Managing information technology for improving service quality in the electric utility industry

Summary form only given. Service quality has become increasingly important to a service organization and information technology has become more integral to a firm. Therefore, one of the challenges is to manage IT to enhance service quality. The objective of the research was to understand the relationship between information technology and service quality. Concepts from management information systems, communications and strategy have been integrated in a conceptual model which describes the management of IT to improve service quality. The case study of an electric utility helped in the development of the research model. The survey was customized according to information technologies and services in the electric utility industry. The correlation analysis results show that the variables in the hypotheses are correlated and the result is highly significant. The multiple regression and path analysis of quantitative data has supported the hypotheses of the research study. The results have shown that system quality, information quality and employee IT characteristics influence employee IT performance, which in turn influences the service quality at the organizational level. Technical support directly impacts service quality.