Search results

1 – 10 of over 221000
Article
Publication date: 25 February 2014

Faiza Saeed and Klaus G. Grunert

This paper aims to explore consumers' perception of quality of new processed beef products and the role of expected and experienced quality in the formation of consumer's purchase…

2508

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to explore consumers' perception of quality of new processed beef products and the role of expected and experienced quality in the formation of consumer's purchase intentions. Based on the Total Food Quality Model, a conceptual framework is developed that relates cue evaluation, expected quality, experienced quality, purchase motive fulfilment and purchase intention.

Design/methodology/approach

Structural equation modeling is used to test the framework with data from a sample of 201 respondents, involving three steps. First, principal component analyses were applied to explore underlying factor structures within each construct. Based on the exploratory factor analyses, measurement models were estimated, with the measured variables as indicators of latent constructs for all the four products. Finally, structural models were estimated for the relationships among the latent constructs.

Findings

Results show that cue evaluations, expected/experienced quality and purchase motive fulfilment are all predictors of purchase intention, but that their weight and causal structure differ between purchase intentions before and after trial.

Practical implications

Implications for the introduction of new beef products are discussed.

Originality/value

This paper is an attempt to quantitatively estimate the relationships between quality cues, expected and experienced quality, and purchase motives as determinants of purchase intention for new products using structural equation modeling.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 116 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 July 2005

Torben Hansen

The paper proposes to investigate empirically consumers' quality perception of shrimps and cheese.

6490

Abstract

Purpose

The paper proposes to investigate empirically consumers' quality perception of shrimps and cheese.

Design/methodology/approach

A sample of 320 respondents was included in an experimental design in which two food products, shrimps and cheese, two price‐levels, two levels of purchase involvement, and two types of physical surroundings, elegant and less elegant, were manipulated. The experiments included both simulated buying situations and simulated usage situations.

Findings

The research finds that in the buying situation both experiments perceived price had a positive effect on expected eating quality for high‐involved respondents but not for low‐involved respondents. In the usage situation the effect of expected naturalness on experienced naturalness was in both experiments stronger for high‐involved respondents than for low‐involved respondents. In addition, experienced eating quality positively affected respondents' pleasure‐feeling. The positive effect of experienced eating quality on pleasure‐feeling was stronger for respondents exposed to elegant physical surroundings than for respondents exposed to less elegant surroundings.

Research limitations/implications

This research concentrated on analyzing two food products, fresh‐shelled shrimps and solid cheese. This could mean that the results may suffer from a lack of generalizability. A large cross‐section of products ought to be studied to improve the generalizability of the results. Also, the manipulation of price and physical surroundings were confined to two different levels. Thus, this research offers no specific guidelines on how to set specific prices or how to establish specific physical surroundings for the purpose of manipulating, e.g. consumers' perceived quality.

Practical implications

The results emphasize that food producers and retailers, among others, should seek an understanding of consumers' quality perception process in relation to both the buying and the usage situation.

Originality/value

This paper empirically investigates consumers' quality perception in both buying and usage situations. Also, the paper includes purchase involvement and physical surroundings as moderating variables of the quality perception process.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 107 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 May 2019

John Elliott

The purpose of this paper is to articulate criteria for assessing the quality of lesson and learning studies as forms of practice-based educational action research that are…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to articulate criteria for assessing the quality of lesson and learning studies as forms of practice-based educational action research that are grounded in the practical experience of those engaged in such research.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper explores the implications of Stake and Schwandt’s distinction between quality as measured and quality as experienced for assessing lesson and learning studies in higher education contexts, where “standards templates” are increasingly used to measure “quality”. Such templates it is claimed distance research from the action context of teachers’ work. Previously published work, in which the author distils criteria for good educational action research from his own narratives of experience, is then summarised as a basis for conceptualising lesson study as good action research. This poses the issue of whether the use of learning theories to inform lesson study distorts their quality by distancing them from action. The author argues that this does not apply to lesson studies that are informed by Marton and Booth’s theory of variation. In doing so he distils a set of experience-based quality criteria for assessing learning studies, and demonstrates a high degree of congruence between the pedagogical implications of variation theory and Stenhouse’s idea of “teachers as researchers”.

Findings

A set of experience-based quality criteria are distilled for assessing what counts as a high-quality learning study report.

Originality/value

The paper creates an alternative view of the relationship between educational research and practice to that which currently dominates academic discourse.

Article
Publication date: 21 May 2021

Mark Francis, Ron Fisher and Malin Song

To consider how quality should be conceptualized to improve understanding for researchers and practitioners, some researchers have discussed quality in terms of an essence or…

Abstract

Purpose

To consider how quality should be conceptualized to improve understanding for researchers and practitioners, some researchers have discussed quality in terms of an essence or necessary condition. Others have regarded quality as individual and experiential, based on differences in actors’ conceptions of quality. This paper aims to resolve the tension caused by these competing views and propose an appropriate method for future research in the area of quality.

Design/methodology/approach

In many studies, researchers have attempted to understand quality in terms of necessary conditions or through a dualistic ontology. At the same time, an increasing number of researchers have emphasized its experiential nature while discussing quality in conjunction with meeting customers’ expectations. This study investigates how quality can be understood using a conceptual framework based on family resemblances.

Findings

There is no necessary condition or essence by which quality may be conceptualized or defined. This finding resolves the tension that has arisen from the simultaneous search for a common feature and the assertion that quality is experientially created by individuals. The research also highlights that the nature of quality may differ between people, time and place, or some aspects of it may be the same. Regarding quality in terms of family resemblances accommodates actors’ different conceptions of quality. Phenomenography is proposed as an appropriate research approach with its focus on the qualitatively different ways in which actors make sense of phenomena in their lifeworld.

Research limitations/implications

Understanding quality as a family of attributes, and using phenomenography as method, provides methodological clarity to long-standing research issues. Using the approaches outlined in this study will enable empirical studies of quality, in any context, to be conducted soundly and relatively quickly. It will also provide a more inclusive and holistic set of meanings based on the experiences of individuals.

Practical implications

The research provides important insights for researchers and practitioners through clearer conceptions of quality. These include the ability to plan and deliver business outcomes that are more closely aligned with customers’ expectations. Understanding the conceptions of quality, as experienced and determined through family resemblances, has clear implications for researchers and practitioners.

Originality/value

Understanding actors’ conceptions of quality through the lens of family resemblances resolves long-standing research issues. Using phenomenography as method is innovative, as it is an emerging research approach in the business domain.

Details

International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, vol. 13 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-669X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 January 2014

Yit Sean Chong and Pervaiz Ahmed

The purpose of this paper is to explore the complex nature of perceived quality by employing a phenomenological study to understand the meaning of University Service Quality (USQ…

1486

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the complex nature of perceived quality by employing a phenomenological study to understand the meaning of University Service Quality (USQ) as experienced by the business undergraduate students.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper employs a phenomenological study to understand the meaning of USQ from the undergraduate students’ perspective. In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 business undergraduates from public universities, local private universities and a foreign branch campus in Malaysia. Data gathered were analysed using the procedure suggested by Colaizzi (1978) for descriptive phenomenological analysis.

Findings

From the qualitative data, the essential structure of the USQ experience was constructed based on five major themes which are “USQ as a luxury”, “USQ as citizenship rights”, “USQ as nurturing apprentices”, “USQ as administrative relief” and “USQ as utility consumption”. The findings suggest that students’ service quality experiences could be understood as a multi-faceted phenomenon with students expressing context-dependent service expectations and outcomes.

Practical implications

The outcome of the paper highlights the nature of students’ expectations which may vary according to service contexts, and their perception of self. Therefore, an integrated effort in various service domains is necessary to enhance service quality experience in higher education.

Originality/value

Although previously explored by Dabholkar et al. (1996) in the retail services, the phenomenological-based methodology is rather uncommon in the service quality inquiry, particularly in the higher education context. The insights gathered from the phenomenological study provided access to understanding some persistent issues in USQ such as standards of expectations and perceived role by students in the higher education.

Details

International Journal of Educational Management, vol. 28 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-354X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 April 2020

Ramesh Roshan Das Guru and Marcel Paulssen

Product quality is a central construct in several management domains. Theoretical conceptualizations of product quality unanimously stress its multidimensional nature. Yet, no…

2612

Abstract

Purpose

Product quality is a central construct in several management domains. Theoretical conceptualizations of product quality unanimously stress its multidimensional nature. Yet, no generalizable, multidimensional product quality scale exists. This study develops and validates a multidimensional Customers’ experienced product quality (CEPQ) scale, across four diverse product categories.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the exploratory studies, CEPQ is conceptualized as a second-order reflective-formative construct and validated in quantitative studies with survey data collected in the USA.

Findings

Results reveal that the CEPQ scale and its underlying quality dimensions possess sound psychometric properties. In addition, CEPQ has a substantial impact on customer behavior over and above customer satisfaction. The strength of this impact is positively moderated by expertise and quality consciousness. CEPQ predicts objective quality scores from consumer reports substantially better than the existing measures of product quality.

Research limitations/implications

The cross-sectional nature of the main study, as well as samples from only one country, restricts the generalizability of the findings.

Practical implications

Operations managers and marketers should start to measure CEPQ as an additional key metric. The formative weights of the first-order quality dimensions explain how customers define product quality in a specific product category.

Originality/value

A generalizable, multidimensional scale of product quality, CEPQ, is developed and validated. Materials as a new product quality dimension is identified. Once correctly measured, product quality ceases to be a mere input to satisfaction. Boundary conditions for CEPQ’s relevance were hypothesized and confirmed.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 54 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 September 2015

Michela C. Mason and Andrea Moretti

The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of golf tourism in a Mediterranean golf resort located in Italy. Based on a systematic literature review, this…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of golf tourism in a Mediterranean golf resort located in Italy. Based on a systematic literature review, this research develops and tests a context-specific “integrated model” in order to shed further light on the complex discordance in the literature with new empirical data. Furthermore, the present study attempts to establish a framework to provide a better understanding of golf tourism behavior in terms of specific segmentation profiles. This will contribute to a more targeted approach to marketing and promotional activities.

Design/methodology/approach

This study applied structural equation modeling to verify the path relationship of golf tourists quality, perceived value, satisfaction and behavioral intention. The final step was to include the suggested moderator variables (age and playing experience) into the model in order to gain further insights. Furthermore, multiple group analyses were calculated in comparing two sub-samples.

Findings

This study provides an improved understanding of the role of quality, perceived value, satisfaction on behavioral intentions in golf tourism. Four out of the six hypotheses of the study were confirmed. Precisely, perceived value did not have a direct significant effect on behavioral intentions and quality was not significantly related to overall satisfaction. The empirical results suggest that all three variables appear to have a direct effect on golf tourists’ behavioral intention. Satisfaction was determined to be the best predictor, followed by quality and perceived value. Furthermore, the moderating variables exert a significant influence on some of the proposed relationships.

Research limitations/implications

First, the current model explores the impact of only two moderator variables of golf tourists such as age and years of playing experience. Second, the study is limited to a Mediterranean destination; the analysis and measurements should thus be replicated in different contexts to test their adaptability to different golf tourism destinations. Another important limitation is the cross-sectional nature of the data.

Practical implications

This research provides important insights the ability to generalize this chain of effects across golf tourists under significantly different conditions. Furthermore, it has important implications for managers of companies that have plans to implement adequate market segmentation strategies in order to expand their business. Based on the finding it is crucial for managers in the golf industry to focus on perceived value for young tourists golfers and on quality for experienced golfers. Managers should customize relationship management programs and develop promotional and pricing strategies for younger golf tourists and exclusive quality services for more experienced golfers.

Social implications

As urban lifestyle life becomes more prevalent in modern society, golf tourism relaxes and gives back a sense of calm and peace of mind to the players. Escape from everyday demands and duties is another classic travel motive; many want to get away from the stress and boredom of their daily lives and fill their holidays with a range of exciting and new physically challenging experiences. Therefore, it can be seen that the term of environment conservation improve the sustainability of golf sport tourism in a Mediterranean destination.

Originality/value

The inclusion of moderating variables in the proposed model is one of the unique aspects of this research. Dealing with the different groups of golf tourists, the authors put the emphasize on the importance of using two types of appropriate tools: on the one hand, grouping tools which are appropriate to the tourism consumption (demographic variables), and on the other hand, grouping tools which are appropriate to the study of the sports market (years of a plying experience). Combining these two types of criteria will lead marketers to more accurate analysis of golf tourists’ behavior.

Details

EuroMed Journal of Business, vol. 10 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1450-2194

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 December 2020

Estelle van Tonder and Daniël Johannes Petzer

Marketing literature has made little progress on the connection between service quality and customer citizenship advocacy, helping and feedback sub-dimensions that may promote…

Abstract

Purpose

Marketing literature has made little progress on the connection between service quality and customer citizenship advocacy, helping and feedback sub-dimensions that may promote competitiveness. It is also unclear to what extent service quality may serve as an underlying motivation for explaining the relationship between affective commitment (a primary antecedent of customer citizenship) and the selected sub-dimensions. Consequently, the aim of the current research is to develop a customer citizenship behaviour model and address these matters in a peer-to-peer service context.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey data were collected from 610 customers of a ride-hailing peer-to-peer service brand. Data analysis included structural equation modelling and bootstrapping.

Findings

Affective commitment influences service quality. Service quality motivates customer citizenship behaviours directed towards the ride-hailing brand (feedback) and other customers (advocacy and helping). Service quality provides an indirect path for connecting affective commitment with the customer citizenship behaviours in varying degrees.

Originality/value

This study is the first to verify the relevance of all three customer citizenship behaviours in a single model as influenced by service quality. The current research is further a step forward in understanding the mediating role of service quality and its potential to ensure customers' feelings of attachment towards the brand are translated in citizenship actions. The findings are noteworthy, considering the varying service levels generally experienced in a peer-to-peer service environment. Peer-to-peer service brands may fall back on their emotional connection with customers to influence service judgements and ultimately benefit from customer citizenship behaviours.

Details

The TQM Journal, vol. 33 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-2731

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 August 2023

Fahriye Hilal Halicioglu and Kubra Gurel

Most of the emphasis in the green building literature on the green performance of buildings has been on optimizing energy and resource efficiency. Admittedly, from the perspective…

Abstract

Purpose

Most of the emphasis in the green building literature on the green performance of buildings has been on optimizing energy and resource efficiency. Admittedly, from the perspective of the sustainable construction industry, making optimally energy and resource efficiency, often seen as a technical challenge, has a premise role in green building projects. However, green buildings need to optimally meet the health, well-being and comfort requirements of their occupants and their environmental quality targets. In that context, perceived quality is a crucial determinant of occupant satisfaction and can play a critical role in the user-oriented improvement of the green performance of buildings. While previous research has highlighted issues related to occupant satisfaction, none of them examines green buildings from a perceived quality perspective. Therefore, the study attempts to fill this research gap.

Design/methodology/approach

Firstly, to reveal the positive and negative satisfaction of the building occupants according to the green building features, the review of previous research in the related literature is supplemented by an exploratory study of case studies evaluating occupant satisfaction in green buildings. Then, a conceptual framework is proposed to link perceived quality and green building features towards occupant satisfaction.

Findings

A review of the case studies in 49 research articles has shown deficiencies in a comprehensive understanding and approach to the perceived quality of green buildings. In response, the development of a framework for conceptual interrelationships may provide a pathway for more detailed quality assessments for future research. In this study, the proposed conceptual framework has the potential to provide a conceptual basis for future models in determining the relationship between quality expectations and quality experiences in green buildings. It can also serve as a constructive approach for assessing occupant satisfaction in the quality-driven improvements of green buildings and further investigation of the importance of various quality cues, quality attributes and their interactions.

Originality/value

This study aims to incorporate green building features and perceived quality concepts into a framework that can form the basis for assessing occupant satisfaction in green buildings. The ultimate goal of the proposed conceptual framework is to generate an insight that can contribute to rethinking the perceived quality of green buildings and developing more occupant-driven solutions for future green buildings.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 41 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 September 2016

Chien-Ta Ho and Chung-Lun Wei

The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework to examine experiences of an information technology/information systems (IS) outsourcing service supplier as a signal of…

2062

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework to examine experiences of an information technology/information systems (IS) outsourcing service supplier as a signal of perceived service quality and to consider the moderating effects of information asymmetries and signal credibility.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on signaling theory, the paper integrates past experiences of an outsourcing service supplier, information asymmetries, signal credibility, perceived service quality, and purchase intention into a model. Questionnaires were collected in Taiwan, and partial least-squares technique was employed to test the model.

Findings

The results indicate that past experiences of an IS outsourcing supplier affect perceived service quality, which subsequently influences positively the intention to purchase IS outsourcing services. In addition, signal credibility moderates the relationship between the provider’s past experiences and perceived service quality, though information asymmetries do not have significant effect on the hypothesized moderating relationship.

Originality/value

This research enriches the extant literatures in signaling theory by demonstrating the few-mentioned IS outsourced suppliers’ experiences as a quality signal as well as in outsourcing contexts with signaling perspectives. The empirical findings validate the importance of dissemination and investment of past experiences for IS provider companies and give a cue of utilizing providers’ experiences to alleviate uncertainty when assessing IS service quality and purchasing outsourcing services for client companies.

Details

Industrial Management & Data Systems, vol. 116 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-5577

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 221000