Assessing the influence of self-reported requirements importance on the perceived quality of proposed software products

Abstract

Customer satisfaction is highly associated with product quality. It is thus a proxy for the perceived quality of software products. It is a good quality indicator for proposed software products. The place of the perceived satisfaction of users or customers as a reflection or indicator of their perception of the quality of software product cannot be overlooked especially in today software market that is highly competitive. The perceived quality of products serves as a driver for the loyalty of customers and also promotes high profitability, viability of products and return on investment. Therefore, understanding the importance of requirements as it is associated with the satisfaction of users or customers when their requirements are fulfilled is worth the stress considering. It is necessary to know the relationship between customer satisfactions when their requirements are met and the importance of such requirement. So many studies have been done on customer satisfaction in relation with the importance of requirements but the correlation between customer satisfaction coefficients of the Kano model (as a proxy for perceived software quality) and users or customers reported requirements importance have not been sufficiently examined. In this study, an attempt is made to investigate the influence of customer reported requirements importance on the perceived quality of proposed software products. The result of the study indicates a significant relationship between the reported requirement importance and perceived quality of proposed software products (captured using Kano model customer satisfaction coefficients). The analysis indicates that the perceived customers or users requirements importance (that is, the value they place on the requirements/features of the proposed product) positively influences the level of satisfaction such customers derive from the product and their perception of the quality of the product. The importance of a product feature significantly affects the perceived satisfaction customers get from the inclusion of such feature in the product design and construction and thus, their perception of the products quality. Since customer satisfaction (perceived quality) is directly related to the reported requirements importance, it is therefore essential to give adequate place to user or customer satisfying requirements (features) all through the software development lifecycle as this enhances the products perceived quality. Customer reported requirements importance highly accounts for variations in the perceived quality of proposed software products.