Moderating roles of customer characteristics on the link between service factors and satisfaction in a buffet restaurant

Purpose: In service sector, measuring quality of services is generally acknowledged to be difficult as it involves many psychological features. Hence, identifying the determinants of service quality and linkages with customer satisfaction is a challenging research topic. In this study, we take up a research study to address this challenge. Specifically, we examine the importance of factors influencing customer satisfaction in the context of a Chinese buffet restaurant in the UK. Design: We use a questionnaire based on the SERVQUAL instrument for the purpose. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, we have found that service quality could be grouped into four main factors - service, food, ambience and price. Findings: Using multiple regression analysis, we have found that food is the most significant factor influencing customer satisfaction, followed by price, ambience, and service respectively. Using a multi-group analysis, we have found interesting moderating roles of age, gender and annual income on the influence of the four factors on satisfaction: ambience is considered significant by male customers while it is not significant for female customers; the influence of price on satisfaction is much higher for female customers than for male customers; food and service factors are important for younger customers while price is important for older customers; price is important for customers with lower levels of income but not important for high-income customers. Practical implications: These results are useful to restaurant managers in allocating appropriate levels of resources to different factors based on their contributions to customer satisfaction in order to maximize customer satisfaction efficiently and effectively. Originality: Analysis and findings of this research are based on the customers’ survey data of a Chinese buffet restaurant in the UK. We have found an interesting ranking of the importance of service factors: food followed by price, ambience, and service. Our results on the moderating role of customer characteristics provide newer insights in the literature on service quality. Our research findings can help the hotel management to improve their service levels to attain maximum customer satisfaction

Delivery complications and determinants of caesarean section rates in India : an analysis of National Family Health Surveys, 1992-93

Caesarean section rates have been increasing world-wide raising the question of the appropriateness of the selection of cases for the procedure. This paper examines the levels and correlates of delivery related complications and caesarean section deliveries in eighteen selected states of India in terms of specific maternal and institutional factors, using data from the National Family Health Surveys, 1992-93. Goa (15.3 per cent) and Kerala (13.7 per cent) were the two states with relatively higher caesarean section rates. There is reason to believe that the current caesarean section rates are part of a rising trend. This can not be attributed entirely to the rise in institutional deliveries alone because of the strong association between caesarean sections and private sector institutions. Apart from the fact that the states of Kerala and Goa are having relatively high caesarean section rates, in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh the risk of undergoing caesarean section in the private sector institutions is four or more times that in the public sector. It is possible that this extremely useful surgical procedure is being misused for profit purposes in the private sector in several states. There is therefore a need to examine this phenomenon using disaggregated data by the nature of caesarean sections, i.e. whether it was an elective or an emergency c-section along with the reasons for the choice. JEL Classification : I1, I18 Key Words: caesarean section, institutional deliveries, delivery complications, medical interventio

A sequential study of circulating immune complexes, complement mediated IC solubilisation and immunoglobulins in borderline tuberculoid patients with and without reactions

Sequential estimates of the levels of circulating immune complexes (CIC), complement catabolic fragment C3d, complement-mediated immune complex solubilization (CMS) and immunoglobulins were made in 24 newly diagnosed patients with borderline tuberculoid leprosy over a 20 month period after initiation of chemotherapy. Fourteen of these patients had not suffered from reversal reactions either at the time of presentation or during the follow-up period. The levels of CIC were elevated in them from the third to the eleventh month after starting chemotherapy and immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels were elevated upto eight months. The concentrations of C3d and immunoglobulins A (IgA) and M (IgM) were normal in these patients. The other ten patients had reversal reaction at the time of diagnosis which subsided by the third month after starting treatment. They did not have reversal reactions later. The levels of CIC and IgG were elevated and those of CMS were depressed throughout the study period. Serum C3d level was initially elevated but came down to normal by the third month while IgA and IgM levels were within normal limits. The relevance of these findings to the genesis of reversal reaction is discussed in this communication

A new rational IPA and application to cruise tourism

At least two versions of IPA, namely the simple IPA and the asymmetric IPA, are available in tourism literature (Albayrak and Caber, 2015; Pritchard and Havitz, 2006). The simple IPA involves asking customers their perceptions relating to importance of various performance criteria and how the firm has performed in terms of these criteria. The simple IPA assumes a symmetric relationship between performance in terms of various criteria and customer satisfaction. The asymmetric IPA or AIPA (Albayrak and Caber, 2013; Caber et al., 2013) recognizes that these relationships could be asymmetric and uses the three-factor theory of customer satisfaction (Matzler and Sauerwein, 2002) to argue that criteria could be basic, excitement or performance criteria and uses regression analysis. While AIPA is an improvement over IPA, AIPA calculations take into account only the magnitude of regression coefficients but not their level of significance. Further, figure 3 of Albayrak and Caber (2015) uses performance in Xaxis but impact asymmetry, not importance, in Y-axis. It is not clear why impact asymmetry should be considered synonymous to importance. In this research note, we propose a variation of AIPA and call it Rational IPA (RIPA). RIPA involves the following steps. Step 1. Collect relevant data. Step 2. Run two sets of regressions with overall customer satisfaction as the dependent variable, and performance in terms of various service criteria as dependent variables. The first set of regressions is called low performance regressions where only ratings below median levels for each criterion are considered. In contrast, the second set of regressions is called high performance regressions. As highlighted in previous studies (Hartline et al., 2003; Ramanathan and Ramanathan, 2011; Silverman and Grover, 1995), the criteria are classified based on the results of the two sets of regressions. 1 a. A critical criterion remains significant in all regressions (except for low performance in terms of the criterion). b. A desirable criterion is significant both for high performance and low performance in terms of the criterion. c. A satisfier criterion is significant for high performance regression in terms of the criterion but not significant for low performance. d. A dissatisfier criterion is not significant for high performance regression but significant for low performance in terms of the criterion. e. All other criteria are neutral criteria. Step 3. Prepare IPA matrix with the importance of criteria on the X-axis and performance (mean ratings) in the Y-axis. Step 4. Conduct IPA based on the criterion classification (importance) and achievement (performance). We demonstrate RIPA in the following steps using publicly available online data on customer ratings of cruise operations

Collaboration experience in the supply chain of knowledge and patent development

In this paper we aim at understanding the role of collaboration experience in supply chains of knowledge (SCoK). The SCoK of a company is its supply chain not related to the flow of physical goods but to the flow of R&D commodities. R&D commodities are for example patents, technologies, research services, studies, and projects, and, in high-tech industries, their development and commercialization is considered as important as real products. To accomplish our aim in this paper we fulfil the following research objectives: 1) investigate the relationship between the collaboration experience in SCoK and the propensity of the firm to develop new patents; 2) examine how the structural embeddedness of the firm within its SCoK mediates this relationship. We ground our conceptual model on the supply chain, open innovation and social capital literatures and empirically test our hypotheses on a cross-sectional dataset of 208 biotech companies that have signed 612 SCoK agreements in the years 2006–2010. The key findings of this study are: first, accumulating experience in SCoK collaborations facilitates the development of new patents; second, being central and bridging structural holes within the SCoK are two means by which the experience in SCoK collaborations is translated into new patents

The debate on flexibility of environmental regulations, innovation capabilities and financial performance - a novel use of DEA

Operational research models have been employed to understand development issues associated with environmental sustainability. This article describes a novel application of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to help extend a specific debate in the literature on Porter’s hypothesis in environmental policy. The debate deals with the impact of flexibility of regulations on the relationship between innovation capabilities on financial performance in organisations. Using the resource based view of a firm, we hypothesise that relationship between innovation capabilities and financial performance in firms depends on how flexible or inflexible environmental regulations are. We apply DEA to capture the flexibility of environmental regulations. Our results indicate that innovation capabilities significantly influence financial performance of firms if firms feel that the environmental regulations they face are flexible and offer more freedom in meeting the requirements of regulations. On the other hand, corporations that feel that they face more inflexible regulations are not so effective in improving their financial performance with their innovation capabilities

The role of digital technologies in supply chain resilience for emerging markets' automotive sector

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of digital supply chain (DSC) technologies in automotive supply chain resilience (SCR) practices to improve the supply chain performance (SC-Perf.) objectives of companies operating in the automotive industry. This study also compares the results of the associated SC-Perf objectives before and after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak lockdown situation. Design/methodology/approach: We undertook in-depth empirical research using a questionnaire survey to explore the performance of automotive supply chains. Our sample consisted of practitioners from supply chain entities such as automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), Tier-component manufacturers, and lead logistics providers in Asia-Pacific (AP) emerging markets. Research questions, framework, and hypotheses were developed using the literature review. Findings: The research outcome from analysis of the data we collected from an emerging market context, specifically the automotive sector, emphasizes the role of DSC technologies and encourages the firm’s SCR practices which, in turn, supports the SC-Perf objectives. The DSC technologies competency moderates the SCR and SC-Perf objectives relation, and the moderation effect is higher for post-COVID19 pandemic outbreak lockdown situation than at prior state. Research limitations/implications: The scope of the study is restricted to the automotive firms in the AP region. The data were collected from a representative sample of the population through a questionnaire survey. The small size of the sample incurs a certain level of subjectivity. Practical implications: This research provides practical insights for practitioners and academicians on DSC technologies’ influence in SCR practices to improve the firm’s SC-Perf. This research shares the literature insights on use of DSC technologies across the sector to allow the automotive firm to reassess the existing operational practices. Originality/value: The paper adds insights on introducing or implementing DSC technologies across AP automotive firms to increase the operations’ performance by improving SCR practices and sustainability

Selective coherence transfers in homonuclear dipolar coupled spin systems

Mapping the physical dipolar Hamiltonian of a solid-state network of nuclear spins onto a system of nearest-neighbor couplings would be extremely useful for a variety of quantum information processing applications, as well as NMR structural studies. We demonstrate such a mapping for a system consisting of an ensemble of spin pairs, where the coupling between spins in the same pair is significantly stronger than the coupling between spins on different pairs. An amplitude modulated RF field is applied on resonance with the Larmor frequency of the spins, with the frequency of the modulation matched to the frequency of the dipolar coupling of interest. The spin pairs appear isolated from each other in the regime where the RF power (omega_1) is such that omega_weak << omega_1 << omega_strong. Coherence lifetimes within the two-spin system are increased from 19 us to 11.1 ms, a factor of 572.Comment: 4 pages. Paper re-submitted with minor changes to clarify that the scheme demonstrated is not an exact mapping onto a nearest neighbor system. However, this is the first demonstration of a controlled evolution in a subspace of an extended spin system, on a timescale that is much larger than the dipolar dephasing tim