Public libraries are not only quiet places of learning and discovery, but also an integral part of social communities and neutral places for education and leisure that encourage and enable social interaction (Chandrasekar & Murugathas, 2013). However, libraries are currently facing a unique challenge created by the global digital revolution, whereby a user can access the library via the Internet from any location, without having to physically visit the library building. Owing to this trend, libraries are increasingly losing patrons because other library resources are easily accessed online as well (e.g., online catalogs and unrestricted databases; Chandrasekar & Murugathas, 2013). Matthews (2008) indicated that, on average, public libraries are losing from 25 to 30% of their users every 3 years. The Taiwan Ministry of Education (2014) continues to encourage public reading behaviors and is committed to increasing budgets for the improvement of public library facilities and services, including space design, equipment upgrades, and creating comfortable venues for reading and learning. The Ministry’s attempts to incentivize public reading behaviors had led to an increase in public library usage of 9% by 2014. However, annual library usage in Taiwan was 5.5%, which was lower than Hong Kong, Singapore, and South Korea (Taiwan Ministry of Education, 2014).

Many libraries measure user satisfaction through surveys and this method has yielded positive results (Chandrasekar & Murugathas, 2013). In a 2014 survey by the National Public Information Library of Taiwan, over 93% of users reported being either satisfied or extremely satisfied with the total service quality of public libraries in Taiwan. However, many public libraries overemphasize their high level of service quality and increases in the number of library card applicants while overlooking lost users and user retention rates (Matthews, 2008). Numerous library service quality researchers have focused on library users’ behavior and assessed efficiency using the LibQUAL™, which is a web-based survey developed to allow libraries to understand and track users’ opinions of service quality. Data obtained via the LibQUAL™ have also been used to identify best practices and to facilitate effective allocation of resources for improving service quality among libraries (Roszkowski, Baky, & Jones, 2005; Thompson, Cook, & Thompson, 2002; Wei, Thompson, & Cook, 2005). However, we found no instruments for measuring the loyalty of library users, and no studies in which this has been investigated in a public library context.

Obtaining customer loyalty is the ultimate goal of an enterprise, as this factor contributes to long-term profits (Grønholdt & Martensen, 2016). However, public libraries are nonprofit organizations and their mission is to provide an efficient and satisfying user-driven service, and to support teaching, learning, and research (Motiang, Wallis, & Karodia, 2014); therefore, maintaining users’ intention to revisit has become a pivotal task for modern libraries (Rehman, Shafique, & Mahmood, 2011; Simmonds & Andaleeb, 2001).

Few scholars have examined public library user retention and intention to revisit; therefore, identifying a suitable customer satisfaction research method for understanding user satisfaction and user behaviors is a key management issue for public libraries (Hernon & Matthews, 2011). To address this gap in the literature, we referred to the framework of the Hotel Customer Satisfaction Index (Deng, Yeh, & Sung, 2013), and investigated whether or not service experience affects the relationships among service quality, user satisfaction, and loyalty. Our aim was to provide a direct and meaningful measure of user satisfaction in the context of nonprofit organizations. We focused, in particular, on the National Library of Public Information, located in Taichung, which is the newest public library of Taiwan (National Public Information Library of Taiwan, 2014) and serves as a model for other public libraries in this country.

Literature Review and Hypotheses Development

The Hotel Customer Satisfaction Index

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI; Brecka, 1994; Fornell, Johnson, Anderson, Cha, & Bryant, 1996) is the instrument applied most often to measure customer satisfaction, expectations, perceived quality, and loyalty in various fields of study in many countries (Anderson, Fornell, & Lehmann, 1994; Hsu, 2008; Terblanche, 2006). Deng et al. (2013) proposed the Hotel Customer Satisfaction Index (H-CSI) for use in assessing international tourist hotels, by removing the customer expectation factor from the ACSI and replacing it with the consumption emotions factor. The ACSI and H-CSI are used to assess the consumption-experience-related needs of an organization; thus, they represent a new method of customer-based evaluation (Anderson et al., 1994; Sun & Kim, 2013).

Numerous service quality researchers (Barsky & Nash, 2002; Srivastava & Kaul, 2014) have investigated how customer expectation and consumption emotions affect the relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty, with some having found that customer expectations do not significantly influence the level of customer satisfaction (Johnson, Gustafsson, Andreassen, Lervik, & Cha, 2001; Martensen, Gronholdt, & Kristensen, 2000). Therefore, in line with Deng et al. (2013), we used service experience to replace the customer expectation construct in our examination of the relationships among perceived service quality, user satisfaction with, and loyalty toward, a public library.

Motiang et al. (2014) indicated that libraries exist because of the user, which means that library staff must treat the individual user as an important guest. Therefore, library users’ retention, satisfaction, and loyalty are highly relevant issues for the continuity of libraries (Matthews, 2008). In this study, we examined the relationships among service quality, user satisfaction, and loyalty, with reference to the framework of the H-CSI, and proposed that service experience would be an influential element in user perceptions of the National Public Information Library of Taiwan, as a user-based, nonprofit organization.

Service Quality

The concept of service quality has been exclusively applied in the service industry (Behdioğlu & Şener, 2014; Zhao & Lu, 2010). Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1988) developed the SERVQUAL Scale to measure five dimensions of perceived service quality: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. The SERVQUAL is the most widely used scale for measuring service quality in various fields (Chen & Tsai, 2007; Parasuraman et al., 1988) and has also been utilized in the past to measure library service quality, with high reliability and validity scores having been obtained (Cook & Thompson, 2000, 2001).

The influence of service quality on customer satisfaction and loyalty has been a primary focus in prior marketing-related research, with results showing that customer satisfaction and loyalty are positively correlated (Gounaris, Dimitriadis, & Stathakopoulos, 2010; Lv, 2011), and that better service quality leads to greater customer satisfaction (Hennig-Thurau, Gwinner, & Gremler, 2002). Likewise, many researchers in the library field have shown that good service quality has a positive effect on the satisfaction of library patrons (Chandrasekar & Murugathas, 2013; Forrest, 2009; Kiran, 2010). Hernon and Calvert (2005) also indicated that high service quality offered by libraries can increase user satisfaction. On the basis of the findings of these previous researchers, we proposed the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 1: Service quality will be positively related to user satisfaction with public libraries.

Service Experience

Various definitions of service experience have been offered, with Gilmore and Pine (2007) stating that this denotes a customer’s memory of an interactive service process. Mano and Oliver (1993) described service experience as resulting from the interaction of staff with a guest through offering a service (see also Ali, Hussain, & Ragavan, 2014). Further, Wong (2013) defined service experience as intuitive feelings and reactions that occur when receiving service, and Grace and O’Cass (2004) indicated that service experience refers to the cognitive, affective, and behavioral consequences of consumers receiving services.

Forrest (2009) indicated that a library retains its status by providing experiences for users, guests, and visitors that linger in their memory long after they have left the premises. Rehman et al. (2011) also indicated that service is a key trait of a library and stated that it is based on the personal interactions between library staff and patrons or users. This interaction component of pleasure can be used to assess the user experience (Engel, Kegerreis, & Blackwell, 1969). Motiang et al. (2014) further indicated that library users’ satisfaction depends on the service they receive. Thus, we can conclude that service experience is a user’s subjective cognitive and perceptual evaluation of a service, and that it is a highly relevant element of library users’ satisfaction.

Otto and Ritchie (1996) identified a distinction between service experience— which comprises the four dimensions of pleasure, peace of mind, involvement, and cognition—and service quality: service experience involves a subjective mental state, whereas service quality is an objective cognitive estimate. Lo (2014) and Sajjad (2014) asserted that customer satisfaction reflects the gap between perceived service and the actual service received. In general, positive relationships have been reported among service experience, service quality, and satisfaction (Rehman et al., 2011). Furthermore, Gilmore and Pine (2007) indicated that a positive service experience increases the value of products and services. Therefore, if a service experience is positive, service quality is determined to be effective, and high customer satisfaction results (Greenwell, Fink, & Pastore, 2002; McDougall & Levesque, 2000; O’Neill & Palmer, 2003). On the basis of these findings, service experience can be assumed to be an antecedent of customer satisfaction and perceived service quality in relation to public libraries. Thus, we proposed the following hypotheses:
Hypothesis 2: Positive service experiences will positively affect user satisfaction with public libraries.
Hypothesis 3: Positive library user service experiences will positively affect their perceived service quality.

Loyalty

The concept of loyalty in the service consumption context was originally outlined by Reynolds, Darden, and Martin (1974), and they proposed that it is defined by those who consume repeatedly. Further, Battor and Battour (2013) indicated that loyal customers are a long-term primary profit source for businesses.

Çoban (2012) and Suh and Ahn (2012) have presented various scales for measuring loyalty, which they indicated should include assessments of the following behaviors: a) repeating purchases regularly, b) continuing consumption of products or services from a given company, c) being willing to promote the reputation of a given company, and d) rejecting other companies’ promotions. In addition, numerous customer satisfaction researchers have identified that customer complaints reduce customer satisfaction and restrict profits (Anderson et al., 1994; Maxham & Netemeyer, 2002). However, we focused on nonprofit public libraries, where consumption issues or pricing are not a concern for the patrons; therefore, for the purposes of our research we used revisit intention to replace regular purchasing and continuing revisit intention to replace continuing consumption. Further, we examined willingness to recommend the library to friends and the intention to engage in word-of-mouth advertising, instead of willingness to improve or promote a company’s reputation (Çoban, 2012; Suh & Ahn, 2012). Finally, we proposed that service experience would directly affect not only user satisfaction but also user loyalty; thus, we proposed the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 4: Service experience will directly and positively affect library user loyalty.

Satisfaction

Creating customer satisfaction has been described as a pivotal task for enterprises (Drucker, 1950). Numerous researchers who focused on customer satisfaction have indicated that it is an emotional reaction influenced by the interaction of users’ pleasure, expectations of performance, assessment of consumer experience, and consumer interests (Lo, 2014; Sajjad, 2014). Battor and Battour (2013) further indicated that customer satisfaction increases purchase intention. Adomi and Iwhiwhu (2004) and Motiang et al. (2014) examined user satisfaction in a library setting and found that library users’ satisfaction depends on the level of service they receive. Thus, user satisfaction is considered a crucial criterion for determining library performance (Hernon & Matthews, 2011; Kiran, 2010) and keeping the user satisfied is a key task for the future success of libraries (Motiang et al., 2014).

Barsky and Nash (2002) identified that the consumption emotions experienced by customers during a service process are integral to satisfaction and loyalty. The consumption emotional experience is influenced by the environment and represents customer perceptions and feelings regarding their experience when receiving the service (Deng et al., 2013). Numerous related researchers have indicated that both positive and negative consumption emotions have a significant influence on customer satisfaction and loyalty (Han, Back, & Barrett, 2009; Han & Jeong, 2013).

Many customer satisfaction researchers have identified user retention and recommendations as having a significant influence on the success of a business, and they have reported a positive relationship between user satisfaction and loyalty (Kandampully & Suhartanto, 2000; Lo, 2014; Lv, 2011; Sajjad, 2014). In studies of library services, user loyalty has seldom been used to measure performance; however, Motiang et al. (2014) indicated that user satisfaction may increase intention to use the library again and to recommend the facility to others (Chandrasekar & Murugathas, 2013; Simmonds & Andaleeb, 2001). The satisfaction level of the library user, as well as the value they perceive from services received, enhance revisit intention (Hernon & Matthews, 2011). Anderson et al. (1994) indicated that customer loyalty is most strongly dictated by customer satisfaction; thus, customer satisfaction is an important factor to consider in consumer studies. The abovementioned researchers have reported a positive correlation between user satisfaction and user loyalty, although other scholars have varying opinions regarding the positive nature of this relationship (Baker, 2013). For example, Suh and Ahn (2012) pointed out that customer satisfaction relates to a customer’s short-term attitude, whereas customer loyalty influences long-term customer purchasing. Furthermore, Akbar and Parvez (2015) indicated that customer satisfaction, in itself, does not guarantee profit, unless customers are loyal and continue to return and consume.

User satisfaction may not be the objective for a public library. Matthews (2008) pointed out that many libraries utilize their user satisfaction surveys to measure their own performance, and when such surveys yield positive results the library staff members tend to ignore the element of user revisiting intention. Motiang et al. (2014) indicated that customer satisfaction may lead patrons to continue using the services or facilities of a library (Hernon & Matthews, 2011). Therefore, we proposed the following hypothesis:
Hypothesis 5: User satisfaction will have a significantly positive effect on library user loyalty.

Method

Questionnaire Design

We convened a focus group to decide on the final constructs to be included in this study. The focus group comprised one public library senior management staff member, one librarian professor, and two library studies master’s program students, all of whom had significant public library experience and were frequent library users.

The questionnaire we developed (see Table 1) was based on the above literature review and comprised 52 items to assess service quality, service experience, user satisfaction, and user loyalty. The preliminary questionnaire was pretested on 30 adult users aged over 20 years who had visited the National Library of Public Information in Taichung, and were recruited in person by researchers located in the library lobby.

After removing ambiguous or misleading wording identified in the pilot test, the questionnaire was redesigned to better address the objectives of the assessment, resulting in a 51-item version. Responses to all items were made on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

The Cronbach’s alpha of the overall questionnaire was .915, and the composite reliability of each construct ranged from .832 to .971, supporting the measure’s internal reliability. Further, the construct reliability of all items exceeded .70; thus, the measurement model was determined to have acceptable convergent validity (Anderson & Gerbing, 1988).

Participants and Procedure

We conducted the survey in person through on-site interception in the library lobby, after which we provided an explanation of the study purpose. Before starting the formal survey, we confirmed that all invited participants were aged over 20 years, had experience in the use of the National Library of Public Information in Taichung, and gave their consent to take part this research. We used convenience sampling to recruit 350 participants, 339 of whom supplied valid responses. Participants completed the questionnaires based on their perceptions of their present visit to the library. Of the participants, 44.6% were men and 55.4% were women; 36.4% were aged from 20 to 29 years, 41.8% were aged from 30 to 39 years, 12.2% were aged from 40 to 49 years, and 9.6% were aged over 50 years; 66.5% had a college- or university-level education, 28.3% had a senior-high school-level education, and the remaining 5.2% of participants had a junior-high school-or-below-level of education.

Data Analysis

The partial least squares method has been applied in an extensive number of customer satisfaction studies (Barclay, Higgins, & Thompson, 1995). However, we focused on exploring the relationships among service quality, service experience, user satisfaction, and loyalty; therefore, we used t tests, one-way analyses of variance, and regression analyses to determine if there were significant differences in users’ perceptions based on their demographic charac- teristics. All analyses were conducted using SPSS 17.0 statistical software.

Results

The hypotheses testing results are presented in Table 2. The correlation coefficients indicate that there were significant and positive relationships among service quality, service experience, user satisfaction, and user loyalty.

Figure 1 shows the results of regression analysis of the relationships among service experience, service quality, satisfaction, and loyalty. The explained variance (R2) for service quality was .420 (Adj. R2 = .417); thus, this regression model explained 41.7% of the variance in service quality. Further, the F value of 134.055 (p < .001) indicates that service quality was positively affected by the service experience.

In addition, for user satisfaction the adjusted R2 was .516 and the F value was 0.741, and the user loyalty F value was 0.146, showing that service experience positively affected user satisfaction and user loyalty. Finally, the user loyalty adjusted R2 was .362 and the F value was 0.495, indicating that user satisfaction had a significantly positive effect on user loyalty.

The five path estimates corresponding to the hypotheses are depicted in Figure 1. These coefficients were obtained by bootstrapping computation of R2 and t tests for each hypothesis. The results of testing our hypotheses are presented in Table 3.

Service experience was found to be significantly related to service quality, user satisfaction, and user loyalty; thus, Hypotheses 2 to 4 are supported. However, we found that service quality did not positively affect user satisfaction; thus Hypothesis 1 was not supported. User satisfaction positively affected user loyalty, supporting Hypothesis 5. Furthermore, service experience had a strongly positive impact on user satisfaction and user satisfaction had the strongest effect on user loyalty, providing additional support for Hypotheses 4 and 5.

We used a three-path model based on the mediation analysis method developed by Hayes and Preacher (2014), the results of which are shown in Table 4. In Model I (X M), the effect of the independent variable (service experience) explained 49.5% of the variance in the mediating variable (satisfaction). Furthermore, service experience significantly affected satisfaction.

In Model II (X Y), the effect of the independent variable (service experience) explained 24.2% of the variance in the dependent variable (loyalty). Moreover, service experience significantly affected loyalty.

In Model III (X, M Y), the effect of service experience and satisfaction explained 36.4% of the variance in loyalty. However, service experience had no significant effect on loyalty when the relationship was mediated by satisfaction. This indicates that satisfaction accounted for the entire mediating effect of service experience on loyalty; thus, user satisfaction can be used to predict user loyalty.

Discussion

Numerous scholars have found that customer satisfaction significantly influences their loyalty (Anderson et al., 1994; Terblanche, 2006). Our results support this finding; however, in contrast to the results of previous researchers (Anderson et al., 1994), we found that, for public library users, service quality does not significantly influence their satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Few specific user satisfaction measure methods have been developed for use in nonprofit organization contexts; therefore, using a suitable customer satisfaction model to understand users’ satisfaction, loyalty, and behaviors is a highly relevant management issue for librarians.

Our study has several theoretical implications. First, we observed that service experience affects library users’ satisfaction and loyalty. We examined this variable in place of the user expectation construct, as Martensen et al. (2000) and Johnson et al. (2001) found that customer expectation does not significantly influence customer satisfaction.

Second, it has been reported in many satisfaction-related studies that consumption emotions are one of the core components of customer satisfaction, such that positive (negative) emotions have a significant positive (negative) influence on customer satisfaction and loyalty (Han & Jeong, 2013; Lepp & Gibson, 2008). Referring to the results of previous studies, we eliminated repetitive elements between consumption emotion and service experience, and assessed consumption emotion through integrating scale items to measure the service experience. Thus, we took the novel approach of using the service experience construct to examine library users’ satisfaction and loyalty.

By incorporating well-established theories and correlation analysis data, we found that service experience was positively related to user satisfaction and directly influenced user loyalty in a public library context; therefore, user satisfaction can be said to be positively related to user loyalty. We found support for the hypothesis that user satisfaction would be positively related to user loyalty but not for the hypothesis that service quality would have the same effect on satisfaction. This is problematic because libraries typically survey user satisfaction by focusing on the perceived quality of the library as a whole, including library collections, effectiveness, and staff (Chandrasekar & Murugathas, 2013). Because many libraries are satisfied with gaining increasing numbers of library card applicants and total numbers of visitors (Matthews, 2008), user turnover rate and revisiting intention, which are related to loyalty, are often ignored (Motiang et al., 2014). The traditional total services quality concept cannot satisfy modern library users, who should be invited to participate in the creation of both physical and virtual services (Casey & Savastinuk, 2006). Finally, numerous researchers have found that the service experience is one of the core factors of customer satisfaction (Greenwell et al., 2002; McDougall & Levesque, 2000). Moreover, some have also indicated that satisfaction is a relevant factor for ensuring customer loyalty (Bolton & Christopher, 2014). In this study, we integrated these two theories and showed that the service experience directly and positively influences both library user satisfaction and loyalty. This finding is consistent with results obtained by Greenwell et al. (2002), Han et al (2009), and Brunner-Sperdin, Peters, and Strobl (2012).

There are also several managerial implications from our findings that may help library managers to understand the examined relationships and estimate specific influences on user satisfaction and user loyalty.

Our results indicate that traditional methods of surveying service quality and satisfaction are not effective for attaining complete information about modern library-user behaviors. We found that service quality is not the core factor influencing customer satisfaction; rather, library managers should continually provide customization and advantageous services to meet the heterogeneous requirements of modern library users (Ashcroft, Farrow & Watts, 2007; Rowley, 2005). Library staff should be courteous and friendly in their interactions with patrons or users (Casey & Savastinuk, 2006). Modern library users are not satisfied with traditional library facilities and extensive collections alone but, rather, require the interactive services provided by library staff; therefore, it is important for staff to be helpful and approachable (Chandrasekar & Murugathas, 2013). For future success, it is suggested that ongoing staff training programs and purposeful changes of services, from passive to proactive services, be integrated into library annual planning (Casey & Savastinuk, 2006). A lack of awareness of library services has been reported as another reason for user dissatisfaction; therefore, in order to increase usage, library managers should make a greater effort to publicize their service availability (Callinan, 2005) and emphasize providing instruction to users on how to use the library’s resources (Simmonds & Andaleeb, 2001).

Modern consumers are no longer satisfied with traditional consumption behavior, and now seek more options and interaction during the delivery of services (Oh, 1999). Positive service experiences create vivid memories in users that increase satisfaction and loyalty and also increase positive word-of-mouth communication intentions and incentivize revisit intention (Chen & Chen, 2010; Knutson, 1988). The ultimate mission of a public library is to provide efficient user-driven service, create user satisfaction, and stimulate and maintain the users’ intention to revisit.

Study Limitations and Suggested Future Research Directions

As with all studies, there are limitations. The sample for our study was relatively small and sourced from one national public library located in Taichung, Taiwan. For future research, we suggest collecting larger samples and including a diverse range of public libraries in other Asian countries. The proposed study model and theoretical framework could be further validated by using other analysis methods in order to generalize the applicability of the findings. Moreover, we focused on four dimensions to examine the influences on library users’ loyalty; combining these dimensions means that it is difficult to obtain predictions about latent variables affecting user loyalty. In future research, we recommend that the dimensions be utilized separately to better understand the role of user loyalty and revisiting intention in the context of nonprofit organizations.

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Te-Shyang Tan is also currently affiliated with Hsing Wu University.

Te-Shyang Tan, Department of Technology Management, Chung Hua University, No. 707, Sec. 2, WuFu Road, Hsinchu, 30012, Taiwan, ROC. Email: [email protected]