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The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to investigate the goodness of the input-process-output (IPO) model in order to evaluate work team performance within the Italian National Health Care System (NHS); and second, to test the mediating role of reflexivity as an overarching process factor between input and output.

The Italian version of the Aston Team Performance Inventory was administered to 351 employees working in teams in the Italian NHS. Mediation analyses with latent variables were performed via structural equation modeling (SEM); the significance of total, direct, and indirect effect was tested via bootstrapping.

Underpinned by the IPO framework, the results of SEM supported mediational hypotheses. First, the application of the IPO model in the Italian NHS showed adequate fit indices, showing that the process mediates the relationship between input and output factors. Second, reflexivity mediated the relationship between input and output, influencing some aspects of team performance.

The results provide useful information for HRM policies improving process dimensions of the IPO model via the mediating role of reflexivity as a key role in team performance.

This study is one of a limited number of studies that applied the IPO model in the Italian NHS. Moreover, no study has yet examined the role of reflexivity as a mediator between input and output factors in the IPO model.

Lifetime data are used in many different applied sciences, like biomedicine, engineering, insurance and finance and others. The purpose of this paper is to develop a new acceptance sampling plans for Rama distribution when the mean lifetime test is truncated at a pre-determined time. The minimum sample sizes required to assert the specified life mean is obtained for a given customer’s risk. The operating characteristic function values of the sampling plans and producer’s risk are calculated.

The results are illustrated using numerical examples and a real data set is considered to illustrate the performance of the suggested acceptance sampling plans and how it can be used for the industry applications.

This paper shows a new acceptance sampling plans based on Rama distribution in the particular case when the mean life time test is truncated.

The results calculated in this paper demonstrate the differences between OC values for different distributions taken into account. In particular, OC values of Rama distribution are found to be less than the proposed distribution counterparts.

A sample of Italian manufacturing companies was selected in order to verify the abilities and effects (relationships) of the management factors human resources, leadership and strategic planning on company performance. The Partial Least Squares (PLS) estimation method was used for analyzing the data collected, where the relationships between the management factors and performance were formalized by a Structural Equation Model (SEM). The analysis of the survey data showed unexpected result regarding the non significant direct relationship between Leadership and Performance. The effect of Leadership is obtained by an indirect relationship through Human Resources. The combination of Leadership and Human Resources has hence been identified as the management factors which have the highest impact on the performance of Italian industrial companies. Another interesting and unexpected result was that there was no significant impact of Strategic Planning on Performance. It seems that the leaders of Italian industrial companies have not understood that good strategic planning is a necessary condition for achieving excellence. So another improvement area is in fact Strategic Planning. This area should have the highest priority of any top management team and the focus should include how to establish a strong relationship between strategic planning and performance. No correlation between strategic planning and performance is a strong indication that something is wrong. It is not enough that Leadership is doing Strategic Planning‐Leadership is also about studying and follow up on results in order to assure impacts on performance. This link seems to be missing in Italian industrial companies

A study of the Spanish wine sector, in this case specifically the Designation of Origin (DO) Somontano, requires validation of the European Customer Satisfaction Index (ECSI), which also needs to be improved and adapted to obtain more information on customer satisfaction. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

In this paper the ECSI model was applied, based on structural equation modeling (SEM) using the partial least squares.

An empirical analysis shows that the importance of customers’ expectations and perceived quality are the most influential factors in achieving satisfaction. Also highlighted in the new model is the linkage between service and product qualities in a unique variable, total quality.

In addition to validating the ECSI model for DO Somontano, a new innovative implementation was developed and tested to improve the calculation of satisfaction.