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The purpose of this paper is to study the EFQM model self‐assessment in a Spanish university.

A case study methodology is used based on five services provided by a public university in Spain.

The findings show the steps that one university can follow in order to apply this exercise in a successful manner, its benefits, its obstacles and its key factors such as management and employee commitment, and the support to self‐assessment teams (e.g. training, review).

The paper provides lessons for managers from other universities who wish to develop a self‐assessment exercise.

The major aim of this investigation is to propose a novel approach for evaluating the implementation of the European Quality Award, i.e. the model of European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM).

The EFQM model includes both enablers and results, while in the service quality gaps model, only the gaps between the organization and customer are studied. In this paper, a new approach has been proposed to assess seven determined gaps in implementing the EFQM model based on the concepts of the service quality gaps model and the ServQual approach. The new approach to the EFQMQual has been examined in Isfahan Province Gas Company using different viewpoints of senior and middle managers and senior experts on four elements of determined gaps. These include perceptions of goals, expectations of goals, perceptions of assessment and expectations of assessment.

Findings indicate that leadership and key results criteria have the lowest and the highest gap values, respectively. In addition, the fifth gap, i.e. the difference between expectations of assessment and perceptions of assessment, has the lowest average, while the seventh gap, i.e. elements of the EFQM model, has the highest average. With regard to the correlation among the seven gaps, it became obvious that there is a significant correlation among the first, fifth and sixth gaps; and also between the fourth and fifth gaps. Finally, based on the Pareto rule, the priority of the criteria related to each of the gaps has also been determined.

One of the limitations of this study is the complexity of the concepts in the questionnaires, which makes it difficult for respondents to understand the items of the questionnaires. To overcome this, therefore, the researcher has attached a guideline to the distributed questionnaires.

As the literature review indicates, there has not been any research on integrating the concepts of the service quality gaps model, the ServQual approach, and the EFQM model, while also analyzing the weak and strong results obtained from implementing the EFQM model based on such an integrated approach. The significance of the study lies further in the fact that based on an approach similar to the proposed EFQMQual, such concepts can be applied for evaluating the implementation of other quality award systems.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This study aims to describe case studies of two models, LibQUAL+ and a model based on the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), used to assess library service quality and compare the two assessment models.

First, an AHP-based evaluation model is set up to assess library service quality, following which the model is adapted to assess the service quality of Nanjing Agricultural University Library. Second, a modified LibQUAL+ model is created and implemented in the form of a questionnaire survey to assess the library service quality of the same library. Finally, the two assessment models are compared.

The results of the two case studies indicate that LibQUAL+ is suitable for assessing Chinese university libraries after modified, and the library AHP model is more suitable for comparing libraries in China between themselves.

This paper uses two methods for assessing library service quality; this should prove to be helpful for the librarians interested in assessing the service quality of Chinese university libraries.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate four dimensions of how to integrate quality in the public procurement process from three perspectives. The study was carried out in the public transportation industry where service provision has been outsourced.

An explorative case study was carried out using two data collection methods. The first involved a document study that considered the integration of quality in the public procurement process. This led to the second method, which involved conducting in‐depth interviews to follow up on the procurement and the role of quality with the participants.

The findings provide insights into how quality can be included in the public procurement process and, in particular, how self‐assessment can be used to evaluate the “best quality practice”. The quality maturity of the industry also has an influence on three dimensions: the choice of quality model, the weighting between price and quality and how the tenders perform their self‐assessments.

The study focuses on one case and presents explorative findings. This has implications for future research, for which the set of procurement decisions regarding the integration of quality must be analysed.

The integration of quality in the public procurement process involves choosing a future business partner according to the “best quality practice”, not just the lowest price. Including quality in the public procurement process can help facilitate the delivery of high‐quality services to customers when service provision has been outsourced.

This study contributes to the service quality literature by empirically investigating how quality can be integrated in the public procurement process, which is a prerequisite for contracting a desired service supplier.

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the user's assessment of the level of quality of the library services of the Portuguese University of Trás‐os‐Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD) in order to identify its potential improvement.

Following a literature review on library service quality assessment focusing on the ServQual, Lib Qual, or Biqual conceptual tools, a survey was designed and applied to a sample of the UTAD library's users, and then subjected to statistical analysis.

The literature review on library quality service assessment points out an array of dimensions that must be taken into account. The conceptual tools recently developed for that assessment showed that the services provided by the UTAD library needed to be redefined in order to enhance its user's autonomy. The results of the survey follow the findings of the literature review and, in particular, show that for the UTAD case study: gender is an important variable to take into account; the access to new technologies and to its convenient use is of the outmost importance; and face to face relation between users and service providers must be deepened.

The data survey clearly indicates the areas in which UTAD library has to direct its efforts in order to improve the quality of its services and meet users' expectations.

The results opened up the way to future comparative investigations with other services provided by other university libraries.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the existence of differences in service quality assessments across distinct retail store formats. We address customers’ quality assessments for physical aspects, personal interactions, reliability and policies dimensions in hypermarkets and supermarkets to analyse the impacts for satisfaction and loyalty.

The study builds on previous scales for service retail quality to develop a survey addressing customers of hypermarkets and supermarkets in Portugal. Data analysis addressed 248 complete questionnaires and involved statistical testing to explore differences in service quality expectations across retail store formats. The regression analysis was used to estimate impacts of each service quality dimension for customer satisfaction and loyalty intentions.

The results support the existence of differences in customers’ service quality assessments across retail store formats, notably for the expectations about different quality dimensions. Differences were also observed on the impacts for customer satisfaction and loyalty, in particular for the dimensions of reliability and personal interaction.

The results suggest that managerial decisions regarding service in stores should be adjusted to the characteristics of each retail format. The generalizability of the results should be assessed by means of further investigation in other retail contexts.

Retail customers patronize multiple types of retail stores that compete on diverse service attributes. Building on existing service measurement scales, this paper provides a contribution to understand customer’s quality assessments across distinct store types to inform retail quality and service differentiation strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to report on a study based around a commercial facilities management (FM) service provider's creation of an internal benchmark of how services for an acute hospital perform in terms of service quality.

The paper presents findings of a hard and soft FM application of the widely‐recognised SERVQUAL performance assessment tool; including its use and usefulness in a healthcare FM context. The paper proceeds to a conceptual discussion on emergent issues. It offers a questioning framework which the authors identify requires further study and debate but raises potentially profound issues for FM. Further replication‐related and conceptual development research is underway.

Principally, the paper discusses the emergence and significance of the psychological phenomenon of cognitive dissonance within the datasets for the private finance initiative hospital case study. The paper also briefly discusses the scope for using the service consumers' zone of tolerance as a management datum.

The paper concludes with a discussion on the implications of cognitive dissonance, which we believe poses radical and hitherto‐unaddressed questions about the appropriateness of some core aspects of POE, satisfaction measurement used in FM contract management, and the wider FM performance management paradigm. This appears to open a whole new perspective for soft FM and FM service integrators.

The paper challenges the conventions and major assumptions of the FM service quality assessment paradigm. It suggests cross disciplinary implications for the FM research field, and is relevant to suppliers, clients, facilities managers, service consumers, and customers, including procurement manager. Overall, the paper raises a lot of questions about the FM service quality management paradigm(s) and assumption(s).

Distance learning has been widely researched the past few years, nevertheless the focus has been more on its technological dimension. Designing, developing and supporting a large scale e‐learning application for Higher Education is still a challenging task in many ways. E‐learning is data‐intensive, user‐driven, and has increasing needs for multiculturalism, efficiency, adaptivity and competiveness. Although the complexity of such systems has increased exponentially, the design process still lacks a systematic quality control procedure. In this work we address the increasing need for new methods that maximize usability, and thus end‐user satisfaction. We analyse the technological, managerial and economic factors that affect the design and deployment of a large e‐learning platform with advanced services and propose a set of new metrics for assessing its quality. The metrics are based on the four external quality characteristics (functionality, usability, efficiency and reliability) of the ISO9126 standard for software systems.