CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Service quality
In general service is known as intangibles element, it cannot be seen, touch, smell or taste. Based on Lovelock, Wirtz, and Chew (2012), the characteristics of service which consist of five element that is intangibility, perishability, inseparability, non-ownership, and heterogeneity Thus, it is hard for people to evaluate the service performance since the uniqueness of the characteristics. One of the most well-known scale or variables for service quality is SERVQUAL by Parasuraman et al. (1988). It content five dimensions list below.

Table 1: Five SERVQUAL dimensions by Parasuraman et al. (1988)

SERVQUAL dimensions
Descriptions
Tangibles Physical evidence of service such as facilities, equipment, and appearance of personnel.
Reliability Ability to deliver what firm’s promised service consistently and dependably.
Responsiveness Staffs’ willingness or readiness to provide services for customers such as give prompt services.
Assurance Staffs’ ability to influence trust and confidence of customer such as courtesy.
Empathy Staffs’ ability to understand the feeling of customers such as caring and individualizes services.
Source: Adapted from SERVQUAL: A multiple-item scale for measuring consumer perceptions of service quality, 1988, p. 12 2.2 Online service quality However, this five SERVQUAL dimensions are more applicable towards physical environment of business, yet it still are closely aligned with online service