Fayek Youssef, Deon Nel and Tony Bovaird
Discusses the utilization of an instrument – SERVQUAL –as a means of assessing patient satisfaction with service quality.Patients treated (174) for a variety of health problems in…
Abstract
Discusses the utilization of an instrument – SERVQUAL – as a means of assessing patient satisfaction with service quality. Patients treated (174) for a variety of health problems in a number of departments completed the SERVQUAL questionnaire. There is a dearth of knowledge in this important field and the authors note that the results indicate the need for improvement in service quality as identified by the study population.
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Hospitals provide the same type of service, but they do not all provide the same quality of service. No one knows this better than patients. Reports the results of a market…
Abstract
Hospitals provide the same type of service, but they do not all provide the same quality of service. No one knows this better than patients. Reports the results of a market research exercise initiated to ascertain the different factors which patients of health care identify as being necessary to provide error‐free service quality with NHS hospitals. To measure patients’ satisfaction with NHS hospitals, the internationally‐used market research technique called SERVQUAL was used in order to measure patients’ expectations before admission, record their perceptions after discharge from the hospital, and then to close the gap between them. This technique compares expectations with perceptions of service received across five broad dimensions of service quality, namely; tangibility; reliability: responsiveness; assurance; and empathy. This analysis covered 174 patients who had completed the SERVQUAL questionnaire, including patients who had had treatment in surgical, orthopaedic, spinal injury, medicinal, dental and other specialties in the West Midlands region. Recorded the average weighted NHS service quality score overall for the five dimensions as significantly negative.
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Asli Pelin Gurgun and Kerim Koc
Contract incompleteness with deficiency, inconsistency, defectiveness, and ambiguity in contract clauses, which can cause misunderstandings and misinterpretations, may result with…
Abstract
Purpose
Contract incompleteness with deficiency, inconsistency, defectiveness, and ambiguity in contract clauses, which can cause misunderstandings and misinterpretations, may result with disputes in projects. This study aims to investigate contract incompleteness factors with a hybrid fuzzy multi-criteria decision approach.
Design/methodology/approach
Contract incompleteness factors were ranked by fuzzy VIKOR (Visekriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje) method, and the most significant factors were subjected to fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) to examine their causal relationships. The study is not limited to ranking the identified factors solely, since their cause-effect interactions are also essential for proper risk management in construction projects.
Findings
Hybrid use of multi-criteria analysis reveals that ambiguity in enforceability including excessive demands and significant amendments in the scope of works are the top two causal contract incompleteness factors, while lack of implementation details and focus of focal point, and insufficient supporting and technical documents are the most affected ones.
Originality/value
Contractual causes of disputes due to contract incompleteness factors other than requirements of the contracts have been rarely investigated in the literature. The research is one of the first studies in the literature investigating the causal relationship among factors in construction contracts, which might lead to project disputes. Findings are expected to improve contract drafting, eventually contributing to effective risk management in construction projects.
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Muneeb Arshad, Muhammad Saleem Sumbal, Muhammad Naseer Akhtar and Shazia Nauman
The study aims to understand the challenges of effective employee utilization in construction projects during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in a developing…
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to understand the challenges of effective employee utilization in construction projects during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in a developing country and to develop mitigation strategies for post-pandemic workforce management.
Design/methodology/approach
We used a qualitative research design to conduct semi-structured interviews with elite informants of various construction firms and analyze the data using thematic analysis.
Findings
The results showed that numerous factors, including supply chain issues, inadequate worker healthcare, ineffective knowledge management and job losses, have negatively impacted the construction industry. The prominent outcomes of the study are a conceptual framework for effective workforce management post-pandemic and beyond, including recommendations for managers and executives and future research.
Originality/value
The workforce management framework with knowledge management developed in this study provides a new theoretical view of post-pandemic mitigation strategies through the theoretical lens of dynamics capabilities and knowledge management. The findings cover industrial insights, particularly from the stakeholders’ perspective, and provide a solid foundation for future research in this domain.
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Seyedehanahita Mousavi, Ashkan Hafezalkotob, Vahidreza Ghezavati and Farshid Abdi
This study aims to identify and accurately assess the risk factors of competitors’ cooperation in the NPD project.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to identify and accurately assess the risk factors of competitors’ cooperation in the NPD project.
Design/methodology/approach
New product development (NPD) is essential to the survival of companies and surpassing other competitors. A key prerequisite for the success of an NPD project is the timing of new product delivery to the market. The main challenge faced by many project managers is the delay in execution and completion phases due to the complex nature and uncertainty of these projects. Rival companies' cooperation reduces the time spent on an NPD project which is an excellent way to reduce the risk of losing the market, but it increases other risk factors.
Findings
Based on the results, the security and confidentiality of innovation, the competitors attracting human resources and the company’s brand credibility factors were ranked higher than other factors and should be predicted and managed before cooperating with competitors.
Originality/value
This paper proposed a new model to assess risk factors in cooperation with rival companies in NPD projects. This model takes into account new parameters, for example, negative and positive risks, negative and positive passable risks and risk-based multi-objective optimization by ratio analysis plus full multiplicative form methodology for the rival companies cooperation in NPD projects. To evaluate the efficiency of the proposed model, a real case of the R&D unit of Iran Khodro Company was studied.
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Neda Kiani Mavi, Kerry Brown, Richard Glenn Fulford and Mark Goh
Evaluating project success within the construction industry presents challenges due to the unique characteristics of the sector, the complexity of projects, and the involvement of…
Abstract
Purpose
Evaluating project success within the construction industry presents challenges due to the unique characteristics of the sector, the complexity of projects, and the involvement of diverse stakeholders. Conducting a bibliometric analysis, this paper aims to unravel the major research themes and methodologies utilised by researchers in studying the critical success criteria for construction projects, as well as extracting these success criteria.
Design/methodology/approach
The researchers systematically searched and screened 95 papers from Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) databases. This study conducted research focus parallelship network (RFPN) analysis and keywords co-occurrence network (KCON) analysis using BibExcel and Gephi to cluster the papers, illuminate the relationships among keywords within each cluster, and identify the primary research directions.
Findings
Using the RFPN analysis, this study classified the papers into three distinct clusters: infrastructure and public projects success, risk and knowledge management, and contractors and procurement management. Statistical techniques such as structural equation modelling (SEM) and multi-criteria decision-making methods such as analytic hierarchy process (AHP) have been used to analyse project success in the construction industry.
Research limitations/implications
Considering the intensified demand for streamlined digital interactions and the increasing emphasis on sustainability and safety performance, construction companies are recommended to allocate greater investments toward the automation and digitisation of their products and processes. Prioritising modular construction and embracing transformative technologies alongside data science is crucial for enabling well-informed decision-making, and enhancing project success.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by conducting a quantitative and systematic evaluation of the literature on project success criteria in the construction industry and uncovering key research areas. It addresses the pressing need to understand the complexities of construction projects amidst evolving industry dynamics and emerging disruptions. Moreover, by highlighting the implications of digital innovations and modular construction, this study urges deeper exploration into their impact on project performance and stakeholder satisfaction. This research sets a comprehensive framework for investigating the interplay between project complexity, technological advancements, and sustainable practices in the construction sector, paving the way for strategic advancements in the field.