Retail Service Quality and Service Recovery Quality: A Comparison Between Small and Large Retail Stores

Because the retail environment is rapidly changing and increasingly competitive, consumers expect higher-quality service (Wong and Sohal, 2003). Thus, researchers have attempted to identify the dimensions and instruments to measure service quality and service recovery quality. In this study, I aimed to measure how these dimensions differently perceived across small and large retail stores. I investigated the dimensions of service quality (personal attention, tangibles, and reliability), perceived justice (distributive and interactional justices), and customers\u27 emotions (positive and negative emotions). The results confirmed that store size significantly affects customers\u27 expectations about personal attention, interactional justice, and positive emotions. This implies that personal relationships between customers and employees are influenced by store size and customers in small stores expect greater personal attention from employees, evaluate fair interaction strongly, and are more likely to feel positive emotions. Thus, small retail stores should develop strategies to engage their customers in a more personal manner

The Relationships among Perceived Fairness, Customer Satisfaction and Relationship Quality in a Multi-Channel Retail Environment

This study primarily aims to examine the differences in customer\u27s service recovery expectations across different retail channels and investigates the relationship among service recovery expectation, consumer\u27s fairness perception towards service recovery, post recovery satisfaction, and relationship quality. The study also investigates the moderating effect of past shopping experience and channel preference on the relationship between post recovery satisfaction and customer relationship quality. The relationship between perceived recovery fairness and satisfaction was significantly supported. The satisfaction was found to be a significant predictor of relationship quality in the context of service failure and recovery. Consumers\u27 past shopping experience and their channel preference were found to have a moderating effect on their relationship quality with the retailer. This implies that post recovery satisfaction has relatively greater impact on the relationship quality of customers trying a new retail channel than those who have been using it extensively for a longer period of time and already prefer it. Hence, the retailers entering new channels can formulate their service recovery strategies to build and improve relationship quality with their potential returning customers. However, the two major channels in a multi-channel retailing did not differ in terms of customer\u27s service recovery expectation. This result implies that the customers want the same level of response and action from a retailer when they are encountered with service failure and the retailer must respond in an appropriate way in order to maintain their relationship with the customer regardless of the type of retail channel consumers are using

The Impact of Service Recovery Communication Channel on Perceived Quality of Service Recovery and Consumer Behavior

Consumers often encounter service failure, which consequently leads to consumer dissatisfaction, negative word-of-mouth, and the collapse of consumer loyalty (Kuo & Wu, 2012). As the critical negative impact of service failure has been revealed, service recovery—the process to solve consumer problems as a result of service failure (Miller, Craighead, & Karwan, 2000)—has recently been considered a crucial marketing strategy for researchers and service providers in maintaining customers relationships (Maxham, 2001). This study primarily aims to identify effective service recovery processes that positively influence consumer satisfaction, word-of-mouth intention, and loyalty intention based on the disconfirmation paradigm theory

The Effects of Customer Age on Service Recovery Evaluation Process in Retail

As consumers are becoming more demanding and are responding to service providers\u27 failures in more negative ways, it is imperative to understand the impact of service failure and the importance of service recovery. Thus, researchers have examined customers\u27 process of evaluating service recovery, but customers\u27 personal characteristics have not been considered as relevant factors. Thus, this study investigates the effects of customer age on the customer service recovery evaluation process including service failure severity, service recovery expectations, perceived justice, and perceived emotions toward service recovery. The results showed that customer age significantly affects customer perception of service failure severity and service recovery expectations that they have before they received any service recovery activities, but customer age does not affect customers\u27 perception and evaluations after they received service recovery. Thus, companies should carefully consider customer age in order to meet their expectations and demands so as to compensate their loss and solve any problems caused by the service failure

Erratum: Nation-Wide Korean Breast Cancer Data from 2008 Using the Breast Cancer Registration Program

nation-wide breast cancer data and analyzed the data using their online registration program biannually. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of Korean breast cancer from 2008 and examine chronological based patterns. Methods: Data were collected from 38 medical schools (67 hospitals), 20 general hospitals, and 10 private clinics. The data on the total number, gender, and age distribution were collected through a questionnaire as well as other detailed data analyzed via the online registration program. Results: In 2008, there were 13,908 patients who were newly diagnosed with breast cancer. The crude incidence rate of female breast cancer was 57.3 among 100,000 and the median age was 49 years. The age distribution had not changed since the initial survey; however the proportion of postmenopausal patients had increased and median age was older than the past. In staging distribution, the proportion of early breast cancer (stage 0, I) was 47.2 % with, breast-conserving surgery performed in 58 % and mastectomy in 39.5%. Conclusion: Compared to past data, the incidence of breast cancer in Korea continues to rise. Furthermore, the proportion of those detected by screening and breast conservation surgery has increased remarkably. To understand the patterns of Korean breast cancer, the nation-wide data should continuously investigated

Data Transfer Schemes in Rotorcraft Fluid-Structure Interaction Predictions

For a CFD (computation fluid dynamics)/CSD (computational structural dynamics) coupling, appropriate data exchange strategy is required for the successful operation of the coupling computation, due to fundamental differences between CFD and CSD analyses. This study aims at evaluating various data transfer schemes of a loose CFD/CSD coupling algorithm to validate the higher harmonic control aeroacoustic rotor test (HART) data in descending flight. Three different data transfer methods in relation to the time domain airloads are considered. The first (method 1) uses random data selection matched with the timewise resolution of the CSD analysis whereas the last (method 2) adopts a harmonic filter to the original signals in CFD and CSD analyses. The second (method 3) is a mixture of the two methods. All methods lead to convergent solutions after a few cycles of coupling iterations are marched. The final converged solutions for each of the data transfer methods are correlated with the measured HART data. It is found that both method 1 and method 2 exhibit nearly identical results on airloads and blade motions leading to excellent correlations with the measured data while the agreement is less satisfactory with method 3. The reason of the discrepancy is identified and discussed illustrating CFD-/CSD-coupled aeromechanics predictions

Genotype-phenotype correlations in pediatric patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1

Purpose Myotonic dystrophy, also known as dystrophia myotonica (DM), is an autosomal dominant disorder with 2 genetically distinct forms. DM type 1 (DM1) is the more common form and is caused by abnormal expansion of cytosine/thymine/guanine (CTG) repeats in the DM protein kinase (DMPK) gene. Our study aimed to determine whether the age of onset is correlated with CTG repeat length in a population of pediatric patients with DM1. Methods We retrospectively identified 30 pediatric patients with DM1 that underwent DMPK testing, of which the clinical data of 17 was sufficient. The cohort was divided into 2 subgroups based on the clinical phenotype (congenital-onset vs. late-onset) and number of CTG repeats (<1,000 vs. ≥1,000). Results We found no significant difference between the age of onset and CTG repeat length in our pediatric patient population. Based on clinical subgrouping, we found that the congenital-onset subgroup was statistically different with respect to several variables, including prematurity, rate of admission to neonatal intensive care unit, need for respiratory support at birth, hypotonia, dysphagia, ventilator dependence, and functional status on last visit, compared to the late-onset subgroup. Based on genetic subgrouping, we found a single variable (poor feeding in neonate) that was significantly different in the large CTG subgroup than that in the small CTG subgroup. Conclusion Clinical variables exhibiting statistically significant differences between the subgroups should be focused on prognosis and designing tailored management approaches for the patients; our findings will contribute to achieve this important goal for treating patients with DM1

Multiple Myeloma Manifesting as a Fluctuating Sixth Nerve Palsy

We report a case of multiple myeloma that presented as a fluctuating sixth cranial nerve palsy in the absence of widespread signs of systemic disease. A 63-year-old woman presented with horizontal diplopia of two weeks duration that subjectively changed over time. Ocular examination showed a fluctuating sixth nerve palsy. A computed tomography (CT) scan of the brain showed multiple, enhancing, soft tissue, mass-like lesions involving the left cavernous sinus and the apex of both petrous bones. Based on bone marrow biopsy and hematologic findings, she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. Multiple myeloma may be included in the differential diagnosis of a fluctuating sixth nerve palsy, and although ophthalmic signs are rare and generally occur late in the course of multiple myeloma, they can still be its first signs