Can library users distinguish between minimum, perceived, and desired levels of service quality? Validating LibQUAL+® using multitrait multimethod analysis

Publication date: Available online 18 February 2016 Source:Library & Information Science Research Author(s): Prathiba Natesan, Xing Aerts LibQUAL+® is a widely used measure of library service quality. Based on SERVQUAL's gap theory, LibQUAL+® measures items on three levels of service quality: minimum, perceived, and desired levels. Differences between user evaluations of service quality on these levels indicate the types of gaps in service quality. Gap theory has been criticized due to the possible inability of users to distinguish between different levels. However no study has investigated this claim using statistical analysis. A multitrait multimethod (MTMM) framework was used to evaluate the validity of using three levels of measurement to measure customer satisfaction in LibQUAL+®. Measurement errors across levels of measurement are correlated, indicating that simple score differences are inaccurate estimates of gaps. Users are able to distinguish between the three levels of measurement indicating support for validity of using gap theory in measuring library service quality.
Source: Library and Information Science Research - Category: Databases & Libraries Source Type: research