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Call center is a large and growing sector worldwide and is facing important human resource management (HRM) and service challenges. The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of structural empowerment (SE) and psychological empowerment (PE) on customer satisfaction (CS) through employee job satisfaction (JS) at a call center in Portugal.

Data were collected by means of a survey handed over personally to 267 employees at the call center of a telecommunication company. This was then linked to their respective net promoter score (CS) provided by the call center. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used as analytical tools.

SE affects PE, and both have a positive impact on JS. Empowerment impacts CS: SE positively affects CS mediated by PE; and PE affects CS mediated by JS.

This study emphasizes the importance of the use of organizational practices of SE in call centers to achieve two important organizational outcomes: employee JS and CS.

This study tests a process model involving two domains, HRM (employee side) and service delivery (customer side), which are traditionally dealt with separately in the context of call centers. This helps to understand how HRM polices are connected to CS. Although some of these relationships have been studied separately in different contexts, the research offers a strong methodological design by linking employee perceptions of empowerment with data provided by the firm on CS.

O setor dos call centers é grande e está em crescimento em todo o mundo, enfrentando importantes desafios de Gestão de Recursos Humanos (GRH) e de Serviços. O objetivo principal deste estudo é analisar o impacto do empoderamento estrutural (EE) e do empoderamento psicológico (EP) na satisfação do cliente (SC) através da satisfação no trabalho (ST) dos colaboradores de um call center em Portugal.

Os dados foram recolhidos por meio de um questionário entregue pessoalmente a 267 funcionários do call center de uma empresa de telecomunicações. Esses dados foram ligados aos dados fornecidos pela empresa em relação à satisfação do cliente para cada colaborador, utilizando o net promoter score. A análise fatorial confirmatória e a modelagem de equações estruturais foram utilizadas como ferramentas analíticas.

O EE afeta o EP e ambos têm um impacto positivo na ST. O empoderamento impacta a SC: i) o EE afeta positivamente a SC mediada por o EP; ii) o EP afeta a SC mediado pela ST.

Este estudo enfatiza a importância do uso de práticas organizacionais de EE em call centers para atingir dois resultados organizacionais importantes: a ST do funcionário e a SC.

Este estudo testa um modelo processual envolvendo dois domínios, a gestão de recursos humanos (lado do funcionário) e a entrega de serviços (lado do cliente) no contexto de call centers, que tradicionalmente são tratados separadamente. O estudo ajuda a entender como as políticas de GRH estão conectadas à SC. Embora algumas dessas relações tenham sido estudadas separadamente em diferentes contextos, a pesquisa oferece um forte desenho metodológico ao vincular as perceções dos funcionários sobre o empoderamento com os dados fornecidos pela empresa sobre a satisfação do cliente.

El sector de los centros de llamadas es grande y está creciendo en todo el mundo, y se enfrenta a importantes desafíos de gestión de recursos humanos y servicios. El objetivo principal de este estudio es analizar el impacto del empoderamiento estructural (EE) y el empoderamiento psicológico (EP) en la satisfacción del cliente (SC) a través de la satisfacción laboral (SL) de los empleados de un centro de llamadas en Portugal.

Los datos fueron recolectados mediante una encuesta entregada personalmente a 267 empleados en el centro de llamadas de una empresa de telecomunicaciones. Estos datos se vincularon a los datos proporcionados por la empresa en relación con la satisfacción del cliente de cada empleado, utilizando el net promotor score. El análisis factorial confirmatoria y el modelado de ecuaciones estructurales se utilizaron como herramientas analíticas.

El EE afecta el EP y ambas tienen un impacto positivo en la SL. El empoderamiento impacta el SC: i) EE afecta positivamente el SC mediado por el EP; ii) El EP afecta a la SC mediada por la SL.

Este estudio enfatiza la importancia de utilizar prácticas organizacionales de EE en los centros de llamadas para lograr dos importantes resultados organizacionales: la SL del empleado y la SC.

Este estudio prueba un modelo de proceso que involucra dos dominios, la gestión de recursos humanos (lado del empleado) y la prestación de servicios (lado del cliente) en el contexto de los centros de llamadas, que tradicionalmente se tratan por separado. El estudio ayuda a comprender cómo las políticas de recursos humanos están conectadas a SC. Aunque algunas de estas relaciones se han estudiado por separado en diferentes contextos, la investigación ofrece un sólido diseño metodológico al vincular las percepciones de empoderamiento de los empleados con los datos proporcionados por la empresa sobre la satisfacción del cliente.

Interest in the relationship between organizational culture and performance is not new but it still attracts considerable attention from researchers. In the literature on organizational learning, organizational culture is mainly conceived as an essential condition to facilitate and support learning and consequently as an important feature in achieving organizational performance nowadays. In the scope of this research topic, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of organizational learning culture on two organizational outcomes – profitability and customer satisfaction, and the mediation effect of total quality management (TQM) in these relationships.

The data were collected from 107 firms and the technique used for data analysis was structural equation modeling.

The results reveal a positive direct impact of organizational learning culture on organizational profitability and a positive indirect effect, through TQM, on customer satisfaction.

These findings support to a body of literature that claims the relevance of developing a cultural orientation toward learning in organizations in order to contribute to organizational success. This study also takes into account some methodological features in order to increase the quality of culture-performance research.

O interesse na relação entre cultura organizacional e performance, embora não sendo novo, continua a atrair uma atenção considerável da investigação. Na literatura sobre aprendizagem organizacional, a cultura organizacional é maioritariamente entendida como uma condição essencial para facilitar a aprendizagem nas e das organizações e, consequentemente, como um aspeto importante para garantir um desempenho organizacional positivo. No âmbito desta temática, este estudo analisa o efeito de uma cultura organizacional orientada para a aprendizagem em dois tipos distintos de resultados organizacionais – a rentabilidade e a satisfação do cliente, assim como o papel mediador da gestão pela qualidade total nestas relações.

Os dados foram recolhidos numa amostra de 107 empresas e utilizaram-se modelos de equações estruturais para a sua análise.

Os resultados revelam um efeito positivo direto da cultura de aprendizagem na rentabilidade e um efeito positivo indireto, via gestão pela qualidade total, na satisfação dos clientes.

Estes resultados são consonantes com a literatura que defende a relevância de desenvolver uma orientação cultural para a aprendizagem nas organizações, de forma a contribuir para o sucesso organizacional. Este estudo tem, igualmente, em consideração vários aspetos metodológicos que visam contribuir para a qualidade da investigação da relação cultura-performance.

The present research aims to evaluate the quality of services provided by the Basic Health Units (UBS) of the Unified Health System (SUS) located in the city of Recife, in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil, using the Kano model integrated with the dimensions of quality proposed by the service quality (SERVQUAL) model.

The research was classified as bibliographic, descriptive, quantitative and surveyable. A structured questionnaire based on the Kano Model integrated with the dimensions of quality proposed by the SERVQUAL model, applied online through Google Forms. The questionnaires were distributed on social networks, obtaining a non-probabilistic sample of 120 individuals, collected for convenience.

Through the analysis of the Kano Model, it was possible to observe that all the investigated attributes are classified as one-dimensional. Among the attributes that deserve to be highlighted are attributes “Clean and pleasant environment”, “Reliability and security of information”, “Knowledge of employees to perform services”, “Service performed in the promised time”, “Polite and kind staff in dealing with users” and “Effectiveness of the service provided” due to having the longest intervals when considering the satisfaction and dissatisfaction coefficients, above 1.575. These attributes must be considered as critical priorities when implementing improvements, since their presence considerably increases users' satisfaction, as well as their absence generates great dissatisfaction.

The research is original and justified by the potential use of a quality assessment tool in the public health service, especially primary care. It is noteworthy that there are few works that integrate the Kano and SERVQUAL models applied in the public health service and that this integration can contribute to the national and international literature, mainly in the identification and prioritization of areas for improvement.

An area of information technology (IT) in organizations is required to manage resources efficiently. For this, IT certifications are adopted by companies and sought by professionals. However, these have many requirements and to identify which are paramount to the performance of their activities and/or are much more important to IT managers is not a trivial task. The purpose of this study is to identify how the processes of the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) v3 and Control Objectives for Information and Related Technology (CobiT) 5 certifications are analyzed by IT managers. Regarding the knowledge of professionals about the processes, which are more important, less important or indifferent in the manager’s view.

A survey is carried out with IT managers using questions elaborated according to the Kano model in which the processes of the analyzed certifications are related to classify according to the proposed model.

Of the 64 analyzed processes, 20 CobiT processes and 13 ITIL processes were classified as must-be requirements. Another 17 CobiT processes and 9 ITIL processes were classified as one-dimensional and 5 ITIL processes are present in more than one relationship with CobiT processes and, depending on the relationship, they were classified as must-be or one-dimensional requirements.

It is concluded that this study contributes in the discussion of the importance of the ITIL and CobiT implementations and analyzes the relevance of ITIL and CobiT certification processes in the view of IT managers, providing useful information for the professionals in terms of prioritization of the processes expected by the managers.

This study aims to verify the dimensions of perceived quality of services which influence the satisfaction of accounting firm clients and verifies whether customer satisfaction influences loyalty and word-of-mouth recommendations.

A model is proposed and tested using a survey of 292 accounting firm clients; structural equation modeling and partial least squares are used for data analysis.

The constructs of internal policies, personal relationships and trust influence the satisfaction of accounting firm clients which directly influences word-of-mouth recommendations and customer loyalty; however, the constructs of physical aspects and problem solving have no influence on satisfaction.

The main contribution to the accounting field is an identification of the aspects in which firms should invest to deliver quality to clients. The development of internal policies, personal relationships and trust can lead to more satisfied clients, resulting in loyalty and word-of-mouth recommendations. These are novel results within the literature and can guide accounting firms toward better performance.

This study is justified by the fact that accounting firms must adapt to the new environment and the new requirements of the accounting field and look for solutions that follow the progress of financial and managerial accounting, primarily with regard to service quality, satisfaction, loyalty and word-of-mouth recommendations. We also introduce a new scale to reveal novelties which cannot be observed using traditional service quality scales. This is another important contribution to the quality of accounting services.

E‐commerce has recently generated, at a very fast rate, a lot of new techniques trying to win customers and make money. The success of these techniques can only be real if the customer recognizes them and, most important of all, starts buying from you. This paper deals with discovering an e‐commerce user’s expectations that make them qualify and choose an e‐business supplier. To accomplish this, we use the “critical incident technique”. This method results in a hierarchical relationship between critical incidents, satisfaction items and customer’s needs, that are related to quality dimensions. The quality dimensions obtained changed in relation to the traditional service quality dimensions, showing that after a period of experience, the customer starts to establish his/her quality standards and take decisions based on these standards. Both the surviving and the successful companies are those which will learn to identify, understand and satisfy these needs.

The raised competitiveness among technology companies, especially for being able to work with markets physically distant from their final consumer, makes it important to know the employee’s perception about the built environment since the physical workspaces influence productivity. This paper aims to analyze the attributes and dimensions of the built environment of a development software company that most impact the employee’s satisfaction through their perception. It allows the company to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the built environment, enhancing the employee’s satisfaction, productivity and, consequently, the company revenues.

This research applied a survey by the drop off method and analyzed data through confirmatory factor analysis and multiple linear regression. Therefore, these methods explain how the attributes behave in each theoretical dimension and evaluate the relation between the dependent and independent dimensions.

The theoretical result of this research concerns the employee’s satisfaction with the built environment of a software development company. Overall, employee satisfaction is related to the dimensions of functionality, appearance and personal relationships, not being significant aspects of configuration. On the other hand, the employee’s overall satisfaction with the built environment is related to the functional dimension.

This research limitation is related to the size of the sample, which is a pre-determined and fixed population: all the company’s employees.

Perceived quality applied to a work environment of a software development company.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the precursors of corporate reputation (CR) and their impacts on brand equity (BE), and to analyse the moderating role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) perceptions.

This study proposes a theoretical model which is tested using structural equation modelling. In total, 464 valid questionnaires were collected from a sample of customers of the biggest union of dairy cooperatives of the Iberian Peninsula.

Results show that the better the reputation, the higher the BE; however, these findings are more robust among customers with higher perceptions of CSR.

This study is based on cross-sectional data from a single company.

The results may help managers build a better reputation and therefore increase their BE. CSR practices are essential to reinforcing this relationship.

This paper contributes to the competitiveness of a type of organisation which is closely associated to the social structure of the rural population.

The results may help cooperatives’ managers to increase CR and BE. The emphasis is on the need to adopt CSR practices.

O objectivo desta investigação é compreender os antecedentes da reputação corporativa (CR) e seus impactos sobre o valor da marca (BE) e analisar o papel moderador das percepções da responsabilidade social das empresas (RSE).

Este estudo propõe testar um modelo teórico utilizando a modelagem de equações estruturais. Quatrocentos e sessenta e quatro questionários válidos foram recolhidos de uma amostra de clientes da maior organização corporativa de lacticínios da Península Ibérica.

Os resultados mostram que uma melhor reputação faz aumentar o valor da marca (BE). No entanto, estes resultados são mais robustos entre os clientes com percepções mais altas de Responsabilidade Social Corporativa.

Esta pesquisa é baseada nos dados transversais de uma empresa.

Os resultados podem ajudar os gestores a construírem uma reputação melhor e portanto, aumentarem o valor da marca, sabendo que as práticas de RSE são essenciais para fortalecer esse relacionamento.

Este trabalho contribui para a competitividade de um tipo de organização que está associada à estrutura social da população rural.

Os resultados podem ajudar os gestores das cooperativas a potenciarem a melhoraria da reputação corporativa e do valor da marca. A ênfase é sobre a necessidade de adoptar práticas de RSE.

The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of the cognitive relationship between personal values of buyers and attributes of automobiles.

In total, 60 interviews were performed with buyers of sporty and compact cars. The qualitative laddering technique guided data collection and analysis, resulting in two cognitive value maps (HVM). The results were interpreted based on three theoretical approaches: Schwartz (1994), Allen (2000) and Gutman (1982).

The dominant chains from the two models indicate connection between “design and hedonism,” “internal finishing and hedonism” and “security items and safety as a value.” Therefore, these customers are predominantly characterized by individualistic values: by the pursuit of personal pleasure and concern for personal safety.

Due to qualitative techniques having been used, future research could validate some presented results through surveys based on the connections between the set of attributes and values presented in this research.

Results from this study can help to develop segmentation and advertising strategies, as well as marketing aftermarket actions based on the psychographic profile provided by the HVMs. They may also assist integration between the initial and final phases of new vehicles’ development which have concepts similar to those studied here.

The extant literature provides few studies with the specific objective of identifying connections between vehicle attributes and the personal values of the consumers. This paper presents an interpretation of the cognitive relationships between vehicle attributes and personal values through three theoretical perspectives, providing multidimensional profiles to explain consumers’ values.