Quality practices in travel agencies: A mediating factor in non-financial indicators of advanced information systems

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the motivations for the adoption of quality management practices (QMPs) and the effects exerted by the advanced management information systems (AMIS) as mediating factors in a sector consisting of highly competitive companies with a high mortality rate in recent years: travel agencies.

Design/methodology/approach

The results were based on a survey completed by 185 travel agencies with less than 50 employees, covering over 5 per cent of the SME travel agencies in Spain. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the links between the studied dimensions.

Findings

The findings indicate that QMPs have a positive, direct influence on the adoption of AMIS and that the adoption of AMIS has a positive, direct impact on financial performance. The results suggest that quality policies facilitate greater use of financial indicators but not in the use of non-financial indicators, where the key to better business performance lies.

Originality/value

Therefore, the results of this paper indicate that being proactive about quality practices can provide travel agencies a great number of benefits through the implementation of AMIS.

Citation

Perramon, J., Bagur-Femenias, L. and Amat, O. (2015), "Quality practices in travel agencies: A mediating factor in non-financial indicators of advanced information systems", Industrial Management & Data Systems, Vol. 115 No. 7, pp. 1325-1340. https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-04-2015-0133