Gaining Competitive Advantages in Higher Education: Analyzing the Gap between Expectations and Perceptions of Service Quality

The research findings have provided several implications for higher educational institutions, managers, and leaders of decision-making processes throughout the world. Service quality, customer satisfaction, and behavioral intentions are global issues that affect all organizations, large or small, profit or non-profit, global or local. We are all influenced or discouraged, satisfied or dissatisfied with positive loyalty behavioral intentions or negative complaining reactions, propelled by the level of service quality received. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

临床共情的基本路径研究

目的：开展临床共情基本路径研究,调查共情基本路径执行现状,为共情临床实践提供建议。方法：利用自行设计的调查问卷,采用分层随机抽样方法,对江苏省8所公立医院825名临床工作者和在这些医疗机构就诊的807例患者的临床共情基本路径现状进行调查和分析,对医务工作者和患者共情的认知状况进行比较。结果：在临床共情基本路径中的神态、情绪、倾听、微笑环节,医务工作者与患者的认知存在偏差;在耐心、专注、语言、告知、解释环节临床工作者均表现不佳。结论：临床工作者各路径环节表现不佳,需结合临床共情路径的内涵和实施方法,促进临床共情实践的实现和发展。     

人口结构、家庭资本与农民的政府满意度

基于2017年全国调查数据的分析,探讨中国农民对政府的满意度现状,并运用多元线性回归模型重点研究人口结构特征、家庭资本和政治资本对政府满意度的影响。研究发现：农民对各级政府的满意度从基层到高层依次递增,且总体上呈现出上升趋势。政治身份与农民的政府满意度呈正向关系,即党员和村干部身份的农民对政府的满意度相对更高。家庭年收入对政府满意度呈现出显著的正向影响,即家庭年收入越高,其对政府满意度就会越高;但家庭负债与政府满意度呈现出负相关性,即家庭越负债,其对政府满意度越低。农民对政策的满意度以及农民的政治认同感也对政府满意度有显著的正面影响,尤其是保障性政策满意度与国家认同度越高,农民对政府的满意度也会越高。     

Tolerance of Uncertainty: Links to Happenstance,Career Decision Self‐Efficacy,and Career Satisfaction

This study investigated the extent to which tolerance of uncertainty affects the relationship between happenstance skills and career satisfaction via career decision self‐efficacy. Moderated mediation analysis was conducted on data collected from 321 graduates (175 men, 146 women) of Korean universities making the school‐to‐work transition. Results showed that career decision self‐efficacy fully mediated the relationship between happenstance skills and career satisfaction. Furthermore, the moderation effect of tolerance of uncertainty had a significant impact on the relationship between happenstance skills and career decision self‐efficacy. Tolerance of uncertainty should be considered an important variable in happenstance career theory and intervention. Unplanned influences should also be considered important factors in the career decision‐making process.     

Workgroup interdependence and satisfaction from a developmental perspective: the moderating role of the group’s life cycle stage / Interdependencia y satisfacción en el grupo de trabajo desde la perspectiva del desarrollo: el rol moderador de la fase del ciclo de vida grupal

From a developmental perspective, workgroups adjust and modify the way they function over time. The present study aims to test, at the group level, the moderating role of the group’s life phase in the relationship between workgroup interdependence ties in terms of task, outcome and functions, assessed by social network density and group satisfaction. A sample of 84 teams from various companies participated in this research. The results showed that the group’s development phase determines the way that outcome interdependence density in teams is associated with satisfaction and reveal the existence of differences between the second and fourth development stages. Therefore, the group’s life cycle stage should be considered as a relevant variable in research and intervention with groups in the workplace.     

Staff rostering in call centers providing employee transportation

We address the staff rostering problem in call centers with the goal of balancing operational cost, agent satisfaction and customer service objectives. In metropolitan cities such as Istanbul and Mumbai, call centers provide the transportation of their staff so that shuttle costs constitute a significant part of the operational costs. We develop a mixed integer programming model that incorporates the shuttle requirements at the beginning and end of the shifts into the agent-shift assignment decisions, while considering the skill sets of the agents, and other constraints due to workforce regulations and agent preferences. We analyze model solutions for a banking call center under various management priorities to understand the interactions among the conflicting objectives. We show that considering transportation costs as well as agent preferences in agent-shift assignments provides significant benefits in terms of both cost savings and employee satisfaction.     

Quality of work and job satisfaction: comparing female part-time work in four European countries

Adding to the debate on the integrative or marginalizing nature of female part-time work, this article provides a comparative analysis of the implications of female part-time work for different intrinsic job quality dimensions and job satisfaction. Drawing on national micro-data from Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden, our multivariate analyses show cross-national similarities in terms of lower job learning opportunities for female part-timers. We found a significantly higher incidence of repetitiveness only among Swedish female part-timers and lower degrees of task discretion among British, Dutch, and Swedish women working part-time hours. Female part-timers were either equally satisfied with their work as female full-timers or even more satisfied. This held true also after accounting for the lower intrinsic job quality of part-time work. While women working part-time hours were as affected by their job quality characteristics as were full-timers, we conclude that the shorter hours of work per se provide an important additional source of job satisfaction.     

Bittersweet and Paradoxical

The American Red Cross is the most active nonprofit organization involved in disaster planning and response in the United States. The organization deployed nearly 50,000 volunteers to provide essential support to victims of some 125,000 domestic disasters, including home fires, hurricanes, wildfires, and floods, in a recent two‐year period. This study asks how American Red Cross disaster response volunteer experiences function to cultivate satisfaction and, at the other end of the spectrum, the kind of dissatisfaction that leads people to quit; it pays particular attention to ways in which volunteer management shapes dissatisfaction and fatigue because of implications for volunteer retention. Paradoxically, the Red Cross facilitates the highly satisfying act of helping victims, but volunteers feel dissatisfied when management practices get in the way of helping. The study suggests voluntary organizations that rely on skilled, long‐term volunteers to deliver services should evaluate and strengthen their communication strategies, recognition practices, and support systems for volunteers in distress.     

Self‐Construal,Career Decision Self‐Efficacy,and Perceived Barriers Predict Mexican American Women's Life Satisfaction

This study used the social cognitive theory of well‐being (SCTW; Lent, 2004 ) to examine the role of career decision self‐efficacy (CDSE), perceived educational barriers, and independent self‐construal on the life satisfaction of 176 Mexican American college women. A 3‐step hierarchical regression analysis indicated that independent self‐construal, CDSE, and fewer perceived educational barriers significantly predicted greater life satisfaction among Mexican American college women above and beyond the influence of socioeconomic status and generational status. These findings are consistent with SCTW and highlight the need for counselors and researchers to be aware of the role that self‐construal, CDSE, and perceived educational barriers can have on Mexican American women's life satisfaction. Implications for practice at the secondary‐school and university levels are discussed.