People-related TQM practices: the role of metaperceptions

Does the ferry sector need soft total quality management practices? Evidence from an Italian ferry company

Purpose

The study aims to deepen existing knowledge on the specific role of soft total quality management (TQM) practices in the ferry sector. Over the last decade, TQM practices have been thoroughly restructured, allowing us to develop an appropriate framework through which the relevance of each practice to this particular sector can be explained.

Design/methodology/approach

A narrative case study has been conducted to enhance the quality orientation and soft TQM practices adopted by a medium-sized company in the ferry sector.

Findings

The study identifies five soft TQM practices that offer valuable contributions in terms of quality orientation. These are organised into a configurational and systemic approach according to a three-level framework. At the macro level, a customer-orientated approach is paramount, as this orientation clearly points out the fundamental values of TQM. Coherently, at the micro-level, employees should be trained, involved, and empowered to truly internalise and behave according to a quality orientation. At the meso-level, dedicated leadership should support these practices and foster their effectiveness across the organisational structure.

Research limitations/implications

The main limitation of this study is related to its narrative analysis. More empirically-grounded research should be used in the future to test the validity of the model.

Practical implications

TQM practices can leverage soft aspects, finding mutual integrations and offering reciprocal support if a bundle of practices is enforced and co-present across several layers of an organisational structure.

Originality/value

The model offers a configurational approach to help the ferry sector in leveraging soft TQM practices to implement TQM initiatives successfully. This is subject to external contingencies and thus requires adaptability and flexibility.

Passengers' service perceptions emerging from user-generated content during the pandemic: the case of leading low-cost carriers

Purpose

Although a vast amount of research has been started to gauge customer satisfaction using surveys, the influence of COVID-19 on passengers' satisfaction has not received enough attention. Hence, the primary purpose of this research is to determine the dominant themes that emerged from airline travelers' online reviews and to determine attributes that are pertinent to the satisfaction of passengers flying with low-cost carriers (LCC) during the COVID-19 outbreak. In addition, this study investigates whether the salient themes of passengers' overall experiences vary by traveler origin, which may give more insight into airline sector market segmentation.

Design/methodology/approach

Leximancer software was used to construct concepts from words, followed by themes in the data analysis.

Findings

The analyses revealed eight themes in descriptions of “travel experiences” for airline passengers. These are “flights,” “staff,” “service,” “hygiene,” “cancellations,” “legroom,” “COVID-19” and “test”. Negative reviews associated with “cancellations,” “refund,” “waiting” and “baggage” (handling) concepts.

Originality/value

The findings provide important information about airline passengers' overall experiences. Limited studies have comprehensively considered various satisfaction categories of airline travelers using online reviews.