Service improvements in public services using SERVQUAL

Assessment of e-service quality performance of university libraries

Purpose

This empirical study aims to measure the performance of electronic service quality and related infrastructure in a state university library and suggests the strategies for further improvement based on this study.

Design/methodology/approach

The data collection was done through a survey questionnaire based on the 22 attributes of four e-Service quality dimensions rated on five-point Likert scale. The sample population consisted of 239 respondents comprising of different categories of users of university library.

Findings

The results of this study indicated that all four dimensions rated by the users fell between mean score 3 to 4 (good), the highest score was received in dimension online public access catalogue (OPAC) and internet service with followed by Library website, Library electronic equipment’s and e-User education. Out of total 22 e-Service quality attributes, none of the attributes received score above 4 (excellent), which indicates that still university library need to improve the current performance of e-Service quality and to take remedial steps to enhance the existing e-services and infrastructure.

Practical implications

Findings from this study could assist university library authority to sustain and enhance performance of e-Services that could achieve the core journey of the modern university libraries.

Originality/value

This study was the first endeavour for measurement of the performance of e-Service quality and related infrastructure of federal university libraries in India.

A Socio-Economic Model of Sales Tax Compliance

Tax compliance is an issue that can be traced back to the introduction of taxes, which is the reason such compliance remains a significant topic in the current literature of academia and practice. Prior studies on the topic of tax compliance or non-compliance can be categorized into two, namely economic and social/psychological theories. In a more serious note, tax evasion has remained a key issue among governments all over the globe, with Jordan being no exception. Jordan has undertaken different fiscal measures to increase compliance in the domestic front in the past decades, but based on annual reports, the country is still experiencing a considerable increase in net public debt and fiscal deficit that can be traced back to the increased tax non-compliance rate. This is specifically true in the case of sales tax in Jordan. To compound the matter further, literature concerning the determinants of sales tax compliance as well as other determinants that drive non-compliance is still scarce, with a universal tax compliance model able to explain the issue with clarity still being elusive. Hence, this work proposed the determinants of sales tax compliance in the context of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Jordan, extending Fischer’s model of tax compliance, and adding the moderating role of tax knowledge and direct effect of tax service quality. This study proposed a model encapsulating the social, psychological and economic factors to provide insight into the sales tax compliance of Jordanian SMEs.

Quality Determination of the Saudi Retail Banking System and the Challenges of Vision 2030

Vision 2030 of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) requires numerous national and multinational organizations to re-engineer themselves to achieve the required targets for the upturn of the Saudi economy. In this respect, the quality of indigenous goods and services has been the biggest challenge to satisfy consumers of Saudi businesses. The banking and finance sector, specifically, has a great deal of responsibility to put in place a strong financial system that is capable of attracting capital from both local and foreign investors. SERVQUAL, with the five conventional dimensions—tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy—offers a great deal of flexibility in modifying the model to the specific requirements of a service in carrying out gap analysis. In this context, we have applied SERVQUAL by adding two new dimensions—functional and technical—to the conventional five dimensions. We applied SERVQUAL using a “performance-only approach” to identify quality gaps present in the services of national and multinational banks. Our analysis shows that gaps exist in the service quality—both in national and multinational banking systems. We therefore present weighted gap scores to assist service managers in setting up priorities to improve the quality of their services. This study suggests that there is much to be done to improve retail banking quality and gain customers’ confidence, both from within and outside the KSA.

Quality measurement of Indian commercial hospitals – using a SERVQUAL framework

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand and compare the level of patient’s expectations of healthcare services and their perceived performance. The paper also provides insights into the specific service factors and quality of hospital services which are required to meet the needs of Indian patients.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 210 exit interviews were conducted using a structured questionnaire addressing the probable factors of quality related to healthcare services in a five-point Likert scale. The survey was conducted among the patients recently discharged and about to be discharged from private hospitals of Delhi and NC. A set of questionnaires is administered to collect responses on expected and perceived service qualities.

Findings

The paper reviews and discusses the importance of service quality for Indian patients using the SERVQUAL gap model as the measure of service quality. The results gave an overview of the perspectives of Indian patients on the quality of service in private hospitals. Patients indicated best satisfaction in some dimensions of services, namely, the tangible dimension of “hospitals provide ample parking spaces,” empathy dimension of “Doctors are never too busy to respond to my request”, assurance dimension of “I can depend on Doctor/Nurse,” and in the responsiveness dimension of “employees always communicate truly” on hospital matters.

Research limitations/implications

The first limitation is in the scope of sample, that is research findings are limited to Delhi. The second limitation is that the research should have been done in two parts, that is by contacting the patient before they take the services and after the service encounter. Third limitation – for a better understanding, the analysis should have been performed on the gap between the patient’s perception and the perception of the medical service provider about the customer’s perception.

Practical implications

This research would be beneficial to healthcare organizations to do their best to achieve greater patient satisfaction. The findings of the paper that, for all dimensions, the patient’s perception is always higher than the expectation suggests that in the Indian healthcare segment, there is a need of dissemination of information regarding the most modern medical facilities.

Originality/value

This current research is concluded with the suitability of a model that can be used to find the levels of patient satisfaction for healthcare services. The present study is based on primary data and offers a systematic procedure that could form the cornerstone for providing further insights into the conceptual and empirical comprehension of patients perceived service quality and its constituents. The current emergency medicine patient’s service dilemmas are a complex interaction of patients and physician factors specifically targeting efficiency and patient satisfaction. The awareness of these issues particular to the emergency patient can help to maximize efficiency, minimize subsequent medico-legal risk and improve patient care if a tailored management plan is formulated.

Evaluating library service quality at the Aga Khan University library: Application of a total quality management approach

The purpose of this paper is to report on an investigation of the service quality of the Aga Khan University library in Kenya. The total quality management philosophy which forms the basis of this report has been demonstrated by the use of SERVQUAL, a user-based assessment tool, in the evaluation of service quality. The research was conducted among 123 Aga Khan University library users – nursing and medical faculty and nursing and medical students – with an aim to investigate the quality of its services based on the satisfaction of library users with the services and as expressed by and based on users’ expectations and perceptions. The data was gathered through the SERVQUAL structured questionnaire and a 63% response rate was realized. The findings generally established that the expectations of Aga Khan University library users are higher than their perceptions. The results also show that there are service quality gaps in a number of services offered by the library.

This research is deemed important as there is lack of information showing libraries in Kenya having involved library users in service quality evaluation through the use of objective and user-based tools. Thus this paper may lead to libraries in Kenya embracing objective measurement tools for the evaluation of library service quality. It is hoped that this article will contribute to a better understanding of philosophies such as total quality management in an academic library environment in developing countries, users’ expectations and perceptions of quality.

Assessing service quality in secondary schools: the case of Jordan

Purpose

– Since conducting the literature review revealed that assessing quality in secondary schools has been an unexplored territory, and where most educational service quality research studies have mainly focussed on assessing quality from a student’s perspective in higher education, comes into play with a two-fold objective: first, to identify the quality dimensions most vital to students in a developing country such as Jordan, and then to develop a framework consisting of these dimensions; and second, to investigate the extent of satisfaction of students enrolled into international qualifications in Jordan by measuring the gap between expectations and perceptions. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

– A focus group meeting consisting of experts in the field of secondary school education, specifically in internationally recognized qualifications, was conducted. These expert’s objective input helped develop the framework for assessing quality in secondary schools.

Findings

– A framework was developed specifically to suit private secondary schools in Jordan with reference to the SERVQUAL model. The resulting questionnaire is intended to be distributed to over 200 students enrolled in an international qualification program among private schools in Jordan.

Research limitations/implications

– The framework could be considered as a form of reality check for schools supplying school administrations in Jordan with a suitable tool to measure whether they are exceeding their students’ expectations. This framework might not be applicable to public schools in Jordan, since it was customized to be applied in schools who have adopted international qualification(s).

Originality/value

– This study contributes to quality service research that addresses the context of high schools in a developing Middle-Eastern country.

Developing and validating a total quality management model for healthcare organisations

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to develop a total quality management (TQM) model for healthcare organisations and validate it using a sample of Iranian healthcare organisations.

Design/methodology/approach

– A validated questionnaire was used to collect data from all healthcare organisations that implemented TQM in Isfahan province, Iran.

Findings

– Using the proposed model, TQM implementation was measured in healthcare organisations. The level of TQM success in Isfahan healthcare organisations was medium. The highest score was achieved in the dimension of “customer management”, followed by “leadership” and “employee management”. Employee management, information management, customer management, process management and leadership had the most positive effect on TQM success. Using a series of quality management techniques had “synergistic” effect on TQM success.

Practical implications

– Top management support, effective management of human resources, full involvement of the entire workforce including physicians, education and training, team working, continuous improvement, a corporate quality culture, customer focus and using a combination of management techniques under a quality management system are necessary for TQM successful implementation.

Originality/value

– A healthcare context-specific model of TQM was developed and tested and suggestions were provided for its successful implementation.

Measuring the Quality of Ecotourism Services

Ecotourism forms the pillar of the country’s tourism industry. Ecotourists make up more than 10% of international tourists in Malaysia. When service quality is thought of as an important factor to the success of tourism service providers, the importance of estimating service quality provided to tourists becomes apparent. Estimating service quality provides tourism service providers with the necessary information needed to manage their marketing operations appropriately. Therefore, this estimation should be performed with the right measurement scales. Despite the high volume of research on service quality (SERVQUAL) models in recent years, limited effort has been directed toward improving the tool for measuring service quality, particularly to apply to the ecotourism sector in developing countries. This article aims to improve a SERVQUAL model that is suitable for ecotourism areas in developing countries using five dimensions of the original model and one additional sustainability dimension. Based on a survey of 127 tourists in Tasik Kenyir, an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to discover the underlying dimension of ecotourism services and test for reliability and validity. Using EFA resulted in seven factors totaling 27 items. These factors are labeled as follows: tangible sustainability, sustainable practices, tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. The results reveal that when SERVQUAL is applied within the ecotourism context, new dimensions of tangible sustainability and sustainable practices may emerge. The result implies the need to refine the SERVQUAL model when used in different contexts.

Service quality in the public sector: the case of the Citizen's Service Centers (CSCs) of Greece

Purpose

The purpose of the present study is to measure the level of public service quality in a unique body of service provision, namely the Citizen's Service Centers (CSCs) of Greece. CSC is a public service organization created in 2002, aiming at providing assistance to all citizens and reducing the bureaucracy of the Greek public administration. Moreover, the present study aims to underline the importance of citizen participation in service planning and provision processes, thus providing an additional dimension to the “New Public Management” (NPM) discipline that has recently found itself under serious critique.

Design/methodology/approach

The present study utilized a slightly modified SERVQUAL instrument that was distributed to citizens visiting a representative sample of CSC branches. More specifically, 221 CSCs were visited by the members of the research team (20.35 per cent of the total population) and 843 usable questionnaires were collected from citizens. Random sampling techniques were used in order to acquire a representative and reliable sample.

Findings

In brief, it is found that, although citizen expectations are not met in three of the five SERVQUAL dimensions, the overall service quality performance is well above average, allowing one to claim that CSCs have achieved their initial target. The gap scores for the dimensions of empathy and responsiveness were positive, while the same scores for the dimensions of tangibles, reliability and assurance were negative.

Research limitations/implications

The use of the SERVQUAL instrument has been a subject of critique by various authors. Its ability to measure service quality has been supported by many and disputed by few. The present study analytically examined the validity and reliability of the instrument, so as to ensure that its use successfully fits the public service environment.

Practical implications

The paper makes an analytical effort in order to point out areas that managers and policy makers should emphasize in order to increase the level of public services. Certain practical implications are offered in the final part of the paper.

Originality/value

CSCs are, according to the best of the researchers’ knowledge, a worldwide innovation only implemented in Greece. Hence, their examination may serve as a guiding light for other countries suffering from public sector inefficiencies. The methodological contribution of the paper lies in the implementation of the SERVQUAL instrument in the context of public services and its subsequent validation with the use of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. On a theoretical level, the present paper enhances the current literature with a paper that argues that citizens should actively participate in the processes of service planning and service provision.

Measuring quality in services for children with an intellectual disability

PURPOSE

To evaluate the application of one particular quality measurement tool, the SERVQUAL instrument, as a potential mechanism to measure quality in services for children with disabilities

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH

Staff and family of children with an intellectual disability in two organisations providing specialist therapy and day completed an adapted SERVQUAL questionnaire. A total of 81 SERVQUAL questionnaires were distributed and 59 questionnaires were returned (response rate of 73 per cent).

FINDINGS

The SERVQUAL instrument can be considered as a useful diagnostic tool to identify particular strengths and areas for improvement in services for people with disabilities as the instrument lends itself for the monitoring of the effectiveness of quality improvement initiatives over time. The findings also showed relatively high customer expectations and the organisations involved in this research are currently not meeting all of these high expectations as significant quality gaps were found in the areas of reliability and responsiveness.

RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS

The sample size was relatively small and the measurement of quality using the SERVQUAL instrument remains a challenge, due to the conceptual and empirical difficulties.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

The SERVQUAL instrument is probably most be attractive to service managers and funding organisations because of its ability to identify gaps in the quality of the service.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE

The tool had been used to measure quality in services for people with disabilities and the research has shown that this tool might be an important additional quality measurement tool for services.