Assessing performance, quality, and excellence in services are critical topics in the literature. As such, this thesis evaluates aspects related to conceptualisations and measurement models across different disciplinary perspectives. This thesis develops, and validates a multiple-item scale for Modelling service excellence in the UK retail banking sector, according to the perceptions of customers. The scale development method follows Churchill’s (1979) well founded process, and is informed by Anderson and Gerbing’s (1988), and Rossiter’s (2002) guidelines. The model estimates whether the hypothesised antecedents are considered valid for identifying banks which provide excellent services. The findings reveal that reputation, rates, innovation, and technology significantly determine service excellence. This thesis was undertaken in a critical timing, between 2007 and 2012. During that time, the economy and particularly, the banking sector faced a major credit crunch and crisis of confidence in the sector per se. The crisis caused banks to rethink their competitive positioning by re-assessing their strengths (Akdag et al. 2011). Hence, initiating a differentiation between quality and excellence in services was essential. Overall, this thesis contributes to the literature by offering an integrated solution to assessing service excellence, from concept definition and differentiation, to scale development and validation. A new definition of services excellence is introduced and components of services excellence are identified. Hence, distinguishing between service quality and service excellence. Furthermore, the relationship between service excellence and its determinants is explored. Based on an updated set of antecedents and corresponding items, the measurement model provided in this thesis is considered as one of the best available options, realised by testing the postulated hypothesis and the alternative model testing.

<p>Syftet med denna uppsats är att analysera hur tjänstekvalité inom B2B kan utvärderas samt att analysera om ViewsCapture, en frågeteknik med öppna frågor där respondenten själv kategoriserar sina egna kommentarer, kan tillföra något till befintliga metoder. Vidare avses att koppla samman utvärderingsmetoder med de olika syften företag har för att mäta kvalité.</p><p>Uppsatsen byggs upp av en omfattande litteraturstudie om vad tjänster och tjänstekvalité är, samt varför det är viktigt att utvärdera tjänstekvalité inom B2B. De utvärderingsmetoder som beskrivs i uppsatsen är dels attributbaserade och dels händelsebaserade metoder. Empiridelen består av material från Unified Dialogs AB som har utvecklat frågetekniken ViewsCapture som sedan analyseras tillsammans med befintliga metoder.</p><p>Undersökningen visar att tjänstekvalité handlar om att infria de förväntningar kunden har på en tjänst. Om kunderna skiljer sig signifikant ifrån varandra faller det sig naturligt att mer kvalitativa och mindre standardiserade metoder bör passa bättre. Det beror på att varje kund är unik och tillvägagångssättet många gånger inte är standardiserat, därför är det svårare att på förhand generalisera kring vad företagets kunder finner problematiskt. Genom användning av ViewsCaptures frågeteknik med öppna frågor skapas förutsättningar för att vidareutveckla de befintliga mätmetoderna i syfte att bättre tjäna företags och forskares syften för mätningen. Detta görs exempelvis genom att inhämtning av djupare information från attributbaserade mätmetoder möjliggörs samt att analys av de öppna svaren från en händelsebaserad metod underlättas.</p>

本研究旨在探討幼兒園家長與教師對幼兒園服務品質觀點之差異。本研究主要採Goodnack（2000）以焦點訪談所得的19個學校服務品質項目，來發展幼兒園服務品質的項目，並且根據Lovelock和Wirtz（2005）提出的「消費者整體服務」的觀念，再將所發展的幼兒園服務品質項目歸納到核心服務和附屬服務。 本研究除了比較家長與教師對幼兒園服務品質構面，在重要度認知上是否有差異，也探討教師與家長對幼兒園服務品質的滿意度是否有差異；接著探究教師的幼兒園服務品質滿意度是否與教師的工作滿意度有相關？再來又探討教師工作滿意度與幼兒園招生績效是否有相關？最後探討家長的幼兒園服務品質滿意度與幼兒園招生績效是否有相關？ 本研究採用文獻分析、問卷調查與訪談等研究方法。問卷調查以台北市「大同區、松山區、萬華區、文山區」等四區之所有公私立幼兒園為對象，每園抽取3位教師與3位家長，共計有公私立幼兒園106園，教師與家長各有318人進行問卷調查，最後回收381份，其中有效問卷教師168份、家長130份，問卷回收率達59.9%。所得資料以獨立樣本t考驗、成對樣本t考驗、皮爾森積差相關等方法進行研究分析。 本研究獲得以下結論： 一、家長和教師對幼兒園服務品質構面，在重要度的看法上有顯著差異；家長比教師更為重視附屬服務。 二、教師的幼兒園服務品質滿意度與教師工作滿意度有顯著正相關。 三、教師工作滿意度與幼兒園招生績效無顯著差異。 四、家長的幼兒園服務品質滿意度與幼兒園招生績效無顯著差異。 五、教師與家長的幼兒園服務品質滿意度有顯著差異。 依據研究所得結論，本研究對幼兒園提出以下建議，以做為幼兒園增進其服務品質的參考：一、瞭解家長和教師所重視的幼兒園服務品質構面，園方應設法改善較不滿意之項目。二、培養幼教專業人員擁有服務品質的知能與態度，家長與幼兒都是幼兒園服務的主要對象。三、落實幼兒園自我評鑑，強化幼兒園自我改進能力。四、定期進行家長對於幼兒園服務品質之期待與滿意度現況調查，藉以幫助行政者來改善他們提供的服務品質。五、形塑幼兒園的服務品質管理文化，提升品質融入生活之中。 以下為對未來研究的建議： 一、深入探討幼兒園服務品質滿意度與幼兒園招生績效之影響因素。 二、研究分析方法可使用路徑分析（SEM）等，藉此深入分析因果。 三、進行幼兒園服務品質之質性研究。 【關鍵字】幼兒園、幼稚園、服務品質、教師、家長 / The purpose of this study is to compare the difference in perspective on service quality in kindergarten between parents and teachers. This study adopt 19 school service quality dimensions that were developed by Goodnack（2000）.According to these 19 school service quality dimensions, the study develop kindergarten service quality dimensions. Further more, this study base on the concept of consumer whole service which were brought up by Lovelock and Wirtz（2005）.Finally, I put kindergarten service quality dimensions into core service and additional service. This study adopts research methodologies of literature review, questionnaire survey, and interview. The survey subjects include both public and private kindergarten’s teachers and parents from 4 administrative regions of Taipei City in Taiwan .Namely, 106 kindergartens , from which 318 teachers and 318 parents are sampled. The retrieved probability is 59.9%. The research data acquired is analyzed by SPSS/15.0 Chinese version based on research purpose and question, and quantified data is explored through descriptive analysis, t-test and Pearson cross-product correlation. According to the analysis and discussion of the study results, the conclusion are as follows: 1. There is a noticeable difference between parents’ and teachers’ perspective on service quality dimension in kindergarten. Parents emphasize additional service more than teachers. 2. Teachers’ service quality satisfaction and job satisfaction have a positive correlation. 3. There is no noticeable difference between teachers’ job satisfaction and kindergarten enrolled achievement. 4. There is no noticeable difference between parents’ service quality satisfaction and kindergarten enrolled achievement. 5. Parents’ and teachers’ service quality satisfaction in kindergarten have noticeable difference. Based on the above conclusions, the suggestions are provided for administrators and teachers of kindergarten as references to help improve the service quality and school effectiveness.

South African higher education institutions are facing increasing competition from both local and global competitors. This increasing competitive pressure has forced them to become aware of the importance of building and sustaining a suitable competitive advantage. Adding to this, South Africa’s economy, together with the world economies, has witnessed changing circumstances in relation to consumers’ needs, tastes and preferences. In this light, service quality has been recognised as a means to meet these challenges. As service industries play an important role in many economies around the world, the significance of providing an adequate level of service quality has emerged. Higher education institutions too are now being called upon to account for the quality of the services they provide. As service quality is a key strategic issue and a pervasive strategic force, the methods deployed in measuring service quality is of concern. Traditionally, higher education institutions used measures to account for the academic standards they provide, together with accreditation and performance indicators of teaching and research. However, from the viewpoint of their primary consumers, higher education institutions need to put measures in place to account for their students’ perceptions of service quality as well. Higher education institutions need to concentrate their attention on what the students feel is important in delivering the service. In measuring service quality from the perspective of the students, higher education institutions will be able to improve their service delivery processes, which will help to create consumer loyalty and, in the long-term, build a competitive advantage. The primary objective of this study was to provide a comparative view on the undergraduate students’ perceptions of the service quality delivered by two South African higher education institutions. The study comprised a literature review and an empirical study, and a descriptive research design was employed. The literature review focused on service quality. The literature review did not focus specifically on examining service quality from higher education institutions perspective but rather looked at service quality from the perspective of general service industries. In addition, in order to shape the literature on service quality, an introduction to services and services marketing was provided. Within the empirical portion of this study, quantitative research was applied using the survey method. Two South African higher education institutions formed the two sample groups in this study. A self-administered questionnaire was administered on the relevant first-, second- and third- year business and marketing management students of each sample’s respective faculties. The findings obtained from the main survey questionnaire are discussed in order to provide insights as to how students’ evaluate the service delivery of higher education institutions. Given the limitations and scope of the study, a balanced view of the two sample groups is provided in that the sample groups were split representatively. The recommendations provided in this study provide guidelines regarding the possible ways in which higher education institutions can market themselves in order to build a sustainable competitive advantage. / MCom, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2012

The lack of service delivery by South African municipalities has received much attention in recent years. In South Africa, service quality within local government is perceived as being generally poor. According to the South African Constitution, the mandate of a municipality is to ensure service deliveries through satisfying citizens‟ basic needs. Therefore, an understanding of customers‟ expectations and perceptions is vital for any service organisation’s success. The research undertaken in this study was deemed necessary, given that service delivery by South African municipalities is widely considered to be lacking in various areas. The research was conducted against the backdrop of the White Paper on Local Government that calls for the provision of services to communities in a sustainable manner. The primary objective of the study was to provide a view on the community’s expectations and perceptions of the service quality delivery by the Emfuleni Local Municipality in order to identify any potential service quality gaps. The study follows a descriptive research design approach. The literature review comprised published research relating to service quality and service quality models. The literature review provides information on service quality from the perspective of general service industries, as well as an overview of the current South African local spheres of government. The outcomes of the literature review served to provide the theoretical framework for the empirical study. A questionnaire survey was utilised to gather the required data for the empirical portion of this study. Residents of the Emfuleni Local Municipality formed the sampling frame of this study. The questionnaire included the SERVQUAL measuring scale. Self-administered questionnaires using the mall-intercept survey method were employed as the data collection method. In accordance with the delineated scope of the study, this study was confined to the Vereeniging and Vanderbijlpark pay points of the Emfuleni Local Municipality. The study is cross-sectional in nature (data were collected in December 2010) and, as such, the results are representative of that point in time. The findings indicate that customers of the Emfuleni Local Municipality have negative perceptions of the quality of services delivered by the municipality. A statistical and practical significant difference was computed between expectations and perceptions on all of the service quality dimensions concerning service-quality delivery by the Emfuleni Local Municipality, thereby indicating service quality gaps that need to be addressed. The recommendations provided in this study focus on suggesting possible ways in which municipalities in South Africa in general, and in the Emfuleni Local Municipality in particular, may improve their service-quality delivery in order to decrease the gaps between expectations and perceptions, and doing so, increase customer satisfaction. Recommendations for closing these gaps include increasing marketing research, upgrading and maintaining the physical facilities, improving collaboration, co-ordination and co-operation between departments, keeping up-dated records, improving communication programmes, and implementing management and leadership training for management team. In addition, it is recommended that municipalities recruit qualified personnel who are willing to help, and that they engage in on-going staff training and motivation initiatives. / MCom, Business Management, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2012

No description available.

Service quality has been shown to be critical for the success of service organisations. However, the quality of service delivered by an organisation is dependent on the behaviours of organisational members. Therefore, understanding the various processes that foster desirable service behaviour is important. While there have been many studies which deal with antecedents of service delivery, research adopting a cultural perspective and focusing on elements such as shared values and norms have been somewhat sparse. This is quite surprising given the amount of reference to the importance of a service culture. Recently, there have been calls for research into the cultural determinants of service quality and in particular service culture. This study answers the call by testing a multi-layer model of service culture and performance. The key objectives of the study relate to understanding how service culture leads to both customer-based and financial performance, as well as investigating the process of culture transmission from managers to employees. On the basis of data collected from management and employees, the study assesses service culture at the management and the employee levels, focusing simultaneously on assumptions, value, norms and behaviours. Two routes for culture transmission: the social contagion and behavioural routes are hypothesised and tested. The key findings are that shared service norms are the key impact point of culture transmission from management to employees as well as the key determinant of employee service delivery behaviour. The findings also show that proximity among managers and employees is crucial in the diffusion of service culture and hence in the leadership influencing process. Based on the findings, managerial implications for managing service employees are discussed as well as limitations and suggestions for future research.

Intensive research activities in low-income countries during the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade (1981-1990) led to the conclusion that cost recovery is a prerequisite for the sustainability of water services provision. The challenges for cost recovery are greater in urban areas of low-income countries where, it is projected, 88% of all the increase in global population will live by 2015. In spite of these challenges, available data show that the bill collection efficiency in selected urban water utilities in Africa in 1996/97 ranged from as low as 50%. This study used empirical data, obtained through a cross-sectional survey in eleven towns in Uganda, to establish the influence of customer perceptions on bill payment behaviour. Using qualitative methods, a questionnaire was developed, pretested, piloted and refined, before it was sent to a probability sample of 690 registered customers of an urban water utility. Regression analysis of the obtained results showed that customer perceptions of technical quality, functional quality, service value and corporate image are individually strongly related to customer satisfaction. Correspondingly, service value and customer satisfaction predict substantial variation in customer loyalty, which in turn is a predictor of bill payment behaviour. Furthermore, gender, level of education, and type of occupation of the head of household, together with tenure status and household income, moderate the satisfaction/loyalty relationship. Findings of this research also highlighted the relative importance to customers of urban water utilities of such software attributes as: (i) how interface staff relate to customers during service encounters; (ii) how easy it is to transact with the utility, and (iii) the image organisational personalities project to the public. These findings have one major implication for supply-driven managers of water utilities: Similar to other services, customer orientation will improve profitability ratios in the urban water sector of low-income countries.

The aim of this thesis is to propose a model that explains the relationship between customer satisfaction, retention and loyalty based on service quality attributes. The three elements of satisfaction, retention and loyalty towards products represent ongoing challenges for the corporate financial performance. Customer behaviour analysis (known as business intelligence or customer relationship management or customer experience management) has become a major factor in the corporate decision making and strategic planning processes. Prevailing logic dictates that by improving service attributes one should expect better customer satisfaction levels. Consequently, improved satisfaction levels should increase the probability of customer retention and degree of loyalty. Substantial research work has been dedicated to explain the importance of customer behaviour measurement for industry. However, there is little evidence that there has been an overall integrating empirical research that relates the three elements of satisfaction, retention and loyalty with respect to service quality attributes. Empirical data collected from the UK mobile telecommunication for this research shows that such an objective model that is capable of capturing this three dimensional relationship will contribute towards more robust decision making and better strategic planning. The proposed thesis extracts the data about key service attributes from a combination of literature review, surveys, and interviews from the UK mobile telecommunication industry. Responses were analysed using multiple regression, regression analysis with dummy variables, logistic regression, logistic regression with dummy variables and structural equation modelling (SEM) to test variables and their interrelationships. This study makes a step forward and contributes to the body of knowledge as it: (a) highlights the role of service attribute performance towards customer satisfaction, consequently identifies attributes that affect satisfaction and dissatisfaction of customers, (b) maps the relationship between attribute importance and attribute performance, (c) optimise resource allocation process using importance-performance analysis (IPA), (d) classifies customers with respect to the role and length of relationship they have with the company (switching probability), and (e) describes the interrelationship between customer satisfaction, retention and loyalty. The novelty of the research lies in: (a) establishment of a framework that links service attribute performance to customer satisfaction and then to customer future intentions (customer retention and customer loyalty), and (b) provision of a model that could assist key decision makers in prudent usage of resources for maximum profitability. This dissertation presents a novel approach methodology and modelling construct for customer behaviour analysis. For proof of concept it presents a case study in the mobile telecommunication industry. It is worth noting that in this research work Customer Retention is interpreted as probability of switching between service providers. Customer Loyalty is interpreted as referral (word-of-mouth) activity by existing customers.

Purpose This research is to investigate the effect of national culture on service provision. Hence, the researcher aims Firstly to investigate the differences in national culture between any two different countries share some attributes like language, religion or geographic location. Secondly, it aims to find whether the differences in national culture of two countries associated with differences in service provision. Finally, the researcher aims to propose a framework that shows how differences in national culture may associate with differences in service provision. Design /Methodology/ Approach This research will quantitatively develop and examine a conceptual framework that is designed to test the effect of national culture on service provision within the context of Takful industry. A total of 463 respondents completed the survey based questionnaire from two different countries (Kuwait and Egypt) which are identified as being related to the same cluster that is, the Arab clusters. The context of the research happened to be within the context of Takaful (Islamic insurance industry) due to the uniqueness of the sector to the cluster. The data was statistically tested using SPSS and AMOS programming system as the primary statistical technique to build structure equation modelling that allows testing the proposed conceptual framework Findings Results have shown that the differences in national culture of power distance and uncertainty avoidance have an effect on service provision through service delivery gaps. Results indicated that the service delivery gaps of information gap, specification gap and performance gap partially mediate the effect of national culture on service provision in terms of information flow, style of management, control, communication policy, specification driver and boundary system. The findings also indicate that there are differences in national culture between Kuwait and Egypt despite the commonality of language and religion. The findings are in contrary to Hofstede’s findings in which he argues that Arab cluster have an identical national culture dominated by Islam. Finally, results provide strong evidence that the researcher cannot disconfirm the theory after being statistically tested in which result support the validity of the theory. Limitations The research studied only two dimensions of national culture against three service gap attributed to the theory followed by the research, however they were found strongly linked in previous research. Also the research has addressed only one sector of service industry in two countries, but since the industry (Takaful) stemmed from the religion of the context to which previous research assumes homogeneity of Arab national culture based on the power of the religion. Hence, generalizability of the findings can be extended to any national culture of two countries from the similar cluster share similar attributes of religion and language. Contributions: Contribution to theory This research confirmed the findings of previous researches as to what extent national culture effect service provision associated with service delivery gaps. It confirmed previous research findings on the underlying relationships between national culture and service provision and how this might be associated with service delivery gaps. An important contribution to theory is the ability of power distance and uncertainty avoidance in predicting national culture differences in service provision between any two countries. Further, the study found that the national culture dimensions do not equally influence service provision as it varies cross culturally. In addition, the research contributes to the theory by providing a conceptual framework that can cultivates the seed in the body of knowledge to enrich the soil for researchers to study the effect of national culture on service provision. Another contribution stems from the findings that opposes Hofested’s claim regarding the homogeneity of Arab countries. Finally, the research proposes a data driven model stems from the collected data. Contribution to Practice The findings of this research assist service providers of Takaful in particular, and services sector providers in general, to improve their service quality as it identifies and explains some key insights that might help in dealing with various service delivery gaps. Therefore, it is very important for marketers to understand the effect of national culture differences on service delivery gaps which in turn effect the mechanisms of service provision. Contribution to Policy The research has contributed to the policy with which delivery processes can be systematically enhancing the excellence of service delivery for organizations. Policies of organizations can be set taking in consideration the role of national culture. Organizations may bridge the service delivery gap if they comprehend the effect of national culture on the delivery of their services. Information gap, specification gap and performance gap can be reduced or eliminated if provider understands the effect of national culture on those gaps and how they policies for Information flow, Style of management, Control, Communication policy, Specification driver and Boundary System. These polices may apply differently in different cultural settings as policies applicable in one culture may not be valid for other culture. On the other hand, differences in power distance and risk acceptance may shape provider’s policy to adapt to the pertinent environment. Hence, this research provides policy makers understand the role of culture on service provision. Contribution to method This research is significant in drawing support from cultures which is different from Anglo cultures (Hofstede, 1980) which in most researches provide evidence to the management literature. On the foundation of the literature review, the research has contributed to method by using a unique context that related directly to the studied national cultures. The method was the adoption of national culture of countries that belong to the same cluster and study the differences/similarities of this national culture with a unique context that related to the dimension to which they were clustered upon like religion and language. Moderation effect of national culture was not appropriate as the conventional methodology when using structural equation modelling in cross cultural studies. However, mediation effect has been found valid and appropriate in exploring the effect of national culture on service provision. results revealed that the method of testing mediation effect was successful in highlighting the effect of national culture drawn from similar cluster countries on service provision mediated by service quality gaps with which a new addition has been added to the body of the literature.