Nabil Tamimi

A second‐order factor analysis of critical TQM factors

The quality management literature prescribes various critical quality improvement strategies. However, there have been few empirical studies that tested for the synergy or the relationships among these critical quality constructs. This study develops a second‐order factor model to test whether a set of critical quality management factors load on an overall construct that may be termed “Total quality management”. Using survey data collected from 173 manufacturing and service firms, the LISREL VII computer program is used to estimate and validate the proposed model. The results provide an initial empirical evidence of the importance of implementing the quality management strategies holistically rather than piecemeal.

How product quality dimensions relate to defining quality

Uses survey results from a national sample of quality managers to examine the relationship between how a firm defines quality and what product quality dimensions it considers important to its competitive strategy. Garvin proposed a well‐known framework for thinking about product quality based on eight dimensions: performance, features, reliability, conformance, durability, serviceability, aesthetics, and perceived quality. Alternative definitions of quality have evolved from five different approaches: transcendent, product‐based, user‐based, manufacturing‐based, and value‐based. Of the five approaches to defining quality, the manufacturing firms in our sample subscribed most often to the user‐based definition. Using regression analysis within a factor analytic framework, some empirical support was found for hypothesized linkages between the product quality dimensions and the alternative definitions of quality. Specifically, the user‐based definition was related significantly to aesthetics and perceived quality, the manufacturing‐based definition to conformance, and the product‐based definition to performance and features.

The State of Online Retailing.

Dimensions of critical factors that impact online retailing (e‐quality) are synthesized from the literature and organized along the four phases of a consumer’s online shopping experience: encountering the online retailer’s home page, selecting a product from the online catalog, completing the order form and accessing customer service and support. Using a random sample of 55 online retailers, the study benchmarks real online transactions against these e‐quality dimensions. Findings suggest several areas that e‐retailers should target for improvement. These areas include increasing the speed of home page loading, providing the ability to translate into multiple languages, enhancing the capabilities of search engines, displaying security policies more conspicuously, offering multiple payment options, and reducing the minimum number of clicks to complete a transaction. The final phase of the online shopping experience, customer service and support, seems to offer the most room for improvement in the areas of instant automated merchant notification of orders and on time delivery.

Perceived Quality of Online Shopping: Does Gender Make a Difference?

ABSTRACT Data from a sample of U.S. consumers are examined for gender-based differences in perceptions about factors affecting the perceived quality of online retailers. Seven electronic retailing (e-tailing) quality dimensions (reliability, accessibility, ordering services, convenience, product content, assurance, and credibility) are derived empirically using factor analysis. We find that women place significantly more importance on assurance than do men. This dimension, dealing with privacy and security, is closely related to trust. We find no gender-based differences in the frequency of online browsing or purchasing, but do find differences in the types of products women and men prefer to buy online.

The relative importance of e-tailer website attributes on the likelihood of online purchase

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present the results of an experiment in which participants view fictitious e-tailing web pages and indicate the likelihood of purchasing the products displayed by manipulating four attributes (familiarity with the e-tailer, product type, summary product review, and the number of customer reviews) in order to determine their relative importance. Design/methodology/approach – Individual level conjoint models are estimated to determine the relative importance of the manipulated attributes. Furthermore, cluster analysis is used to group individuals into different segments. Findings – The results suggest that the summary review star rating of the product and familiarity with the e-tailer are the two most important attributes. A three cluster solution is obtained and each segment is characterized by the derived relative influence each attribute has on likelihood of online purchase. Originality/value – Understanding how consumers make choices among attributes especially ...

Business Statistics and Management Science Online: Teaching Strategies and Assessment of Student Learning

Given the expected rise in the number of online business degrees, issues regarding quality and assessment in online courses will become increasingly important. The authors focus on the suitability of online delivery for quantitative business courses, specifically business statistics and management science. They use multiple approaches to assess student learning. Their findings suggest that features involving professor–student interaction are the most useful, features promoting student–student interaction are the least useful, and discussion forums are of limited value in learning quantitative content. The authors also illustrate how questions embedded in an online final exam can be used to measure desired student learning outcomes.

Payoff to ISO 9000 Registration

This study examines the linkage between attaining ISO 9000 registration and stock performance. Our empirical findings suggest that investing in ISO 9000 companies can result in significant gains as compared to a similar investment in the S&P 500 index. For example, an initial investment of

The management and control of quality in a process industry

100,000 in ISO 9000 companies at the beginning of February 1990 would have grown to

An Examination of Attributes Affecting Consumers' Perceptions of E-tailer Quality

814,335 by January 2000. A similar investment in the S&P 500 market index would have grown to

Improving the quality of environmental management: impact on shareholder value

423,745. Over different holding periods the ISO 9000 portfolio still outperforms the S&P 500, and in many cases at a lower level of risk relative to the S&P 500 market index.