From product to service quality: the role of managerial mindsets

Abstract

This study is a response to calls for a more comprehensive treatment of service operations management amid concerns over the prevalence of poor service quality. Building upon the ideas of total quality management as an ethos of continual learning and quality improvement, this study aims to elucidate different managerial mindsets towards service quality and the resulting impact on the organisational learning environment. Using a qualitative case study methodology of a sample of UK-based service organisations, the findings point to a trichotomy of managerial mindsets towards service quality each connected to different types of organisational learning. These include (i) outcome mindset with a focus on short-term learning, (ii) process mindset with a focus on intermittent learning, and (iii) process-outcome mindset with a focus on continuous learning. We suggest several propositions for further empirical testing and highlight practical implications of the findings.

Keywords:

• Total quality management
• service quality
• management mindset
• management control
• organisational learning
• qualitative case study research

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ying-Ying Liao

Ying-Ying Liao (PhD, University of Kent) is associate professor of quality management at the School of Quality and Business Management, Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University (HBMSU), Dubai, UAE. Prior to joining HBMSU, she was assistant professor (and Marketing Programme leader) at International Business School Suzhou (IBSS) at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in China. Her research interests include service quality, service marketing, managing human resources in services and supply chain quality management.

Ebrahim Soltani

Ebrahim Soltani (PhD, University of Strathclyde) is professor of quality management at Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University (HBMSU), Dubai, UAE. Prior to joining HBMSU, he was a professor of operations management at the University of Kent (UK). His research interests include operations management, operations improvement initiatives, quality in supply chain, and human resource issues relevant to quality.

Adrian Wilkinson

Adrian Wilkinson (PhD, Durham University) is Professor and Director of the Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing at Griffith University, Australia. Adrian has written/edited twenty books, over one hundred articles in refereed journals (e.g. British Journal of Management, Human Resource Management, Human Relations), and numerous book chapters. His books (with co-authors) include, among others, Making Quality Critical, Managing Quality and Human Resources and Managing with TQM: Theory and Practice.