Measuring Service Quality through Customer Satisfaction and Complaint Management: A Case Study at the Private University Library

Academic libraries are facing two major threats, a global digital environment and increasing competitions. They must improve the quality of their services in order to survive. Retaining and growing their customers base and focusing more energy on meeting their customers' expectations is the only way for academic libraries to survive in this volatile competitive environment [6] Traditionally, libraries tend to be judged by their facilities and their collections, for example, by the square meters of floor space, and by the number of volumes on the shelves and the number of journals or databases subscribed to. However, regardless of the size and the fantastic facility, the library would be considered to have done a very poor service if they do not consistently meet the needs and expectations of its customers [16]. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the service quality that the MMU (Malacca) Library provides to its customers. by measuring the customers' level of satisfaction and judgment on the importance and effectiveness of customer complaints management system implemented by MMU library. A total of 253 samples were gathered from 300 questionnaires distributed among the regular users of MMU library. A questionnaire was designed and used as the data gathering instrument based on the SERVQUAL model which consists of five dimensions (tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy). The concept of "gap analysis" was applied to indicate the actual satisfaction level of customers towards the selected dimensions in the SERVQUAL model. The study found that the dimensions of responsiveness and empathy were at the lowest satisfaction level among MMU students. Some recommendations and suggestions are presented in this study to improve the service quality of MMU (Malacca) Library.