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The study conceptualizes service quality as a second-order factor and analyzes its influence on customer satisfaction, perceived value, image, consumption emotions and customer loyalty by testing a structural equation model.

The model is tested using data collected from 672 guests staying in accommodation establishments located in South Africa. The study follows a hierarchical approach using confirmatory factor analysis to test the second-order factor model and structural equation modeling to test the overall model.

The results indicate that the second-order factor model is acceptable both empirically as well as conceptually and performs better than other competing models of service quality. The findings provide support for all hypotheses and evidence of a structural model with a high explanatory power.

The second-order factor model is less useful when fine-grained analyses are needed, such as when a detailed assessment of the level of quality of service offered by a hospitality organization is required.

The second-order factor model allows for an analysis of service quality at different levels of abstraction. Accommodation managers interested in customers’ evaluation of service on a cumulative basis can make use of the global measure to determine service quality evaluations. Practitioners can also use the findings to manage the different dimensions of service quality.

The study demonstrates that service quality is best represented as a second-order factor, and in doing so, it provides an improved measurement of the construct. More so, by integrating the variable in a nomological network, the research develops a more parsimonious model than the existing ones.

The purpose of this paper is to extract and validate the dimensions of service quality in retail banking services in India by adopting an integrated and hierarchical perspective of service quality determinants.

The paper empirically validates a parsimonious (multi-dimensional and multi-level) model of service quality in retail banking services in India. The analysis was conducted using structural equation modeling. A hypothesized second-order model was tested and compared with a first-order model of service quality. The dimensions were extracted through exploratory factor analysis and validated through confirmatory factor analysis.

The second-order service quality model was accepted based on parsimony as it consisted of five primary dimensions: Service delivery (describing the efficiency with which the service is provided), tangibles (the quality of physical service environment), reliability (the promise of right service being provided), core service (the attributes and features of the service product) and competence (the capability of employees and systems for providing the service). The second-order model enhances the understanding of the structure of service quality for retail banking services in India. The most important dimension was tangibles, especially the physical environment which facilitates efficient delivery of service.

The research provides support for a multi-dimensional second-order model of service quality in retail banking service in India. The results show that customers form perceptions of overall service quality which are reflected by five primary dimensions. The primary dimension of tangibles is the most influential.

Organizations need to measure and manage overall service quality perceptions to build trust and reinforce loyalty intentions among their customers. Banks need to adopt a multi-level approach to managing service quality perceptions, i.e. both at the dimensional level and organizational level.

This study would contribute to the enhancement of service quality outcomes in retail banking services in India which has a crucial role in the economic development.

The study proposes and validates a parsimonious and hierarchical model of service quality in the context of retail banking in Indian cultural context. Thus this research provides support to existing knowledge of service quality measurement and management and extends the understanding of its structure by validating the multi-level model in an emerging market context.

The purpose of this study is to identify the underlying dimensions of trustworthiness of financial service providers in the Indian retail banking sector and to model trustworthiness as a set of second‐order factors. The study replicates and extends the work of Ennew and Sekhon in the Indian context.

Using the trustworthiness scale developed by Ennew and Sekhon this study identifies six first‐order factors of trustworthiness for retail bankers in India using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Then the study modeled trustworthiness as a set of three second‐order factors using second‐order confirmatory factor analysis.

The first‐order factors obtained for trustworthiness of retail bankers are customer orientation, integrity and honesty, communication and similarity, shared values, expertise, and ability and consistency. The second‐order confirmatory factor analysis resulted in three higher order factors namely, competency, openness and benevolence.

The various dimensions of trustworthiness should be viewed as levers for improving a bank's trustworthiness in the minds of its current customers. At the same time, these dimensions will help them in reflecting an image of trustworthiness in the minds of its potential customers. Establishment of trustworthiness as an element of corporate image will provide competitive advantage to the service firms and improve their financial performance.

The research tests for the reliability and validity of the trustworthiness scale of Ennew and Sekhon. This study provides a window to the dimensions on which retail bank customers in an emerging economy such as India perceive a retail bank's trustworthiness. Furthermore, this study is an attempt to model trustworthiness as a set of second‐order factors.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate scales to measure and benchmark service quality (SQ) in tourism industry.

The second‐order confirmatory factor analysis is employed to validate the instrument. SQ dimensions have been modeled which have significant impact on customer satisfaction (CS) separately from those which do not have a significant impact.

Hospitality, food, logistics, security, and value for money have significant impact on satisfaction, while amenities, core‐tourism experience, hygiene, fairness of price, information centers, culture, distractions, personal information, and pubs do not have a significant impact.

The above pattern may be different in a different destination, and in a different context. However, a major implication of the current findings is that a destination need not have natural cutting edges to be developed as a tourist destination. A destination with good logistics and assurance for security, value for money, impressive hospitality and food, can satisfy a customer.

The scale which has been developed by us will be useful for destination managers to measure the SQ perceptions of tourists and benchmark destinations. The distinction of SQ dimensions with and without the impact on CS could enable a manager to manage these two sets of factors separately.

Unlike previous works, SQ has been modeled in tourism as a second‐order factor, which appears to be a more appropriate approach. The authors have also modeled factors with and without significant impact on satisfaction separately, and the approach does not seem to have precedence in literature. The inclusion of the factor, “Fairness of Price” is also a new contribution to literature.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factor structure and the measurement invariance of the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) across gender of K-12 school principals (n=6,317) in the USA.

Nine first-order factor models and four second-order factor models were tested using confirmatory factor analysis.

The results suggested that the nine-factor model provided the best fit for the data. Further examination revealed that most constructs lacked convergent validity and discriminant validity. Second-order factor models were tested and the hierarchical model with two higher order factors (i.e. transformational and transactional leadership) was deemed the best fit and it was then tested for measurement invariance between females and males. The measurement model was found to be invariant across gender. Findings suggested that female school principals demonstrated significantly greater transformational leadership behaviour, while male school principals demonstrated significantly greater transactional leadership behaviour.

This study addressed construct and factor issues previously associated with the MLQ in the measurement of transformational and transactional leadership among a variety of organizations. By using a sample of K-12 school principals across gender, this study has provided support that may ameliorate contextual doubts of transformational leadership behaviour when examining the relational aspects needed to improve schools.

The investment climate is one of the key factors considered by foreign investors while deciding their investment destination. This paper aims to attempt at validating the second-order model of oil and gas projects’ investment climate. Examination of the relationship between the dimensions of oil and gas projects’ investment climate; strategy, participants/operating environment and risk/return; and the overall latent construct was conducted. The study also evaluates the goodness of fit of the second-order model using relevant fit indices.

Oil and gas experts in Malaysian marginal oil fields subsector were deployed, through whom responses were collected that formed the data set used in the analysis. Then, the data were used for confirmatory factor analysis, evaluation of the second-order model through path analysis and for model fit evaluation.

The finding revealed that the second-order model of oil and gas projects’ investment climate is valid and reliable. It also revealed that all the three dimensions, strategy, participants/operating environment and risk/return, have significant effects on the formation of the oil and gas projects’ investment climate. Finally, the goodness of fit of the second-order model satisfied the relevant fit indices.

The findings present valuable insights to policymakers on the extent of the influence each of the dimensions has on the overall latent construct. The validity and reliability analysis suggests the measurements of the second-order model of oil and gas projects’ investment climate construct, and its dimensions are valid, reliable and fit for future empirical research. Thus, it calls for replication in other oil and gas settings.

The findings from the results of this study are pioneering. Extant literature falls short in attempting the validation of the second-order oil and gas projects’ investment climate scale, as well as relating each of the dimensions with the overall latent construct.

Virtual regional service provider is a key management mechanism created to realize the health service system development plans and a mechanism established to bring about integration of all elements of the health system. However, a virtual service provider office (VSPO) to support the work of the executive has not yet been formally established, and there are no operations practitioners deployed yet, who are necessary to develop the competency of regional operating officer (ROO) in each province. The purpose of this paper is to analyze training program factors to develop the competency of ROO in the VSPO in Thailand.

This is a descriptive research that used structural equation model. The research sample consisted of 274 executives and 664 practitioners in the Vice Chief of the provincial health office under the 12 regions; executives’ questionnaire and a VSPO questionnaire were used as tools for this study; data were statistically analyzed by three methods, namely, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), second-order confirmatory factor analysis (second-order CFA), and path analysis (PA).

The variable model was composed of ten factors, selected from 40 variables, which are as follows: service plan and personal administration, summary to present for administrators in the VSPO, network management and team building, summary to adjust strategies, key performance indicator (KPI) and action plan, new management skills, system thinking, analytical thinking, synthesis thinking, conflict management style, and leadership; presentation of methods and data for monitoring, presentation skill, conference management skill; researching, learning skill, communication skill exercise, action plan workshop, preparation to study in the fields workshop; fiscal and monetary, internal control and risk management; project management, monitoring, and data definition; and positive thinking, conflict management process, negotiation skill contingency management.

Ten factors of the variable model of training program factors to develop the competency of ROO in the VSPO in Thailand had high construct validity and they were analyzed using three methods, i.e. EFA, second-order CFA and PA, that were appropriate to be used for developing a training program.

The purpose of this study was to validate the psychometric properties of the Wise Leadership Questionnaire (WLQ).

Data were collected from three independent samples from Canada, China and Morocco (n = 616). Factor analysis, first- and second-order confirmatory factor analyses, structural equation modeling and Bayesian approach were used.

Study 1 confirmed that the WLQ higher-order factor structure is the most adequate theoretical model to capture the four-factor structure of the wise leadership scale, namely, intellectual shrewdness, spurring action, moral conduct and cultivating humility which are essential for a leader to qualify as wise. Study 2 assessed and supported the criterion-related validity by approving that the higher-order wise leadership construct constituted a predictor of work outcomes such as followers’ subordinates’ performance and job satisfaction. Confirmatory factor analysis results yielded a second-order factor of the wise leadership construct with four first-order factors, namely, the four wise leadership dimensions. The correlations between the four first-order factors (i.e. dimensions) and the second-order factor of the wise leadership are positive and statistically significant in both the China and Morocco samples. They are, respectively, as follows: intellectual shrewdness (β = 0.74; 0.62, p < 0.01), spurring action (β = 0.52; 0.76, p < 0.01), moral conduct (β = 0.76; 0.62, p < 0.01) and cultivating humility (β = 0.78; 0.69, p < 0.01).

Results suggest that the new wise leadership construct is positively associated with followers’ subordinates’ job performance and job satisfaction directly and indirectly through supervisory support, emphasizing the added value and relevance of the WLQ.

The national identity scale (NATID) was recently reported in the literature for identifying the core elements that define the uniqueness of a given culture or nation in so far as their association with marketing is concerned. This study examined the conceptual strengths and empirical limitations of NATID, and assessed the relevance of the national identity construct in Yemen. Confirmatory factor analysis of the data from a sample of 208 Yemeni respondents revealed that the NATID scale did not fit the Yemeni data. Modification of the scale was made through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, which resulted in four dimensions in two alternative models similar to NATID. Results from the second‐order confirmatory factor analysis of the two alternative models supported NATID’s multi‐dimensionality of the national identity construct in the Yemeni context. Implications for future research are discussed and limitations noted.

This study uses second-order measurement invariance analysis to investigate the perspective of gender divide on whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) can serve as a promotional tool for halal certified companies in Malaysia. Perhaps researching into the perspective of gender on whether CSR can serve as a promotional tool has either been ignored or received limited attention among the researchers from this domain. Hence, this study aims to fill this gap.

In the quest to achieve the mentioned aim, quantitative research design was adopted for this study and the developed questionnaire was used to collect data from 295 respondents, consisting of 172 males and 123 females. In analysing the data, this study has mainly used second-order measurement invariance analysis to uncover the difference across gender divide on whether CSR can serve as a promotional tool for halal certified companies.

The findings of this study reveal two perspectives to the issue of interest in this study. The tests of measurement invariance at the model level suggest a significant difference between male and female to a certain extent. The post hoc test (at the path level) reveals that there are significant differences between gender divide with respect to responsible dealings with clients and legal responsibility only. However, there are insignificant differences between them in connection with commitment to halal best practices, zakat and charitable donations, environmental responsibility, halal economic responsibility and employee welfare. Nonetheless, both gender groups agree that CSR activities will promote halal certified companies if these activities are appropriately communicated to halal consumers.

The authors acknowledge that limitations cannot be avoided in any study, such as this study, where a nonprobability sampling technique is used. The respondents were largely drawn from Klang Valley in Malaysia; although Klang Valley’s population represents about a quarter of Malaysia’s total population, the authors admit that the opinions of the respondents may not represent the opinions of others in the country, and this may consequently limit the generalisability of the findings. Also, the authors acknowledge that self-report survey data is subject to response bias, which may reduce the accuracy of the data that were sourced from the respondents; though respondents were constantly reminded to respond honestly to all the questions in the questionnaire.

This study has uniquely employed second-order measurement invariance analysis to investigate the perspective of gender divide on whether CSR can serve as a promotional tool for halal certified companies in Malaysia. This study will enrich literature in this area of study.