Understanding regional high-order service growth in Canada: a cointegration approach

Does employment in regional ‘high-order’ service industries cause d~used regional economic growth (as held by subsidy proponents), or vice versa (as held by detractors), or do feedback systems exist where causality runs in both directions simultaneously? We use time series data for GDP and employment for two principal NAICS service industry classifications to test for evidence of long-run equilibria and causality relationships between these variables for Canada and five provinces. The preliminary results suggest some surprising regional variations that are relevant whether or not one believes that firm-specific subsidies hold the elusive key to prosperity in peripheral regions.     

Understanding effects of co-creation on cognitive,affective and behavioral evaluations in service recovery: An ethnocultural analysis

While cognitive, affective and behavioral consequences of service recovery have been extensively explored in the literature, the role of co-creation is mostly neglected. Most efforts dedicated to investigating co-recovery are limited to cognitive and behavioral factors. Furthermore, most of the recent studies explored co-recovery on western and eastern cultures, ignoring the role of ethnics in countries with different sub-cultures. This study aims to discover all possible factors on service recovery procedure, focusing specifically on effects of co-creation. Thus, a 2(distributive justice: high/low)×2 (interactional justice: high/low)×2(procedural justice: high/low)×2(co-creation: yes/no)×2(ethnics Azerbaijani vs. Baluch) between-subjects factorial design experiment was performed. A sample of 977 Iranian mobile banking customers participated in the study. Results of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) indicate that most cognitive, affective and behavioral factors were supported by predictors. In addition, Multi-group SEM reveal that co-creation increases effects of most positive nature variables except negative emotions which is conceptualized as negative nature factor. The results of cultural differences indicate that Azeri people are more intended to participate in co-creation programs, whereas Balochs are more loyal due to higher level of reuse intentions.     

The impact of practical relevance on training transfer: evidence from a service quality training program for German bank clerks

The management literature provides a variety of recommendations as to how workers’ customer orientation might be improved, including through training. Crucial factors in the process of transferring the contents of service quality training programs to practice, however, have not yet been sufficiently analysed. This study proposes and tests a model of transfer motivation and training transfer via structural equation modelling, validating Baldwin and Ford's framework and Kirkpatrick's levels of evaluation. Following the recommendation of Alliger et al., the present study analyses the relationship between Kirkpatrick's levels of evaluation, paying attention to the specificity of the measures at each level. The survey collects data from 213 German bank employees who attended a training program aimed at improving service quality. As hypothesized, the perceived practical relevance of the training was found to exert a strong influence on the reaction of the participants and had a substantial total effect on the motivation to transfer and on actual transfer. Subject to the limitations of the research methodology employed here, it is concluded that trainee satisfaction needs to be conceptually distinguished from perceived practical relevance and that the latter is the main driving force for transfer motivation and transfer.     

Public service quality and customer satisfaction: exploring the attributes of service quality in the public sector

Beyond the existing SERVQUAL-based research, the authors develop an alternative model of public service quality. The various sources of public service quality are explored and a new classification scheme formulated by using critical incidents technique. Four main qualities of public service are identified: process quality, outcome quality, design quality, and relationship quality. The findings suggest that the critical attributes of public service quality for customer satisfaction differ according to the types of customers in the public sector. Final customers (beneficiaries) give priority to the process and outcome qualities, whereas intermediary customers (social workers) have high regard for the design and relationship qualities.     

Customer compliance with employee fuzzy requests in service encounters: a self-determination theory perspective

Service Business - This research proposes a theoretical model to explain customer compliance with employee fuzzy requests in service encounters from a self-determination theory perspective....     

Investigating the importance and cognitive satisfaction attributes of service quality in restaurant business - a case study of TASTy steakhouse in Taiwan

ABSTRACT

In this research, we proposed an effective approach to investigate the importance and satisfaction attributes of service quality of a restaurant business. For understanding the gaps of service quality cognition between consumers and servers, our work can be used as a reference for helping restaurants improve their service quality and reuse their resources effectively. We applied DINESERV scales and five-point Likert scales as quantitative research tools. The Kano model, customer satisfaction index, regression analysis, improvement effort index, and importance-performance analysis (IPA) were applied as measurement tools to examine the importance of various service attributes. Our approach was implemented in a famous restaurant in Taiwan: TASTy Steakhouse. The relative priority of service quality attributes for improving this chain restaurant and its competitiveness are ranked and discussed.     

Understanding the psychological process underlying customer satisfaction and retention in a relational service

This paper reexamines the psychological process underlying the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer retention in a relational service context. It is based on a composite model of the attitude-behavior relation, which takes both attitude toward target and attitude toward behavior into account. Data were collected from a survey with a sample of 209 clients from a major credit counseling organization in the USA. Account data indicating those clients' actual retention behavior were matched with the survey data. A two-step structural equation modeling (SEM) procedure was employed to establish the construct validity and test the hypotheses. The results revealed that the effect of customer satisfaction on retention is mediated by the more proximal determinants of the actual retention behavior. Specifically, customer satisfaction has both direct and indirect effects on customers' attitudes toward remaining in the Debt Management Program (DMP), which is the proximal predictor of customer retention. In addition, satisfaction alone cannot guarantee customer retention. Customers' perceived behavioral control exerts direct effects on their intention to remain and retention.     

Competitive dynamics and business models in service business: a promising research subject

Successful firms create substantial value by doing things in ways that differentiate them from the competition. Business models reflect choices and their operating implications. They facilitate the analysis, testing, and validation of the cause-and-effect relationships that flow from the strategic choices. Due to business models are one of the main forces driving strategic renewal efforts of businesses around the world, we focus on service industry companies and their unique characteristics, with regard to new business and competition models that service companies use for strategic management and on how such models mesh with the traditional processes of competitive and corporative strategies.     

从一起纠纷案谈托收项下银行收款时应注意的问题

案例 1998年初,意大利的F公司(卖方)和中国W公司(买方)谈妥一笔业务,买方以CIF术语、L/C即期购买USD28万耐高温后阀门一批,合同规定装运期为1998年7月份。在货物装运前,双方谈妥将支付方式改变为D/P 150 days ater     

The relationship between waiting in a service queue and evaluations of service quality: A field theory perspective

Both empirical evidence and logic suggest that there is a strong negative correlation between waiting time and a customer's evaluation of the quality of a service. The evaluation of service, in turn, is related strongly to customers' loyalty and other important outcomes. A conceptual model, based on field theory, is developed. The model integrates key variables derived from recent studies of consumer waiting behavior. Also incorporated are relevant constructs from the extant services literature, including the roles of the disconfirmation of consumers' wait time expectations, prior service encounters, and the quality of the customer's encounter with the contact employee. Finally, data from actual consumers in a natural queueing context are used to test the theoretical framework. Analysis of the data, with the use of multiple regression, demonstrates a strong pattern of support for the field-theory-based hypotheses, confirming the important role of queue wait management in customer evaluations of service quality. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The dynamics of experiential learning: Microprocesses and adaptation in a professional service INV

In international new ventures (INVs), experiential learning happens in quick succession and across a wide number of diverse contexts. Yet, we lack an empirical understanding of the microprocesses through which INVs learn and adapt in their foreign expansion. Understanding those microprocesses is important because timely adaptation can save the venture time and resources, thus promoting sustainable growth. In this study, we investigate the dynamics of experiential learning and adaptation in the internationalisation process of an INV in the professional service sector. Findings from our study illustrate that the firm applies deliberate experiential learning by developing, revising, and finalising criteria for important dimensions in the international growth process, and adapts its internationalisation practices accordingly. We further show that deliberate experiential learning is predicated on an actively and closely monitored learning process, involving critical evaluation, adjustment of criteria, and acceptance of affordable mistakes, as opposed to learning by default.     

Partnerships in the provision of services by multi-agencies: four dimensions of service leadership and service quality

This paper explores the relationship between four key dimensions of service provision through adopting different partnership approaches. These dimensions are identified to describe partnerships as mandatory or voluntary and service provision based on contract or trust. Propositions about the nature and interaction of these variables are presented and combined as a heuristic suggesting complying, constraining and creating modes of partnership-working and service delivery. Examples are provided of these modes in practice. The paper concludes that this heuristic is a useful tool for practitioners to locate their form of partnership-based service delivery within the spectrum identified.     

Operations in banking: the service quality and effects on satisfaction and loyalty

This paper studies the service quality provided by the banks. The objectives are (i) to identify which aspects of the transactions carried out by the banks are important for the service quality perceived by the customers, taking into account some aspects that are sometimes ignored (online channels) and (ii) to observe how service quality influences customer satisfaction and how customer satisfaction affects the loyalty towards the bank. Using a factor analysis, the research identifies the operative, physical, new technologies and human factors. Next, using structural equations models with AMOS, the results show an influence of the operative aspects and the new technologies on service quality, as well as the confirmation of quality as a precedent to customer satisfaction, and how such satisfaction influences on customer's loyalty towards the bank.     

The four levels of loyalty and the pivotal role of trust: a study of online service dynamics

A four-dimension scale of loyalty that reflects Oliver’s [Satisfaction, a Behavioral Perspective on the Consumer, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1997] conceptualization of a sequential loyalty chain is proposed, operationalized, and tested. Further, through both synthesizing and building on existing research into loyalty, trust, satisfaction, value, and service quality, a framework is proposed and tested that positions trust as a pivotal driver of loyalty. Data is collected and analyzed from two surveys of online customers, the first being purchasers of books and the second being a study of online flight purchasing. Analysis suggests that the hypothesized cognitive-affective-conative-action loyalty sequence is statistically most likely out of all possible variations. Although some differences emerge in the two studies, structural modeling largely supports the hypothesized framework and positions trust as central to service dynamics.     

Understanding creative service: a qualitative study of the advertising problem delineation,communication and response (APDCR) process

The nature of advertising creativity is explored as a professional, applied creative service product, within a business-to-business context. Findings are reported from a series of extensive in-depth interviews with advertising managers in major client organisations. Analysis of these interviews generated a detailed conceptualisation of the advertising problem delineation, communication and response (APDCR) process, expressed in a flowchart. The data also suggest two variations in the pattern of agency-client relationships within which the APDCR process operates, and factors that may be responsible for these variations. A better understanding of the nature and dynamic operation of creative service may enable both agency and advertiser stakeholders to achieve greater satisfaction.     

Internal service quality within the different Chinese subcultures: a comparison between Taiwan, China, and Singapore

Previous research has determined the different internal service quality (ISQ) characteristics in the East and the West; however, the differences within Chinese subcultures still remain unknown. The objective of this study is thus to determine whether the importance level of ISQ factors and attributes is similar within the different Chinese subcultures. The empirical results show there are significant differences between Taiwan, China, and Singapore in the purchasing function of the manufacturing industry. Internal service providers should thus be able to use the results of this research to improve the service quality they direct towards their customers. This study also offers recommendations for managers to increase the levels of ISQ in Chinese businesses.     

Congruence in the assessment of service quality between employees and customers: A study of a public health care delivery system

Using social information processing theory, we examined the congruence between employee and customer assessments of organizations' service quality. The setting was a public health care delivery system. Contrary to expectations, employee assessments of service quality were lower than those of their customers. Also unexpectedly, employees with professional training had less congruent assessments than other employees. As expected, employees with longer tenure and those in departments with stronger customer service work climates had more congruent assessments relative to their customers. The results have implications for both management theory and for managers interested in developing customer-centered organizations.     

Draining the judiciary bottleneck: A quasi-experiment in improving a government service

This study describes judicial reform as a quasi-experiment. The reform is the deployment and implementation of the GICA-Justicia (Gestión Integral de Calidad y Acreditación: Quality and Accreditation Integral Management) Quality-Management Standard (QMS) within the Second Court of Appeal of Costa Rica's Supreme Court; the reform includes process improvements following the implementation. The study of impact includes a direct comparison to its homologous in Panama's Justice System. The GICA-Justicia emerges in the QMS environment as a process-performance tracking and improvement tool for accreditation of district courts and courts of appeal. This study offers “sui generis state of the art” empirical know-how via the use of an interrupted time series quasi-experiment. This study contributes to literature by unveiling a successful new judicial service improvement design in a Latin-American context.     

Choice Architectures in the Digital Economy: Towards a New Understanding of Digital Vulnerability

In the digital economy, consumer vulnerability is not simply a vantage point from which to assess some consumers’ lack of ability to activate their awareness of persuasion. Instead, digital vulnerability describes a universal state of defencelessness and susceptibility to (the exploitation of) power imbalances that are the result of the increasing automation of commerce, datafied consumer–seller relations, and the very architecture of digital marketplaces. Digital vulnerability, we argue, is architectural, relational, and data-driven. Based on our concept of digital vulnerability, we demonstrate how and why using digital technology to render consumers vulnerable is the epitome of an unfair digital commercial practice.