Rocketing development of Web and information technology makes e-Learning a new training tool of companies to reduce time and cost. The e-Learning shows the same as the most adoptions of new technologies and information systems, the users¡¦ acceptance becomes one of the key success factors. As e-Learning a service provided by companies, the employees¡¦ perceived service quality played an important role on adoption. The well-known Technology Acceptance Model ( TAM ) was good at evaluating acceptance in many studies. This paper applied the TAM as a framework to find out the acceptance of employees on e-Learning, and integrated perceived service quality as the antecedents of perceived usefulness ( PU ), perceived ease of use ( PEOU ),and the behavioral intention ( BI ). This empirical study not only explored the factors of service quality which employees perceived, but also find the relationship between the service quality and the acceptance. In order to prove the fitness of the construct model to e-Learning, this research adopts statistical software SPSS to verify the reliability of the measure and make the factor analysis. This study also uses software AMOS as a tool to build and analyze the linear structure model for the latent constructs of the integrated TAM. The objects of this study are employees of e-Learning users in firms. A total amount of 441 valided samples were collected by stratified random sampling from two large corporations of traditional manufacture and utility. Path analyses verified the original path in TAM, and the perceived service quality causes significantly large influence to acceptance in both directly and indirectly positive path. The analyzed results also shows that perceived service quality of e-Learning could be measured by three major dimensions. This empirically integrated TAM will be useful to researchers in developing and testing e-Learning systems, as well as to organizations in implementing successful e-Learning systems.

Abasract With the progression of time and the transformation of our society, the rights of mentally disabled patients are strongly advocated. The level of quality of services provided by medical institutions often reflects whether the rights of patients are respected. In addition, the degree of satisfaction of patients regarding the medical institution is often a strong indication of the quality of services of such an institution. The purpose of this research is to explore the perspectives from patients and medical personnel regarding the quality and the level of satisfaction of medical services, in order to understand which medical service quality factors could apply to the mental health institution and factors that are regarded as the reference of mental health institution . This research is based on SERVQUAL formal quantity form which is included in five medical service quality components offered by three scholars of Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry. According to the characteristic of medical industry to adjust, it fits in with the service characteristic of the hospital to concentrate on the patient. Using description method to collect data from a questionnaire , this study targeted 62 patients and 77 medical personnel of Psychiatric Hospitals . The results are as follows. (1)The mental patients are mostly distributed with in the 31-50 year age group , are unmarried and are high school education . Before being diagnosed as schizophrenic the patients were mostly unemployed. Medical personnel with long-term work eaperence and these of short-term are equal in number . The education level is mostly vocational school and university, the majority with professional titles are nursing staff and service period is from one year to five years. (2)Analyzing six factors from the form of the medical service quality, named as its attribution: assurance , empathy , tangibles , reliability , responsiveness and utilization of public space. (3)In 35 items of medical service quality, the first three items of greater satisfaction indicators for patient are: confortable living environment , nurses have sufficient nursing technology and knowledge. The first three items of greater satisfaction indicators for medical personnel are: the hospital can maintain the patient¡¦s confidentiality , medical personnel will help patients to solve problems, and medical personnel ensure safety and relabilityin contact with patients. In order to improve the patient's medical treatment quality satisfaction, there are three suggestions as follows. (1)To increase the extension and depth of pharmacist's medicine consultation. (2) Besides medical professional personnel, the hospital should also add service attitudes and evaluations of administrative personnel in other medical industries. (3) Medical professional personnel should consider patient's rights priority and offer patients the individual care and the model of treatment.

No description available.

This thesis covers two distinct measurement development issues and has a third purpose that is to verify the similarities and differences between relationship and service quality (discriminant validity).

This study investigates onto which dimensions of service quality have more impact on patients’ overall quality perceptions of a hospital and seeks to determine the nature of relationship between service quality and patients’ willingness to recommend a hospital to their friends and family. The study also uncovers if the levels of service quality and recommendation behaviours and the relationship between service quality and recommendation behaviour exhibit similar patterns among male versus female, black versus white patients and small/medium versus large hospitals. Data gathered via mail questionnaires and phone interviews from a large sample of the patients of a hospital system in the Southern United States serve as the study setting. Results are presented and their implications are discussed. Avenues for future research are offered.

What is a clean restaurant in customers' viewpoints? Restaurant cleanliness is considered one of the most significant conditions when customers evaluate overall restaurant quality or decide their levels of satisfaction. However, there have been few studies of perceptions of restaurant cleanliness in customers' eyes. Previous studies were found to use inconsistent concepts of restaurant cleanliness when evaluating restaurant cleanliness. For example, some measurement scale of restaurant quality or customer satisfaction includes only items related to a restaurant's interior appearance to measure the restaurant cleanliness. Some researchers have also included items related to server's appearance. In other studies, overall images of a restaurant were used to evaluate its cleanliness. This study attempts to investigate the customers' perceptions of restaurant cleanliness. Understanding what customers consider when they evaluate a restaurant's cleanliness can be beneficial for hospitality managers who can use the information to increase their restaurant's quality and to satisfy their customers. In addition, this study was conducted with two different cultural groups of customers: Westerners and Asians. Understanding how different cultures perceive restaurant cleanliness can help hospitality managers who plan to expand their business in the global market. The results of this study indicated that the items of restroom personal hygiene, restroom appearance and server behavior all have a positive relationship with customers' restaurant quality evaluations. The level of importance of restaurant cleanliness dimensions was found to be similar between the Western and Asian samples. The server's behavior, restroom appearance and signage were found to be the most important dimensions for both groups. However, restroom personal hygiene was found to be the only dimension ranked differently by the two groups in the study. Westerners weighed the restroom personal hygiene as more important than did Asian respondents. Asian groups were found to have higher expectations for overall restaurant cleanliness dimensions than Western groups. / Master of Science

Este trabalho tem como objetivo estudar a qualidade na prestação do serviço público de licenciamento ambiental de Porto Alegre através da análise das percepções e expectativas de funcionários e clientes do serviço. Para tanto foi realizada uma pesquisa exploratória através de entrevistas e grupos focados envolvendo funcionários e clientes do serviço de licenciamento prestado pela Secretaria Municipal do Meio Ambiente de Porto Alegre (SMAM). A qualidade dos serviços foi estudada através da identificação dos atributos envolvidos neste aspecto do serviço prestado. Os resultados possibilitaram identificar os seguintes atributos: padronização dos procedimentos, comunicação, orientação dos processos ao cliente, agilidade, atendimento, fiscalização, interação entre secretarias, competência e coerência das legislações. Foi possível desenvolver um modelo conceitual contendo os elementos e relacionamentos identificados e alguns complementos indicados na literatura. O relacionamento entre os atributos foi organizado em quatro níveis subordinados: (i) qualidade percebida diretamente pelo cliente, (ii) determinantes dos clientes, (iii) processos e procedimentos e (iv) estruturas gerenciais. Como conclusão deste trabalho teve-se a confirmação de que o estudo da qualidade na prestação de serviços públicos, como o de licenciamento ambiental, permite relacionar os elementos essenciais e identificar oportunidades de melhoria. Este trabalho também auxilia a confirmar que cada tipo de serviço exige o desenvolvimento de seu próprio modelo conceitual, em função das especificidades existentes. / The purpose of this work is to study the quality of public services of environmental permission at Porto Alegre through the analysis of perceptions and expectations of employees and customers. For that purpose, an exploratory investigation using personal interviews and focus groups with employees and customers of the permission service was conducted. The level of service quality was evaluated through the identification of the attributes involved in providing the service. The results enable to identify the following attributes: standardization of procedures, communication, orientation of processes to customer, agility, customer service, inspection, interaction among government departments, competence, and coherence of legislations. It was possible to develop a conceptual model including the identified elements and relationships, and some findings of the literature. The relationship among the attributes was arranged in four dependents levels: (i) quality directly observed by customers, (ii) customers determinants, (iii) process and procedures, and (iv) managerial structures. This work confirms that the study of quality in public services, as the environmental permission one, allows unveiling essential elements and relationships, conducting to the identification of improvement opportunities. This work also helps to confirm that each kind of service involves the development of its own conceptual model, due to inherent specificities.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo estudar a qualidade na prestação do serviço público de licenciamento ambiental de Porto Alegre através da análise das percepções e expectativas de funcionários e clientes do serviço. Para tanto foi realizada uma pesquisa exploratória através de entrevistas e grupos focados envolvendo funcionários e clientes do serviço de licenciamento prestado pela Secretaria Municipal do Meio Ambiente de Porto Alegre (SMAM). A qualidade dos serviços foi estudada através da identificação dos atributos envolvidos neste aspecto do serviço prestado. Os resultados possibilitaram identificar os seguintes atributos: padronização dos procedimentos, comunicação, orientação dos processos ao cliente, agilidade, atendimento, fiscalização, interação entre secretarias, competência e coerência das legislações. Foi possível desenvolver um modelo conceitual contendo os elementos e relacionamentos identificados e alguns complementos indicados na literatura. O relacionamento entre os atributos foi organizado em quatro níveis subordinados: (i) qualidade percebida diretamente pelo cliente, (ii) determinantes dos clientes, (iii) processos e procedimentos e (iv) estruturas gerenciais. Como conclusão deste trabalho teve-se a confirmação de que o estudo da qualidade na prestação de serviços públicos, como o de licenciamento ambiental, permite relacionar os elementos essenciais e identificar oportunidades de melhoria. Este trabalho também auxilia a confirmar que cada tipo de serviço exige o desenvolvimento de seu próprio modelo conceitual, em função das especificidades existentes. / The purpose of this work is to study the quality of public services of environmental permission at Porto Alegre through the analysis of perceptions and expectations of employees and customers. For that purpose, an exploratory investigation using personal interviews and focus groups with employees and customers of the permission service was conducted. The level of service quality was evaluated through the identification of the attributes involved in providing the service. The results enable to identify the following attributes: standardization of procedures, communication, orientation of processes to customer, agility, customer service, inspection, interaction among government departments, competence, and coherence of legislations. It was possible to develop a conceptual model including the identified elements and relationships, and some findings of the literature. The relationship among the attributes was arranged in four dependents levels: (i) quality directly observed by customers, (ii) customers determinants, (iii) process and procedures, and (iv) managerial structures. This work confirms that the study of quality in public services, as the environmental permission one, allows unveiling essential elements and relationships, conducting to the identification of improvement opportunities. This work also helps to confirm that each kind of service involves the development of its own conceptual model, due to inherent specificities.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo estudar a qualidade na prestação do serviço público de licenciamento ambiental de Porto Alegre através da análise das percepções e expectativas de funcionários e clientes do serviço. Para tanto foi realizada uma pesquisa exploratória através de entrevistas e grupos focados envolvendo funcionários e clientes do serviço de licenciamento prestado pela Secretaria Municipal do Meio Ambiente de Porto Alegre (SMAM). A qualidade dos serviços foi estudada através da identificação dos atributos envolvidos neste aspecto do serviço prestado. Os resultados possibilitaram identificar os seguintes atributos: padronização dos procedimentos, comunicação, orientação dos processos ao cliente, agilidade, atendimento, fiscalização, interação entre secretarias, competência e coerência das legislações. Foi possível desenvolver um modelo conceitual contendo os elementos e relacionamentos identificados e alguns complementos indicados na literatura. O relacionamento entre os atributos foi organizado em quatro níveis subordinados: (i) qualidade percebida diretamente pelo cliente, (ii) determinantes dos clientes, (iii) processos e procedimentos e (iv) estruturas gerenciais. Como conclusão deste trabalho teve-se a confirmação de que o estudo da qualidade na prestação de serviços públicos, como o de licenciamento ambiental, permite relacionar os elementos essenciais e identificar oportunidades de melhoria. Este trabalho também auxilia a confirmar que cada tipo de serviço exige o desenvolvimento de seu próprio modelo conceitual, em função das especificidades existentes. / The purpose of this work is to study the quality of public services of environmental permission at Porto Alegre through the analysis of perceptions and expectations of employees and customers. For that purpose, an exploratory investigation using personal interviews and focus groups with employees and customers of the permission service was conducted. The level of service quality was evaluated through the identification of the attributes involved in providing the service. The results enable to identify the following attributes: standardization of procedures, communication, orientation of processes to customer, agility, customer service, inspection, interaction among government departments, competence, and coherence of legislations. It was possible to develop a conceptual model including the identified elements and relationships, and some findings of the literature. The relationship among the attributes was arranged in four dependents levels: (i) quality directly observed by customers, (ii) customers determinants, (iii) process and procedures, and (iv) managerial structures. This work confirms that the study of quality in public services, as the environmental permission one, allows unveiling essential elements and relationships, conducting to the identification of improvement opportunities. This work also helps to confirm that each kind of service involves the development of its own conceptual model, due to inherent specificities.

In 2012, the CIA World Fact Book showed that the service sector contributed about 76.6% and 51.4% of the 2010 gross national product of both the United States and Ghana, respectively. Research in the services area shows that a firm's success in today's competitive business environment is dependent upon its ability to deliver superior service quality. However, these studies have yet to address factors that influence customers to remain committed to a mass service in economically diverse countries. In addition, there is little research on established service quality measures pertaining to the mass service domain. This dissertation applies Rusbult's investment model of relationship commitment and examines its psychological impact on the commitment level of a customer towards a service in two economically diverse countries. In addition, service quality is conceptualized as a hierarchical construct in the mass service (banking) and specific dimensions are developed on which customers assess their quality evaluations. Using, PLS path modeling, a structural equation modeling approach to data analysis, service quality as a hierarchical third-order construct was found to have three primary dimensions and six sub-dimensions. The results also established that a country's national economy has a moderating effect on the relationship between service quality and investment size, and service satisfaction on investment size. This study is the first to conceptualize and use the hierarchical approach to service quality in mass services. Not only does this study build upon the investment model to provide a comprehensive decision model for service organizations to increase their return on investment but also, provides a congruence of work between service quality and the investment model in the management and decision sciences discipline.