Colleen Cook, Fred Heath, Bruce Thompson and Duane Webster
The LibQUAL+TM instrument derives from the Gap Theory of Service Quality, and the SERVQUAL instrument. Grounded in the constructs of discrepancy theory, the SERVQUAL protocol…
Abstract
The LibQUAL+TM instrument derives from the Gap Theory of Service Quality, and the SERVQUAL instrument. Grounded in the constructs of discrepancy theory, the SERVQUAL protocol itself, is anchored by a singular precept: through a series of 22 questions the SERVQUAL instrument undertakes to measure the delivery of service quality across the five dimensions: reliability, assurance, empathy, responsiveness, tangibles. It has been established as defining the service quality construct.
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Bruce Thompson, Colleen Cook and Fred Heath
Various measurement models may be employed to obtain attitude or perception data. Some protocols employ a ‘gap measurement model’ to frame perceptions. One important benefit of…
Abstract
Various measurement models may be employed to obtain attitude or perception data. Some protocols employ a ‘gap measurement model’ to frame perceptions. One important benefit of using a gap measurement model is that tools such as LibQUAL??inherently incorporate a natural lie or random‐response scale. The present study investigates performance of scores on the scale for the 4407 LibQUAL??Phase One participants. This paper was presented at the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Measuring Service Quality Symposium on the New Culture of Assessment: Measuring Service Quality, Washington, DC, 20‐21 October, 2000.
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Bruce Thompson, Martha Kyrillidou and Colleen Cook
Survey researchers sometimes develop large pools of items about which they seek participants' views. As a general proposition, library participants cannot reasonably be expected…
Abstract
Purpose
Survey researchers sometimes develop large pools of items about which they seek participants' views. As a general proposition, library participants cannot reasonably be expected to respond to 100+ items on a given service quality assessment protocol. This paper seeks to describe the use of matrix sampling to reduce that burden on the participant.
Design/methodology/approach
Matrix sampling is a survey method that can be used to collect data on all survey items without requiring every participant to react to every survey question. Here the features of data are investigated from one such survey, the LibQUAL+® Lite protocol, and the participation rates, completion times, and result comparisons across the two administration protocols – the traditional LibQUAL+® protocol and the LibQUAL+® Lite protocol – at each of the four institutions are explored.
Findings
Greater completion rates were realized with the LibQUAL+® Lite protocol.
Originality/value
The data from the Lite protocol might be the most accurate representation of the views of all the library users in a given community.
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Bruce Thompson, Martha Kyrillidou and Colleen Cook
In 2009, in Performance Measurement and Metrics, the authors reported results of LibQUAL+® experiments at four universities in which the use of the LibQUAL+® Lite protocol was…
Abstract
Purpose
In 2009, in Performance Measurement and Metrics, the authors reported results of LibQUAL+® experiments at four universities in which the use of the LibQUAL+® Lite protocol was investigated. The purpose of this article is to briefly report related results for the first use of LibQUAL+® in Hebrew. The authors also take the opportunity to propose another method for equating scores across the LibQUAL+® Lite and the traditional LibQUAL+® protocols.
Design/methodology/approach
Matrix sampling is a survey method which can be used to collect data on all survey items without requiring every participant to react to every survey question. Here, the authors investigate the features of data from one such survey, the LibQUAL+® Lite protocol, exploring the participation rates, completion times, and result comparisons across the two administration protocols – the traditional LibQUAL+® protocol and the LibQUAL+® Lite protocol – at an Israeli University and for the first time, in Hebrew.
Findings
This experimental approach confirms the previous work which showed that greater completion rates were realized with the LibQUAL+® Lite protocol. The data from the Lite protocol might be the most accurate representation of the views of all the library users in a given community.
Originality/value
This is the first time LibQUAL+® has been used in Hebrew.
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Richard Allen, Bruce Nixon and Mary Thompson
Professionals in human resources have wide managerial contacts and some skills not possessed by many managers. They also have the network to influence managers. The need is for…
Abstract
Professionals in human resources have wide managerial contacts and some skills not possessed by many managers. They also have the network to influence managers. The need is for them to take a stronger leadership role, especially by providing a new and different role model by their own behaviour. How this is developed for participants on a course for HR people is described.
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Bruce Thompson, Martha Kyrillidou and Colleen Cook
This paper aims to explain how the integrity or trustworthiness of library service quality assessment data can be evaluated. Using the metaphor of a bathroom scale, the paper also…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explain how the integrity or trustworthiness of library service quality assessment data can be evaluated. Using the metaphor of a bathroom scale, the paper also aims to present the ideas underlying score reliability and score validity in an accessible manner.
Design/methodology/approach
The use of the software, SPSS, to compute the related statistics is illustrated. LibQUAL+® data are used in heuristic examples, to make the discussion concrete, but the illustrations apply to both new and other measures of library service quality.
Findings
The paper suggests that assumptions about the quality of data should always be empirically checked whenever an attempt is made to characterize service quality.
Originality/value
This user‐friendly, conversational paper explains some of the more critical elements of service quality assessment.
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Michelle Thompson and Bruce Prideaux
The aim of this research is to explore the relationship between destination supply-side factors, visitor demand-side factors and the role of local government authorities in…
Abstract
The aim of this research is to explore the relationship between destination supply-side factors, visitor demand-side factors and the role of local government authorities in supporting the drive tourism market with effective interventions. A mixed methods approach was used to gather qualitative data from 14 destination stakeholders, which informed the development of a survey of 397 drive tourists to the Atherton Tablelands, in the far north of Australia. The findings identified stakeholder concerns about fragmented regional promotions by different regional entities, weakened destination branding and infrastructure needs. Drive tourist surveys indicated that although the destination provides a competitive tourism experience, there were concerns about the availability of information. This research highlights the danger of destination disunity, and the theoretical and practical contributions of the learning destination concept to understanding the importance of destination-wide, stakeholder collaboration, although it may be difficult to implement.
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Ali Bowes and Alex Culvin
This chapter introduces and sets the scene for a discussion on women's sport in a professional era. Initiated in the wake of the second-wave feminist movement in America in the…
Abstract
This chapter introduces and sets the scene for a discussion on women's sport in a professional era. Initiated in the wake of the second-wave feminist movement in America in the 1950s with the professionalisation of golf and tennis, the move for other women's sports to be professionalised has been slow, sporadic and marred with difficulties. However, since the turn of the twenty-first century, there have been significant changes in the landscape of elite women's sport. Alongside an overview of the developments in elite level women's sport, we conceptualise the terms ‘professionalisation’, ‘professional’ and ‘professionalism’. Furthermore, the chapter identifies the scope of the book, drawing upon the importance to consider women's sport as distinct from men's sport and identifying issues that are specific to female athletes, such as maternity and the gender pay gap. We also recognise the diverse and multiple nature of women's identities, highlighting the intersectionality of female athletes in professional sport (specifically around race/ethnicity, gender and sexuality, and national identity).
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Robbie Matz and Ali Bowes
The chapter details the development of one of the most lucrative professional sports for women in the world, while drawing attention to institutionalised issues of racism and…
Abstract
The chapter details the development of one of the most lucrative professional sports for women in the world, while drawing attention to institutionalised issues of racism and sexism in the sport. We discuss the history of women in professional golf, from the roots of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA), through the modern-day game where women now play for large sums of money each week. We then shed light on the development of a global tour which started with the likes of Annika Sorenstam, Lorena Ochoa, and Se Ri Pak dominating a once Americentric tour, and how the LPGA struggled to embrace this cultural shift via the Five Points of Celebrity marketing plan and the contentious English-speaking rule. The discussion then moves to focal point of the chapter: the US media's reaction to long-time American professional golf coach and former radio broadcaster Hank Haney's disparaging comments before and at the conclusion of the 2019 Women's US Open. Twenty-five articles were collected from US golf and sport media outlets and coded resulting in four themes: (1) a downplaying of the remarks, (2) ambivalence to the women's game, (3) a privileging of men, and (4) a global tour. The chapter concludes with remarks that highlight the media's struggle to find the appropriate framing and language to cover the incident and how an intersectional approach reveals that oppression of women on the LPGA Tour exists beyond gender.