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This paper aims to explore the impact of excessive smartphone use on students’ academic performance. In today’s digitalized world, smartphones have become a vital device in human lives and have taken control over every aspect of day-to-day activities.

After a thorough literature review, the factors associated with smartphone use that impact student performance were identified, and a conceptual framework was developed. Further, a survey was conducted by contacting 264 students pursuing higher education in India to test the model. Structural equation modeling was adopted to test the hypotheses.

Results indicate that there is no direct impact of excessive mobile phone use on student performance. However, it can be observed that excessive mobile phone use impacts student performance indirectly mediated by technoference.

This study was conducted among students pursuing higher education in cosmopolitan cities with representation from India. Future studies can test the model among students in tier two cities and rural areas and primary and high school students for more insights.

This study has suggestions for college management to promote a hybrid learning model and prohibit using smartphones in classrooms and academic areas.

This study is among the earliest to explore the impact of technoference in an academic environment.

The purpose of this research is to study the influence of five critical factors on service quality in the insurance sector. Having studied the influence of these critical factors, an attempt has been made to obtain a generic solution to enhance the quality of service by proposing a holistic framework of learning organization. As globalization and IT revolution have made the insurance sector highly knowledge‐intensive, customer expectations and perceptions have also grown exponentially. Hence, this research is timely and goal‐focused.

The research is based on system dynamics methodology, which involves sequential phases including: problem identification, conceptualization, model formulation, simulation and validation, and policy analysis and implementation. Meta‐analysis of existing literature and rationalization are also a part of the framework development.

The results have indicated that the key parameters, e.g. past experience, personal needs, external communication, word of mouth, and active clients have significant influence on service quality of the insurance sector.

The outcome of this study can be directly implemented in the insurance sector to enhance the quality of service, as it provides a means to convert the tacit knowledge in the organization into an explicit form. The knowledge managementsystem, as a component of the learning organization, acts as a central repository of organizational knowledge and enables the service providers to minimize the “service quality gap” as best practices, past experience, and solutions to problems of common occurrence will be available for common use.

This research is unique in the sense that it uses a system dynamics approach to service quality enhancement in the insurance sector. The research has immense value to the insurance sector, as its growth is a function of service quality.

The choice between SERVQUAL and SERVPERF metrics for service quality measurement is subjective and the research literature lacks evidence on whether these instruments differ in their outcomes significantly or concur with each other. Hence, empirical investigation regarding the concurrence or difference of the two instruments is the purpose of this paper.

The research is qualitative (meta‐analysis of service quality literature) and quantitative (application of standard statistical procedures to test hypothesis). A pilot test of 35 students was conducted followed by a stratified random sampling of 84 students each for SERVQUAL and SERVPERF. Data collection was through a self‐administered questionnaire.

The empirical study proves that there is a significant difference in the outcomes of the two metrics. The implications of the study are based on the combined use of the two instruments. The research identified that tangibles and reliability are the two dimensions of higher service quality satisfaction, whereas empathy and assurance are the dimensions of least satisfaction in a higher education sector.

Even though the sample size is adequate, the study outcome cannot be generalized completely as it is based on a research focused on a specific service.

The paper gives a methodical approach to apply both SERVQUAL and SERVPERF metrics and draw implications on the combined basis. The strengths and weaknesses thus identified would facilitate the service providers in implementing total quality management.

Social responsibility is a key issue to be addressed by higher educational institutes and the implications of this research contribute to it strengthening.

Research inferences are based on the primary data obtained from service receivers of higher education and the inferences would add value to the body of knowledge of service quality literature, as the two most prominent instruments of service quality are empirically investigated for concurrence.