International Journal for Quality Research

14

Authors: Ardeshir Bazrkar, Siavash Mirzaei Milani, Salar Alavi Nasab

Nowadays, the competition to improve service quality is considered as a key strategic issue for organizations operating in the service sector. The purpose of the study was to measure the relationship between management commitment and quality of service with job satisfaction of employees and CS with service performance in the banks of Tehran. The results showed a significant and positive relationship between management commitment and effective participation of employees. Moreover, the results showed a positive and significant relationship between effective employee participation with job satisfaction of staff and CS with service performance. Therefore, according to the results of the study, it can generally be stated that the management commitment to the quality of services has a positive effect on the organizational outputs (employee satisfaction and CS from service performance) in the banks of Tehran province.

16

Authors: Bashar Al-Majali, Mervat Almhirat

A significant feature of EFQM model is that it provides people with broader and deeper insights into the cause and effect relationships between their organization activities and the results it achieves. This paper aims at determining how the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) is related to the business results of Jordanian public institutions. The research was conducted in greater Amman municipality which encompasses the largest public orgaization in Jordan. The data was collected through questionnaires which were filled by the employees of GAM and contained 43 items, all of which assess how GAM has benefited from the implementation of the EFQM excellence model. The research sample size was N(379) managers and employees from different departments,and the outcomes of the study reveal that organizations that have implemented the EFQM model and guideline make tangible changes in the efficiency and effectiveness of business outcomes and customer satisfaction in addition to enhancing the corporate image. However, implementing the model failed to provide significant impacts on the employee's results, empowerment and participation.

16

Authors: Tigor Sitorus, Milawati Yustisia

This study aims at investigating and testing the mediated effect of Customer Satisfaction on the influence of the Service Quality and Customer Trust toward Customer Loyalty. This research was conducted in the five biggest national foreign exchange private banks that are listed in the Indonesia Stock Exchange up to the period of 2014, with the total sample of 170 customers, where after the monetary crisis in 2008, the business of bank in Indonesia was faced with the issue of customer trust that eventually influenced the customer loyalty. In this study, the Structural Equation Model by AMOS was used to analyze the data. The results show high Goodness of Fit and the simultaneous and individual tests also generated significant results. The results of data analysis show that: (1) Service Quality significantly gives positive influence to Customer Satisfaction, (2) Customer Trust has significant and positive influence on Customer Satisfaction, (3) Service Quality does not significantly give positive influence to Customer Loyalty, (4) Customer Trust significantly gives positive influence to Customer Loyalty, and (5) Customer Satisfaction significantly gives positive influence to Customer Loyalty. Therefore, the mediated effect of Customer Satisfaction on the influence of Service Quality and Customer Trust toward Customer Loyalty has more strength compared to the direct influence of Service Quality and Customer Trust toward Customer Loyalty.

16

Authors: Michela Poli, Davide Cornolti, Silvia Pardini, Giorgio Iervasi

The implementation of a Performance Management System is complex in public research institutions: the sector peculiarity, the presence of multiple stakeholders with different needs, the difficult identification of the performance indicators, the lack of specific skills, the shortage of resources and the need of flexibility are the principal reasons for this complexity. The purpose of the present report is to describe an exportable model for the implementation of a Performance Management System, built on Quality Management tool, able to improve the institutional performance, through processes of organizational evolution, based on the involvement of employees. This model has been applied in an Italian Research Institute. The contribution of employees, with their professional and soft skills, and the commitment of the management, in the self-assessment of the organisation, are the key factors for the model implementation. This approach can help to solve the critical issues of implementing a performance management system.

18

Authors: Tanja Radošević, Goran Bulatović, Ljiljana Bulatović

Purpose - This paper is aimed to show the quality of life seen through correlation among attitudes about changes and socio-personal (Quality of Life) values of students, as well as employees in public, state and private sector in Serbia. The paper intends to prove that the Quality of Life, as seen through attitudes about the importance of main socio-personal values concerning quality of life and workplace, strongly correlates with their attitudes towards changes. The Hypothesis 1 of this research: "There is a statistically significant correlation between attitudes towards changes and socio-personal values of employees concerning Quality of Life and workplace" has been proved. H2, which reads as follows: "There is statistically significant correlation between sub-dimensions of democracy and economic well-being and sub-dimension of attitudes towards changes which does not drastically change as people transfer from young to mature age" has also been confirmed. Methodology - This research was conducted among 303 interviewees in 2015 and 342 interviewees in 2017. The research uses different statistical methods when analyzing data. Findings - The findings indicate that, among other things, the view that the existence of a need for change represents a prerequisite for human development is statistically positively and significantly related to freedom, humanity, economic well-being and personal happiness and satisfaction, as prominent factors of Quality of Life.

20

Authors: Carme Martínez-Costa, Júlia Pladevall Viladecans, Marta Mas-Machuca, Frederic Marimon

The aim of the article is threefold: analyzing (1) the antecedents of satisfaction of online travel agencies (OTAs)' customers, and the mediating role of loyalty, and word of mouth; (2) the different customers' profiles attending to these antecedents; and (3) how antecedents affect satisfaction according to the customer profile. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and a structural equation modeling (SEM) were used on a sample of 264 OTAs' Spanish customers. A non-hierarchical cluster analysis was performed forcing two clusters, and they were identified the most important factors that explain satisfaction for each cluster. EFA results provide five antecedents of satisfaction. However, SEM analysis results show that only "information" (efficiency of the website and quality of information provided) and "utility" for using the platforms are significant antecedents of satisfaction. The relation between satisfaction, loyalty, and word-of-mouth are also significant. The quality of the information provided in the websites is the main antecedent for the cluster of satisfied customers. In contrast, utility is the most important for the cluster of unsatisfied customers.

22

Authors: Mohd Rizaimy Shaharudin, Siti Fairuza Hassam, Jamaludin Akbar, Nik Ramli Nik Abdul Rashid, Noor Fatihah Natashabih Mohd Noor

The study aims to investigate the critical factors that influence the effectiveness of the ISO 9001 Quality Management System (QMS) amongst electrical and electronics (E&E) manufacturing firms in Malaysia. Data were gathered from a survey of respondents from eighty-eight E&E manufacturing firms in Malaysia. The results signify that there are positive and significant influences of internal motivation on the continuous improvement, internal motivation on the prevention of non-conformities, employee attributes on the customer satisfaction, employee attributes on the prevention of non-conformities, and top management commitment on the continuous improvement. However, the study found positive and insignificant relationships between the internal motivation with the customer satisfaction, employee attributes with the continuous improvement, top management commitment with the customer satisfaction, and top management commitment with the prevention of non-conformities. The theory, practical, and literature implications of these findings are further discussed.