose of the telephone in 2005 will no longer be to transmit voice. When a device is used as a wallet and bank account (Barnes & Corbitt, 2003; Sandlin, 2001), when it transmits images (Repo, Hyv nen, Panzar & Timonen, 2004) and obeys voice commands, navigates in towns and communicates with other devices, it should no longer be called a telephone.

However, many consumers have remained skeptical towards mobile services ( m-services ). Most use only simple services that can be ordered by sending a text message on demand ( pull services ), such as requesting a weather or stock market report, or subscription services ( push services ), such as news or sports results. So far, predictions of mobile service usage have not been met, for example, the prediction by UMTS Forum (2001) that by 2004 more mobile devices than PCs will access the Internet. Likewise, the estimate by Gerwig (2001) that shopping for goods with the mobile phone will hit its stride in 2006 appears overly optimistic today.

No one questions the future importance of mobile services. Mobile penetration is high and climbing fast. Nokia (2001) estimated that there would be one billion mobile phones in use globally in 2002, an estimate that still holds (Reinhardt, 2003). On the other hand, the estimate of 1 billion mobile Internet users by 2004 (The Economist 2001, p. 263) has not been realized. In many European countries the number of mobile phones per capita exceeds 80% (Ministry of traffic and communication) and, for example, in Finland 30% of the population relies solely on the mobile phone. The ARC Group estimates that the total revenue per annum from wireless Internet services will reach 126 billion dollars by 2008 (Halper, 2004).

Unfortunately, mobile technology and m-services have been characterized by hype and disappointments. What has been offered has not been up to par with users' expectations (Jones, 2001; Schultz, 2001). Consumers have high demands and they were not impressed by the clumsy user interface, lack of content, slow connections and expensive charges related to early WAP and GPRS services. One study showed that the simple task of checking the local weather took 2.7 minutes with a WAP phone (Jones, 2001). Such early problems affect consumer attitudes and are likely to slow down the adoption of newer and improved services.

The importance of excellent service quality in attracting and retaining loyal users cannot be underestimated. It is just as important for m-services as it is for the wired e-services and traditional services. Service quality is the primary driver of customer loyalty and, therefore, essential for the long-term success of any mobile service business (Nortel Networks, 2001). Consumers may be attracted to online stores because of their price advantage, but excellent customer service is the main driver of customer retention (Reibstein, 2002).

Research on consumer perceived quality of wired Internet services has barely begun (Kaynama & Black, 2000; Srinivasan, Anderson & Ponnavolu, 2002; van Riel, Liljander & J ¼rriens, 2001; van Riel, Liljander, Lemmink & Stroekens, 2004; Wolfinbarger & Gilly, 2003; Yang, Peterson & Cai, 2003; Zeithaml, Parasuraman & Malhotra, 2000), and there exists to our knowledge no studies on mobile service quality. This study is an attempt to fill that gap. Although some of the findings from the wired Internet research can be applied to m-services, the technical limitations of the phone and networks alone make it necessary to study m-services separately. Through a better understanding of consumer expectations and perceptions of m-services, companies can gain valuable information that can be used to develop future services and increase consumer loyalty.

This study investigates the determinants of mobile service quality from the consumers' perspective by investigating their perceptions and expectations of mobile services. The study contributes to e-marketing research by extending service quality models to the mobile channel and by proposing a model of determinants of m-service quality (MSQ). The empirical study is delimited to services that can be accessed through a mobile phone. However, we propose that the resulting MSQ model can be used to evaluate a wider range of mobile services. We also acknowledge that, because of the rapid development of technology, the model will need to be re-evaluated and tested on newer phones and other mobile devices.

The chapter is structured in the following way. First, the term mobile service is discussed. Second, findings from traditional and electronic service quality studies are briefly reviewed. Third, a conceptual model of mobile service quality is constructed based on in-depth interviews with 14 Finnish users of mobile services, industry experts and published literature on m-services. The empirical study was limited to mobile phones. Because of the widespread use of mobile phones, their owners still make up the prime target market for m-service providers. In the concluding part of the chapter, we discuss some newer developments of alternative technological platforms that enable Internet connections, anywhere, anytime, which may affect the future role of mobile services. A glossary of terms is provided in Appendix 1 and an overview of the evolution of mobile phone technology in Appendix 2.

[1] Location-based service = a service which is relevant depending on the user's location, e.g., finding the closest ATM.

[2] Time-based service = a service that is relevant at a particular time, e.g., betting during the hours before a football game.




Contemporary Research in E-marketing (Vol. 1)
Agility and Discipline Made Easy: Practices from OpenUP and RUP
ISBN: B004V9MS42
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 164

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net