John A. Paravantis

The relationship between internal and external service quality

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide experimental evidence supporting the view that internal service quality has a direct effect on external service quality.Design/methodology/approach – The study focuses on the restaurant industry in Greece. Waiters are considered as internal customers and kitchen personnel as internal suppliers. Inferential analysis included factor analysis on individual waiter and customer data as well as canonical correlation analysis on a restaurant level.Findings – Factor analysis of external service quality revealed six factors including product, organizational image, safety and choice, empathy, reliability as well as responsiveness. Internal service quality factors, additional to those found in external service quality research, included professionalism and internet. Canonical correlation revealed that the internal service quality dimensions of safety, reliability and internet exert a direct positive influence on the external service quality dimensions of organization...

An analysis of indoor temperature measurements in low- and very-low-income housing in Athens, Greece

Fuel poverty is a complex socioeconomic problem that affects low-income households and has a serious impact on indoor environmental quality. In this research, indoor temperatures were measured in 50 low- and very-low-income dwellings in the major Athens area in Greece during the winter of 2012–2013. Initially, k-means clustering was employed to group the households into three clusters (Poorest, Average and Richest) based on mean indoor temperature, surface area of the dwelling, number of rooms, family size, building age and income; 7.6% of the households of the Richest Cluster, 8.6% of the Average Cluster and 11.6% of the Poorest Cluster were fuel poor and indoor temperatures were much below accepted standards. Separate Hildreth-Lu AR(1) regressions with robust standard errors, estimated for the indoor temperature measurements of the 50 households, showed that these families were able to exercise only a limited amount of control in heating their homes. Finally, ordinary least squares regressions with Arellano robust standard errors, estimated on the pooled temperature measurements of all households, confirmed that families in the Richest and Average Clusters were better off than those in the Poorest Cluster and showed that fuel poverty motivated people to use alternative heating sources with some success.

Railroads in Greece: History, Characteristics, and Forecasts

Greece was relatively tardy in implementing a national rail network. The Greek Railways Organization (OSE) was formed in 1970 and united a number of regional railroads, some dating back to 1884. The current rail network in Greece has a length of approximately 2500 km with standard- and metric-gage tracks. Disadvantages of the network include a high percentage of single-line track, lack of homogeneity of track gage, inefficient alignment, absence of intermodal connections, and many at-grade intersections. Advantages include double tracks in a significant part of the Athens-Thessalonica axis that serves more than half of Greece’s population, improved operational controls, and popular intercity trains offering speedy service. Factors that affect railroad passenger and freight volumes include competition from airlines and motor carriers, gas prices, inflation, and the gross national product. These factors were used to estimate time-series models. Forecasts indicate increasing passenger demand and decreasing freight demand. OSE could provide a valuable and viable passenger service if cost-effective expenditures for improving it are possible. The future of freight operations is not hopeful. Additional emphasis may be placed on lines with historical and cultural significance. Further study is needed to assess the sustainability of forecasts vis-à-vis actual market shares and costs.

A multivariate cross-country empirical analysis of the digital divide

The digital divide is determined by a variety of technological, economic, social, educational and political variables. In this work, digital diffusion is analyzed by considering 22 variables with cross-sectional data from 141 countries. Principal components extracted from dependent (ICT) and independent variable groups were run in a multiple regression model and indicated that ICT diffusion is determined, in order of importance, by: membership of a country in the developed cluster; social, educational, economic and political components.

An analysis of public attitudes towards renewable energy in Western Greece

Inputs to the planning and decision-making process addressing environmental and energy issues include expert opinions, public attitudes and perceptions. This research investigates the attitudes of local communities of Western Greece towards renewable energy and documents the existence of distinct household groups. Data were collected from 201 households via a questionnaire. Respondents were either young or around 40 to 50 years of age, mostly university or high school graduates, with a family income less than 5000 euros. Principal Components were extracted from household attitudes towards renewable energy projects. Cluster analysis revealed two clusters based on key demographic variables (age, years of education and average income) and principal component scores. The first cluster contained respondents who were older, less educated and economically weaker; the second contained younger, better educated and higher income respondents. Members of the better-off cluster thought that they were more aware of renewable energy, felt stronger about its future role in the energy mix and were more optimistic regarding its impacts; on the other hand, they were more cognizant of bureaucratic, economic and technical factors that could hinder its development.

Tourism sustainability methodologies: A critical assessment

In an era of economic crisis and serious environmental constraints, the transition to sustainability enters dynamically the debate over long-term preservation and welfare at a systemic level. Tourism is a resource- (capital, human and natural) demanding sector; this paper explores the variety and diversity of methodological approaches and tools employed in the evaluation of tourism, and their potential to support sustainability-oriented assessments and practices. Ranging from traditional economics-oriented frameworks to assessments of impact and ecological footprint, this paper discusses the prevailing assessment frameworks of specific tourism dimensions heading towards the integrative approaches for Tourism Sustainability Assessment. The review highlights that despite the widespread acceptance of the concept and the international consensus on the importance of its operationalization, the transition towards tourism sustainability remains still a complicated and rather problematic endeavour.

Fuel poverty and indoor temperature clusters of low income households in Athens, Greece

Fuel poverty is a complex socioeconomic problem that affects low income households hit by the global economic recession. This research employed k-means clustering to group 50 low and very low income households into three clusters (Poorest, Average and Richest) based on mean indoor temperature, surface area of the dwelling, number of rooms, family size, building age and income. The Poorest Cluster contained 9 households that had an annual income of 2133 euros, had the smallest families, occupied less surface area with fewer rooms, lived in older buildings, used less central heating and had the lowest average indoor temperature. The Richest Cluster contained 20 large families that had an average annual income of 11850 euros, occupied a larger surface area, had more rooms and lived in newer buildings with more heating autonomy. Finally, 7.6% of the households of the Richest Cluster, 8.6% of the Average Cluster and 11.6% of the Poorest Cluster were fuel poor. Findings show that the lowest income households live in dire economic conditions and underscore the need to address fuel poverty via targeted measures.