E-quality and e-service equality

Shachaf, Pnina and Oltmann, Shannon M. E-quality and e-service equality., 2007 . In Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS-40), Waikoloa, HI (US), 3-7 January 2007. [Conference paper]

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English abstract

Research is divided about the potential of e-service to bridge communication gaps, particularly to diverse user groups. According to the existing body of literature, e-service may increase or decrease the quality of service received. This study analyzes the level of service received by different genders and ethnic groups when public librarians answer online reference queries. Quality of e-service was evaluated along three dimensions: responsiveness, reliability, and courtesy. This study found no significant differences among different user groups along any of these dimensions, supporting the argument that the virtual environment facilitates equitable service and may overcome some challenges of diverse user groups.

Item type: Conference paper
Keywords: e-quality, e-service, equality, bias, gender, ethnicity, virtual reference
Subjects: I. Information treatment for information services > IJ. Reference work.
Depositing user: Pnina Shachaf
Date deposited: 24 Oct 2008
Last modified: 02 Oct 2014 12:13
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10760/12413

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