José Antonio Martínez García

Explaining differences in efficiency: an application to Spanish municipalities

This article, investigates efficiency in the municipal sector of the Region of Murcia (Spain). With that aim, data of 31 municipalities (69% of the response rate) have been collected. Services analysed are: police, culture, sports, green areas, refuse collection and water supply. Ratios of efficiency have been related to other control variables, such as economic level, size of the municipality, decentralization, political sign and financial situation. A weak positive relation between economic level and efficiency arises. Some weak evidence also exists that public management of refuse collection is more efficient than private. In water supply, public management by means of a company controlled by the local government is clearly more efficient than private. It also seems that the higher the tax burden, the greater the efficiency in providing services.

Rethinking perceived service quality: An alternative to hierarchical and multidimensional models

Measuring perceived service quality continues to be a controversial topic in management literature. Brady and Cronins (2001) hierarchical and multidimensional model overcame several limitations of previously proposed models. Nevertheless, Brady and Cronins conceptualisation has been the object of substantial criticism. This research describes the most important limitations of the Brady and Cronins (2001) model, pointing out some newly identified drawbacks to this kind of conceptualisation and to using the methodology for analysing service quality models. To overcome these shortcomings, a new procedure is proposed, based on the proper identification of service quality attributes and on the study of unobserved heterogeneity in customer perceptions. An application of this procedure to the insurance industry shows the possible advantages of using this method for studying perceived quality in services. The results of the empirical study confirm the presence of several latent classes formed by customers with...Measuring perceived service quality continues to be a controversial topic in management literature. Brady and Cronins (2001) hierarchical and multidimensional model overcame several limitations of previously proposed models. Nevertheless, Brady and Cronins conceptualisation has been the object of substantial criticism. This research describes the most important limitations of the Brady and Cronins (2001) model, pointing out some newly identified drawbacks to this kind of conceptualisation and to using the methodology for analysing service quality models. To overcome these shortcomings, a new procedure is proposed, based on the proper identification of service quality attributes and on the study of unobserved heterogeneity in customer perceptions. An application of this procedure to the insurance industry shows the possible advantages of using this method for studying perceived quality in services. The results of the empirical study confirm the presence of several latent classes formed by customers with disparate service quality perceptions.