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This paper examines the role of human resource practices in enabling cost reduction and quality enhancement. In particular, it investigates the use of volunteers in tourism organisations. The study is located in two visitor information centres (VICs) and focuses on the financial costs and service quality of paid staff and volunteers. The research uses both qualitative and quantitative data. The findings suggest that volunteers provide a cost effective means of providing quality service and that there were, in this instance, no differences found in the quality of service provided by paid staff and volunteers. The findings also suggest that human resource practices such as innovative training programs, strategic recruiting and the provision of a team environment enhance the service quality. Future research directions are recommended as an outcome of this study.

This study aims to explore the influence of health-care service quality on customers’ perceived value, satisfaction, effectiveness and behavioural intention concerning district health centres (DHCs) in Hong Kong. This research also intends to assess customers’ perception of the subsidy scheme and its influence on the relationships amongst the aforementioned constructs.

The convenience and snowball sampling approaches were adopted, and the self-administered questionnaire was sent to 309 customers of DHCs.

Service quality attributes in terms of staffing and procedures positively increased customers’ perceived value and staffing, procedures and operations. Physical facilities positively promoted customers’ satisfaction, consequently improving DHCs’ effectiveness and behavioural intention. However, core treatments and services of DHCs did not impact customers’ perceived value and satisfaction. Furthermore, customers receiving subsidies exhibited a more positive perception than those without subsidies.

Health-care organisations are advised to strategically allocate resources (staffing, facilities and procedures and operations management) to optimise overall performance outcomes. DHC operators could reinforce the core services of DHCs and health-care voucher subsidies to local citizens so as to enhance the effectiveness of DHCs and behavioural intention of customers.

This study integrates the input–process–output approach in measuring the effectiveness of and customers’ behavioural intention towards newly established DHCs.

Features a case study of a major bank which aimed to achieve corporate transformation and a dramatic improvement in service quality. The links between service quality, customer satisfaction and corporate profitability in UK banking are outlined in order to set in context the many quality improvement initiatives undertaken by UK retail banks in recent years. Business process re‐engineering has proved to be the most popular of service quality initiatives but most have been limited to single processes rather than corporate transformation as portrayed in the case study. The five‐year corporate transformation programme focuses on employee communications, the redesign of work, recruitment and reward processes and the introduction of consumer research‐based national quality standards. The bank was rewarded for its efforts, coming top for three consecutive years in the Which? service quality surveys and, according to its own data, which contributed to a rise in customer satisfaction and customer retention at a time of declining employee satisfaction. Future developments in service quality segmentation and a working definition of service quality are proposed.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of service quality toward public satisfaction and public trust on local government in Indonesia.

A quantitative approach was used to achieve the objectives of the study. The study consisted of nine exogenous variables and one endogenous variable. The exogenous variables were delivery, timeliness, information, professionalism, staff attitude, organizational politics, internal roles, external roles and citizen satisfaction, while the endogenous variable was public trust toward the regional government. The samples were taken using two sampling methods, cluster sampling technique and proportional stratified random sampling technique. The cluster sampling was institutional sample in which the researchers selected 2 out of 11 regencies in West Sumatra, and 2 out of 7 cities in West Sumatra. The regencies were Pasaman Barat and Tanah Datar and the cities were Padang Panjang and Padang. In the lower level, there were ten nagari and ten lurah. On the second stage, the sample was selected using the proportional stratified random sampling technique that had been set at the first stage. Slovin formula with 2 percent of errors was used to determine the number of samples. The total respondents in this study were 4,177 respondents.

The hypothetical model can be used as a new model for public service that was provided by the local governments (cities and districts) and it was able to increase citizen satisfaction and citizen trust with local government, especially in the basic need services such as education and health as described in Figure 1. In order to increase public satisfaction on the basic needs, such as education and health services, regional government should improve delivery, timeliness of service, availability of information, staff professionalism, staff attitude, external and internal roles of manager and at the same time minimize organizational politics within the local government. Furthermore, it is also evident in this model that increasing public satisfaction on basic services can increase public confidence toward regional government. The finding that shows the novelty of this research is the internal and external role of managers in improving public satisfaction and trust in regional government. Meanwhile, the addition of internal political as variable is a development to improve the existing models.

Regional government should reconstruct their basic public service in order to meet need of the public. No previous study has comprehensively studied the relationship between interaction quality, physical environmental quality, and outcome quality to public satisfaction and its implication to public trust, especially in Indonesia.

A practical inquiry into the best way to introduce quality in an academic context, working through a consultancy approach. Describes the development and refinement of a framework for a consultancy approach to teaching and learning quality enhancement. Outlines future developments and gives an example of a subject area taking on quality for itself and beginning to take independent quality enhancement initiatives.

This paper aims to determine how quality assurance practitioners in Vietnam describe their levels of professional knowledge and related skills, as well as identifying factors that interfere with the development of these skills.

Semi-structured were conducted with 22 quality assurance practitioners who were directly involved in quality assurance policy-making and implementation.

Thematic analysis identified that internal challenges for quality assurance staff were mostly related to their lack of knowledge, skills and experience in this area. Limited capacity in English communication was also reported as a major challenge for Vietnamese quality assurance specialists.

The paper concludes that regular capacity-building programmes can help quality assurance staff gain the necessary knowledge and skills to improve their work performance.

Findings are presented from an investigation of customer care in major UK organisations in the financial services sector, to include banks, building societies and insurance companies. Attention was focused on the need for customer care and service quality, and the development, implementation and evaluation of customer care/service programmes, as well as associated staff and management training activities.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between management support, quality infrastructure, staff training and the effectiveness of quality enhancement cells (QECs) established in higher education institutions.

Data were acquired via a structured questionnaire dispatched to faculty members across 12 public and private universities, primarily situated in Punjab, Pakistan. Among the 200 questionnaires distributed, 180 were retrieved and 140 were deemed valid. The proposed relationships were examined using SPSS–25 and PLS–SEM.

The results show a positive and significant relationship between management support, quality infrastructure and staff training with QECs' effectiveness. The study also highlights that the effectiveness of QECs is “Good” in only two of the 12 universities, while in most universities it is “Barely Acceptable”. Furthermore, QECs' effectiveness is slightly better in public universities compared to private institutions.

The study employs convenience sampling and a cross-sectional approach, focusing on faculty members from 12 universities, primarily in Punjab, Pakistan. To enhance future research, larger samples and probability-based sampling should be considered, while involving quality managers and students for a broader perspective.

The research suggests policymakers and university leaders should strengthen their support by providing resources, quality infrastructure and training for academic and administrative staff. This would enhance the effectiveness of QECs and improve the overall quality of education in both public and private universities.

This study contributes to the literature on quality assurance in higher education by emphasizing the significance of QECs concerning management support, quality infrastructure and staff training – areas that are often overlooked in Pakistani universities.

The purpose of this paper is to systematically investigate the patient flow and waiting time problems in hospital emergency departments (EDs) from an integrated voice of customer (VOC) and voice of process (VOP) perspective and to propose a new lean framework for ED process.

A survey was conducted to better understand patients' perceptions of ED services, lean tools such as process mapping and A3 problem-solving sheets were used to identify hidden process wastes and root-cause analysis was performed to determine the reasons of long waiting time in ED.

The results indicate that long waiting times in ED are major concerns for patients and affect the quality of ED services. It was revealed that limited bed capacity, unavailability of necessary staff, layout of ED, lack of understanding among patients about the nature of emergency services are main causes of delay. Addressing these issues using lean tools, integrated with the VOC and VOP perspectives can lead to improved patient flow, higher patient satisfaction and improvement in ED capacity. A future value stream map is proposed to streamline the ED activities and minimize waiting times.

The research involves a relatively small sample from a single case study. The proposed approach will enable the ED administrators to avoid the ED overcrowding and streamline the entire ED process.

This research identified ED quality issues from the integration of VOC and VOP perspective and suggested appropriate lean tools to overcome these problems. This process improvement approach will enable the ED administrators to improve productivity and performance of hospitals.

The purpose of this paper is to explore perceptions, perspectives and meaning of quality of life for a sample of older residents, care staff and family caregivers in two nursing homes in Lebanon.

A classic grounded theory study was conducted between 2010 and 2011 in two nursing homes in Beirut. The semi-structured interviews were undertaken with a theoretical sample of 20 residents, 8 family caregivers and 11 staff. The constant comparative method was used to analyze the data.

Three distinct but interrelated properties of quality of life emerged from this process: “maintaining self,” “maintaining identity” and “maintaining continuity”. The dynamics that exist within and between each of these properties provide an indicator about shared and distinct meanings and the implications for care practice.

The study was conducted in one city in Lebanon; accordingly, the transferability of findings may be challenging.

Implications for nursing and nursing policy – improving Lebanese national standards and regulations applicable to nursing home residents may help to enhance residents’ care needs and quality of life.

There was limited guidance aimed at helping older residents to voice and increase their choice and control.

This paper provides new insights into the process of outlining the properties attached to the phenomenon of quality of life in nursing homes in Lebanon. It will be of interest to those in nursing home care as well as to policy makers.