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Success in the retail sector is highly dependent on customer satisfaction. Maintaining a competitive edge depends upon the service providers knowing and enacting what is important to their customers. Multiple studies have employed various research approaches to identifying characteristics of customer satisfaction in different sectors as well as retail sector. However, very few have determined such characteristics using multiple approaches simultaneously in the retail store. This study aims to identify, categorize, and rank the retail store attributes, based on their effects on customer satisfaction. A survey focusing on retail store characteristics that impact customer satisfaction was developed and distributed. Over 400 responses were collected and evaluated, using the Kano model. Results showed that visually appealing facilities and error-free transactions are of prime importance to customers. They are taken for granted, but their absence plays a significant role in customer dissatisfaction. An easy-to-navigate store layout and readily available service increase customer satisfaction, but their absence doesn’t decrease customer satisfaction. Clean public areas and modern-looking equipment are important, and improvements to them increase customer satisfaction at a proportional rate. The findings of this study will assist service providers in realizing the relative importance of the attributes of retail stores and in evaluating the impacts of their current practices on customer satisfaction levels. Such importance will also help retail sector policy makers in mandating policies focusing on must-have attributes to preserve customer satisfaction.

Students are one of the vulnerable groups of people affected by a disaster, as they suffer both physically and mentally. Concerns are rising, as educational institutions lack adequate emergency programs to prepare students for disasters. Moreover, the integration of disaster preparedness in the coursework is rarely done for students with majors such as construction. This study performs a comprehensive literature review to integrate the research related to students’ disaster preparedness and provide strategies to increase students’ disaster preparedness. To fulfill this aim, 83 of the most recent scholarly articles were collected and scrutinized. The current trends in disaster preparedness curriculums in construction programs, as well as other majors, were studied, strategies for enhancing these programs espoused by researchers were investigated, and challenges/barriers to providing disaster preparedness education were analyzed. It was concluded that the integration of hands-on practices of rescue activities into construction curriculums, along with theoretical knowledge of disasters, significantly helps students to be prepared for a disaster and for post-disaster mitigation efforts hence should be included in the disaster preparedness curriculum. Lack of resources and trained personnel is one of the major causes of insufficient integration of disaster preparedness materials in the course curriculum. This study will assist in updating the existing programs, enhancing construction students’ disaster preparedness, addressing potential challenges to the advancement of knowledge, and reducing damages.

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