scholarly journals Assessing service quality in the mobile telecommunications market

2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 510-517
Author(s):  
Jeevarathnam Parthasarathy Govender
Keyword(s):  
Service Quality ◽  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
South African ◽  
Mobile Telecommunications ◽  
The South ◽  
Five Dimensions ◽  
Customer Expectations ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Telecommunications Market

The South African telecommunications market is vibrant and growing, dominated by two players. It is recognised that service quality plays an important role in establishing a competitive advantage. The aim of this paper is to assess ratings of service quality among mobile telecommunications customers. To this end, a survey was conducted among 400 customers using the SERVQUAL questionnaire to measure customers’ expectations and perceptions based on the five dimensions of service quality. The findings indicate that there are gaps between customer expectations and perceptions of service quality. The tangibles dimension exhibited the smallest gap for both companies and the assurance and empathy dimensions revealed the largest gap scores. There were no significant differences in overall expectations between the two companies, but there were significant differences between the companies on overall perceptions of service quality. There was no significant difference in the overall expectations and perceptions between males and females.

Growth and movement of the South African abalone Haliotis midae: A reassessment

1995 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 583 ◽  
Author(s):  
RJQ Tarr
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Growth Rates ◽  
Growth Parameters ◽  
Eastern Coast ◽  
Island Population ◽  
Western Coast ◽  
Eastern Cape ◽  
The South ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Haliotis Midae

Growth rates of a number of Haliotis midae populations around the South African coast were studied by means of tagging. These populations ranged from the cool waters of the western coast to the more temperate environment of the eastern Cape. Standard von Bertalanffy growth curves were fitted and growth parameters derived. These ranged from 0.19 to 0.25 for K, the average rate at which L∞ is approached, and from 156 to 173 for L∞, the average theoretical maximum length. These indicate far higher growth rates than were previously published for this commercially fished species, and the reasons for this difference are discussed. The expectation that growth rates would be fastest in the warmer eastern Cape waters was not realized, there being no significant difference in growth between the Bird Island population on the eastern coast and the Robben Island population on the western coast. These new growth parameters indicate that H. midae in the commercial fishery grounds is attaining sexual maturity some four years earlier, and the minimum legal size some five years earlier, than previously considered. This has considerable significance for modelling studies presently underway. Movement of a small population of adult H. midae was studied over a three-year period, after which 47% of the original abalone were still present on the study site. Of these, 81.5% still occupied exactly the same position on the rocks. This indicates that H. midae that have located an optimum habitat, and that are not disturbed, tend not to move.

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

2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 424-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafikul Islam ◽  
Selim Ahmed ◽  
Dzuljastri Abdul Razak
Keyword(s):  
Service Quality ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Educational Background ◽  
Islamic Banking ◽  
Islamic Banks ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Customer Expectations ◽  
Banking Service ◽  
Significant Difference

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 on educational background and occupation. Research limitations/implications – This research focused solely on Islamic banks in Malaysia and thus the results might not be applicable for other conventional banks. Originality/value – The findings are expected to provide guidelines for enhancing the satisfaction level of clients of the Islamic banking system in Malaysia and other countries.

scholarly journals The competitive status of the South African Wheat Industry

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 651-666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Van der Merwe ◽  
Philippus Cloete ◽  
Herman Van Schalkwyk
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
South African ◽  
Wheat Flour ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
The South ◽  
Wheat Market ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Trade Partners

This article investigates the competitiveness of the South African wheat industry and compares it to its major trade partners. Since 1997, the wheat-to-bread value chain has been characterised by concentration of ownership and regulation. This led to concerns that the local wheat market is losing international competitiveness. The competitive status of the wheat industry, and its sub-sectors, is determined through the estimation of the relative trade advantage (RTA). The results revealed declining competitiveness of local wheat producers. Compared to the major global wheat producers, such as Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany and the USA, South Africa’s unprocessed wheat industry is uncompetitive. At the same time, South Africa has a competitive advantage in semi-processed wheat, especially wheat flour. The institutional environment enables the importation of raw wheat at lower prices and exports processed wheat flour competitively to the rest of Africa.

scholarly journals Customer expectations and service delivery: Are SME’s aware of the service quality standards gap?

2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 175-184
Author(s):  
Johannes Arnoldus Wiid ◽  
Michael Colin Cant ◽  
Carly Prinsloo
Keyword(s):  
Service Quality ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Small And Medium Enterprises ◽  
Quality Standards ◽  
Customer Expectations ◽  
Medium Enterprises ◽  
Service Standards

Competition among small businesses are high, as small businesses compete for market share which larger business do not engage with. A definite competitive advantage that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) can rely on is service quality (Kasul & Motwani in Anuar & Yusuff 2011:328; Tseng & Wu 2014:77). SMEs do not necessarily understand service standards and how to ensure that the service standard is implemented. The research utilised a quantitative research design whereby the data was collected by means of a 5-point Likert scale survey known as the SERVQUAL model. The results indicate that there are discrepancies between dimensions those owners feel should be adhered to and the extent to which they perceive their businesses to adhere to these dimensions.

scholarly journals SERVQUAL Gap Analysis of Nepalese Commercial Banks

The Batuk ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 42-52
Author(s):  
Makshindra Thapa
Keyword(s):  
Service Quality ◽  
Questionnaire Survey ◽  
Commercial Banks ◽  
Gap Analysis ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Five Dimensions ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Sample Test

The main objective of this paper is to present empirical findings regarding service quality being offered by Nepalese commercial banks. The SERVQUAL gap analysis has-been applied to measure extent of service quality expected and actually perceived by the customers within five dimensions; tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. The gap analysis finding is based on responses of 216 bank customers. A questionnaire survey conducted consisting the SERVQUAL instrument with 22 items used for the survey originated by Parasuraman et al. (1988). The result of gap analysis showed that there remarkable service quality gaps in all five dimensions of SERVQUAL. Empathy and assurance have more gaps relative to other dimensions. Independent sample test showed that there is no significant difference between male and female respondent’s perceived gaps in service quality of these banks.

scholarly journals Do Managers Of Global Equity Funds Outperform Their Respective Style Benchmarks? Evidence From South Africa

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 269
Author(s):  
Heng-Hsing Hsieh ◽  
Kathleen Hodnett ◽  
Paul Van Rensburg
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Economic Benefits ◽  
Exchange Traded Funds ◽  
The South ◽  
Fund Managers ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Equity Funds ◽  
Investment Styles ◽  
Stock Picking

The results of our prior research on internationally-domiciled global equity funds suggest that active managers do not provide economic benefits, in addition to their underlying investment style benchmarks. This finding implies that the performances of global equity funds are derived mainly from the broad investment styles followed by the active managers rather than the stock-picking activities of the managers. We replicate our earlier research to investigate the performances of the six well-established global equity funds in the South African unit trust industry. Our results indicate that four out of the six South African fund managers under examination substantially underperform their passively-replicated style benchmarks. Our prior study results indicate that there is no significant difference between the performances of the internationally-domiciled global equity funds and their respective style benchmarks. By contrast, the stock-picking decisions of the South African fund managers are found to destroy value created by their respective style benchmarks in this study. Our findings suggest that investors who wish to follow particular investment styles would be better off by investing in exchange traded funds (ETF) that passively track the performances of their mandated investment styles in the global equity market with minimal costs.

Investigating Switching Cost Roles in Determining Loyalty in the Mobile Telecommunications Market

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdul Qayyum ◽  
Do Ba Khang
Keyword(s):  
Service Quality ◽  
Customer Loyalty ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Switching Costs ◽  
Field Survey ◽  
Mobile Telecommunications ◽  
Perceived Service Quality ◽  
Equation Modelling ◽  
Quality Value ◽  
Telecommunications Market

The paper evaluates various roles (direct antecedent, mediator or moderator) of perceived switching costs in determining customer loyalty in the mobile telecommunications market. Data were collected through a field survey of mobile phone users in Pakistan. Structural equation modelling was used to evaluate hypothesized relationships. Perceived switching costs were found to play all three roles. Findings suggest that perceived switching costs directly influence customer loyalty, mediate the impacts of perceived service quality, value, and trust on customer loyalty and negatively moderate the relationships of satisfaction and perceived service quality with customer loyalty. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Tackling service quality in the telecommunication B2B market

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (7) ◽  
pp. 1580-1591
Author(s):  
Aysegul Tas ◽  
Elif Akagün Ergin ◽  
Feride Bahar Kurtulmuşoğlu ◽  
Omer Faruk Sahin
Keyword(s):  
Service Quality ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Telecommunications Industry ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Technology Infrastructure ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Customer Expectations ◽  
High Service ◽  
Job Levels ◽  
Telecommunications Market

Purpose This study will attempt to focus on how vendors serve operators, as operator service quality starts with vendor’s technology infrastructure and service quality. The purpose of this study is to exhibit the most important vendor service quality items and dimensions for the operators in the telecommunications industry. Design/methodology/approach A total of 268 employees from various age groups, cities, job levels and departments participated in the survey. Findings Expected service quality results indicated that operators need high service quality. When telecommunication needs of subscribers are taken into account, it is normal for operators to expect high service quality from vendors. Results also reveal that being dependable and providing continuous support are critical for the telecommunications industry. Perceived service quality results demonstrate that customer expectations failed to be satisfied. In this study conducted in the telecommunications market, the expectations of operator employees regarding vendors is shaped under two dimensions. These dimensions are employee and service center features and provider timeliness and accuracy. When Topsis method was used to determine the most important vendor characteristics, timeliness and trust were identified as the top two criteria. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to put forth the most important vendor service quality items and dimensions for the operators in the telecommunications industry.

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