Browsing by Author "Romero, Fernando"

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A proposed representative sampling methodology
(Academic Conferences and Publishing International Limited, 2020) Leao, Celina; Barragán Landy, Milton Francisco; Sousa, Sérgio; Romero, Fernando
A representative sample is a subset of a population which ensures that those characteristics of the population which are under analysis are represented as completely as possible. There are different ways of estimating a representative sample of a population. When different and important characteristics of context are relevant (i.e. region, city, sectors by economic activities, economically active population and others), the selection of an appropriate method to collect data must be carefully planned. The research questions that motivated this work were: What method could help define a sector of study in a country? What criteria must be considered to define a sampling method? What is the adequate sample size considering subsectors within the sector of study? Is there any difference between sampling techniques used to define representative samples in a sector? The aim of this document is to establish an interactive and sequential process to select a sampling method and to apply it to define a sample of companies in the construction sector in Ecuador. The methodology was based on four phases; a characterization of the region and the sectors in the country; a population characterization, based on selected parameters; a sampling process based on a literature review; and a comparative analysis between two sampling techniques. A simple random sampling and a stratified random sampling within a selected sector were compared. Based on the obtained samples, 18.46% on average of the data were equally selected, independently of the sampling method. This reveals that the two methods, which answer specific objectives, can be used together to select a smaller sample. This methodology can be applied in business and management studies in other sectors and can provide an economy in terms of the resources needed for data collection without compromising the sample representativeness.
Adaptation mechanisms and service quality dimensions in dynamic and turbulent environments: empirical results
(IOS Press BV, 2021) Barragán Landy, Milton Francisco; Sousa, Sonia; Romero, Fernando
Organizations internally seek to develop adaptation and resilience processes or adaptation mechanisms to cope with drastic changes in the environment in order to survive. The changes in the environment affect the perception of product and service quality by the consumer, which are related to customer satisfaction. The purpose of this work is to identify the service quality dimensions that are nested within organizations and the mechanisms to adapt its processes to the turbulent environment. Twenty-four multiple case studies in the construction sector were developed through semi-structured interviews with customers and managers. The results suggest that there are new service quality dimensions; from the customers perspective such as: requirements management and process optimization, emotional intelligence, ergonomic analysis, permanent training of masons, extra activity, monitoring and others. The adaptation mechanisms that organizations use to guarantee service quality are integral training, saved budget, paradigm change, management system, teamwork, and others
Service quality factors in the construction sector: a literature review
(IOP Publishing, 2020) Barragán Landy, Milton Francisco; Sousa, Sergio Dinis; Romero, Fernando
Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd. This paper consists of an exploratory literature review whose main research objectives were the identification of the service quality factors that are considered more important in the construction sector, the service quality models that are used to measure quality, and how are they related to success factors. The research methodology is documental and based on a review of articles obtained from six major scientific databases. The description of the main results follows. In all cases, the traditional models of service quality were used as guidelines to explain and adapt to specific contexts. The typical parameters used in these models are reliability, responsiveness, communication, credibility, assurance, empathy with the client and construction quality. In some cases, additional dimensions were added. Success factors seem to be intrinsically related to project management, communication skills, professional skills, quality of the final product, design, aesthetic and innovation, where the three latter ones represent parameters that have gained recently preponderance. A holistic, flexible and adaptable attitude seems to be relevant to face dynamic and turbulent conditions and changing customer's requirements and expectations. Overall, the results indicate a generalised conservative approach which characterises this sector.
Sustainable innovation and service quality: an integrated overview
(Academic Conferences and Publishing International Limited, 2019) Romero, Fernando; Barragán Landy, Milton Francisco
© Proceedings of the 14th European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, ECIE 2019. All rights reserved. Sustainability is today a main concern of society. One way of addressing the problem and the need for sustainability is through innovation in products and services that are geared towards the satisfaction of specific needs of organizations, institutions or costumers related to a demand for products, services or product-services that are friendlier to the environment. Sustainable innovation is thus seen as a way of meeting the expectations of consumers and organizations regarding the delivery of green products or services. Stated in this way, there are two concepts that emerge as fundamental to the study of sustainability: the concept of sustainable innovation and the concept of service quality. The research questions that motivate this research are: what is the relationship between sustainable innovation and service quality? Are the expectations of consumers or organizations being met by the supply of green products and services? What are the implications in terms of changes that organizations or consumers must make? Having in mind these questions, the aim of this document is to explore the relationship between sustainable innovation and service quality in the scientific literature, identifying the factors and interactions that are suggested by it. The research methodology used to achieve that objective was based on a literature review, made with a qualitative approach. A four-point scale was developed to assess, in each article, the level of relation between the two concepts. The scale ranges from high to null relation between the two concepts. Most of the articles propose a positive relation between the two concepts, whereby 58% of the articles reviewed have the category of "high relation", and 31% were categorized as having a "medium relation". The implications for organizations may be the incorporation within their organizational culture of a strategy of integration of sustainable innovation and service quality through a mechanism called social and environmental responsibility.