Selim Ahmed

Critical factors of service quality in a graduate school of Malaysia

Purpose – This paper aims to evaluate the service quality of a higher educational institute in Malaysia based on the seven dimensions, namely administrative service, tangibles, academic programmes, academic staff, delivery of teaching, assurance, and empathy of academic staff. Design/methodology/approach – This study surveyed 221 students of IIUM Graduate School of Management (GSM) based on the self-administrative research questionnaire. The research data were analyzed by using exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis, independent samples t-test, and multiple regression analysis. Findings – Results indicate IIUM GSM students have positive and significant perception on administrative service, tangibles, delivery teaching and assurance, but they do not have significant perception on academic programmes, academic staff and empathy of academic staff. Research limitations/implications – This research only conducted in a graduate school of Malaysia and this result might not represent all Malaysian grad...

Service quality, patient satisfaction and loyalty in the Bangladesh healthcare sector

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate service quality, patient satisfaction and loyalty in Bangladeshs healthcare sector. It identifies healthcare quality conformance, patient satisfaction and loyalty based on demographics such as gender, age and marital status. It examines the differences between public and private healthcare sectors regarding service quality, patient satisfaction and loyalty. Design/methodology/approach The authors distributed 450 self-administered questionnaires to hospital patients resulting in 204 useful responses (45.3 per cent response rate). Data were analysed based on reliability analysis, exploratory factor analysis, independent samples t-tests, ANOVA and discriminant analysis using SPSS version 23. Findings Findings indicate that single patients perceive tangibles, reliability, empathy and loyalty higher compared to married patients. Young patients (⩽20 years) have a higher tangibles, empathy and loyalty scores compared to other age groups. The authors observed that private hospital patients perceive healthcare service quality performance higher compared to patients in public hospitals. Research limitations/implications The authors focussed solely on the Bangladesh health sector, so the results might not be applicable to other countries. Originality/value The findings provide guidelines for enhancing service quality, patient satisfaction and loyalty in the Bangladesh healthcare sector and other countries.

Do managers and employees perceive motivating factors differently in Malaysia

Employee motivation is crucial for sustainable growth of any organisation. Highly motivated employees contribute significantly to an organisation’s bottomline and its overall productivity. It is a primary task of the managers to know the motivating factors of their employees and act accordingly so that the organisation can remain competitive in the marketplace. The main objective of the present research is to investigate the difference, if any, between the perceptions of managers and employees on a pre-determined set of motivating factors. As it has been shown, though overall, they were in agreement, but they do differ on certain fundamental issues in terms of ranking of the above-mentioned set of motivating factors. Impact of the respondents’ demography on the findings, in the Malaysian context, is also highlighted. This research underscores the importance of the knowledge of employee motivating factors before developing or dealing with any motivational programme in an organisation.

Identifying the gaps between customer expectations and perceptions on service quality dimensions of Islamic banks in Malaysia

Purpose – This paper aims to identify the gaps and differences between customer expectations and perceptions on service quality of Islamic banks in Malaysia based on six dimensions of service quality, namely, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, tangibles and Islamic Shari’ah compliance. Design/methodology/approach – This study surveyed 179 customers who have first-hand experience with Islamic banking services in Malaysia. The research data were analysed using reliability analysis, independent samples t-test and one-way analysis of variance. Findings – The results indicated that customers’ perceptions failed to meet their expectations on the service quality of Islamic banks in Malaysia. The results also indicated that those customers (respondents) aged below 30 years have higher expectations on empathy from the Islamic banking service compared to other age groups. However, there is no significant difference between customer expectations and perceptions of Islamic banking service quality based ...

Prioritisation of service quality dimensions for healthcare sector

Due to the unique nature among the service industries, the overriding objective of the healthcare sector is to provide error free, impeccable services to their patients and clientele. It is not an option rather a norm for the healthcare sector to uphold and maintain the level of service that is quintessential and benchmark in the service industries. However, service quality has different meanings to different people. In this paper, SERVQUAL has been considered as the main tool to measure service quality and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) has been applied to prioritise the five dimensions of SERVQUAL for healthcare sector. In addition to this, AHP has been applied to prioritise the various items representing each of the dimensions. The results show that Reliability and Assurance are the two most important service quality dimensions in the healthcare sector. The priorities of dimensions and their items are also determined with respect to a selected demographic factors on the part of the respondents.

Micro-entrepreneurs’ intention to use Islamic micro-investment model (IMIM) in Bangladesh

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to propose and verify a structured model for Islamic micro-finance in Bangladesh. The Islamic micro-investment model (IMIM) aims to harness the role of the Design/methodology/approach - The researchers use the survey technique to investigate the micro-entrepreneurs’ intention to adopt the model. A total of 400 questionnaires are distributed with 207 responses being returned (51.75 per cent). In this study, a structural model is tested to examine the relationship of the behavioural intention to adopt Islamic micro-investment with the attitude towards behaviour, subjective norm, normative belief and behavioural belief. Findings - The findings of the research show that, overall, the model fits the data and can be used to advance Islamic micro-finance in Bangladesh. However, out of the four hypotheses tested, only two are accepted Research limitations/implications - The research suggests the need for an awareness programme on Islamic micro-finance and the role of Practical implications - The IMIM aims to harness the role of the Social implications - The model of Islamic micro-finance may empower poor micro-entrepreneurs and harnesses the potential of Originality/value - Only a few studies have been conducted on micro-finance from an Islamic perspective in Bangladesh. The IMIM, which has been developed by Muhammad (2012) and tested in Nigeria, is the first to be validated through an empirical study in Bangladesh. Thus, testing the viability of IMIM in the Bangladesh context will certainly add value for the clients, institutions and policymakers in Islamic micro-finance.

Measuring quality performance between public and private hospitals in Malaysia

Purpose This study aims to measure quality performance of the Malaysian hospitals based on eight items, namely, progress of quality management, medical service cost, reduce errors in medical services, patient waiting time, reduce waste in processes, patient complaint, employee job satisfaction and patient satisfaction. Mainly, it identifies difference or conformance between public and private hospitals on quality performance. Design/methodology/approach This study distributed 1,007 self-administered survey questionnaires to the hospital staff (i.e. doctors, nurses, pharmacists and medical laboratory technologists), resulting in 438 useful responses (43.5 per cent response rate). Research data were analysed based on descriptive analysis and independent samples’ t-tests using SPSS version 23. Findings The findings of this study indicate that there are significant differences between public and private hospital staff on progress of quality improvement process, patient satisfaction and cost of the medical services. Private hospital staff believed that their hospital’s quality management process and patient satisfaction has been improved over the past years compared to public hospital. However, private hospital staff does not perceive their medical service cost has been reduced over the past years compared to public hospital. Research limitations/implications This research focused solely on quality performance of the Malaysian health sector and, thus, the results might not be applicable to other countries. Originality/value Present research findings provide guidelines for enhancing quality performance in Malaysian public and private healthcare sectors and other countries.