A gap model of purchasing's internal service quality: Concept,case study and internal survey

Traditionally, the monitoring of a purchasing department's performance is primarily focused on cost analysis and the evaluation of suppliers rather than on internal service aspects. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to develop an instrument for the measurement of the internal service quality of purchasing departments. Based on the SERVQUAL and the general gap model of service quality, a specific gap model regarding purchasing's internal service quality was developed. Similar to previous research, both the perceptions of the actual service and the internal customers’ expectations of the service quality were included. In addition, the model contains a self-evaluation by contrasting the views (expectations and perceptions) of the internal customer with those of the purchaser. The application of this instrument in a large company demonstrates the general usefulness of this instrument. Statements of 145 internal customers and 36 purchasers were available for statistical analysis. The results of this analysis can be helpful in detecting weak points and sources of internal customers’ dissatisfaction.     

Service quality of travel agents in Turkey

Customer satisfaction is an important measure of service quality in travel agents. Customers’ perceptions about agents seem to have been largely ignored by agent management in developing countries. The assessment of service quality provides an important feedback for agents to assess and improve its service to its customers. The aim of this study is to develop a reliable and valid instrument measure customer satisfaction in travel agents. A questionnaire to measure the service quality of travel agents was used and a total of 217 customers in Turkey were interviewed. Factor analysis was utilized to determine the factor structure. The instrument of the customer satisfaction developed in this study provides insights to the researches who study the improvement of customer satisfaction with service quality of travel agents and decision markers.     

Vengeance scale: reliability and validity study with gender differences

The feeling of revenge, which can be described as the desire of the individual to take revenge of the pain of an evil done to him or the pain of unscrupulous, is explained as a rudimental, destructive and illogical personality accompanied by some personality disorders. The purpose of this work is to develop and update the existing vengeance scale and evaluate the validity and reliability of this scale. On the other hand, the other purpose of this research is explaining the gender differences to taking vengeance. The research was conducted on 330 high school students. According to the results of the factor analysis, the scale is composed of 5 sub-scales. The developed vengeance scale consists of 22 items. The alpha value for the overall scale is extremely high and thus the instrument is reliable. The scale may be advisable for the studies on revenge-seeking and disseminate the practice for high-school students and different age groups in the light of these results. The results of the scale, there are differences about the gender; seems like male students were significantly higher than female students.

     

基于模糊综合评价法的高校图书馆服务质量评价研究——以云南省某高校图书馆为例

图书馆服务质量是指图书馆在为用户提供服务过程中,满足用户需求的程度,用户应该是图书馆服务质量的评价者。借鉴LibQUAL+TM系统设计出云南某图书馆调查问卷。专家采用1-9标度法确定指标权重,通过模糊综合评价法对调研数据进行运算,获得该馆的服务质量评价结果,进而得出提高其服务质量的对策。     

高职院校图书馆在大学生综合素质教育中的作用

高职院校图书馆在大学生综合素质教育中具有课堂教育不可替代的文化优势、环境优势和服务优势,与素质教育的方方面面有着诸多的密切联系,并且在大学生的综合素质教育中能够发挥独特而重要的教育作用。高职院校图书馆应利用自身所拥有的丰富的文献资源,通过没有围墙学校的知识传授,促进大学生自身素质的内在资源健康发展,只有这样,中国的发展才能不断呈现新的生机和活力。     

A new measurement procedure for attitudinal research. Analysis of its psychometric and informational properties

Since measurement errors have strong effects in all relationships (statistical or otherwise) studied, there is an increasing interest in the data quality, which is the major justification for this research. This paper aims to present a new measurement procedure, the letter scale, which avoids many of the problems connected with the response modalities traditionally used in attitudinal research, especially the ordinal categorical scales. This paper analyzes the error composition of the scores obtained with this new measurement procedure. The validity of the procedure is also analyzed and the observed variance is assessed to determine which part of the observed variance is “valid”, which part is random error (attenuating relationships) and which is correlated error (magnifying relationships). Structural equation models will be used to provide estimates of the measurement quality: (i) Reliability, (ii) Construct validity, method effect and residual variance. In addition, this letter scale is evaluated under another different perspective, Information Theory measures are also used to assess the amount of information transmitted. The relative merits of this new measurement procedure as opposed to other common response modalities will be discussed in both cases.     

研究阅读需求,开展创新服务

研究读者阅读需求,是搞好图书馆服务工作的重要基础,高校图书馆尤其如此。通过对读者需求的研究,开展创新服务,提高服务质量,保障学校的教学、科研。     

Applying structural equation modeling methodology to test validation: an example of cyberspace positive psychology scale

Although the structural equation modeling (SEM) methodology is a powerful tool for validating psychological measurements, few studies have used complete SEM-based indexes in test validation. This study developed and validated the cyberspace positive psychology scale (C-PPS) via SEM techniques. A total of 411 college students were recruited from four universities in Taiwan for the study. Hierarchical confirmatory factor analysis was used to test construct validity, and a structural model provided criterion-related validity. Reliability was reported via composite reliability. Results of the analyses show that the C-PPS demonstrated high reliability and good construct validity. Furthermore, criterion-related validity identified that although positive psychology in cyberspace and positive psychology in real life contexts are correlated, the two are also distinguishable. To conclude, the C-PPS is valid and reliable. The validation of the C-PPS indicates that college students can exhibit positive psychological traits in both the real and virtual worlds.     

Dynamic managerial capabilities: Scale development and validation

Studies on dynamic managerial capabilities still have a rather theoretical nature, and there is great difficulty in finding a valid, reliable instrument to measure this construct. The present study contributes to solving this problem: It aims to develop and validate a scale to measure dynamic managerial capabilities. In this investigation, we develop a scale for three factors related to dynamic managerial capabilities: human capital, managerial cognition (already described in the literature), and relationship networks. The prominent finding in this research is the factor that is referred to here as relationship networks.     

Measuring the social impacts of local authority events: a pilot study for a civic pride scale

• The provision of events and festivals by local government has become an expected, if non‐mandatory, service. In many regions these events are organised in order to provide mainly social, rather than economic, benefits to the community and, as a consequence, the providing organisation may have difficulty in demonstrating a return on the budget invested. This paper suggests the use of multi‐item attitude scales to quantify the intangible effects of the festival or event programme on the local community. The findings of a pilot study of one such scale are presented showing that reliable and valid methods can be developed, that they can be relatively low cost and simple to apply and that the data generated can be of great value in enhancing the evaluation of local authority service provision.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An application of six sigma methodology to enhance leisure service quality

Thanks to flourishing development of the service industry for the past few years, its GDP output value is over 73%, which accounts for 58% of the employment population. The leisure service industry, in particular grows by multiple revealing its significant importance. As there is a feature of high homogeneity and substitution in the same trade, the core issue lies on enhancement of service quality in an environment of keen competition. As a result, six sigma (6σ) is applied in this research to improve service quality and increase competitiveness of the leisure industry. First, the service quality model proposed by Parasuraman, A., V. A. Zeithaml, and L. L. Berry (PZB model for short) is utilized to design the items in the service quality questionnaire. Importance and satisfaction of each service item perceived by customers are based for the scale, whose means are further converted to indexes. Thus, a scale-based service performance evaluation matrix with indices of importance as the Y-axis and those of satisfaction as the X-axis is defined. Then, service factors of high importance and low satisfaction are located and defined for improvement in accordance with the index location of each service factor. A measurement model based on the difference between customers’ importance and satisfaction is proposed and a measurement index is defined for an objective evaluation method and procedures. Next, factors of customer dissatisfaction are analyzed and improvement methods are devised. Finally, leisure service quality is monitored by the performance control model.     

基于服务科学构建旅游服务质量评价模型的研究

本研究旨在为旅游业提供可靠的服务水平测量工具,帮助旅游管理者找寻服务质量的改进方向,提高服务水平。根据服务科学管理与工程(SSME)的研究方法,界定出旅游服务质量的5个维度,22项指标,在进行了信度、效度检验的基础上建立服务质量评价模型,分析评价了松潘旅游服务质量。     

高等教育服务质量学生满意度现状及影响因子研究——基于江苏省八所高校本科生的调查分析

本研究选取南京市8所高校开展调查,结果表明学生对高等教育服务质量整体不满。专业前景是学生最关注的重点。宿舍管理员、学校自然环境、辅导员、图书馆管理、学生自治组织是高校的优势项目,食堂服务设施、回复学生群体不满、毕业生受欢迎度、课程可选修度、课程计划安排是高校的挑战项目。影响学生满意度的因子由大到小依次是:专业课程、校园文化、师资队伍、实践创新、后勤服务、教辅设施。学生的年级、性别对总体满意度的影响是随机的,学生的专业、成绩、父母文化程度、院校身份与总体满意度正向相关。     

Green human resource management: Development of a valid measurement scale

The objective of the study was to develop a valid measurement scale for green human resource management (HRM). Even though the common practices of green HRM have been presented in much of the literature, the previous studies focused only on a small number of functions in integrating environmental management with HRM. Additionally, the measurement of green HRM practices still calls for empirical validation. The two‐stage methodology of structural equation modeling in AMOS was employed for data analysis. Exploratory factor analysis revealed seven dimensions of the construct measured by 28 items. Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the factor structure. The measuring instruments revealed convergent and discriminant validity. Several model fit indices indicated the model fitness. The study provided supplementary evidence on the underlying structure of the construct that can be valuable to researchers and practitioners in this area.     

Re-innovation: The construct, measurement, and validation

There has been substantial research in the area of innovation, which is widely regarded as a powerful weapon to create competitive advantage. One important reason of the substantial research in innovation is the presence of valid and reliable measures of key innovation characteristics, such as radical, incremental, or disruptiveness innovation. Re-innovation, an extension of innovation, is renowned for its potential in creating competitive advantage with reduced cost and time implications. Unfortunately, very little research in re-innovation has been conducted, possibly because to date it still lacks a psychometrically valid measure. There is also a lack of research on convergent and discriminant validities of the re-innovation construct, resulting in the impossibility to discriminate re-innovation characteristics from radical or incremental innovation characteristics. The purpose of this paper is to develop a valid and reliable scale for measuring the construct of re-innovation. To test its reliability and discriminant and convergent validities, we used data collected from 294 general managers of SBUs in 89 electronics-related companies in Taiwan and performed a series of analyses. The reliability measures, exploratory factor analyses, confirmatory factor analyses, and convergent and discriminant validity tests strongly support our scale. In addition, nomological validity is demonstrated. Hence, this study distinguishes the re-innovation from radical and incremental innovation constructs. Finally, discussion, limitations, and future research are presented.     

混合加工图书采编业务外包在高职院校的实际应用

近十年来全国各地高职院校的办学规模不断扩大、专业设置不断拓展变化,各高职院校图书馆对藏书类型、图书情报服务水平、图书质量的要求也进一步提高。然而由于各种原因,在短期内,各校图书馆建设的投入、人手和技术力量不可能全面改善,因此普遍存在图书馆馆藏图书不足、技术力量缺乏、知识服务水平跟不上的问题。在这种情形下,将图书馆的一部分重复性高、相对简单及对技术要求不高的劳动进行外包,将原岗位人员进行重新优化组合,集中力量发展馆内的核心业务,是一条可行的路子。本文分析了采编业务外包的背景和现有的模式,提出了新的图书采编业务外包的基本流程,并通过长期的实践总结了新的混合加工模式图书采编业务外包的基本做法和特点。     

Factor substitution in the production of library services: evidence from the North American research libraries

Economic analysis provides a rigorous foundation for the investigation of production activity, but relatively little attention has been given to service activities. This paper examines the technology of library services. Previous studies of library economics have focused mainly on economies of scale. The model proposed identifies scale economies, together with the substitution relationships among three categories of library staff, which are inferred from estimates of the cost function of 92 research libraries. For all categories of employees there is evidence of substitutability, but the demand for librarians is inelastic and the substitution possibilities weak. Student assistants are relatively strong substitutes for support staff and to a limited degree may be substituted for trained librarians. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

怎样在“十二五”规划时期做好高校图书馆工作

"十二五"规划期间,做好高校图书馆工作必须让领导重视,工作人员要有素质高,图书馆藏书质量又多又好,图书馆信息现代化水平高。高校图书馆具备这样的条件,才能更好地为广大师生提供优质服务。     

Delivery of private toll roads: Incentive strategies for improving service quality and social welfare

Managing the service quality of toll roads delivered by using Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) to ensure value for money to taxpayers is challenging for governments worldwide. An absence of critical research in this area has exacerbated this challenge. The upshot, in this instance, has been an inability for governments to engender and enact effective incentive strategies to operate and maintain private toll roads. To fill this gap, this paper aims to identify and examine incentive strategies for improving the operational quality of toll roads delivered by private entities. We develop a game model with four scenarios and then compare relevant decision behaviour and social welfare. The analysis reveals that only when the shadow cost of public funds is below a specific threshold there can be a feasible incentive strategy for ensuring quality improvement and higher social welfare. Furthermore, an incentive contract with a predetermined quality can enable a higher operational quality while requiring a higher incentive intensity. The contributions of this research are twofold: (1) we propose an enhanced model that is useful for governments to examine the impacts that different incentive strategies will have on the performance of transport projects; (2) we give an enhanced insight to support decision-making for incentives towards transport asset operations. This research will also be beneficial for governments in enhancing toll roads’ operational quality and social welfare for taxpayers.     

探索我院图书开架阅览新思路

图书馆阅览室是学校教学科研人员和学生学习、阅览、交流活动的主要场所,图书利用率是衡量图书馆工作的一个重要尺度。为了提高服务质量,最大限度的满足读者需求,更好地服务读者,图书馆应该了解读者需求,开展有针对性的服务,打破图书馆"等客上门"的被动局面,减少"拒借率",以便充分发挥图书馆资源优势,实行开架阅览势在必行。