Business Commons^™

The Service-Quality Audit: A Hotel Case Study, James Y. Luchars, Timothy R. Hinkin

Timothy R. Hinkin

A service audit that quantifies the cost of everyday errors can help a hotel manager pinpoint which quality problems to address first.

Hotel Guest E-Questionnaires: Implications For Feedback And Relationships, Alfred Ogle, Nadine Henley, Michelle Rowe, Sybe Jongeling, Stephen Fanning

Alfred Ogle

This paper examines the reliability and efficacy of hotel guest e-mail questionnaire compared to the paper questionnaire in the Asian Pacific context. Conducted inPerth,SingaporeandPenang, cities with mature hospitality and tourism industries and a representation of chain and independent deluxe hotels, this exploratory qualitative study examines hotelier views of e-mail guest communication derived from content analysis of guest questionnaires format and content and in-depth interviews with senior hoteliers. The findings indicated that e-questionnaires manifested as e-mails, as a direct replacement of the paper questionnaire, appear to be premature given divergent hotelier views and shortcomings in e-mail response administration. If properly executed, …

Factor Structure Of The Chinese Service Quality Assessment Scale, Siu-Yin Cheung, Eddie Lam, Jia-Wen Shao, Jennifer Mak

Jennifer Y Mak

The quality of service has been the major subject of interest for business and academia. The aims of this study were to investigate the service quality of fitness clubs in Hong Kong and Guangzhou and to examine the underlying factor structure of the Service Quality Assessment Scale (SQAS; Lam, Zhang, & Jensen, 2005) in the Chinese context.

Measuring The Quality Of Ecotourism Services: Case Study–Based Model Validation, Nor’Aini Yusof, Faiz Abd Rahman, Mohd Fitri Che Jamil, Mohammad Iranmanesh

Mohammad Iranmanesh

Ecotourism forms the pillar of the country’s tourism industry. Ecotourists make up more than 10% of international tourists in Malaysia. When service quality is thought of as an important factor to the success of tourism service providers, the importance of estimating service quality provided to tourists becomes apparent. Estimating service quality provides tourism service providers with the necessary information needed to manage their marketing operations appropriately. Therefore, this estimation should be performed with the right measurement scales. Despite the high volume of research on service quality (SERVQUAL) models in recent years, limited effort has been directed toward improving the tool …

Towards A Conceptual Model Of User Acceptance Of Location-Based Emergency Services, Anas Aloudat, Katina Michael

Professor Katina Michael

This paper investigates the introduction of location-based services by government as part of an all-hazards approach to modern emergency management solutions. Its main contribution is in exploring the determinants of an individual’s acceptance or rejection of location services. The authors put forward a conceptual model to better predict why an individual would accept or reject such services, especially with respect to emergencies. While it may be posited by government agencies that individuals would unanimously wish to accept life-saving and life-sustaining location services for their well-being, this view remains untested. The theorised determinants include: visibility of the service solution, perceived service …

The Role Of National Culture On Relationships Between Customers’ Perception Of Quality, Values, Satisfaction, And Behavioral Intentions, Chao Wen, Hong Qin, Victor R. Prybutok, Charles Blankson

Chao Wen

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of individualistic cultures (such as the American culture) and collectivistic cultures (such as the Chinese culture) on the interrelationship among service quality, food quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction, and behavioral intentions in the fast-food industry. First, the authors provide empirical evidence of the robust relationships among the constructs across diverse cultures. Second, they investigate how moderator variables such as customer age, gender, and national culture affect customer behavioral intentions. Moreover, they examine how national culture, as a moderator, affects the magnitude of the relationships among these constructs. Using survey data …

Optimal Service-Based Competition With Heterogeneous Suppliers, Ehsan Elahi, Saif Benjaafar, Karen L. Donohue

Ehsan Elahi

We investigate how a competition can be designed to maximize expected profit for a buyer who wishes to allocate demand among a diverse set of suppliers when his profit is dependent on the supplier’s service levels. The candidate suppliers are heterogeneous in their capacities and cost structures, and compete for shares of the buyer’s demand based on their promised service levels. To characterize the optimal competition, we first identify a family of allocation functions that are service maximizing, meaning they can intensify the competition to a point where each supplier provides its maximum feasible service level and the outcome of …

Modeling Quality Dynamics In It Services Management, Shahriar Akter, John D'Ambra, Pradeep Ray

Shahriar Akter

The increasing importance of information technology (IT) services in the global economy prompts IS researchers to focus on service quality dynamics to capture the critical interaction between human behavior and IT. The purpose of this study is to develop and validate a user perceived IT service quality model for mHealth using a cross-disciplinary approach. The conceptual model is rooted in the traditional cognition (service quality) – affective (satisfaction)– conation (continuance intentions) chain but explicitly identifies three primary dimensions (i.e., system quality, interaction quality and outcome quality) and eight subdimensions (system reliability, system efficiency, system privacy, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, utilitarian benefits …

High-Versus Low-Context National Cultures: Preferences For Type Of Retailer And For Human Interaction, Gregory E. Osland, Bela Florenthal

Gregory E. Osland

A purpose of this research is to investigate differences between low-and high-context national cultures in retail settings. In particular, we examined cultural differences in preference for human interaction while shopping, "emotional warmth" characteristics, perception of quality service, and retail channel preferences. As businesses more frequently employ multi-channel strategies in global settings, this topic of national culture gains importance and can shed light on key factors that shape consumers' retail preferences. Our findings indicate that national cultures differ in terms of retail channel preferences, preference for human interaction, and relationships between the two. Managerial implications and future research are addressed, as …

Relationship Between Customer Satisfaction And Service Quality Of Islamic Banks, Muhammad Naeem Akhtar, Ahmed Imran Hunjra, Syed Waqar Akbar, Kashif Ur Rehman, Ghulam Shabbir Khan Niazi

Ahmed Imran Hunjra (PhD)

Measuring Service Quality In A Corporatised Public Sector Environment, Karen Mcfadyen, Jennifer Harrison, Stephen Kelly, Don Scott

Adjunct Professor Stephen J Kelly

Using a modified SERVQUAL scale, this paper measures perceived service quality in a corporatised public sector environment. Five factors were identified: personalised proficiency, empathic professionalism, reliability, tangibles and access; explaining 61% of overall variance. Further analysis using multiple regression also indicated that 45% of the variability in customer satisfaction and 43% of the variability in overall service quality was explained by the five factors. The research was conducted in response to calls for the application of this measure and following a review of extant literature that indicated the limited number of studies undertaken within the public sector that assessed service …

Training And Service Quality: A Case Study Analysis Of Regional Australian Restaurants, Grant Cairncross, Simon J. Wilde, Lucinda Hutchinson

Dr Simon J Wilde

The incorporation of training procedures, both formal and informal, within hospitality firms is recognised as a vital element in achieving sustainable perceived service quality. Yet, despite this importance, relatively little is known about the extent, nature and determinants of training in hospitality firms in regional Australia. Restaurants in particular have proven hard to analyse because many are what the Australian Bureau of Statistics calls micro-businesses who employ less than five staff, or are small businesses with five to twenty employees, and have little in the way of training resources and expertise in the area. An examination of six restaurants in …

Human Resource Management, Service Quality, And Economic Performance In Call Centers, Rosemary Batt, Lisa M. Moynihan

Rosemary Batt

This paper examines the relationship between human resource practices, operational outcomes, and economic performance in call centers. The study draws on a sample of 64 call centers serving the mass market in a large telecommunications services company. Surveys of 1,243 employees in the 64 centers were aggregated to the call center level and matched to archival data on service process quality, as measured by customer surveys; call handling time, revenues per call, and net revenues per call. Our path analysis shows that human resource practices emphasizing employee training, discretion, and rewards lead to higher service quality, higher revenues per call, …

Airline Service Quality: Exploratory Analysis Of Consumer Perceptions And Operational Performance In The Us And Eu, Dawna Rhoades

Dawna L Rhoades PhD

No abstract provided.

Assessing Service Quality In Public And Private Fitness Centers In Greece, Yanni D. Afthinos, George Costa, Nikolas Theodorakis, Dimitrios Gargalianos

Yanni D Afthinos

No abstract provided.

A First Approach To Measure Service Quality In Greek Fitness Centers, Yanni D. Afthinos

Yanni D Afthinos

The aim of this paper is to examine the contextual stability of a service quality instrument in an international setting . This study is the first step of a bigger research project that will attempt first to conceptualize and measure service quality in Greek fitness centers, and second to test its relationship with customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions.