Person: TARIM, MEHVEŞ
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TARIM
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MEHVEŞ
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Publication Metadata only A paradox of service quality in Turkey: The seemingly contradictory relative importance of tangible and intangible determinants of service quality(2005) TARIM, MEHVEŞ; Kara A., Lonial S., Tarim M., Zaim S.Purpose – Are there cases or contexts where certain groups of customers who are expected to place a considerable emphasis and importance on the tangible qualities of services end up attributing a greater weight to the intangible qualities? This paper attempts to exemplify the existence of such cases, and explain why such cases are, at times, paradoxical in nature, and how such cases could arise. Design/methodology/approach – The paper employs a structuralequationmodeling approach to theorize about, and empirically examine, the tangible and intangible determinants of service quality. The model and the path developed in the paper also capture the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction. Using AMOS, the empirical estimation of the model is carried out. Findings – The central finding is that all intangible factors associated with service quality turn out to be unequivocally more important than the tangible ones in the Turkish nonprofit healthcare sector under investigation. In other words, intangible factors appear to play a statistically more significant role compared with tangible factors in determining the overall customer satisfaction and the quality of nonprofit healthcare services. Considering that, in developing countries, tangible factors are expected to be among the most scarce, and hence, most valuable ones, the relative unimportance of tangible factors constitutes a paradox to be explained and resolved. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the literature by bringing to light a striking phenomenon which is largely unnoticed in the literature, namely that, in certain cases, there might exist a fundamental asymmetry and difference between the influences of tangible and intangible factors on service quality, and that difference in certain contexts, as in the case of the Turkish healthcare sector, constitutes a paradox to be explained. The paper demonstrates the possibility of such paradoxical cases and provides cultural and sectorspecific explanations for this seemingly puzzling phenomenon in question. © 2005, Emerald Group Publishing LimitedPublication Metadata only An evaluation of SERVQUAL and patient loyalty in an emerging country context(ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD, 2010) TARIM, MEHVEŞ; Lonial, Subhash; Menezes, Dennis; Tarim, Mehves; Tatoglu, Ekrem; Zaim, SelimThe growth of the service sector in the US spawned a strong interest and growing body of literature related to the measurement of service quality. SERVQUAL, a multi-item scale first proposed by Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry (1985), has been used for measuring customer perceptions of service quality across a wide variety of service environments including healthcare in the US. There is a dearth of research that relates to an evaluation of SERVQUAL across various cultural and economic environments. This empirical study is an attempt to fill this gap by focusing on the healthcare environment in Istanbul, Turkey. In addition to a rigorous evaluation of SERVQUAL using confirmatory factor analysis, measures of internal consistency and discriminant validity, the relationships between the various dimensions of SERVQUAL, an overall measure of service quality and patient loyalty are evaluated using structural equations modelling and path analysis. A number of hypotheses are developed and tested. The results suggest that SERVQUAL and its dimensions of perceived service quality are reliable and valid across cultural and economic environments in the context of healthcare/hospital albeit some need for adaptation. Path analysis indicates that service quality directly affects both overall quality of and feelings toward hospital services. Overall quality affects customer repatronage intentions and feelings towards hospital services. However, no significant relationship was found between service quality and repatronage intention.Publication Metadata only The impact of market orientation on NSD and financial performance of hospital industry(EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LTD, 2008) TARIM, MEHVEŞ; Lonial, Subhash C.; Tarim, Mehves; Tatoglu, Ekrem; Zaim, Selim; Zaim, HalilPurpose - The principal aim of this study is to determine the critical factors of market orientation (MO) and to measure its effect on new service development (NSD) and financial performance of hospital industry in Turkey. Design/methodology/approach - Drawing on a self-administered questionnaire, the data were collected from a sample of privately-held general hospitals within the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Based on theoretical considerations, a model was proposed to examine the interrelationships among MO, NSD-performance and financial performance. Findings - Data analysis reveals that while MO has a strong and positive effect on NSD-performance, it has no significant effect on financial performance. Also a strong and positive relationship was noted between NSD-performance and financial performance. Finally, the findings also provided evidence for the mediating role of NSD-performance in. the relationship between MO and financial performance in the hospital industry. Research limitations/implications - First, due to relatively small sample size, a caution should be exercised when interpreting the results. Second, the data were collected from hospitals in Turkey, which may restrict to some extent generalizability of findings. Third, we relied on the subjective evaluations of senior, executives. It would therefore be useful to replicate the results with objective measures of performance indicators. Practical implications - Although there is compelling evidence that MO has a positive effect on business performance, it alone may not be able to produce superior performance. Many hospitals are committed to MO and new services development. The framework clearly indicates that a strong commitment to both the NSD-performance and marketing areas is essential for improving the financial performance of hospitals. Also, to remain competitive in today's healthcare industry, hospital managers should all keep pace with the daily changes in the market place and stay attuned to NSD activities and quality management practices. Originality/value - The main thrust of this study is to investigate whether the relationship between MO and financial performance is mediated by NSD-performance in hospital industry. This constitutes the novelty of this research as most prior empirical research investigating a mediating mechanism through which MID affects firm performance largely focused on other factors with no or little emphasis being placed on NSD activities or NSD-performance in healthcare context.