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A system of fixed defined criteria and indicators that would provide a complex picture of the telephone service provision by a particular company does not exist. The purpose of this paper is to propose a telephone service index which represents one of the possibilities how to solve problems related to the decision-making of a customer regarding the selection of a telecommunication company.

The author has performed a primary research on the sample of 402 respondents from various regions of Slovakia with the aim to determine the rate of importance of criteria and their individual indicators when assessing the telephone service provision. With regard to the nature of the proposal, mathematical-statistical methods and secondary research were applied.

Although the decisive factor of assessment of the telephone service provision by the telecommunication company is the ability of such company to meet and satisfy requirements and needs of customers, indices of situation are indicators of criteria quality, price, availability and individual partial indices. On the grounds of achieved results, the discriminatory function is presented, i.e. the telephone service index, being most suitable for a quantitative assessment of the telephone service provision.

The telephone service index can be applied in the area of regulation; it contributes to the support of effective economic competition to the development of domestic market and to support and taking into account interests of citizens.

The index represents a source of information for three subjects operating on the telephone service market (regulatory office, service provider and service user). It provides content, form and method for publishing of different information that provides the users with the access to complete comparable and user-friendly information.

It concerns the quantitative assessment of the telephone service provision by means of numerical indicators with differentiated weight. The proposed telephone service index represents a discriminatory function enabling the differentiation of telecommunication companies with regard to quality, price and availability of this service for customers.

Since 2014, “sport for all” has been promoted as a new national strategy in China, which injects powerful dynamism and vitality for its development in numerous aspects. However, there has been very little feedback on sport service provision in community, and the satisfaction level of community participants is largely unmeasured. To promote physical and mental health of residents and form a stronger foundation of sport culture, more attention should be directed to community sports. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of community-sport service provisions on participants’ satisfaction and, in turn, on their sport participation behavior.

Community-sport program participants in China (n=576) responded to a survey measuring the proposed concepts.

Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that community-sport services in the areas of sport facility, grassroots sport organizations and sport activity programs had strong influences on participant satisfaction and, in turn, their desire for participation, which highlighted the demand for high-quality sport service provision by community.

The study contributed to the literature by proposing two clear dimensions (core sport service and peripheral sport service) for the measurement of public sport service provision in community sports. A second theoretical contribution of the study relates to the clarification of the relationship between the two dimensions of community-sport service provision (both core and peripheral services) and community participants’ satisfaction levels.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the determinants of satisfaction with municipal services by local inhabitants in Lithuania. Specifically, the paper seeks to disclose the relations between the importance that citizens attribute to the objectives of a municipality, satisfaction with services, the perception of quality of life and socio-demographic characteristics of local inhabitants.

The theoretical assumptions were tested using the quantitative data of public opinion survey in Lithuania conducted in 2016. The representative sample (n=1,006) consisting respondents over the age of 18 years old was collected using the personal interview method in households from different municipalities. The exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was employed to specify the constructs of the model. The structural equation modeling allowed revealing the relations between the importance of municipal objectives, satisfaction with services and infrastructure, the perception of quality of life and socio-demographic characteristics of citizens.

The findings indicate that there is a weak positive relation among the importance of municipal objectives and satisfaction with municipal services and infrastructure in case of Lithuania. There is a medium positive relation between satisfaction with services and infrastructure and perception of quality of life. The authors find that citizens living in cities attribute higher importance to the objectives of a municipality. The expectations increase within the age. The authors also find that residents living in cities are less satisfied (comparing to citizens living in towns and rural areas) with municipal services. The results indicate that citizens working in the private sector are less satisfied (comparing to unemployed citizens) with municipal services. The authors also find that such variables as education, age and income has a positive influence on the perception of quality of life.

Further research may specify the connection between the importance of municipal objectives, satisfaction with services, quality of life and socio-demographic characteristics more precisely. Specifically, the construct of the importance of municipal objectives was explained best as one factor due to the selection of objectives constituting the construct in the questionnaire. More precise measurement of the construct may reveal the agenda pursued by citizens and its relation to the socio-demographic factors.

The research reveals that satisfaction with municipal services and infrastructure is an important predictor of perceived quality of life for Lithuanians citizens on the local level. It sends an important signal to policymakers indicating that citizens that are living in cities, working in private sector feel less satisfied compared to other groups of inhabitants in rural areas. It also provides evidence that different profiles of socio-demographic characteristics should also be considered more carefully while designing responsive service provision systems in municipalities.

The paper provides a theoretical and methodological perspective that relates importance of municipal objectives, satisfaction with municipal services, infrastructure and perceived quality of life of local inhabitants. Moreover, it emphasizes the importance of socio-demographic characteristics of for municipal agenda and design of provision of public services.

Over the past two decades, Community-Based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) has been a pragmatic strategy towards universal Primary Health Care (PHC) in Ghana. However, the ability and capacity of these facilities to deliver quality primary health care remain an illusion as they are still crumbling in myriad challenges. These challenges are translated to the poor-quality services provision and low community utilization of CHPS facilities. The study presents a comparative analysis of three communities in the Kassena-Nankana East Municipality, Ghana.

Using a mixed-method research design, the study gathered and analysed data from 110 households, three community health officers (CHOs) and three community leaders using semi-structured questionnaires and interview guides.

The findings indicated that the facilities do not have the requisite inputs such as drugs and supplies, logistics, appropriate health personnel, good infrastructure, funding support necessary to deliver quality and appropriate healthcare services that meet the health needs of the communities. For the CHPS to realize their full potentials as PHC facilities, it is required that the needed inputs such as logistics, drugs and appropriate staff are in place to facilitate the activities of CHOs.

Due to the limited number of participants and selection of the study communities, the results may generalization. Also, the researchers acknowledged the inability to interview the district level health officials and the Kassena-Nankana Municipal Assembly during the field visits. This could have provided in-depth knowledge on the findings of this research as well as the validation of the results from the communities' perspective. Several attempts were made to contact and interview district-level authorities which proven futile due to the unavailability of targeted respondents. This resulted in limiting the studies at the community level. However, this limitation does not disprove the findings of this study.

The article implications for planning primary health care strategies include a keen assessment of community health needs and institutional management of primary health care facilities, equip PHC facilities with adequate resources such as drugs and appropriate staffing to provide the health needs of the communities.

The paper fulfils the gap in the literature by providing empirical data on how the challenges of primary health care facilities affected the provision of high quality service and how this can affect community’s use of the facilities.

A study was done to document the standards that should be adhered to by library and information professionals in Zimbabwe to assure quality in service provision in order to meet the sustainable development goals. A literature review and web content analysis were done to unpack the various standards that all types of libraries should consider from library buildings, service provision, qualifications and accreditation of library and information science schools and professionals, and assessing the impact of libraries in the communities that they are serving. The findings review that there are international and national standards from various governing bodies that should be considered in library and information service provision. The author recommends the implementation of these standards in all the libraries to assure quality in library and information service provision.

This paper describes the secondment of a health professional to the care management team to assess the efficacy and cost‐effectiveness of out‐of‐borough placements for individuals who present challenging behaviour. Lambeth Partnership agreed that dedicated psychologyl challenging needs time of a practitioner with more than 10 years' experience in the borough would be available to the care management team, creating collaborative working and enhancing the existing service. To assess the quality of services, a questionnaire was developed that covered demographics, types of service provision and intervention package employed (including monitoring and outcome measures), implementation of person centred‐planning (PCP) and the views of the key stakeholders. This paper summarises the findings of five months of assessing the quality of service provision for people with challenging needs placed out of the London Borough of Lambeth.

The provision of port services is an important link in international logistics. Historically, ports have constituted a bottleneck in maritime transport. Moreover, the quality of port services has been compromised by the complex internal port organisation and the considerable number of bodies that participate in the transfer of goods between ships and inland transport vehicles. The efficiency of port services affects not only the port authorities, service providers and customers, but also the port hinterland through the multiplier effect on the regional economy. The problems of port organisation are explained using principal‐agent concepts. The authors then explore the concept of quality in relation to port services, and discuss certification of service providers as a means of signalling quality to their customers. Finally, the accreditation system of the port of Valencia, Spain, is presented as a model, one that is superior to the accepted ISO standards, whereby port service quality and efficiency may be enhanced.

Discusses, on the basis of existing quality initiatives, a systematic and integrated approach to mental health care in Northern Ireland. Utilizes two approaches: the Brunel Quality Management System and the FACE‐IQMS model.

Within the last decade of the twentieth century, the apparel industry in Hong Kong has been undergoing drastic changes. These changes mainly stem from the challenges of process globalization, which has led to manufacturers shifting a majority of production processes to countries that entail better cost‐competitive advantages, while retaining crucial planning and decision‐making services centrally. Industrialists, educators and even the Government have made a great deal of effort to enhance the provision of high quality service in an attempt to transform the industry strategically into a centre of service excellence in the South‐East Asian region. However, without accredited standard and reference points, the measuring and monitoring of quality in manufacture‐related service is very vague and perplexing. In this paper, the authors first review the extant literature for measuring perceived quality in service provision and then explore the respective implementation issues. A Servqual scale in three‐column format, adapted from the service quality measurement scale proposed by Parasuraman (1995), is used to survey the opinion of international buying offices and to assess the Hong Kong apparel manufacturers’service performance. Two expectation‐discrepancy standards in Service Adequacy and Service Superiority are constructed to measure the service deficiency (gaps). As a result the authors learnt that there are empirical differences between what is perceived in the existing manufacturer’s service performance and what the buyer side really desires. The paper concludes with a discussion of the Servqual modelling operational implications and future research directions.

Based on cost of quality (CoQ) research, this study aims to highlight the importance of incorporating the costs to customers in contributing to service quality when examining how customers respond to possible service failures [quality assurance behavior (QAB)]. Consequently, this study also aims to show how the CoQ framework can be a useful tool to the service industry in determining enhancements in quality and related expenditures.

Using the airline industry as a case example, this study empirically tests the impact of predicted service quality and its associated costs on an individual’s QAB (wait time spent at the departing airport) through revealed preferences. The study uses survey data from more than 4,000 passengers matched with travel-specific quality information archived by the US Department of Transportation (DOT).

This study finds that customers are willing to increase their level of QAB when informed of an increased probability of service failure. This study also finds that the level of QAB varies depending on anticipated customer costs of avoiding or responding to service failures.

Findings of this study emphasize the need for shared responsibility between service providers and their customers in making decisions on the provision of service quality, as helping customers adjust the appropriate level of QAB may result in greater efficiency and higher quality of service.

This study conceptualizes and empirically tests causal relationships between expected quality and customer efforts (QAB), thus contributing to operations literature examining CoQ in a service setting. This study argues that it is critical to consider shared responsibilities between co-producers (service providers and customers) in service operations studies.