An Exploratory Examination of Management Accounting Service and Information Quality

Abstract

In this study we develop and test a scale to measure perceptions of management accounting service information and quality based on Grӧnroos’s (1978; 1983; 1984; 1990) service quality model that relates functional, technical, and image dimensions of service to perceived overall service quality. We test functional quality using SERVPERF (Cronin and Taylor 1992) while technical and image quality are tested using questions derived from the accounting literature concerned with desirable characteristics of accountants and their information services. One hundred sixteen experienced business professionals participated in our experiment. Our survey results show that management accounting service quality may be defined by the three categories in Grӧnroos’s model. Furthermore, technical quality is more important to users than functional quality, and image quality partially mediates the technical and functional quality dimensions in forming user perceptions of overall service quality, consistent with Grӧnroos’s model.

Keywords: Management accounting service quality; information quality; functional quality; image; Grӧnroos service quality model

JEL Classification: M40