Quality Expectations of Social Networking Sites: A Comparative Study Between New Zealand and Vietnam

Abstract

Online Social Networking (OSN) websites have been growing fast and their success is decided by customers’ satisfaction. User satisfaction can be measured using a number of popular frameworks such as SERVQUAL, SERVPERF, SiteQual, and WebQual. These frameworks are often used as guidelines when designing, implementing, and assessing quality of websites in general and can also be used to measure the quality of online social networking websites. Besides, there are additional factors that should be taken into consideration when assessing user satisfaction such as demographic differences and cultural differences. The present research project aims to investigate and test the linkage between culture and user satisfaction on the online social networking websites. This is achieved by conducting an analysis on the basis of a survey in two different countries – New Zealand and Vietnam. The research project’s principal component analysis follows Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions and the modified framework of assessing online social networking sites quality conducted by Rizavi, Ali, and Rizavi in 2011. The results suggest that users’ quality expectation of Social Networking Sites (SNS) in New Zealand and in Vietnam may be influenced by cultural differences.