bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Consensus‐based policy recommendations for geriatric emergency care
Authors: Parke Belinda , McCusker Jane
Published: August 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to establish policy recommendations to address service and care delivery challenges facing hospital emergency departments (EDs) responding to the needs of increasing numbers of older adults.

Design/methodology/approach

The consensus development process used an international expert interdisciplinary panel, convened at an international conference. Following a round table discussion and think‐tank session, a nominal group method with constant comparative analysis and coding techniques was used to identify policy recommendations. Two rounds of electronic input followed the face‐to‐face meeting to reach consensus on priority ranking of the policy recommendations. Findings underwent an external review by four independent experts.

Findings

A total of seven categories of policy recommendations were developed: education, integration and coordination of care, resources, ED physical environment, evidence‐based practice, research and evaluation, and advocacy.

Research limitations/implications

The consensus development process did not include a systematic literature review on the topic. However, participants included experts in their disciplines.

Practical implications

The recommendations may assist administrators, policy makers, clinicians, and researchers on future directions for improving emergency care and service delivery for older adults.

Originality/value

The paper describes the process and results of a consensus development activity for ED care and services of older adults.
Health care accreditation surveyor styles typology
Authors: Greenfield David , Braithwaite Jeffrey , Pawsey Marjorie
Published: August 2008

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate how health care accreditation surveyors enact their role with a view to identifying a surveyor styles typology.

Design/methodology/approach

This study was conducted in two phases. First, observational research was used to examine the conduct of a small survey team during the 2005 accreditation survey of a rural health service in Australia. The survey team was from the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS), the major health care accreditation agency in Australia. Second, the emerging typology was reviewed by an expert panel of ACHS surveyors.

Findings

A typology comprising three unique surveyor styles is identified – interrogator; explorer; and discusser. Additionally, a further style, the questioner, is hypothesised.

Research limitation/implications

The typology has application for development by accreditation agencies to be used with surveyors as a self‐reflection tool to improve learning and development. The knowledge gained about surveyors' styles can be used to match more effectively survey teams to organisations seeking accreditation. Further research is necessary to confirm these styles and examine whether other styles are apparent.

Originality/value

This study is an important step in examining the conduct of surveyors and opening up health care accreditation surveyor inter‐rater reliability for further investigation.
Eliminating US hospital medical errors
Authors: Kumar Sameer , Steinebach Marc
Published: August 2008

Purpose

Healthcare costs in the USA have continued to rise steadily since the 1980s. Medical errors are one of the major causes of deaths and injuries of thousands of patients every year, contributing to soaring healthcare costs. The purpose of this study is to examine what has been done to deal with the medical‐error problem in the last two decades and present a closed‐loop mistake‐proof operation system for surgery processes that would likely eliminate preventable medical errors.

Design/methodology/approach

The design method used is a combination of creating a service blueprint, implementing the six sigma DMAIC cycle, developing cause‐and‐effect diagrams as well as devising poka‐yokes in order to develop a robust surgery operation process for a typical US hospital.

Findings

In the improve phase of the six sigma DMAIC cycle, a number of poka‐yoke techniques are introduced to prevent typical medical errors (identified through cause‐and‐effect diagrams) that may occur in surgery operation processes in US hospitals. It is the authors' assertion that implementing the new service blueprint along with the poka‐yokes, will likely result in the current medical error rate to significantly improve to the six‐sigma level. Additionally, designing as many redundancies as possible in the delivery of care will help reduce medical errors.

Practical implications

Primary healthcare providers should strongly consider investing in adequate doctor and nurse staffing, and improving their education related to the quality of service delivery to minimize clinical errors. This will lead to an increase in higher fixed costs, especially in the shorter time frame.

Originality/value

This paper focuses additional attention needed to make a sound technical and business case for implementing six sigma tools to eliminate medical errors that will enable hospital managers to increase their hospital's profitability in the long run and also ensure patient safety.
Care programmes and integrated care pathways
Authors: Joosten Tom C.M. , Bongers Inge M.B. , Bert R. Meijboom Ir
Published: August 2008

Purpose

The article discusses how care programmes and integrated care pathways can be linked, finding ways to improve healthcare process professional and logistical quality from a supply chain and a network point‐of‐view.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors argue that owing to cost containment goals and increasing healthcare demand, healthcare services systems are challenged to improve service quality, whilst at the same time finding ways to improve delivery processes. It explores if the combination of two instruments, care programmes and integrated care pathways, can meet both goals. This combination is illustrated by an example from the Institute of Mental Health Care Eindhoven en de Kempen.

Findings

Analysis suggests that care programmes can be combined with integrated care pathways, leading to a situation where both quality and process improvement can be reached. These instruments are complementary.

Research limitations/implications

The article is largely conceptual; ideas are presented to stimulate thinking rather than to prove an argument.

Practical implications

Combining care programmes and integrated care pathways has implications for the way we think about and organise healthcare processes.

Originality/value

There have been few publications on instruments combining both a network and a supply chain approach to describe and understand healthcare processes.
Dismissing the disgruntled: Swedish patient complaints management
Authors: Kent Alexandra
Published: August 2008

Purpose

Over the past decade the Swedish system for dealing with patient complaints has come under increasingly intense scrutiny from both healthcare providers and consumers. This article summarizes contemporary Swedish viewpoints on the debate by using sociological theory combined with anthropological field data. Its purpose is to prompt radical reappraisal of some attitudes underlying the current handling of patient complaints in Sweden and perhaps elsewhere.

Design/methodology/approach

The material presented here is partly a collation of literature and contemporary debate articles. A number of cases are explored including material taken from ongoing anthropological fieldwork among patients who are or have lodged complaints. Fieldwork was begun in May 2006 and consists of in‐depth, semi‐structured interviews, thus far with six patients, about their experiences lodging complaints. Contact with patients is ongoing as their stories continue to unfold. Interviews have also been conducted with representatives of patient support organizations and medico‐legal specialists. The material is analyzed using recent sociological theory concerned with trust.

Findings

Patients who lodge complaints about their care are interested in achieving moral redress and trust restoration. The major authorities dealing with patient complaints in this case may, however, be mistrusted by those who have experience of them: practitioners and patients alike. In general, they seem to fail to fulfill patients' expectations of guaranteeing ethical standards within healthcare and they are felt to act as a disincentive to honest reporting of adverse incidents by practitioners.

Research limitations/implications

This study is case specific and the particular findings are not readily generalizable to other countries. However, themes concerned with trust reparation that become evident pose questions about situations elsewhere that are analogous though not identical. Conclusions drawn are, therefore, intended not necessarily to be extrapolated but rather to provoke reflection about similar issues in other cases.

Practical implications

If practices and healthcare regulation structures are to become increasingly sensitive to patients' experience then it is essential that patients' stories and struggles are aired in those forums that influence decision makers' attitudes. This article attempts to bring patients' rights, expectations and perspectives to the fore in discussion about healthcare quality assurance.

Originality/value

By presenting patients as subject rather than object, the article intends to engage the reader in the patient's quest for moral reparation when trust is breached. The use of anthropological method helps give the perspectives or experience of those who are relatively disempowered their rightful place at the heart of discussions about healthcare quality.
LQAS usefulness in an emergency department
Authors: Granado de la Orden Susana , Rodríguez‐Rieiro Cristina , Sánchez‐Gómez Amaya , Chacón García Ana , Hernández‐Fernández Tomás , Abad Revilla Ángel , Vigil Escribano Dolores , Rodríguez Pérez Paz
Published: August 2008

Purpose

This paper aims to explore lot quality assurance sampling (LQAS) applicability and usefulness in the evaluation of quality indicators in a hospital emergency department (ED) and to determine the degree of compliance with quality standards according to this sampling method.

Design/methodology/approach

Descriptive observational research in the Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón (HGUGM) emergency department (ED). Patients older than 15 years, diagnosed with dyspnoea, chest pain, urinary tract colic or bronchial asthma attending the HGUGM ED from December 2005 to May 2006, and patients admitted during 2005 with exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or acute meningitis were included in the study. Sample sizes were calculated using LQAS. Different quality indicators, one for each process, were selected. The upper (acceptable quality level (AQL)) and lower thresholds (rejectable quality level (RQL)) were established considering risk α=5 per cent and β=20 per cent, and the minimum number of observations required was calculated.

Findings

It was impossible to reach the necessary sample size for bronchial asthma and urinary tract colic patients. For chest pain, acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and acute meningitis, quality problems were detected. The lot was accepted only for the dyspnoea indicator.

Originality/value

The usefulness of LQAS to detect quality problems in the management of health processes in one hospital's ED. The LQAS could complement traditional sampling methods.
The role of expectations in patients' hospital assessments
Authors: Bakar Coskun , Seval Akgün H. , Al Assaf A.F.
Published: August 2008

Purpose

This paper aims to conduct a preliminary assessment of patient attitudes regarding important aspects of service dimensions using SERVQUAL. Design/methodology/approach – The SERVQUAL scale is routinely used at the Baskent University Hospitals Network, Turkey. The study consisted of 550 randomly chosen patients who presented to any member of the hospital network during January and February 2006 and received treatment as inpatients or outpatients at those healthcare facilities.

Findings

The patients' perceived scores were higher than expected for an ordinary hospital but lower than expected for a high‐quality hospital. Young patients had a high‐expected service score gap and a low adequate service score difference. Highly educated patients had a high‐expected service score difference. Uninsured patients had a low adequate service score difference. Originality/value – Baskent University multidisciplinary healthcare teams have performed periodic patient satisfaction surveys in order to identify strengths and problem areas, formulate the quality improvement objectives and monitor progress towards achieving these objectives. However, patient satisfaction survey results are often highly positive. In these cases, improving care is not easy because measures are not sensitive enough to changes. Therefore a more sensitive measurement tool based on the SERVQUAL scale was developed. The authors believe that patient opinions are extremely important because they provide information that is not necessarily emphasized by managers or health care professionals, resulting in a more complete assessment of past performance and a clearer road map for future action.
Developing a Japanese hospital physician satisfaction scale
Authors: Ozaki Makiko , Bito Seiji , Matsumura Shinji
Published: August 2008

Purpose

Hospital physician shortages are widely recognized as a national problem in Japan. Although physician job satisfaction has a relationship with service quality and physician turnover, there is no measure to assess Japanese hospital physician satisfaction. This paper aims to establish a measure of job satisfaction for Japanese hospital physicians and evaluated its psychometric performance.

Design/methodology/approach

Two cross‐sectional physician surveys were used – a pilot survey, conducted as a self‐administered questionnaire; and a validation survey conducted on‐line.

Findings

A total of 82 hospital physicians completed the pilot questionnaire. Factor and reliability analyses produced a 28‐item, 6‐subscale and 2‐global satisfaction scale measure, the Japan hospital physicians satisfaction scale (JHPSS). Results supported the measure's reliability and validity. For the validation survey, 146 hospital physicians completed the online questionnaire. One question item was substituted following factor analysis. Results also displayed the measure's adequate psychometric properties.

Research limitations/implications

Participating physicians were convenience samples, which may not fully represent Japanese hospital physicians.

Originality/value

The JHPSS, a brief questionnaire measuring Japanese hospital physician job satisfaction, should be useful for providing better quality care and improving our understanding of and ability to deal with Japanese hospital workforce issues.
Coalitions and community unionism
Authors: Tattersall Amanda
Published: August 2008

Purpose

Union‐community collaboration is an increasingly common practice in industrialised nations where union power and density have declined. This paper proposes a framework for defining and evaluating community unionism, through a definition of the term “community.”

Design/methodology/approach

The author explores this framework drawing on campaigns in Sydney and Chicago.

Findings

It defines the term community in three discrete but mutually reinforcing ways, as (community) organisation; common interest identity, and local neighbourhood or place. The term is used to then define community unionism as three discrete union strategies, and finally to examine one type of community unionism – coalition unionism. Successful coalition practice is defined by partner organisational relationships (coalition structure, bridge brokers, and coalition offices); common concern (common interest operates as mutual direct interest of organisation and members), and the element of scale (where success increases as coalitions operate at multiple scales such as the local, as well as the scale of government and/or business decision makers).

Originality/value

The paper identifies three elements of coalition unionism.
Contested communities: geo‐histories of unionism
Authors: Ellem Bradon
Published: August 2008

Purpose

Despite being increasingly touted as the kind of fundamental transformation needed for union survival, “community unionism” is typically ill‐defined and poorly explained. This paper seeks to provide greater precision of terminology and context through a series of geographically‐informed historical studies.

Design/methodology/approach

Through explaining and synthesising the work of a number of scholars from different disciplines, the paper develops a framework for a “geo‐historical” analysis. It begins not with community unionism as such but with a more open exploration of the relationship between unions and social formations at, for the most part, the local scale. Empirical material, based on original qualitative studies, is presented for one industry, Australian mining, across different places and time periods but concentrating most upon the iron ore regions in Western Australia where recent struggles over union renewal and form have been particularly intense.

Findings

This paper argues two things about community unionism: that this union form is not without historical antecedents and, more importantly, that its structure, nature and prospects can be better understood if analysed through a number of concepts which geographers have recently developed to explore the intersections between work, community and employment relations. More needs to be done to explain not only the nature and emergence of community unionism but also the very real problems it faces in sustaining itself, let alone transforming union movements overall. The findings point to the varied forms which so‐called community unionism may take as well as to the challenges to its current forms, including from within the labour movement itself.

Originality/value

The value of the paper lies in its theoretical innovation, drawing on a range of disciplines, and its attempt to situate community unionism precisely – conceptually, historically and geographically.
Having a voice: the quest for democratic policing in Southern Africa
Authors: Marks Monique , Fleming Jenny
Published: August 2008

Purpose

Efforts by police organisations to unionise and to increase their social and labour rights is an international phenomenon, and one that is becoming more vigorous in the Southern African region. However, many governments are wary of police unions and limit their rights, or refuse to recognise them at all. This paper aims to discuss the issues involved.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper draws on face‐to‐face and telephone interviews, as well as e‐mail correspondence, with police unionists from Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia and the USA.

Findings

The efforts of the unions involved gave impetus to the formation of the International Council of Police Representative Associations (ICPRA), in September 2006. Two of ICPRA's aims are to assist and advise police unions all over the world and to provide the international police union movement with a voice for influencing policing futures. In South Africa, the Police and Civil Rights Unions is assisting police in the subregion and has become a symbol of what is possible for police even in repressive states.

Originality/value

The paper illustrates how, in a rapidly changing police labour environment, police unions have the capacity to confront existing (undemocratic) occupational cultures, to promote organisational accord and to forge positive reform.
Revitalising the trade union movement through internationalism
Authors: Ryland Rebecca , Sadler David
Published: August 2008

Purpose

This paper aims to present an exploration of grassroots perspectives on trade union methods of organisational change management through internationalism. A case study of UNISON (one of the largest UK trade unions, representing public sector workers) is explored with the intention of identifying whether or not there are opportunities for the rebuilding of grassroots‐led collective identities, solidarity and community beyond national borders.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based upon a case study of UNISON's North West region in England. Participant observation was conducted and semi‐structured interviews were held with UNISON key informants. Focus group sessions were conducted with UNISON grassroots members.

Findings

There remains a big divide between the aspirations of unions such as UNISON, and the grassroots perspectives upon labour internationalism of many members. Nonetheless, as some trade unions increasingly recognise that the choice is between organisational change and growing irrelevance, we show that the way in which organisational change is understood by the grassroots is of growing significance.

Research limitations/implications

The research raises implications for understanding the relationship between international officials and others within union leadership roles; the meaning of internationalism at union branch level; and the impacts of new or emergent civil society agendas such as global climate change.

Practical implications

The research equips trade unions with a deeper understanding of how their organisational change management strategies are supported, or questioned, by members. It demonstrates the level of grassroots support for internationalism, enabling the identification of how members position themselves with respect to cross‐border solidarity, and how they interpret organisational change strategies.

Originality/value

There has been great debate as to the effects of globalisation and neoliberalism on trade unions and the strategies available to achieve renewal. One such strategy is trade union internationalism. Very little is known, however, about the extent and manner of membership understandings of internationalism. Do members support internationalism, or do they perceive it as a distraction from a core agenda? The paper explores this grassroots perspective.
Community as a factor in union organization
Authors: Hess Michael
Published: August 2008

Purpose

There is now considerable evidence that “community unionism” is emerging as a new form of worker organization in many quite different national contexts. This paper aims to look at the conceptual underpinnings of the relationship between ideas about community and union organisation.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is particularly concerned with the impact “community” in two types of national context might have when it is applied to union organization. The contrast provides an interesting demonstration of the relationship between organisational change and contextual specificities.

Findings

In the western market‐oriented democracies of first world nations, community unionism may be seen as part of a broader (re‐)discovery of the power of community factors in these highly individualistic societies. In third world nations pursuing accelerated economic growth and social development “community” finds expression in communal loyalties based on localised social relations.

Originality/value

This paper considers differences in how “community” impacts on unionism differ in these varied historical contexts.
The comparison studies on growth kinetic of IMC of Cu/Sn3.0Ag0.5Cu (Sn0.4Co0.7Cu)/Cu joints during isothermal aging and their tensile strengths
Authors: Guo‐kui Ju , Xi‐cheng Wei , Peng Sun , Johan Liu
Published: August 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to compare the growth kinetics of interfacial intermetallic compound (IMC) layer and its effect on the tensile strength of two solder (Sn3.0Ag0.5Cu and Sn0.4Co0.7Cu) joints.

Design/methodology/approach

The samples annealed, respectively, at 85, 120 and 150°C up to 1,000 h were tensile tested and their cross‐sections were observed by scanning electron micrography.

Findings

The results showed that, for both solder joints, an approximately linear reduction in tensile joint strength with an increase in the IMC layers' thickness occurred. The tensile strength of Cu/Sn3.0Ag0.5Cu solder joints is slightly better than that of Cu/Sn‐0.7Co‐0.4Cu solder joints under analogous aging conditions. In addition, the growth kinetics of the overall interfacial IMC layer in Sn0.4Co0.7Cu solder joints can be simply described by the classical growth kinetic theory for solid‐state diffusion with an activation energy of 2,996.85 J/mol and interdiffusion constant of 4.15×0−17 m2/s which are relatively lower, compared with Sn3.0Ag0.5Cu solder on copper with 14,167.8 J/mol and 65.33×10−17 m2/s, respectively.

Originality/value

The paper is of value in evaluating the growth kinetics of Sn3.0Ag0.5Cu and Sn0.4Co0.7Cu solder joints, and in discussing and contrasting the influence of IMC growth on their tensile strength.
Characterization of Sn7In4.1Ag0.5Cu solder in lead‐free composite solder joints of LTCC/PWB assembly
Authors: Nousiainen O. , Kangasvieri T. , Rautioaho R. , Vähäkangas J.
Published: August 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a novel Sn7In4.1Ag0.5Cu/Plastic Core Solder Ball/Sn4Ag0.5Cu composite solder joint configuration for second‐level ball grid array (BGA) interconnections of low temperature co‐fired ceramic (LTCC) modules and the thermal fatigue durability of the configuration. The purpose of using the Sn7In4.1Ag0.5Cu solder was to increase the creep/fatigue resistance of critical regions on the LTCC side of the joint.

Design/methodology/approach

Test LTCC module/printed wiring board (PWB) assemblies were fabricated and exposed into temperature cycling tests over the 0 to 100°C and −40 to 125°C temperature ranges. The characteristic lifetimes of these assemblies were determined using DC resistance measurements. The failure mechanisms of the test assemblies were verified using scanning acoustic microscopy, FE‐SEM, and SEM investigation.

Findings

The test assemblies were exposed to thermal cycling tests (TCT) over test ranges of 0 to 100°C and −40 to 125°C, and characteristic lifetimes of over 5,500 and 1,400 cycles, respectively, were achieved. Compared with Sn4Ag0.5Cu/plastic‐core solder balls (PCSB)/Sn4Ag0.5Cu joints, the characteristic lifetime of the SAC‐In/PCSB/SAC joints increased over 55 per cent in the harsh (−40 to 125°C) TCT conditions. In the milder test conditions (0 to 100°C), the characteristic lifetime of the SAC‐In/PCSB/SAC joints increased 30 per cent compared with the SAC/PCSB/SAC joints.

Originality/value

The results proved that the enhanced creep/fatigue properties of the solder matrix resulted in satisfactory lifetime durations in the present lead‐free composite solder joints and, consequently, different primary failure mechanisms on the LTCC side due to the use of indium alloyed solder. Thus, the present joint configuration is assumed to be a promising solution for the further design of a reliable second‐level solder interconnection in LTCC/PWB assemblies with a high‐global thermal mismatch.
Board level reliability of lead‐free designs of BGAs, CSPs, QFPs and TSOPs
Authors: Huang Meng‐Kuang , Lee Chiapyng
Published: August 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe the board level reliability test results of four IC packages with lead‐free balls/platings, soldered with lead‐free solder paste, during thermal cycling. The board level reliability test results of tin‐lead balled/plated packages soldered with lead‐free solder paste have also been included for comparison.

Design/methodology/approach

Four different packages, i.e. ball grid array (BGA), chip scale package (CSP), quad flat package (QFP) and thin small outline package (TSOP), were assembled on a test printed circuit board (PCB) as the test vehicle. Lead‐free and tin‐lead BGA/CSP packages were equipped with Sn‐3.0Ag‐0.5Cu and Sn‐37Pb solder balls, respectively. The lead‐frames of lead‐free QFP/TSOP leaded‐packages were plated with Sn‐58Bi and those of tin‐lead QFP/TSOP leaded‐packages, Sn‐37Pb. The lead‐free solder paste used in this study was Sn‐3.0Ag‐0.5Cu. Two kinds of surface finishes, immersion gold over electroless nickel (Au/Ni) and organic solderability preservative, were used on the PCBs. The test PCBs were thermal cycled 5,000 times within the temperature range of −40 to 125°C and electrically monitored during the thermal cycling.

Findings

It was found that the tin‐lead balled/plated BGAs, CSPs, QFPs and TSOPs soldered with lead‐free solder paste showed serious board level reliability risks as their abilities to withstand thermal cycling stresses are much weaker than those of entirely lead‐free assemblies. Neither package nor surface finish was found to have any effects on the board level reliability of test vehicles with lead‐free balled/plated BGAs, CSPs, QFPs and TSOPs. Metallographic examinations were conducted to investigate the effect of thermal cycling on the failure modes of solder joints.

Originality/value

The paper is of value by contributing to research in the use of lead‐free solder paste with lead‐containing packages in the industry. Currently, there is a deficiency of knowledge in this area.
Silver thick film pastes for low temperature co‐fired ceramics: impact of glass frit variation
Authors: Bangali Jayashri , Rane Sunit , Phatak Girish , Gangal Shashikala
Published: August 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate and report the impact of glass frit variation in silver thick film pastes used as surface conductors in low temperature co‐fired ceramics technology (LTCC), especially on the properties such as warpage of LTCC associated with conductors, microstructure of the fired thick films, sheet resistance and adhesion on LTCC.

Design/methodology/approach

Silver thick film paste compositions were formulated by changing the silver glass frit ratio. The compatibility of these formulated paste compositions with LTCC (DP 951AX) substrate were evaluated. The properties such as microstructure developments, the change in sheet resistance, warpage of LTCC substrate with respect to glass frit ratio of the developed silver films on LTCC were evaluated.

Findings

The results reveal that the glass frit percentage used in paste formulation is equally responsible for the disturbance in the properties such as microstructure, warping and electrical properties of the fired thick films on LTCC. It was observed that the paste composition, in particular sample SP10B containing the highest glass frit percentage, is compatible with the LTCC tape under processing conditions. The sheet resistance value in the range of 5 mΩ/□ and the fired films showed very good adhesion (3.95 N), irrespective of the glass frit composition.

Originality/value

The paper provides useful evaluations of properties such as microstructure developments, changes in sheet resistance and warpage of LTCC substrate with respect to glass frit ratio of the developed silver pastes on LTCC.
The service recovery paradox: true but overrated?
Authors: Michel Stefan , Meuter Matthew L.
Published: August 2008

Purpose

The paper's aim is to test the existence of the service recovery paradox.

Design/methodology/approach

To date, much of the literature exploring the service recovery paradox has generated mixed results. The paper argues that a service recovery paradox is a rare event, which makes its measurement difficult, since the “treatment group” sample size is usually too small to produce significant results. For that reason, the existence of the service recovery paradox in a banking context with more than 11,000 customer interviews based on actual customer encounters is tested.

Findings

Overall, the survey findings support the argument that a service recovery paradox is a rare event, and the hypothesized mean differences are, albeit significant, not very large, which diminishes their managerial relevance to some degree.

Research limitations/implications

Because of the required extremely large sample size, no multi‐item measures were collected. Furthermore, privacy concerns restricted us from a longitudinal study and from linking the survey results to behavioural data. Both limitations are inherent in the chosen setting.

Practical implications

While a service failure offers an opportunity to create an excellent recovery, the likelihood of a service paradox is very low. The implications of verifying a service recovery paradox do not suggest that ineffective service followed by an outstanding service recovery is a viable strategy.

Originality/value

To the authors' knowledge, this is the first empirical study testing not only the existence of the service recovery paradox, but also exploring its magnitude and frequency. This is crucial because the paradox is a very rare event, which, in turn, limits its managerial relevance.
Key strategies for the successful involvement of customers in the co‐creation of new technology‐based services
Authors: Kristensson Per , Matthing Jonas , Johansson Niklas
Published: August 2008

Purpose

The aim is to propose a conceptual framework consisting of research propositions concerning the key strategies required for the successful involvement of customers in the co‐creation of new technology‐based services.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology involves a single case study from which data are derived and analyzed using the grounded theory methodology of “constant comparative analysis.” User‐generated ideas for future mobile phone services are collected from four user involvement projects and analyzed at several workshops attended by senior managers from telecommunications firms.

Findings

Seven key strategies are identified as being essential for successful user involvement in new product development. Each strategy is described and illustrated in relation to existing theory and presented as a research proposition.

Research limitations/implications

The exploratory nature of the research means that the findings are tentative and need to be confirmed in other settings by other researchers, including quantitative large‐scale studies.

Practical implications

The results of the study provide management with guidelines for organizing successful user involvement projects with a market‐oriented approach.

Originality/value

Despite the increasing popularity of user involvement, little research has examined the conditions required for successful user involvement in new product development. This study makes an original contribution by proposing strategies critical for a successful outcome.
The role of post‐training self‐efficacy in customers' use of self service technologies
Authors: Zhao Xinyuan , Mattila Anna S. , Eva Tao Li‐Shan
Published: August 2008

Purpose

The current study aims to investigate the role of post‐training self‐efficacy in influencing customer perceptions and usage of self‐service technologies (SSTs). Specifically, the aim is to propose that high post‐training self‐efficacy will reduce technology anxiety and hence increase perceptions of ease of use associated with SSTs.

Design/methodology/approach

A self‐checkout machine in a library setting served as the study context. A total of 131 subjects were randomly assigned to two training groups (written instructions and a demonstration).

Findings

The results partially support the research hypotheses and suggest that post‐training self‐efficacy has a positive impact on customer satisfaction and ease of use. Ease of use, in turn, increased customer intention to reuse SSTs while decreasing technology anxiety.

Research limitations/implications

The study has a relatively small sample size and only two training methods were tested. A control group should be included in future research.

Originality/value

As the first trial, the study investigated customers' post‐training self‐efficacy in SSTs by integrating training theories and SSTs studies. The results suggest service organizations use effective training programs to customers' participation in the service delivery process via SSTs. The study also explored customers' ease of use and technology anxiety in a single research. Different from previous SSTs studies, the current study suggest that ease of use and technology anxiety play various roles in customers' participation at SSTs encounters.
The relationships between operations strategies and operations activities in service context
Authors: Prajogo Daniel I. , McDermott Christopher M.
Published: August 2008

Purpose

The present study aims to empirically explore the relationships between selected operations strategies and the associated operations activities. Specifically, for service firms targeting specific competitive priorities, it examines the extent to which there are significant differences in the relationships between these priorities and the operations activities among high‐ versus low‐performing firms.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical data for this study were drawn from 190 managers of the Australian service organisations whose primary responsibilities were related to the daily operations of the firms. The targeted service organisations encompassed various sectors including transportation, communication, banking, insurance, health care, education, wholesale, retail, and professional services.

Findings

The results show that high‐performing firms have stronger relationships between their operations strategies and operations activities than low‐performing firms. The results also reveal how different operations strategies need to be deployed into different operations activities.

Research limitations/implications

The design of this study was exploratory in nature, and therefore, can be improved in terms of the robustness of the scales and observations. Also, the cross‐sectional design of the study could not capture potential unique characteristics of some service sectors that affect the examined relationships.

Practical implications

These findings suggest the importance of implementing operations activities in the firm's strategic directions. As firms decide how they choose to strategically position their operating systems, they in turn need to decide how to best focus their resources on operational elements that support these goals.

Originality/value

From the authors' best knowledge, this is the first study which examines the link between operations strategies and operations activities in service firms.
The impact of other‐customer failure on service satisfaction
Authors: Huang Wen‐Hsien
Published: August 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how and why other‐customer misbehavior has a negative influence on customer satisfaction with the service firm.

Design/methodology/approach

Data for this study were gathered by retrospective experience sampling.

Findings

There are several important findings that can be obtained from the results. First, people consider another customer's failure to be the firm's responsibility when they perceive that the failure is under the firm's volitional control (i.e. controllability attribution). This controllability attribution leads to customer expectations of compensation for recovery from dissatisfaction. Second, stability attributions about other‐customer failures were not found to be significantly related to the firm's responsibility. Third, the severity of the other‐customer failure experience bears no relation to the customer's service recovery expectation, but it is negatively related to satisfaction. Finally, the customer's evaluation of service is not only affected by the other‐customer misbehavior, but also by how employees react to situations when other customers are unruly or potentially disruptive.

Practical implications

Providing employees with the appropriate coping and problem‐solving skills for working with problem customers is a key issue for service providers. More importantly, employees should be trained to help the affected customers, to alleviate any bad feelings caused by the other‐customer's misbehavior.

Originality/value

The paper suggests that employees in a service‐providing firm may need to act as “police officers” to ensure that all their customers behave appropriately.
Leading by learning: new directions in the twenty‐first century
Authors: Collinson Vivienne
Published: August 2008

Purpose

The paper aims to provide a theoretically‐based set of skills and practices that develop organizational members and leaders while building organizational capacity.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper advances four arguments about learning and leading, drawing on classical and contemporary scholarship of organizational learning theory to elaborate the intellectual, ethical, social, and political environment of school systems and to deduce skills that leaders and members of school systems engaged in organizational learning need to develop in order to support collective learning and continuous organizational improvement.

Findings

The paper provides core assumptions of organizational learning, along with a figure detailing components of organizational capacity and a figure summarizing intellectual, ethical, social, and political skills and values that allow members and leaders of school systems to build the organization's capacity, develop leadership, and influence an environment hospitable to collective learning.

Practical implications

The four sets of skills and values can be used in school systems to structure continuous, differentiated development for all members, especially leaders.

Originality/value

The paper offers an original, coherent, theoretically‐based framework of skills and practices that can develop members and create a broad leadership pool in school systems.
Successful principalship of high‐performance schools in high‐poverty communities
Authors: Mulford Bill , Kendall Diana , Ewington John , Edmunds Bill , Kendall Lawrie , Silins Halia
Published: August 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this article is to review literature in certain areas and report on related results from a study of successful school principalship in the Australian state of Tasmania.

Design/methodology/approach

Surveys on successful school principalship were distributed to a population of 195 government schools (excluding colleges and special schools) in Tasmania with a return rate of 67 per cent. Surveys sought responses in areas such as demographic characteristics (including a measure of school poverty), leadership characteristics, values and beliefs, tensions and dilemmas, learning and development, school capacity building, decision making, evaluation and accountability, and perceptions of school success. In addition, details of actual student performance on literacy and numeracy tests were supplied by the Department of Education.

Findings

The literature reviewed in this article indicated that world‐wide poverty is a major issue and that there is a nexus between poverty and education. While questions may be raised about the effectiveness of schools as institutions in serving those in high‐poverty communities, as well as problems in labelling a school as high‐poverty, evidence has emerged of high‐performing schools in high‐poverty communities. A common characteristic of these schools is successful, high‐performing leadership.

Practical implications

Evidence is provided on the nature of successful principalship of high‐performance schools in high‐poverty communities.

Originality/value

World‐wide poverty is a major and growing social and economic issue. Yet, material available in the area, including research reported here, leads one to conclude that the research on successful principalship in high‐performance schools in high‐poverty communities needs to be given greater priority.
Principals' opinions of organisational justice in elementary schools in Turkey
Authors: Aydin Inayet , Karaman‐Kepenekci Yasemin
Published: August 2008

Purpose

This study aims to present the opinions of public elementary school principals in Turkey about the current organisational justice practices among teachers from the distributive, procedural, interactional, and rectificatory dimensions.

Design/methodology/approach

The opinions of 11 public elementary school principals in Ankara about organisational justice practices were identified through focus group and conceptual analyses.

Findings

School principals are seen to distribute justice on matters like leave of absence, rewarding, performance appraisal, student allocation to classes, and course programs. Some complicating factors for principals in justice distribution are differences in teachers' perceptions of justice, school size, and restrictions of the policies of the Ministry of National Education. When principals make a mistake in justice distribution, they resort to checking their compliance with regulations, attempting to correct the mistake, and apologising. When teachers deem school principals unfair, they distance themselves, accuse the principals of unfair administration, slow down their work, and engage in gossip.

Research limitations/implications

The research is limited by the relatively small sample of principals involved.

Practical implications

The research will lay the ground for discussion about the steps to eliminate current problems about organisational justice practices in schools and will contribute to policy development by the Ministry of National Education in this regard.

Originality/value

The study is significant in examining the concept of justice as a universal value at the school level, enabling comparison with similar studies in other countries; and being the first research in Turkey to investigate school principals' organisational justice practices.
Fairness, teachers' non‐task behavior and alumni satisfaction
Authors: Zoghbi Manrique de Lara Pablo
Published: August 2008

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between interactional justice, as a type of organizational justice that reflects the teachers' perceived fairness of supervisor treatment, and their non‐task behavior in terms of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and deviant workplace behavior (DWB).

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 270 teachers (by e‐mail) and 22,599 students (by personal distribution) at a Spanish public university. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used for testing mediation and multiple regression for analyzing the non‐task and teaching satisfaction association.

Findings

Results show that justice is an antecedent of group commitment that fully mediates the relationship between justice and non‐task behavior except DWB‐Colleagues. Results also reveal an association between non‐task behavior, except DWB‐Organization and DWB‐Colleagues, and teaching satisfaction.

Research limitations/implications

The researched teachers' job conditions are inherent to the peculiarities of the public sector that may limit the ability to extrapolate the findings in the private sector. The findings provide a more understandable mechanism of the influence of the supervisor's justice on non‐task behavior and, in turn, on teaching satisfaction.

Practical implications

These findings contribute to a better understanding of the ways in which universities can control non‐task behavior and provide lines to design a more efficient department management strategy. The emotional and fair proximity of the supervisor, eliciting the group teachers' sense of affective commitment, appears as an effective quality strategy for universities.

Originality/value

The study of the joint interaction of justice and group commitment variables against DWB and in favor of OCB, and its consequent effect on teaching quality, is unprecedented in higher education.