Les activités de services à la personne incarnent un important potentiel de création d’emplois et de réponse à des besoins sociaux. Elles présentent comme principales caractéristiques une forte dimension relationnelle qui influence leur qualité, ainsi qu’une distance spatiale qui complique le contrôle de cette qualité. L’objectif de cette thèse est d’analyser les pratiques de contrôle de la qualité des organismes offreurs, ainsi que les représentations des différents acteurs en matière de qualité de service.L’approche qualitative retenue donne lieu à la réalisation de deux études empiriques, l’une concernant les services à destination de personnes dépendantes (SAD), l’autre ceux à destination des autres publics (SAP). Au total, 38 entretiens sont réalisés auprès de dirigeants et responsables qualité d’organismes offreurs, 169 avis de bénéficiaires et 318 avis d’intervenants sont collectés sur Internet, ce dispositif étant complété par une phase d’observation participante. Les données recueillies font l’objet d’une analyse de contenu.Ces études permettent d’identifier les critères de qualité perçue des bénéficiaires et des intervenants, trois approches de la qualité des organismes offreurs, sept étapes du processus de production associées aux trois phases du processus de contrôle, les objectifs assignés ainsi que les mécanismes de contrôle mobilisés lors de ces étapes. Les résultats montrent l’influence du régime juridique retenu (prestataire ou mandataire) sur les pratiques de contrôle de la qualité. Ils soulignent également la nécessaire cohérence entre la représentation de la qualité du manager et les mécanismes de contrôle mobilisés pour influencer la qualité. / Home-based service activities embody a significant potential for employment creation and solutions to social needs. Their main characteristics include a strong relational dimension that affects their quality and a spatial distance that complicates the control of service quality. The aim of this thesis is to analyse the quality control practices of home-based service organizations and the representations that actors have of service quality.On the empirical side, the qualitative approach is based on two studies, one regarding services to dependent people (SAD), the other concerning services to other people (SAP). 38 interviews are carried-out with managing directors and quality managers, 169 recommendations from consumers and 318 recommendations from contact-employees are collected on the Internet (electronic word-of-mouth), the methodology being completed with participant-observation. The data collected are subject to a content analysis.The empirical studies enable to identify the perceived-quality factors used by consumers and contact-employees, seven steps of the production process being associated to the three control process steps, as well as the goals set and the control mechanisms used at each step. The results show the influence of the legal framework chosen by the service organization (service provider versus authorised representative) on service quality control practices. They also emphasize the necessary coherence between the manager’s representation of service quality and the control mechanisms used to influence this quality.

Background: The great majority of travellers read online reviews before selecting a hotel. Showcasing how big of a role online customer reviews (OCR) play in the consumer decision-making process. Apart from potential financial gains, reviews also help to indicate the areas that performed excellently and those that still need to be improved. However, only a part of hotel visitors actually leave an online review after a hotel stay indicating that there is still room for increasing the amount of OCR left to boost hotel performance and drive sales.   Purpose: The purpose of this research is to explore how hotel managers work with OCR and provide recommendations on how they can incorporate it into their business successfully. Method: This study follows a qualitative research approach by conducting semi-structured interviews with five hotel managers and a CEO from a ratings and review agency.  Conclusion: The study found that although all hotels use OCR to some extent, chain hotels often apply more advanced strategies. This study identified several strategies that could be adopted to increase the amount of online reviews. For instance, by developing omnichannel to make the customer experience seamless, offer them easy feedback tools, and the possibility to give short reviews. This is in addition to offering the option for guests to choose if they want to share longer and deeper feedback afterwards. Also, it is important to research when it is most convenient for hotel guests to leave a review. This would be either straight after the hotel stay or a few days later. Overall, it is important to develop good customer relationship management to improve customer satisfaction, but at the same time have a well-developed service failure system in case something negative is indicated in the review.

Made available in DSpace on 2010-04-20T20:14:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 61080100031.PDF: 7443816 bytes, checksum: a82ca7f98a374b3f75cdb221b7fb942b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-02-22T00:00:00Z / O impacto do boca a boca na Imagem da Marca e no julgamento de produtos (bens e serviços) tem sido estudado há tempos na disciplina de comportamento do consumidor. Com o crescimento da internet como mídia social e meio de comunicação entre consumidores e empresas, o boca a boca ganhou força junto a profissionais e pesquisadores de Marketing. Uma revisão da literatura permitiu traçar um paralelo entre o boca a boca tradicional e o eletrônico. É preciso compreender cientificamente a influência do boca a boca eletrônico no comportamento do consumidor. Para isto, foram realizados dois estudos nesta dissertação, sendo o primeiro um estudo exploratório a partir da realização de entrevistas e aplicação de questionários a consumidores, profissionais de Marketing e especialistas do assunto com o intuito de levantar percepções gerais sobre o tema. Para avaliar estatisticamente as hipóteses propostas nesta dissertação, o segundo estudo foi a realização de um experimento com 168 estudantes, contando com cinco cenários e três tipos de produtos (Vestuário, Cosméticos e Lojas Online). A variável independente foi o Comentário Postado pelo consumidor. Duas foram as variáveis dependentes: Imagem da Marca e Intenção de Compra dela. Para a mensuração da Imagem da Marca se utilizou a escala de Personalidade de Marca de Aaker (1997). No tocante à Intenção de Compra, um concurso foi elaborado para os sujeitos. No início e no final da coleta de dados, os participantes escolhiam as empresas das quais ganhariam um prêmio (vale compra), caso fossem os vencedores. Mediu-se a Intenção de Compra em função da escolha dos consumidores antes e depois do estímulo, sendo comparados, ainda, os resultados dos diferentes cenários. Constatou-se que os comentários negativos e positivos que os consumidores postam na internet têm um impacto significante na Imagem da Marca para outros consumidores nos produtos Vestuário e Loja Online. Mas não foram percebidos impactos destes comentários na Imagem da Marca no produto Cosmético e na Intenção de Compra dos outros consumidores nos três tipos de produtos testados. O Gerenciamento dos Comentários negativos (resposta da empresa a comentário postado pelo consumidor) apresentou uma redução no impacto do comentário na Imagem da Marca para os outros consumidores no produto Loja Online. Contudo, os tons alinhados com Foco Regulatório do consumidor nas respostas das empresas não provocaram diferenças significativas, contra indicando essa concepção teórica como meio de aprimorar os resultados do Gerenciamento dos Comentários. Várias implicações científicas e profissionais interessantes decorrem da pesquisa. Para o praticante, se viu que a internet 2.0 é uma mídia a ser considerada no esforço de comunicação da empresa e que ela deve ser considerada como um canal de comunicação bidirecional. / The impact of Word of Mouth Communication on Brand Image and the evaluation of products (goods and services) has been studied for some time in the discipline of consumer behavior. With the growth of the Internet as a social media and as a means of communication between consumers and enterprises, Word of Mouth has gained strength with Marketing professionals and researchers. A review of the literature draws a parallel between traditional Word of Mouth and its electronic version. It is essential to understand scientifically the influence of Electronic Word of Mouth on consumer behavior. In order to do this, two main studies were made: the first one was an exploratory stage conducted with interviews and questionnaires applied to consumers, marketers, and experts on the subject in order to raise general perceptions on the issue. The second study aims to evaluate statistically the hypotheses proposed in this work and involves an experiment applied to 168 students, considering five scenarios and three types of products (clothing, cosmetics and Online Stores). The independent variable was the Comment Posted by the consumer on the internet. Two were the dependent variables: Brand Image and Purchase Intention. To measure Brand Image, the scale "The Brand Personality" by Aaker (1997) was used. To measure Purchase Intention subjects participated in a contest where they chose, at the beginning and end of data collection, the companies from which they would gain a gift certificate, if they won the contest. Purchase Intention was measured depending on the choice of consumers before and after the stimulus, and compared also the results of different scenarios. It was found that the positive and negative comments that consumers posted on the internet have a significant impact on Brand Image for other consumers of products in Clothing and Online stores. However, there was no perceived impact based on these comments regarding Cosmetic products. No impact was found on other consumers' Purchase Intention. Management of Negative Comments (company's response to comments posted by the consumer on the internet) decreased the negative impact of comments on other consumer's Brand Image on product Online Store and the use of Regulatory Focus Theory on companies' responses did not cause significant differences, counter indicating this theoretical concept as a mean to improve the results of managing the comments posted by the consumer on the internet. Several implications of scientific and professional interest arise from this research. For a Marketing professional, it is evident that internet 2.0 should be considered in the media plan of a company and that it should be treated as a two-way communication channel with consumers.