Quality practices in travel agencies. A mediating factor in non-financial indicators of advanced information systems
| Date | 10 August 2015 |
| Pages | 1325-1340 |
| Published date | 10 August 2015 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-04-2015-0133 |
| Author | Jordi Perramon,Llorenç Bagur-Femenias,Oriol Amat |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information systems,Data management systems |
Quality practices in
travel agencies
A mediating factor in non-financial indicators
of advanced information systems
Jordi Perramon, Llorenç Bagur-Femenias and Oriol Amat
Barcelona School of Management, Universitat Pompeu Fabra,
Barcelona, Spain
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to examine the motivations for the adoption of quality
management practices (QMPs) and the effects exerted by the advanced management information
systems (AMIS) as mediating factors in a sector consisting of highly competitive companies with a
high mortality rate in recent years: travel agencies.
Design/methodology/approach –The results were based on a survey completed by 185 travel
agencies with less than 50 employees, covering over 5 per cent of the SME travel agencies in Spain.
Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the links between the studied dimensions.
Findings –The findings indicate that QMPs have a positive, direct influence on the adoption of AMIS
and that the adoption of AMIS has a positive, direct impact on financial performance. The results
suggest that quality policies facilitate greater use of financial indicators but not in the use of
non-financial indicators, where the key to better business performance lies.
Originality/value –Therefore, the results of this paper indicate that being proactive about quality
practices can provide travel agencies a great number of benefits through the implementation of AMIS.
Keywords Information systems, Firm’s performance, Quality management practices,
Travel agencies
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The implementation of quality management practices (QMPs) in enterprises and the
way in which their use has affected business performance have been widely studied
over the last few years. Nevertheless, scarce research has linked QMPs to information
systems in companies’decision making, except for some studies which test e-quality
and ISO models (Alonso-Almeida et al., 2014; Yaya et al., 2011, 2013) and some others
which study quality policies and market competitiveness in service companies
(Yee et al., 2013). Furthermore, within this group, few investigators have analysed this
link in the tourism sub-sector, which essentially consists of companies with fewer than
50 employees (Eurostat, 2008).
In the last few years SME have invested in IT/S, and the benefits that can be gained
from these systems depend on their usage. The prominent ERP system examples
include SAP ERP software and Oracle’s E-Business Suite (Chou et al., 2014).
Consequently, the adoption and the usage of IT/S continue to be an important
consideration for organisations (Shaikh and Karjaluoto, 2015) due to it can be linked to
service quality, perceived value, customer satisfaction and post-purchase intention
(Kuo et al., 2009). This study provides tangible results in this particular environment,
focusing its analysis on travel agencies in Spain.
According to the Iberian Balance Sheet Analysis (SABI, in Spanish) application, this
sector has experienced a high business mortality rate in recent years. At the time of
Industrial Management & Data
Systems
Vol. 115 No. 7, 2015
pp. 1325-1340
©Emerald Group Publis hing Limited
0263-5577
DOI 10.1108/IMDS-04-2015-0133
Received 13 April 2015
Revised 14 May 2015
Accepted 21 May 2015
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0263-5577.htm
1325
Quality
practices in
travel
agencies
this study, the number of travel agencies in Spain had decreased from 4,658 in 2010 to
only 4,074 in 2011, of which 584 firms (12.53 per cent of the sector) disappeared during
a single financial period.
Both the economic crisis and the strengthening of online sales have forced these
small enterprises to evolve with their environments or disappear (Casielles et al., 2009).
In the space of a few years, companies have changed from using a local business model,
based on customers’confidence, to global businesses, in which large amounts of
information are available to customers to help them compare and in which price is
a key variable in the final purchasing decision.
In addition to the above-mentioned reasons, other factors warrant this study.
First, there has been very little research that has included in a single model accounting,
non-financial variables and QMPs to analyse financial improvement. There have been a
few exceptions, mainly those studies that have focused on lean management, including
quality variables, together with many other key factors necessary to maximise value
offered to stakeholders (timeliness of delivery, employee performance improvement,
efficiency, flexibility, etc.). Despite these factors, it is important to note that the vast
majority of “lean studies”have focused on enterprises and manufacturing sectors,
which have lean management as their bases and in which “wasted resource”cutbacks
(overproduction, stocks, waiting times, defects, under-use of human capital and others)
are more tangible. Second, it is necessary to conduct quantitative research into the
different sectors in which small enterprises dominate (Lee, 2009) and also to focus on
the services sector. Third and finally, mention must be made of the need for studies
focused on small enterprises, thus facilitating the decision-making process in the
tourism industry, as Kassinis and Soteriou (2003) or Hillary (2004) have suggested.
In the light of the foregoing, it has been deemedrelevant to study enterprisesthat have
managed to survivein a sector that has changed so much in recent years. In thisrespect,
this paperseeks to analyse empiricallywhether investing inquality can make a difference
between surviving and disappearing in highly competitive and ever-evolving sectors.
Specifically, it will analyse whether the implementation of QMPs has positive effects
on the use and development of advanced information systems in decision making.
Moreover, it will examine whether there is a positive link between the use of these
systems and the company’s finances.
This paper provides evidence relevant to the research conducted in this field in
different aspects.First, it highlights the main QMPs adoptedby travel agencies and their
impacts on these companies’performance using management information in decision
making. Second,it makes it easier to understand the effects produced on a smallservices
enterprise by undertaking quality measures. Third, it increases understanding of the
impact of QMP implementation on companies’financial performance (FP), which is
measured in terms of sales growth or earnings growth, among other indicators. Fourth,
because this study focuses on a sector with a high business mortality rate, analysing
enterprises thathave survived could shed light on whether investing in qualityis a good
strategy to differentiate and survivein complex and highly competitive sectors.Fifth and
finally, this study incorporates a new methodological approach, using a second-tier
construct inthe model for benchmarking: indeed,it adds accounting informationsystems
to other non-financial information systems.
The remainder of this paper is structured as follows. Section 2 discusses the
theoretical arguments for the adoption of QMPs and their effects on the use of both
financial and non-financial information in decision making, in addition to their direct or
indirect links to companies’FP. Section 3 describes the methodology used in the
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