Construction of the scale of quality perceived by electric power services offered by Brazilian companies

Anny Key Souza Mendonça (), Jeovani Schmitt, Silvio Aparecido Silva, Gabriel Andrade Conradi Barni, Antonio Cezar Bornia and Dalton Francisco Andrade
Additional contact information
Anny Key Souza Mendonça: Federal University of Santa Catarina: Graduate Program in Production Engineering
Jeovani Schmitt: Federal University of Santa Catarina: Graduate Program in Production Engineering
Silvio Aparecido Silva: Federal University of Santa Catarina: Graduate Program in Production Engineering
Gabriel Andrade Conradi Barni: Federal University of Santa Catarina: Graduate Program in Production Engineering
Antonio Cezar Bornia: Federal University of Santa Catarina: Graduate Program in Production Engineering
Dalton Francisco Andrade: Federal University of Santa Catarina: Graduate Program in Production Engineering

Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, 2025, vol. 59, issue 5, No 18, 4283-4304

Abstract: Abstract The global demand for electricity and the assessment of service quality provided by electricity utility companies requires robust methodological approaches to ensure accurate and reliable measurements. Traditional methods, such as Classical Test Theory (CTT), have been applied to the evaluation of latent traits, but they present limitations concerning reliability. Alternative methods derived from Psychometrics, such as Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and more recently, Item Response Theory (IRT), overcome these limitations. IRT offers advantages over CTT as it takes into account the difficulty and discrimination of each item, allowing for a more accurate estimation of the latent trait. In contrast, CTT uses only the total score, which can lead to inaccurate assessments. This paper applies Item Response Theory (IRT) to develop and validate a perceived quality of services scale. Using data from the Consumer Satisfaction Questionnaire of the Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency (ANEEL), Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and IRT validated the scale’s unidimensional structure, demonstrating high reliability, as well as the difficulty and discrimination of the items. The results identified four levels of perceived quality, with most consumers classified as satisfied or very satisfied, although regional disparities were observed—satisfaction was highest in the South and lowest in the North. These findings reinforce the advantages of IRT in service quality assessment, enabling detailed response pattern modeling and the development of standardized, interpretable scales. The validated instrument provides regulators and utility companies with a valuable tool for monitoring service quality and optimizing policies to enhance consumer satisfaction. Future research may refine benchmarking methodologies for cross-market comparisons.

Keywords: Perceived quality; Consumer satisfaction; ANEEL consumer satisfaction index; Item response theory; Reliability; Service quality metrics; Graded response model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11135-025-02168-w Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:qualqt:v:59:y:2025:i:5:d:10.1007_s11135-025-02168-w

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11135

DOI: 10.1007/s11135-025-02168-w

Access Statistics for this article

Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology is currently edited by Vittorio Capecchi

More articles in Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().