Linking service quality to perceived operator-computer contribution in customer services

In modern service settings, customer service personnel are mostly facilitated with support computer systems for them to elicit and process information while interacting with customers. It is obvious that the perceived quality for such customer service tasks should be a reflection of the integrated performance of this operator-computer system that customers are actually interacting with in service encounters. From the ergonomic point of view, the performance of such operator-computer systems may greatly be influenced by the usability of support computer systems. Contemporary practices in service quality management tend to focus on the evaluation/control on the performances of service personnel. Little attention was, however, devoted to the investigation on the roles of the support information systems as needed. Therefore for the management and design of such service systems, it is valuable to understand customer perceptions on the roles/contributions of operator versus computer to the service quality perceived. This study aims to investigate customer perceptions on the connections of service quality with the perceived operator-computer contributions. A questionnaire survey to the customers of the call centers for both financial/banking and telecommunication services in Taiwan was conducted. Analysis results and the implications for quality management and system design are discussed in this paper.