Service Quality in Kenyan Universities: Dimensionality and Contextual Analysis

The dimensionality of service quality remains debatable with extant literature revealing divergence in thought. This study examined the dimensions of service quality and tested the existence of a significant difference in service quality perception between public and private university students in Kenya. Guided by a positivist paradigm and cross sectional sample survey, data was collected from 750 randomly selected respondents. A 56 item scale instrument based on performance only paradigm was self-administered to select university students. Factor analysis was employed in determining potent service quality dimensions and Analysis of Variance test used in comparative analysis. A four factor construct was revealed, with service blue print emerging as an additional dimension of service quality in the Kenyan university context. It was established that there exist a significant difference in the dimensions of service quality between public and private university students. This implied that an appreciation of service quality dimensions is imperative in managing student’s expectation and that the university managers have to apply contingent service quality practices. The study recommends adequate regulation to standardize service quality irrespective of the service context. Key words: Kenya, service quality, dimensions, universit

Integrating declarative and imperative approach to model logistics service processes

Purpose: There is a widespread recognition of the importance of correctly modeling service processes as an effective way to provide a comprehensive understanding of the process and to enhance the service quality to clients. Taking this into account, this paper aims to construct the logistics service process model using the integration of the declarative approach and imperative approach. Design/methodology/approach: A methodology integrating the declarative and imperative process modeling approach is proposed for modeling the logistics service processes. Through investigation of the service departments and services involved, the process is decomposed into loosely-structured parts modeled by a declarative approach and highly structured parts modeled by an imperative approach. The loosely-structured and highly-structured parts are then integrated to form the model for the logistics service process. Findings: Through a case study for a Chinese bulk port, the integrative method proves to be effective in modeling the loosely-structured logistics service processes. The result model is able to express the logistics regulations and corresponding rules across different organizations as well as the strict execution order of the process activities inside a particular organization. Originality/value: The model could be the starting point for further logistics service process investigation. Future work could be conducted for conformance checking of the logistics service process using the model as a reference model.Peer Reviewe

Service quality towards customer loyalty in Malaysia's domestic low cost airline service

Delivering high quality service to the passengers is imperative so that airline companies can survive and strengthen their competitiveness. Even though there have been extensive research on service quality and customer loyalty in the past, little study has been conducted in this specific area. Hence, this paper aims to propose a conceptual framework on service quality and its relationship towards customer loyalty among Malaysia’s domestic low cost airline services passengers. Reliability, tangibles, responsiveness, assurance and empathy are considered as critical dimensions of service quality that possibly provide empirical evidence in relation to customer loyalty. Subsequently, the consequences of the customer loyalty are further elaborated in this paper too. It is expected that the findings of this study can assist the organization to deliver high service quality to the customers and enhancing customers’ satisfaction in fulfilling their needs and wants. More importantly, improving service quality in such an organization may result in long-term increase in customer’s loyalty; this in turn leads to cost savings and improved profitability and market share

Student Perceptions on Service Quality of Higher Education: an Empirical Study

Educational literatures suggest that there is mounting pressure from customers of higher education to close the gap between their expectation of institutional performance and the actual performance (Widrick et al., 2002; Pariseau and Mc Daniel, 1997; Shank et al., 1995). Therefore, it is imperative that higher educations actively monitor the quality of their service. This study deals with measuring the service quality in higher education. The service quality of higher education in this research is defined as the difference between perception of performance and expectation of higher education. The instrument from Shank et al. (1995) was used in this study. The questionnaires were sent to students from some big universities in Jakarta. The t test was used to analysis the dat

Incorporating service quality tools into Kansei Engineering in services: A case study of Indonesian tourists

Due to market dynamics and challenges, it is imperative for companies to put their concern on strategic marketing orientation. In facts, products and services of similar quality are ubiquitous in today’s global market. Basically, functionality and usability alone are no longer prominent success factors in product and service innovation because customers today concern themselves more on satisfying their emotions than merely their cognition. Kansei Engineering (KE) has shown its superiority in investigating and modelling customer emotion (“Kansei” in Japanese) for product development. In dealing with customer needs, service quality tools such as quality function deployment (QFD) and the Kano model, have been applied extensively. But none have been able to incorporate and model customer’s emotional needs. Some attention has been given to investigate this but, thus far, there is no formal methodology that can account for customer emotional needs in service design. To fill this niche, this study proposed an integrative framework of KE incorporating the Kano model and QFD applied to services. This study extended the work by Hartono and Tan (2011) and Hartono et al. (2012) and presented a survey on luxury hotel services involving more than a hundred Indonesian tourists as the subject of study. Luxury hotels are reported to have greater strength of emotion than any other hotel segment. This work confirmed that emotion is to be more important than cognition in impacting overall customer satisfaction. Practically, it gives insight on which service attributes deserve more attention with regard to their impact on customer emotion. Indonesian tourists shared a common response to the Kansei word “elegant” which correlates with their common cultural dimension of “power distance”. Performing a Kansei evaluation to understanding cultural backgrounds may yield valuable insights for international tourist marketing strategies and companies’ business sustainability

Staff Quality and Service Delivery: Evaluating Two Ghanaian District Assemblies

This study examines the nature of staff quality and the extent to which it can explain variations in service delivery outcomes using two selected District Assemblies in Ghana. Staff quality is measured by the interaction of individual-level competences and public service motivation. Depending on intensity, the interaction of competence and public service motivation produced four types of staff quality with varied implications for service delivery outcomes. It is argued that the relationship between decentralisation and service delivery remains complex, and therefore the role of staff quality remains critical. This is important in the light of calls to implement full devolution in Ghana where all decentralised services will operate directly under the District Assembly. It is imperative for public administration and human resource experts to look more closely at attracting employees with the demonstrable public service motivation and skillsets needed for decentralisation, and to create favourable social conditions that support family life

Total quality management and public administration: the case of Vila Real town hall

The quality movement is based on a main idea: every good and service must have the maximum quality. To get to the bottom of this movement one has to understand in the first place the implications of its assumptions and how they reflect themselves upon the institutions (Connor, 1997). In most countries, public administration is the economic sector which weights more heavily on employment and also the one which produces more goods and creates more services. Naturally one cannot remain indifferent to this Total Quality Management (TQM) movement in public administration. The Government is aware that "quality is now recognized and accepted worldwide as the client’s satisfaction at an adequate cost and an imperative for all public organizations (…) in view of the public’s and consumers’ growing awareness of their rights.” (DL n.º 166-A/99 de 13 de Maio). In Portugal, public administration faces new and more complex challenges everyday as a result of economic, social and technologic changes the country is going through. Thus it is the aim of the present paper to try and answer some questions, namely: how can the town hall of Vila Real cope with the TQM implementation in a context of change? Are there any obstacles or else favourable conditions to that implementation

Teknologi Informasi Percepatan Pelayanan Publik Pembuatan Paspor Pada Kantor Imigrasi

The article aims to analyze the acceleration of information technology in public service to the community in term of making a passport which organized by the immigration office. Role of Information Technology is necessary in all elements, such as; institutions, agency, organisation and everyone who related with the service sector. Data from various studies indicate that the use of information technology is very influence to accelerate quality in the public service, especially in the process of passport services. Mastery of Information Technology at the present time has become imperative, more specifically, to the institution including facilitate the administrative work in the public service sector

Service Quality, Students’ Satisfaction and Behavioural Intentions in STEM and IC Higher Education Institutions

Service quality, students’ satisfaction and their behavioural intentions are recognised as rather important aspects in higher education institution’s strategy in a competitive higher education marketplace, which enable them to attract and retain students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and information-communication (IC) study areas. This research aimed to study the relationship between service quality, students’ satisfaction and behavioural intentions of STEM and IC students of the University of Rijeka Departments. Partial least squares structural equation modelling using SmartPLS 3.0 software was performed on student survey data, confirming a direct, positive and significant relationship between higher education service quality and students’ satisfaction and between students’ satisfaction and their behavioural intentions. According to indirect effects analysis, perceived higher education service quality has an an indirect, positive and significant impact on students’ behavioural intentions through students’ satisfaction. The results indicate that higher education service quality is an imperative for higher education sector. Based on the findings of this study, useful to policy makers in the services industry in general and in higher education sector in particular, improvements can be planned all service quality dimensions as a key factor to attract, educate and retain STEM and IC students in Croatia