مقالات
Mostafa Hadavinejad; Hafez Ramazani
Abstract
1- INTRODUCTION
One of the main causes of organizational change failure is employees’ resistance to change (Padro de Val & Fuentes, 2003). Because of abstract and multidimensional nature of resistance to change, it has been paid attention to it from diverse aspects (Piderit, 2000). The orthodoxy, ...
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1- INTRODUCTION
One of the main causes of organizational change failure is employees’ resistance to change (Padro de Val & Fuentes, 2003). Because of abstract and multidimensional nature of resistance to change, it has been paid attention to it from diverse aspects (Piderit, 2000). The orthodoxy, however, is behavioral kind of attitudinal approach to resistance to change (Ashforth & Mael, 1998). Since, in its turn, behavioral resistance has different types (Yue, 2008), developing studies to explore the effective factors on them is necessary. In this regard, the purpose of this study is exploring the situational antecedents of behavioral types of resistance to change based on a phenomenology.
2- THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
There are different approaches to studying the phenomenon of resistance to change: dispositional, political, deconstructive, and attitudinal (Hadavinejad & Tamaddon, 2014). Based on attitudinal approach, besides cognitive and affective aspects, resistance to change have behavioral aspect too. In its preliminary and simple form, the behavioral resistance is a kind of overt-conscious opposite reaction to change from protesters. However, it can be more complex based on overt-covert and conscious-unconscious dimensions. So, in addition to protesters, the other behavioral resistant employees are saboteurs, survivors, and zombies (O'Connor, 1993). Although, the dispositional antecedents of these kinds of behavioral resistance have been explored heretofore (Hadavinejad & Tamaddon, 2014), the presented study is devoted to exploring the situational ones.
3- METHODOLOGY
Delimited to attitudinal approach in resistance to change, data gathered through lived experiences of 18 top managers of administrative organizations in Rafsanjan, I.R. of Iran, in the framework of hermeneutic phenomenology, based on typical sampling up to theoretical saturation. Data analyzed based on Diekelmann et al. (1989) proposed process using Maxqda software. In order to gain confidence from data reliability, its credibility, transferability, dependability, and conformability were checked.
4- RESULTS & DISCUSSION
Diverse themes were explored through preliminary data codifying and reduced to macro themes in an iterative process. Findings showed that the situational context facilitates sabotage are authoritarian leadership style, perceived organizational injustice, and weakness of appraisal assessment and reward systems. Weakness of appraisal assessment, staffing, and training systems, job ambiguity and role overload are situational factors affecting survivors, too. The protesters behave in a context included of democratic leadership style, perceived organizational injustice, perceived organizational nonsupport, and weakness of appraisal assessment, reward, and notification systems. Finally, the main situational antecedents of zombies’ behavioral resistanc to change are weakness of training, staffing, and notification systems.
5- CONCLUSIONS & SUGGESTIONS
Based on findings, reinforcement of reward system beside effort to reduce injustice and improve organizational support can lead to decrease of employees’ conscious behavioral resistance to change in Rafsanjan administrative organizations. Moreover, changing the leadership style from authoritarian to democratic may reduce sabotage, as well as, improving notification system that can decrease protests toward change. Since, it is concluded that weakness of appraisal assessment system would effects all types of behavioral resistance to change, except zombie, improving mentioned system would cause protesters, saboteurs, and survivors be diminished in organization. In order to manage the unconscious resistance, it is necessary to improve the staffing and training systems. However, promoting the notification system beside two prior systems would lead to reduction in zombie behavioral resistance to change. Whereas, to decrease the survivors’ resistance, it is recommended the job ambiguity and role overload be disappeared.
مقالات
maryam ghaedi; Mehrdad Madhoshi
Abstract
1- INTRODUCTION
Although the entry of firms is important, we can consider their lifespan as an important factor in achieving the goals of long-term policies in employment and economic growth. The survival of firms and its causes are important issues attracting considerable interest today, and accordingly, ...
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1- INTRODUCTION
Although the entry of firms is important, we can consider their lifespan as an important factor in achieving the goals of long-term policies in employment and economic growth. The survival of firms and its causes are important issues attracting considerable interest today, and accordingly, the answer to the question of whether survival is the result of the particular characteristics of a firm, industry, or macroeconomic conditions of the community is of utmost importance. The creation of new firms as a tool for reducing unemployment and the growth of employment in a region is of great importance and bankruptcy of a new company and its economic and social consequences reveal the need to study the survival of newcomers. The withdrawal of any firm from the industry will result in the withdrawal of part of the investment in that industry and creation of costs causing irreparable damage to economic growth. Therefore, considering what mentioned on factors affecting the survival of firms, the present paper studies the effect of macroeconomic variables on the survival of new firms.
2- THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Under inflationary conditions, the firm's nominal profitability increases over time due to currency depreciation. Therefore, based on the increase in the inflation rate, dividends and, consequently, corporate survival will improve. Companies can implement different strategies to survive in a high-inflation environment. Previous findings have also shown that companies use different strategies such as quantitative reduction, decentralized decision making, reduced product quality, development of syndicates, shorter payment periods, and other forms of financial, shopping, and marketing strategies. Firms reluctant to adopt survival strategies will fall in the business. Therefore, survival strategies are especially important for companies in high- inflation environments. In this research, inflation is considered as a control variable. The results of previous research, using the analysis of the effect of exchange rate changes on profitability and survival and sales of service sector companies, showed that the real appreciation of the Canadian dollar reduced the probability of survival, sales and profitability of companies, while the decline in dollar prices has a reversal effect. In addition, the negative effect of rising exchange rates on companies' survival is lower for most manufacturing companies.
3- METHODOLOGY
Statistically, survival analysis is defined as a set of different statistical methods employed to analyze non-negative random variables related to the lifespan of people and objects. Given the existence of censored data (the companies that remain at the end of the study period), the use of parametric methods is problematic. In this respect, both life table and product limit estimator (Kaplan-Meier) methods are used. In addition, Hazard semi-parametric model is employed to test hypotheses. To collect data and information in this study, the database of the Ministry of Industries and Mines, the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Statistical Center of Iran and companies in different industries of Mazandaran province (established between 1985-2015), have been used. Collected data is processed and analyzed by winTDA.
The total number of firms licensed during the study period is 4,144 of which 917 revoked and 3217 firms were still active until the end of the study period (August 2015). Thus, 385 firms were selected as sample but since TDA works better for samples with greater volume, we analyzed 1,000 firms.
4- RESULTS and DISCUSSION
Since the significant level for the inflation rate is 0.9925, hence, the first hypothesis is accepted at the significant level of 5%. That is, with the increase in inflation, the probability of leaving the industry decreases leading to an increase in survival rate.
This can be explained in the following way. Inflationary disrupts economic situation of the country and all firms, even those unprofitable ones, will be licensed to raise prices. Consequently, under such conditions, firms can reduce the final production cost by lowering the quality of manufactured products, and increase their profitability by raising their product prices, too.
Considering the value of the corresponding column, the significance level of the exchange rate variable (0.9597) is above 95%, thus the significance of the relationship between this variable and the company's survival is proven. An increase in the exchange rate will enhance the price level of imported goods in the domestic market, and the demand for this category of goods is expected to decrease and demand for domestic goods will increase. Moreover, by the increase in the exchange rate, the relative price of exported goods in the country declines in foreign markets, and as a result, demand for these goods is expected to increase.
5- CONCLUSION and SUGGESTIONS
The present study investigates the effect of inflation and exchange rates on survival of companies in Mazandaran province. Since rising inflation can increase interest rates in the economy, conducting other studies on these two variables, as well as other important macroeconomic variables such as unemployment rate, are necessary.
Furthermore, performing similar research on these variables in another time period location and comparing it with the results of this research is suggested.
In addition to conducting this research in other provinces, the present paper may provide the foundation for further studies to analyze industry, firms and workers, characteristics of company's founders and other variables as effective factors on survival of manufacturing companies in different industries across the country and other provinces.
مقالات
Noori Kaabomeir; Abdulzahra Naami; Esmaeil Hashemi Sheikh Shabani
Abstract
1- INTRODUCTION
Today, human resources, as one of the most valuable organizational assets, are considered the most important competitive advantage and the rarest resource in knowledge-based economy. To create innovative and novel ideas and to respond effectively to changes that occur in the workplace, ...
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1- INTRODUCTION
Today, human resources, as one of the most valuable organizational assets, are considered the most important competitive advantage and the rarest resource in knowledge-based economy. To create innovative and novel ideas and to respond effectively to changes that occur in the workplace, human resource may be the most important intangible asset that is used to empower employees. In the present era, empowerment is known as an instrument by which managers will be able to fully manage today's organizations.
2- THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Transformational Leadership
Transformational Leadership changes thoughts and attitudes of followers and motivates them to higher levels of effort and performance. These leaders are directed toward a shared vision and encourage their followers to have further efforts to implement it.
Authentic Leadership
Authentic leadership is a behavioral pattern of leadership and the result of good personality traits. It develops good business relationships and transactions with employees, positive psychological potency, and ethical climate in the organization which leads to the development of self-awareness, internalized moral views, balanced processing of information, and transparency in relations with the employees. It also entails improving the process of self-actualization in employees.
Team Psychological Capital
Collective psychological capital has been defined as the team’s shared positive appraisal of their circumstances and probability for success under those circumstances based on their combined motivated effort and perseverance. It contains four components of team efficacy, team optimism, team hope, and team resilience.
Team Empowerment
Team empowerment is defined as increased task motivation that is due to team members’ collective, positive assessments of their organizational tasks. Teams experience empowerment contains four components of competence, meaning, autonomy, and influence.
3- METHODOLOGY
The study population included all employees of power distribution companies of Ahvaz in 2016. 226 individuals were selected to form the sample of the study. To colect data, Transformational Leadership, Authentic Leadership, Team Psychological Capital, and Team Empowerment questionnaires were used.
4- RESULTS and DISCUSSION
Based on the findings of fit indices, the final model has a good fitness. The results of the test of direct assumptions showed that transformational leadership and authentic leadership had direct positive effect on team empowerment and team-based psychological capital. In addition, the mediating role of team-based psychological capital in the relationship between transformational leadership and authentic leadership, and team empowerment was confirmed.
5- CONCLUSIONS and SUGGESTIONS
Based on the results of this research, one practical and important suggestion for managers and organizations is that for empowering individuals and having empowered teamworks, organizations can consider two things; having programs to provide leaders with features and capabilities of transformational and authentic leadership, using psychological capital, and developing interventions in the team level.
مقالات
abbasali rastgar; banafsheh fotovat; soheila bourghani farahani; pedram abdarzadeh
Abstract
1- INTRODUCTION
This research investigates the impact of variables such as happiness and spiritual and emotional intelligences on resilience among journalists. The research is conducted in the context of positive psychology and positive organizational behavior, which seek to explore positive psychological ...
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1- INTRODUCTION
This research investigates the impact of variables such as happiness and spiritual and emotional intelligences on resilience among journalists. The research is conducted in the context of positive psychology and positive organizational behavior, which seek to explore positive psychological potentials. Waller defines resilience as a person's positive adaptation in response to adverse conditions (traumas and threats) (Waller, 2001, p. 299). Resilience promotes adaptive behavior in problem-solving contexts. It involves various cognitive, ethical, emotional, and interpersonal dimensions. It helps the individual adapt to surrounding conditions and achieve internal and external integrity (Mashaekhi Dolat Abadi & Mohamadi, 2014, p. 207). Therefore, this study aims to determine the effect of happiness on resilience in journalists considering the mediating role of spiritual and emotional intelligences.
2- THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The conceptual model of the research regards happiness as an independent and resilience as a dependent variable while emotional and spiritual intelligences are considered as mediator variables. According to this conceptual model, the variable of happiness includes five components of satisfaction, self-esteem, subjective well-being, satisfaction, and positive mood. Emotional intelligence includes five components of self-awareness, self-control, self-motivation, social awareness, and social skills. Spiritual intelligence includes four components of critical existential thinking, personal meaning production, transcendental consciousness, and expansion of self-awareness. Resilience includes five components of individual merit, tolerance of negative emotions and trust in individual instincts, positive acceptance of change and secure relationships, control, and spirituality.
3- RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This research is an applied study and employs the descriptive-correlational research method. The statistical population of this research includes all reporters in Tehran's most popular newspapers, which is an infinite population. A total of 384 individuals were selected as the statistical sample according to Cochran's sample size formula. A questionnaire was distributed using the stratified combined sampling method. A total of 250 questionnaires were returned as a result. Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ), Schering Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire, King Spiritual Intelligence Questionnaire (KSI Q), and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) were the standard questionnaires used to collect research data.
4- RESEARCH FINDINGS
The content validity method and expert opinions were used to ensure questionnaire validity. In addition, the validity of the research construct was confirmed using confirmatory factor analysis as well as convergent and divergent validity indices. Then, the reliability of the questionnaires was assessed using Cronbach's alpha, which was more than 0.7 for all four questionnaires, implying that the questionnaires were sufficiently reliable.
A review of the structural equation modeling of the research showed the direct effect of happiness on resilience was equal to 0.83 and its significance coefficient was equal to 12.31. The effect of happiness on emotional intelligence was equal to 0.66 and its significance coefficient was equal to 9.21. The effect of happiness on spiritual intelligence was equal to 0.72 and its significance coefficient was equal to 10.52. The effect of emotional intelligence on resilience was equal to 0.78 and its significance coefficient was equal to 11.41. The effect of spiritual intelligence on resilience was equal to 0.59 and its coefficient of significance was equal to 8.66. In addition, the indirect effect of happiness on resilience was estimated through the intermediate variables of emotional intelligence (0.78 × 0.66= 0.51) and spiritual intelligence (0.59 × 0.72=0.42), which confirmed the mediating role of emotional and spiritual intelligences. The results of data analysis using structural equation modeling by LISREL software show that the happiness of journalists in Tehran's popular newspapers has a positive effect on their resilience directly and through mediating emotional and spiritual intelligence variables. Therefore, all the research hypotheses are confirmed and the final research model can be generalized to the statistical society.
5- DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
The results of examining research hypotheses showed that happiness and emotional and spiritual intelligences have a positive and significant effect on resilience. Happiness plays an important role in improving physical and mental health. It also promotes participation in social activities and leads to a sense of security and satisfaction. Therefore, to deal with stressful situations common in their jobs, journalists should increase their happiness and resilience. Since it is possible for humans to live a life of delight, creativity, and satisfaction by training and regulating their own thoughts, journalists should attempt to identify and question their own assumptions and misconceptions.
In addition, emotional intelligence is a learned characteristic and individuals with high emotional intelligence are more resilient in difficult circumstances. Therefore it is recommended that managers of printed media organizations increase the emotional intelligence skills of journalists, including self-control and the appropriate treatment of audiences, colleagues, superiors and other individuals in the community. This improvement can be achieved through holding training courses on personality, listening skills, nonverbal messages, as well as courses on anger and stress control. Ultimately, because spiritual intelligence has a positive and significant effect on resilience, it is recommended that managers increase the spiritual intelligence of journalists through reflective exercises such as meditation, conscious awareness and self-awareness, increased openness, high sensitivity to experiences and realities such as the state of transcendence and spiritual issues, the improvement of ethical behavior, the search for the real meaning of events and an explanatio
for problems, and efforts to connect seemingly unrelated events.
مقالات
ali safari; Leila Hejaz Hejazi; Soheila Aarabi
Abstract
1- INTRODUCTION
BWith the increase of the complexity of organizations and the immoral, illegal and irresponsible deeds in workplaces, pundits have paid more attention to ethical issue and their different effects. Ethics, in brief, is the recognition of right and wrong, and then doing right and withdrawing ...
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1- INTRODUCTION
BWith the increase of the complexity of organizations and the immoral, illegal and irresponsible deeds in workplaces, pundits have paid more attention to ethical issue and their different effects. Ethics, in brief, is the recognition of right and wrong, and then doing right and withdrawing wrong. According to the studies done, the development of professional ethics is influenced by several factors within the organization such as organizational justice, organizational training, etc., and personal factors such as spirituality, loyalty, etc., and the more these factors strengthen, the adherence and dominance of the professional ethics will also increase. On the other hand, the dominancy of professional ethics renders the mentioned effects and also the behavioral effects such as organizational understanding and convergence within the organization and among employees. The components of the organizational understanding consist of reducing stress, increasing commitment and responsibility, reducing the monitoring costs, and increasing the legitimacy of the organization and its actions. It is essential for the organizations' managers to recognize these factors and eliminate or control them. Justice department, as a crucial part of the judiciary and considering the nature of its mission, needs professional ethics to be observed by its employees and also seeks to have the same comportment with clients by considering organizational understanding. Therefore, due to the significance and exigency of this issue for the judiciary and the justice department and also few studies conducted in this area, this study attempts to determine the influence of professional ethics on organizational understanding among the employees of Isfahan's justice department and seeks to answer this question that whether organizational understanding is influenced by the development of professional ethics or not? And also to what extent the professional ethics in this organization is affected by personal and organizational factors?
2- THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The concept of professional ethics is derived from ethics. Professional ethics is a set of ethical codes derived from the nature of a career or an occupation. Professional ethics can be described as the beliefs of a professional group about what is right and is related to the criteria of the profession. People with professional ethics have some features such as accountability, taking the responsibility of decisions and outcomes, being role model, ethical and sensitive, hardworking, sincere in deeds and paying attention to integrity and reputation.
According to a survey, two sets of organizational factors including organic structure, organizational justice, education, and organizational information system and personal factors such as spirituality, loyalty, and integrity have influence on an organization's professional ethics. Organizational ethics comprises the perception of organizational operations and understanding of their roles and that of the organization. The components of the organizational understanding consist of reducing stress, increasing commitment and responsibility, reducing the monitoring costs and increasing the legitimacy of the organization and its action. The study's hypotheses are as follows:
H1: Organizational factors influence the development of professional ethics.
H2: Personal factors influence the development of professional ethics.
H3: The development of professional ethics has influence on organizational understanding.
3- METHODOLOGY
his study is practical in terms of its objective and is a descriptive survey in terms of its method. The study's population consists of the employees of Isfahan's justice department. The sample size includes 212 people and classified sampling has been used according to the study's population size. The data of the study is collected through a self-made questionnaire which has 45 items. The data were analyzed using structural equation.The content and construct validity of the questionnaire has been verified with using factor analysing. Structural equation modeling and Amos software 20 were used to test the hypotheses.
4- RESULTS and DISCUSSION
The findings of the first hypothesis indicate that organizational factors have influence on the development of professional ethics. It can be understood from this result that the employees' professional ethics would improve and that the organization would benefit from its personnel’s behavior in short and long term. If the level of mechanical organizational structure change to organic structure and become more flexible, and ethical training become a part of an organization's curriculum, all of the three types of organizational justice such as distributive, procedural, and interactional can be strengthen and the communication and information system become more advanced and up to date.
The results of the second hypothesis suggest that personal factors affect the development of professional ethics in such a way that considering ethics in the organization somehow reflects personal factors such as spirituality, loyalty, and integrity at work. The more the spiritual level of the employees develop, the more the loyalty of employees can be considered from different aspects and the more the concept and tools of integrity develop, the more the probability of developing professional ethics by employees increases. In addition, by knowing the right morals and values, the employees will believe in their intellectual and professional development and it is caused by considering professional ethics.
The study's results regarding the third hypothesis show that the development of professional ethics has impact on professional ethics. This result means that the more the organization concerns about professional ethics, the more the organizational understanding increases in different aspects. And as a result, the organization will react to the problems as an entire unit and without any internal and structural contradiction and the organization's entity will be maintained.
5- CONCLUSIONS & SUGGESTIONS
It is recommended to take measures in order to make the organizational structure more flexible, more decentralized and academic by holding several meetings with specialists about different aspects of the issue. In addition, the ethical trainings should be on the agenda by studying the proper and effective training methods, spending more time and having a stronger plan. It is suggested that organizations identify and stimulate the driving and developing factors of individuals and organizational spirituality with some predetermined plans. Moreover, organizations can make integrity a collective and cultural behavior by creating moral and material motivations. It is suggested that organizations make new employees familiar with their ethical programs during their socialization period.
مقالات
ali najafi; hamid rahimian; akbar bashkouh
Abstract
1- Introduction
Among features and essential requirements of new organizations, their formation is based on learning on one hand and their facing with increasing changes on the other hand. The Interaction between learning culture and motivation for organizational change, persuades organizations to adapt ...
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1- Introduction
Among features and essential requirements of new organizations, their formation is based on learning on one hand and their facing with increasing changes on the other hand. The Interaction between learning culture and motivation for organizational change, persuades organizations to adapt to the accelerating changes of the world today. Specialists of change say that organizational readiness for change is an important prerequisite for its successful adoption and implementation.
If organizations want to stay in a competitive state, they have to be prepared for change. Therefore, this research is intended to identify the role of these factors in preparing organizational change at the National Iranian Petrochemical Company.
2- Theoretical Framework
Learning is one of the most important mechanisms for adapting to the changing world. Learning is a complex process which has the potential to change behavior. Studies show that organizational learning culture improves individual and group learning and thus improve organizational performance. In general, learning culture is an "equality culture" In order to facilitate continuous improvement and adaptation to environmental changes, specific norms are defined and employees feel valued.
According to Armenikia and Harris (2002), the process of change occurs in three stages: Preparation, compatibility and institutionalization. Readiness for change is the first step of the change process enabling the organization to quickly understand the need for change and respond appropriately to it.
Past research has linked the need for success and readiness for change. Other studies have linked individual flexibility with higher levels of acceptance of change. In addition, various studies have examined the role of organizational culture with elements such as social communication, trust and participation in the change process. Another intermediate variable in preparing for change in organizations is learning motivation and transfer motivation. According to Sladoljoio, Cornago and SpielJak (2005), learning motivation has impact on the need for the growth of individual autonomy.
3- Research Methodology
The research method of this study, in terms of its nature, is descriptive, and in term of survey, it is an analytical one. The statistical population of the research was the staff of Iran National Petrochemical Company, and according to Morgan's table, 250 people were selected by simple random sampling method. Data collection questionnaire are Watkins and Marsink Learning Cultivators (2003), Learning Engagement by Cheng et al. (2010), Holton Transfer Motivation (2005) and preparing for organizational change by Bo Kong and colleagues (2009).
For data analysis, structural equation modeling and Smart PIS number 2 Version Software were used. Data collection method is library-field type. First, descriptive analysis of data was performed using PSE 16 software then the model was investigated using structural equation modeling.
4- Research Findings
Research results show that the readiness to change is affected directly and through the motivation of the learning culture. Also, there is a meaningful relationship learning between learning culture with learning variable's intermediary and learning motivations.
On the other hand, there is no meaningful relationship between learning culture and readiness to change. With respect to the values of T, the path of learning culture to motivation and its motivation path to the readiness to change at a 99% confidence level was confirmed. Therefore, the motivation and readiness of employees to implement organizational changes is significant.
5- Discussion and Conclusion
According to the results obtained from the hypothesis test and considering the standard regression coefficient, it can be argued that the relationship between organizational learning and employees’ readiness to change in the National Iranian Petrochemical Company is not in a favorable situation. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to organizational learning in order to prepare for change. In this regard, it is recommended to make preparations for change in the first step, and evaluate the organizational culture of the company. The suggestion that Naimatullah. Sh, Irani. Z, & Sharif. M, (2016) and Johansson. C, Aström. S, Kauffeldta. A, Helldinc. L, & Carlströmd. E, (2013) have described as an important step in preparing for organizational change. In this context, it is better to use modern educational methods such as learning communities, learning tours, meetings of reflection, journal clubs, educational packages, and multimedia. In the field of team learning, it is better for the company to provide training for employees. Also, considering that the component of learning and transfer motivation in this study is considered as a mediator variable, it is necessary to pay special attention to the managers of the company. Researchers such as Navoquola and Nicolao (2005) and Nordin (2011) have identified this component as an important step for successful organizational change.
مقالات
Maryam Hasanvand; Saeeid Zarandi
Abstract
1- INTRODUCTION
The presence of electronic websites has led to an ever-growing use of electronic services by the citizens and more importantly, it has increased their level of satisfaction. Organizations offering such a service are obligated to guarantee a desirable level of quality as well as responding ...
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1- INTRODUCTION
The presence of electronic websites has led to an ever-growing use of electronic services by the citizens and more importantly, it has increased their level of satisfaction. Organizations offering such a service are obligated to guarantee a desirable level of quality as well as responding to the expectations of citizens in this regard. Electronic service quality involves the citizens’ understanding of this concept based on their expectations of electronic transactions or other forms of services. For companies offering superior quality in online services, it is essential to gain insight into the citizens’ understanding of the service quality and how they attempt to assess it. Given the actions taken by the government in the area of providing electronic public services in line with executing the “Cadastre” law in the country, the subject of immediate registration of documents and removing paperwork from official notary bureaus became operational in Iranian state organization for registration of deeds and properties, after almost 80 years. The present study seeks to provide an answer to the following question: Has the electronic service quality of notary bureaus been effective on the satisfaction of citizens in Lorestan Province?
2- THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Electronic service quality involves the citizens’ understanding of this concept resulting from their expectations of electronic transactions or other forms of services. For companies offering superior online service quality, it is essential to gain insight into the citizens’ understanding of the service quality and how they attempt to assess it. Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Malhotra (2005) laid out seven major aspects of electronic service quality: efficiency, fulfillment, system availability, privacy, responsiveness, compensation, and contact. Furthermore, satisfaction involves the expectations of clients regarding the quality of services, the extent of which may increase relative to the expectation of a better quality. Offering a sense of satisfaction to the citizens requires regular, comprehensive planning which enables the managers to draw a hopeful future for the citizens by providing a desirable image of the organization as well as developing an effective interaction. Lack of satisfaction in the majority of citizens or even a considerable portion of their population can be harmful for any social and organizational order. Mihelis, Grigoroudis, Siskos, Politis and Malandrakis (2001) pointed out the main aspects of satisfaction as the following: Personnel, service, products, access, and image.
3- METHODOLOGY
In terms of purpose, timeframe, variable control, and data processing operation, the present inquiry is an applied, retrospective, predictor, descriptive-scientific study, respectively. Also, the survey approach was employed in conducting this study. In addition, cluster sampling was used given the equal number of present notary bureaus as well as the fact that the population of the study was known beforehand. Considering the importance of the sample population in this study, its size has been estimated as 378 individuals according to Cochran sampling formula. Consequently, in terms of the spatial domain, this study was carried out in a number of selected notary bureaus of Lorestan Province; the criteria for sample selection was indicated through observing the density and congestion of citizens as well as the geographical location of bureaus in different regions of the province. Finally, the multiple-item scale for assessing electronic service quality by Parasuraman et al. (2005) as well as the customer satisfaction measurement survey by Mihelis et al.(2001) were used.
4- RESULTS & DISCUSSION
ITo verify the hypotheses of the study, the impact of every predictor variable including efficiency, fulfillment, system availability, and privacy on the citizens’ satisfaction were examined. The impact factor and significance for the main hypothesis as well as the other four secondary hypotheses were more than 0.7 and 1.96, respectively. As a result, the entire hypotheses of the study are confirmed. Additionally, all the statistical indices in the final model of the study involved acceptable domains, and a proper fitness as a result.
5- CONCLUSIONS & SUGGESTIONS
The results of verifying the main hypothesis of the conceptual model using LISREL software showed a positive, significant impact of electronic service quality on the satisfaction of citizens. Furthermore, the results also showed that aspects including efficiency, fulfillment, system availability, and privacy involved positive, significant impact on the satisfaction of citizens with a 95% confidence level. In addition, the results showed a proper fitness in the model of the study. In this regard and given the positive path coefficient concerning each aspect, it can be concluded that the impact of all aspects on the satisfaction of citizens was positive. In other words, aspects concerning the electronic service quality of notary bureaus for documents and properties involved positive, significant impact on the satisfaction of citizens. This means that, improving any of the aforementioned aspects in the study would lead to an increase in the citizens’ level of satisfaction. Meanwhile, the electronic service quality and efficiency involved the highest impacts; subsequently, in order to improve the citizens’ level of satisfaction, special attention must be paid to the features of electronic service system such as offering accurate, precise, and on time information for present requests, correct setup and implementation of the system, and precise function of transactions.