A descriptive study: SERVQUAL dimensions in customer service

This study determines the applicability of the five-service dimension present in the SERVQUAL instrument in a customer service environment making use of e-mail namely: service dimensions tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. Three hundred ninety-nine randomly selected Internet service provider subscribers who sent an e-mail requesting for customer service within a three-month period from January to March 2000 were used in the study. The study used a descriptive research design, and employed the following statistical tools: frequency distribution, percentage allocation, and z-tests large-sample test concerning difference between two means. The results showed that four of the five-service dimensions, reliability, assurance, responsiveness and empathy are applicable in a customer service environment. The study showed that service dimension tangible is not applicable in a customer service environment making use of e-mail. The study also highlighted the key service dimension at work in the said environment. The study answered the call for a service specific instrument, to measure service quality for the customer service environment making use of e-mail known as CUSTQUAL online

Bahala na: An experimental study

The study seeks to find if there is a significant difference in the perception of De La Salle University college students given the conditions of bahala na and procrastination. Significant differences are hypothesized to be determined through the perception of the characteristics of the person and situation across the varied procrastination stories. A semantic differential questionnaire was constructed to measure the perceived characteristics of the stimulus person in a procrastination situation. Convenience sampling was used to gather a total of 36 subjects treated in a repeated measures design to find out if bahala na response will affect student\u27s perception. The subjects were asked to answer 3 sets of questionnaire with stimulus situation characterizing three variations of bahala na namely: (a) the procrastination only, (6) procrastination with positive bahala na, and (c) procrastination with negative bahala na. Complete counterbalancing was employed to balance any sequence effect. A focus group discussion was conducted to determine the participant\u27s perceptions in relation to the characteristics in the three procrastination stories. The results of data gathered were analyzed using one-way ANOVA. A post hoc test with repeated measures was further used to see which among the three variation of bahala na had a significant difference in each characteristic. Significant difference found in time management, focus, determination, fear and anxiety, responsibility and motivation characteristics were supported. The theory of Lagmay about bipolarity of bahala na was empirically validated. Positive bahala na was found to be a mindset when procrastination occurs. Focus and motivation characteristics have no significant difference in procrastination therefore perceived as similar to negative bahala na. Procrastination was perceived more negative compared to positive bahala na in time management, focus, fear and anxiety