Laura Martínez Caro and Jose Antonio Martínez García
The purpose of this paper is to examine whether International Organisation for Standards (ISO) certification affects consumer perceptions of the service provider.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine whether International Organisation for Standards (ISO) certification affects consumer perceptions of the service provider.
Design/methodology/approach
Data from a questionnaire survey of 204 Spanish consumers of insurance services is used to investigate whether differences exist in consumer perceptions of the services provided by ISO 9000‐certified firms and non‐certified firms in terms of: quality; satisfaction; and corporate image. Mean and covariance structure analysis (MACS) is employed to provide reliable analysis of any differences detected.
Findings
The paper finds that ISO certification improves consumers' perceptions with regard to all three variables (quality, satisfaction, and corporate image). This was especially the case with respect to perceived service quality and perceived corporate image. The results therefore suggest that ISO 9000 certification enables companies to realise marketing benefits as a result of enhanced evaluation of service by consumers.
Research limitations/implications
An acknowledged limitation of the study is the high variability of the effect size estimates for the three variables. Future studies should use larger samples to reduce such variability.
Originality/value
The paper shows that previous studies of the ISO 9000 standards have tended to focus on management and expert opinion rather than the opinion of customers. The present study addresses this deficiency in the extant literature by seeking the perspective of the customer, which is of critical importance in assessments of quality and marketing benefits.
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Jose Antonio Martínez García and Laura Martínez Caro
The aim of this paper is to propose a model for understanding a complex management issue – the customer loyalty in a public sports service.
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to propose a model for understanding a complex management issue – the customer loyalty in a public sports service.
Design/methodology/approach
Customer loyalty is discussed through the methodology of system dynamics. The proposed model considers the dynamic, non‐linear, asymmetric, and reciprocal relationships between its elements, and permits the analysis of the evolution of the system under hypothesized conditions.
Findings
The model reproduces historical data of abandonment and consumers' attitude toward the service (ATS). The achieved simulations showed how the future entry of new competitors can severely threaten public service performance. Furthermore, it was also found that the consumers' ATS was not a very good predictor of the consumers' behavior.
Research limitations/implications
System dynamics methodology can also be applied to understand the loyalty in the remaining services offered by the public institution. Other services, such as fitness, aerobics, martial arts, can be analyzed by considering their respective different competitive environments.
Practical implications
The new competitive environment can dramatically affect the number of consumers per year if a public institution does not differentiate its service. In addition, the entry of new competitors will affect the evolution of the system, as the customer satisfaction rates will be modified.
Originality/value
Understanding customer loyalty is one of the most important concerns for academics and practitioners in the areas of management and marketing. The system dynamics approach is an under‐utilized methodology in the field of sports management, which overcomes simplistic linear approaches. The paper shows how system dynamics can provide attractive insights into the field of sports management.
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The purpose of this paper is to introduce this special issue of Management Decision and discuss the key question “Should sport be taken seriously?”.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to introduce this special issue of Management Decision and discuss the key question “Should sport be taken seriously?”.
Design/methodology/approach
The themes of the special issue are discussed and each paper is introduced.
Findings
Sport should be taken seriously because it has a significance beyond the field of play. It has become a commodified activity which creates and consumes wealth and can be used as a context for management research.
Originality/value
Rarely before has sport been taken seriously in a management research context. This guest editorial and the special issue that follows it begin that debate.
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Laura Di Chiacchio, Eva Martínez-Caro, Juan Gabriel Cegarra-Navarro and Alexeis Garcia-Perez
This study aims to investigate the impact of the ethical management of data privacy on the overall reputation of businesses.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the impact of the ethical management of data privacy on the overall reputation of businesses.
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual model was proposed and tested. Data were collected from 208 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the textile industry in Valencia, Spain using a survey instrument. Partial least squares (PLS) allowed for the analysis of the data collected.
Findings
The theoretical model explains 46.1% of the variation in the organisational reputation variable. The findings indicate that ethical data privacy has a beneficial effect on an organisation's reputation and eco-innovation. The findings also demonstrate how eco-innovation drives the development of new knowledge and green skills that, in turn, communicate to stakeholders a company's ethical commitment. These results should encourage SMEs to invest in data privacy in order to meet the needs of the SMEs' increasingly technology- and environment-sensitive stakeholders and to improve their reputation.
Originality/value
This study provides the first empirical evidence that ethical data privacy management has a positive impact on the reputation of firms. Furthermore, the originality of the research derives from the analysis of the results from an environmental perspective. Indeed, this study shows that effective data privacy management can indirectly support organisational reputation through eco-innovation and green skills.
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Mauro Dini, Simone Splendiani, Laura Bravi and Tonino Pencarelli
This paper aims to deepen understanding of the role played by new technological tools used in customer–travel agency (TA) interactions by analysing the TA owner/managers'…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to deepen understanding of the role played by new technological tools used in customer–travel agency (TA) interactions by analysing the TA owner/managers' perceptions, pre- and post-Covid-19, regarding the effectiveness of in-store traditional and innovative tools.
Design/methodology/approach
This exploratory study is based on a questionnaire-based survey conducted among Italian TAs and distributed via email from September 2020 to January 2021.
Findings
The study highlights how, even among TAs, the role of in-store technology is gradually taking on greater importance, and it delves into the specific business and socio-demographic factors that seem to cause differences among agencies.
Research limitations/implications
The study focuses on the Italian context, which does not allow for any generalisations. Furthermore, it is only the travel agent perspective that is observed and not the consumer's.
Originality/value
In addition to helping to bridge the literature gap, this study on in-store technologies focuses on the TAs sector, where human resources and human relationships play a decisive role in customer experience and interaction. The paper investigates the travel agents' point of view regarding the introduction of new in-store technologies; it also highlights their growing adoption and use, overall, despite the travel catalogue still remaining the main tool for interacting with customers. The study also shows how the advent of Covid-19 has increased travel agents' propensity to use digital technologies.
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Opeyemi Femi-Oladunni, Pablo Ruiz-Palomino and Israel Roberto Pérez Jiménez
This study aims to identify how Spanish consumers’ extrinsic preferences for food have evolved by examining the extant literature on food preferences in Spain, focusing on…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to identify how Spanish consumers’ extrinsic preferences for food have evolved by examining the extant literature on food preferences in Spain, focusing on food-related attributes and food-related values.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on a synthetic review of the extant academic literature on Spanish consumer preferences for food-related attributes and food-related values from the mid-20th to the 21st century. This study uses key economic and social milestones that are most likely to influence food value chain actors to show how consumer preferences have evolved over the study period.
Findings
Spanish consumer food attribute preferences expanded as the food sector of the nation continued to grow, and value preferences showed a similar pattern from the mid-20th to the 21st century. The drivers of these preferences were trust, lifestyle, education (campaigns), sociodemographic factors and purchasing power.
Originality/value
Evaluating the extant literature’s contribution to consumer preferences for food-related attributes and values is important because it can aid in understanding the hierarchy and variety of consumers’ food preferences as well as the factors that drive these preferences. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to explore how Spanish consumer preferences evolved between the mid-20th and 21st centuries.
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Leonardo Ortegón Cortazar, Gabriel Cachón-Rodríguez, Laura Pascual Nebreda and Maria Luisa Medrano
The aim of this research is to assess the impact of the motivational dimensions of slow fashion (exclusivity, equity, authenticity, functionality and localism) on environmental…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this research is to assess the impact of the motivational dimensions of slow fashion (exclusivity, equity, authenticity, functionality and localism) on environmental and socially sustainable consumption.
Design/methodology/approach
The necessary information to conduct the empirical analysis was obtained through an online survey administered to consumers of slow fashion. Data processing was carried out using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique.
Findings
The obtained results demonstrate that exclusivity and equity significantly influence environmentally and socially sustainable consumption. However, the results indicate that authenticity and localism only have a significant influence on socially sustainable consumption and not on environmental consumption. Furthermore, the findings also reveal that functionality has a significant impact solely on environmentally sustainable consumption.
Research limitations/implications
This study is based on self-reported data collected from buyers aged between 18 and 29, commonly known as Generation Z. Future research could enhance the generalizability of the findings by conducting comparative studies involving other age groups, both older and younger, who are interested in sustainable fashion. Although existing literature suggests that this generation shows a stronger preference for products and brands that promote environmentally and socially responsible practices, broadening the scope to include other demographics could provide a more comprehensive understanding of sustainable fashion consumption.
Practical implications
The findings suggest the importance of developing value propositions that align slow fashion with motivational factors such as exclusivity and equity. Moreover, the practical nature of these motivational dimensions is evident in maximizing their effects on environmentally friendly behaviors, care behaviors and social responsibility. It is recommended to emphasize attributes of garment scarcity, durability, degree of personalization, provenance benefits and information on the company’s social responsibility to foster environmentally and socially sustainable behaviors.
Originality/value
This research contributes to a better understanding of the motivational dimensions that influence sustainable consumption measures and provides valuable information for managers in the fashion industry by clarifying the attributes that act as triggers from the consumer’s perspective.
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Ahmed Abideen and Fazeeda Binti Mohamad
Lean implementation is vastly incorporated in core manufacturing processes; however, its applicability in the supply chain and service industry is still in its infancy. To acquire…
Abstract
Purpose
Lean implementation is vastly incorporated in core manufacturing processes; however, its applicability in the supply chain and service industry is still in its infancy. To acquire performance excellence and thrive in the global competitive market, many firms are adopting newer methodologies. But, there is a stringent need for production simulation systems to analyze supply chains both inbound and outbound. The era of face validation is slowly disappearing. Lean tools and procedures that provide future state assumptions need advanced tools and techniques to measure, quantify, analyze and validate them. The purpose of this study is to enable dynamic quantification and visualization of the future state of a warehouse supply chain value stream map using discrete event simulation (DES) technique.
Design/methodology/approach
This study aimed to apply an integrated approach of the value stream mapping (VSM) and DES in a Malaysian pharmaceutical production warehouse. The main focus is diverted towards reducing the warehouse supply chain lead time by initially constructing a supply chain value stream map (both present state and future state) and integrating its data in a DES modelling and simulation software to dynamically visualize the changes in future state value stream map.
Findings
The DES simulation was able to mimic the future state lead time reductions successfully, which assists in better decision-making. Improvements were seen related to total lead time, process time, value and non-value-added percentage. Warehouse performance metrics such as receiving, put away and storage rates were substantially improved along with pallet processing time, worker and forklift throughput usage percentage. Detailed findings are clearly stated at the end of this paper.
Research limitations/implications
This study is limited to the warehouse environment and further additional process models and functional upgrades in the DES software systems are very much needed to directly visualize and quantify all the possible Lean assumptions such as radio frequency image identification/Andon (Jidoka), 5S, Kanban, Just-In-Time and Heijunka. However, DES has a leading edge in extracting dynamic characteristics out of a static VSM timeline and capture details on discrete events precisely by picturizing facility modification and lead time related to it.
Practical implications
This paper includes all the fundamental pharmaceutical warehouse supply chain processes and the simulations of the future state VSM in a real-life context by successfully reducing supply chain lead time and allowing managers in inculcating near-optimal decision-making, controlling and coordinating warehouse supply chain activities as a whole.
Social implications
This integrated approach of DES and VSM can involve managers and top management to support the adoption of anticipated changes. This study also has the potential to engage practitioners, researchers and decision-makers in the warehouse industry.
Originality/value
This study involves a powerful DES software package that can mimic the real situation as a virtual simulation and all the data and model building are based on a real warehouse scenario in the pharmaceutical industry.