A Comparison of Information Technology Mediated Customer Services Between the U.S. and China

Information technology mediated customer service is a reality of the 21st century. More and more companies have moved their customer services from in store and in person to online through computer or mobile devices. Using 442 responses collected from one USA university (234 responses) and two Chinese universities (208 responses), the study investigates customer preferences over two service delivery models (either in store or online) on five types of purchasing (retail, eating-out, banking, travel and entertainment) and their perception difference in customer service quality between those two delivery models in the U.S. and China. The results show that the majority of the U.S. and Chinese students prefer in-store and in person for eating out and prefer computer/mobile devices for ordering tickets for travel and entertainment. In addition, more than half of the U.S. students prefer in person services for retail and banking, and this number reduces to 40% for Chinese students. In most customer service quality measurements, the results also show that Chinese students give higher ratings for ordering through a computer/mobile device than ordering in store, indicating ordering through computer/mobile devices has become more acceptable in China and has been perceived as having better customer services quality than in-store ordering

Business visualization: More I effective management tools for observation, dynamic measurement and control

Increased global competition and continual pressure to produce more work with fewer resources has become the hallmark of the 1990s. Businesses are taking steps to meet these new challenges by downsizing for better control, using networks (Valovic, 1992) and data communications for rapid response, and purchasing personal tools such as word processing programs, spreadsheets, graphics and desktop publishing programs for an increase of manager productivity. But are these steps sufficient? In order to be more profitable in today\u27s fast-paced and ever-changing environment, business managers at the strategic, tactical and operational levels must be able to visualize their operating data in a dynamic way. Business Visualization (BV) can be defined as the process of using computer based information systems to put business transactions and performance into a dynamic visible form that is readily understood by users (Marcus and van Dam, 1991). Our proposal is that business transactions and performance can and should be measured in a continuous rather than discrete manner

A Preliminary Investigation of Quality Metrics and Performance for Selected Institutions Delivering Technology Mediated Higher Education

The 21st century has brought about significant change to both business organizations and educational institutions. One of the more important changes in delivering higher education is the development and growth of technology mediated higher education (online programs), delivered by both non-profit and for-profit college and university programs. These programs provide students with expanded opportunities to further their education and have enrolled hundreds of thousands of students in courses of study. This study assesses business school programs offering technology mediated higher education using five quality metrics: 1) external review and accreditation; 2) affordability; 3) admissions and graduation; 4) online students reviews and 5) selected online education quality issues for five technology mediated programs. The results show that among the five selected online programs, they all receive some type of accreditation, have low cost per credit and have a low or no admission standards. The areas that the students most likely discuss in the online reviews include professor, advisor, financial aid, job, and experience. A sentiment analysis of 3,596 student online reviews shows that more than half of the reviews are positive, and the average sentiment score is close to 1 (on a scale of -5 to +5

Cultural Difference and Consumer Satisfaction When Interacting With Technology Mediated Customer Services

Information technology mediated customer service is a reality of the 21st century. This study seeks to answer the research question “Does culture influence consumer satisfaction when interacting with technology?” Using 668 responses collected from US, China and Kuwait, the study investigates customer preferences over two service delivery models along with perception differences in customer service quality. Some significant differences are found in both customer purchasing preferences and perception of customer service quality in the three different cultures. Even with these cultural differences, it appears there are greater similarities than differences across these widely different cultures, economies and geography, which suggests that the use of technology to support business operations continues to make our world smaller and ever more similar in positive and subtle ways