Miguel Morales

Bank service quality: comparing Canadian and Tunisian customer perceptions

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to compare perceptions of bank service quality among Tunisian and Canadian customers, and to determine which dimensions of service quality make the greatest contribution to overall customer satisfaction and loyalty.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected using self‐administered questionnaires from two convenience samples of bank customers (250 in Canada and 222 in Tunisia). Service quality was measured using the five SERVQUAL dimensions of tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. Data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis, ANOVA and linear regression.Findings – Respondents in both countries reported high levels of perceived service quality in banks. However, Canadians reported higher perceived service quality than Tunisians for all five SERVQUAL dimensions, and for 21 of the 22 individual items. In the Canadian sample, empathy and reliability were found to be the most important predictors of satisfaction and loyalty, while in t...

Perceived service quality, perceived value and recommendation: A study among Canadian public library users

Purpose – The purpose of the present study is to propose a conceptual model and empirically test the relationships between perceived service quality, perceived value, and recommendation in the public library setting.Design/methodology/approach – The LibQUAL+TM 2004 instrument was administered to 439 Canadian public library users.Findings – The results show that affect of service, library as place, and information control significantly explain perceived value. There is a strong relationship between perceived service value and recommendation. The results also support the validity of the LibQUAL+TM measure used in this study and its relevance in the public library service context.Research limitations/implications – Future research can focus on comparing the proposed relationships across different types of libraries. Another direction of research for future research is the study of these relationships in different cultural settings.Originality/value – The paper provides valuable results concerning the determi...

Comparative cross‐cultural service quality: an assessment of research methodology

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the methodological approaches adopted in cross‐cultural service quality (CCSQ) research and the extent to which these approaches have adhered to the general principles of established cross‐cultural research methodology.Design/methodology/approach – A search was conducted to identify CCSQ papers published between 1995 and 2009. The authors searched four well‐known online databases: ABI Inform (Proquest Direct), Emerald Library, ScienceDirect, and EBSCOhost. This search identified 40 studies, which were examined according to three broad groups of methodological issues: research design, instrumentation and data collection, and data analysis and measurement.Findings – Despite the acknowledged contributions that these selected studies have made to the services‐marketing field, it is evident from this review that researchers have frequently overlooked many important aspects of cross‐cultural research methodology. These methodological deficiencies are discussed a...

Factor structure and psychometric properties of a Spanish version of LibQUAL

Purpose – LibQUAL is a service‐quality assessment instrument developed by the Association of Research Libraries in partnership with Texas AM “information access”; “personal control”; and “library as ...

Measuring Executive Education Service Quality: A Construct Validity Study in Latin America

ABSTRACT This article reports on the development of a measurement tool to assess service quality in an executive education setting. For this purpose, two studies were performed at a Peruvian business school. In the first study, data were collected from 205 executive students to establish the dimensionality of the measurement instrument. The follow-up study, performed a year later with data gathered from 354 executive students, was devoted to examining the stability of the factor structure in addition to the reliability and construct validity of the scales scores. Results provide strong support for the validity and reliability of the scores on the five EXEQ subscales. The findings also showed that students not only evaluate executive education service quality through five factors but that they also view overall executive education service quality as a higher-order construct that captures elements of all its constitutive dimensions. RESUMEN. El propósito de este estudio es informar sobre el desarrollo de una herramienta de medición para evaluar la calidad del servicio, en un entorno educacional para ejecutivos. Para lograrlo, se realizaron dos estudios en una escuela de negocios (business schools) de Perú. En el primer estudio, se recopilaron datos provenientes de 205 estudiantes ejecutivos para establecer la dimensión del instrumento de medición. El estudio de seguimiento, a su vez, se realizó un año más tarde con los datos obtenidos de 354 estudiantes ejecutivos, que se utilizaron para examinar la estabilidad del factor estructura, y la confiabilidad y validación constructiva de la clasificación de escala. Los resultados obtenidos respaldaron fuertemente la validación y confiabilidad de la clasificación en cinco subescalas EXEQ. Los hallazgos también demostraron que los estudiantes no sólo evalúan la calidad de los servicios educacionales brindados a los ejecutivos con base en cinco factores, sino que ellos también analizan la calidad de este servicio educacional desde una perspectiva mucho más amplia, que captura los elementos que constituyen sus propias dimensiones y alcance. RESUMO. Este estudo relata o desenvolvimento de uma ferramenta de medição para avaliar a qualidade do serviço num cenário de formação de executivos. Com esse objetivo, dois estudos foram realizados numa escola de negócios (business school) peruana. No primeiro estudo, dados foram coletados de 205 estudantes executivos para verificar a dimensionalidade do instrumento de medição. O estudo de follow-up, realizado um ano depois com dados coletados de 354 estudantes executivos, dedicou-se a examinar a estabilidade da estrutura de fator e a confiabilidade e validade de constructo dos escores da escala. Os resultados dão fortes sinais da validade e confiabilidade dos escores nas cinco subescalas EXEC. Constatou-se também que os estudantes não apenas avaliam a qualidade do serviço de formação de executivos mediante cinco fatores, mas também vêem a qualidade do serviço de formação de executivos como um constructo de ordem superior, que capta elementos de todas as suas dimensões constitutivas.

The Influence of Parental Style on Consumer Socialization in Mother-Adolescent Dyads and Father-Adolescent Dyads

This study investigates the manners in which parental style influences adolescent consumer socialization outcomes. Specifically, it proposes and tests two alternative conceptual frameworks that specify differing patterns of relationships among parental style, parental practices, and consumer socialization outcomes. The first conceptual framework (the full-effect model) mirrors the more traditional research direction regarding parental style and posits that parental style influences consumer socialization outcomes both directly and indirectly (through parental practices). In the second framework (the moderating-effect model) which is based on Darling and Steinberg’s (1993) theorization, parental style is posited as a moderator of the relationship between parental practices and consumer socialization outcomes. Analysis was conducted separately for mother-adolescent dyads and father-adolescent dyads and comparisons are made between the influences of maternal and paternal parental styles. Results show that the full-effect model gained better support from the data than the moderating-effect model. The full-effect model, in turn, performed better for mother-adolescent dyads than father-adolescent dyads.