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The purpose of this paper is to give ideas and suggestions to avoid some typical problems of qualitative articles. The aim is not to debate quality in qualitative research but to indicate some practical solutions.

The paper discusses the design of qualitative research and the structure of a qualitative article giving some methodological suggestions to make it better for the reader and the reviewer.

The paper finds that the main criteria to getting published are that the article must be transparent regarding the process followed in the research and it must well structured so it can be understood by readers.

If these guidelines are followed the review process of articles will be smoother and the number of rejected papers should decrease. The paper will benefit young researchers who can find suggestions on writing a paper for the Journal of Workplace Learning.

The purpose of this paper is to ascertain the most relevant quality factors and communication activities that are suitable as competitive levers in dentistry.

The research is based on a model that highlights the reciprocal influence between patient satisfaction and dentist reputation. The model points out that experience/behaviours, explicit communication and word‐of‐mouth are antecedents of both patient satisfaction and dentist reputation. This research is based on interviews with senior dentists, focus groups with patients and a survey of dentistry patients.

The most important quality factors for patient satisfaction are the doctor‐patient relationship and the clarity of information about treatment and cost. Key communication levers are first, the implicit communication that arises from successful treatment and overall service quality; second, the explicit communication that arises from interpersonal relations with the dentist and the staff, and the referrals of previous patients.

In order to gain competitive advantages, dentists should achieve an average level of patient satisfaction for “given” and “secondary” factors; to pay careful attention to “strategic factors”; and to explicitly communicate “opportunity factors” since patients are usually unaware of their value. Furthermore, dentists should emphasize interpersonal, experiential and third‐party communication with patients.

The paper puts forward a model that integrates previous service quality and reputation management models, and makes suggestions for the improvement of service quality management and communication in dentistry.