Thesis (MTech (Office Management and Technology))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017. / Healthcare facilities across South Africa are increasingly facing a myriad of societal, fiscal, political and cultural challenges associated with demands for greater quality in the provision of healthcare services. This study measures service quality and customer satisfaction at a Cape Town hospital (hereinafter referred to as Hospital X), with the aim of providing its management with information to enable them to enhance service quality and thus improve customer satisfaction. It is essential to note that the respondents in this study were the parents or guardians of patients. The views of the patients were not obtained directly from them as it would have been unethical for minors to have participated in the survey. Their parents or guardians were surveyed in order to obtain the requisite data. The problem investigated was that management at public hospitals does not regularly research what customers need from a service quality point of view, Therefore, Hospital X may be failing to provide a quality service to its customers, namely, parents and guardians. Against this background, the researcher set out to measure customer perceptions and expectations of service quality by making use of the SERVQUAL model. “Customer expectation” is what the customer can reasonably expect given the available resources and is likely to be influenced by personal needs and past experience. “Customer perceptions” are totally subjective and based on the customer’s interaction with the service provided at Hospital X. The SERVQUAL model (reliability, assurance, tangibles, empathy and responsiveness), is commonly known as the RATER model, RATER being an acronym formed from the first letter of each of the five dimensions of SERVQUAL. The study incorporates the SERVQUAL dimensions within a survey comprising a number of questions structured on a six-point Likert scale. The results of applying the SERVQUAL model will indicate whether or not Hospital X provides a quality service to their customers. The study seeks to demonstrate the importance of service quality and customer satisfaction to hospital management, as well as the impact that effective service quality can have on customers’ evaluation of their overall hospital experience. (The term customer will be used interchangeably with parent and/or guardian in this study.)

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:52:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 MarioOAG.pdf: 1577955 bytes, checksum: fe0181009d2b877d78c486878ab0226b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-05-19 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / The objective of this thesis was studying the factors which contribute to customer s satisfaction and loyalty, focusing the Norwegian model of satisfaction and loyalty of the consumer, applied in the sector of hotel services in Natal/RN, Brazil. The theoretical research was led through the concepts of service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty, models of quality management systems, national index of customer s satisfaction and methods which evaluate the customer s satisfaction. The field research was carried through from December 1st of 2004 to 24 st, among 381 international tourists who had been housed in the hotels of Natal. The analyses of the data had been made through the descriptive statistics and analysis of multiple regression. The results had evidenced that the main precedents variables of satisfaction had been: hotel s room, staff friendliness, hotel restaurant food and price paid; these are factors which explained, in 56,0% the variation of satisfaction with hotels. In relation to the constructs which had influenced the tourist s loyalty, were founds: tourist s satisfaction, hotel image and affective commitment, which had explained 53.0% of the data variability. The complaint management resulted as a basic factor for the tourist s satisfaction and loyalty / Esta tese objetivou o estudo dos fatores que contribuem para a satisfa??o e a fidelidade do cliente, enfocando o modelo noruegu?s de ?ndice de satisfa??o e fidelidade do consumidor, aplicado no setor de servi?o hoteleiro em Natal/RN, Brasil. A pesquisa te?rica foi direcionada para os conceitos de qualidade de servi?os, satisfa??o e fidelidade do cliente, modelos de sistemas de gest?o da qualidade, ?ndices nacionais de satisfa??o do cliente e m?todos que dimensionam a satisfa??o do consumidor. A pesquisa de campo foi realizada no per?odo de 1 a 24 de dezembro de 2004, com 381 turistas internacionais que se hospedaram nos hot?is de Natal. As an?lises dos dados foram feitas atrav?s da estat?stica descritiva e da an?lise de regress?o m?ltipla. Os resultados evidenciaram que as principais vari?veis influenciadoras da satisfa??o foram: o quarto do hotel, a cordialidade de seus funcion?rios, seu restaurante relativo a comida e o pre?o pago ao hotel que explicaram em 56,0% a varia??o da satisfa??o com os hot?is. Em rela??o aos construtos que influenciaram a fidelidade dos h?spedes, encontrou-se: a satisfa??o dos h?spedes, a imagem do hotel e o compromisso afetivo, os quais explicaram 53,0% da variabilidade dos dados. O gerenciamento de reclama??es resultou como um fator fundamental para a satisfa??o e a fidelidade do turista

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:53:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 MarcioADP.pdf: 2935175 bytes, checksum: 8cb9db509514529163dfc5101ece98aa (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-05-19 / This thesis deals with the factors affecting customer satisfaction and loyalty in the mobile phone telecom sector. It is adapted a model proposed by Johnson et al. (2001) of quality and loyalty antecedent factors. It is conducted a survey with a sample of 385 customers of mobile phone telecom sector in Teresina city, a capital of a Northeastern State of Brazil, and descriptives and multiple regression statistical analysis. The main findings related to satisfaction are that quality and service price are the significant factors affecting it. Regarding loyalty, satisfaction, image, affective commitment, and calculate commitment are the significant factors to explain it. The overall model used fairly explain the satisfaction and loyalty outcomes / Este estudo investiga os fatores que afetam a satisfa??o e fidelidade dos consumidores no setor de telefonia m?vel celular. Esta pesquisa parte do modelo proposto por Johnson et. al (2001) no qual estabelece os fatores antecedentes da qualidade e fidelidade. Aplica-se uma pesquisa tipo survey com uma amostra de 385 consumidores que utilizam o servi?o m?vel celular na cidade de Teresina, uma capital da Regi?o do Nordeste do Brasil, com an?lise de estat?stica descritiva e an?lise de regress?o m?ltipla. Os principais resultados apontam para qualidade e pre?o como os principais fatores afetando a satisfa??o tanto para todos os clientes quanto para os que reclamaram de algum problema. Para fidelidade al?m da satisfa??o, tamb?m a imagem, o compromisso afetivo e compromisso calculado. De um modo geral, o modelo adotado ajusta-se bem a explica??o de fatores de satisfa??o e fidelidade

O objetivo principal deste trabalho é investigar o impacto da interação entre consumidores no valor da experiência e na satisfação do consumidor, nos ambientes de varejo off-line e on-line, considerando o papel da ansiedade social. Para alcançar este objetivo, três estudos experimentais foram conduzidos. Os resultados indicam que a interação entre consumidores aumenta o valor da experiência e a sua satisfação tanto no ambiente de varejo off-line (estudos 1 e 3) como no on-line (estudos 2 e 3). Entretanto, no ambiente de varejo off-line, o impacto da interação entre consumidores na satisfação é moderado pela ansiedade social (estudos 1 e 3). Assim, quanto maior a ansiedade social do indivíduo, menor é o impacto da interação entre consumidores na satisfação do consumidor. Para a relação entre interação entre consumidores e valor da experiência, não foi encontrada essa moderação. No ambiente de varejo on-line, a ansiedade social não modera nenhuma destas relações, conforme previsto (estudos 2 e 3). Adicionalmente, o estudo 3 busca fornecer uma possível explicação da razão pela qual não há moderação no ambiente on-line, demonstrando que o controle da autoapresentação é maior neste ambiente, mas somente para consumidores com alta ansiedade social. / The main purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of customer-to-customer interaction on experience value and customer satisfaction, in the off-line and on-line retail environments, considering the role of social anxiety. To achieve this objective, three experimental studies were conducted. The results indicate that the customer-to-customer interaction increases the experience value and satisfaction in both the offline retail environment (studies 1 and 3) and the online (studies 2 and 3). However, in the offline retail environment, the impact of the customer-to-customer interaction on customer satisfaction is moderated by social anxiety (studies 1 and 3). Thus, the higher the social anxiety of the individual, the lower the impact of the customer-to-customer interaction on customer satisfaction. For the relationship between customer-to-customer interaction and experience value, this moderation was not found. In the online retail environment, social anxiety does not moderate any of these relationships, as predicted (studies 2 and 3). Additionally, study 3 seeks to provide a possible explanation of there is not such moderation in the online environment, and demonstrates that the self-presentation control is higher in this environment, but only for consumers with high social anxiety.

No Brasil, o amplo incentivo e a disponibilidade de financiamento à produção habitacional de baixa renda, nos últimos anos têm estimulado a padronização do produto e aplicação de conceitos de produção em massa neste setor. No entanto, a entrega de produtos altamente padronizados a clientes com diferentes necessidades, desconsiderando seus modos de vida e percepções de valor, frequentemente resulta em produtos inadequados, os quais necessitam ser modificados logo após a entrega. A customização em massa tem se destacado como uma estratégia para aprimorar a geração de valor e aumentar o grau de satisfação de clientes na indústria da manufatura. No contexto da habitação de baixa renda, a definição de um conjunto de opções relevantes do ponto de vista dos clientes, baseado na sua percepção de valor, é um dos principais desafios para a implementação desta estratégica. O objetivo da presente pesquisa consiste em propor um método para identificar atributos customizáveis da empreendimentos habitacionais customizados, baseado em um modelo conceitual denominado cadeia meios-fim. Este modelo foi adaptado ao contexto de habitação de baixa renda, de forma a ser utilizado para relacionar os atributos do produto com os valores dos clientes, por meio da aplicação da técnica laddering. Além disso, a pesquisa tem como objetivo específico desenvolver dispositivos visuais que apoiem a tomada de decisão sobre a oferta de espaços de solução para unidades habitacionais customizadas. Com o objetivo de testar a aplicabilidade da solução desenvolvida, foram realizados dois estudos empíricos. O primeiro estudo foi desenvolvido para o segmento de mercado específico de uma empresa construtora de habitações, enquanto no segundo estudo fez-se a comparação de quatro segmentos de mercado delineados no Programa Minha Casa Minha Vida. A principal contribuição do método proposto é indicar as unidades de customização que são mais relevantes para os clientes finais e modelar a geração de valor na perspectiva dos usuários finais, de forma a entender as prioridades estabelecidas pelos mesmos. Além disso, os resultados permitem entender diferenças sobre a geração de valor para diferentes perfis de clientes e identificar oportunidades de melhoria em produtos habitacionais existentes. / In Brazil, high incentives and availability of funding for low-cost housing projects, in recent years, have encouraged product standardization and the application of mass production ideas in that sector. However, the delivery of highly standardized housing units to customers with different requirements, without considering their lifestyles and perceptions of value, often results in inadequate products, which need to be modified soon after delivery. Mass customization has been pointed out as an effective strategy to improve value generation and increase the degree of client satisfaction in the manufacturing industry. In the context of low-cost housing, the definition of a set of relevant options from the point of view of clients, based on their perceptions of value, is a major challenge for the implementation of this strategy. The aim of this research work is to propose a method for identifying value-adding attributes in customized housing projects, based on a conceptual model named means-end chain. That model was adapted to the low-cost housing context in order to connect product attributes to clients’ values, by applying the laddering technique. Besides, this investigation has the secondary aim of devising visual devices that can support decision-making related to the solution space of customised housing units. Two empirical studies were carried out in order to assess the applicability of the proposed solution. The first study was developed considering the specific market segment of a house-building company, while in the second study a comparison was made between four segments of the My House My Life Program. The main contribution of the proposed method is to identify which customization units are the most relevant ones for the final clients, as well as to model value generation from the point of view of clients, with the aim of understanding the priorities established by them. Moreover, the results explain differences in value generation for distinct client profiles, and identify improvement opportunities for existing housing products.

No Brasil, o amplo incentivo e a disponibilidade de financiamento à produção habitacional de baixa renda, nos últimos anos têm estimulado a padronização do produto e aplicação de conceitos de produção em massa neste setor. No entanto, a entrega de produtos altamente padronizados a clientes com diferentes necessidades, desconsiderando seus modos de vida e percepções de valor, frequentemente resulta em produtos inadequados, os quais necessitam ser modificados logo após a entrega. A customização em massa tem se destacado como uma estratégia para aprimorar a geração de valor e aumentar o grau de satisfação de clientes na indústria da manufatura. No contexto da habitação de baixa renda, a definição de um conjunto de opções relevantes do ponto de vista dos clientes, baseado na sua percepção de valor, é um dos principais desafios para a implementação desta estratégica. O objetivo da presente pesquisa consiste em propor um método para identificar atributos customizáveis da empreendimentos habitacionais customizados, baseado em um modelo conceitual denominado cadeia meios-fim. Este modelo foi adaptado ao contexto de habitação de baixa renda, de forma a ser utilizado para relacionar os atributos do produto com os valores dos clientes, por meio da aplicação da técnica laddering. Além disso, a pesquisa tem como objetivo específico desenvolver dispositivos visuais que apoiem a tomada de decisão sobre a oferta de espaços de solução para unidades habitacionais customizadas. Com o objetivo de testar a aplicabilidade da solução desenvolvida, foram realizados dois estudos empíricos. O primeiro estudo foi desenvolvido para o segmento de mercado específico de uma empresa construtora de habitações, enquanto no segundo estudo fez-se a comparação de quatro segmentos de mercado delineados no Programa Minha Casa Minha Vida. A principal contribuição do método proposto é indicar as unidades de customização que são mais relevantes para os clientes finais e modelar a geração de valor na perspectiva dos usuários finais, de forma a entender as prioridades estabelecidas pelos mesmos. Além disso, os resultados permitem entender diferenças sobre a geração de valor para diferentes perfis de clientes e identificar oportunidades de melhoria em produtos habitacionais existentes. / In Brazil, high incentives and availability of funding for low-cost housing projects, in recent years, have encouraged product standardization and the application of mass production ideas in that sector. However, the delivery of highly standardized housing units to customers with different requirements, without considering their lifestyles and perceptions of value, often results in inadequate products, which need to be modified soon after delivery. Mass customization has been pointed out as an effective strategy to improve value generation and increase the degree of client satisfaction in the manufacturing industry. In the context of low-cost housing, the definition of a set of relevant options from the point of view of clients, based on their perceptions of value, is a major challenge for the implementation of this strategy. The aim of this research work is to propose a method for identifying value-adding attributes in customized housing projects, based on a conceptual model named means-end chain. That model was adapted to the low-cost housing context in order to connect product attributes to clients’ values, by applying the laddering technique. Besides, this investigation has the secondary aim of devising visual devices that can support decision-making related to the solution space of customised housing units. Two empirical studies were carried out in order to assess the applicability of the proposed solution. The first study was developed considering the specific market segment of a house-building company, while in the second study a comparison was made between four segments of the My House My Life Program. The main contribution of the proposed method is to identify which customization units are the most relevant ones for the final clients, as well as to model value generation from the point of view of clients, with the aim of understanding the priorities established by them. Moreover, the results explain differences in value generation for distinct client profiles, and identify improvement opportunities for existing housing products.

Several studies have examined the use of emoji and emoticons in computer mediated communication among peers and colleges but there is yet academic research on the impact of businesses using these paralinguistic cues when responding to online consumer reviews. This research is examining the influence these paralinguistic cues have on the consumers perception of the companies quality of the response to an online consumer review, brand relationship, purchase intent. Using an online survey, participants are asked to answer general questions about the brand, the quality of the response, brand relationship, and purchase intent after seeing a random condition of both a low and high involvement product. Result support previous eWOM research as valence of the review had the largest impact on the consumers perception of the companies quality of the response to an online consumer review, brand relationship, purchase intent with an interesting finding where in most cases the addition of an emoji in positive valence message attributes to the strongest findings. With the increase in emoji usage in marketing and advertising, it is important that business are utilizing these tools in effective means otherwise the use of these paralinguistic cues could negatively impact the companies quality of the response to an online consumer review, brand relationship, purchase intent.

Att vänta i kö är något som de flesta människor inte tycker om, speciellt långa köer där väntan drar ut på tiden. I ett försök att minska väntetiden för kunder har företag börjat utveckla nya typer av köhanteringssystem vilka stödjer smartphonebaserade nummerlappar. Företagen erbjuder smartphonebaserade nummerlappar på olika sätt; antigen via sms eller en mobilapp. De smartphonebaserade nummerlapparna ger användarna, i tillägg till den vanliga funktionalitet som traditionella köhanteringssystem har, möjlighet att bland annat få uppdateringar om kön, ansluta sig till en kö utan att fysiskt vara på plats och att informera systemet om att de lämnar kön.Syftet med studien var att undersöka om smartphonebaserade nummerlappar påverkar kundernas kundnöjdhet jämfört med traditionella system. Det ansågs finnas ett behov av att undersöka detta eftersom köhanteringssystem som stödjer smartphonebaserade nummerlappar är relativt nya och att det inte har påträffats någon forskning som undersöker de mobila nummerlapparnas påverkan på kundnöjdheten. Den fråga som ställdes var: Påverkar en smartphonebaserad nummerlappsapp kundens kundnöjdhet i förhållande till ett traditionellt system?Studien använde en experimentell strategi för att besvara frågeställningen. Ett fältexperiment genomfördes i studentexpeditionen vid Högskolan i Borås där besökarna fick välja en mobilnummerlappsapp eller en pappersnummerlapp. Efter att besökarens betjäntas i kassan erbjöds denne att besvara en enkät om kundnöjdhet. Resultaten från enkäten användes för att beräkna en kundnöjdhetspoäng för respektive respondent och för att jämföra svaren från grupperna med olika nummerlappstyper. Även gruppernas medelkundnöjdhetspoäng beräknades och jämfördes med hjälp av independent samples t-test.Resultaten i studien visade att appanvändarna var signifikant mer nöjda än pappersanvändarna i den totala jämförelsen. För de enskilda frågorna visade resultatet att kundnöjdheten i vissa fall påverkades positiv men även att kundnöjdheten i vissa fall inte påverkades alls. Slutsatsen som drogs var att en smartphonebaserade nummerlappsapp påverkar kundnöjdheten positivt i förhållande till traditionella system. / Waiting in lines is something that most people do not like, especially waiting in long queues where the waiting drags on. In an attempt to reduce the waiting time for customers companies have begun to develop new types of queue management systems which support smartphone based queue tickets. The companies offer the smartphone based queue tickets in different ways, either by SMS or a mobile application. In addition to the usual functionality that traditional queue management systems offers the smartphone-based queue tickets provide users, with the ability to receive updates about the queue, connect to a queue without being physically on the site and inform the system that they left the queue.The purpose of this study was to investigate if smartphone based queue tickets affect the customer satisfaction compared to traditional systems. There was a need for such an investigation because the queue management system that support smartphone based queue tickets are relatively new and no research which examines the affect that smartphone based queue tickets has on customer satisfaction could be found. The question asked was: Does a smartphone based queue ticket application affect the customer satisfaction of the customer compared to a traditional system?The study used an experimental approach to answer the question. A field experiment was conducted in the student office at the University in Borås were the visitors could choose either a mobile application or a paper queue ticket. When the visitors’ had been served they were asked to answer a questionnaire about customer satisfaction. The results from the survey were used to calculate a customer satisfaction scores for each respondent and to compare the responses of the groups with different queue ticket types. The mean of the customer satisfaction scores of each group were also calculated and compared using independent samples t-test.The results of the study showed that the users of mobile application queue tickets were significantly more satisfied than those who used paper queue tickets. The results of the individual questions showed that for some questions the customer satisfaction were positively affected but for other questions the customer satisfaction were not affected. The overall conclusion was that a smartphone based queue ticket application affects the customer satisfaction positively compared to a traditional queue management system.

In this modern world, healthcare has becoming a popular word in human life. People pay their attention on their health protection and treatment, but at the same time, they need to bear the high expenditure for their healthcare processing. It is a serious problem that the government income can not afford the large expense in healthcare industry. Especially in some developing countries, healthcare problem has become the problem for the nation development. We would like to choose this basic way to solve this problem directly, to provide the channel to improve the efficiency of healthcare system, Cambio COSMIC. The aim to analysis COSMIC for my case study is to find out the conclusion that how does the architect design the system from the stakeholders requirement to achieve the success of improving the efficiency of healthcare system. And how to measure the success for the system achieving to improve the efficiency of healthcare system is still required to indicate.

This master´s thesis deals with an analysis of customer satisfaction with AGROFERT Prostějov tennis club. The work is based on theoretical findings oriented on marketing research, customer satisfaction, methods of measuring customer satisfaction which is general. The club is described and analyzed in the practical part and then the data were obtained and then evaluated from the questionnaire. In conclusion, concrete measures are suggested for improving customer satisfaction of the club.