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This paper aims to examine the association between supervisor support, servicing efficacy and job satisfaction among frontline hotel employees in Turkey. Specifically, the mediating role of servicing efficacy was examined in the link between supervisor support and job satisfaction.

Data were collected from 421 frontline employees in 4- and 5-star hotels located in the South and South West of Turkey. The authors proposed a conceptual model in which servicing efficacy mediates the link between supervisor support and job satisfaction after controlling for demographic information. Data were analyzed through the structural equation modeling (SEM) framework.

Results showed that supervisor support positively predicted servicing efficacy and job satisfaction reports of the employees. Those reporting higher servicing efficacy were more likely to report increased job satisfaction. In addition, servicing efficacy partially mediated the link between supervisor support and job satisfaction.

The current study provides new evidence on the link between supervisor support, efficacy beliefs and job satisfaction in the hotel industry. This is the first study investigating the mediating role of servicing efficacy in the association between supervisor support and job satisfaction. Moreover, most previous studies separately focusing on supervisor support, efficacy beliefs and job satisfaction in the hospitality industry were conducted in developed, Western countries. In contrast, research examining work-related constructs and outcomes in Turkey’s hospitality industry has been limited. Thus, both replicated and original findings would contribute to the generalizability of cumulative knowledge in tourism and hospitality.

The purpose of this paper is to eliminate the wastes and inefficient procedures in the maintenance organization of aircraft so as to reduce its downtime and increase mission availability.

Customized lean Six Sigma (LSS) was applied at the task level and servicing cycle level to reduce the task content, cycle length and resources in servicing. The loading of the servicing facility was simulated through a simulation program developed from a statistical analysis of historical data for validating/simulating/determining optimum loading of servicing facility with refined tasks, reduced cycle length and resources. In simulation, the optimum combination of manpower, resources and infrastructure at the facility level was determined through sensitive analysis and design of experiments (DoE).

Optimization at the task level and its re-organization at the servicing cycle level reduced the cycle length by 55-68 per cent and manpower resources by 26 per cent. This further reduced facility-level manpower by 25 to 40 per cent, capacity requirements by more than 33 per cent and annual aircraft downtime by 78 per cent. The approach reduced the average number of aircraft undergoing servicing at each airbase at any time from 2.35 to just 0.76 and increased the mission availability to 20 per cent.

The hallmark of the paper has been the design of LSS approach from structured historical data and its validation through innovative simulation. The multi-pronged bottom-up approach practically bundles all wastes resident in the maintenance organization. The paper provides cursory approach to lean practitioners in the elimination of wastes in the maintenance of capital assets like aircraft.

RECENTLY, through the courtesy of the Royal Air Force, we were privileged to make a tour of some of the aerodromes and bases in the Middle East. It is not perhaps generally realized that the Middle East Air Force differs from Commands in the United Kingdom in that its technical organization is modelled on the lines of a self‐contained air force.

THIS article is an attempt to explain the way in which the actual servicing schedules now used by the Royal Air Force are evolved and also to give an outline of the organization necessary for this work. The whole field of R.A.F. planned flying and planned maintenance has already been very effectively covered by S/Ldr Harrop's paper and this present article contains a more detailed account of some of the practical problems involved in the one aspect of the production of schedules.

When several machine tools are serviced by one industrial robot their idle times should be kept as short as possible. In this paper, a deterministic model is developed to optimise the idle time, including the possibility of machine breakdowns.

Presents a case study of a financial services company socializing in student loans. Positions the study in terms of ′sustainable competitive advantage′, ′strategic necessity′ and ′edge toward the market′ hypotheses. Concludes that information systems played ′an essential but essentially derivative role′ in the success of the enterprise.

Considers the need imposed by increased competition for manufacturers to move from a traditional, reactive service approach based on routine maintenance programmes towards a more strategic customer servicing philosophy based on strategic service management. Argues for a complete management audit of company service policies in order to implement a company‐wide service culture. Concludes that the implementation of a service mission developing all relevant factors can enable manufacturers themselves to out‐perform third‐party organizations, thus maximizing opportunities offered in the expanding industrial and business service market.

The aim of this paper is to develop the optimal delta hedge for a portfolio of mortgage servicing rights (MSR) under the constraint of a zero‐gamma in order to avoid costs related to the rebalancing of such portfolio.

The paper develops the optimal delta hedge ratio with gamma and vega constraints for an MSR portfolio by finding the different combinations of coupon/maturity bonds (c, n) that satisfy the constraints under different yields (y). Rather than search for the available fixed income securities and see by trial and error which one should be added to the portfolio of MSR such that when market rates go up and down, the value of the portfolio is not affected, the model finds the optimal pairs of coupon/maturity bonds over a range of yields, that satisfy the constraints. It develops the conditions for a delta‐hedged portfolio of bonds and MSR under an investor's or a portfolio manager's value constraint K. The share α of the MSR's value and the share β of the bond's value had to be such that a zero‐delta portfolio that satisfies the constant value of the portfolio can be created. The paper “optimized” α by requiring simultaneously that α′=0 and also that α″=0, for a fixed y given by the market that will guarantee that the function α satisfies simultaneously the two conditions: α′=0 and α″=0. These two conditions will yield equations in the parameters of c and n. The “optimization” problem for arbitrary y's is solved, and n and c for the appropriate bond are found to be added to the MSR portfolio.

Maple software is used to simulate a portfolio of MSR that is delta hedged with bonds, whose appropriate coupon and maturity are found with the model developed under the constraint of a zero‐gamma, in order to avoid costs related to the rebalancing of such portfolio. The optimal hedge ratio with gamma and vega constraints for an MSR portfolio is developed by finding the different combinations of coupon/maturity bonds that satisfy the constraints under different yields (the “triples”).

The optimal triples (c, n, y) are obtained in order to optimize α and simultaneously α′=0 and α″=0. For example, for a yield of 16.1 percent, a bank with a portfolio of MSR based on the data used, should add to it, bonds with a 6.33 percent coupon that matures in 7.55 years.

This paper is the first to the authors' knowledge to derive the different triples (yield, coupon, maturity) of bonds that when combined with MSR create a portfolio that is dynamically hedged against interest rate risk and prepayment risk, and therefore eliminates the need of periodic rebalancing of a portfolio of MSR, which is costly.

LAST month's article dealt with the problems and work associated with the preparation of Royal Air Force Maintenance Schedules, while this continuation of it is in the nature of a corollary. There are many ways in which aeroplane design could be better from the servicing viewpoint and the aim here is to indicate some of the lines of thought that can lead to an improvement. I have not attempted anything in the nature of an exhaustive survey, since that requires months of study; but, using a number of AMSDU Servicing Appraisals as a basis, I have tried to give a general picture of some good and bad features in modern aeroplanes.

This paper examines the impact of fiscal constraints on education expenditure in Nigeria from 1981 to 2021, using annual time series data.

The study deployed cointegration techniques with structural breaks.

Cointegration was found between education expenditure, debt servicing (a proxy for fiscal constraint) and associated variables. In both the long and short run, debt servicing negatively and significantly impacts education expenditure. While government revenue has a positive and significant impact on education expenditure in the long and short run, political institution has a negative and significant impact in the long run. Political institution is thus critical to education financing in Nigeria. The impact of debt is positive and significant in the short run, but not significant in the long run. There is a unidirectional causality from debt servicing to education expenditure.

Political institutions are critical towards contracting only productive debts and checkmating the adverse political environment through political will that prioritizes education financing.

The study extends the empirical literature on the fiscal constraint-education expenditure first by investigating fiscal constraint-education expenditure nexus given the institutional environment, and second by extending the methodology using cointegration techniques in the midst of structural breaks.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-10-2022-0682.