A Research On Relationship Between Search Engine Service Quality And User’s Loyalty

As the main tool of web information retrieval, search engine is the most important entrance of the web information resource. The explosive growth of web information resource and the diversity of user information request make a favorable market for the search engine, meanwhile put forward new demands for the web information services. Therefore, research about search engine has become a hot topic in the relevant area. But current research achievements are gathered in the Innovation of the search technology and the evaluation on the search engine and there are few research expanded from the perspective of web information service. And this dissertation combined the theories of electronic service quality and the achievement of search engine evaluation, developed the service quality scales for the search engine and built the relationship model on the search engine service quality and user loyalty.The paper aimed to solve these three questions:(1) What is the relationship and difference between web information resource service and electronic service, and whether is the ServQual model suitable for assessment on the search engine service quality based on the user perception?(2) Which are the most important indicators to influence the search engine service quality based on the user perception and how do these indicators affected the overall perceptive service quality?(3) What is the relationship between perceptive service quality of search engine and user attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty, and how do the dimensions of search engine service quality influence the user loyalty?The thesis used literature researched methods by reviewing the relevant theories on the electronic service quality, search engine evaluation and user loyalty. Based on these theories we made the initial relationship framework between search engine service quality and user loyalty, and made three assumptions among the three initial variable. Then we used the reliability analysis, importance analysis, and exploratory factor analysis to find the scale of search engine service quality containing21indicators included in the five dimensions by applying the scale developing methods for electronic service quality and combining the search engine service’s characters. Based on these research findings, the paper expanded the initial relationship framework between search engine service quality and user loyalty to deeply exploring how the service quality’s subdivision dimensions of search engine affect the user loyalty by replaced the variable of search engine service quality with the five dimensions. Then chapter four collected relevant data to make the empirical analysis, using the methods of reliability analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis, regression analysis and structural equation modeling analysis. At the end of the article, the author Put forward some suggestions about the search engine service and development combining the research conclusions and thought about the shortages of the research and the future improvement directions.Through the third chapter of scale development for search engine service and the fourth chapter of the empirical analysis on the relationship between search engine service quality and user loyalty, the research obtained the several conclusions as following.(1) Electronic service quality theories were suitable for the assessment of the search engine service quality. While as the typical representative of web information resource, the search engine service quality scale had a little difference from the traditional electronic SERV-QUAL. There were five dimensions and21indicators made up the quality scales. The search result quality and flexibility are the special features of the search engine quality, while the efficiency and the ease of use are the common natures of the electronic service and search engine. And mobility measured the impact the development of mobile network made on the search engine.(2) Most dimensions of the search engine service quality had significant positive and direct influence on the user attitudinal loyalty; the search result quality’s impact coefficient is the biggest which is the core service of the search engine. And flexibility is the second significant factor of the attitudinal loyalty in the five dimensions. Ease of use and efficiency had substantially the same effect on attitudinal loyalty, while the mobility didn’t significantly affect it.(3) Only the search result quality significantly affected the user behavioral loyalty in a direct and positive way, the other three dimensions of the search engine service quality just influenced the behavioral loyalty by affecting the attitudinal loyalty. And the mobility had nothing to do with the user loyalty.(4) The users’preference for the search engine website had a significant direct and positive effect on the users’continuance behavior, which means the higher attitudinal loyalty the user had would lead to the users’continuance behavior, which also called the higher behavioral loyalty.