<p>The customers perceived all 5 SERVQUAL dimensions; tangibles, reliability, assurance, responstiveness, and empathy, pertaining service quality performance at low level when compared with their expectation. Thailand Resor AB should fulfill these 5 gaps and pay attention at assurance dimension concerning conveying trust and confidence because of the highest gap. The dimension of tangibles (equipment, physical facilities, etc.), empathy (ability to see through the customer’s eyes), responstiveness (willingness to help and provide prompt service), and reliability (doing what company have promised) were adjusted consequencely. The respondents highlighted the following key quality factors of their expectations; be treated with respect, be listened to and be dedicated attention, more friendly staffs, get the accoracy information. Some respondent have fuzzy expectations that he company have to further discover the real expectations by providing gauidance to their staffs to encourage them to ask questions.</p>

The customers perceived all 5 SERVQUAL dimensions; tangibles, reliability, assurance, responstiveness, and empathy, pertaining service quality performance at low level when compared with their expectation. Thailand Resor AB should fulfill these 5 gaps and pay attention at assurance dimension concerning conveying trust and confidence because of the highest gap. The dimension of tangibles (equipment, physical facilities, etc.), empathy (ability to see through the customer’s eyes), responstiveness (willingness to help and provide prompt service), and reliability (doing what company have promised) were adjusted consequencely. The respondents highlighted the following key quality factors of their expectations; be treated with respect, be listened to and be dedicated attention, more friendly staffs, get the accoracy information. Some respondent have fuzzy expectations that he company have to further discover the real expectations by providing gauidance to their staffs to encourage them to ask questions.

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<p>Service quality and customer satisfaction are very important concepts that companies must understand in order to remain competitive in business and hence grow. It is very important for companies to know how to measure these constructs from the consumers’ perspective in order to better understand their needs and hence satisfy them. Service quality is considered very important because it leads to higher customer satisfaction, profitability, reduced cost, customer loyalty and retention.</p><p><strong>Purpose</strong> – The main purpose of this study theoretically is finding out how applicable the SERVQUAL model is in the context of grocery stores and empirically, describe how consumers (students) perceive service quality and whether they are satisfied with services offered by these stores in Umea.</p><p><strong>Design/methodology/approach</strong> – A self-completion questionnaire was developed from the SERVQUAL instrument and distributed using a convenience sampling technique to students in the Umea University campus to determine their perceptions of service quality in grocery stores.</p><p><strong>Findings</strong> – From the analysis carried out, it was found out that, the SERVQUAL model was not a good instrument to measure service quality because some of the items under the dimensions overlapped and regrouped under different dimensions from the factor analysis carried out. It also showed some items associated to more than one component.</p><p>Some dimensions showed a reliability scale of less than 0.7 which could have been as result of the wordings used in the questionnaires or the number of items used under each dimension. Also, it was found that the overall service quality perceived by consumers was not satisfactory meaning expectations exceeded perceptions and all the dimensions showed higher expectations than perceptions of services.</p><p><strong>Research implications</strong> – Theoretically, from the findings, it implies that the SERVQUAL model is not the best tool to use measure service quality in grocery stores because the dimensions do not best measure the construct in that context. Practical implications suggest that grocery stores in Umea are not providing the level of service quality demanded by customers. The findings suggest that grocery stores need to improve all the dimensions of service quality from the gap analysis carried out.</p><p><strong>Originality/value</strong> – This study contributes to the already existing studies examining service quality in grocery stores using the SERVQUAL model and also provides empirical results that could guide management dealing with retail activities to take corrective actions that lead to growth in the company.</p>

Service quality and customer satisfaction are very important concepts that companies must understand in order to remain competitive in business and hence grow. It is very important for companies to know how to measure these constructs from the consumers’ perspective in order to better understand their needs and hence satisfy them. Service quality is considered very important because it leads to higher customer satisfaction, profitability, reduced cost, customer loyalty and retention. Purpose – The main purpose of this study theoretically is finding out how applicable the SERVQUAL model is in the context of grocery stores and empirically, describe how consumers (students) perceive service quality and whether they are satisfied with services offered by these stores in Umea. Design/methodology/approach – A self-completion questionnaire was developed from the SERVQUAL instrument and distributed using a convenience sampling technique to students in the Umea University campus to determine their perceptions of service quality in grocery stores. Findings – From the analysis carried out, it was found out that, the SERVQUAL model was not a good instrument to measure service quality because some of the items under the dimensions overlapped and regrouped under different dimensions from the factor analysis carried out. It also showed some items associated to more than one component. Some dimensions showed a reliability scale of less than 0.7 which could have been as result of the wordings used in the questionnaires or the number of items used under each dimension. Also, it was found that the overall service quality perceived by consumers was not satisfactory meaning expectations exceeded perceptions and all the dimensions showed higher expectations than perceptions of services. Research implications – Theoretically, from the findings, it implies that the SERVQUAL model is not the best tool to use measure service quality in grocery stores because the dimensions do not best measure the construct in that context. Practical implications suggest that grocery stores in Umea are not providing the level of service quality demanded by customers. The findings suggest that grocery stores need to improve all the dimensions of service quality from the gap analysis carried out. Originality/value – This study contributes to the already existing studies examining service quality in grocery stores using the SERVQUAL model and also provides empirical results that could guide management dealing with retail activities to take corrective actions that lead to growth in the company.

Internet banking services have faced a considerable expansion in terms of the number of users in the last few years. This makes Internet as a financial service delivery platform witness a number challenges. One of these is offering better-quality services to existing customers as the quality of service is a key factor in the success of any organisation. Previous research studies indicate that a strong theory to understand this form of service is lacking. A comprehensive review of previous and contemporary literature on service quality suggests the need for the development of a valid instrument for measuring service quality from the end-user perspective in the specific context of Internet banking services. This research study proposes a revised and modified SERVQUAL model which incorporates several variables that reflects the industry-specific attributes of Internet banking services. A survey based research is used to collect primary data on the basis of Internet banking services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A multiple regression analysis is employed to examine the influence of the adapted determinants on service quality. Focus-group interviews are also conducted as a follow-up to the questionnaire study. The findings of both fieldworks indicate that reliability, responsiveness, website design, and personalisation determine service quality in the Internet banking context. This study presents the main findings derived from the research model which can be used by a wide range of financial institutions, which make use of the Internet in their business dealings, to support each organisation’s decision-making processes. Also, this model can be used as a blueprint for an organisation’s strategic planning. In addition to the research model, the researcher employs Importance Performance Analysis (IPA) that reveals a large of number of implications for the quality of service, which were not obvious prior to undertaking the research. The knowledge of such implications will help managers and decision-makers when they are required to allocate resources to certain tasks or functions.

Service quality is an integral part of the product/service offering provided to a customer. Along with continuously identifying customer expectations and perceptions about service quality, it is imperative for service providers to also investigate whether the service quality increases customer satisfaction and their behavioural intentions. This PhD study theoretically contributes by evaluating one comprehensive service quality model, SERVQUAL designed by Parasuraman et al. (1988), for its potential applicability. The study further contributes by identifying a gap in the literature that the original SERVQUAL model does not entirely represent LCC service quality therefore, LCCSQUAL is proposed: a revised conceptual model with twenty-five variables that reflect the industry-specific attributes of LCC services in the Middle East. LCCs became a common feature in the West after the appearance of Southwest airline in 1971, however in the Middle East; LCCs are a relatively new phenomenon. LCCs are growing rapidly due to the current development of the aviation industry, deregulation and open skies policies in many parts of the Middle East. Most research to date has focused on LCCs in Western or Asian culture, whereas limited research has been conducted in the Middle East region, hence, this study will focus on highlighting the historical development of the Middle East’s aviation industry and the phenomenal growth of the region’s LCCs. This research is first of its kind in the Middle East to be conducted on the LCC service quality as well as in a new cultural background and therefore, it is important to consider that passengers’ are influenced by their culture while making decisions, however; the original SERVQUAL model developed by Parasuraman et al. in (1985) does not include culture as one of the influences in consumer. This PhD study, therefore, bridges another gap in the knowledge by testing the LCCSQUAL in Middle Eastern culture. This PhD followed a multi methodology using both inductive and deductive approaches consisting of qualitative (interviews and a focus group discussion) and quantitative (a self-administered survey questionnaire) methods at Dubai International airport, which has a dedicated LCC terminal. A total of 540 questionnaires was distributed; however, only 516 were finally employed for quantitative analysis. For qualitative analysis, nine in-depth interviews with senior executives of LCC airlines and seven LCC passenger interviews was conducted along with one focus group interview with seven Emirati ladies, first time LCC travellers. Content analysis and NVivo 10 were utilised for qualitative findings and descriptive analysis, Spearman’s rank correlation, factor analysis and cross tabulation were employed to examine the quantitative results. Comparing the results of both methodologies indicated that, passengers experienced wider gaps in the tangibility, reliability and responsiveness dimensions of LCC service quality in the Middle East. The findings of the study concluded that LCC passengers have higher expectations of the LCC services due to receiving luxury services for a long time in the Middle East region. The revised model; LCCSQUAL was tested in the Middle Eastern culture with additional variables and is recommended to be further developed to be culture and country specific. Factor analysis results also highlighted that there are gaps between the expectations and perceptions of the passengers travelling with LCC. This study concludes with several recommendations to LCC management, such as, on-time performance, well-trained staff and crew members, providing clear information to the passengers and providing quality services with low fares.

Thesis (MTech (Business Administration))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2019 / Over the last decade, business process outsourcing (BPO) has become increasingly important in the South African context. For economic and strategic reasons, organisations have embraced an outsourcing strategy as one of their core activities in order to be competitive in the business arena. On this matter, the standard of services delivered by BPOs is crucial to achieve customer satisfaction. However, the lack of effective quality management practices, which impact on service delivery negatively, ultimately paves the way for customer dissatisfaction with service quality in BPOs. This issue needs to be considered carefully by BPOs. Thus, this study has investigated employee perceptions in relation to the key measurements for service quality, namely reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles through the SERVQUAL model to measure the quality of service delivery at a BPO in Cape Town, South Africa. A quantitative research method was applied and data were collected through a semi-structured survey questionnaire from the group of employees (n=188) at the selected BPO in Cape Town. The statistical software program SPSS Version 25 and Microsoft Excel were used for data analysis. Descriptive statistical results were generated as well as the validity and reliability of the dataset determined. The research findings revealed that the key factors to which particular attention needs to be given are reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. It is revealed that it is imperative for the BPO to intensify continual training and skills development for their employees. Given the findings of these key factors as focus areas for good practice, this study has drawn special attention to the selected BPO and other BPOs in the South African context to advance their service quality to maintain their services up to standard and to remain competitive. The research could benefit BPOs in South Africa and Africa in general as more and more companies are outsourcing their services on the continent.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-22T22:10:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 maria carolina.pdf: 2205078 bytes, checksum: b63dfc5feeca9cf0601655b2b853a4df (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-08-05 / The internship aims at the improvement of the student through practical activities, where one can apply the lessons learned in school. In this sense, it is up to the IFAM Internship Program/Center providing quality services to the entire community, fulfilling their goals effectively. However, we observed the absence of a system for evaluating the effectiveness of such program. The the main objective of this research was to develop a model for evaluating the effectiveness of the IFAM Internship Program/Center from the perspective of the student in order to improve the services provided by the program. To collect data a questionnaire was designed with closed and open questions, based on the SERVQUAL model developed by Parasuraman et al, (1985). The research sample consisted of 99 students of technical in-person courses, full time courses as well as PROEJA (Adult courses). The study showed that all dimensions of service quality of the IFAM Internship Program/Center have shown negative gap, thus revealing the need for re-planning actions by the managers of the program, including: interventions of teachers, in order to clarify the main questions of the students about the internship; planning meetings with new trainees, providing practical situations in the IFAM laboratories where the student can learn and experience the challenges of laboring world. In this sense, it is recommended studies be made to hear the opinion of the companies which use the services of IFAM Internship Program / Center for admitting such students. / O estágio tem como finalidade o aprimoramento do aluno através de atividades práticas, em que possa aplicar os ensinamentos adquiridos na escola. Nesse sentido, cabe ao Programa de Estágio do IFAM/Centro prestar serviços com qualidade a toda comunidade, cumprindo seus objetivos de maneira efetiva. Entretanto, foi observada a ausência de um sistema de avaliação da efetividade do referido programa, sendo que o objetivo principal da pesquisa foi desenvolver um modelo de avaliação da efetividade do Programa de Estágio do IFAM/Centro a partir da visão do aluno, a fim de aperfeiçoar os serviços prestados pelo programa. Para a coleta de dados foi elaborado um questionário com questões fechadas e abertas, baseado no modelo Servqual desenvolvido por Parasuraman et al, (1985). A amostra da pesquisa foi constituída por 99 alunos dos cursos técnicos presenciais das modalidades de ensino subsequente, integrado e proeja. O estudo mostrou que todas as dimensões da qualidade dos serviços do Programa de Estágio do IFAM/Centro apresentam gap negativo, revelando assim a necessidade de um replanejamento das ações por parte dos gestores do programa, dentre elas: intervenções de professores, com o intuito de esclarecer as principais dúvidas dos alunos sobre as atividades de estágio; planejamento de reuniões com os novos estagiários; proporcionar situações práticas nos laboratórios do IFAM, onde o aluno possa conhecer e vivenciar os desafios do mundo do trabalho. Neste sentido, recomenda-se que estudos sejam feitos para ouvir a opinião das empresas, as quais utilizam os serviços do Programa de Estágio do IFAM/Centro para admitir tais alunos.

Submitted by karolyne souza (karolm340@gmail.com) on 2018-04-23T15:03:03Z No. of bitstreams: 1 ALBERTO LARRAT - DISSERTAÇÃO.pdf: 1910695 bytes, checksum: e0a3263b94d694ae675e4b0f55f7bdf5 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Divisão de Documentação/BC Biblioteca Central (ddbc@ufam.edu.br) on 2018-04-26T12:24:00Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 ALBERTO LARRAT - DISSERTAÇÃO.pdf: 1910695 bytes, checksum: e0a3263b94d694ae675e4b0f55f7bdf5 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Divisão de Documentação/BC Biblioteca Central (ddbc@ufam.edu.br) on 2018-04-26T12:26:18Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 ALBERTO LARRAT - DISSERTAÇÃO.pdf: 1910695 bytes, checksum: e0a3263b94d694ae675e4b0f55f7bdf5 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-04-26T12:26:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ALBERTO LARRAT - DISSERTAÇÃO.pdf: 1910695 bytes, checksum: e0a3263b94d694ae675e4b0f55f7bdf5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-12-19 / The quality management in services has been becoming one of the most relevant areas of research in Production Engineering. Given this, the services sector has been assuming an important role for the development of the economy, since it is inserted in a highly competitive business environment. This is due to the sharp increase in the sector, taking the leading position in the generation of formal jobs in the country, surpassing the industries, thus generating employment and income. It is believed that it is necessary to seek improvement in all its processes, since in the production of services there is the inseparability of the productive process of the final product. Service management becomes a relevant differential and always requires evaluating the satisfaction of those involved. In this way, satisfaction can be regular, but quality is particularized as a long-term parameter, since it needs tools that allow measurement and monitoring constantly. The present study dealt with the evaluation of the services provided by a popular gallery in Manaus and had as a problem to analyze the impacts generated by the process of transfer of street vendors from the streets to the Espirito Santo gallery. In this context, we tried to answer the following question: How to evaluate and measure the quality of services perceived by the permission holders allowing their continuous improvement? In view of the foregoing, this dissertation had as general objective to analyze how the licensees evaluate the quality of the services, based on the Likert scale, to measure the perceived quality, that helps to its continuous improvement. In order to do so, the following specific objectives were established: to demonstrate the dimensions of quality, to analyze the socioeconomic impacts generated by the licensees installed in the Espírito Santo Gallery, to map the obstacles that hamper the quality of the gallery services and to evaluate the results found in the study of cases, proposing actions for improvements based on the gap identified by the SERVQUAL model. The methodology used to carry out the case study consisted of field research in which the application of structured questionnaires composed of 18 questions for the 200 gallery licensees applied in the months of February and March of 2015 were also carried out. Documentary analyzes provided by the research organization. The results of this field survey provided an overview of the quality of the services and the obstacles that hamper the provision of the services offered / A gestão da qualidade em serviços vem se tornando a cada dia uma das áreas mais relevantes nas pesquisas em Engenharia de Produção. Diante disso, o setor de serviços vem assumindo importante papel para o desenvolvimento da economia, uma vez que está inserido em um ambiente de negócios altamente competitivo. Isto se deve ao nítido aumento do setor, passando a ocupar a principal posição na geração de empregos formais no país, superando as indústrias, gerando assim, ocupação e renda. Acredita-se que seja necessário buscar a melhoria em todos os seus processos, uma vez que na produção de serviços há a inseparabilidade do processo produtivo do produto final. A gestão de serviços passa a ser um relevante diferencial e requer sempre avaliar a satisfação dos envolvidos. Dessa forma, a satisfação pode ser regular, mas a qualidade se particulariza como um parâmetro de longo prazo, uma vez que, ela necessita de ferramentas que possibilitem mensurar e acompanhar constantemente. O presente estudo abordou o tema avaliação dos serviços prestados por uma galeria popular de Manaus e teve como problemática analisar os impactos gerados pelo processo de transferência dos camelôs das ruas para a galeria Espírito Santo. Nesse contexto, buscou-se responder a seguinte questão: Como avaliar e medir a qualidade dos serviços percebido pelos permissionários permitindo a sua melhoria contínua? Frente ao exposto, esta dissertação teve por objetivo geral analisar como os permissionários avaliam a qualidade dos serviços, baseado na escala Likert, para mensurar a qualidade percebida, que auxilie a sua melhoria contínua. Para tanto, estabeleceu-se como objetivos específicos: demonstrar as dimensões da qualidade, analisar os impactos socioeconômicos gerados para os permissionários instalados na galeria Espírito Santo, mapear os obstáculos que prejudicam a qualidade na prestação de serviços da galeria e avaliar os resultados encontrados no estudo de caso, propondo ações de melhorias com base na lacuna identificada pelo modelo SERVQUAL. A metodologia utilizada para a realização do estudo de caso consistiu em pesquisa de campo em que foi realizada a aplicação de questionários estruturados compostos de 18 perguntas destinadas à 200 permissionários da galeria, aplicados nos meses de fevereiro e março de 2015. Também foram realizadas análises documentais fornecidas pela organização pesquisada. Os resultados desta pesquisa de campo proporcionaram um panorama da qualidade dos serviços e os obstáculos que prejudicam a prestação dos serviços ofertados.