The survival rate of small businesses operating in the Australian building maintenance industry (SBBM) has been decreasing due to high competition. Some researchers identify the delivery of high levels of service quality as a differential strategy that can improve small business chances of survival. The objective of this study is to examine the nature of the relationships between the quality of service delivered by SBBM and the satisfaction and repurchase intention of Australian households. Additionally, provide a dimension-specific analysis of the relationship between the quality of service delivered by SBBM and the satisfaction and repurchase intention of Australian households. In order to achieve the objectives of the study, a self-completion questionnaire measuring instrument is mailed to 667 potential participants selected using simple random sampling. The measuring instrument consists of 26 questions based on the SERVPERF model. A total of 200 complete and accurate questionnaires are returned. The relationships among the main constructs of the study are tested using correlational research design. The study concludes that customer satisfaction mediates the relationship between service quality and repurchase intention. It also concludes that SBBM can achieve high levels of service quality and repurchase intention by focusing and investing in the reliability, assurance and empathy factors of service quality. The results of this study are only applicable to the Australian residential market and may not be universally applicable, which is considered a limitation.
Research into small firms has expanded over recent years, yet one field where insight is still limited is Work Health and Safety (WHS) especially in the high risk construction industry. The main objective of this research proposal is to provide the foundation for a potential future study that explores the impact of WHS on developing a competitive advantage and improving organisational performance from the perspective of the owner-managers of small Australian construction firms using a qualitative multiple case design. This research proposal investigates a sample of four small construction firms from the same industry therefore the findings can't be generalised to other work environments, which a limitation to the proposed study.
Work accidents impacts negatively on the physical, mental and social welfare of employees, increase cost of production, and make firms less competitive. The construction industry in Australia consists of 96% small business and has the fifth largest incident rates of serious injury of all industries. Nevertheless, recent statistics by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show noticeable improvement in safety performance within the construction industry compared to previous years.This descriptive pilot study attempts to verify small business contribution to this recent improvement. Ten owner managers are surveyed in order to examine their commitment to work health and safety using a 34 self-completion questionnaire. The findings show that small business owners in the construction industry take a positive approach toward work health and safety in their work environment.This study represents only a snapshot of the reality of small construction business commitment to work health and safety in Australia and can't be generalised to a wider population, therefore further research with larger samples is required to confirm the findings of this study.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.