O tempo é importante para o homem nas diversas áreas do conhecimento porque tem uma finalidade em cada área, por isso, é estudado, medido, analisado, avaliado de maneira tanto qualitativa como quantitativa. A questão do tempo de serviço, neste caso, o serviço de saúde, em algumas situações em que ocorre a demora no atendimento leva a formação de fila que faz a espera inevitável. A qualidade é reconhecida como um constructo multidimensional, com vários atributos e visões. Vários pesquisadores desenvolveram ou adaptaram um instrumento para medir qualidade de serviços de saúde e muitos estudos realizados revelaram que ainda ocorre a formação de longas filas para atendimento do paciente. O objetivo deste trabalho é a avaliação da perspectiva do paciente da qualidade de serviços de saúde na rede pública e privada de saúde, focada na análise do tempo de consulta médica. Visa fornecer informações para melhorar e auxiliar a tomada de decisão dos gestores de instituições de saúde sobre a qualidade de serviços de saúde prestados. A análise quantitativa de dados usou o teste de significância não-paramétrico, com o teste com sinais Wilcoxon, usado para pares conjugados e a análise qualitativa usou a técnica descritiva. O instrumento de coleta de dados baseou-se na SERVQUAL, utilizada para avaliação de qualidade de serviços de saúde. O desenvolvimento da pesquisa empírica ocorreu nas instituições de saúde da cidade de Ribeirão Preto devido sua importância no campo da saúde. Concluiu-se que as instituições de saúde que apresentaram o menor tempo de consulta médica também receberam um grau menor sobre a avaliação de qualidade em relação às outras instituições. / Time is important for the man in various areas of knowledge because it has a specific purpose in each area; therefore, time is studied, measured, analyzed and evaluated in a qualitative and quantitative way. The duration of the service provided by an organization, in this case a health care organization, sometimes leads to situations in which the delay in the appointments may result in queue lines, obliging the patients to wait, in order to receive health care assistance. The quality of the service provided by these organizations is mostly recognized as a multidimensional construct, with many attributes and points of view. Several researchers have developed or modified instruments to measure health care service quality and, most of the surveys conducted, have revealed that there is still formation of long queues for attendance of the patient. The objective of this study is the evaluation of the patient?s opinion about the quality of the health care service provided by public and private organizations, with emphasis on the analysis of the duration of medical consultation. This study also aims to gather data that could improve the decisions which have to be made by managers from health care institutions, regarding mainly the health care service quality rendered to patients. The quantitative data analysis, on one hand, was done using the significance test nonparametric, in addition with the Wilcoxon signed ranks test, which was used for conjugated pairs. The qualitative analysis, on the other hand, was done with the descriptive technique. The tool used to collect data was based on SERVQUAL, which evaluated the quality of health care services. The site chosen for the development of the empirical research was the city of Ribeirão Preto, state of São Paulo, Brazil, due to its importance in the area of health care assistance. The conclusion revealed that the health care facilities, which presented the shortest length during appointments with the patients, also received a smaller grade regarding the quality evaluation, in comparison to the other facilities.

Apesar de a qualidade ser considerada um dos principais determinantes da sobrevivência e prosperidade de prestadores de serviços via internet (eg, ZEITHAML; PARASURAMAM; MALHOTRA, 2000, 2002), existem muitas divergênciasna literatura a respeito da conceptualização, composição e consequências desse construto. A fim de ajudar no preenchimento dessa lacuna, este trabalho integrou os resultados quantitativos de 87 amostras independentes, reportados em 74 estudos (=35935), em um modelo metanalítico dos fatores da qualidade dos serviços prestados via internet (QSEI). Utilizando Rust e Oliver (1994) como referência teórica, os 10 fatores encontrados na literatura com frequência suficiente para análise (≥4) foram agrupados em 3 dimensões (qualidade do ambiente, do processo e do resultado) e associados à qualidade geral percebida, satisfação do cliente e intenção comportamental.Das 30 relações propostas, 25 alcançaram o ponto de corte estipulado (≥4) e puderam ser analisadas por meio da metanálise, quando se constatou que as relações eram significantes ao nível de 5%, bem como eram robustas no que diz respeito ao fail safe N. Com relação à magnitude dos efeitos observados, encontrou-se que o benefício funcional possui o maior efeito sobre a satisfação do cliente e a intenção comportamental, enquanto que a qualidade da informação possui o maior efeito sobre a qualidade geral percebida. O efeito do benefício funcional é maior do que o do benefício emocional tanto na satisfação do cliente quanto na intenção comportamental, sugerindo que as avaliações do cliente são mais cognitivas do que emocionais em contextos eletrônicos. O efeito do benefício funcional é maior do que o do benefício emocional tanto na satisfação do cliente quanto na intenção comportamental, sugerindo que as avaliações do cliente são mais cognitivas do que emocionais em contextos eletrônicos. Além disso, o benefício emocional, o benefício funcional e a confiabilidade estão entre os quatro fatores com maior efeito sobre a intenção comportamental, sugerindo que as intenções de comportamento do consumidor online são mais influenciadas pelos fatores associados ao final da experiência (dimensão qualidade do resultado). / Although quality has been recognizedas a major determinant of long-term performance and success for service providers on the internet (eg, ZEITHAML; PARASURAMAM; MALHOTRA, 2000, 2002), there are many divergences in the literature regarding the conceptualization, dimensionality and consequences of this construct. In order to help to fill this gap, it was integrated the quantitative results of 87 independent samples reported in 74 studies (N = 35935) in a meta-analytic model of service quality delivered through the Internet. Using Rust and Oliver (1994) as theoretical framework, the 10 factors found in the literature were grouped into 3 dimensions (environmental, process, and outcome quality) and associated to perceived quality, customer satisfaction, and behavioral intention. Thirty relationships were proposed, but only 25 of them reached the cutoff point (≥4)and were analyzed through the meta-analysis. These 25 relationships are significant at the 5% level and robust with regard to the fail safe N.The results indicate that the information quality is the most influential factor on the overall perceived quality, while the functional benefit is the most influential factor both on the customer satisfaction and behavioral intention. The functional benefit effect both on the customer satisfaction and behavioral intention is greater than that of emotional benefit, suggesting that the customer ratings are more cognitive than emotional in electronic contexts. Furthermore, the behavioral intention is most influenced by the outcome dimension factors (emotional benefit, functional benefit, and the reliability), demonstrating that the end of experience is very important for consumers at the internet.

O tema central desta dissertação é o uso da evidência física como forma de gerar percepções de qualidade de serviços por parte de clientes. A realização de um estudo exploratório justifica-se pela baixa produção acadêmica sobre o tema no Brasil. Na primeira parte da dissertação é feita revisão bibliográfica em que se abrange: importância dos serviços; definições de serviços; características de serviços; classificações de serviços; serviços de saúde; encontros de serviço; qualidade de serviços; e evidência física. Na segunda parte do trabalho, apresentam-se a metodologia e os resultados de uma pesquisa de campo, realizada para verificar como os conceitos estudados são praticados por três hospitais brasileiros. Na conclusão do trabalho são apresentadas as principais contribuições práticas e teóricas, um resumo das principais descobertas da pesquisa de campo, as restrições e limitações do trabalho e recomendações de pesquisas futuras para outros autores que tenham interesse pelo tema. / The aim of this dissertation is the use of physical evidence as a way to generate service quality perceptions from clients. The realization of an exploratory research is justified by the low academic production on the subject in Brazil. In the first part of the dissertation is presented a bibliographic review including: the importance of services; service definitions; service characteristics; service classification; health services; service encounters; service quality; and physical evidence. In the second part of this work are presented the methodology and the results of a field research in order to verify how the concepts reviewed are practiced by three Brazilian hospitals. At the conclusion are presented the main practical and theoretical contributions, a summary of the main findings of the field research, the restrictions and limitations of the study and recommendations for future researches to other authors who have interest on this subject.

A qualidade dentro da hotelaria, segundo a perspectiva dos hóspedes pode ser igual, inferior ou superior às suas expectativas. Para estimar esta qualidade é preciso estabelecer atributos, medi-los e elencá-los. Este trabalho propôs-se a através de um levantamento bibliográfico, chegar a atributos de qualidade nos serviços de hotelaria, e posteriormente medi-los junto aos hóspedes dos hotéis de Ribeirão Preto, visando contrastar as diferentes necessidades dos clientes hoteleiros de lazer e negócios. Para isso foi utilizada a aplicação de questionários com o método SERVQUAL em clientes de hotéis da cidade. Esta ferramenta compara as expectativas e percepções dos mesmos. Os dados obtidos foram analisados estatisticamente. O estudo aponta para hóspedes de lazer e negócios com perfis diferenciados de gênero, renda, frequência de viagens. Quanto às questões comparativas do SERVQUAL, conclui-se que os hóspedes de lazer estão quase totalmente satisfeitos com os hotéis nos quais se hospedaram na cidade. Porém, aponta hóspedes de negócios que desejam mais do que encontram nestes estabelecimentos. Há pontos a melhorar em quase todas as dimensões: tangibilidade, confiabilidade, responsividade e segurança. Para o atendimento de excelência dos indivíduos que viajam com este tipo de motivação torna-se necessário ampliar o conhecimento sobre os mesmos e adotar medidas efetivas para sua satisfação. / The quality in the hotel industry, in conformity to the guests perspective can be equal, lower or higher than they expected. To appraise this quality it is needed to establish attributes, measure and order them. This study intends to make a bibliographical research to find quality attributes in hotel services and after that, to test them among Ribeirão Pretos hotel guests. The objective is to contrast different needs of these business and leisure guests. For that, SERVQUAL Method it was used and required questioner applications to the citys hotel clients. This instrument compares the expectations and the perceptions of these two different types of costumers. The data obtained was statistically analyzed. The study has as aim either to leisure and business guests with distinct profiles of gender, income, travel frequency. When it comes to SERVQUAL comparative questions, it was concluded that leisure guests are very much satisfied with the hotels that they are lodged in town. Meanwhile, the study shows business guests that wish more than they find in these establishments. There are aspects to work on almost every dimension: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness and security. To have an excellence attend of individuals who travel with this kind of motivation, some increasement in knowledge about them and adoption of effective ways to measure for their satisfaction are necessary.

On-going research in recent years has shown quality of product and service, as perceived by customer, relative to competition, to be the single most important factor contributing to organizational well-being. Quality of product and service also presents one of the most significant opportunities for corporate differentiation. A major requirement for the successful management of quality is therefore effective measurement. In the case of physical goods, progress has been made over a long period. However, in the case of services, real advances have only occurred within the past decade. The importance of service quality is also highlighted by the fact that most businesses today are losing customers due to its inadequacy, rather than poor products. Indeed, from the customer's point of view, services and products probably do not exist in a dichotomy, but, rather, along a spectrum. Therefore, the measurement of service quality is critical, not only in traditional service organizations, but in manufacturing situations as well. The development of the SERVQUAL questionnaire in 1988, offered researchers, perhaps for the first time, an apparently reliable and valid instrument for the measurement of service quality. However, to date the instrument has not been subjected to rigorous testing for reliability and validity in South Africa, across a range of service organizations, within a typology. In this study, the SERVQUAL instrument was used to measure service quality across a range of firms within the Larsson-Bowen contingency framework, under South African conditions. Its main objectives were to assess its reliability and validity in these circumstances. It was found that SERVQUAL performed well across all organizations within the Larsson-Bowen framework, under South African conditions, with regard to reliability, convergent and nomological validity. Its construct validity proved to be less sound, and it was not found to possess discriminant validity. It is suggested that this is less attributable to South African circumstances than to the nature of the organizations. In cases of low diversity of demand, the instrument appears to capture the essence of service quality less effectively. Means of overcoming this in future studies are suggested, as well as other directions for research in the area of service quality measurement

National Dairy Equipment (Pty) Ltd (NDE) is a privately owned stockist and distributor of stainless steel products and is a respected player in the South African stainless steel industry. NDE operates from within all four major cities in South Africa namely, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, and Durban. The organisation, with its wide range of corrosion resistant products, serves industries such as the architecture and construction, automotive, catering, and food and beverage industry. With the stainless steel industry growing in terms of the number of competitors, NDE performs a number of functions in order to achieve customer satisfaction. The general purpose of the study was to indentify the attributes that would act as drivers of customer satisfaction at NDE. Five attributes were identified namely, Service quality, Trust and commitment, Product quality, Commercial aspects and Reliability. The results of this study could assist managers at NDE in improving service delivery to customers. The literature study provided an overview of overall customer satisfaction and possible measurement models for customer satisfaction. Measurement models included, SERVQUAL, SERVPERF, the Two-factor theory, the Kano model and the Three-factor model. The latter proved to be of particular importance to the study as the model was used to classify the identified drivers into basic, performance and excitement factors. Furthermore, a literature review was provided based on each of the identified potential drivers of customer satisfaction. The empirical data needed to complete the study was collected by means of a survey, using a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed by sales representatives at NDE. A total of 320 useable questionnaires were received. The study revealed the following: each of the five proposed attributes had a positive relationship with overall customer satisfaction,thus all five attributes were confirmed as drivers of customer satisfaction at NDE. Commercial aspects and Reliability were classified as basic satisfiers. Trust and commitment was classified as a performance satisfier, and Service quality was identified as the only excitement satisfier. Product quality did not receive any classification. All importance mean scores were higher than the corresponding satisfaction mean scores. This study contributed to the existing body of literature and is seemingly the first of its kind in the South African stainless steel industry. The study is also the first to attempt the measurement of overall customer satisfaction levels at NDE. The methodology used in the current study can be applied to stainless steel industries internationally, in order to verify whether the confirmed drivers would also act as drivers of satisfaction in a similar industry elsewhere in the world.

The container terminals play an increasingly important role in the economy of many countries. In today’s global competitive environment delivering quality service is considered as an essential strategy for success and survival. In the very competitive container terminals, service quality is important in attracting and retaining customers. The shipping companies are interested in speed and reliability from the terminals. The time a ship stays in a port must be minimised, and, therefore, the handling of containers must be executed in a fast and reliable way. The importance of customer service as a competitive strategy in container terminal has long been recognised. The growth in container volumes and higher productivity by Ngqura Container Terminal has created greater demand than before from its customers in the shipping business. The current growth in container volumes and increased customer demand has made the situation at NCT less encouraging at times, due to additional traffic of vessels awaiting to dock at the port creating congestion problems; resulting in unplanned lengthy dock occupation by vessels and the current status quo is affecting NCT strategy in terms of arrival docking and providing a quick response to customers. The Ngqura terminal is under increasing pressure from its customers and stakeholders to demonstrate that their services are customer-focused and that continuous performance improvement is being delivered. Therefore, a literature study and questionnaire survey forms the main input for this research combined with interviews with terminal managers. The purpose of this research is to examine the service quality concepts and offer an operational approach for the measurement of the quality of Ngqura Container Terminal services. The main research problem in this study was to identify customer service strategies that could be applied by Ngqura Container Terminal in order to maintain and exceed its business growth as well as customer expectations? The study employed the SERVQUAL model as a measuring tool in establishing the customers’ general expectations of a service and their perceptions of the service received at Ngqura Container Terminal. The five elements of SERVQUAL, which are tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy, were used to deal with and solve the main problem. Below are the sub-problems that have been identified in order to investigate and develop a research strategy: What is the customer’s perception of service quality at NCT?; What are the specific customer service requirements of NCT’s customers?; Does NCT’s service operations performance enable it to fulfill its customer service requirements?; How can the performance gap between customer service requirements and service operations performance be bridged?; Which service quality elements are important to customers for container terminals? This study wants to concentrate on the customers’ perception and evaluation toward service performance in Ngqura Container Terminal.

The best service providers assure the highest levels of service quality. Frontline service providers need organizational commitment, emotional intelligence, and employee satisfaction to provide excellent service delivery. The research study reviews emotional intelligence, organizational commitment, and employee satisfaction within a Business to Business service organization. A literature review provides a theoretical base of constructs. A survey is used to measure the entire frontline organization, seeking results to support the hypothesis that higher service quality is related to emotional intelligence, organizational commitment, and employee satisfaction. The study offers future research potential on the role of frontline service providers to service quality. A review of the results, limitations, and future research implications are discussed.

The diploma thesis deals with customers’ satisfaction analysis with service quality focus on financial services. Based on the theoretical knowledge about customer satisfaction and methods of service quality research, the aim of this diploma thesis is to analyze current level of customer satisfaction with service quality in the selected company and to recommend possible proposals for its improvement.

Thesis (MTech (Business Administration))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2019 / The delivery of exceptional services is vital to organisations’ sustained competitive advantage in today’s setting. When organisations are able to provide high quality services, they are able to meet customer expectations and satisfy them. Employees employed at service-orientated organisations frequently interact with consumers during which they represent both the organisation and the service provided. Satisfied consumers and motivated employees are of great importance in ensuring that government departments and municipalities meet their obligations. The objective of the study was to determine how employee motivation influences service delivery. The study found a positive association between employee motivation and service quality, leading to the conclusion that motivated employees deliver quality services. Thus, it is important for executives of organisations to ensure that employees are continuously motivated. The findings and conclusion lead to recommendations towards improving employee motivation to ensure improved service delivery.