The impact of shared knowledge on service quality (an application of the structural equation modeling - sem)

This doctoral thesis builds and tests a theoretical model that reveals the relationship between mutual influence, mutual trust, shared knowledge and service quality using structural equation modeling (SEM). This is achieved through a research on the Internet banking service.After a detailed analysis of the previous empirical studies, we developed our shared knowledge and service quality model. The model is based on two different approaches in two different areas. On one hand, there is a shared knowledge model which has been developed and tested by different scholars. On the other hand, service quality and its antecedents has been an attractive area for the researchers. This study is linking both area and filling the gap between the two.In the shared knowledge model, mutual trust and mutual influence are the contributors to the shared knowledge. We used an instrument to evaluate these three elements which is already developed by the previous researchers. Using key informant methodology, two department heads has been surveyed in each Bank. 32 surveys have been collected from 16 banks in Turkey.On the service quality side, we used an instrument which is developed based on the very well known instrument SERVQUAL. The instrument is a combination of E-S-QUAL and E-RecS-QUAL and called ESQ. Surveys based on this instrument are applied to the 142 Internet banking customers.The model has been developed and tested using SEM methodology. SEM offers a means of developing and evaluating ideas about complex (multivariate) relationships. It is much easier to analyze the relationships in the complex models using SEM. AMOS 7.0 statistical program has been used to work on the model and to test it.Finally, our conclusions are presented together with a reference to the limitations of the study, implications to the managers and recommendations for the future research. Based on the literature study and the results of our research, there are three main findings of our study. The proved significant contributions are: a) mutual influence to mutual trust, b) mutual trust to shared knowledge, and lastly, c) shared knowledge to service quality. Companies would be able to increase their service qualities in different areas by focusing on and putting efforts to increase the mutual influence, mutual trust and in turn, shared knowledge in their company.Keywords: Shared knowledge, service quality, mutual trust, mutual influence, Internet banking