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The purpose of this paper is to uncover the customers’ concerns with the information disclosed in water services invoices and to analyse them with reference to the data quality dimensions usually proposed in the literature. In the context of services of general interest invoices are particularly relevant as a vehicle to convey information to all consumers.

Based on the principles of quality planning, the research uses a qualitative approach to identify the data quality requirements of water invoices. Customer voices were collected by means of focus groups and their meanings analysed using an affinity diagram.

Findings show that plain language efforts and strategies to enhance trust on the service provided need to be further reinforced. Consumers’ requirements together with the regulator recommendations also confirm the data quality dimensions identified in the literature.

This research highlights that avoiding technical language and making visible the consequences of different consumption levels on the amounts to be paid is essential when designing water invoices. Moreover, it emphasises that there is still room for improvement in the way the economic regulator performs its role in ensuring the provision of sound information.

This research addresses a literature gap by conducting a study on data quality requirements outside the context of information systems for organisations. The study is original because it looks at water invoices as a “product” that can be designed to meet the needs of their users.

The effects of customer satisfaction on loyalty have been widely discussed by the academic community. Although the results of the studies reported in the literature are often contradictory, the existence of a relationship between satisfaction and loyalty is acknowledged, despite the influence of moderators and constraints of various kinds. The purpose of this paper is to discuss this relationship in the specific context of the retail sector, since this sector presents major challenges in terms of competition, and efforts placed on customer satisfaction and loyalty are more evident.

A survey based on the European Customer Satisfaction Index (ECSI) model was applied to a retail store in Portugal. This model has its roots in Switzerland, where in 1989, Claes Fornell developed a new complementary method for measuring the overall quality of companies’ output, through the calculation of an aggregated customer satisfaction index. The proposed model is based on a set of causal relationships established between a set of constructs. The ultimate goal is to calculate both satisfaction and loyalty indexes as well as to estimate the relationship between both constructs. Structural equation modelling, based on a partial least squares (PLS) estimation methodology, is the statistical technique used to estimate the model parameters, as well as to compare the aggregated indexes. PLS is based on the principles of linear regression and combines multiple regression aspects with factor analysis, in order to estimate a series of interrelated relationships.

The results confirm a positive influence of satisfaction on customers’ loyalty to the retail store. The study also shows the importance of the image construct, due to its strong direct effects on satisfaction, which makes it essential for influencing the loyalty index, both directly and indirectly. The impact of the image construct is also evident on the expectations, as the latter has shown a considerable direct effect on perceived quality.

The study is based on a single case study of a Portuguese sports retail store. In future it would be interesting to study a representative sample of the whole retail sector.

The study is useful for the specific retail store where it was undertaken to help it devise better customer service, in order to increase satisfaction and loyalty. It is also useful for the entire network of stores for that retailer and other retail chains.

The systematic application of customer surveys to whole sectors of the economy would improve competition, customer service and, ultimately, contribute to development and economic growth.

The ECSI has been applied to various industry sectors in different countries, including Portugal. It has never been used in the context of the Portuguese retail sector and it adds to the discussion on the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty, which is a pertinent topic of interest for researchers in quality management.

This paper aims to propose a tool to assess local public expenditure effectiveness based on a framework of alignment between outputs, outcomes and impacts – the Index of Municipal Expenditure Effectiveness (IMEE). This index is composed of a set of indicators associated with the typology of local expenditure.

The paper describes the methodological approach used in the development of the Index, considering the insights from the literature review and the opinion of a panel of experts. The indicators of outcomes and social impacts that are part of the Index are intentionally aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as they provide an essential guide to assess public value creation in the current context. For simplicity purposes, three main components of municipal expenditure were considered, namely Education, Essential Public Services and Local Public Transportation. The Index is then illustrated through a pilot application, using data from five Portuguese municipalities.

This study argues that measuring the public expenditure effectiveness based on outcome and impact indicators can provide the data needed for local governments to better understand the effects of their activities over time, ultimately assessing their contribution to public value.

Assessing the impact of local spending is important to ensure the best use of public resources. Linking local public expenditures with the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs is a promising avenue to understand up to what extent the application of the public money is contributing to create public value by impacting on citizens’ lives.

The proposed IMEE contributes to addressing a gap identified in public organizations, including local governments, regarding the lack of consideration of expenditure and outcome/impact relationships, and the use of variables to measure long term impacts.

It is widely accepted that doing exercise regularly is essential to promote physical, psychological and social well-being. Yet, often dropout rates tend to be high. The purpose of this paper is to propose a model to understand the potential drivers of satisfaction and loyalty in the sports and fitness context looking in particular at four main dimensions of service quality: infrastructures/physical environment, relationship with instructors/staff, outcomes achieved and customer-to-customer interaction.

An extensive literature review was conducted to identify potential drivers of customer satisfaction and loyalty in sports. The proposed model was estimated using data collected from a sample of 384 users of four Portuguese swimming pools facilities by means of a survey questionnaire.

The majority of the hypotheses tested found support in the data. In particular, the quality of the interaction with instructors and the results obtained from exercising have a strong impact on satisfaction, which, in turn, is highly correlated with psychological commitment and positive word-of-mouth communication.

Based on the findings some managerial implications can be derived. Such recommendations can enhance users’ perceptions of service quality and indirectly contribute to a more regular and effective sports practice.

The importance of enhancing loyalty has been emphasised in sports management literature. Yet, few studies have empirically investigated the simultaneous relationships among service quality dimensions, customer satisfaction and loyalty. This research partially addresses this gap.

Wicked problems require collaborative innovation approaches. Understanding the problem from the users' perspective is essential. Based on a complex and ill-defined case, the purpose of the current paper is to identify some critical success factors in defining the “right problem” to be addressed.

An empirical research study was carried out in a low-density municipality (case study). Extensive data were collected from official databases, individual semi-structured interviews and a focus group involving citizens, local authorities, civil servants and other relevant stakeholders.

As defined by the central government, the problem to be addressed by the research team was to identify which justice services should be made available locally to a small- and low-density community. The problem was initially formulated using top-down reasoning. In-depth contact with citizens and key local players revealed that the lack of justice services was not “the issue” for that community. Mobility constraints and the shortage of economic opportunities had a considerable impact on the lack of demand for justice services. By using a bottom-up perspective, it was possible to reframe the problem to be addressed and suggest a new concept to be tested at later stages.

The approach followed called attention to the importance of listening to citizens and local organisations with a profound knowledge of the territory to effectively identify and circumscribe a local problem in the justice field.

The paper highlights the limitations of traditional rational problem-solving approaches and contributes to expanding the voice-of-the-customer principle showing how it can lead to a substantially new definition of the problem to be addressed.

Little is known about the extent to which management and engineering publications dedicated to the study of quality management topics make use of mixed methods, what types of studies have been conducted and how effective mixed methods have been. The aim of the current paper is to analyse how mixed methods have been used in quality management research.

To address this purpose, a bibliometric analysis was conducted of papers using mixed methods designs to investigate quality management issues and published in the SCOPUS database. CiteSpace software was used to assist in the categorisation and mapping process.

Ninety articles were identified and analysed. The results show that mixed methods are mainly used either to compare different perspectives drawn from quantitative and qualitative data or to develop better measurement instruments. Sequential mixes occur more often than concurrent approaches. Moreover, there is a link between the purpose of the study and the approaches followed to combine qualitative and quantitative methods. Yet, the contribution of the use of mixed methods to achieving the aims of the study is not easy to assess as the purposes of using mixed methods are often not clearly stated.

As one of the first papers to examine how qualitative and quantitative methods are being combined in quality management research, this study is expected to contribute to the literature by providing some insights into how mixed methods can be more effectively used in this field.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an assessment guide based on the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) model criteria. Courts have been under pressure to become more accountable and responsive organisations. In this context, self-assessment models that drive attention to the way resources are being used and to the results that are being achieved, incorporating the views of different stakeholders, are of particular interest.

A case study approach was used. The meaning of the quality principles that underline the EFQM model was discussed with the court administrator, judges, prosecutors and justice officers. Those perspectives were taken into account when translating the criteria and criterion parts of the EFQM model. The assessment guide was validated by an experts’ panel.

The EFQM model captures the essential features of a court even if the courts terminology and governance models challenge the translation of some criteria. The resulting guide includes a description of the various criteria and criterion parts and the identification of key focus areas, while giving some illustrative examples of initiatives and indicators that could be looked at under each model dimension.

The assessment guide can be used to undertake self-assessment exercises in different courts.

There is a lack of studies on the measurement of courts’ performance apart from the publication of simple lists of process indicators. The assessment guide developed in this study is perhaps one of the most comprehensive resources for assessing the quality of a court.

Current models of organizational excellence are appropriate for the private organizations. It is evident that if an appropriate model is not adopted, the process of excellence in the organizations fails and some dimensions of the organization get affected by unpredictable damages. This research aims to identify an appropriate excellence model for public organizations.

First, a comprehensive literature review was conducted to identify the excellence criteria and models. Second, the models were through an expert-oriented questionnaire, analyzed by the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) technique. Participants were experts in the two domains of excellence models and public sector management. A sample of 15 experts was selected using purposive sampling. In order to emphasize on reliability, 10 questionnaires were adopted for analysis.

The findings showed that the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) model is the most appropriate model for excellence measurement in the public organizations based on the five selected indices.

The identification of a model for measuring organizational excellence for public sector can significantly contribute to existing literature on excellence measurement.

We present a critical literature review debating Brazilian research on social and environmental accounting (SEA). The aim of this study is to understand the role of politics in the construction of hegemonies in SEA research in Brazil. In particular, we examine the role of hegemony in relation to the co-option of SEA literature and sustainability in the Brazilian context by the logic of development for economic growth in emerging economies. The methodological approach adopts a post-structural perspective that reflects Laclau and Mouffe’s discourse theory. The study employs a hermeneutical, rhetorical approach to understand and classify 352 Brazilian research articles on SEA. We employ Brown and Fraser’s (2006) categorizations of SEA literature to help in our analysis: the business case, the stakeholder–accountability approach, and the critical case. We argue that the business case is prominent in Brazilian studies. Second-stage analysis suggests that the major themes under discussion include measurement, consulting, and descriptive approach. We argue that these themes illustrate the degree of influence of the hegemonic politics relevant to emerging economics, as these themes predominantly concern economic growth and a capitalist context. This paper discusses trends and practices in the Brazilian literature on SEA and argues that the focus means that SEA avoids critical debates of the role of capitalist logics in an emerging economy concerning sustainability. We urge the Brazilian academy to understand the implications of its reifying agenda and engage, counter-hegemonically, in a social and political agenda beyond the hegemonic support of a particular set of capitalist interests.