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Article
Publication date: 25 July 2008

Liangzhi Yu, Qiulan Hong, Song Gu and Yazun Wang

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to investigate the epistemological underpinning of SERVQUAL and its limitations; and second, to propose ways to enhance the utility of…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to investigate the epistemological underpinning of SERVQUAL and its limitations; and second, to propose ways to enhance the utility of SERVQUAL as a library assessment tool.

Design/methodology/approach

The study first conceptualises quality judgment as a knowing process and locates the epistemological stance of SERVQUAL within the general framework of epistemology demarcation; it then examines related SERVQUAL assumptions and their implications for library assessment in general and for service quality assessment in particular based on two empirical investigations: a questionnaire survey and an interview survey. The questionnaire survey applies the SERVQUAL instrument to three Chinese university libraries, with a view to examining the SERVQUAL score in light of epistemological considerations; the interview survey interviews 50 faculty users in one of the three universities with a view to illuminating the naturalistic process through which users develop their judgement of the library's service quality and through which the SERVQUAL score is formed.

Findings

The study shows that the actual SERVQUAL score is distributed in a very scattered manner in all three libraries, and that it is formed through a very complex process rooted primarily in the user's personal experiences with the library, which are in turn shaped by factors from both the library world and the user's life‐world. Based on these findings, this research questions a number of SERVQUAL assumptions and proposes three concepts which may help to contextualise the SERVQUAL score and enhance its utility in actual library assessment: library planning based variance of user perception, perception‐dependent user expectation and library‐sophistication based user differentiation.

Originality/value

The research presented in the paper questions a number of SERVQUAL assumptions and proposes three concepts that may help to contextualise the SERVQUAL score and enhance its utility in actual library assessment.

Details

Journal of Documentation, vol. 64 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0022-0418

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 August 2014

Ndwiga Duncan Kariuki, Xiong-Ying Wu, Chang-Chun Gao and Xue-Mei Ding

Clothing quality, performance, safety and health have become important considerations for consumer welfare. Properties of these aspects are encompassed on standards which…

Abstract

Purpose

Clothing quality, performance, safety and health have become important considerations for consumer welfare. Properties of these aspects are encompassed on standards which regulates clothing products reaching consumers. The purpose of this paper is to categorize these aspects in a common platform by suggesting minimum requirements expected on readymade garments from which clothing standards compliance assessment is performed.

Design/methodology/approach

With the aid of standard compliance assessment model, scored Standard Compliance Rate (SCR) values of the discussed properties of clothing standardization are synthesized from a standard compliance matrix, and the compliance of any clothing standards are assessed and assigned a “Standard Compliance Index/Level (SCI/SCL)” ranging from non compliance to full compliance at six levels.

Findings

In reference to the standard compliance assessment model, 12 children and infant clothing standards, three from Kenya and nine from China, and eight protective clothing standards from Kenya, China, Britain and USA, two from each country, were assessed and the compliance level of each standard evaluated and results presented. The results of the study reveal the importance of every aspect of clothing standardization properties to fulfil the requirements of standard compliance assessment whereby, though they meet their role in developing Standard Compliance Index (SCI), they may have different impact depending with the context applied and the scope of every standard.

Research limitations/implications

The selection of standardization parameters and characteristics, and the criteria for scoring some of the Standard Compliance Rating was subjective and may require mutual agreements between relevant bodies. Furthermore, this method can only be applied on clothing standards and not other textile testing standards.

Practical implications

The proposed method can be applied when evaluating and comparing specific clothing standards between bodies or countries. Clothing SCI would be of primary importance as a guide on required clothing quality specifications to designers, manufacturers, standard regulators and consumer welfare bodies.

Originality/value

This research reports the development of an original framework to assess compliance level of any clothing standard using standardization parameters and characteristics considered when determining the quality of a garment. It establishes a theoretical framework of clothing standards compliance assessment, which has not been reported in the literature to date.

Article
Publication date: 1 October 2018

Pragya Bhawsar and Utpal Chattopadhyay

The purpose of this paper is to provide a quantitative approach to measure industry clusters competitiveness.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a quantitative approach to measure industry clusters competitiveness.

Design/methodology/approach

An attempt has been made to construct a composite indicator backed up by a conceptually grounded framework, by means of Analytical Hierarchical Process technique. Four industry clusters from auto sector in India are chosen for manifestation of the methodology.

Findings

The proposed methodology sufficiently emphasises on the order of significance of the factors/indicators that make a cluster competitive. The study demonstrates the comparative competitiveness performance of four select industry clusters from India.

Research limitations/implications

The methodology only focusses on auto clusters from India, application of the model/methodology needs to be extended to other set of industries that follows tier structure, or belong to other developing nations to corroborate the findings.

Practical implications

The proposed approach is a useful tool to provide guidance to policy-makers and in monitoring industry clusters progress.

Originality/value

The paper offers an empirical approach for measuring competitiveness of industry clusters. So far there has been only a minuscule research on cluster competitiveness using empirical methods specifically in case of developing countries like India. Because of the heterogeneity of actors in industry clusters and absence of cluster relevant databases, its performance has been mostly captured via means of case studies. This study is one of its kind that renders comparison of competitiveness across industry clusters by combining secondary data with the perception of cluster actors.

Details

Benchmarking: An International Journal, vol. 25 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-5771

Keywords

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