IJQRM1989

998

International Journal of Quality ampReliability ManagementVol 19 No 89 2002 pp 998-1013 MCB UP Limited 0265-671XDOI 10110802656710210438096

Received July 2001Revised February 2002

Quality service of ISO 9000consultants

MartotildeAcirc CasadesuAcircsDepartament drsquoOrganitzacioAcirc Sestio Empresarial i D Producte

Universitat de Girona Girona Spain

Frederic Mariron ViadiuUniversitat International de Catalunya Barcelona Spain and

InAumlAcircaki Heras SaizarbitoriaDepartamento Organizacion de Empresas Universidad del Pais Vasco

San Sebastian Spain

Keywords Quality ISO 9000 Consultancy Service quality Spain

Abstract This paper aims to assess the quality of the service offered by quality consultanciesTo this end an empirical study using SERVQUAL methodology was carried out on Spanishcompanies that had used consultants when introducing their quality system in keeping with theISO 9000 standards Company representatives were asked about their previous expectations ofthe service and about the real benefits obtained from the consultants This research study after afactorial analysis establishes a series of indicators designed to measure the input of theconsultant in setting up the quality system A gap was detected between the previous expectationsof the service and the actual benefits obtained therefrom Findings could be used for practitionersto improve their service

IntroductionIn the business field there is full awareness of the increase in the two basicaspects of quality management on the one hand the introduction of qualityassurance systems and on the other the setting-up of models for overall qualitymanagement Observers note that quality assurance systems in keeping with theprevailing ISO 9000 standards are being introduced all over Europe at a growingrate (ISO 2000) In a parallel fashion there has been a notable growth in demandfor the specialist services of quality management consultants

In recent years the academic field has carried out much in-depth empiricalresearch into the phenomenon of the introduction of ISO 9000 quality systemsat national and international level Among other considerations these researchstudies have attempted to analyse why companies decide to introduce ISO9000 along with the difficulties involved and the benefits derived therefrom

All these studies confirm the importance of the consultant services engagedby companies in order to introduce the new ruling but the actual influence ofthese services has not been fully analysed Nevertheless obvious questions onthe subject spring to mind What contribution have the consultant servicesbrought to companies that are involved in introducing ISO 9000 Has theconsultant service proved beneficial Are the companies satisfied with thequality consultants Have the consultants lived up to the expectations of theirclients What benefits are involved

T h e r e s e a r c h r e g is t e r f o r t h is jo u r n a l i s a v a i la b le a t

httpwwwemeraldinsightcomresearchregisters

T h e c u r r e n t is s u e a n d f u l l te x t a rc h iv e o f th is jo u r n a l i s a v a i la b le a t

httpwwwemeraldinsightcom0265-671X htm

Quality serviceof ISO 9000consultants

999

These questions are obviously of interest to the companies involved but alsoto consultants eager to determine the degree of client satisfaction on whichtheir very future depends Moreover the analysis of these questions is evenmore relevant in the present situation where companies are involved in aprocess of adaptation to the new ISO 90002000 standards For all the abovereasons and in order to resolve the issues thereby raised the present empiricalstudy was carried out on companies that have used consultancy services tointroduce their ISO 9000 quality systems

AntecedentsMost research into quality management at a world-wide level refers to themotivation of companies to introduce quality systems (Meegan and Taylor1997) to the benefits derived from the introduction of such systems (LloydrsquosRegister Quality Assurance 1994 Vanguard Consulting 1994 Brown and Vander Wiele 1995 Buttle 1997 Jones et al 1997 CasadesuAcircs and GimeAcircnez 2000)or to the importance of the human factor in quality management (Vloeberghsand Bellens 1996)

Many studies mention the importance of the support lent by consultantservices for the introduction of the ruling In this country previous researchshowed that approximately 80 percent of 286 Spanish companies surveyed useexternal consultant services (CasadesuAcircs 1998) This can be seen in Figure 1The services provided range from in-service training prior to introducing aquality system to maintenance auditing of the system after certification Theservice can also include producing the quality manual and drawing upprocedures for the quality assurance systems

In like manner some research studies mention the relative importance ofcompanies that have used external consultancies compared with those thathave not (Vloeberghs and Bellens 1996) but no study has assessed the realquality of the services offered by the consultancies or whether this service wasreally what the client company expected Some considerations on thecontributions of consultant firms can be found (including factors such asemployee training information and motivation) but no studies have been made

Figure 1Percentage of companies

that have usedconsultant services

when introducingquality systems

IJQRM1989

1000

on issues of such crucial interest as the following to what extent does theengagement of a consultant service provide benefits to the firm Can thesebenefits be measured Are the benefits of an intangible nature that is hard toexpress in monetary terms This is a complex issue indeed as has already beenpointed out in the literature on the subject (Nachum 1999) where some authorshave put forward their own methodology for calculating the yield from aninvestment in consultation services (Phillips 2000)

The present paper aims to summarise the main conclusions drawn from aresearch study that analyses the expectations and fulfilment of expectationsamong client companies that have used consultancy services to introduce ISO9000 quality assurance systems The paper also analyses the benefits obtainedby the companies as a result of the introduction of the ruling following advicegiven by professional consultants

MethodologyAn empirical research study has been recently carried out with the aim ofanalysing and attempting to provide an answer to these questions A samplewas taken of companies that had used consultant services for implementingquality assurance systems in keeping with the ISO 9000 standards on thesubject This model or type of quality management was chosen because it isundoubtedly the most widely used in Spain and also because field work ismade easier by the existence of registers of all the companies that have beenissued with the ISO 9000 certificate In more specific terms the research wascarried out within the industrial area of Catalonia and focuses on companiesthat were certified in 1997 1998 and 1999

The companies in the sample were sent a questionnaire adapted from thewidespread SERVQUAL model drawn up by Zeithaml et al (1993) forconsulting services in Spain This is a model whereby the quality of a givenservice is assessed on the basis of the expectations and perceptions of theclients This is considered to be the best known system presently used formeasuring service quality

In short the questionnaire was designed to gather information about the qualityof the consultancy service as perceived by companies that engaged the service tointroduce ISO 9000 and about the expectations of this type of service that werepreviously held by the company With this information the questionnaire thenattempts to find out the benefits that were obtained by the company as a result ofengaging the service Each of these aspects will be considered in the followingparagraphs It must be borne in mind however that the responses to thesequestions have been compiled on a Likert scale The questionnaire was completedby the addition of extra questions designed to obtain general information about thecompany and about the consultancy that was employed

The questionnaire was delivered via ordinary mail to 483 managers who areresponsible for ISO 9000 After that these people were contacted by telephoneto explain the purpose of the study and a fax or electronic mail was deliveredagain to those who agreed to participate A total of 87 valid questionnaires

Quality serviceof ISO 9000consultants

1001

were obtained representing a response rate of 18 percent of which 65 camefrom companies that had used consultancies to introduce their quality systemThe population on which the research was carried out is less than 1670companies this being the total number of certificates issued over the sampleperiod in Catalonia It must also be borne in mind that many companies holdmore than one certificate For these reasons with a confidence interval of 95percent (working on the hypothesis that p = q = 05) the margin of error for thesample is 1025 percent Likewise for the companies that employedconsultancies taking the same population into consideration the margin oferror for the sample is less than 119 percent

Perceived quality of the quality consultant servicesIn their well-known model the authors Zeithaml et al (1993) distinguish fivedifferent dimensions that define the quality of a given service

(1) Tangibles appearance of the physical facilities equipment personneland communication equipment

(2) Reliability ability to perform the promised service dependably andaccurately

(3) Responsiveness willingness to help clients and provide prompt service

(4) Assurance knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability toinspire trust and confidence

(5) Empathy caring individualised attention the firm offers its clients

The quality of the service as perceived by clients will be derived fromcomparing their prior expectations of the service with their appreciation of theactual service provided in such a way that a given service will be consideredexcellent for the client when the benefit exceeds prior expectations acceptablewhen the benefit lives up to the clientrsquos expectations and deficient when theservice is poorer than expected

In order to determine the perceived quality in each dimension theSERVQUAL questionnaire was used with a total of 14 questions in all Itshould be noted however that we adapted these questions to ourcircumstances following guidelines laid down by different questionnaires usedin other empirical studies To this end the following studies should bementioned research by Samson and Parker (1994) into the engineeringconsultancy industry in Australia research by Ribeiro (1996) into theconsultancy sector in Valencia the study by CasadesuAcircs (1998) of theintroduction of ISO 9000 into Catalonia and a paper by Escanciano (2000) onquality systems in Spain Table I shows the grouping of the different questionsor items in each of the dimensions of the survey This aggregation was made ` apriorirsquorsquo although there was no mention of dimensions in the questionnaire

The reliability of the data was examined for the 14 perception-item using thealpha of Cronbach the standard value is 09355 and the 14 alphas obtainedwhen one of the items is deleted are all between 09271 and 09356 (Table I)

IJQRM1989

1002

The data collected during field work referring to the quality of the consultancyservices as perceived by the companies were analysed following the principalcomponents method Although it is known that from the statistical point ofview it has the weakness of the size of data it has a great power when it is usedto compare with the Zeithaml et al (1993) model

In this way after the varimax rotation method was applied only three factorswith eigenvalues greater than 1 were obtained (Appendix 1) The contrastanalysis is correct the determinant of the correlation matrix is 1055E-5 and theKaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure is 0834 These three factors combine to explain the723 percent of the total of the variance Inter-item analysis was used to check thescales for internal consistency Analysis calculated a Cronbach coefficient alphaon the items within each factor The three factors have Cronbach alphas above075 and the standardized item alphas range from 076 to 093 These threeconstructs demonstrate good reliability

It can be deduced from the grouping of questions about perceived qualitysuggested by the factor analysis that a relative similitude exists to the genericmodel by Zeithaml et al (1993) Table II shows the dimensions of the Zeithamlet al model in the column headings The factors determined by the factoranalysis figure in the rows underneath Analysis of this Table shows therelationship between both forms of grouping the 14 questions on perceivedquality that figure on the questionnaire

Factor Description of items

1 Tangibles Personal appearance of staffVisual attractiveness of equipment in the consultancyClient-friendly software

2 Reliability Ability to perform the promised serviceFulfilment of commitments within the established time limitsCo-ordination between different company departmentsDetailed specification of aims of time limits

3 Responsiveness Willingness to help clientsEnthusiasm and involvement in the project

4 Assurance Ability to inspire trust and confidenceProfessional knowledge and expertise of consultants

5 Empathy Company concern for the best interests of the clientCommunication and interpersonal skills of the consultantClient satisfaction with consultation

Table IDistribution of the 14items surveyed inrelation to the differentdimensions of themodel proposed byZeithaml et al (1993)

Tangibles Reliability Responsiveness Assurance Empathy

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Factor 1 X X X X X X X XFactor 2 X X XFactor 3 X X X

Table IIHigh saturations of thethree factors with theprincipal componentmethod with varimax

Quality serviceof ISO 9000consultants

1003

The three factors that define the perceived quality of ISO 9000 consultancyservice are the following

(1) Factor 1 Customer service assurance and empathy This factor refers toa set of aspects such as the consultantrsquos knowledge of the rulinginvolvement of the consultant in the client companyrsquos interests care andindividualised attention given by the consultant to the company theconsultantrsquos willingness to help and the climate of trust and confidencethat is transmitted to the client This first quality perception factor isgiven an average rating of 389 on a scale of 1 to 5

(2) Factor 2 Scheduling The scheduling factor represents the skills of theconsultants in completing the work within the agreed time periods Itrefers thus to the result of the service ie the obtaining of the certificatewithin the established budget and time period This factor should be asine qua non condition for good service because it is assumed that theproviders of a service must fulfil their promises On the whole clients donot give any extra credit to companies that honour their obligations butwhen this is not the case poorer quality in the service is detected herewith a 350 on the same scale This is an indication that this aspect of theservice should be significantly improved

(3) Factor 3 Tangibles This last factor refers to the office appearance tothe equipment used therein and even to the personal appearance of theconsultants The perception detected in this factor is rated at 362

A first conclusion to be drawn from the results is that the quality of the serviceis good Several additional factors also exist to bear out this statement

The arithmetic mean of the Likert scale ratings corresponding to the setof 14 questions on perceived quality is 375 This is considerably higherthan 3 the central value of the scale This can be taken as an indicator ofa good perception of quality while still however allowing forimprovement This assessment fully coincides with a question on` overall perception of the quality of the servicersquorsquo that received an averagerating of 369 thereby validating the results obtained

The statement `working with the consultant was a worthwhile experiencersquorsquois rated with an average of 380 This is not a direct question on qualitybut gives us an idea of the degree of satisfaction with the service received

The statement ` If I were to reinitiate the process I would choose thesame consultantrsquorsquo was rated at 355 It must be borne in mind here that 55percent of the companies have in fact returned to the same consultantafter receiving their certificate (not necessarily for quality-related tasks)This is a high index considering that the specific purpose of theintroduction process is fulfilled on obtaining certification If thecompanies continue to use the consultant after this point it would seemto indicate a high degree of satisfaction

IJQRM1989

1004

Another index of satisfaction with the service received is the intention touse the same consultant to adapt the company system to the new ISO90002000 standards A total of 77 per cent of the companies that intend touse a consultancy to update their systems will reuse the same service

Expectations of service given by quality consultantsCompany expectations of the services given by consultants were researched usingthe same methodology and analysing the same aspects and equivalent sets ofquestions to those already used to assess perceived quality in the same services

In the questionnaire a section was included in which 100 points should beassigned to the five dimensions balancing the importance of them

From the results obtained it can be observed that the most important of thefive dimensions defined by the Zeithaml et al model (1993) is considered to be` Reliabilityrsquorsquo (in which the consultant delivers the agreed service in an accurateand trustworthy manner) From a total of 100 points for all five dimensions` Reliabilityrsquorsquo received 28 points whereas `Tangiblesrsquorsquo were considered of lesserimportance and were only awarded 12 points However this same ` Reliabilityrsquorsquodimension most closely related to the ` Schedulingrsquorsquo factor coincides exactlywith the lowest rated factor in terms of service quality This points to an urgentneed for the consultants to improve this factor

On quantifying the level of quality expected from these services usinganother set of 14 questions equivalent to the previous set (on the same scale) thearithmetic mean is found to be 435 Thus expectations of the service are muchhigher than perceived quality of the same In short it is clear that the differencegenerated between the arithmetic mean of perceived quality of the service andexpectations of the same is ndash061 (ndash12 percent) Thus although a high perceptionof quality for services rendered by quality consultants was detected in theprevious section prior expectations of the same services were even higher

If we analyse the gap between expected quality and the quality that isactually perceived on the basis of the factors that define service quality asseen above it can be observed from Figure 2 that the gap is greatest in the` Schedulingrsquorsquo factor and least significant in the ` Tangiblesrsquorsquo factor

Figure 2Perceived qualityexpected quality and thegap betweenexpectations and qualityin each of the threefactors used to defineservice quality

Quality serviceof ISO 9000consultants

1005

In a nutshell we can conclude this part of the analysis by stating that althoughthe companies hold a good opinion of the quality of the advisory servicesreceived prior expectations of the same were considerably higher Thisconclusion shows that there is still room for improvement of the service offeredby quality consultants

Benefits obtained by clients of quality consultant servicesAfter analysing the quality offered by consultants and the expectations raised bythis type of service an analysis is made of the clientsrsquo perception of the benefitsdirectly derived from the consultantrsquos intervention Although it must beconsidered a priori that clients are not usually very sure about the value of theservice that they are engaging or the price that they are prepared to pay for it itcan be said that if this type of consultancy exists it is because clients think thatthey can obtain some benefits for which they are prepared to pay a fee Thesebenefits have been assessed by a set of 13 questions likewise answered on theLikert scale [15] as compiled in Table III The benefits considered are not merelyof an economic nature but include diverse factors such as increased motivation inworkers and improved relationships with customers and suppliers

Assessment of the results obtained shows that the arithmetic mean of allthese benefits is only 305 An overall assessment of the benefits gained fromuse of a consultant was obtained from one single question the response towhich gave the similar result of 317 In short both indicators coincide inhighlighting the fact that the companies did not perceive any benefits from theinput of the consultant

Items

Better understanding of quality as a result of working with an external consultant

Satisfaction with the skills provided by the consultants

Increased company motivation after working with external consultants

Adaptation of ethical approach after working with an external consultant

Definition and aims of quality policy following advice from the consultant

Definition of and approach to process following advice from the consultant

Improved approach to customers following advice from the consultant

Setting-up of beneficial relationships with customers andor suppliers following advice fromthe consultant

Setting-up of customer satisfaction control measures following advice from the consultant

Ideas for growth of company yield following advice from the consultant

Setting-up of continuous improvement scheme in the company following advice from theconsultant

Improved understanding of the relationship between the different processes and how tomanage the same in terms of a system

Improved decision taking based on data analysis following advice from the consultant

Table IIIItems analysed to assessthe benefits of workingwith a consultant when

introducing a qualitysystem

IJQRM1989

1006

From a factor analysis on extracting factors with the principal componentsand varimax rotation method two factors with eigenvalues higher than 1 areobtained (Appendix 2) The analysis is correct The determinant of thecorrelation matrix is 7162E-06 and the KMO measure is 0881 Moreover thetwo factors account for 70 percent of the variability of the sample

From the variables with the highest saturations in each factor we decided tocall the first factor ` Client approachrsquorsquo and the second factor ` Before the ruling isintroducedrsquorsquo This second factor includes all the benefits derived from the stepsprior to introduction definition of quality policy identification of aimsdefinition of procedures and improved understanding of quality

Table IV shows the grouping of the items related to benefits derived fromworking with a quality consultant

Relationship between perceived quality and benefits provided bythe consultantThe next step consisted of establishing the relationship between perceivedquality and the benefits obtained from using the service of a consultant Theresearch study detected and confirmed the relationship existing between thetwo concepts with different sets of statistics To summarise this relationshipwas analysed in two different ways first from questions eliciting an overallassessment on quality and benefits ie the analysis of the contingency tableresulting from the crossing of the two variables and second from the analysisof the relationship between the variables of mean quality and mean benefitscalculated as a mean from the corresponding sets of questions

Contingency Table V relating the two overall assessment variables on theLikert scale [15] is a 5 pound 5 square table In this respect the Pearson chi-squarestatistics and the likelihood ratio indicate the existence of a relationship

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Factor 1 X X X X X X X X XFactor 2 X X X X

Table IVHigh saturation of thetwo factors with thePAF method withvarimax rotation

Value Freedom degree(Bilateral)

asymptotic sig

Pearsonrsquos chi-square 52979a 16 0000

Likelihood ratio 45709 16 0000

Linear by linear association 2712 1 0000

Number of valid cases 62

Note a22 cells (880 percent) have an expected frequency of less than 5 The minimumexpected frequency is 024

Table VContingency tablestatistic betweenoverall perceivedquality and overallbenefits

Quality serviceof ISO 9000consultants

1007

The association measurements that are normally used on an ordinal scale(Gamma = 0759 Kendallrsquos tau-b = 0563 and Somersrsquo d = 0562 each with a pvalue of 0000 in every case) also detect a relationship between the differentvariables A log-linear model was set up to explain the frequencies in thecontingency table cells and the saturated model was found to be the most suitablefor the purpose This model includes the interaction between the two variables

To sum up it has been statistically shown that the variables have a clearpositive correlation The higher the perceived quality the higher the benefitsand vice versa On the other hand and as a second way of detecting anddefining a relationship a linear regression was made between two variablesthat were calculated as the mean from the set of questions on perception andthe mean from the questions on benefits The analysis indicates that thevariables are correlated although the Pearson correlation coefficient is 0588with zero significance level (Figure 3)

Proceeding logically the very design of the variables enables the rank inboth cases to be [15] Both cases present variables of a linear combination ofseveral questions answered on the Likert scale [15] The relationship betweenthe variables can be clearly seen in Figure 3 Leaving the mean perceivedbenefit as an independent variable the linear regression has been calculated as

Mean Arithmetic Benefit ˆ 0456 Dagger 0702currenMean Perceived Quality

The slope of the regression is positive but less than the unit A unitary increasein quality does not result in a unitary increase in benefits but only in anincrease of seven-tenth The regression coefficient associated with thedependent variable obtained a zero significance level

Figure 3Scatter diagram of the

variables `meanperceived qualityrsquorsquo and

`mean benefitsrsquorsquo

IJQRM1989

1008

In summary the analyses point to the existence of a significant relationshipbetween the efforts of the consultant to provide a better quality service and theclientrsquos perception of improved benefits

Quality of consultant companies in relation to their sizeA study of the performance of consultant companies in relation to their sizewas made on the basis of the collected data The sample was divided into fourcategories companies that engaged the services of a single independentconsultant companies that used consultancies with a staff of between twoand five consultants companies that used consultancies with a staff ofbetween six and 50 consultants and lastly companies that used consultancieswith a staff of over 50 consultants The results of this segmentation can beseen in Figure 4

It was observed that the quality of the service is related to the size of theconsultant company the larger the company the better the service The bigconsultant companies obtain a significantly higher quality rating than thesmaller companies Whereas small companies (with two to fiveconsultants) obtain an average rating of 339 the average rating of theconsultancies with a staff of over 50 employees stands at 443 Thisrepresents a large difference of over one point It is noteworthy howeverthat professional consultants working independently offer a high qualityservice and score a rating that is closer to that of the large consultanciesthan the small ones

There also seems to be a negative relationship between the expectations ofthe client company and the number of workers employed by the consultantcompany However this does not carry any statistical significance

In the case of consultants working alone as independent professionalsexpectations of the service and perceived quality of the same are both veryhigh On the other hand although their clients have lower expectations thelarge consultant companies offer the best quality service In this case indeedperceived quality is higher than expectations

Figure 4Perceived qualityexpectations gap andbenefits in relation to thesize of the consultancy

Quality serviceof ISO 9000consultants

1009

On the other hand similar results are found when the benefits from using aconsultant are analysed according to the size of the consultant company Smallcompanies (between two and five consultants) provide the fewest benefits fortheir clients with an average rating of 288 whereas the large companies obtainan average rating of 313 Once again it is noted that independent professionalconsultants follow a different pattern and obtain the highest ratings of all Allthese relationships are statistically significant as shown by the Kruskal-Wallistest carried out by grouping the variables according to the size of theconsultant companies (Table VI)

The perceived quality and the gap between expectations and perceptionboth present significantly different averages with a significance level of 005

In a parallel manner the performance of the variables of qualityexpectations and benefits was analysed in relation to the size of the clientcompany In short no statistically significant relationship was detectedbetween these variables and the size of the client company in terms of numberof employees

Cost of consultant servicesIt is difficult to assess the benefits obtained from a consultant service withouttaking into consideration the cost of the same For this reason it wasconsidered appropriate to analyse the questionnaire data in terms of the costsinvolved In brief it can be concluded from an analysis of the data that theseservices are not expensive An assessment of the fees charged gives thelowest rating of the whole questionnaire data ie 272 This value is lowerthan the average value of the scale thus indicating a slight variance with theabove statement

Companies invested few resources in the introduction of the ruling It wasfound that 62 percent of the sample invested less than 15000 Euro Among thecompanies that engaged the services of a consultant the corresponding feesamounted to 48 percent of the total cost of introduction In most cases (77percent) the consultantrsquos fees are stipulated right from the beginning It can beassumed that the consultancies are so familiar with their service that they canmake an initial estimate of the cost of introducing the ruling with a high degreeof precision This type of service has been steadily growing ever since it was

Mean perceived

quality

Mean

expectations

Non-weighted

quality gap

Arithmetic mean

benefits 13 items

Chi-square 1465 1913 1411 1890

Freedom degree 3 3 3 3

Asymptotic sig 0002 0591 0003 0596

Notes aKruskal-Wallis test bGrouping variable number of consultants

Table VIKruskal-Wallis test

statistics for thevariables `perceived

qualityrsquorsquo ` expectationsrsquorsquo` gap between

expectations andperceived qualityrsquorsquo and`mean benefitsrsquorsquo when

grouped by ` number ofconsultantsrsquorsquo

IJQRM1989

1010

started a decade ago and can therefore be considered as standard (MartotildeAcircnez etal 2000) Moreover it is interesting to note that the offer of the service has alsoincreased which has resulted in a corresponding price adjustment

ConclusionsOne of the characteristics that differentiates a service from a product ormaterial goods is that the service is sold first and later `manufacturedrsquorsquoMoreover the production and consumption of the service are simultaneous iea service cannot be stored Thus the overall assessment of the client springsfrom two sources the end result of the service and the very process by whichthe service is provided (Berry 1995)

For these reasons the assessment of the quality of a service is not an easytask and as pointed out by Groth and Dye (1999) the providers of a serviceshould bear in mind this dual aspect by which a service is appraised Thereforethey should be able to recognise the different degrees by which the service itselfand the provision of the service are being assessed Despite this we consider itimportant to assess these services from the point of view of the client companyas has been done in the present research study

From all this we can draw the overall conclusion that the ISO 9000 advisoryservices are favourably regarded on the whole However it should also benoted that clients expect an even higher quality In short the client companiesexpect a higher quality from the service than that which is actually provided

It has been shown that the concept of quality can be broken down intothree factors one of which is the skill of the consultant in introducing theruling within the agreed time period and this is the aspect of the service thatobtains the poorest quality rating This factor is closely linked to thereliability factor which is considered to be of the highest importance by theclient companies For this reason the most reiterated request forimprovement by the clients is that the consultants perform the required taskswithin the agreed time periods

Moreover the results of the study show that the performance of independentprofessional consultants is very different from that of small consultantcompanies Independent consultants offer a high quality service that lives up tothe very high expectations of their clients The benefits that these clients gainfrom working with a consultant are also perceived as very high

During this work it has been noted that the quality offered by consultantcompanies that employ a staff of professionals varies according to the sizeof the company The benefits perceived by their clients are very similar tobut are slightly higher than those perceived by companies employing largeconsultancies

Finally although we realise that our study relates to only one region ofEurope we believe that our findings have broader implications for researchersand practitioners Thus we guess that it would be interesting to carry outsimilar surveys in other European and US regions For practitioners ourfindings should give pause for thought We guess that these findings are very

IJQRM1989

1004

Another index of satisfaction with the service received is the intention touse the same consultant to adapt the company system to the new ISO90002000 standards A total of 77 per cent of the companies that intend touse a consultancy to update their systems will reuse the same service

Expectations of service given by quality consultantsCompany expectations of the services given by consultants were researched usingthe same methodology and analysing the same aspects and equivalent sets ofquestions to those already used to assess perceived quality in the same services

In the questionnaire a section was included in which 100 points should beassigned to the five dimensions balancing the importance of them

From the results obtained it can be observed that the most important of thefive dimensions defined by the Zeithaml et al model (1993) is considered to be` Reliabilityrsquorsquo (in which the consultant delivers the agreed service in an accurateand trustworthy manner) From a total of 100 points for all five dimensions` Reliabilityrsquorsquo received 28 points whereas `Tangiblesrsquorsquo were considered of lesserimportance and were only awarded 12 points However this same ` Reliabilityrsquorsquodimension most closely related to the ` Schedulingrsquorsquo factor coincides exactlywith the lowest rated factor in terms of service quality This points to an urgentneed for the consultants to improve this factor

On quantifying the level of quality expected from these services usinganother set of 14 questions equivalent to the previous set (on the same scale) thearithmetic mean is found to be 435 Thus expectations of the service are muchhigher than perceived quality of the same In short it is clear that the differencegenerated between the arithmetic mean of perceived quality of the service andexpectations of the same is ndash061 (ndash12 percent) Thus although a high perceptionof quality for services rendered by quality consultants was detected in theprevious section prior expectations of the same services were even higher

If we analyse the gap between expected quality and the quality that isactually perceived on the basis of the factors that define service quality asseen above it can be observed from Figure 2 that the gap is greatest in the` Schedulingrsquorsquo factor and least significant in the ` Tangiblesrsquorsquo factor

Figure 2Perceived qualityexpected quality and thegap betweenexpectations and qualityin each of the threefactors used to defineservice quality

Quality serviceof ISO 9000consultants

1005

In a nutshell we can conclude this part of the analysis by stating that althoughthe companies hold a good opinion of the quality of the advisory servicesreceived prior expectations of the same were considerably higher Thisconclusion shows that there is still room for improvement of the service offeredby quality consultants

Benefits obtained by clients of quality consultant servicesAfter analysing the quality offered by consultants and the expectations raised bythis type of service an analysis is made of the clientsrsquo perception of the benefitsdirectly derived from the consultantrsquos intervention Although it must beconsidered a priori that clients are not usually very sure about the value of theservice that they are engaging or the price that they are prepared to pay for it itcan be said that if this type of consultancy exists it is because clients think thatthey can obtain some benefits for which they are prepared to pay a fee Thesebenefits have been assessed by a set of 13 questions likewise answered on theLikert scale [15] as compiled in Table III The benefits considered are not merelyof an economic nature but include diverse factors such as increased motivation inworkers and improved relationships with customers and suppliers

Assessment of the results obtained shows that the arithmetic mean of allthese benefits is only 305 An overall assessment of the benefits gained fromuse of a consultant was obtained from one single question the response towhich gave the similar result of 317 In short both indicators coincide inhighlighting the fact that the companies did not perceive any benefits from theinput of the consultant

Items

Better understanding of quality as a result of working with an external consultant

Satisfaction with the skills provided by the consultants

Increased company motivation after working with external consultants

Adaptation of ethical approach after working with an external consultant

Definition and aims of quality policy following advice from the consultant

Definition of and approach to process following advice from the consultant

Improved approach to customers following advice from the consultant

Setting-up of beneficial relationships with customers andor suppliers following advice fromthe consultant

Setting-up of customer satisfaction control measures following advice from the consultant

Ideas for growth of company yield following advice from the consultant

Setting-up of continuous improvement scheme in the company following advice from theconsultant

Improved understanding of the relationship between the different processes and how tomanage the same in terms of a system

Improved decision taking based on data analysis following advice from the consultant

Table IIIItems analysed to assessthe benefits of workingwith a consultant when

introducing a qualitysystem

IJQRM1989

1006

From a factor analysis on extracting factors with the principal componentsand varimax rotation method two factors with eigenvalues higher than 1 areobtained (Appendix 2) The analysis is correct The determinant of thecorrelation matrix is 7162E-06 and the KMO measure is 0881 Moreover thetwo factors account for 70 percent of the variability of the sample

From the variables with the highest saturations in each factor we decided tocall the first factor ` Client approachrsquorsquo and the second factor ` Before the ruling isintroducedrsquorsquo This second factor includes all the benefits derived from the stepsprior to introduction definition of quality policy identification of aimsdefinition of procedures and improved understanding of quality

Table IV shows the grouping of the items related to benefits derived fromworking with a quality consultant

Relationship between perceived quality and benefits provided bythe consultantThe next step consisted of establishing the relationship between perceivedquality and the benefits obtained from using the service of a consultant Theresearch study detected and confirmed the relationship existing between thetwo concepts with different sets of statistics To summarise this relationshipwas analysed in two different ways first from questions eliciting an overallassessment on quality and benefits ie the analysis of the contingency tableresulting from the crossing of the two variables and second from the analysisof the relationship between the variables of mean quality and mean benefitscalculated as a mean from the corresponding sets of questions

Contingency Table V relating the two overall assessment variables on theLikert scale [15] is a 5 pound 5 square table In this respect the Pearson chi-squarestatistics and the likelihood ratio indicate the existence of a relationship

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Factor 1 X X X X X X X X XFactor 2 X X X X

Table IVHigh saturation of thetwo factors with thePAF method withvarimax rotation

Value Freedom degree(Bilateral)

asymptotic sig

Pearsonrsquos chi-square 52979a 16 0000

Likelihood ratio 45709 16 0000

Linear by linear association 2712 1 0000

Number of valid cases 62

Note a22 cells (880 percent) have an expected frequency of less than 5 The minimumexpected frequency is 024

Table VContingency tablestatistic betweenoverall perceivedquality and overallbenefits

Quality serviceof ISO 9000consultants

1007

The association measurements that are normally used on an ordinal scale(Gamma = 0759 Kendallrsquos tau-b = 0563 and Somersrsquo d = 0562 each with a pvalue of 0000 in every case) also detect a relationship between the differentvariables A log-linear model was set up to explain the frequencies in thecontingency table cells and the saturated model was found to be the most suitablefor the purpose This model includes the interaction between the two variables

To sum up it has been statistically shown that the variables have a clearpositive correlation The higher the perceived quality the higher the benefitsand vice versa On the other hand and as a second way of detecting anddefining a relationship a linear regression was made between two variablesthat were calculated as the mean from the set of questions on perception andthe mean from the questions on benefits The analysis indicates that thevariables are correlated although the Pearson correlation coefficient is 0588with zero significance level (Figure 3)

Proceeding logically the very design of the variables enables the rank inboth cases to be [15] Both cases present variables of a linear combination ofseveral questions answered on the Likert scale [15] The relationship betweenthe variables can be clearly seen in Figure 3 Leaving the mean perceivedbenefit as an independent variable the linear regression has been calculated as

Mean Arithmetic Benefit ˆ 0456 Dagger 0702currenMean Perceived Quality

The slope of the regression is positive but less than the unit A unitary increasein quality does not result in a unitary increase in benefits but only in anincrease of seven-tenth The regression coefficient associated with thedependent variable obtained a zero significance level

Figure 3Scatter diagram of the

variables `meanperceived qualityrsquorsquo and

`mean benefitsrsquorsquo

IJQRM1989

1008

In summary the analyses point to the existence of a significant relationshipbetween the efforts of the consultant to provide a better quality service and theclientrsquos perception of improved benefits

Quality of consultant companies in relation to their sizeA study of the performance of consultant companies in relation to their sizewas made on the basis of the collected data The sample was divided into fourcategories companies that engaged the services of a single independentconsultant companies that used consultancies with a staff of between twoand five consultants companies that used consultancies with a staff ofbetween six and 50 consultants and lastly companies that used consultancieswith a staff of over 50 consultants The results of this segmentation can beseen in Figure 4

It was observed that the quality of the service is related to the size of theconsultant company the larger the company the better the service The bigconsultant companies obtain a significantly higher quality rating than thesmaller companies Whereas small companies (with two to fiveconsultants) obtain an average rating of 339 the average rating of theconsultancies with a staff of over 50 employees stands at 443 Thisrepresents a large difference of over one point It is noteworthy howeverthat professional consultants working independently offer a high qualityservice and score a rating that is closer to that of the large consultanciesthan the small ones

There also seems to be a negative relationship between the expectations ofthe client company and the number of workers employed by the consultantcompany However this does not carry any statistical significance

In the case of consultants working alone as independent professionalsexpectations of the service and perceived quality of the same are both veryhigh On the other hand although their clients have lower expectations thelarge consultant companies offer the best quality service In this case indeedperceived quality is higher than expectations

Figure 4Perceived qualityexpectations gap andbenefits in relation to thesize of the consultancy

Quality serviceof ISO 9000consultants

1009

On the other hand similar results are found when the benefits from using aconsultant are analysed according to the size of the consultant company Smallcompanies (between two and five consultants) provide the fewest benefits fortheir clients with an average rating of 288 whereas the large companies obtainan average rating of 313 Once again it is noted that independent professionalconsultants follow a different pattern and obtain the highest ratings of all Allthese relationships are statistically significant as shown by the Kruskal-Wallistest carried out by grouping the variables according to the size of theconsultant companies (Table VI)

The perceived quality and the gap between expectations and perceptionboth present significantly different averages with a significance level of 005

In a parallel manner the performance of the variables of qualityexpectations and benefits was analysed in relation to the size of the clientcompany In short no statistically significant relationship was detectedbetween these variables and the size of the client company in terms of numberof employees

Cost of consultant servicesIt is difficult to assess the benefits obtained from a consultant service withouttaking into consideration the cost of the same For this reason it wasconsidered appropriate to analyse the questionnaire data in terms of the costsinvolved In brief it can be concluded from an analysis of the data that theseservices are not expensive An assessment of the fees charged gives thelowest rating of the whole questionnaire data ie 272 This value is lowerthan the average value of the scale thus indicating a slight variance with theabove statement

Companies invested few resources in the introduction of the ruling It wasfound that 62 percent of the sample invested less than 15000 Euro Among thecompanies that engaged the services of a consultant the corresponding feesamounted to 48 percent of the total cost of introduction In most cases (77percent) the consultantrsquos fees are stipulated right from the beginning It can beassumed that the consultancies are so familiar with their service that they canmake an initial estimate of the cost of introducing the ruling with a high degreeof precision This type of service has been steadily growing ever since it was

Mean perceived

quality

Mean

expectations

Non-weighted

quality gap

Arithmetic mean

benefits 13 items

Chi-square 1465 1913 1411 1890

Freedom degree 3 3 3 3

Asymptotic sig 0002 0591 0003 0596

Notes aKruskal-Wallis test bGrouping variable number of consultants

Table VIKruskal-Wallis test

statistics for thevariables `perceived

qualityrsquorsquo ` expectationsrsquorsquo` gap between

expectations andperceived qualityrsquorsquo and`mean benefitsrsquorsquo when

grouped by ` number ofconsultantsrsquorsquo

IJQRM1989

1010

started a decade ago and can therefore be considered as standard (MartotildeAcircnez etal 2000) Moreover it is interesting to note that the offer of the service has alsoincreased which has resulted in a corresponding price adjustment

ConclusionsOne of the characteristics that differentiates a service from a product ormaterial goods is that the service is sold first and later `manufacturedrsquorsquoMoreover the production and consumption of the service are simultaneous iea service cannot be stored Thus the overall assessment of the client springsfrom two sources the end result of the service and the very process by whichthe service is provided (Berry 1995)

For these reasons the assessment of the quality of a service is not an easytask and as pointed out by Groth and Dye (1999) the providers of a serviceshould bear in mind this dual aspect by which a service is appraised Thereforethey should be able to recognise the different degrees by which the service itselfand the provision of the service are being assessed Despite this we consider itimportant to assess these services from the point of view of the client companyas has been done in the present research study

From all this we can draw the overall conclusion that the ISO 9000 advisoryservices are favourably regarded on the whole However it should also benoted that clients expect an even higher quality In short the client companiesexpect a higher quality from the service than that which is actually provided

It has been shown that the concept of quality can be broken down intothree factors one of which is the skill of the consultant in introducing theruling within the agreed time period and this is the aspect of the service thatobtains the poorest quality rating This factor is closely linked to thereliability factor which is considered to be of the highest importance by theclient companies For this reason the most reiterated request forimprovement by the clients is that the consultants perform the required taskswithin the agreed time periods

Moreover the results of the study show that the performance of independentprofessional consultants is very different from that of small consultantcompanies Independent consultants offer a high quality service that lives up tothe very high expectations of their clients The benefits that these clients gainfrom working with a consultant are also perceived as very high

During this work it has been noted that the quality offered by consultantcompanies that employ a staff of professionals varies according to the sizeof the company The benefits perceived by their clients are very similar tobut are slightly higher than those perceived by companies employing largeconsultancies

Finally although we realise that our study relates to only one region ofEurope we believe that our findings have broader implications for researchersand practitioners Thus we guess that it would be interesting to carry outsimilar surveys in other European and US regions For practitioners ourfindings should give pause for thought We guess that these findings are very

Quality serviceof ISO 9000consultants

1005

In a nutshell we can conclude this part of the analysis by stating that althoughthe companies hold a good opinion of the quality of the advisory servicesreceived prior expectations of the same were considerably higher Thisconclusion shows that there is still room for improvement of the service offeredby quality consultants

Benefits obtained by clients of quality consultant servicesAfter analysing the quality offered by consultants and the expectations raised bythis type of service an analysis is made of the clientsrsquo perception of the benefitsdirectly derived from the consultantrsquos intervention Although it must beconsidered a priori that clients are not usually very sure about the value of theservice that they are engaging or the price that they are prepared to pay for it itcan be said that if this type of consultancy exists it is because clients think thatthey can obtain some benefits for which they are prepared to pay a fee Thesebenefits have been assessed by a set of 13 questions likewise answered on theLikert scale [15] as compiled in Table III The benefits considered are not merelyof an economic nature but include diverse factors such as increased motivation inworkers and improved relationships with customers and suppliers

Assessment of the results obtained shows that the arithmetic mean of allthese benefits is only 305 An overall assessment of the benefits gained fromuse of a consultant was obtained from one single question the response towhich gave the similar result of 317 In short both indicators coincide inhighlighting the fact that the companies did not perceive any benefits from theinput of the consultant

Items

Better understanding of quality as a result of working with an external consultant

Satisfaction with the skills provided by the consultants

Increased company motivation after working with external consultants

Adaptation of ethical approach after working with an external consultant

Definition and aims of quality policy following advice from the consultant

Definition of and approach to process following advice from the consultant

Improved approach to customers following advice from the consultant

Setting-up of beneficial relationships with customers andor suppliers following advice fromthe consultant

Setting-up of customer satisfaction control measures following advice from the consultant

Ideas for growth of company yield following advice from the consultant

Setting-up of continuous improvement scheme in the company following advice from theconsultant

Improved understanding of the relationship between the different processes and how tomanage the same in terms of a system

Improved decision taking based on data analysis following advice from the consultant

Table IIIItems analysed to assessthe benefits of workingwith a consultant when

introducing a qualitysystem

IJQRM1989

1006

From a factor analysis on extracting factors with the principal componentsand varimax rotation method two factors with eigenvalues higher than 1 areobtained (Appendix 2) The analysis is correct The determinant of thecorrelation matrix is 7162E-06 and the KMO measure is 0881 Moreover thetwo factors account for 70 percent of the variability of the sample

From the variables with the highest saturations in each factor we decided tocall the first factor ` Client approachrsquorsquo and the second factor ` Before the ruling isintroducedrsquorsquo This second factor includes all the benefits derived from the stepsprior to introduction definition of quality policy identification of aimsdefinition of procedures and improved understanding of quality

Table IV shows the grouping of the items related to benefits derived fromworking with a quality consultant

Relationship between perceived quality and benefits provided bythe consultantThe next step consisted of establishing the relationship between perceivedquality and the benefits obtained from using the service of a consultant Theresearch study detected and confirmed the relationship existing between thetwo concepts with different sets of statistics To summarise this relationshipwas analysed in two different ways first from questions eliciting an overallassessment on quality and benefits ie the analysis of the contingency tableresulting from the crossing of the two variables and second from the analysisof the relationship between the variables of mean quality and mean benefitscalculated as a mean from the corresponding sets of questions

Contingency Table V relating the two overall assessment variables on theLikert scale [15] is a 5 pound 5 square table In this respect the Pearson chi-squarestatistics and the likelihood ratio indicate the existence of a relationship

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Factor 1 X X X X X X X X XFactor 2 X X X X

Table IVHigh saturation of thetwo factors with thePAF method withvarimax rotation

Value Freedom degree(Bilateral)

asymptotic sig

Pearsonrsquos chi-square 52979a 16 0000

Likelihood ratio 45709 16 0000

Linear by linear association 2712 1 0000

Number of valid cases 62

Note a22 cells (880 percent) have an expected frequency of less than 5 The minimumexpected frequency is 024

Table VContingency tablestatistic betweenoverall perceivedquality and overallbenefits

Quality serviceof ISO 9000consultants

1007

The association measurements that are normally used on an ordinal scale(Gamma = 0759 Kendallrsquos tau-b = 0563 and Somersrsquo d = 0562 each with a pvalue of 0000 in every case) also detect a relationship between the differentvariables A log-linear model was set up to explain the frequencies in thecontingency table cells and the saturated model was found to be the most suitablefor the purpose This model includes the interaction between the two variables

To sum up it has been statistically shown that the variables have a clearpositive correlation The higher the perceived quality the higher the benefitsand vice versa On the other hand and as a second way of detecting anddefining a relationship a linear regression was made between two variablesthat were calculated as the mean from the set of questions on perception andthe mean from the questions on benefits The analysis indicates that thevariables are correlated although the Pearson correlation coefficient is 0588with zero significance level (Figure 3)

Proceeding logically the very design of the variables enables the rank inboth cases to be [15] Both cases present variables of a linear combination ofseveral questions answered on the Likert scale [15] The relationship betweenthe variables can be clearly seen in Figure 3 Leaving the mean perceivedbenefit as an independent variable the linear regression has been calculated as

Mean Arithmetic Benefit ˆ 0456 Dagger 0702currenMean Perceived Quality

The slope of the regression is positive but less than the unit A unitary increasein quality does not result in a unitary increase in benefits but only in anincrease of seven-tenth The regression coefficient associated with thedependent variable obtained a zero significance level

Figure 3Scatter diagram of the

variables `meanperceived qualityrsquorsquo and

`mean benefitsrsquorsquo

IJQRM1989

1008

In summary the analyses point to the existence of a significant relationshipbetween the efforts of the consultant to provide a better quality service and theclientrsquos perception of improved benefits

Quality of consultant companies in relation to their sizeA study of the performance of consultant companies in relation to their sizewas made on the basis of the collected data The sample was divided into fourcategories companies that engaged the services of a single independentconsultant companies that used consultancies with a staff of between twoand five consultants companies that used consultancies with a staff ofbetween six and 50 consultants and lastly companies that used consultancieswith a staff of over 50 consultants The results of this segmentation can beseen in Figure 4

It was observed that the quality of the service is related to the size of theconsultant company the larger the company the better the service The bigconsultant companies obtain a significantly higher quality rating than thesmaller companies Whereas small companies (with two to fiveconsultants) obtain an average rating of 339 the average rating of theconsultancies with a staff of over 50 employees stands at 443 Thisrepresents a large difference of over one point It is noteworthy howeverthat professional consultants working independently offer a high qualityservice and score a rating that is closer to that of the large consultanciesthan the small ones

There also seems to be a negative relationship between the expectations ofthe client company and the number of workers employed by the consultantcompany However this does not carry any statistical significance

In the case of consultants working alone as independent professionalsexpectations of the service and perceived quality of the same are both veryhigh On the other hand although their clients have lower expectations thelarge consultant companies offer the best quality service In this case indeedperceived quality is higher than expectations

Figure 4Perceived qualityexpectations gap andbenefits in relation to thesize of the consultancy

Quality serviceof ISO 9000consultants

1009

On the other hand similar results are found when the benefits from using aconsultant are analysed according to the size of the consultant company Smallcompanies (between two and five consultants) provide the fewest benefits fortheir clients with an average rating of 288 whereas the large companies obtainan average rating of 313 Once again it is noted that independent professionalconsultants follow a different pattern and obtain the highest ratings of all Allthese relationships are statistically significant as shown by the Kruskal-Wallistest carried out by grouping the variables according to the size of theconsultant companies (Table VI)

The perceived quality and the gap between expectations and perceptionboth present significantly different averages with a significance level of 005

In a parallel manner the performance of the variables of qualityexpectations and benefits was analysed in relation to the size of the clientcompany In short no statistically significant relationship was detectedbetween these variables and the size of the client company in terms of numberof employees

Cost of consultant servicesIt is difficult to assess the benefits obtained from a consultant service withouttaking into consideration the cost of the same For this reason it wasconsidered appropriate to analyse the questionnaire data in terms of the costsinvolved In brief it can be concluded from an analysis of the data that theseservices are not expensive An assessment of the fees charged gives thelowest rating of the whole questionnaire data ie 272 This value is lowerthan the average value of the scale thus indicating a slight variance with theabove statement

Companies invested few resources in the introduction of the ruling It wasfound that 62 percent of the sample invested less than 15000 Euro Among thecompanies that engaged the services of a consultant the corresponding feesamounted to 48 percent of the total cost of introduction In most cases (77percent) the consultantrsquos fees are stipulated right from the beginning It can beassumed that the consultancies are so familiar with their service that they canmake an initial estimate of the cost of introducing the ruling with a high degreeof precision This type of service has been steadily growing ever since it was

Mean perceived

quality

Mean

expectations

Non-weighted

quality gap

Arithmetic mean

benefits 13 items

Chi-square 1465 1913 1411 1890

Freedom degree 3 3 3 3

Asymptotic sig 0002 0591 0003 0596

Notes aKruskal-Wallis test bGrouping variable number of consultants

Table VIKruskal-Wallis test

statistics for thevariables `perceived

qualityrsquorsquo ` expectationsrsquorsquo` gap between

expectations andperceived qualityrsquorsquo and`mean benefitsrsquorsquo when

grouped by ` number ofconsultantsrsquorsquo

IJQRM1989

1010

started a decade ago and can therefore be considered as standard (MartotildeAcircnez etal 2000) Moreover it is interesting to note that the offer of the service has alsoincreased which has resulted in a corresponding price adjustment

ConclusionsOne of the characteristics that differentiates a service from a product ormaterial goods is that the service is sold first and later `manufacturedrsquorsquoMoreover the production and consumption of the service are simultaneous iea service cannot be stored Thus the overall assessment of the client springsfrom two sources the end result of the service and the very process by whichthe service is provided (Berry 1995)

For these reasons the assessment of the quality of a service is not an easytask and as pointed out by Groth and Dye (1999) the providers of a serviceshould bear in mind this dual aspect by which a service is appraised Thereforethey should be able to recognise the different degrees by which the service itselfand the provision of the service are being assessed Despite this we consider itimportant to assess these services from the point of view of the client companyas has been done in the present research study

From all this we can draw the overall conclusion that the ISO 9000 advisoryservices are favourably regarded on the whole However it should also benoted that clients expect an even higher quality In short the client companiesexpect a higher quality from the service than that which is actually provided

It has been shown that the concept of quality can be broken down intothree factors one of which is the skill of the consultant in introducing theruling within the agreed time period and this is the aspect of the service thatobtains the poorest quality rating This factor is closely linked to thereliability factor which is considered to be of the highest importance by theclient companies For this reason the most reiterated request forimprovement by the clients is that the consultants perform the required taskswithin the agreed time periods

Moreover the results of the study show that the performance of independentprofessional consultants is very different from that of small consultantcompanies Independent consultants offer a high quality service that lives up tothe very high expectations of their clients The benefits that these clients gainfrom working with a consultant are also perceived as very high

During this work it has been noted that the quality offered by consultantcompanies that employ a staff of professionals varies according to the sizeof the company The benefits perceived by their clients are very similar tobut are slightly higher than those perceived by companies employing largeconsultancies

Finally although we realise that our study relates to only one region ofEurope we believe that our findings have broader implications for researchersand practitioners Thus we guess that it would be interesting to carry outsimilar surveys in other European and US regions For practitioners ourfindings should give pause for thought We guess that these findings are very

IJQRM1989

1006

From a factor analysis on extracting factors with the principal componentsand varimax rotation method two factors with eigenvalues higher than 1 areobtained (Appendix 2) The analysis is correct The determinant of thecorrelation matrix is 7162E-06 and the KMO measure is 0881 Moreover thetwo factors account for 70 percent of the variability of the sample

From the variables with the highest saturations in each factor we decided tocall the first factor ` Client approachrsquorsquo and the second factor ` Before the ruling isintroducedrsquorsquo This second factor includes all the benefits derived from the stepsprior to introduction definition of quality policy identification of aimsdefinition of procedures and improved understanding of quality

Table IV shows the grouping of the items related to benefits derived fromworking with a quality consultant

Relationship between perceived quality and benefits provided bythe consultantThe next step consisted of establishing the relationship between perceivedquality and the benefits obtained from using the service of a consultant Theresearch study detected and confirmed the relationship existing between thetwo concepts with different sets of statistics To summarise this relationshipwas analysed in two different ways first from questions eliciting an overallassessment on quality and benefits ie the analysis of the contingency tableresulting from the crossing of the two variables and second from the analysisof the relationship between the variables of mean quality and mean benefitscalculated as a mean from the corresponding sets of questions

Contingency Table V relating the two overall assessment variables on theLikert scale [15] is a 5 pound 5 square table In this respect the Pearson chi-squarestatistics and the likelihood ratio indicate the existence of a relationship

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Factor 1 X X X X X X X X XFactor 2 X X X X

Table IVHigh saturation of thetwo factors with thePAF method withvarimax rotation

Value Freedom degree(Bilateral)

asymptotic sig

Pearsonrsquos chi-square 52979a 16 0000

Likelihood ratio 45709 16 0000

Linear by linear association 2712 1 0000

Number of valid cases 62

Note a22 cells (880 percent) have an expected frequency of less than 5 The minimumexpected frequency is 024

Table VContingency tablestatistic betweenoverall perceivedquality and overallbenefits

Quality serviceof ISO 9000consultants

1007

The association measurements that are normally used on an ordinal scale(Gamma = 0759 Kendallrsquos tau-b = 0563 and Somersrsquo d = 0562 each with a pvalue of 0000 in every case) also detect a relationship between the differentvariables A log-linear model was set up to explain the frequencies in thecontingency table cells and the saturated model was found to be the most suitablefor the purpose This model includes the interaction between the two variables

To sum up it has been statistically shown that the variables have a clearpositive correlation The higher the perceived quality the higher the benefitsand vice versa On the other hand and as a second way of detecting anddefining a relationship a linear regression was made between two variablesthat were calculated as the mean from the set of questions on perception andthe mean from the questions on benefits The analysis indicates that thevariables are correlated although the Pearson correlation coefficient is 0588with zero significance level (Figure 3)

Proceeding logically the very design of the variables enables the rank inboth cases to be [15] Both cases present variables of a linear combination ofseveral questions answered on the Likert scale [15] The relationship betweenthe variables can be clearly seen in Figure 3 Leaving the mean perceivedbenefit as an independent variable the linear regression has been calculated as

Mean Arithmetic Benefit ˆ 0456 Dagger 0702currenMean Perceived Quality

The slope of the regression is positive but less than the unit A unitary increasein quality does not result in a unitary increase in benefits but only in anincrease of seven-tenth The regression coefficient associated with thedependent variable obtained a zero significance level

Figure 3Scatter diagram of the

variables `meanperceived qualityrsquorsquo and

`mean benefitsrsquorsquo

IJQRM1989

1008

In summary the analyses point to the existence of a significant relationshipbetween the efforts of the consultant to provide a better quality service and theclientrsquos perception of improved benefits

Quality of consultant companies in relation to their sizeA study of the performance of consultant companies in relation to their sizewas made on the basis of the collected data The sample was divided into fourcategories companies that engaged the services of a single independentconsultant companies that used consultancies with a staff of between twoand five consultants companies that used consultancies with a staff ofbetween six and 50 consultants and lastly companies that used consultancieswith a staff of over 50 consultants The results of this segmentation can beseen in Figure 4

It was observed that the quality of the service is related to the size of theconsultant company the larger the company the better the service The bigconsultant companies obtain a significantly higher quality rating than thesmaller companies Whereas small companies (with two to fiveconsultants) obtain an average rating of 339 the average rating of theconsultancies with a staff of over 50 employees stands at 443 Thisrepresents a large difference of over one point It is noteworthy howeverthat professional consultants working independently offer a high qualityservice and score a rating that is closer to that of the large consultanciesthan the small ones

There also seems to be a negative relationship between the expectations ofthe client company and the number of workers employed by the consultantcompany However this does not carry any statistical significance

In the case of consultants working alone as independent professionalsexpectations of the service and perceived quality of the same are both veryhigh On the other hand although their clients have lower expectations thelarge consultant companies offer the best quality service In this case indeedperceived quality is higher than expectations

Figure 4Perceived qualityexpectations gap andbenefits in relation to thesize of the consultancy

Quality serviceof ISO 9000consultants

1009

On the other hand similar results are found when the benefits from using aconsultant are analysed according to the size of the consultant company Smallcompanies (between two and five consultants) provide the fewest benefits fortheir clients with an average rating of 288 whereas the large companies obtainan average rating of 313 Once again it is noted that independent professionalconsultants follow a different pattern and obtain the highest ratings of all Allthese relationships are statistically significant as shown by the Kruskal-Wallistest carried out by grouping the variables according to the size of theconsultant companies (Table VI)

The perceived quality and the gap between expectations and perceptionboth present significantly different averages with a significance level of 005

In a parallel manner the performance of the variables of qualityexpectations and benefits was analysed in relation to the size of the clientcompany In short no statistically significant relationship was detectedbetween these variables and the size of the client company in terms of numberof employees

Cost of consultant servicesIt is difficult to assess the benefits obtained from a consultant service withouttaking into consideration the cost of the same For this reason it wasconsidered appropriate to analyse the questionnaire data in terms of the costsinvolved In brief it can be concluded from an analysis of the data that theseservices are not expensive An assessment of the fees charged gives thelowest rating of the whole questionnaire data ie 272 This value is lowerthan the average value of the scale thus indicating a slight variance with theabove statement

Companies invested few resources in the introduction of the ruling It wasfound that 62 percent of the sample invested less than 15000 Euro Among thecompanies that engaged the services of a consultant the corresponding feesamounted to 48 percent of the total cost of introduction In most cases (77percent) the consultantrsquos fees are stipulated right from the beginning It can beassumed that the consultancies are so familiar with their service that they canmake an initial estimate of the cost of introducing the ruling with a high degreeof precision This type of service has been steadily growing ever since it was

Mean perceived

quality

Mean

expectations

Non-weighted

quality gap

Arithmetic mean

benefits 13 items

Chi-square 1465 1913 1411 1890

Freedom degree 3 3 3 3

Asymptotic sig 0002 0591 0003 0596

Notes aKruskal-Wallis test bGrouping variable number of consultants

Table VIKruskal-Wallis test

statistics for thevariables `perceived

qualityrsquorsquo ` expectationsrsquorsquo` gap between

expectations andperceived qualityrsquorsquo and`mean benefitsrsquorsquo when

grouped by ` number ofconsultantsrsquorsquo

IJQRM1989

1010

started a decade ago and can therefore be considered as standard (MartotildeAcircnez etal 2000) Moreover it is interesting to note that the offer of the service has alsoincreased which has resulted in a corresponding price adjustment

ConclusionsOne of the characteristics that differentiates a service from a product ormaterial goods is that the service is sold first and later `manufacturedrsquorsquoMoreover the production and consumption of the service are simultaneous iea service cannot be stored Thus the overall assessment of the client springsfrom two sources the end result of the service and the very process by whichthe service is provided (Berry 1995)

For these reasons the assessment of the quality of a service is not an easytask and as pointed out by Groth and Dye (1999) the providers of a serviceshould bear in mind this dual aspect by which a service is appraised Thereforethey should be able to recognise the different degrees by which the service itselfand the provision of the service are being assessed Despite this we consider itimportant to assess these services from the point of view of the client companyas has been done in the present research study

From all this we can draw the overall conclusion that the ISO 9000 advisoryservices are favourably regarded on the whole However it should also benoted that clients expect an even higher quality In short the client companiesexpect a higher quality from the service than that which is actually provided

It has been shown that the concept of quality can be broken down intothree factors one of which is the skill of the consultant in introducing theruling within the agreed time period and this is the aspect of the service thatobtains the poorest quality rating This factor is closely linked to thereliability factor which is considered to be of the highest importance by theclient companies For this reason the most reiterated request forimprovement by the clients is that the consultants perform the required taskswithin the agreed time periods

Moreover the results of the study show that the performance of independentprofessional consultants is very different from that of small consultantcompanies Independent consultants offer a high quality service that lives up tothe very high expectations of their clients The benefits that these clients gainfrom working with a consultant are also perceived as very high

During this work it has been noted that the quality offered by consultantcompanies that employ a staff of professionals varies according to the sizeof the company The benefits perceived by their clients are very similar tobut are slightly higher than those perceived by companies employing largeconsultancies

Finally although we realise that our study relates to only one region ofEurope we believe that our findings have broader implications for researchersand practitioners Thus we guess that it would be interesting to carry outsimilar surveys in other European and US regions For practitioners ourfindings should give pause for thought We guess that these findings are very

Quality serviceof ISO 9000consultants

1007

The association measurements that are normally used on an ordinal scale(Gamma = 0759 Kendallrsquos tau-b = 0563 and Somersrsquo d = 0562 each with a pvalue of 0000 in every case) also detect a relationship between the differentvariables A log-linear model was set up to explain the frequencies in thecontingency table cells and the saturated model was found to be the most suitablefor the purpose This model includes the interaction between the two variables

To sum up it has been statistically shown that the variables have a clearpositive correlation The higher the perceived quality the higher the benefitsand vice versa On the other hand and as a second way of detecting anddefining a relationship a linear regression was made between two variablesthat were calculated as the mean from the set of questions on perception andthe mean from the questions on benefits The analysis indicates that thevariables are correlated although the Pearson correlation coefficient is 0588with zero significance level (Figure 3)

Proceeding logically the very design of the variables enables the rank inboth cases to be [15] Both cases present variables of a linear combination ofseveral questions answered on the Likert scale [15] The relationship betweenthe variables can be clearly seen in Figure 3 Leaving the mean perceivedbenefit as an independent variable the linear regression has been calculated as

Mean Arithmetic Benefit ˆ 0456 Dagger 0702currenMean Perceived Quality

The slope of the regression is positive but less than the unit A unitary increasein quality does not result in a unitary increase in benefits but only in anincrease of seven-tenth The regression coefficient associated with thedependent variable obtained a zero significance level

Figure 3Scatter diagram of the

variables `meanperceived qualityrsquorsquo and

`mean benefitsrsquorsquo

IJQRM1989

1008

In summary the analyses point to the existence of a significant relationshipbetween the efforts of the consultant to provide a better quality service and theclientrsquos perception of improved benefits

Quality of consultant companies in relation to their sizeA study of the performance of consultant companies in relation to their sizewas made on the basis of the collected data The sample was divided into fourcategories companies that engaged the services of a single independentconsultant companies that used consultancies with a staff of between twoand five consultants companies that used consultancies with a staff ofbetween six and 50 consultants and lastly companies that used consultancieswith a staff of over 50 consultants The results of this segmentation can beseen in Figure 4

It was observed that the quality of the service is related to the size of theconsultant company the larger the company the better the service The bigconsultant companies obtain a significantly higher quality rating than thesmaller companies Whereas small companies (with two to fiveconsultants) obtain an average rating of 339 the average rating of theconsultancies with a staff of over 50 employees stands at 443 Thisrepresents a large difference of over one point It is noteworthy howeverthat professional consultants working independently offer a high qualityservice and score a rating that is closer to that of the large consultanciesthan the small ones

There also seems to be a negative relationship between the expectations ofthe client company and the number of workers employed by the consultantcompany However this does not carry any statistical significance

In the case of consultants working alone as independent professionalsexpectations of the service and perceived quality of the same are both veryhigh On the other hand although their clients have lower expectations thelarge consultant companies offer the best quality service In this case indeedperceived quality is higher than expectations

Figure 4Perceived qualityexpectations gap andbenefits in relation to thesize of the consultancy

Quality serviceof ISO 9000consultants

1009

On the other hand similar results are found when the benefits from using aconsultant are analysed according to the size of the consultant company Smallcompanies (between two and five consultants) provide the fewest benefits fortheir clients with an average rating of 288 whereas the large companies obtainan average rating of 313 Once again it is noted that independent professionalconsultants follow a different pattern and obtain the highest ratings of all Allthese relationships are statistically significant as shown by the Kruskal-Wallistest carried out by grouping the variables according to the size of theconsultant companies (Table VI)

The perceived quality and the gap between expectations and perceptionboth present significantly different averages with a significance level of 005

In a parallel manner the performance of the variables of qualityexpectations and benefits was analysed in relation to the size of the clientcompany In short no statistically significant relationship was detectedbetween these variables and the size of the client company in terms of numberof employees

Cost of consultant servicesIt is difficult to assess the benefits obtained from a consultant service withouttaking into consideration the cost of the same For this reason it wasconsidered appropriate to analyse the questionnaire data in terms of the costsinvolved In brief it can be concluded from an analysis of the data that theseservices are not expensive An assessment of the fees charged gives thelowest rating of the whole questionnaire data ie 272 This value is lowerthan the average value of the scale thus indicating a slight variance with theabove statement

Companies invested few resources in the introduction of the ruling It wasfound that 62 percent of the sample invested less than 15000 Euro Among thecompanies that engaged the services of a consultant the corresponding feesamounted to 48 percent of the total cost of introduction In most cases (77percent) the consultantrsquos fees are stipulated right from the beginning It can beassumed that the consultancies are so familiar with their service that they canmake an initial estimate of the cost of introducing the ruling with a high degreeof precision This type of service has been steadily growing ever since it was

Mean perceived

quality

Mean

expectations

Non-weighted

quality gap

Arithmetic mean

benefits 13 items

Chi-square 1465 1913 1411 1890

Freedom degree 3 3 3 3

Asymptotic sig 0002 0591 0003 0596

Notes aKruskal-Wallis test bGrouping variable number of consultants

Table VIKruskal-Wallis test

statistics for thevariables `perceived

qualityrsquorsquo ` expectationsrsquorsquo` gap between

expectations andperceived qualityrsquorsquo and`mean benefitsrsquorsquo when

grouped by ` number ofconsultantsrsquorsquo

IJQRM1989

1010

started a decade ago and can therefore be considered as standard (MartotildeAcircnez etal 2000) Moreover it is interesting to note that the offer of the service has alsoincreased which has resulted in a corresponding price adjustment

ConclusionsOne of the characteristics that differentiates a service from a product ormaterial goods is that the service is sold first and later `manufacturedrsquorsquoMoreover the production and consumption of the service are simultaneous iea service cannot be stored Thus the overall assessment of the client springsfrom two sources the end result of the service and the very process by whichthe service is provided (Berry 1995)

For these reasons the assessment of the quality of a service is not an easytask and as pointed out by Groth and Dye (1999) the providers of a serviceshould bear in mind this dual aspect by which a service is appraised Thereforethey should be able to recognise the different degrees by which the service itselfand the provision of the service are being assessed Despite this we consider itimportant to assess these services from the point of view of the client companyas has been done in the present research study

From all this we can draw the overall conclusion that the ISO 9000 advisoryservices are favourably regarded on the whole However it should also benoted that clients expect an even higher quality In short the client companiesexpect a higher quality from the service than that which is actually provided

It has been shown that the concept of quality can be broken down intothree factors one of which is the skill of the consultant in introducing theruling within the agreed time period and this is the aspect of the service thatobtains the poorest quality rating This factor is closely linked to thereliability factor which is considered to be of the highest importance by theclient companies For this reason the most reiterated request forimprovement by the clients is that the consultants perform the required taskswithin the agreed time periods

Moreover the results of the study show that the performance of independentprofessional consultants is very different from that of small consultantcompanies Independent consultants offer a high quality service that lives up tothe very high expectations of their clients The benefits that these clients gainfrom working with a consultant are also perceived as very high

During this work it has been noted that the quality offered by consultantcompanies that employ a staff of professionals varies according to the sizeof the company The benefits perceived by their clients are very similar tobut are slightly higher than those perceived by companies employing largeconsultancies

Finally although we realise that our study relates to only one region ofEurope we believe that our findings have broader implications for researchersand practitioners Thus we guess that it would be interesting to carry outsimilar surveys in other European and US regions For practitioners ourfindings should give pause for thought We guess that these findings are very

IJQRM1989

1008

In summary the analyses point to the existence of a significant relationshipbetween the efforts of the consultant to provide a better quality service and theclientrsquos perception of improved benefits

Quality of consultant companies in relation to their sizeA study of the performance of consultant companies in relation to their sizewas made on the basis of the collected data The sample was divided into fourcategories companies that engaged the services of a single independentconsultant companies that used consultancies with a staff of between twoand five consultants companies that used consultancies with a staff ofbetween six and 50 consultants and lastly companies that used consultancieswith a staff of over 50 consultants The results of this segmentation can beseen in Figure 4

It was observed that the quality of the service is related to the size of theconsultant company the larger the company the better the service The bigconsultant companies obtain a significantly higher quality rating than thesmaller companies Whereas small companies (with two to fiveconsultants) obtain an average rating of 339 the average rating of theconsultancies with a staff of over 50 employees stands at 443 Thisrepresents a large difference of over one point It is noteworthy howeverthat professional consultants working independently offer a high qualityservice and score a rating that is closer to that of the large consultanciesthan the small ones

There also seems to be a negative relationship between the expectations ofthe client company and the number of workers employed by the consultantcompany However this does not carry any statistical significance

In the case of consultants working alone as independent professionalsexpectations of the service and perceived quality of the same are both veryhigh On the other hand although their clients have lower expectations thelarge consultant companies offer the best quality service In this case indeedperceived quality is higher than expectations

Figure 4Perceived qualityexpectations gap andbenefits in relation to thesize of the consultancy

Quality serviceof ISO 9000consultants

1009

On the other hand similar results are found when the benefits from using aconsultant are analysed according to the size of the consultant company Smallcompanies (between two and five consultants) provide the fewest benefits fortheir clients with an average rating of 288 whereas the large companies obtainan average rating of 313 Once again it is noted that independent professionalconsultants follow a different pattern and obtain the highest ratings of all Allthese relationships are statistically significant as shown by the Kruskal-Wallistest carried out by grouping the variables according to the size of theconsultant companies (Table VI)

The perceived quality and the gap between expectations and perceptionboth present significantly different averages with a significance level of 005

In a parallel manner the performance of the variables of qualityexpectations and benefits was analysed in relation to the size of the clientcompany In short no statistically significant relationship was detectedbetween these variables and the size of the client company in terms of numberof employees

Cost of consultant servicesIt is difficult to assess the benefits obtained from a consultant service withouttaking into consideration the cost of the same For this reason it wasconsidered appropriate to analyse the questionnaire data in terms of the costsinvolved In brief it can be concluded from an analysis of the data that theseservices are not expensive An assessment of the fees charged gives thelowest rating of the whole questionnaire data ie 272 This value is lowerthan the average value of the scale thus indicating a slight variance with theabove statement

Companies invested few resources in the introduction of the ruling It wasfound that 62 percent of the sample invested less than 15000 Euro Among thecompanies that engaged the services of a consultant the corresponding feesamounted to 48 percent of the total cost of introduction In most cases (77percent) the consultantrsquos fees are stipulated right from the beginning It can beassumed that the consultancies are so familiar with their service that they canmake an initial estimate of the cost of introducing the ruling with a high degreeof precision This type of service has been steadily growing ever since it was

Mean perceived

quality

Mean

expectations

Non-weighted

quality gap

Arithmetic mean

benefits 13 items

Chi-square 1465 1913 1411 1890

Freedom degree 3 3 3 3

Asymptotic sig 0002 0591 0003 0596

Notes aKruskal-Wallis test bGrouping variable number of consultants

Table VIKruskal-Wallis test

statistics for thevariables `perceived

qualityrsquorsquo ` expectationsrsquorsquo` gap between

expectations andperceived qualityrsquorsquo and`mean benefitsrsquorsquo when

grouped by ` number ofconsultantsrsquorsquo

IJQRM1989

1010

started a decade ago and can therefore be considered as standard (MartotildeAcircnez etal 2000) Moreover it is interesting to note that the offer of the service has alsoincreased which has resulted in a corresponding price adjustment

ConclusionsOne of the characteristics that differentiates a service from a product ormaterial goods is that the service is sold first and later `manufacturedrsquorsquoMoreover the production and consumption of the service are simultaneous iea service cannot be stored Thus the overall assessment of the client springsfrom two sources the end result of the service and the very process by whichthe service is provided (Berry 1995)

For these reasons the assessment of the quality of a service is not an easytask and as pointed out by Groth and Dye (1999) the providers of a serviceshould bear in mind this dual aspect by which a service is appraised Thereforethey should be able to recognise the different degrees by which the service itselfand the provision of the service are being assessed Despite this we consider itimportant to assess these services from the point of view of the client companyas has been done in the present research study

From all this we can draw the overall conclusion that the ISO 9000 advisoryservices are favourably regarded on the whole However it should also benoted that clients expect an even higher quality In short the client companiesexpect a higher quality from the service than that which is actually provided

It has been shown that the concept of quality can be broken down intothree factors one of which is the skill of the consultant in introducing theruling within the agreed time period and this is the aspect of the service thatobtains the poorest quality rating This factor is closely linked to thereliability factor which is considered to be of the highest importance by theclient companies For this reason the most reiterated request forimprovement by the clients is that the consultants perform the required taskswithin the agreed time periods

Moreover the results of the study show that the performance of independentprofessional consultants is very different from that of small consultantcompanies Independent consultants offer a high quality service that lives up tothe very high expectations of their clients The benefits that these clients gainfrom working with a consultant are also perceived as very high

During this work it has been noted that the quality offered by consultantcompanies that employ a staff of professionals varies according to the sizeof the company The benefits perceived by their clients are very similar tobut are slightly higher than those perceived by companies employing largeconsultancies

Finally although we realise that our study relates to only one region ofEurope we believe that our findings have broader implications for researchersand practitioners Thus we guess that it would be interesting to carry outsimilar surveys in other European and US regions For practitioners ourfindings should give pause for thought We guess that these findings are very

Quality serviceof ISO 9000consultants

1009

On the other hand similar results are found when the benefits from using aconsultant are analysed according to the size of the consultant company Smallcompanies (between two and five consultants) provide the fewest benefits fortheir clients with an average rating of 288 whereas the large companies obtainan average rating of 313 Once again it is noted that independent professionalconsultants follow a different pattern and obtain the highest ratings of all Allthese relationships are statistically significant as shown by the Kruskal-Wallistest carried out by grouping the variables according to the size of theconsultant companies (Table VI)

The perceived quality and the gap between expectations and perceptionboth present significantly different averages with a significance level of 005

In a parallel manner the performance of the variables of qualityexpectations and benefits was analysed in relation to the size of the clientcompany In short no statistically significant relationship was detectedbetween these variables and the size of the client company in terms of numberof employees

Cost of consultant servicesIt is difficult to assess the benefits obtained from a consultant service withouttaking into consideration the cost of the same For this reason it wasconsidered appropriate to analyse the questionnaire data in terms of the costsinvolved In brief it can be concluded from an analysis of the data that theseservices are not expensive An assessment of the fees charged gives thelowest rating of the whole questionnaire data ie 272 This value is lowerthan the average value of the scale thus indicating a slight variance with theabove statement

Companies invested few resources in the introduction of the ruling It wasfound that 62 percent of the sample invested less than 15000 Euro Among thecompanies that engaged the services of a consultant the corresponding feesamounted to 48 percent of the total cost of introduction In most cases (77percent) the consultantrsquos fees are stipulated right from the beginning It can beassumed that the consultancies are so familiar with their service that they canmake an initial estimate of the cost of introducing the ruling with a high degreeof precision This type of service has been steadily growing ever since it was

Mean perceived

quality

Mean

expectations

Non-weighted

quality gap

Arithmetic mean

benefits 13 items

Chi-square 1465 1913 1411 1890

Freedom degree 3 3 3 3

Asymptotic sig 0002 0591 0003 0596

Notes aKruskal-Wallis test bGrouping variable number of consultants

Table VIKruskal-Wallis test

statistics for thevariables `perceived

qualityrsquorsquo ` expectationsrsquorsquo` gap between

expectations andperceived qualityrsquorsquo and`mean benefitsrsquorsquo when

grouped by ` number ofconsultantsrsquorsquo

IJQRM1989

1010

started a decade ago and can therefore be considered as standard (MartotildeAcircnez etal 2000) Moreover it is interesting to note that the offer of the service has alsoincreased which has resulted in a corresponding price adjustment

ConclusionsOne of the characteristics that differentiates a service from a product ormaterial goods is that the service is sold first and later `manufacturedrsquorsquoMoreover the production and consumption of the service are simultaneous iea service cannot be stored Thus the overall assessment of the client springsfrom two sources the end result of the service and the very process by whichthe service is provided (Berry 1995)

For these reasons the assessment of the quality of a service is not an easytask and as pointed out by Groth and Dye (1999) the providers of a serviceshould bear in mind this dual aspect by which a service is appraised Thereforethey should be able to recognise the different degrees by which the service itselfand the provision of the service are being assessed Despite this we consider itimportant to assess these services from the point of view of the client companyas has been done in the present research study

From all this we can draw the overall conclusion that the ISO 9000 advisoryservices are favourably regarded on the whole However it should also benoted that clients expect an even higher quality In short the client companiesexpect a higher quality from the service than that which is actually provided

It has been shown that the concept of quality can be broken down intothree factors one of which is the skill of the consultant in introducing theruling within the agreed time period and this is the aspect of the service thatobtains the poorest quality rating This factor is closely linked to thereliability factor which is considered to be of the highest importance by theclient companies For this reason the most reiterated request forimprovement by the clients is that the consultants perform the required taskswithin the agreed time periods

Moreover the results of the study show that the performance of independentprofessional consultants is very different from that of small consultantcompanies Independent consultants offer a high quality service that lives up tothe very high expectations of their clients The benefits that these clients gainfrom working with a consultant are also perceived as very high

During this work it has been noted that the quality offered by consultantcompanies that employ a staff of professionals varies according to the sizeof the company The benefits perceived by their clients are very similar tobut are slightly higher than those perceived by companies employing largeconsultancies

Finally although we realise that our study relates to only one region ofEurope we believe that our findings have broader implications for researchersand practitioners Thus we guess that it would be interesting to carry outsimilar surveys in other European and US regions For practitioners ourfindings should give pause for thought We guess that these findings are very

IJQRM1989

1010

started a decade ago and can therefore be considered as standard (MartotildeAcircnez etal 2000) Moreover it is interesting to note that the offer of the service has alsoincreased which has resulted in a corresponding price adjustment

ConclusionsOne of the characteristics that differentiates a service from a product ormaterial goods is that the service is sold first and later `manufacturedrsquorsquoMoreover the production and consumption of the service are simultaneous iea service cannot be stored Thus the overall assessment of the client springsfrom two sources the end result of the service and the very process by whichthe service is provided (Berry 1995)

For these reasons the assessment of the quality of a service is not an easytask and as pointed out by Groth and Dye (1999) the providers of a serviceshould bear in mind this dual aspect by which a service is appraised Thereforethey should be able to recognise the different degrees by which the service itselfand the provision of the service are being assessed Despite this we consider itimportant to assess these services from the point of view of the client companyas has been done in the present research study

From all this we can draw the overall conclusion that the ISO 9000 advisoryservices are favourably regarded on the whole However it should also benoted that clients expect an even higher quality In short the client companiesexpect a higher quality from the service than that which is actually provided

It has been shown that the concept of quality can be broken down intothree factors one of which is the skill of the consultant in introducing theruling within the agreed time period and this is the aspect of the service thatobtains the poorest quality rating This factor is closely linked to thereliability factor which is considered to be of the highest importance by theclient companies For this reason the most reiterated request forimprovement by the clients is that the consultants perform the required taskswithin the agreed time periods

Moreover the results of the study show that the performance of independentprofessional consultants is very different from that of small consultantcompanies Independent consultants offer a high quality service that lives up tothe very high expectations of their clients The benefits that these clients gainfrom working with a consultant are also perceived as very high

During this work it has been noted that the quality offered by consultantcompanies that employ a staff of professionals varies according to the sizeof the company The benefits perceived by their clients are very similar tobut are slightly higher than those perceived by companies employing largeconsultancies

Finally although we realise that our study relates to only one region ofEurope we believe that our findings have broader implications for researchersand practitioners Thus we guess that it would be interesting to carry outsimilar surveys in other European and US regions For practitioners ourfindings should give pause for thought We guess that these findings are very

Quality serviceof ISO 9000consultants

1011

interesting in order to improve their service and that they should somehowmeasure and control their service quality We really think that for all theprofessionals working in the quality field a quality service should be a realNo 1 purpose

References

Berry L (1995) MaAcircs allaAcirc de la excelencia en el servicio Un plan para la accioAcircn DeustoPublications

Brown A and Van der Wiele T (1995) ` Industry experience with ISO 9000rsquorsquo Asia PacificJournal of Quality Management Vol 4 No 2 pp 8-17

Buttle F (1997) ` ISO 9000 marketing motivations and benefitsrsquorsquo International Journal of Qualityamp Reliability Management Vol 14 No 9 pp 936-47

CasadesuAcircs M (1998) ` La normativa de aseguramiento de la calidad ISO 9000 en CatalunAumlaexpectativas y efectos Estudio empotildeAcircricorsquorsquo Research project CICYT Reference SEC96-1005

CasadesuAcircs M and GimeAcircnez G (2000) ` The benefits of the implementation of the ISO 9000standard empirical researchin 288 Spanish companiesrsquorsquo The TQM Magazine Vol 12 No 6

Escanciano C (2000) ` Influencia de la certificacioAcircn ISO 9000 en el avance de la empresa espanAumlolahacia la calidad totalrsquorsquo paper presented at the 1st World Conference on Production andOperations Management (POM) Seville

Groth JC and Dye RT (1999) ` Service quality perceived value expectations shortfalls andbonusesrsquorsquo Managing Service Quality Vol 9 No 4

ISO (2000) available at wwwisochisoeniso9000-14000pdfsurvey9pdf

Jones R Arndt G and Kustin R (1997) ` ISO 9000 among Australian companies impact of timeand reasons for seeking certification on perceptions of benefits receivedrsquorsquo InternationalJournal of Quality amp Reliability Management Vol 14 No 7

Lloydrsquos Register Quality Assurance Ltd (1994) BS 5750 ISO 9000 ndash Setting Standards forBetter Business Lloydrsquos Register Quality Assurance Services Ltd Croydon

MartotildeAcircnez C et al (2000) `Analysis of the implementation of ISO 9000 quality assurancesystemsrsquorsquo Work Study Vol 49 No 6

Meegan ST and Taylor WA (1997) ` Factors influencing a successful transition from ISO 9000to TQM The influence of understanding and motivationrsquorsquo International Journal of Qualityamp Reliability Management Vol 14 No 2

Nachum L (1999) `Measurement of productivity of professional services an illustration ofSwedish management consulting firmsrsquorsquo International Journal of Operations amp ProductionManagement Vol 19 No 9

Phillips J (2000) The Consultantrsquos Scorecard McGraw Hill New York NY

Ribeiro D (1996) ` ConsultorotildeAcirca para la direccioAcircn en organizacioAcircn calidad marketing yestrategiarsquorsquo doctoral thesis University of Valencia Valencia

Samson D and Parker R (1994) ` Service quality the gap in the Australian consulting engineeringindustryrsquorsquo International Journal of Quality amp Reliability Management Vol 11 No 7

Vanguard Consulting Ltd (1994) `BS 5750ISO 9000EN 29000 1987 a positive contribution tobetter businessrsquorsquo The TQM Magazine Vol 11 No 2 p 60

Vloeberghs D and Bellens J (1996) ` Implementing the ISO 9000 standardsrsquorsquo Quality ProgressVol 29 No 6 pp 43-8

Zeithaml VA Parasuraman A and Berry L (1993) Calidad total en la gestioAcircn de los serviciosDotildeAcircaz de Santos

IJQRM1989

1012

Appendix 1

Tot

alvar

iance

expla

ined

Init

ial

eigen

val

ues

Extr

acti

onsu

ms

ofsq

uar

edlo

adin

gs

Rot

atio

nsu

ms

ofsq

uar

edlo

adin

gs

Com

pon

ents

Tot

alP

erce

nt

ofvar

iance

Cum

ula

tive

per

cent

Tot

alP

erce

nt

ofvar

iance

Cum

ula

tive

per

cent

Tot

alP

erce

nt

ofvar

iance

Cum

ula

tive

per

cent

17

7255

20

552

07

7255

20

552

04

8434

58

345

82

136

971

649

21

369

7164

92

306

219

156

50

31

037

3972

31

103

739

723

12

2115

81

723

14

073

521

775

25

068

486

823

86

061

435

867

47

039

279

895

38

035

255

920

99

031

224

943

310

022

162

959

511

019

137

973

312

015

107

984

013

014

105

994

614

007

053

100

0

Note

sE

xtr

acti

onm

ethod

P

rinci

pal

com

pon

ent

anal

ysi

sC

ompon

ent

Rot

ated

com

pon

ent

mat

rix

a

12

3b12

084

10

264

b11

079

60

346

b13

079

00

407

b10

076

80

383

025

1b8

075

30

340

b9

072

40

426

b14

061

70

446

029

7b4

060

80

470

032

0b6

085

1b5

079

4b7

034

40

573

034

3b1

086

7b3

042

50

415

063

5b2

025

30

513

057

2

Note

sE

xtra

ctio

nm

etho

dpr

inci

pal

com

pone

ntan

alys

isR

otat

ion

met

hod

Var

imax

with

Kai

ser

norm

aliz

atio

naR

otat

ion

conv

erge

din

six

inte

ratio

ns

Table AIFactorial analysis ofthe perceived qualityPrincipal componentsmethod with varimaxrotation

Quality serviceof ISO 9000consultants

1013

Appendix 2T

otal

var

iance

expla

ined

Init

ial

eigen

val

ues

Extr

acti

onsu

ms

ofsq

uar

edlo

adin

gs

Rot

atio

nsu

ms

ofsq

uar

edlo

adin

gs

Com

pon

ents

Tot

alP

erce

nt

ofvar

iance

Cum

ula

tive

per

cent

Tot

alP

erce

nt

ofvar

iance

Cum

ula

tive

per

cent

Tot

alP

erce

nt

ofvar

iance

Cum

ula

tive

per

cent

18

219

632

2263

222

821

963

222

632

225

245

403

4940

349

20

894

687

570

097

089

46

875

700

973

867

297

4870

097

30

791

608

876

185

40

746

573

581

920

50

483

371

385

633

60

410

315

588

788

70

337

259

491

383

80

319

245

093

833

90

236

181

495

647

100

182

140

197

048

110

158

121

798

265

120

149

114

399

408

130

077

059

210

00

Note

sE

xtr

acti

onm

ethod

P

rinci

pal

com

pon

ent

anal

ysi

sC

ompon

ent

Rot

ated

com

pon

ent

mat

rix

a

12

d9

091

1d8

079

40

288

d3

073

60

375

d10

071

50

418

d11

069

00

523

d7

067

60

462

d13

063

50

484

d2

061

40

523

d12

057

50

560

d1

085

4d6

037

70

767

d5

040

30

675

d4

060

40

608

Note

sE

xtra

ctio

nm

etho

dpr

inci

pal

com

ponen

tan

alys

isR

otat

ion

met

hod

Var

imax

with

Kai

ser

norm

aliz

atio

naR

otat

ion

conv

erge

din

thre

eiter

atio

n

Table AIIFactoral analysis of the

obtained benefitsPrincipal componentsmethod with varimax

rotation

Quality serviceof ISO 9000consultants

1013

Appendix 2T

otal

var

iance

expla

ined

Init

ial

eigen

val

ues

Extr

acti

onsu

ms

ofsq

uar

edlo

adin

gs

Rot

atio

nsu

ms

ofsq

uar

edlo

adin

gs

Com

pon

ents

Tot

alP

erce

nt

ofvar

iance

Cum

ula

tive

per

cent

Tot

alP

erce

nt

ofvar

iance

Cum

ula

tive

per

cent

Tot

alP

erce

nt

ofvar

iance

Cum

ula

tive

per

cent

18

219

632

2263

222

821

963

222

632

225

245

403

4940

349

20

894

687

570

097

089

46

875

700

973

867

297

4870

097

30

791

608

876

185

40

746

573

581

920

50

483

371

385

633

60

410

315

588

788

70

337

259

491

383

80

319

245

093

833

90

236

181

495

647

100

182

140

197

048

110

158

121

798

265

120

149

114

399

408

130

077

059

210

00

Note

sE

xtr

acti

onm

ethod

P

rinci

pal

com

pon

ent

anal

ysi

sC

ompon

ent

Rot

ated

com

pon

ent

mat

rix

a

12

d9

091

1d8

079

40

288

d3

073

60

375

d10

071

50

418

d11

069

00

523

d7

067

60

462

d13

063

50

484

d2

061

40

523

d12

057

50

560

d1

085

4d6

037

70

767

d5

040

30

675

d4

060

40

608

Note

sE

xtra

ctio

nm

etho

dpr

inci

pal

com

ponen

tan

alys

isR

otat

ion

met

hod

Var

imax

with

Kai

ser

norm

aliz

atio

naR

otat

ion

conv

erge

din

thre

eiter

atio

n

Table AIIFactoral analysis of the

obtained benefitsPrincipal componentsmethod with varimax

rotation