José Álvarez-García

Dependency relationships between critical factors of quality and employee satisfaction

The literature has paid very little attention to the effects of the critical factors of quality on employee satisfaction in the tourism context. Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine these relationships among tourist accommodation enterprises considering the perception of quality managers. A theoretical model together with the hypotheses to be contrasted is proposed and it is validated by the technique of structural equation models. The target population of the study is made up of tourist accommodations certified with ‘Q for Quality’ in Spain. The structural equation model provides evidence that the critical factor antecedents of employee satisfaction are process management and quality policy and planning; the latter criterion has a greater influence. The study also found that leadership is an important factor for obtaining results from employees through the rest of the variables that make up the model and employee satisfaction promotes learning within the organisation.

Entrepreneurship and University: How to Create Entrepreneurs from University Institutions

At a time of economic uncertainty, it is necessary to find new alternatives to improve the employment situation. One of the solutions is to foster entrepreneurship from the institutions of higher education (IHE). The IHE do not only have the function of training students. Their work goes beyond, insofar as they have a very important role in the transfer of knowledge to society. While entrepreneurship is something not too extended in the University classroom, past experiences promoted by the IHE, highlight an important interest in such initiatives. The main objective of this chapter is to point out the essential role of the IHE in the field of entrepreneurship, based on different actions that can be applied. Among other elements, the results of initiatives such as university business incubators, university spin-offs, mentoring (expert advice), business angels (agents that bring money or experience to future entrepreneurs), etc., will be discussed. This study will be done both from a national perspective, and compared with the perspective at European level, to determine the main results of the different alternatives. Together with the above, a set of best practices for university entrepreneurship (networks of entrepreneurship, studies focused on the creation of new enterprises, updating and recycling business courses, university aids to entrepreneurship, etc.), will also be dealt with. The methodology applied, based on case studies, will allow us to know the development of university entrepreneurial activities, in order to extrapolate the experiences to the Spanish reality.

Systematic bibliometric analysis on Kaizen in scientific journals

Purpose Since Masaaki Imai coined the term Kaizen in the mid-1980s, it has been seen as a key element for the competitiveness of Japanese companies, and it is currently a widely discussed philosophy and is applied in a wide range of organizations throughout the world. The purpose of this paper is to serve as guidance for researchers who are developing their studies in the field of the Kaizen philosophy, in order to improve their knowledge on the most relevant articles, the most productive authors or the key scientific journals that make up this subject. Design/methodology/approach In order to fulfill the proposed objective, a descriptive bibliometric study was carried out with the analysis of citations from 138 articles included in the multidisciplinary database Scopus (Elsevier) until 2016. For the search of documents, a tracking strategy was chosen that allowed for the development of the ad hoc database required to analyze each of the basic variables of the bibliometric indicators. Findings The results obtained show a growing interest of the scientific community in its study in the last decade, as shown by the significant increase in citations received by articles, despite the reduction in the number of papers published in the last two years. Research limitations/implications The main limitations are derived from the choice of a specific database, as well as the specific search equation. Originality/value The study presents an in-depth analysis of the current state of research regarding the Kaizen philosophy through its bibliometric study, providing useful information for academics and professionals by providing a series of significant indicators to measure the bibliographic material.

Entrepreneurship by Students in Tourism Degree Program. A Cross-Cultural Analysis

The main objective of the research is to analyze the entrepreneurial attitude of university students of the Tourism Degree in Spain and Portugal, as well as insight into how they perceive that the studies carried out have assisted them to increase their entrepreneurial profile. The methodology consists of a descriptive analysis of the data obtained through a questionnaire administered using statistical tests of comparison of means, T-Student and Contingency tables allowing to check the hypotheses and analyze the differences between the two countries. The results show that over 65 % of students surveyed intend to create their own business, being greater in Portugal with 85 % and considering that for Spanish students the most important personal attributes that they must have are assuming responsibility for the decisions taken and easily adapting to changes in the case of Portugal, considered essential to be autonomous and making working hours be precise. In terms of training, students consider the discipline of entrepreneurship important for their education and they say they should have more courses related to entrepreneurship.

Smart City and Tourism: An Analysis of Development of Caceres (Spain) as a Smart City

Smart city is a new model of a city based on the use of information and communications technologies (the ICT) with the aim to improve its economic, social and environmental sustainability. The aim of this study is to analyze the development of Caceres as a smart city, this being one of the first incorporations to the Spanish Net of Smart Cities, and to compare Caceres as a smart city with those five cities that, according to the report published by the International Data Corporation (IDC), have been the first smart cities in the ranking of the smart cities in Spain since 2012: Barcelona, Santander, Madrid, Malaga and Bilbao. This analysis can let us find out strong and weak points of Caceres as a smart city. The methodology of this study is based on a descriptive analysis of initiatives that have been carried out in each of these cities based on eight factors used for an elaboration of the International Data Corporation ranking. The analysis exposes that Caceres, despite standing out due to its project of Jetty Building or Smart Water Caceres, still shows several weak points in other areas, as smart mobility, smart services or smart information and communications technologies. A SWOT analysis has been done to end the study; it shows the main strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that have helped us to carry out a number of suggestions and recommendations that can help Caceres to progress as a smart city.

Urban Models of Sustainable Development from the Economic Perspective: Smart Cities

In the following years smart cities are to play a fundamental role in the models of economic development. The cities that used to be just a place to live in are becoming areas that have to be adapted to the needs of their residents, and can guarantee them a better life quality, but always from a responsible position. The United Nations (UN) said repeatedly that in 2050 a 70 % of the world population would live in cities and some of them would have more than ten millions of residents. The purpose of this chapter is to make an approximation to the smart cities concept and to deepen into the application and the results of this kind of models of the urban development. The methodology is based on a theoretical–practical analysis of the smart cities. For this purpose an exhaustive analysis of the most recent economic literature on this topic has been done. Moreover, some of the most important results of this new model of the urban development have been indicated, so they can be applied to the problems that some cities have, and a case study has been done as well.

Quality management and customer results: the tourist accommodation sector in Spain

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between the critical factors of quality and customer results and also investigate the structure of relationships between the critical factors of quality, in the context of the tourist accommodation sector in Spain. Design/methodology/approach A theoretical model is proposed together with the hypotheses to be tested and the data obtained in 186 tourist accommodation businesses certified under the “Q for Tourism Quality” are analyzed, with the technique of structural equations models. Findings The results show that the antecedents of customer results are continuous improvement and quality policy/planning. Originality/value The practical implications of this paper focus on providing managers of enterprises of tourist accommodation with variables on which to perform in order to improve customer satisfaction; their leadership and commitment to quality are fundamental in the process of implementing the quality management system, which helps ensure that the company provides a quality service that influences customer satisfaction.

Benefits of Implementing a Quality Management System in Spanish Thalassotherapy Centres

According to 2011 records, there are 44 thalassotherapy centres in Spain. This chapter presents results from an empirical study of 31 of these centres. The objective of the study was to identify the benefits that thalassotherapy centres perceive they obtain from implementing a certified quality management system. Building on a comprehensive literature review, the empirical research method consisted of descriptive and factor analyses to identify benefits and determine their importance. Results reveal that the most important perceived benefits are a clear definition of processes and responsibilities within the organisation, quality services followed by improved productivity and better use of time and resources.

Organizational Legitimacy: Study of Academic Publications in Scientific Journals

The purpose of this research is to develop a study to observe the evolution in the generation of knowledge in the thematic on organizational legitimacy and delimit the areas of knowledge from which scientific production developed so far has been addressed. A bibliometric study of quantitative-descriptive character was carried out of the bibliographic material that addresses the study of organizational legitimacy, considering the scientific article as a unit of analysis. The database object of analysis is developed from an advanced search for terms in the international database Scopus of Elsevier Science. As a result of the search terms, 300 articles were obtained which were collected and processed using Microsoft Office Excel software. The first article was published in 1975, but it is in 2013 and 2014 when a significant growth is observed in the number of publications. The United States and the United Kingdom are identified as the two countries with more affiliations of authors, authorship, and centers, although the most productive authors belong to Spain. This research work provides information to researchers on the current state which the research is in and defines the areas of knowledge from which the study of organizational legitimacy has been approached—information that allows the academic community to assess the degree of maturity of research in this thematic area, as well as those areas of knowledge or approaches which have not been sufficiently addressed by the scientific literature.

Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation for Sustainability. Bibliometric Analysis

The economic crisis has called the current economic models into question, emerging new ways of understanding the role that companies play in society. As the proliferation of academic articles shows, social innovation and entrepreneurship are currently playing a relevant role as an instrument for satisfying social needs from the business field, adding social utility to the technical and financial viability of companies. Due to the increasing interest in the social economy, the main objective of this chapter was to conduct a study of the scientific production related to innovation and social entrepreneurship, using for this purpose bibliometric techniques and the longitudinal statistical analysis of articles published in journals indexed in the multidisciplinary database Scopus (Elsevier) up to the year 2016. Thus, through an advanced search for terms, more than 1400 documents were obtained, of which 791 articles were selected to make up the ad-hoc database, which the analysis is based on. As a result, it is concluded that since 2006, there has been a considerable increase in the number of studies that address the social economy from different areas of knowledge, standing out from the rest Business, Management and Accounting, Social Sciences and Economics, Econometrics and Finance, studies which are published in a limited number of specialized journals by authors from countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Spain or Canada.