PurposeThe purpose of this study is to demonstrate how to use customer spontaneous comments to identify which aspects influence the overall customer satisfaction with restaurant services from a nonlinear perspective.Design/methodology/approachThe authors collected data from 399 spontaneous comments about a chain of fast-food restaurants in Brazil. The comments are freely available on the TripAdvisor portal and were extracted and classified according to seven dimensions related to the quality of services: tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, quality of the food and price. Next, the authors combine the critical incident technique (CIT) and the penalty-reward contrast analysis (PRCA) to investigate the nonlinear relationship between service quality assessment and overall customer satisfaction.FindingsThe method of integrating CIT with PRCA explains 64.7% of the variation in the customer's assessment of the services provided (RAdj2 = 0.647). This shows that spontaneous comments from customers are related to their overall satisfaction with the service provided. Besides, the findings suggest that consumers tend to comment more about positive than negative experiences regarding aspects related to food, attendants' empathy and service assurance, and more negative comments about aspects related to responsiveness and price. However, it was found that negative comments have a stronger influence on overall satisfaction than positive comments.Originality/valueUsing comments available for free on the Internet and evaluating how positive and negative comments can jointly influence customer satisfaction, the proposed methodology demonstrates how restaurants can use their customers' spontaneous comments to identify critical aspects to be managed and improved. To the best of authors’ knowledge, this is the first study presenting how restaurants can use customer spontaneous comments, freely available on the internet, to identify the relevance of different aspects of the services provided from a nonlinear perspective. In addition, the present study shows that although customers spontaneously tend to share more positive than negative comments about restaurant services, events related to negative experiences have a stronger influence on overall satisfaction.

Innovation has been recognized as one of the main determinants of nation’s economic development and has been adopted as a main tool for adding value and achieving sustainable competitive advantage. In order to understand the influence of global competitiveness on global innovation of nations, this study analyzed some indexes of 133 countries using a multiple linear regression analysis. The results suggested that global competitiveness influences the innovativeness of nations significantly and positively. Higher education and training was the competitiveness indicators that most influenced in innovation of nations.

PurposeFacilitation activities support implementation of evidence-based interventions within healthcare organizations. Few studies have attempted to understand how facilitation activities are performed to promote the uptake of evidence-based interventions in hospitals from resource-poor countries during crises such as pandemics. This paper aims to explore facilitation activities by infection prevention and control (IPC) professionals in 16 hospitals from 9 states in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachPrimary and secondary data were collected between March and December 2020. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 IPC professionals in Brazilian hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Public and internal documents were used for data triangulation. The data were analyzed through thematic analysis technique.FindingsBuilding on the change response theory, this study explores the facilitation activities from the cognitive, behavioral and affective aspects. The facilitation activities are grouped in three overarching dimensions: (1) creating and sustaining legitimacy to continuous and rapid changes, (2) fostering capabilities for continuous changes and (3) accelerating individual commitment.Practical implicationsDuring crises such as pandemics, facilitation activities by IPC professionals need to embrace all the cognitive, behavioral and affective aspects to stimulate positive attitudes of frontline workers toward continuous and urgent changes.Originality/valueThis study provides unique and timely empirical evidence on the facilitation activities that support the implementation of evidence-based interventions by IPC professionals during crises in hospitals in a resource-poor country.

Experts claim for more studies on Theory of Multiple Intelligences in higher education classrooms. There is a lack of information on the characteristics of multiple intelligence in universities in developing countries, such as Brazil, as they can assist in the education of students in a wide variety of fields. This study aims to analyze and compare the types of multiple intelligences among bachelor students of Business Administration programs in private universities. We conducted a quantitative study based on survey with students from two private universities in the southern Brazil. The results indicated that the academic profile of both programs has similarity in the average frequency of most of the identified intelligences. The intelligences identified that showed statistically significant differences between academics are: logical-mathematical, interpersonal, musical and naturalistic. In general, the most developed multiple intelligences are: logical-mathematical, interpersonal, intrapersonal and bodily-kinesthetic. In addition, the least developed are: spatial, linguistic, musical and naturalistic.

This study explores the complementary capabilities in PSS development by MedTech firms and how it drives interorganizational relations. The findings indicate three categories of complementary capabilities: health-related, data-driven, and social capital capabilities. They are attracted with formal contracts and additional benefits, remote support, and exploration of partners’ networks.