Making sense of service recovery in higher education institutions : exploring the relationship between perceived justice and recovery satisfaction

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the relationship between perceived justice and recovery satisfaction in higher education institutions. Design/Methodology/Approach: Responses were collected from a purposive sample of 430 full-time students across three public higher education institutions in South Africa using a self-administered questionnaire. Findings: Based on the data collected, perceived justice viz. interactional and distributive justice is found to have a significant and positive correlation with recovery satisfaction whereas procedural justice has an insignificant and positive correlation with recovery satisfaction. Practical Implications: The results of this study could prove useful to higher education institutions to ensure that fairness is provided to students during the service recovery process. Furthermore, it offers an opportunity for higher education institutional management to review policies and procedures so that they are responsive to the various needs of students. Originality/Value: This study makes the first attempt to model perceived justice and recovery satisfaction in the South African higher education sector.peer-reviewe

Geopolymer lightweight bricks manufactured from fly ash and foaming agent

This paper deals with the development of lightweight geopolymer bricks by using foaming agent and fly ash. The mix parameters analysed through a laboratory experiment with fix ratio of sodium silicate/sodium hydroxide solution mass ratio 2.5, fly ash/alkaline activator solution mass ratio 2.0, foaming agent/paste mass ratio 1:2 and molarity of sodium hydroxide solution used was 12M. Different curing temperature (Room Temperature, 60, 80) and foaming agent/water mass ratio (1:10 and 1:20) were studied. Compressive strength, density analysis, and water absorption has been investigated. The results show that the foamed geopolymer bricks with a lower foam/water mass ratio (1:10)and high curing temperature (80°C) leading to a better properties. Mixtures with a low density of around 1420 kg/m3 and a compressive strength of around 10 MPa were achieved

Strategic application of events

This paper explores the area of strategy and events through a qualitative study. Organisations are increasingly seeking to achieve strategic objectives though the delivery of events. Particularly, as regards the role of events in the communication of brand strategy. This paper seeks to illuminate the underpinning reasoning for this trend, and examine prevalent issues relating to event management and event experience. There is a critical evaluation of the factors that facilitate and constrain events in supporting organisational strategy, with a number of themes identified that impede events from realising their strategic potential

Service quality measurement in the internet context: A proposed model

The survival of any organisation in a highly competitive environment depends on its ability to provide the best service quality to its existing customers as the quality of service is a key factor in the success of any organisation. It is well established that the measurement of service quality is an important procedure for the improvement of the success and performance of any organisation. Facts indicate that more attention is needed toward developing an industry-specific scale for measuring customer service quality within the still-developing sector of Internet-based self-service technologies. The main objectives of this research paper are two-fold; firstly, to review comprehensively previous and contemporary literature on service quality measurement and to discuss the key issues on the development of an industry-specific scale for measuring customer service quality in the specific context of Internet-based self-service technologies, secondly, to propose a conceptual model for service quality perceptions of Internet-based self-service technologies through identifying its key antecedents and consequences. The findings of this study will be significant for both scholars and practitioners in this area as it provides a deep understanding of the way customers evaluate services provided via self-service technologies

Crashworthiness capability of jute and glass fibre reinforced epoxy tubes under quasi-static loading condition for automotive application

During last few years, the interest in using natural fibers as reinforcement in polymers has increased dramatically. Natural fibers are not only strong and lightweight but also relatively very cheap. This study examined the potential utilization of jute in the crash energy absorption. A combination of hand layup and vacuum bladder technique was kused to search the influence of utilizing jute fibre on crashworthiness parameters of composite materials. To improve the mechanical properties, jute fiber was hybridized with glass fiber. In this work, there are two main parts of study. Firstly, it is to investigate the effect of cross-sectional shapes, number of layers and temperature treatment on the progressive deformation of jute/epoxy composite tubes. Secondly, the suitable type of geometry was chosen to study the effect of hybrid (jute-glass/epoxy) onto the structural designs. All the tests were undergone quasi-static axial crushing of 10 mm/min. Their peak load (Pmax), mean load (Pm), energy absorption (EA) and specific energy absorption (SEA) were discussed in detail. In the study of types of five geometrical shapes (corrugated, circular, hexagonal, octagonal and decagonal cross sectional) with different number of layers (two, three and four layers). It is found that the corrugated geometric shape with three layers (RHS) gives the best energy absorption (30.92 J/g) in specific energy absorption parameter compared to other geometries used in present study. For the temperature treatment, the results showed that the post-curing by gradual temperature treatment (TT) improved the peak load by decreased with 55% as compared to similar circular specimen without temperature treatment (No TT). From the test, it is found that the substitution of one layer of jute fibre with one layer of glass fibre resulted in an improvement in the crashworthiness parameters than layers jute. The best result was obtained when hybrid jute-glass was used, where the energy absorption and specific energy absorption was improved by about 43% and 31%, respectively

COBRA framework to evaluate e-government services: A citizen-centric perspective

E-government services involve many stakeholders who have different objectives that can have an impact on success. Among these stakeholders, citizens are the primary stakeholders of government activities. Accordingly, their satisfaction plays an important role in e-government success. Although several models have been proposed to assess the success of e-government services through measuring users' satisfaction levels, they fail to provide a comprehensive evaluation model. This study provides an insight and critical analysis of the extant literature to identify the most critical factors and their manifested variables for user satisfaction in the provision of e-government services. The various manifested variables are then grouped into a new quantitative analysis framework consisting of four main constructs: cost; benefit; risk and opportunity (COBRA) by analogy to the well-known SWOT qualitative analysis framework. The COBRA measurement scale is developed, tested, refined and validated on a sample group of e-government service users in Turkey. A structured equation model is used to establish relationships among the identified constructs, associated variables and users' satisfaction. The results confirm that COBRA framework is a useful approach for evaluating the success of e-government services from citizens' perspective and it can be generalised to other perspectives and measurement contexts. Crown Copyright © 2014.PIAP-GA-2008-230658) from the European Union Framework Program and another grant (NPRP 09-1023-5-158) from the Qatar National Research Fund (amember of Qatar Foundation

Trust-based quality culture conceptual model for higher education institutions

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) play a crucial role in societies as they enhance the sustainable development of nations. In a context of increasing competition and financial difficulties in higher education institutions, the loyalty of students, faculty and administration staff as well as institutional reputation are key factors for survival and success. They are built upon trust and high quality of services rendered by HEIs. The intentional development of trust serves the purpose of enhancing the quality culture in higher education. The concept of quality culture has become a natural successor of quality management and quality assurance in universities presenting a new perspective for viewing quality at HEIs - as a combination of structural and managerial with cultural and psychological components. This paper provides an elaboration of a novel Trust-Based Quality Culture Conceptual Model for Higher Education Institutions which presents the perceived interconnections between trust and quality culture at HEIs. It can form a source for an inquiry process at HEIs, thus contributing to better contextual diagnosis of the stage where HEI is in the process of building the quality culture based on trust. The findings of this study are important in better understanding the quality culture development in HEIs that is based on trust, loyalty and reputation. It may have an impact on the decision-making processes concerning HEIs’ management. The proposed model contributes to the need for greater clarity, ordering and systematization of the role of trust in the processes of quality culture development

Understanding Critical Variables for Customer Relationship Management in Higher Education Institution from Employees Perspective

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the critical success factors and investigate the benefits that might be gained once implementing Electronic Customer Relationship Management at HEI from employee perspective. The study conducted at Al Quds Open University in Palestine and data collected from (300) employee through a questionnaire which consist of four variables. A number of statistical tools were intended for hypotheses testing and data analysis, including Spearman correlation coefficient for Validity, reliability correlation using Cronbach’s alpha, and Frequency and Descriptive analysis. The overall findings of the current study show that all the features were important for staff and it was critical success factors, at the same time, websites were providing all the features discussed by the theory whereas staff showed their willingness to use those features if provided. It is also discovered that implementing Electronic Customer Relationship Management can cause staff retention, were provided efficiently and needed to be improved. Research limitations: The survey findings were based on QOU employee in Palestine, UAE and KSA branches not included in the study