Investigating the non-linear effects of e-service quality dimensions on customer satisfaction

The literature on service quality initially focused on identifying the service attributes that drive overall measures of customer satisfaction. More recently, the assumption that attribute-level performance is linearly related to customer satisfaction has been challenged. Inspired by Kano’s work on product quality, service researchers have used questionable methods to classify service attributes as attractive, one-dimensional, or a must-be, based on the observed shape of their satisfaction response functions. Valid assessment of the shape of satisfaction response functions for services requires crossed service by respondent ratings data to control for differences in respondent’s scale use in service assessment. Application of a recommended approach identifies download speed as a must-be performance dimension that interacts negatively with site functionality as the only non-linearity for online retailers. Currently used methods produce quite different results.