Customer Expectation Views

Transcription

1 2014 International Conference on Management and Engineering (CME 2014) ISBN: Customer Expectation Viewsʼ Analysis on Personality Traits, Professional Competency and Customer Satisfaction for ISO 9001 QMS Auditors A Preliminary Investigation in Taiwan REN-CHIEH LIAO ABSTRACT This research discussed the relationship among personality traits, professional competency and customer satisfaction for ISO 9001 QMS auditors, from importance expectation viewpoints of audited companies in Taiwan. Questionnaires were used to collect the data from ISO 9001 QMS certificated companies. SPSS 19.0 and Amos were used to analyze the data for responded questionnaires. There re 181 valid questionnaires in the research. From Cronbach s α analysis, coefficient values verified the design reliability of our questionnaire. Results from analysis of those data for those importance expectation during the certification processes showed that, H 1 (Personality Traits have a positive effect on Professional Competency) and H 3 (Professional Competency have a positive effect on Customer Satisfaction) hypothesis held; and H 2 (Personality Traits have a positive effect on Customer Satisfaction) hypothesis was rejected. From our research, the key characteristic for customer satisfaction enhancement will be auditor's professional competency. By taking the specific personality traits into account, results from analysis of those questionnaires can provided as a reference base for the third-party certification organizations for their auditors qualification definition and training purposes. INTRODUCTION Under the trend of global trade, there becomes no boundary among countries. Under the tendency for achieving good quality, Taiwan s companies paid much attention to quality system certification. Achieving the ISO 9001 quality management system certificate become the first priority for the quality level recognition of those companies. During the certification process of the ISO 9001 QMS, the auditors played an important role. Therefore, their personality traits may affect the result of certification, and customer s satisfaction level. In this research, by applying questionnaire analysis, we tried to study the relationship among personality traits, professional competency and customer satisfaction for Taiwan s ISO 9001 QMS Ren-Chieh Liao, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Chienkuo Technology University, No. 1, Chieh Shou N. Rd., Changhua City, Taiwan, R.O.C.

2 auditors. A questionnaire containing 3 parts with total 23 questions was used to collect the data of importance expectation viewpoints, from Taiwan s ISO 9001 QMS certificated companies. Results of this research can be used in the qualification definition and training of auditors for those third-party certification organizations. LITERATURE REVIEW Personality Trait In psychology, trait theory is an approach to the study of human personality. Trait theorists are primarily interested in the measurement of traits, which can be defined as habitual patterns of behavior, thought, and emotion [1]. According to this perspective, traits are relatively stable over time, differ across individuals (e.g. some people are outgoing whereas others are shy), and influence behavior. There is nearly unlimited number of potential traits that could be used to describe personality. The statistical technique of factor analysis, however, has demonstrated that particular clusters of traits reliably correlate together. Hans Eysenck suggested personality could be reducible to three major traits [2, 3]. Other researchers argue that more factors are needed to adequately describe human personality including humor, wealth and beauty [4].Many psychologists currently believe that five factors are sufficient [5, 6]. The "big five" are broad categories of personality traits. While there is a significant body of literature supporting this five-factor model of personality, researchers don't always agree on the exact labels for each dimension. However, Those generally accepted Big Five personality traits were Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability /Neuroticism, and Openness. ISO 9001 and Audit ISO 9000 is a series of standards, developed and published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), that define, establish, and maintain an effective quality assurance system for manufacturing and service industries [7, 8]. ISO 9001 deals with the requirements that organizations wishing to meet the standard must fulfill [9]. Third-party certification bodies provide independent confirmation that organizations meet the requirements of ISO ISO 9001 is one of the most widely used management tools in the world today. A certification body can audit organizations and issue ISO 9001 compliance certificates. Before issuing or renewing a certificate, his auditor must be satisfied that the company being assessed has implemented the needed ISO 9001 QMS requirements. Audit is a continual process of review and assessment to verify that the company system is working as it is supposed to, and to find out where it can improve. Not expected to merely audit for compliance on QMS clauses, auditors are expected to make more judgments and communicated on what is effective for the company being assessed. Customer Satisfaction Customer satisfaction is the process resulted from consumer activity or customer experience. Kotler (1991) pointed out that the only principle for business management is to meet consumer demand, and define CS as person s feeling of pleasure or disappointment which resulted from comparing a product s perceived performance or outcome against his/ her expectations [10]. Oliver(1980) posits that CS results from a

3 mental comparison between the perceived performance of purchased products or services and a pre-purchase standard held in mind. Consumers will be satisfied (or at least not dissatisfied) when the perceived performance exceeds (or equals) their psychological standard; otherwise, they will be dissatisfied [11]. RESEARCH DESIGN AND IMPLEMRNTATION In this study, an internet questionnaire was used to collect data from ISO 9001 certificated companies in Taiwan, and the SPSS 19.0 Amos statistical software was used in data analysis. A questionnaire containing 3 parts with total 23 questions were designed to collect data on auditors personality traits, professional competency and customers satisfaction. Part 1 and part 2 of the questionnaire was designed in accordance with the Auditor Certification and Registration Regulation published by Chinese Society for Quality and ISO (Guidelines for auditing management systems). Part 3 with 6 questions about customer s satisfaction was designed according to the process of a certification activity. The Likert five-point scale was designed to ask each respondent to specify his level of agreement or disagreement, for each 15 question, according to his importance expectation and perceived experience. Assumption of the study From customer expectation viewpoints, our study wanted to find the relationship among personality traits, professional competency and customer satisfaction for ISO 9001 QMS auditors. Prior to analyze of the collect ed data of importance expectation from Taiwan s ISO 9001 QMS certificated companies in Taiwan. The hypothesis of our study were as followed : H 1 : Personality Traits have a positive effect on Professional Competency H 2 : Personality Traits have a positive effect on Customer Satisfaction H 3 : Professional Competency have a positive effect on Customer Satisfaction Data Processing and Analysis There re 181 valid responded questionnaires in the research. Systematic confirmatory analysis processes were conducted in the data analysis stage, as followed: (1).Descriptive statistics analysis was applied to the data distribution for importance expectation of those 181 Taiwan s ISO 9001 QMS certificated companies. The Average was use to show the sample structure of those companies. (2).On reliability analysis, Cronbach s α was use to check the internal consistency of questions for those 3 dimensions of our study. (3). Structural equation model was generated, and fit indices were used to check the efficiency of the model. Statistical estimation test was applied to analyze the relationship among variables, and then to conclude the original hypothesis. DATA ANALYSIS Descriptive Statistics Analysis (1). Personality Traits: According to the calculated averages for importance expectation from answered questionnaires (Figure 1), question number 1 (Auditors

4 can obtain and audit on objective evidences in a fair manner) was accepted to be the most important personality trait. And question number 5 (Auditors have ability to react with the culture and customs of certification work location) got the lowest average score Average Question Number Figure 1. Calculated Average for Personality Traits. (2). Professional Competency: According to the calculated averages for importance expectation from answered questionnaires (Figure 2), question number 2 (Auditors should have knowledge and skills of ISO 9000 series management system and reference documents, to enable the auditor to comprehend the scope of the audit and apply audit criteria) was accepted to be the most important personality trait. And question number 4 (Auditors should have knowledge and skills of applicable laws, regulations and other requirements relevant to the discipline, to enable the auditor to work within, and be aware of the requirements that apply to the organization being audited) got the lowest average score Average Question Number Figure 2. Calculated Average for Professional Competency. (3). Customer Satisfaction: According to the calculated averages for importance expectation from answered questionnaires (Figure 3), question number 4 (Auditors can clearly inform the audited company of its audit results in the close meeting after the evaluation) was accepted to be the most important personality trait. And question number 6 (The fee charged form the certification organization is reasonable) got the lowest average score.

5 Reliability Analysis In accordance with the definition of traditional five categories, 11 questions for personality traits in part 1 of the questionnaire were first assigned to five specific category, which were Emotional Stability, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Extraversion, and Openness. Then, Cronbach s α values were calculated for five sub-dimensional personality traits, professional competency and customer satisfaction. As shown in Table 1, Cronbach s α values for all aspects were good enough for future analysis in our study. Personalit y Traits Structural Model Analysis 4 Average Question Number Figure 3. Calculated Average for Customer Satisfaction. Table 1. Results of Cronbach s α value. Cronbach s α importance expectation Emotional Stability ( ) Conscientiousness ( 1,2 ) Agreeableness ( 9,10 ) Extraversion ( 3,4 ) Openness ( 5,7) Professional Competency Customer Satisfaction Personality Traits 0.72 (6.97) 0.19 (1.86) Customer Satisfaction Professional Competency 0.67 (5.04) Figure 4. Relational Modeling Path. For all data form 181 answered questionnaires, SPSS Amos software was use to generate a structural equation model ( Figure 4) for importance expectation, and some statistical estimation test values were generated to help analyze the relationship among variables, and then to conclude the original hypothesis. Results of statistical hypothesis testing were provided as followed: H 1 : Personality Traits have a positive effect on Professional Competency

6 Path coefficient from personality traits to professional competency was 0.72, with t-value With such a statistical significant level, we can accept the hypothesis that companies agreed the personality traits have a positive effect on professional competency in importance expectation before on-site audits. H 2 : Personality Traits have a positive effect on Customer Satisfaction Path coefficient from personality traits to customer satisfaction was 0.19, with t-value Since the value did not reach a statistical significant level, we rejected the hypothesis that companies agreed the personality traits have a positive effect on customer satisfaction in importance expectation before on-site audits. H 3 : Professional Competency have a positive effect on Customer Satisfaction Path coefficient from professional competency to customer satisfaction was 0.67, with t-value With such a statistical significant level, we can accept the hypothesis that companies agreed the professional competency have a positive effect on professional competency in importance expectation before on-site audits. CONCLUSIONS This research discussed the relationship among personality traits, professional competency and customer satisfaction for ISO 9001 QMS auditors, from audited companies importance expectation viewpoint. There re total 181 valid responded questionnaires, from Taiwan s ISO 9001 QMS certificated companies, in our study. SPSS 19.0 and Amos software were used to analyze the data for responded questionnaires. Cronbach s α coefficient values for all aspects in the responded data were good enough for future analysis in our study. Results from analysis of those questionnaires showed that Personality Traits have a positive effect on Professional Competency, and Professional Competency have a positive effect on Customer Satisfaction. But Personality Traits do not have a positive effect on Customer Satisfaction. Results of this research can be used in the qualification definition and training of auditors for those third-party certification companies. From our research data gathering from audited companies, we can find that the key characteristic for customer satisfaction enhancement will be auditor's professional competency. Taking the specific personality traits into account, results from analysis of those questionnaires can be provided as a reference base for the certification organizations for their auditors qualification definition and training purposes. REFERENCES 1. Saul Kassin, (2003). Psychology. USA: Prentice-Hall, Inc. 2. Hans Eysenck, (1967). The biological basis of personality. Springfield, IL: Thomas. 3. Hans Eysenck, (1991). Dimensions of personality: Criteria for a taxonomic paradigm. Personality and Individual Differences, 12, Saucier, G., & Goldberg, L. R. (1998). What is beyond the Big Five? Journal of Personality, 66, McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. C., Jr. (1987). Validation of the five-factor model across instruments and observers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Four ways five factors are basic. Personality and Individual Differences, 13, Margaret Rouse. ISO Search Data Center, September Poksinska, Bozena; Dahlgaard, Jens Jörn; Antoni, Marc (2002). The state of ISO 9000 certification: A study of Swedish organizations. The TQM Magazine 14 (5) Kotler, Philip (1991),Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning, Implementation and Control, 7th ed., Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ., pp Oliver, R. L., (1980), "A Cognitive Model of the Antecedents and Consequences of Satisfaction Decisions", Journal of Marketing Research, 17(November), pp