Service Quality Construct Research Articles

The service quality and satisfaction of smart policing in the UAE

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the multidimensional constructs of smart policing service quality, and the impact of these dimension on the satisfaction levels of UAE residents. An onli...

Retail in my pocket– replicating and extending the construct of service quality into the mobile commerce context

Nowadays, retailers are interested in how customer preferences regarding service quality are changing due to the adoption of different devices for shopping purposes in both the desktop and mobile contexts. To answer this question, this paper first replicates, in the mobile commerce (m-commerce) context, the results from Blut et al. (2015), who conducted a meta-analytic review of electronic service quality. Replication results question the robustness and generalizability of the conceptualization in the mobile service quality context. Thereby, practitioners and academics are encouraged to adapt a customer-centric approach in organizing marketing practices. The replication extends the conceptualization of electronic service quality by considering a unique dimension named ubiquity of services, defined as the retailer's ability to provide offers based on location and time. To reveal psychological mechanisms explaining the results of the replication study, a follow-up study draws on these contextual factors. In this context, this study uses a quasi-experimental approach by utilizing propensity score matching to account for self-selection effects to examine differences between desktop and mobile device users. As a result, this research contributes to the literature by identifying contextual boundary conditions regarding the shopping trip intentions and risk perceptions of mobile device users and desktop device users. Based on the results, major implications for retailers and further research are given.

Measurement of student satisfaction and loyalty using service quality model for higher education (HedQual) at industrial engineering department University of Pelita Harapan

The Department of Industrial Engineering (IE) at Pelita Harapan University (UPH) strives to continually improve the quality of its services. Previous studies were conducted in 2010 and 2015 using service quality model from Parasuraman. IE UPH wants to increase their student satisfaction; therefore, IE UPH needs to measure it with a customized model because of the distinctive nature of the service. This study develops the ServQual Model for IE UPH, which is named HedQual. The HedQual is predicted to have a positive influence on the students’ satisfaction and loyalty. The most important construct of service quality for IE UPH Students was also measured using consensus. Data collection was done using a questionnaire and distributed to all IE UPH students. The model was tested using PLS-SEM (Partial Least Square – Structural Equation Modeling). The final model shows that HedQual consists of Academic and Non-academic. HedQual, Reputation and Learning Outcome have a significant and positive effect on Student Satisfaction. Student Satisfaction has a significant and positive effect on Student Loyalty. The most important service quality for IE student from the consensus calculation is the attitudes and sincere interests of lecturers in helping the students.

Measuring Banking Service Quality among Public Sector Banks in Tiruchirrappli District

Background: In a competitive environment all commercial banks retail services either Public sector banks or Private sector banks are required to offer almost same services. They want to attract a new customer and retain the old customer by the way of differentiate themselves in providing and performing the well know banking services to its customer. This research study has measuring the effectiveness of banking six service quality constructs among public sector banks. Objective: Based on the above background of the study, the research paper have an objective to measure the effectiveness of six banking service quality constructs among public sector banks. Methodology: This study was purposive to measure the effectiveness of banking service quality among public sector banks in urban area of Tiruchiraappalli district. The researcher has purposively select 292 bank customer as sample respondent of Public sector bank located in the urban area of Tiruchirappalli District. Results and Discussion: In Public sector bank, the tangible indicator namely “Comfortable lobby area and adequate parking space” and the tangible indicator namely “Availability large number of branches with internet banking facility” were influence the customer.

Perception of Cancer Patients towards the Service Quality of the Healthcare Industry: A Paradigmatic Research on Serviceability

Service delivery by the healthcare organizations is undergoing radical changes in India. In the current scenario, patient centric service delivery has become the centre of attention. Hence organizations should maintain their service quality in order to gain competitive advantage and attain sustainable growth in long-term. This paper is an empirical approach to explore the service quality constructs in the healthcare organizations on the basis of technical and functional landscape from the Cancer patient’s purview. The conceptual model of SERVQUAL with adjusted modification to suit the socio-economic condition of study area has been used to explore the holistic concept of hospital service quality.Exploratory factor analysis with random sampling has been used to filter out the exact constructs which hospital projects out to deliver service to the Cancer patients. Cronbach’salpha, factor loadings, data redundancy and other statistical evaluation have been used to mine out the latent attributes encompassing service quality by the hospitals from the perception of Cancer patients.The implied findings will be a path breaking age to build a resilient and sustainable serviceability

Apparel Customer Loyalty Determination using Retail Servqual and Store Reputation- A SEM Research

Customer loyalty is a buzzing word in this multifaceted business state of affairs. Deriving loyalty is not so effortless. Apparel sector is a trend oriented industry. Retail apparel sectors facing sturdy competition in the industry, however it remains healthy. The researcher wants to find out the responsible factors of apparel customer loyalty in Chennai city. Research gap The Researcher has validated the Dabholkar et al (2000) to derive the apparel customer loyalty as a outcome variable while store reputation serves as a mediating variable. Earlier studies concentrated on validating Retail service quality model on Apparel Customer Satisfaction. Methodology Selected Retail outlets were chosen and 276 samples was obtained using mall intercept method. Structural path was constructed by the researcher using Dabholkar et al (2000). Store Reputation is the mediating variable between loyalty and RSQL constructs. Findings The researcher found strong relation between Service quality constructs and loyalty while store reputation serves as a mediation variable. However store policy is having direct relationship with loyalty intention of the apparel customer.

Performance Evaluation of Customer service in selected Indian commercial banks

The banking industry like many financial service industries is facing a rapidly changing market, new technologies, economic uncertainties, fierce competition, and especially more demanding customers, and the changing climate has presented an unprecedented set of challenges. Performance evaluation of customer service is one integral part of any facet of banking and it defines future of any banking organization. In banking sector, the whole range of activity and generation of income swivels around the customer. From a very comfortable and peaceful environment, now the Indian Banking Sector is characterized by stiff competition for the customer’s satisfaction and profits war between different banking groups i.e. this paper tries to analyze the performance evaluation of customer service in selected Indian commercial banks. This study is just a small step in understanding the multi dimensional construct of customer service quality and its implications in today’s competitive environment. There is no significant difference in opinion among the customers about confidence building and technology augmentation aspect of Customer service quality. It is concluded that the performance evaluation of customers are more satisfied than the customers of Indian commercial banks and there is a strong bondage between expectations, level of satisfaction and customer loyalty in banks.

A Review of Healthcare Service Quality Dimensions and their Measurement

Service quality has been a matter of concern for public and private healthcare institutions across the world. Increased focus on patient-centered care led to several researches in exploring what determines service quality and how can it be measured. The objective of this paper is to explore and summarize the available pool of published knowledge as to understand what comprises healthcare service quality, the underlying dimensions of healthcare service quality, and how it is measured. Literature review, covering significant researches in the field of healthcare service quality, service quality dimensions and its measurement was conducted on EBSCO and Google Scholar databases. Findings were presented in the form of medical and non-medical aspects of healthcare service quality. It can be concluded dimensionality in the healthcare service quality is context specific and patients weigh them differently. Perceptions only measures dominate healthcare quality evaluation over gap score based models. Further, healthcare service quality construct and its measurement has been primarily done from the patient’s perspective, however, the provider’s perspective of the healthcare service quality has not been taken into consideration.

Measurement of Corporate Satisfaction Model in Internship Programme

Customer satisfaction is considered as an important factor for determining customer loyalty. Responding to this, the present research has the aims to develop a model which describes the factors that affect costumer satisfaction of services quality which performed by students in an internship programme, especially at D-III Logistic Administration Programme of Polytechnic Pos Indonesia and to identify the influence of service quality toward the image of Polytechnic Pos Indonesia. Method of collecting data was done through distributing questionnaires to 99 respondents. Research model testing was conducted using the approach of partial least Square (PLS). The result of this research shows that service quality construct significantly influenced both of customer satisfaction and image of Polytechnic Pos Indonesia. While, image of Polytechnic Pos Indonesia is not significantly influenced by customer satisfaction. 
 Keywords: customer satisfaction, image, internship programme, service quality.

Achieving service quality and students loyalty through intimacy and trust of employees of universities

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the role of employees’ behavioural factors in increasing students’ loyalty. It specifically examines the direct and indirect mediations between employees’ service quality, trust and intimacy. The focus is on the effects of constructs of service quality (SQLTY), trust (TRUS) and intimacy (INTIMACY) on student loyalty (STLOY).Design/methodology/approachThis study depended on a positivist research paradigm. A total of 800 structured questionnaires were administered. However, 743 were retrieved and coded for the final analysis. The analytical tool used in this study is the ADANCO 2.0.1 software and in terms of statistical processing, the PLS–SEM technique was utilised.FindingsThe findings on direct relationships reveal that INTIMACY is a strong predictor of STLOY, whereas service quality (SQLTY) is a predictor of trust (TRUS). The effect of indirect mediation between service quality (SQLTY), trust (TRUS) and intimacy (INTIMACY) on STLOY was not confirmed.Research limitations/implicationsThe study like any academic work has limitations. Despite these limitations, this study offers theoretical as well as practical value for the research community and administrators of universities and higher educational administrators as a whole.Practical implicationsThe study emphasises the critical need for administrators of higher educational institutions to understand that the behaviours of their employees during the service encounter significantly affect intimacy and student loyalty.Originality/valueThe present study is unique because it quantitatively examined how the above-mentioned behavioural factors of employees lead to INTIMACY and STLOY. The use of a university for the research helped to develop a much better explanation of some of the salient considerations for STLOY. The value of this work rests in the complex quantitative relationships studied.

A higher education student service quality and satisfaction model

This study develops a model, the service quality satisfaction monitoring model (SQSMM), to examine the relationship between the industry standard 73-item Noel-Levitz student satisfaction inventory (SSI) and a new, greatly reduced four-item service quality satisfaction instrument (SQSI). The impact of students' perceptions of service quality and satisfaction related to their collegiate experience is measured by many universities using the standard 73-item Noel-Levitz SSI instrument. However, the cost of the SSI and the length of the instrument precludes its frequent use for initial assessment or ongoing monitoring to track changes. We develop and test a new service quality and student satisfaction single construct four-item instrument, SQSI, based on contextualising items drawn from other survey instruments.

A higher education student service quality and satisfaction model

This study develops a model, the service quality satisfaction monitoring model (SQSMM), to examine the relationship between the industry standard 73-item Noel-Levitz student satisfaction inventory (SSI) and a new, greatly reduced four-item service quality satisfaction instrument (SQSI). The impact of students' perceptions of service quality and satisfaction related to their collegiate experience is measured by many universities using the standard 73-item Noel-Levitz SSI instrument. However, the cost of the SSI and the length of the instrument precludes its frequent use for initial assessment or ongoing monitoring to track changes. We develop and test a new service quality and student satisfaction single construct four-item instrument, SQSI, based on contextualising items drawn from other survey instruments.

Does Perceived Service Quality Affect Patient Satisfaction?

The healthcare industry is becoming highly competitive with an increasing number of private hospitals and clinics in Bangladesh. The general objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of assessment of different aspects of service quality on patient satisfaction considering the public and private hospitals and clinics of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The data was collected through a self-administered questionnaire. A purposive sampling method was used to identify the person who visited hospitals in the previous years' time. The sample size was 100. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used. The results showed a positive relation between perceived service quality and patient satisfaction. According to this study, the two most important constructs of service quality that have an impact on customer satisfaction are interpersonal interactions and technical quality. The research also found a significant correlation among perceived health care service quality, patient satisfaction, and behavioural intention of the patient. Future research is recommended to test the hypothesis with larger sample.

Customer Relationship Management and Customer Retention

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) practices are business strategies designed to reduce costs and increase profitability by solidifying customer loyalty. With intense competition among insurance companies in Ghana, this study sought to assess Customer Relationship Management practices and Customer Retention in NSIA Insurance. The study was conducted to identify critical factors necessary for customer retention in carrying out customer relationship management practices in the selected insurance company and to develop effective customer relationship management practices to manage customer retention for sustainability within the insurance industry using NSIA Insurance as a case study. Well structured questionnaires and face-to-face interview were the methods adopted for the investigation of the study. A sample size of 40 respondents was considered, they were made up of customers and the staff who are fully involved in customer relationship management of the insurance company. Data collected from the completed questionnaires and the interviews were grouped into frequency tables and expressed in percentages. The researcher relied on the SPSS in interpreting the collected data. The study shows that even though NSIA insurance has policies on customer relationship management practices, these policies are not carried out fully to accomplish the ultimate goal of customer retention. The study recommends that for the insurance company to command an adequate number of loyal customers, NSIA Insurance should consistently improve on its quality of service to address the preference of the customers and consider the five service quality constructs of reliability, assurance, tangibility, empathy and responsiveness.

Wireless Communication: A Conceptual Model of IoT Services Success for Government Agencies

The Internet-of-Things (IoT) is a wireless technology that offers opportunities for Government-Agencies (GA) to improve services to citizens. However, the challenge is to ensure that the IoT is fully utilized as the real value of using IoT services comes from the establishments of services through effective utilization of technologies. This paper aims to develop a conceptual model for successful implementation of IoT services in GA which is one of the least essential studied aspects of utilization of Digital-Government services. This study proposes a new integrated success model that combines the dimensions of Technology-Readiness-Index (TRI) 2.0 with other success factors – service quality, information quality, system quality, user satisfaction, use (from DeLone&McLean Information-System-Success-Model), perceived usefulness (from Technology-Acceptance-Model), and trust construct to understand the determinants of IoT services success model in GA from the perspective of government officers. Interviews with Government-IoT experts are conducted to define and delineate the research problem. The proposed model could bring a better perspective of the critical factors that contribute to the success of IoT services implementation process particularly in GA as well as providing a groundwork for further empirical testing. Moreover, it will suggest an appropriate implementation mechanism to help GA increase the use of IoT services.

Understanding the Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction of Mobile Banking in Bangladesh: Using a Structural Equation Model

This article aims to understand the association between service quality and customer satisfaction to use mobile banking through structural equation model, because, Bangladesh is one of the fastest increasing mobile banking service providers in the world. A structured survey questionnaire was prepared to collect data from participants in Bangladesh. A convenience sampling method was used to select potential participants in this study. Out of the distributed questionnaires, 240, completed and usable, were selected for the analysis which employed partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results showed that there are positive and significant effects of all constructs of service quality, namely, tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy on customer satisfaction for using mobile banking. Particularly, the responsiveness has a strong impact ( β = 0.3165) on customer satisfaction. Furthermore, the tangibility has identified as less significant factor ( β = 0.0770) on customer satisfaction. Findings also indicate that mobile banking service providers should concentrate on all dimensions of service quality, with special focus on responsiveness and reliability for improving their customer satisfaction. This study has several implications for researchers, banking authority, policymakers and financial agencies when rendering services to end users and customers of mobile banking. Furthermore, this implication also helps banks to understand and develop strategies as well as policies to improve the services of mobile banking of Bangladesh.

Service quality, customer satisfaction, and loyalty in the banking sector

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand the moderating role of organizational culture in the relationship between service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty in the banking sector using data from the Ghanaian banking sector. The idea is to understand the relative importance of the various service dimensions to customers patronizing banking services in Ghana and to ascertain what drives customer satisfaction and whether this satisfaction has implication on their loyalty.Design/methodology/approachThe study used a survey and relied on partial least squares structural equation modeling to study the relationship between service quality and its impact on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.FindingsThe result indicates that the reliability, ambiance and social factors all have a significant positive relationship with the satisfaction of customers doing business with these banks. However, assurance and responsiveness of the employees seem to have no significant relationship with the satisfaction of customers. It is also important to indicate that organizational culture seems to strengthen the positive relationship between the service quality dimensions and customer satisfaction. The results further indicate that customer satisfaction has a direct positive relationship with customer loyalty.Research limitations/implicationsReliability, ambiance and social factors remain the three most important drivers of customer satisfaction in the banking sector in Ghana. It is, therefore, important for bankers to consistently undergo training and education in order to deliver more reliable services to customers. Managers should also make efforts to groom employees, provide attractive promotion materials, provide directions to the banks, make sure the banking halls are neat for customers while waiting and the provision of enough parking spaces for customers. One limitation of this work is that the data focused on only the Ghanaian banking environment.Practical implicationsThe research shows the importance of the service quality constructs such as reliability, ambiance and the social factors on customer satisfaction and loyalty in the banking sector. The organizational culture seems to strengthen the positive relationship between empathy, reliability, tangibles and customer satisfaction. It is therefore important for banks to continue to build cultures that will commit employees to their work, so that they feel the sense of ownership of quality in order to contribute meaningfully.Originality/valueThe work illustrates and provides some insights and builds on the literature in the area of service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty from a developing country’s environment using the stimulus-organism-response model. In addition, this work further highlights the importance of the moderating role of organizational culture in the relationship between the service quality dimensions and customer satisfaction.

Quality in higher education institutions: insights from the literature

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to understand the meaning and operationalisation of quality in the context of higher education institutions (HEIs).Design/methodology/approachA systematic literature review is performed of 308 articles published in various peer-reviewed journals between 1999 and 2017.FindingsThe findings reveal that the quality constructs of student learning, engagement, service quality and satisfaction have received the greatest attention, followed by total quality management, quality assurance, benchmarking and accountability. The most popular approach is empirical, and surveys and single case studies are the most popular methods. Europe leads research on quality in HEIs, followed by North America and Asia.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper contributes to the body of knowledge by presenting a comprehensive synthesis of articles addressing quality in HEIs.Practical implicationsPolicymakers and academic administrators can use the findings of this study to conceptualise student satisfaction along the educational value chain. The operationalisation of quality constructs will help policymakers create teaching excellence.Originality/valueThis paper highlights the importance of quality in HEIs.

PerLE: An "Open Source", ELearning Moodle-Based, Platform. A Study of University Undergraduates' Acceptance.

The implementation of innovative eLearning platforms offers numerous benefits, but it is important to understand individual acceptance and use of new technological systems in the educational setting. This study adopts a modified version of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), including three service quality constructs as external variables, to assess students’ acceptance of PerLE, a Moodle-based eLearning platform developed at the University of Calabria (Italy). A six-section questionnaire, which was based on previous studies, was administered to 293 undergraduate students. Results show that the quality of online courses is the main construct that affects students’ acceptance of PerLE. We found also that the PerLE user interface was a critical issue, requiring improvements to facilitate ease of use. In addition, the study underlines the important influence of Technical Support as an antecedent to the two main constructs of the TAM: PerLE Usefulness and PerLE Ease of Use.

Service quality and satisfaction in healthcare sector of Pakistan— the patients’ expectations

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to assess the influence of patients’ expectations from healthcare service quality on their satisfaction with nursing in public and private hospitals of Pakistan.Design/methodology/approachData (n=456) were collected from three public sector hospitals and three private sector hospitals of Lahore, the capital of Pakistan’s most populous province. Male and female patients who have experience of both sectors were surveyed using a self-administered questionnaire developed using the original SERVQUAL approach. Data were analyzed using the statistical techniques and the Laplace criterion.FindingsThis paper attempts to explain degree of influences of five service quality constructs (empathy, responsiveness, tangibility, reliability and assurance) on Pakistani patients’ expectations from the private and public sector hospitals and thus patient satisfaction. Further, this work can offer several intuitions into the effect of five constructs of service quality on patients’ expectations of healthcare service quality and patient satisfaction with the service providers/nursing. The results reveal that the patient satisfaction is most strongly related to empathy in public sector and to responsiveness in private sector.Research limitations/implicationsIn light of the previous studies and the current research findings, the study anticipates no apparently significant improvement in healthcare sector of Pakistan in near future considering various factors discussed in the study. The study will also help the service providers and the policy makers in understanding the deteriorating situation of the Pakistani healthcare sector and will guide them in identifying the areas by improving which not only the healthcare service quality in the country can be improved but also the image of healthcare sector among the masses and competitiveness of the healthcare sector can be enhanced.Originality/valueThe value of the study rests in its critical analysis of the current status of the healthcare sector of Pakistan with a view to suggest the areas that need to be worked on by the service providers and policy makers. Also, the study tries to settle a controversy within Pakistani healthcare literature concerning the question that who is producing more satisfied patients: private hospitals or their public counterparts?