Hofstede\'s Questionnaire Original Question Original Scale Revised

Hofstede's Questionnaire

Original Question

Original Scale

Revised Scale(s)

Reason for Revision

How does culture affect the level of satisfaction?

Open ended- the respondent types their own responses

1(a). Do you agree that culture affect the level of satisfaction?

Does culture affect the level of satisfaction in your society?

Strongly Agree -- Strongly Disagree

Simplifies confusion and likely ambiguity of responses from the first scale. This reduces bias as it uses a scale that is easy to use among a large sample of respondents.

Evaluate your relative importance to your bank

Not important at all -- Extremely Important

Is there a likelihood your behavior influences the bank's operations?

Not likely at all -- extremely likely

The responses from the modified scale are clearer and less prone to ambiguity. Besides, confusion is reduced and belittlement of participants likely to arise as in the first scale.

Indicate your frequency with your bank

Not Frequent at all -- Extremely Frequent

3. Do you frequently transact with your bank?

Yes -- No

The second scale is more straightforward requiring little explanation or confusions.

4. Are you frequently served by male or female employees in your transactions with the bank?

Not Frequent at all -- Extremely Frequent

4. Are you always served by a male or female teller each time you transact?

Yes -- No

The first scale is ambiguous and is biased the second scale tackles this problem by being clearer and precise.

The only factor pitting this study against other researches is that questionnaires from a section of the respondents were used. Results from participants who; frequently used banking services, frequently served by female employees, and were weak customers were used as the basis of the analysis. Furrer et al. (2000) attempted to link Hofstede's cultural dimensions with the importance of the SERVQUAL dimensions. They found that in cultures with a large power distance, weaker respondents were more likely to tolerate failure from more powerful service providers (Johnson, 2006). In cultures with a high degree of individualism, respondents reported wanting a higher level of service quality, while in cultures with a high degree of masculinity, respondents expected a female service provider to be more feminine than professional.

In addition, Hofstede's questionnaire as well as study has challenges. First, the sample's classification into two groups fails to capture the continuous of culture. Secondly, the sample is imbalanced; three western countries to one Asian culture (Furrer, Liu, & Sudharshan, 2000). This is likely to result in skewness problems leading to biasness during median split. Lastly, given that culture is a holistic concept, the study of one cultural dimension at a time is of limited practical use. These three factors make the use of Hofstede's questionnaire biased and partial. Thus, the use of correlation coefficients to capture the continuous dimensions of culture and a CSQI that evaluates the relative importance of each of the service quality dimensions for any combination of cultural dimensions.

Online Faculty Survey

This survey was administered in August 2011 was designed by Dr. Eveland to assess opinions of the CSPP faculty regarding a new online course support package that the school had installed (Aldridge & Rowley, 1998). This survey aimed at ascertaining why the course packed was ignored and disregarded. The survey participants were 1,533 faculty students as well other stakeholders.

Original Question

Original Scale

Revised Question(s)

Revised Scale(s)

Reason for Revision

1. Indicate your level of satisfaction with regards to the newly installed course package

Very Satisfied -- Very Dissatisfied

1. Do you support the new online course package?

Yes -- No

Satisfaction levels does not show the impacts of the new system, thus, the results may be slightly biased to fulfill the researcher's motives.

2. How likely are you to recommend the new system to a colleague?

Very Likely -- Not Likely

2. Would you recommend the new system to a colleague?

Yes -- Never

The second question is simplified and makes the interpretation easy for respondents.

3. What is your rating of the new course rating system?

Very High -- Very Low

3. Do you think the new online course package is appropriate?

Very Appropriate -- Not Appropriate

Rating of the system does not give a clear result during the analysis and may be biased and deemed vague by the respondents.

4. What do you use the new online course support package for?

This is an open-ended questions and the respondents write whatever they feel like