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This study aims to evaluate the performance of buildings in the University of Uyo using the post-occupancy evaluation (POE) technique.

A quantitative questionnaire survey is adopted in which 333 copies of a validated questionnaire are administered to academic, administrative and maintenance staff and some students who occupy four buildings used for the survey. However, 124 valid responses are received giving a response rate of 37per cent. Data collected are analysed using descriptive and inferential statistical tools while the Kruskal Wallis chi-square (χ²) test is used to analyse hypotheses postulated for the study.

Findings reveal that the General Administration (GA) building has high ratings in five technical performance criteria of ambient level of sound in offices, the integrity of materials used for walls, and correctness of stair risers, threads in the building quality of lighting and quantity of lighting. Findings on the functional performance of GA building show that cleaning, friendliness, parking space, landscaping and indoor climate are the top five rated. Findings also reveal that lack of awareness about POE is a top-rated barrier, followed by a lack of orientation of stakeholders and a lack of adequately trained staff.

The study contributes to the body of knowledge on POE, particularly in universities by conducting an empirical evaluation of both technical and functional performance of the University of Uyo buildings. Besides, it establishes a set of factors that significantly hinder the implementation of POEs in universities. From a practice perspective, it provides valid feedback on which universities can build upon to improve conditions of their facilities and ultimately bolster the conducive environment for teaching and learning.

This study aimed to develop and empirically test a structural equation model for investigating risk factors associated with outsourcing of facilities management (FM) services and its impact on firm performance (FP).

Using data derived from an earlier study, a conceptual model was hypothesized and empirically tested to clarify causal relationships between risk variables and how they influence FP.

Supported by empirical evidence, the study established that only vendor risk variables have marginal impact on FP. There were however significant positive relationship between vendor risks factors and relationship risk factors, client based factors (CBF) and relationship risk factors, client based risks and vendor related risks, and contract risks factors and relationship risk.

The final structural equation model has revealed key risk components that would require standard mitigation measures in order to achieve outsourcing success in the FM sector. It is a sector that is thriving in Nigeria and requires every effort to make it an international recognised market.

This paper provides a greater understanding of the interactions between key elements of outsourcing risks associated with FM provision as well as the degree of relationship between them.

The present study has been carried out to assess the effect of constructs of service convenience on customer satisfaction of the Indian online shoppers.

The primary data was collected through a structured questionnaire. Convenience sampling has been used to choose a sample (n = 260) of e-shoppers in India. Factor analyses (both EFA and CFA) have been done to validate different factors and its items. A conceptual model has been proposed to measure the effect of different factors of service convenience on customer satisfaction. Moreover, the perceived difference with respect to study variables has been measured. The path analysis through AMOS 22.0 has been done to test the hypotheses under study.

It can be concluded that the effect of access convenience, search convenience, and order convenience have significant effects on customer satisfaction. However, evaluation convenience and logistics and reverse logistics convenience have an insignificant effect on customer satisfaction. The present study has a unique contribution in the field of service convenience to e-retailing customers. Moreover, the present study indicates that gender does not moderate the effect of convenience on customer satisfaction.

This is one of the few papers that focuses solely on the effect of gender on service convenience and customer satisfaction. The findings will generate value with their originality and significant managerial implications for marketers, as well as future research directions for the researchers.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the key convenience dimensions of online shopping, as convenience has been one of the principal motivations underlying customer inclinations to adopt online shopping.

The authors first employ in‐depth focus group interviews with online consumers to identify the attributes of online shopping convenience and then develop and validate an instrument of five key dimensions to measure online shopping convenience by analyzing data collected via a Web‐based questionnaire survey.

The five dimensions of online shopping convenience are: access, search, evaluation, transaction, and possession/post‐purchase convenience.

Online retailers can employ the five‐factor measurement instrument to assess the degree of customer perceived online shopping convenience. This instrument can assist managers in identifying and overcoming key obstacles to the delivery of a highly convenient online shopping service to customers, and also helps them enlarge their loyal customer base.

This study focuses on uncovering the key dimensions of convenience and their associated sub‐dimensions specific to the context of online shopping. Theoretically, the identified dimensions and their related sub‐items comprise a validated scale for measuring Web‐based service convenience and can serve as building blocks for further studies in e‐commerce customer relationship management.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the claim that the application of human factors (HF) knowledge can improve both human well‐being and operations system (OS) performance.

A systematic review was conducted using a general and two specialist databases to identify empirical studies addressing both human and OS effects in examining manufacturing OS design aspects.

A total of 45 empirical studies were found, addressing both the human and system effects of OS (re)design. Of those studies providing clear directional effects, 95 percent showed a convergence between human effects and system effects (+, + or −,−), 5 percent showed a divergence of human and system effects (+,− or −,+). System effects included quality, productivity, implementation performance of new technologies, and also more “intangible” effects in terms of improved communication and co‐operation. Human effects included employee health, attitudes, physical workload, and “quality of working life”.

Future research should attend to both human and system outcomes in trying to determine optimal configurations for OSs as this appears to be a complex relationship with potential long‐term impact on operational performance.

The application of HF in OS design can support improvement in both employee well‐being and system performance in a number of manufacturing domains.

The paper outlines and documents a research and practice gap between the fields of HF and operations management research that has not been previously discussed in the management literature. This gap may be inhibiting the design of OSs with superior long‐term performance.

Prior studies mostly investigate initial shopping intention in developed countries. The purpose of this paper is to sketch and determine the impact of perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEOU), perceived value (PV), trust (TRT), perceived risk (PR), privacy concern (PC), internet literacy (IL), satisfaction (SAT) on online repatronage intention (ORI) among Malaysian experienced online shoppers.

A total of 219 valid questionnaires were collected via an online survey among experienced online shoppers across young and old students aged 18-31. Subsequently, the two-step structural equation modelling (SEM) technique was employed to empirically examine the proposed integrative theoretical research framework and model fit with maximum likelihood estimation.

The statistical analyses support the relationships between PU, PV, TRT and SAT with ORI while the relationships between PEOU, PR, PC and IL with ORI were rejected in which all the factors affecting ORI occur similarly across the study sample. The behaviour of experienced online shoppers was found to be different from findings of previous literature that examined initial adoption and intention. Due to the lack of distinction in the literature concerning experienced and inexperienced shoppers, our results show inconsistencies with prior research in examining ORI.

The paper suggests that future research consider multicultural analysis, atmosphere design, developing internet methodology and the role of flow experience in determining ORI. The research limitations and implications are also discussed.

By realizing the differences between inexperienced shoppers and experienced shoppers, online retailers should segment these groups more effectively and should implement a different marketing strategy to target the right segment, right shoppers along with the right marketing tactic. The antecedents of future intention of online shopping are influenced by various variables because the human behaviour is sophisticated in nature. Thus, academicians and practitioners should realize the implications of examining their target population/market based on an assessment of different antecedents.

This study is among the few attempts to examine attitudes and behaviour of Malaysian experienced online shoppers who have formed relevant experiences and skills in online shopping. Additionally, the paper empirically examine and distinct user perception of online retail attributes (including PU, PEOU, PV and PR), pre-purchase user attitudes (including TRT, PC, IL) and post-purchase users attitudes (including SAT) in forming ORI simultaneously.

With the prevalence of the internet, whether various interactive relationship building between online channel and consumers may lead or not to profit has been paid much attention by researchers and practitioners. It is also to note that the ratio of female shoppers online has been increasing, and female shoppers now outnumber male shoppers online. Based on the perspective of switching path analysis technique (SPAT), the aim of this study is to explore the effects of consumer inertia and satisfaction on repeat‐purchase intention among female online shoppers, and also to examine whether positive word‐of‐mouth and alternative attraction moderate the above relationships.

Data were collected from a self‐developed online survey system. The formal questionnaire consisted of three sections. The first section screened participants by gender and online shopping experience. The second section measured respondent perceptions of each construct in the research model. The last section aimed to understand respondent basic personal data.

The study results indicate that both consumer inertia and satisfaction positively influence repeat‐purchase intention, and that consumer inertia is more influential than satisfaction; moreover, positive word‐of‐mouth negatively moderates the relationship between consumer inertia and repeat‐purchase intention, but positively moderates that between satisfaction and repeat‐purchase intention; finally, alternative attraction does not moderate any of the above relationships significantly.

To the authors’ knowledge, the difference between the direct effect of inertia and satisfaction on purchasing behavior has not been investigated. Based on the study findings, suggestions are made for shopping website operators.

This paper aims to examine the major factors affecting patients’ satisfaction and loyalty at a health-care organization in India.

A conceptual model has been developed that includes the behavioural dimensions of total quality management (TQM), patient satisfaction and loyalty. This study is exploratory in nature and has used the existing literature to build the conceptual model.

A solution for improving the quality of health-care services can be found in the application of total relationship management and TQM, together with a customer orientation strategy.

The results can be used creatively by hospitals to re-engineer and redesign their quality management processes and reorient the future directions of their more effective health-care quality strategies.

In this research, a study is described involving a new instrument and a new method which assure a reasonable level of relevance, validity and reliability, while being explicitly change-oriented.

The purpose of this paper was to determine whether luxury hotel managers and customers have the same understanding of service quality and satisfaction and whether there is a disparity between services offered by luxury hotels and the way customers actually experience them.

This paper used interviews with managers and guests of 5-Star hotels in Taiwan and qualitative analysis to understand definitions and perceptions of luxury, service quality and satisfaction.

The major findings of the study were that: there were no fundamental disconnects in the respective understandings of managers and guests; however, the two groups used different language to describe luxury, service quality and satisfaction; the managers evaluated satisfaction in terms of services provided, but the guests conceptualized satisfaction in terms of value received for the price of lodging; and luxury, service quality and satisfaction were closely related in the minds of the managers and guests and were not independent constructs.

Recommendations are made based on marketing communications theory, that is all factors identified in this study can be considered to be part of the brand identity of the hotel; local culture can introduce variables that may be outside the scope of international standards; and information on local expectations and preferences can inform advertising and public relations efforts of the hotel.

This study is significant because little research into luxury hotel customer satisfaction has been done using qualitative methodology, which provides a richer understanding of the experiences of the participants than can quantitative design.

This paper seeks to demonstrate that assuming an increase in satisfaction will always lead to greater loyalty oversimplifies the complex association between these constructs. A more accurate view of the satisfaction‐loyalty relationship is gained by examining the moderating effect of involvement, switching costs, and relationship benefits.

This paper reports the results of a hierarchal‐moderated regression analysis on data gathered from a national mail survey of 509 customers across nine service types.

The findings of this study suggest that the satisfaction‐loyalty relationship is not as simple as it seems. Specifically, the negative effect that switching costs have on the association between satisfaction and loyalty declines as customer involvement with the service relationship grows, but increases as the customer perceives greater relationship benefit. These findings suggest that simply enhancing satisfaction will not always generate greater customer loyalty.

Future research should consider the effects of other moderating variables, such as relationship investment and quality, on the satisfaction‐loyalty link.

This paper provides managers with insight as to how to best increase customer loyalty.

This paper is the first to simultaneously examine the moderating effect of customer involvement, switching costs, and social benefits on the satisfaction‐loyalty association.