The purpose of this study is to investigate medical tourism in Jordan through the international patients‘ perspective. The aim is to contribute to a better understanding of international patients‘ consumption behaviour to seek medical treatment, and while at the destination. And also to better understand the medical tourists‘ perceptions of quality of healthcare services. This research was designed to facilitate the identification of the characteristics of medical tourists, their visit, their sources of information and the main pull/push factors influencing their decision to travel. Moreover, it was designed to identify the level of satisfaction held by medical tourists towards their patient experience and their satisfaction predictors, by translating, adapting and validating a patient-centred quality of care instrument and assessing its psychometric properties amongst them. This research used a mixed-methods case study approach. It was conducted in 7 private hospitals with a primary quantitative research method through 302 interviewer-administered questionnaires and descriptive quantitative statistics, Mann-Whitney U Non-Parametric Significance Tests, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Factor Analysis. As a complement, qualitative research through 20 semi-structured interviews and content analysis was conducted in order to provide further insights into this area of research. The findings suggest that word-of-mouth recommendations and reputation have the utmost role in informing international patients of healthcare options in Jordan. Furthermore, recommendations from family and friends are the second most important after availability of specialized treatments in influencing the 3 international patients‘ decision to seek international healthcare. Moreover, significant differences in these terms exist between first and repeat visitors, which hold important implications for tourism marketers. Further marketing implications also exist as most patients shift in the type of activities they and their companions undertake after the main treatment period is completed. In terms of satisfaction, Factor Analysis suggest that medical tourists satisfaction of quality of services in Jordan‘s hospitals is based on six predictors including nutritional care, nursing care, physician care, room atmosphere, the procedure for incoming patients and other hospital services. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses show that medical tourists are satisfied with the quality of health care services rendered to them. However, minor areas show less satisfaction. The findings raise issues regarding the recruitment of non-Arab speaking nurses. Drawing together these findings presents implications for medical tourism management, international healthcare marketing, policy-making, and continuous improvement of the services they provide.

This thesis’ original contribution to knowledge is creating the awareness that facilities management (FM) departments and organisations do not consciously socialise external service provider staff into the client workplace and the development of a framework that can successfully achieve this integration. To provide a solid theoretical background for this framework, it reviews current literature on FM, outsourcing, organisational culture, and organisational socialisation. The aim of this study was achieved with the development of the ‘Cultural Fit’ framework which should go a long way in solving the research problem and answering the proposed question. The study was conducted as a qualitative multi-method design. This was selected because there were obvious gaps in socialisation especially in the FM industry. Qualitative methods are believed to provide richer data and this was adopted to begin closing those gaps through the provision of literary data. The research was conducted using the ethnographic approach because of the focus on culture and to maximise the qualitative approach. Interviews and focus groups are the qualitative methods used to collect this data. Reliability and validity are not always easy to verify but researchers have proposed several methods to improve them. This study employs the triangulation of more than one method of data collection, peer debriefing with colleagues, member checks by confirming the initial results during subsequent data collection and a rich, thick description. The major findings of this study are that organisational socialisation can be successful in socialising external service provider staff into the client workplace despite a current unawareness of its use. This study has developed a framework and guide that can be used to achieve this integration if client organisations and service providers work together to socialise external service provider staff.

Thesis (MTech (Marketing))--Cape Technikon, 1999. / Quality of service, as perceived by the customer, has been shown by research to be a critical factor contributing to organizational performance in recent years. Therefore, the management of service quality is a key variable, and for service quality to be managed, it has to be measured. There have been significant advances in the measurement of service quality in the past fifteen years, resulting in a stream of research, mostly concentrating on the external customers of profit-seeking firms. A key factor driving this research was the development of an apparently reliable, valid instrument for the measurement of service quality. This instrument called SERVQUAL, was developed by US researchers A. "Parsu" Parasuraman, Valarie Zeithaml and Len Berry. It has spawned an enormous debate in the marketing literature, leading to the further exploration and refinement of the dimensions of the service quality construct. While the use of SERVQUAL has been extensively investigated in external markets, and in for-profit firms, less attention has been given to its use, and more importantly, its reliability and validity in internal markets, and in not-for-profit organizations. These settings are becoming increasingly important from a services marketing perspective. Internal markets (where fellow employees are also customers) are being subjected to market testing, and many services previously provided within the organization are being outsourced. In order to survive, many functions such as information systems, training, catering and cleaning are being forced to market their services internally, and this includes assessing service quality, and improving it. Likewise, private and public nonprofit organizations are coming under increasing scrutiny, as donors and taxpayers alike become evermore concerned about the value gained from the expenditures made by these organizations with their funds. In this study, the SERVQUAL instrument was used to measure service quality as perceived by the internal customers of a large IT department within an extensive government organization. The main objectives of the study were to assess the psychometric properties of the SERVQUAL instrument in this setting. It was found that SERVQUAL generally performs well under these circumstances, with regard to reliability, construct, convergent and nomological validity. However, the instrument appears to be problematical in terms of discriminant validity. This is probably less attributable to the measurement situation as to the instrument itself, for the finding mirrors evidence from the literature. The study also identifies implications for management, and opportunities for future research.

Muitos estudos científicos avaliam a influência das capacidades de TI sobre a vantagem competitiva e sobre o desempenho da firma. Entretanto, percebe-se a existência de lacunas na literatura sobre capacidades de TI atreladas a alguns temas específicos. Nesse sentido, a comunidade científica carece de estudos que analisem especificamente a relação das capacidades de TI com a qualidade da informação e com a qualidade do serviço de informação, já que as atuais publicações tangenciam, mas não resolvem este dilema. Com o propósito de atender a esta demanda, a presente pesquisa investigou, em um ambiente de negócios digitais: a) como as capacidades de TI se relacionam com a qualidade da informação; b) como as capacidades de TI se relacionam com a qualidade do serviço de informação, e c) se existem outras capacidades ou recursos que, juntamente com as capacidades de TI, influenciam a qualidade de informação e a qualidade do serviço de informação. A fim de atender a esses objetivos, empregou-se o método de estudo de casos múltiplos e a técnica de análise de conteúdo temática. Para a coleta dos dados, utilizou-se uma triangulação das técnicas de entrevistas semiestruturadas e análise documental. A análise comparativa dos quatro casos realizados permitiu concluir que as capacidades de TI se relacionam com a qualidade da informação e com a qualidade do serviço de informação no contexto de negócios digitais, e que a intensidade desse relacionamento é maior para algumas dimensões específicas das capacidades de TI. Verificou-se, ainda, que existem outras capacidades ou recursos que, juntamente com as capacidades de TI, influenciam a qualidade de informação e a qualidade do serviço de informação, no contexto de negócios digitais. / Many studies have evaluated the influence of IT capabilities on competitive advantage and on firm performance. However, there are gaps in the literature about the IT capabilities topic related to some specifics elements. Thus, the scientific community needs studies that specifically analyze the relationship between IT capabilities, information quality and information service quality, since current publications just mention it, but do not solve it’s dilemma. In order to fill this gap, this research investigates, in an environment of digital business: a) how IT capabilities are related to information quality; b) how IT capabilities are related to information service quality, and c) if other capabilities or resources, beside IT capabilities, influence information quality and information service quality. For that, this research employs the multiple case study method and the technique of content analysis. To data collection, it was used the combination of semi-structured interviews and document analysis techniques. Then, a comparative analysis of four cases was conducted. As result, it was concluded that IT capabilities are related to information quality and to information service quality in the context of digital business. However, the intensity of this relationship is higher for some specifics dimensions of IT capabilities. It was also found that, in this context, there are other capabilities or resources that influence information quality and information service quality beside IT capabilities.

Nos últimos anos, observa-se um aumento na quantidade de serviços de atividades físicas oferecidos a população por iniciativas publicas e privadas. Dessa forma, é necessário que haja uma avaliação constante da qualidade do serviço prestado. Estão disponíveis na literatura instrumentos que tem como objetivo de avaliar a qualidade, no entanto se constatou uma lacuna no que diz respeito a considerar as visões dos três grupos de avaliadores (clientes, instrutores e gestores). Dessa forma, o objetivo dessa pesquisa foi construir um instrumento de avaliação da qualidade de serviços e programas de atividades físicas de maneira que o mesmo pudesse ser respondido por esses 3 grupos a fim de compreender visão dos mesmos acerca da qualidade. Para isso, foi realizada a adaptação semântica do instrumento SQSFp e processo de validação de conteúdo em duas etapas. Na primeita etapa, o conteúdo, em termos da pertinência e da clareza dos itens do instrumento, foi avaliado por painel formado por 6 especialistas. Foram realizados cálculos de porcentagem de concordância e índice de validade de conteúdo (IVC). O instrumento final resultou em 30 itens, distribuídos em 9 dimensões e foi denominado SQFSbr. A segunda etapa, de validação prática, foi a de aplicação à clientes, instrutores e gestores a fim de verificar a clareza e entendimento do mesmo por parte dos respondentes, bem como realizar um levantamento sobre a percepção dos grupos em relação às dimensões da qualidade. Não houve menção de falta de entendimento ou clareza em relação aos itens por parte dos grupos, reafirmando a validade do instrumento SQFSbr. Sugere-se que futuros estudos sejam realizados no sentido da aplicação do instrumento entre clientes, instrutores e gestores de um mesmo programa permitindo uma avaliação comparativa das visões / In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of physical activity services offered to the population by public and private initiatives. Due to this perpetual increase, a constant evaluation of the quality of services remains necessary. There are instruments available in the literature that aim to assess quality, but a gap has been identified in regard to the views of the three groups of evaluators (clients, instructors and managers). Thus, the objective of this research was to construct an instrument to evaluate the quality of services and physical activity programs utilizing the responses of these 3 groups in order to understand their view regarding the quality. For this, a semantic adaptation of the SQSFp instrument and the content validation process were performed in two stages. In the first stage, a panel of 6 specialists evaluated the content, in terms of relevance and clarity of the items of the instrument. Percentage of concordance and content validity index (IVC) calculations were performed. The final instrument resulted in 30 items, distributed in 9 dimensions and was named SQFSbr. The second stage, the practical validation, was applying the instrument to clients, instructors and managers in order to verify the clarity and understanding of the same by the respondents, as well as to carry out a survey about the perception of the groups regarding the dimensions of quality. There was no mention from the evaluators on any lack of understanding or clarity regarding the items by the groups, reaffirming the validity of the SQFSbr instrument. It is suggested that future studies be carried out towards the application of the instrument among clients, instructors and managers all from the same program allowing a comparative evaluation between the visions

Muitos estudos científicos avaliam a influência das capacidades de TI sobre a vantagem competitiva e sobre o desempenho da firma. Entretanto, percebe-se a existência de lacunas na literatura sobre capacidades de TI atreladas a alguns temas específicos. Nesse sentido, a comunidade científica carece de estudos que analisem especificamente a relação das capacidades de TI com a qualidade da informação e com a qualidade do serviço de informação, já que as atuais publicações tangenciam, mas não resolvem este dilema. Com o propósito de atender a esta demanda, a presente pesquisa investigou, em um ambiente de negócios digitais: a) como as capacidades de TI se relacionam com a qualidade da informação; b) como as capacidades de TI se relacionam com a qualidade do serviço de informação, e c) se existem outras capacidades ou recursos que, juntamente com as capacidades de TI, influenciam a qualidade de informação e a qualidade do serviço de informação. A fim de atender a esses objetivos, empregou-se o método de estudo de casos múltiplos e a técnica de análise de conteúdo temática. Para a coleta dos dados, utilizou-se uma triangulação das técnicas de entrevistas semiestruturadas e análise documental. A análise comparativa dos quatro casos realizados permitiu concluir que as capacidades de TI se relacionam com a qualidade da informação e com a qualidade do serviço de informação no contexto de negócios digitais, e que a intensidade desse relacionamento é maior para algumas dimensões específicas das capacidades de TI. Verificou-se, ainda, que existem outras capacidades ou recursos que, juntamente com as capacidades de TI, influenciam a qualidade de informação e a qualidade do serviço de informação, no contexto de negócios digitais. / Many studies have evaluated the influence of IT capabilities on competitive advantage and on firm performance. However, there are gaps in the literature about the IT capabilities topic related to some specifics elements. Thus, the scientific community needs studies that specifically analyze the relationship between IT capabilities, information quality and information service quality, since current publications just mention it, but do not solve it’s dilemma. In order to fill this gap, this research investigates, in an environment of digital business: a) how IT capabilities are related to information quality; b) how IT capabilities are related to information service quality, and c) if other capabilities or resources, beside IT capabilities, influence information quality and information service quality. For that, this research employs the multiple case study method and the technique of content analysis. To data collection, it was used the combination of semi-structured interviews and document analysis techniques. Then, a comparative analysis of four cases was conducted. As result, it was concluded that IT capabilities are related to information quality and to information service quality in the context of digital business. However, the intensity of this relationship is higher for some specifics dimensions of IT capabilities. It was also found that, in this context, there are other capabilities or resources that influence information quality and information service quality beside IT capabilities.

Este trabalho científico investigou o problema da avaliação da qualidade de serviços. Trata-se do exame da questão da avaliação da qualidade na prestação de serviços técnicos terceirizados (adquiridos de empresas especializadas, que colocam seus funcionários a serviço do contratante em suas instalações), por intermédio de um enfoque de múltiplos agentes abrange relacionamentos entre vários funcionários de cada uma das organizações envolvidas em um negócio, como estabelecido no Relacionamento R6 de Gummesson (2005, p. 28-29). Conseqüentemente, foram consideradas as perspectivas dos usuários e das pessoas encarregadas de zelar pela conformidade da execução do serviço em relação àquilo que foi contratado (os fiscais dos contratos dos serviços terceirizados), bem como dos representantes das empresas contratadas para a execução desses serviços (responsáveis pelos prestadores desses serviços) para a identificação de indicadores (variáveis mensuráveis) que possibilitem uma avaliação tanto da dimensão técnica quanto da dimensão funcional daqueles tipos de serviços e do pacote desses serviços, aqui denominado serviço de manutenção predial. Para tanto, foi feito um estudo de caso exploratório em uma unidade administrativa de uma organização pública autárquica, no qual foram investigados os atributos para a avaliação de quatro serviços relacionados à manutenção do edifício que ocupa (serviço de manutenção em equipamentos de geração e distribuição de energia elétrica e iluminação; serviço de manutenção em equipamentos de sistemas centrais de ar condicionado; serviço de reparos em móveis e de alterações das posições do mobiliário e das divisórias e serviço de reparos em pisos, carpetes e rede hidráulica), bem como do pacote formado pelo conjunto desses serviços (serviço terceirizado de manutenção predial). Foram empregadas múltiplas fontes de dados: qualitativos (obtidos com base em entrevistas abertas não estruturadas nos focus groups e em e em entrevistas abertas não estruturadas feitas a posteriori com alguns dos participantes desses focus groups) e quantitativos (obtidos mediante aplicação de questionários estruturados a cada uma das três categorias de agentes envolvidos e emprego de técnica de modelagem em equações estruturais com método de estimação baseado em componentes conhecido como PLS - Partial Least Squares). Em termos de resultados destacam-se a identificação de indicadores para a apuração da qualidade dos serviços investigados, assim como o exame da consistência do Modelo de Qualidade de Serviços Terceirizados de Manutenção Predial desenvolvido com base no Modelo Hierárquico de Qualidade de Serviços de Brady e Cronin Jr (2001, p.37). / This scientific work investigated the subject of service quality. It refers to the question of evaluating the quality of outsourcing technical services (from specialized firms that place their employees at the sites of the client) under the approach of multiple agents it involves relationships of several employees of each organization in a business, as stated in the Relationship R6 of Gummesson (2005, p. 28, 29). Consequently it was considered the points of view of users and of the people that make sure that the service will be executed according to what was agreed upon (inspectors of outsourcing contracts), as well as for those representing the outsourcing firms for the execution of the services (responsables for providers services), for the identification of the indicators (measurable variables) that allow an evaluations of the technical dimension as well as the functional dimension of those types of services and the package of the services, here referred to as building maintenance. To that effect an exploratory case study was made in an administrative unit of a public organization in which it was investigated the attributes for the evaluation of four kinds of services related to maintenance (equipments for generation and distribution electric power and lightning; maintenance services for air conditioning; furniture repair and layout of the furniture and positions of working cells, floor and carpet repair, and pipe network), and the set formed by these services (third party service of building maintenance). Multiple sources of data were used: qualitative (obtained from open unstructured interviews on focus groups and a posteriori unstructured open interviews with some participants of these focus groups) and quantitative (obtained from structured questionnaires for each of the three categories of agents involved and based on the technique of structural equations modeling using the method of estimation known as PLS Partial Least Squares). As regards the results of this study, we point out the indicators that survey the quality of services investigated, as well as the analysis of the consistency of the Building Maintenance Outsourcing Quality Model based on the Hierarchical Service Quality Model by Brady and Cronin Jr (2001, p. 37).

As the airline industry continues to rapidly expand and evolve, today's airlines leaders are faced with the challenge of balancing long term strategies with short term solutions. Customer satisfaction has become significantly important for airline operations and as a result service quality has also gained paramount importance in this sector. Lean's customer-focused theme for improving service quality has gained a momentum in services, however, Lean deployment within the airline service sector is generally a long way behind manufacturing and health services. These factors have motivated research into investigating Lean phenomena within a leading UK airline company. For quantitative and qualitative data analysis, 9 cases were collected from 3 internal departments of the airline company, 35 semi-structured interviews were held, and 220 survey questionnaires were circulated of which 180 were returned. Within-case and cross-case analysis techniques were applied and, to develop a framework and 5 key relationships were identified. This study’s contribution is in the area of Quality Management as it: (a) highlights the role of ‘customer value’ and ‘engagement value’ in the domain of technical and functional service quality attributes; (b) maps cost-quality-delivery relationships through linking Lean improvements to its results; and (c) constructs an ‘outcome-driven’ framework from the findings. Ultimately, this research provides knowledge and understanding of how an airline company deploys Lean as business strategy to improve their service quality. The novelty of the research in terms of deliverables is two-fold: firstly, it establishes framework linking Lean improvement initiatives to its results, which extends to the sustainability, commitment, future profitability and market share characteristics of improvement results; and secondly, it provides a tool, which could assist key decision makers in evaluating the results of the Lean initiative to provide better understanding for Lean deployment. Key words: Lean services; business improvement strategy; service quality improvements; quality management; airline services; customer satisfaction; employee satisfaction.

Aim: This paper aims to explore and to understand how the E-CRM affects customer satisfaction and trust from customer perspectives in electronic commerce. Method: The research is an exploratory and qualitative study. A multiple case study involving 3 Swedish companies with 12 face-to-face interviews in Gävle, Sweden, was chosen to collect the empirical data for this study. Data were coded by hands and structured in the form of tables in accordance with 7 codes categorized in 2 themes. Coded data were interpreted to investigate the research questions by using the inductive method. Result & Conclusions: This study found that live chat and e-service quality in E-CRM directly affect how satisfied a customer feel with a company in e-commerce, thus affecting trust as well. However, the findings also showed that not all customers could perceive all the effects of E-CRM on their satisfaction and trust.   Suggestions for future research: Other features such as electronic word-of-mouth, internet branding or internet prices are suggested for the future research to have an in-depth understanding of E-CRM effects. Future studies may combine data from both company and customers to increase the validity and reliability. Furthermore, the population of samples could be collected in others cities or countries than in Gävle, Sweden to generalize the result more. The contribution of the thesis: This study contributes knowledge about E-CRM effects in Swedish e-commerce. Some differences related to existing theories were found in this research such as the effects of gender on trust or effects of prices on relationship building. Understanding the customer perspectives on E-CRM effects enables companies to have a proper E-CRM implementation and training for their organization and employees.

The higher education sector in developing countries is currently facing several challenges generated by a dynamic environment and characterised by rapid technological change and increased demand. This thesis aims to examine the direct and indirect associations between the components of the strategic management, as well as its impact on service quality of university institutions within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Additionally, this thesis tests a mediation effect regarding organisational commitment within the relationship between strategic management and service quality. This thesis employs a quantitative method, and a theoretical model is built based on thorough literature reviews concerning strategic management and service quality. With regard to the findings of the empirical research, six main constructs were successfully validated as multi-dimensional constructs. These were used as within structural equation modelling to analyse influencing factors—be they positive or negative—and the degree to which the creation and operations of such collaborations were successful. The structural paths support hypotheses suggesting that strategic management process has a direct positive influence on organisational commitment and that commitment makes a positive, though weak, contributions to service quality. However, the direct impact of strategy implementation and evaluation upon service quality is insignificant. Furthermore, the result showed a partial mediation between strategic planning and service quality, as well as between strategy formalisation and service quality. However, the relation between implementation and service quality, as well as between evaluation and service equality is fully completed. The proposed model was tested empirically using survey data obtained from those 404 senior managers and academic staff from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Universities who were involved on this study. This thesis synthesises the Social Exchange Theory, Perceived Organisational Support theory and a relational view to explain how commitment influences the Strategic Management process as well as the attributes of Service Quality.