Linking quality & quantity

A fault of many quantitative studies is the inadequate fit between the real-world processes and the formal aspects of the quantitative research designs as seen in their accounting schemes, measurements, and analysis plans. The examples reviewed in this article show how to ameliorate this problem by following the hermeneutically informed strategy of formalization of qualitative texts. Qualitative studies often possess external validity but lack internal validity. Quantitative studies often possess internal validity but lack external validity. By building quantitative studies on formalizations of the qualitative, the resulting research is more likely to possess both external and internal validity. This strategy of formalization will help to avoid two faults in present-day social science — sterility and discontinuity — and will promote the achievement of a dynamic continunity in social research.     

Service Guarantee Strength: The key to service quality

While most authors describe a service guarantee as a “zero-one variable” indicating the presence or absence of an explicit written service guarantee, this paper develops a construct called “Service Guarantee Strength” (SGS) that is a continuous variable. This construct measures the degree to which a firm sets clear service quality standards for itself on dimensions that customers care about, and has an formal policy for quickly giving meaningful compensation to customers when these standards are not met.The paper builds upon established micro-level behavioral theory to develop the “Service Guarantee Strength Framework”. This framework posits that high Service Guarantee Strength leads to improved service quality, customer satisfaction, and loyalty through three intervening variables—marketing communications impact, employee motivation and vision, and learning through service failure.An empirical investigation was conducted to test the SGS Framework using both employee and customer data from three pairs of firms, with each pair in a different industry. None of these firms had an explicit service guarantee. Unlike many behavioral research studies, this study measured both employee and customer perceptual data and compared the two. The research finds that Service Guarantee Strength is positively related to customer perceptions of service quality, customer satisfaction, and loyalty.     

基于KPI的第三方物流客户服务质量评价模型

从影响第三方物流客户服务质量的企业内部和外部出发,基于KPI和感知服务质量模型,以顾客满意为评价准则,建立第三方物流客户服务质量概念模型和理论模型。通过该模型,改进和提高第三方物流企业客户服务质量,赢得客户满意。     

The importance of an internal marketing orientation in social services

• The current research takes an interdisciplinary approach to examine the role of emotions in the successful delivery of social services. Survey data collected from 533 frontline social service providers were subjected to regression analyses. Findings reveal that emotional intelligence mediates the relationship between emotional labor and job stress, which in‐turn impacts job performance. The findings suggest that an internal marketing orientation is needed to better match the organization's products (i.e., jobs) with its internal customers (employees), and in‐turn improve the quality (job performance) of its offerings to its external customers.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

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.     

Applying fuzzy quality function deployment (QFD) to identify solutions of service delivery system for port of Kaohsiung

The main purpose of this paper is to apply fuzzy quality function deployment (QFD) model to identify solutions of service delivery system (SDS) for port of Kaohsiung from the viewpoints of customers. At first, to facilitate the main issue of the QFD problem, however, the ‘what’ question of customer needs and ‘how’ problem of the services have to be made, which are two major components and be emphasized on the house of quality (HOQ) matrices. In conjunction with fuzzy sets theory, hence, the systematic procedures using fuzzy QFD were proposed in this paper. Subsequently, a case study for port of Kaohsiung demonstrated the systematic appraisal process for identifying solutions of SDS. The results of empirical study show that (1) 10 key factors are deemed as to have priority to improve the quality of SDS for Kaohsiung port; and (2) eight feasible solutions for improving service quality performance are identified. Moreover, it is suggested that port Authority of Kaohsiung should listen attentively the voice of customers and emphasize on exploiting these customer requirements effectively. And then develop the ‘how’ issues of profiles of solutions, which should continuously strengthen the perspectives of customer, internal business process, and learning and growth, respectively.     

Expolynomial smoothing of autocorrelated time series

Summary In the following, causal pattern buried in autocorrelated noise is considered. The causal pattern may be described by models such as trends, polynomial trajectories, growing sines. Based on a new criterion — called expolynomial — estimators of coefficients of a polynomial model are obtained. Characteristic functions of the estimators are derived and the first two moments calculated. Continuous time series are briefly studied to show similarities between discrete and continuous observations. Popular exponential smoothing is a special case of the expolynomial smoothing.     

Identification structure of linear structural models

In this paper identification problems in linear structural models are discussed. A special but practically important form of these problems, the structural identifiability, is defined. Thereafter it is shown that this problem can be studied — without empirical data — by a set system defined on the set of free parameters of a model. This set system is the identification structure, or the matroid, of the model. It gives insight into the dependence of unidentified parameters. The advantages of this approach in research planning and in correcting nonidentifiable models is demonstrated. Finally we introduce the FORTRAN program LISRAN, which is designed to analyze a given linear structural model and to provide its identification structure.     

Service Climate in Self-Managing Teams: Mapping the Linkage of Team Member Perceptions and Service Performance Outcomes in a Business-to-Business Setting

abstract    Drawing from the organizational behaviour and services marketing literature, we develop a conceptual model of self-managing team (SMT) service climate, taking into account characteristics of the organizational context, the SMT, and the individual employee. In order to assess the impact of SMT service climate, we include a number of internal consequences (i.e., in-company performance data) and external service performance outcomes (i.e., customer-perceived service quality). As a result of the hierarchically nested data-structure (i.e., groups and individuals), we investigate the antecedents of SMT service climate in service groups using a multi-level approach. Our results reveal that organizational and group factors have a significant cross-level influence on individual employee perceptions of SMT service climate. Furthermore, we demonstrate that employee perceptions of SMT service climate are positively related to customer-perceived service quality, while there is no relationship with service productivity measures.     

服务导向与组织内外部营销表现关系之研究

在服务营销管理的领域中，内部营销及外部营销均为影响组织绩效的关键因素，本研究以餐饮业的服务员工及顾客为实证研究的对象，将服务导向作为主要变量，从员工及顾客的角度，发展一个整合服务导向及组织内、外部营销表现的模型，并以LISREL分析验证本研究所提出的假设。     

A graduates ’ satisfaction index for the evaluation of the university overall quality

In the higher educational setting, students provide a relevant contribution to the quality of educational services. In such a context, the measurement of the perceived quality and related satisfaction for the university experience are of primary interest to evaluate the efficiency and efficacy of the learning processes. In this contribution, we aim at assessing the overall quality of the graduates’ university experience in terms of internal and external efficacy by applying the ECSI (European Customer Satisfaction Index) methodology, based on structural equation models and primarily developed in the context of customer satisfaction. For this aim, we propose a modified ECSI model tailored for the higher educational setting, explicitly taking into account the differences among groups of degree program. The study is carried out on data collected by the AlmaLaurea surveys at the University of Florence (Italy) in the period 2014–2017 and concerns a sample of more than 2,000 graduates. We find out eight latent variables that contribute to define the overall quality of university experience. These variables are differently affected by the type of degree program, with the highest levels of external efficacy observed for degree programs belonging to the educational, health, and engineering groups. It also turns out that interventions on the internal efficacy (i.e., quality of hardware and quality of humanware) have a direct positive effect on the university (i.e., loyalty) and an indirect positive effect on the society (i.e., external efficacy).     

Refashioning Organizational Boundaries: Outsourcing Customer Service Work*

abstract In recent years there has been a discernible trend towards the outsourcing and subcontracting of work. However, there has been very little empirical research on employees' attitudes to work in outsourced firms. This study is conducted in the area of call centre services where there has been a substantial growth in the provision of external market suppliers. It examines employees' perceptions of their work and employment arrangements in both an in‐house producer and an external service provider and identifies and compares the factors that shape their organizational commitment and intentions to quit. The research found that the character of the internal labour market and the nature of the work regime were more important explanations of organizational commitment and intentions to quit in the external market supplier than in the in‐house producer. The paper discusses the implications of these findings for the quality of customer service provided under subcontracting arrangements.     

Linking capacities of high‐quality relationships to team learning and performance in service organizations

This study examines the impact of intrateam and external high‐quality relationships (HQRs) on learning processes and performance. Data collected from 178 teams in the service sector indicate that (a) intrateam HQRs (i.e., between team members and between team members and their manager) are related to psychological safety, which in turn facilitates learning processes; (b) external HQRs are associated directly with team learning; and (c) team learning is positively associated with enhanced team performance. The findings highlight the importance of both internal and external HQRs to facilitate learning and enhance performance in service organizations. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Supplier evaluation in local public services: Application of a model of value for customer

A methodology for evaluating the supplier's performance in a standardised public service is presented with a theoretical application to the water service. It aims at supporting the managers in their efforts to improve the service provided. The basic concept is that the quality of service depends on the quality of the supplier's performances. It is then possible to determine such performances in terms of technical and functional quality as linked with customer satisfaction. It can be expressed in terms of the prevalent value model for the users and the quality of interaction between customer and supplier is a function of the quality of service provided (Q_s). An agent-based model can be defined for simulating the interaction among the actors.     

Internal and external suppliers in manufacturing networks—An empirical analysis

The purpose of the paper is to explore the way manufacturing firms use internal and external suppliers in the design and management of manufacturing networks. The main area of interest is to explore the similarities and differences between internal and external suppliers, with respect to their roles and the reasons for choosing a certain type of supplier. We base our analysis on data from 104 Swedish manufacturing plants and their corresponding manufacturing networks of internal and external suppliers. The results of the study show that there are significant differences between the criteria that are influential in choosing a certain type of supplier. The choice of an internal supplier is largely based on a single corporate decision, while an external supplier has to perform well on a number of criteria (primarily quality, cost, and delivery dependability). When comparing the selection criteria with competitive priorities and plant performance, we find that the criteria for selecting external suppliers has a better match than those for selecting internal suppliers. The sample contained plants having only external suppliers as well as plants having both internal and external suppliers, but the selection criteria for external suppliers are the same for both groups and not dependent upon the presence or absence of internal suppliers.     

论“质量第一”战略必需的内外部条件

企业要实施“质量第一”战略,必须具备相应的内外部条件。文章对质量在企业经营战略中的地位,以及实施“质量第一”战略所需的内外部条件进行了较为详细的论述,并同时指出,任何企业都可能为了追求“利润第一”最终目标而放弃“质量第一”战略。     

生产效率为中介的制造企业内服务与绩效关系研究

由于制造企业对于企业内部服务功能的日益重视,制造企业内服务越来越成为使制造企业获得持续的竞争优势从而促进企业绩效的重要部分.从制造企业内服务的概念入手,通过文献将制造企业内服务分为信息处理、制造过程控制、会计核算和产品质量保障四个部分,并分析了制造企业内服务通过生产效率这个中介变量来提升企业绩效的作用过程,据此提出了理论模型.实证结果显示:(1)制造企业内服务各要素与企业绩效存在着部分的正相关的关系;(2)生产效率在制造企业内服务部分指标与企业绩效之间存在着显著的中介效应.     

外卖快递服务质量对消费者满意度的影响实证研究

为了研究外卖快递服务的消费者满意度,文章基于价值感知理论和外卖快递服务质量,构建外卖快递服务消费者满意度研究模型,并且通过调查问卷收集数据,借助SPSS和Smart PLS进行统计分析和假设检验。研究表明,外卖快递服务的及时性、便利性、安全性和可靠性显著影响用户的功能价值和享乐价值,进而影响用户的满意度。研究结果对于提高外卖快递服务质量和消费者满意度具有重要作用。     

Multiple foci of commitment in a professional service firm: balancing complex employment relations

Employees of professional service firms (PSFs) have attachments to multiple groups, which may be either compatible or conflicting: their employer, their clients and their profession. We analyse the antecedents of commitment to these three foci based on a survey of 510 employees in a large PSF in Norway. The main findings are as follows: (1) low quality of internal work relations is negatively associated with employer commitment and draws employees towards external foci of commitment – the clients and the profession; (2) role conflict is associated with stronger commitment to the client organisation and the profession; and (3) autonomy and transferability of skills are associated with stronger commitment to the profession, but does not undermine commitment to the employer. The article contributes to our understanding of the conditions under which employees identify with external groups and when commitment to the employer may be compromised. The findings have implications for how managers can help to increase the commitment of employees involved in complex employment relations.     

The impact of employee satisfaction on quality and profitability in high-contact service industries

The extant operations management literature has extensively investigated the associations among quality, customer satisfaction, and firm profitability. However, the influence of employee attributes on these performance dimensions has rarely been examined. In this study we investigate the impact of employee satisfaction on operational performance in high-contact service industries. Based on an empirical study of 206 service shops in Hong Kong, we examined the hypothesized relationships among employee satisfaction, service quality, customer satisfaction, and firm profitability. Using structural equations modeling, we found that employee satisfaction is significantly related to service quality and to customer satisfaction, while the latter in turn influences firm profitability. We also found that firm profitability has a moderate non-recursive effect on employee satisfaction, leading to a “satisfaction–quality–profit cycle”. Our empirical investigation suggests that employee satisfaction is an important consideration for operations managers to boost service quality and customer satisfaction. We provide empirical evidence that employee satisfaction plays a significant role in enhancing the operational performance of organizations in the high-contact service sector.