Purpose -Fuzzy logic provides a useful tool for dealing with decisions in which the phenomena are imprecise and vague. The purpose of this paper is to prioritize the library service quality indicators from the student's point of view at Ferdowsi University, Iran, using this method. It also aims to identify the main indicators that help users satisfaction and consequently, the best budget allocation by library managers. Design/methodology/approach -This research was performed among students of the university and questionnaires were distributed to students that used the library service at least once each month. The basis of the questionnaire was a SERVQUAL model developed for academic libraries. The characteristics/quality components with fuzzy-TOPSIS technique were prioritized to meet the requirements of students as customers of the academic libraries. Using fuzzy set theory, customers' perceptions of service quality are generally expressed subjectively in vague linguistic terms, and this paper tries to apply a fuzzy approach to service quality in Ferdowsi university libraries. Findings -The results show that there is no equal importance between library service quality indicators. After prioritizing indicators it was found that having the ability to find information 24 hours a day has the most importance and a secure and safe place is the least important indicator for making a high quality library. Practical implications -The results of this study will be helpful for planners to pay attention to some indicators that have most importance but low performance. With this result higher users can obtain satisfaction with lower efforts. Originality/value -The concept in the paper can be useful for two reasons. The first is low budget of academic libraries. It is true that libraries are the heart of a university but there is not enough allocated budget to maintain this situation. The budget can then be allocated for the best indicators. Second is the freshness of fuzzy approach to service quality. In developing the use of this approach to academic libraries, it is hoped that the libraries can satisfy user demands and make the best strategies for improvement.
The authors would like to thank Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) for providing a fellowship to support this research.
Customer Relationship Management is crucial influencing factor for competitiveness in saturated markets. Public cloud-computing services for customer-relationship management provide many benefits. However, their usage in Europe is reluctant. Our research identifies several core and sub-influence factors and reveals how strong they are. Enterprises strive for covering risks in terms of safety and security. Further important influencing factors are functional completeness and integration into the existing environment. Our research provides new knowledge of the use of public cloud services in general and in particular for the use of customer relationship in a public cloud environment.
PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present the perception of service quality. The measurement of service quality has grown significantly in importance over recent years. However, since customers' perceptions of service quality are expressed subjectively in vague linguistic terms therefore, a fuzzy approach to service quality of an academic library is applied and the gap between the student's expectations and perceptions analyzed.Design/methodology/approachThe LibQUAL method is applied to identify the gap between customer expectation and perceptions of the actual service received. The linguistic procedure is developed considering four dimensions of LibQUAL. The quality analyses are based on the non‐parametric rank‐based statistics (Wilcoxon's two‐sample rank sum statistic) and extended to fuzzy data which consequently reinforces results in comparison with crisp data.FindingsIt is found that there is no gap between the students' expectations and perceptions in three dimensions of “affect of service”, “library as a place”, and “personal control”. But, from the students' point of view, regarding the “access to information” dimension, there is a significant difference between the students' expectations and perceptions.Research limitations/implicationsThe instrument that is administered is a paper questionnaire version based on the 2002 model of LibQUAL.Practical implicationsIt is felt that application of this fuzzy procedure has implications on possible constraints on the statistics of interest, as well as on the p‐value of any associated significance tests.Originality/valueThis paper is possibly the first to demonstrate the application of fuzzy logic to the LibQUAL model. This fuzzy procedure persuades possibility constraints on the statistic of interest, as well as on the p‐value of an associated significance test. This fuzzy procedure persuades possibility constraints on the statistic of interest, as well as on the p‐value of an associated significance test.
Most of research on fostering ethical behavior among students has taken place in US and Europe. This paper seeks to provide additional information to both educators and organizations about the ethical perceptions of Iranian students by investigating the effect of gender on students' ethical behavior. The authors developed and administered a quantitative questionnaire to a sample of 203 individuals currently pursuing accredited degrees at one of the public universities in Iran. Statistical analysis revealed that male students have a significantly less ethical behavior in three factors (selfishness, academic cheating and computer ethics) than female students. While the topic of students' ethical behavior and its relationship with gender has been extensively studied before, there have been contrasting findings by different researchers. This paper is among the very few first researches conducted among Iranian university students to investigate the effects of gender on students' ethical behavior under the four categories of violation of school regulations, selfishness, academic cheating, and computer ethics, hence making an important contribution to the ethics literature on the developing countries, since the study was conducted in Iran.
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