Industrial Management & Data Systems

Communication effectiveness on IT service relationship quality

Jun-Gi Park, Seyoon Lee, Jungwoo Lee,
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Jun-Gi Park, Seyoon Lee, Jungwoo Lee, (2014) "Communication effectiveness on IT service relationship
quality", Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 114 Issue: 2, pp.321-336, https://doi.org/10.1108/
IMDS-04-2013-0186
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CE on IT service
Communication effectiveness relationship
on IT service relationship quality quality
Jun-Gi Park
IT Policy and Strategy Research Institute, Yonsei University, Seoul, 321
Republic of Korea, and
Seyoon Lee and Jungwoo Lee Received 14 April 2013
Revised 4 July 2013
Graduate School of Information, Yonsei University, Seoul, Republic of Korea 17 September 2013
Accepted 17 September 2013
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Abstract
Purpose This study aims to investigate the effect of communication effectiveness (CE) on service
quality (SQ) leading to relationship quality (RQ) in IT service relationships.
Design/methodology/approach CE was decomposed into frequency, bi-directionality and
quality of communication while SQ was decomposed into functional and technical qualities, and RQ
into trust and relationship commitment. An empirical study is conducted testing the nomological
research model consists of these dimensions, using survey method collecting data from 144 subjects.
Findings The findings indicate that good SQ can impact relationship commitment only via the
clients trust, but not directly. Influence of functional quality is stronger on trust but technical quality
also maintains significant impact. Detailed findings imply that, while communication is important
element influencing perceptions of SQ, quality of bi-directional communication is more critical than
simple but frequent communication.
Originality/value This study explores the direct impact of CE on SQ leading to RQ in IT service
context. Previous studies rarely tested the impacts of functional and technical SQ, simultaneously.
Findings of this study add values to research on service relations as well as IT services research in
terms of differentiating functional and technical service qualities.
Keywords Trust, Service quality, Communication effectiveness, IT services, Relationship commitment
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction
Information technology (IT) service is a knowledge-based service that demands close
collaboration between business professionals and technology experts. Throughout IT
service processes, technology experts provide technological consultation based on
domain knowledge elicited and obtained from the business professionals the clients.
They need to work together closely to solve business problems that they are facing
using technological solutions. In this regard, IT service processes, by definition, require
in-depth involvement and close collaboration between IT experts and clients. IT
service has different aspects of user behavior from other engineering or technical
services. IT users or clients often have more fluent business knowledge than IT
knowledge and use his/her IT system directly. So IT experts should depend on their
clients. However, engineering services such as car maintenance service do not need to Industrial Management & Data
meet relationship between their clients. Systems
Vol. 114 No. 2, 2014
pp. 321-336
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the 0263-5577
Korean Government (NRF-2012S1A3A2033474). DOI 10.1108/IMDS-04-2013-0186
 IMDS Effective communication between service exchange partners helps participants
114,2 share useful and critical information and knowledge with each other in providing
solutions of unfamiliar problems (Moorman et al., 1993). Particularly in those services
that involve frequent and knowledge intensive interactions between clients and
providers, such as IT services, the service providers communication competencies
play important roles in forging a sustainable relationship (Rafaeli, 1993). And it is
322 important to analyze the routes through which perceived service quality (SQ)
influences trust and relationship commitment. Because, it is difficult to change the
service provider for a certain period of time once the client chooses a service provider,
due to the nature of IT services.
In this regard, a research model is posited here that the communication effectiveness
(CE) is positively associated with perceived SQ, leading to relationship quality (RQ) in
IT service relationships. Through literature review, each construct is, theoretically,
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decomposed into subcomponents. An empirical analysis is conducted in order to test

the relationships among these constructs. Despite abundance of research on
communications, there have been few studies concerning the theoretical and
empirical relationships among CE, perceived SQ, and RQ, especially in the context of
IT services.
Literatures are briefly reviewed in the next section with detail explication of research
model and constructs, followed by research design and procedural description of research
process. Findings from the analysis of data collected from the survey are explained in
detail in the next section followed by implications and limitations of this study.

2. Literature review
In IT services, where intangible, knowledge-based professional services are provided,
effective communication throughout the process appears to play a critical role in gaining
longer-term trust and commitment from clients; these feelings of commitment and trust
are critically dependent on the perceived quality of services already provided or being
provided (de Brabander and Thiers, 1984; Massey and Kyriazis, 2007; Park et al., 2012;
Sharma and Patterson, 1999). Based on reviews of service and relationship research, Aurier
and NGoala (2010) concluded that a causal relationship exists in marketing whereby better
evaluation of services leads to better RQ via value and satisfaction. Therefore, CE is an
antecedent of perceived SQ, and this relational chain extends towards RQ.

2.1 Communication effectiveness

In this research, communication can be defined as a series of processes through which
groups share and generate information in order to promote common interests (Rogers, 1981).
CE, which represents the achievement of an intended outcome of communication, is
an important factor that influences an IT departments SQ, trust, and relationship
commitment (Park et al., 2012). Communication behaviors associated with the sharing
and exchange of information improve organizational effectiveness (Tzafrir et al., 2004).
This role of communication is also applicable to the interaction between IT experts
and clients in IT service environments. de Brabander and Thiers (1984) argued that
effective communication between IT experts and service users ultimately contributes
to improving users satisfaction in the information systems (IS) development process.
Massey and Kyriazis (2007) measured three underlying dimensions of CE:
communication frequency, bi-directional communication, and communication quality.
 Communication frequency referred to the number of communication events per unit CE on IT service
time; bi-directional communication represented the degree to which a two-way relationship
communication process occurred between IT experts and clients; and communication
quality was defined as the extent to which appropriate and useful information was quality
provided through communication.
Each dimension plays its own role in making effective communication. As
communication frequency increases within an organization, more extensive sharing of 323
ideas occurs between the business and IT departments, and their capabilities are
combined accordingly to promote business efficiency (Reich and Benbasat, 2000).
Bi-directional communication allows information to be shared on a mutual,
give-and-take basis during joint problem-solving or decision-making, and it thus has
a positive impact on CE (Fisher and Maltz, 1997). And making communication effective
depends on the communication quality how properly a message has been delivered
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rather than the communication behavior itself. Since communication does not take
place simply because one party thinks he/she has communicated; rather, it only occurs
when the listener has understood the speakers intended message (Service, 2005).

2.2 SQ, specifically IT SQ

SQ has been defined as a customers judgment of a services overall excellence or
superiority (Zeithaml, 1988), a perceived judgment, resulting from an evaluation
process where customers compare their expectations with the service they have
perceived (Gronroos, 1984), or a global judgment or attitude relating to the
superiority of a specific service (Parasuraman et al., 1988).
It is generally agreed that SQ comprises multiple dimensions, but there are a variety
of opinions about the elements and constructs that compose each dimension (Brady
and Cronin, 2001). Gronroos (1984) divided SQ into two components: technical quality
related to the service itself (what to serve) and functional quality related to how the
service is provided. Based on previous studies, the quality of IT services can be
measured using IS-SERVQUAL (Kettinger and Lee, 1994) to concentrate on functional
quality as well as on technical quality related to system quality (e.g. response time and
system reliability) and information quality (e.g. completeness, ease of understanding,
and security) (DeLone and McLean, 2003; Landrum and Prybutok, 2004).
Swan and Combs (1976) categorized attributes of quality into two categories:
instrumental and expressive. Instrumental attributes refer to the physical performance
of an offering and expressive attributes derive from psychological performance. They
suggested that expressive attributes tend to have a greater positive effect on satisfaction
than instrumental ones when performed well. Otherwise, instrumental attributes lead to
a more distinct negative effect resulting in dissatisfaction in case of low performance.
Parasuraman et al. (1985) also suggested similar distinction with different domains:
outcome quality and process quality. Outcome quality is a measure of service
performance after the service has been completed, whereas process quality is a
measure of performance while the service is being delivered. Kang (2006) tested the
process and outcome quality of mobile phone users and found that the two-component
model yields better fit than a model concentrating on process quality alone.
Park et al. (2012) based on Gronroos (1984) suggested model stated that IT SQ, as
experienced by a IT user, is composed of two dimensions: technical SQ and functional
SQ. The functional SQ takes into account the way a service is provided (i.e. courtesy,
 IMDS attention, promptness, professionalism, and so on), whereas the technical SQ refers to
114,2 the result of the service as such (i.e. information quality, system quality and so on).
In the regard, Gronroos (1984) and Park et al. (2012) provide theoretical explanations
as to why SQ should be categorized in the way they were proposed and their SQ model
is employed in this study.

324 2.3 Relationship quality

Good perceived RQ which is built from the interaction between customer and provider
has positive impact on customers loyalty or repurchase intention (Moliner et al., 2007).
RQ consists of trust and commitment (Morgan and Hunt, 1994). Morgan and Hunt
(1994) argued that relational commitment and trust are the most important factors in
relational exchange.
Trust. In examining the relationship between service providers and clients, trust
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becomes a source of confidence in the honesty and reliability of exchange partners

(Crosby et al., 1990). Mutual trust between IT service providers and clients contribute
to increased levels of shared knowledge (Nelson and Cooprider, 1996). In the IT service
environment, where IS are developed and maintained, trust plays a more important
role in increasing reciprocity when an interdependent relationship exists as a result of
continued services (Chakrabarty et al., 2007).
Commitment. Commitment can be defined as an enduring desire to maintain
valuable relationships or a psychological state characterized by the intention to
maintain long-term relationships (Moorman et al., 1993). Along with trust, it has been
considered a critical variable of RQ (Morgan and Hunt, 1994). A high level of affective
commitment corresponds with devotion to maintaining the relationship (Bendapudi
and Berry, 1997).
Sharma and Patterson (1999) suggested that clients relationship commitment
towards a service provider functions as a way to perceive the service providers
performance. Relationship commitment has also been considered the final factor that
determines the level of clients voluntary participation in IT services (Carr, 2006).

3. Research model and hypotheses development

Sharma and Patterson (1999) insisted that CE affects relationship commitment by way
of SQ and trust. Aurier and NGoala (2010) also support the causal relationship
between SQ and RQ. In this regard, this study proposes a research model that depicts
the relationships of each variable and its specific dimensions based on the relational
chain of CE ! SQ ! RQ (Figure 1).

3.1 CE towards IT SQ
This paper views CE in the context of IT services as an antecedent that influences SQ
and attempts to analyze these relations using the three dimensions of CE discussed
above. Hypotheses are developed in the following section.
Communication frequency. Communication frequency refers to how often
information is exchanged between different functional areas of an organization over
a certain period of time (Fisher and Maltz, 1997). Park et al. (2012) analyzed the impacts
of CE on SQ, trust, and relationship commitment from the perspective that
communication frequency and effectiveness constitute both functional and technical
SQ in professional services. Watson et al. (1998) identified communication with clients
 CE on IT service
relationship
quality

325
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Figure 1.
Research model

as one of the factors that contribute to improving the quality of IS services, arguing
that candid and frequent communication inspires trust and confidence in IS and
ultimately helps improve SQ.
Frequent communication can provide the clients with more chance to contact with
IT experts when they want. This timely interaction may help the clients perceive good
quality of service delivery (functional quality):
H1. Communication frequency is positively associated with the perceived
functional quality of IT services.
The perceived SQ is influenced by a wide range of information that service experts
provide about services (Sharma and Patterson, 1999). The more communication occurs,
the more information can be shared. With this shared information, IT expert can
recognize clients expectation of the service output and provide better technical quality:
H2. Communication frequency is positively associated with the perceived
technical quality of IT services.
Bi-directional communication. The bi-directionality of communication can be defined
as the degree to which two-way communication occurs between parties (Fisher and
Maltz, 1997). Bennett and Barkensjo (2004) suggested that, in the relationship between
service providers and clients, higher levels of bi-directional communication should
raise clients perceptions of IT SQ.
Bi-directional communication promotes collaboration and feedback during the
problem solving process. Collaborative work and feedback may help more clients
participation and better perceived functional quality. Bennett and Barkensjo (2004)
suggested the quality of two-way communication should be raised to improve
client-perceived functional SQ:
H3. The degree of bi-directional communication is positively associated with the
perceived functional quality of IT services.
 IMDS Bi-directional communication also facilitates problem solving between different parties
114,2 (Massey and Kyriazis, 2007). Solving clients problems increases the chance that clients
meet desired outcome. Thus, bi-directional communication relates to the perceived
outcome quality by way of clients problem solving:
H4. The degree of bi-directional communication is positively associated with the
perceived technical quality of IT services.
326
Communication quality. Communication quality is a measure of how reliable,
understandable, appropriate, and useful the information provided through
communication is judged to be. Communication quality has also been emphasized as
an antecedent of IS success. Salaway (1987) empirically showed that quality of
interaction is an important determinant of systems success. Furthermore, Sharma and
Patterson (1999) argued that effective communication by service experts plays a key
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role in shaping clients perceptions of the functional and technical quality of services
with which they are provided.
Shelby (1998) proposed that communication quality is composed of three quality
attributes, correctness (technical quality), audience adaptation (functional quality),
norm-based preferences (aesthetic quality). From this perspective, audience adaptable
communication and aesthetic communication can improve functional SQ because the two
attributes relate to how communication was made in an audience-friendly way. Park et al.
(2012) proposed that communication quality of IT service provider has stronger impact on
functional quality than technical quality because clients would benefit greatly from the
information and knowledge exchanged during the service process itself:
H5. Communication quality is positively associated with the perceived functional
quality of IT services.
From the Shelbys (1998) perspective, correctness of communication can have a
positive impact on service outcome by helping appropriate information be transferred
to clients. Ozbek and Yuldashev (2010) stated that communication between supervisor
and subordinate positively affects the subordinates self-perceived outcomes of SQ:
H6. Communication quality is positively associated with the perceived technical
quality of IT services.

3.2 IT SQ towards RQ
On trust. Chakrabarty et al. (2007) and Carr (2006) reported a positive relationship
between the quality of IT services and trust in IT service context. Sharma and
Patterson (1999) considered both the functional and technical quality of IT services in
describing the relationship between SQ and trust, and their study empirically shows
that these two factors play important roles in building trust.
The functional quality of IT services presented and revealed during the IT service
process itself is related to the direct help that clients receive in solving business
problems with technology or seeing the future prospects of systems under
development. The perceptions formed during this process may lead clients to
believe and trust IT experts or to disbelieve and distrust them if the perceived quality
is below expectations.
The technical quality of IT services, which is generally revealed during the
assessment of outcomes through consultation processes such as system modules or
 related documentation, may work as an instantaneous trigger of service perception as CE on IT service
clients critically review the delivered results. This technical SQ may also have a direct relationship
impact on forming perceptions of trust:
quality
H7. The functional quality of IT services is positively associated with the clients
trust in IT experts.
H8. The technical quality of IT services is positively associated with the clients 327
trust in IT experts.
On relationship commitment. Wetzels et al. (1998) analyzed the direct and indirect
impacts of SQ on relationship commitment, considering the two dimensions of SQ
functional quality and technical quality and the two dimensions of relationship
commitment affective commitment and calculative commitment. Eisingerich and Bell
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(2007) reported that functional quality and technical quality have direct and indirect
impacts on consumers repurchase intentions by way of trust. Thus, relationship
commitment is a major dependent variable of service success:
H9. The functional quality of IT services is positively associated with the clients
relationship commitment.
H10. The technical quality of IT services is positively associated with the clients
relationship commitment.

3.3 Within RQ: from trust to commitment

Most studies related to relationship marketing conclude that trust has a positive
impact on commitment (Crosby et al., 1990). Aurier and NGoala (2010) also provided
support for this conclusion by demonstrating that numerous studies dealing with
relationship marketing theory focus on the causal chain of satisfaction ! trust !
relationship commitment. Dwyer et al. (1987) asserted that when participants in an
exchange relationship trust each other, they are able to settle difficult issues such as
power, conflicts and low profitability; therefore, trust induces commitment, the highest
level of relational exchange. Sharma and Patterson (1999) stated that trust in experts
who provide advice on services leads to increased relationship commitment, or
emotional attachment, to experts. Likewise, trust in IT experts can be said to have a
positive impact on relationship commitment to IT service managers (Carr, 2006):
H11. Trust in IT experts is positively associated with the clients relationship
commitment to them.

4. Research method
4.1 Survey measures
Measures were mostly adopted from prior research. Consistent with Massey and
Kyriazis (2007), the CE construct was measured through three sub-constructs.
Technical SQ was measured with five items adapted from Park et al. (2012), while
functional SQ was measured with four items from IS-SERVQUAL (Park et al., 2012).
Trust and relationship commitment measures were adapted from Carr (2006). All of the
items were evaluated by a five-point Likert-type scale, where 1 represents strongly
disagree and 5 represents strongly agree. Measures are included in the Appendix.
 IMDS 4.2 Survey sample
114,2 This study obtained data from team members currently working in a globalized IT
service firm. This IT service firm provides various IT service worldwide such as
system development and consulting services exceeded US$2.7 billion sales volume
in 2012. Its business activities span 152 different companies with 7,850 employees.
For convenience reasons along with permissions, participants were only solicited from
328 six clients sites mostly electronic manufacturing.
Participation was solicited by e-mails sent to 250 individuals who had been involved
in 42 different systems development projects for their operational systems during 2011.
E-mail included an address to the internal web site where the online questionnaire had
been uploaded. Data were collected for the month of September 2011, and a total of 144
questionnaires were returned. Sample demographics are shown in Table I.
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4.3 Analysis method

This study used partial least squares (PLS) to evaluate the proposed model and its
hypotheses for the following reasons. First, it is suitable for assessing theories of
development stage. Second, it requires minimal sample size as opposed to other SEM
techniques. The size of our sample for analysis was acceptable at a modest level, making
the PLS appropriate for testing our model (Chin et al., 2003). We conducted our analysis in
three steps. First, we examined the psychometric properties of the measures using
confirmatory factory analyses after pretesting measures. Second, we performed statistical
tests to examine the appropriateness validity and reliability. At the same time, we checked
the common-method bias. Finally, we tested hypotheses by testing the model.

Demographics Category Sample Percentage

Company IT display company 27 18.8

Phone and device company 27 18.8
LED and components company 29 20.1
IT chemical and material company 32 22.2
IT equipment company 13 9.0
IT semiconductor company 16 11.1
Experienced IS project Enterprise resource planning 47 32.6
Product data management 17 11.8
Enterprise portal 6 4.2
Manufacturing execution system 52 36.1
Human resource management 11 7.6
Purchase system 11 7.6
Work experience (years) Less than 3 63 43.8
3-5 25 17.4
6-10 35 24.3
11-15 8 5.6
More than 15 13 9.0
Jobs Accounting and planning 12 8.3
HR and general affairs 17 11.8
Manufacture and purchase 73 50.7
IT 5 3.5
Table I. Marketing and sales 8 5.6
Summary of sample Research and development 29 20.2
profile Sum 144 100
 A qualitative pretest was conducted with five client personnel within the same CE on IT service
sampling frame as in the primary data collection. Several modifications were made in relationship
terms of word sequencing and syntactical errors based on their feedback, but no major
changes were made in the pretest. Non-response bias was tested by comparing quality
differences between the first wave of respondents (first quartile) and the last wave of
respondents (last quartile) on key demographic and study variables. This comparison
was based on the premise that the last wave of respondents were more likely to be 329
similar to non-respondents (Armstrong and Overton, 1977). The comparative
assessment revealed no significant differences in demographics and study variables.
To control for multicollinearity, the variance inflation factors of the variables and
interaction were calculated and inspected. The variables and interactions yielded
values between 1.34 and 3.26, indicating the absence of serious multicollinearity
problems (Kleinbaum et al., 2007). Threats of common methods bias were assessed
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using Harmans one-factor test (Podsakoff et al., 2003). Following the procedure
recommended by Podsakoff et al. (2003), we entered all of our variables in an
exploratory factor analysis; the dataset would have a common methods bias problem if
a single factor emerged that accounted for a large percentage of the variance in the
resulting factors. However, a single factor did not emerge in our analyses, and the first
factor accounted for 29.9 percent of the total variance. This collectively suggests that
our results are not due to common methods bias.

5. Analysis and results

PLS analysis is that it can evaluate a theoretical structural model and a measurement
model simultaneously (Chin et al., 2003). SmartPLS software was used in a two-stage
approach, measurement and structural model testing.

5.1 Measurement model

Assessment of the measurement model involves evaluations of reliability, convergent
validity, and discriminant validity of the construct measures. Generally, if the factor
loading of each measurement item onto its construct is more than 0.7, the measurement
item is considered valid (Chin et al., 2003). Factor loadings of more than 0.7 for each
measurement item indicate the convergent validity, as can be seen in Table II.
To evaluate discriminant validity, the average variance extracted (AVE) can be used.
The square root of AVE for each construct should be greater than the correlations
among the constructs in order for measures to be discriminantly valid. Table III shows
the correlations among the constructs, and the values in the diagonal are the square
roots of the AVE. Square-rooted AVEs were greater than all of the other correlation
coefficients. Thus, it can be concluded that the measurement model demonstrated
adequate discriminant validity.
Reliability was examined using Cronbachs a (a) and composite reliability.
As indicated in Table II, Cronbachs a exceeded 0.8 for each construct. AVE indicates
the amount of variance in the measurement items accounted for by the latent construct.
It is generally more conservative than Cronbachs a and should be 0.5 or higher to
establish the composite reliability of measures (Fornell and Larcker, 1981). As shown
in Table III, all of the AVE values are greater than 0.50. Therefore, it can be concluded
that the individual measurement items reliably measure the relevant constructs.
 IMDS
Construct Item Mean SD Factor loading Cronbachs a
114,2
Communication frequency CF1 3.722 0.993 0.927 0.850
CF2 3.701 0.976 0.912
CF3 3.368 1.193 0.777
Bi-directional communication BC1 3.778 0.935 0.901 0.907
330 BC2 3.729 0.984 0.935
BC3 3.750 0.927 0.920
Communication quality CQ1 3.938 0.871 0.920 0.879
CQ2 3.903 0.855 0.877
CQ3 3.924 0.829 0.895
Functional SQ FSQ1 3.750 1.007 0.942 0.970
FSQ2 3.861 1.094 0.959
FSQ3 3.868 1.073 0.961
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FSQ4 3.771 1.095 0.967

Technical SQ TSQ1 3.701 0.917 0.916 0.937
TSQ2 3.743 0.959 0.872
TSQ3 3.639 0.994 0.918
TSQ4 3.417 1.034 0.896
TSQ5 3.444 1.002 0.860
Trust TS1 4.111 0.854 0.913 0.913
TS2 3.972 0.892 0.942
TS3 3.799 1.028 0.914
Table II. Relational commitment RC1 3.764 0.989 0.957 0.932
Factor loadings and RC1 3.757 0.970 0.953
Cronbachs a RC3 3.694 0.933 0.903

Composite
Construct AVE reliability CF BC CQ TSQ FSQ TS RC

Communication
frequency 0.765 0.907 0.875
Bi-directional
communication 0.844 0.942 0.455 0.918
Communication quality 0.805 0.925 0.512 0.718 0.897
Functional SQ 0.916 0.978 0.410 0.727 0.746 0.957
Technical SQ 0.797 0.952 0.354 0.574 0.554 0.669 0.893
Table III. Trust 0.852 0.945 0.409 0.732 0.671 0.706 0.643 0.923
Discriminant validity Relational commitment 0.880 0.957 0.405 0.636 0.506 0.602 0.543 0.690 0.938

5.2 Structural model

In the next stage, the proposed hypotheses were tested using a bootstrap significance
test for inter-variable paths using PLS. Results of the PLS analysis are shown in Figure 2.
The path coefficients were the standardized beta coefficients from the PLS analysis.
Bi-directional communication had a significant and positive relation to functional SQ
(b 0.396, p , 0.01) and technical SQ (b 0.354, p , 0.01). Communication quality was
found to have a significant positive relationship with functional SQ (b 0.457, p , 0.01)
and technical SQ (b 0.272, p , 0.01). Therefore, H3-H6 were supported as expected.
However, the paths from communication frequency (H1 and H2), surprisingly,
 Communication
Communication Relationship CE on IT service
Service
Service Quality
Quality
Effectiveness
Effectiveness Quality relationship
Communication quality
H1: n
Frequency H
s
2:
Functional
ns
H7: 0.500**
Trust
Service Quality
6* * .308
** 331
0.39 :0 2
H3: H8
2 R = 0.551
R = 0.662
Bi-directional H4:
0.35
Communication 4** H9
:n
H11: 0.493**
s

Technical Relationship
**

H10: ns
57
.4

Service Quality Commitment

:0
H5
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Communication 0.27
2* 2
R = 0.373
2
R = 0.507
H6:
Quality
Figure 2.
Structural model results
Notes: Significant at: *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01; ns not significant

were not supported. Functional SQ was found to have a significant positive relationship
with trust (b 0.500, p , 0.01). Likewise, technical SQ had a significant positive
relationship with trust (b 0.308, p , 0.01). Therefore, H7 and H8 were supported.
Regarding H9 and H10, which deal with the relation between technical SQ and relationship
commitment, the resulting coefficient did not provide support. Trust maintained a positive
impact on relationship commitment (b 0.581, p , 0.01), supporting H11.
Squared multiple correlations (R 2) for endogenous constructs are shown in Figure 1.
2
R measures the percent of variance explained by independent constructs in the model.
Independent constructs were found to explain a substantial portion of the variance in
dependent constructs. CE explained 66.2 percent of variances in functional SQ and
37.3 percent of variances in technical SQ. In addition, SQ was found to explain
55.1 percent of the variance in trust, and trust accounted for 50.7 percent of the
variance in relationship commitment.

5.3 Results
Testing the posited research model against collected data revealed that bi-directional
communication and quality of communication maintained significant impacts on
perceived functional and technical SQ in IT services, while the path from communication
frequency was found to be statistically insignificant. In addition, perceived functional
and technical service qualities were found to have a positive impact on trust,
subsequently leading to relationship commitment while the direct paths from service
qualities towards the relationship commitment were found to be insignificant.
These findings correspond with the results of the previous studies regarding CE
and relationship commitment in professional services (Sharma and Patterson, 1999) in
which CE was found to be a key driver of functional and technical quality of services.
It seems that in IT services in which knowledge exchange plays a critical role for
project success, effective communication between service providers and clients would
be critically impact the relationship commitment via raising the level of perceived SQ,
functional and technical.
 IMDS It is noteworthy that the hypotheses (H9 and H10) regarding the direct paths of
114,2 both service qualities on relationship commitment were not supported. It implies that
good SQ may build the commitment only after building trust in the clients mind.
As trust building requires more than providing functionally and technically sound
service, it seems to be a fruitful area for future research explicating other factors and
mechanisms in building trust including quality measures of services.
332 It is also notable that communication frequency was found to be statistically
insignificantly associated with both IT service qualities (H1 and H2). While, in this
study, communication is confirmed as the important driver for SQ and relationship
commitment in IT service context, simple frequent communication would not suffice in
raising the commitment level. It can be interpreted as above-normal or inappropriate
levels of communication frequency may have a negative impact on SQ and further
down the road, on relationship commitment. Too much communication would hurt the
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SQ due to the overflow of information, but intuitively, too less communication would
also hurt the perceived SQ due to the lack of information delivery within the
relationship. It would be nice to find out appropriate level of communication frequency
in further researches using more samples in a longitudinal context of IT services.

6. Conclusions
6.1 Theoretical and managerial implications
What distinguishes this study from previous studies in IT service context is its attempt
to analyze the quality of IT services in two separate but closely related dimensions:
functional and technical service qualities. In marketing research, it is already well
accepted that SQ consists of multiple dimensions (Berry et al., 1985; Gronroos, 1984;
Kang, 2006; Parasuraman et al., 1985; Yoon and Suh, 2004), though it is rarely the case
in IT service research. Even the IS-SERVQUAL that has been widely used to measure
the quality of IT services has been criticized because it emphasizes only functional
quality as a measure for delivery processes of IT services while paying little attention
to technical quality, which is relevant to service outcomes.
IT service is rather a knowledge intensive service in which actual outcome the
technical outcome is not volatile as can be found in other traditional services, such as
restaurant. Most cases of the IT service outcomes are being used as a basis for next step.
The outcome might be some systems or specifications of systems that further along the
road systems may be built on. Even in studies concerning product performance and
customer satisfaction, multiple aspects of customer assessment for continuous use had
been discussed, such as in Swan and Combss (1976) instrumental and expressive
aspects of product use. Analogically functional dimension approximates instrumental
aspect while technical approximates expressive side of SQ.
Nonetheless, findings of this study reveals the stronger impact of functional SQ
than technical service on trust (b 0.500 versus 0.308). This may justify the wide use
of IS-SERVQUAL in measuring IT SQ in which only functional SQ measures are
prevalent, mostly neglecting the technical side of the IT SQ. However, it should be
noted here that the impact of technical SQ on trust was not negligible. Though this
may sound tautological, in order to increase the power of explanation and precision,
both dimensions of the IT SQ would better be measured in future studies.
Aside from the academic contributions explained above, for practitioners,
findings of this study have multiple implications. First of all, as IT service
 encounter is a knowledge intensive process throughout an extensive period of time CE on IT service
among members with different specialties and backgrounds, good quality interaction relationship
at service encounter is critically important in maintaining client relations.
Bi-directional communication seems to be much more important that the number of quality
communicative interactions. Quality interactive relationship as partners may
guarantee reciprocally beneficial outcome such as sustained strategic partnership
between business firms and IT service firms leading to growing and prosperous 333
relations in the coming age of information and knowledge. In the information society,
IT service is one of the critical professional services providing longer term and direct
benefits to business clients and the sustenance of this relationship can only be made
possible via continuous exchanges of information, knowledge, and expertise.
Therefore, functional SQ is critical for gaining trust and relationship commitment,
but at the same time, given that IT service aims to produce systems for actual use,
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technical SQ is also critical in longer-term relationship maintenance. For IT services to

be successful in longer terms, they need to focus on well-serving the clients (functional
SQ) as well as producing good outputs and outcomes (technical SQ).

6.2 Limitations and future research

First of all, findings of this study is based on cross-sectional data points collected from
a single IT service firm, though data points were spread over 42 project teams across
six different clients. As cultures and business processes may be different from firm to
firm, findings of this study may be limited to the selected firm, though it was an
internationalized mega firm of IT services.
Also, though conjecture had been made concerning the nature and longevity of the
client relationship, findings of this study may need to be confirmed and reinforced by
longitudinal studies observing behavioral changes of firms during longer term periods.
If feasible, analysis of all clients with continuous commitments as well as intermittent
commitments would be needed to find out what really drives the strategic partnership
between business and IT service firms along the growth of their own businesses.

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 IMDS Appendix
Communication effectiveness (Massey and Kyriazis, 2007):
114,2 (1) Communication frequency:
CF1: I frequently communicated with him/her through phone conversations.
CF2: I frequently communicated with him/her through electronic mail.
CF3: I frequently communicated with him/her through scheduled one-on-one meetings
336 (face-to-face).
(2) Bi-directional communication:
BC1: He/she always responded to my communication.
BC2: He/she provided me with a large amount of feedback.
BC3: There was much two-way communication between him/her and myself.
(3) Communication quality:
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CQ1: The information provided by him/her was very useful for my work.
CQ2: I was very satisfied with the content of the information provided him/her.
CQ3: The information provided by him/her was highly relevant to my work.
Functional service quality (Park et al., 2012):
FQ1: He/she kept promises on deadlines and due dates.
FQ2: He/she provided prompt service.
FQ3: He/she instilled confidence in you.
FQ4: He/she gave me individualized attention.
Technical service quality (Park et al., 2012):
TQ1: The system provided reliable information.
TQ2: The system provided sufficient information.
TQ3: The system was designed with flexibility.
TQ4: The information provided by the system was accurate.
TQ5: The information provided by the system was useful.
Trust (Carr, 2006):
TR1: He/she was open and honest when problems occurred.
TR2: He/she had high integrity.
TR3: He/she helped me to make critical decisions.
Relationship commitment (Carr, 2006):
RC1: I feel somewhat of an emotional bond with her/him.
RC2: I would like to continue to work with her/him because I like being associated with
him/her.
RC3: I would like to continue to work with her/him in future projects because I genuinely
enjoy relating to him/her.

Corresponding author
Dr Jungwoo Lee can be contacted at: jlee@yonsei.ac.kr

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