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The design for production of wall partitions (DPWP) offers high potential for improving the design process of building in Brazil. However, one of the problems worth mentioning is the lack of accurate definition of scope which leads to doubts about what, when and how it should be prepared, developed and delivered by the designers. The purpose of this paper is to assess the application of the Brazilian Association of Design Managers and Coordinators (AGESC) handbook scopes of DPWP in building construction.

A case study involving a field investigation of eight construction organisations and DPWP designers in the cities of Recife and Sao Paulo in Brazil.

The results obtained have shown that conformity (with specification) – the reference scope adopted AGESC handbook DPWP – was not entirely fulfilled by the companies, while the agreement (personal opinion on the appropriateness of the specification) with the scope was even lower among them. The major difference was found between conformity and agreement among the construction companies.

Guidelines concerning how to use the AGESC handbook for DPWP, description of potential uses and amplifying of the contributions to greater integration between expectations and resulting products, call for rational design and execution of non-loadbearing masonry in the Brazilian construction industry.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the key aspects of performance measurement for maintenance management of office buildings, in order to enhance maintenance service delivery.

A mixed method was adopted with the selection of five buildings as the case studies. In total, 1,230 questionnaires were distributed to the end‐users of the buildings.

This paper proposes a performance measurement system that is proved to be practical and suitable to measure the effectiveness of maintenance service delivery of office buildings.

Future research could focus on developing a performance measurement system from a strategic approach.

The proposed performance measurement system is anticipated to facilitate the evaluation process for maintenance providers, as it has taken into account the key elements of a maintenance management system.

The outcomes of this research are significant in their own right but also serve as a platform for future research in this area.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the explanatory factors for the selection of Islamic banks and evaluate the moderating role of demographic characteristics. This study seeks to better understand these determinants in Tunisia, a country with a developing Islamic finance system and a culture different from those in other Muslim countries studied in the literature.

The authors developed a two-sided approach: a quantitative survey and 12 semi-structured interviews based on four customer segments identified by the quantitative study. For the survey, data were collected from 180 Islamic bank clients in Tunisia. The factors adopted for the selection of an Islamic bank are service quality, trust, and compliance with Sharia (Islamic) law. The authors identified and measured the selection criteria using a factor analysis, regression analysis, and demographic characteristics analysis.

Customers consider several factors while choosing an Islamic bank: the quality of service offered by the financial institutions, trust, and (especially) compliance with Sharia law. Moreover, gender and age appear to be the only moderators between the selection of an Islamic bank and these determinants.

This study offers Islamic banks a better understanding of how Tunisian customers select financial institutions. These banks must consider the different determinants of choice in order to create value for consumers and prepare their marketing strategies. The authors identify four customer segments based on gender and age by which the banks may improve their positioning and market share, thus contributing to the development of Islamic financial institutions in Tunisia.

This is the first study of its kind in Tunisia, where the market share of Islamic finance remains low. The study enriches the Islamic marketing literature on the quality of Islamic financial institutions’ service, trust, and compliance with Sharia law. It also tests demographic characteristics as moderators. The results and implications of this research can be applied to countries similar to Tunisia.

This paper aims to explore the match between needs and services related to participation for frail older adults receiving home care.

A qualitative multiple case study was conducted with 11 triads each involving an elder, a caregiver and a healthcare provider working in a Health and Social Services Centers (HSSCs).

Although HSSCs in Québec are supposed to promote social integration and participation of older adults, services provided to the older adults in this study focused mainly on safety and independence in personal care, dressing, mobility and nutrition, without fully meeting older adults’ needs in these areas. Discrepancies between needs and services may be attributable to the assessment not covering all the dimensions of social participation or accurately identifying older adults’ complex needs; older adults’ and their caregivers’ difficulties identifying their needs and accepting their limitations and the assistance offered; healthcare providers’ limited knowledge and time to comprehensively assess needs and provide services; guidelines restricting the types and quantity of services to be supplied; and limited knowledge of older adults, caregivers and healthcare providers about services and resources available in the community.

To improve and maintain older adults’ participation, a more thorough assessment of their participation, especially in social activities, is required, as is greater support for older adults and their families in using available community resources. It is also important to review the services provided by HSSCs and to optimize partnerships with community organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to integrate the ISO 9001:2008 and blueprints by using a process approach, to have systematic regulation in hospital quality management.

This study promotes a process approach when developing, implementing, and improving the effectiveness of hospital service quality to enhance patients’ satisfaction by meeting their requirements. This study completes the hospital’s blueprints with the process approach by using case study research methods such as in‐depth interviews with relevant personnel, on‐site observations, and experts’ advice.

The results of hospital blueprints described in this study comprise five‐plane lines to have systematic regulations. The ISO 9001:2008 process approach and service blueprint are not merely a technological application for medical healthcare services, but rather a fully patient‐driven, technologically integrated, and diligently implemented programme.

Because of organisational financial confidentiality, this study does not consider the financial performance of the case hospital, and the results of blueprints may be revised afterward.

This paper promotes the adoption of a process approach when developing, implementing, and improving the effectiveness of a hospital outpatient service management system, to enhance outpatients’ satisfaction by meeting their requirements.

The validity of an approach based on a quality system specification developed from BS5750 is considered, with reference to patient care activity in an out‐patient clinic at a general hospital. The quality systems specification is presented and the application of this system to the clinic and service departments is demonstrated.

Ethics have always played a crucial role in the realm of business and commerce. This paper aims to extract the principle factors of ethical practices to develop a model for competitive advantage in banking and to show the relation between ethical practice and customer satisfaction and the linked reason for satisfaction as a tool for competitive advantage.

Based on the literature review, ethical issues in banking have been identified as a foundation work. Then an empirical study using survey research has been completed. The survey questionnaire has been designed using the literature and pilot survey input. Factor analysis has been conducted to derive ethical factors for competitive advantage from the survey data, which included 186 responses. χ² tests were also carried out to show the linked relationship between ethical practice, customer satisfaction and reason for satisfaction.

From the analysis, two principle factors have been extracted: the cost leveraging factor; and the value leveraging factor which lead to competitive advantage. More over, it also revealed that high ethical practice results in high customer satisfaction and performance.

This study develops a guideline of competitive advantage for bank management through ethical practice.

The paper extracts how ethical factors create competitive advantage in banking and the linked reason of ethical practice and performance of banks which has not often received much focus from previous studies.

This paper aims to explore the practice of quality management framework as a strategic tool for public management.

The paper starts with a basic process‐based model; it then enhances the model with the quality management principles for continuous improvement. With identification of concerned factors from the literature, it examines their usefulness in the quality management system.

An empirical analysis on the framework identifies eight factors: factual approach to decision making, use of quality tools, customer focus, leadership, involvement of people, process approach, mutually beneficial supplier partnership and internal results. The framework shows that leadership and customer focus are much more important than previously anticipated for successful implementation of quality management system.

Managers in public organizations must realize that all high performance organizations, whether private or public, are by principle customer‐driven. In addition, it is imperative for them to enhance their leadership as it is essential for effective quality improvement.

While the effect of adopting a quality management system on organizational performance has been well documented, the underlying mechanism about how the system works has yet to be empirically identified. This paper contributes to the literature by addressing such a gap and presenting a causal model for quality management principles.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of Islamic beliefs in moderating consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions of conventional and Islamic life insurance. Second, it investigates the role of Islamic beliefs in moderating the relationship between the attitude toward conventional/Islamic life insurance and purchase intentions of these types of services.

A questionnaire was administered online in a Muslim liberal country where both types of insurance are offered. Based on a total sample of 207 responses, ANOVA tests and a structural Equation Modeling were used to test the research hypotheses.

Results show that: the higher (lower) the Islamic beliefs of individuals, the less (more) favorable their attitude will be toward conventional life insurance and the more (less) favorable their attitude will be toward Islamic life insurance; the higher (lower) the Islamic beliefs of individuals, the weaker (stronger) their purchase intentions for conventional life insurance will be and the stronger (weaker) their purchase intentions for Islamic life insurance will be; and Islamic beliefs moderate the relationships between attitudes and purchase intentions of life insurance.

Because they play a significant role in moderating consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions of conventional and Islamic life insurance, Islamic beliefs can be used as a meaningful criterion to segment the life insurance markets in (less conservative) Muslim countries. This would help insurance companies to better target their services. In a case where two segments coexist (i.e. individuals scoring low on Islamic beliefs vs individuals scoring high on Islamic beliefs), insurers should weigh different strategic options by targeting one of the two segments or both of them. Perhaps the main issue occurs when an insurer attempts to target both segments. In this case, managers should be aware of the confusion that they might create in the mind of their clients (or potential clients). Concurrently offering two types of life insurance (conventional and Islamic) may put the insurers’ credibility at stake.

Earlier studies report that in Muslim countries, the demand for life insurance is weak or negatively correlated with religion. The majority of these studies consider religion as a macro indicator (i.e. at the country level) when explaining the demand for such services. The present study further clarifies the nature of the relationship between religion and the demand for life insurance by: examining the role of Islamic beliefs (as one of the main dimensions of Muslims’ religiosity) at the micro level (i.e. at the consumer level); and investigating the moderating role of Islamic beliefs in explaining attitudes and purchase intentions of conventional and Islamic life insurance in a less conservative Muslim country.

The management accounting aspects of quality are focused on. The traditional approaches of production and marketing are summarised with questions, such as how these can be combined, what relationship is there between price and quality, how can the various departments concerned in the strategic management of quality be drawn together, how one can decide on a quality strategy and what would be a suitable control system, being asked. A solution to these is proffered by looking at the management of quality from a strategic viewpoint, relating the appropriateness of seven pure quality strategies to the product/market life cycle.