How Do Quality Practices Affect the Results?: The Experience of Thalassotherapy Centres in Spain

José Álvarez-García, María De la Cruz Del Río-Rama and María Del Mar Miras-Rodríguez
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José Álvarez-García: Financial Economy and Accounting Department, Faculty of Business, Finance and Tourism, University of Extremadura, 10071 Caceres, Spain
María De la Cruz Del Río-Rama: Business Organisation and Marketing Department, Faculty of Business Administration and Tourism, University of Vigo, 32004 Ourense, Spain
María Del Mar Miras-Rodríguez: Financial Economics and Operation Management Department, Faculty of Business and Economics, Universidad de Sevilla, 41018 Seville, Spain

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 4, 1-19

Abstract: Most thalassotherapy centres in Spain do not have any quality certification but they are carrying out several actions of quality management in an attempt to obtain better results. Consequently, the aim of this research is to study if the implementation of quality practices on thalassotherapy centres has the same impact on companies’ results as on the results of those companies that got the quality certifications. In addition, the relationships between different factors considered are going to be studied. Our sample is composed of Spanish thalassotherapy centres, and the statistical technique used is based on structural equation modelling, in particular partial least squares (PLS) regression. The data were provided by the answers given by 31 managers (70.45% of the selected sample) to a structured questionnaire based on previous research and statistically validated. The results of this research allow us to conclude that these kinds of organizations have implemented informal practices to improve the quality of the service in terms of leadership, personnel management, alliances, and resources and show that the practices that have been carried out by these centres to enhance the quality of the service have an impact on companies’ results. Managers of these kinds of establishments that want to improve customer results should focus their efforts on continuous improvement, whereas, if they are pursuing enhancement of other results, their efforts should be focused on process management.

Keywords: critical factors; company’s performance; thalassotherapy centres; Spain; service quality; TQM (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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