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Literature Review
Independent/Individual Discussion on Variables
1. The concept of the variable (Definitions – Preferably in chronological order)

See Paper: Dzansi, D. Y., & Pretorius, M. (2009). The development and structural confirmation of
an instrument for measuring the social responsibility of small and micro business in the African
context. Social Responsibility Journal, 5(4), 450–463.

2. Is there any conceptualization of the variable in the area of your study (for Instance
Higher Education)

Esfijani, Hussain, and Chang (2013, p. 278) defined USR as a concept whereby a university
integrates all of its functions and activities with the society needs through active engagement
with its communities in an ethical and transparent manner which is aimed to meet all
stakeholders’ expectations.

3. How the definitions evolved, changed over time

See Paper: Mohammed Rafiq Pervaiz K. Ahmed, (2000),"Advances in the internal marketing
concept: definition, synthesis and extension", Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 14 Iss 6 pp. 449 -
462

4. What are the key facets/traits/characteristics that emerge from the definitions

Five dimensions of CSR are developed through a content analysis of existing CSR definitions

5. What conceptualization/operational definition are you using in your study? Does

conceptualization reflects in instrument/measurement. Why use a particular
conceptualization, is it very close to your area of study?

Considering the above and the fact that South African businesses have a long history of
instituting BSR programs on discretionary basis (Irwin, 2003:2), this study operationally defines
BSR as:
. . . a firm’s commitment to operating in an economically sustainable manner while at the same
time recognising the interests of its other stakeholders (customers, employees, business
partners, local communities, society at large) over and above what the law prescribes.

6. What does the variable do for the organizations – How it facilitates their working (Discuss
in general and also in particular to your industry scope)

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The quality of internal services is closely related to a company’s overall performance (Reynoso
and Moores 1995). According the service–profit chain perspective, the achievement of internal
customer (employee) satisfaction is the basis for achieving excellent external customer
satisfaction (Heskett et al. 1994). The delivery of quality internal services is critical to employee
satisfaction, because improvements in ISQ are expected to produce improved external service
quality (Vandermerwe and Gilbert 1989; Heskett et al. 1994; Hart 1995).

7. Why studying the concept is important in your field of study? Discuss the general
consequences (If it’s a predictor variable) – If it is a criterion, why studying the
antecedents is important in your field of study. Provide examples if possible

The literature suggests that higher education began its most recent focus on quality improvement
efforts during the 1990s, owing to increased competition for students and operational funds. For
example, Ewell (1993) suggested that the rise in TQM efforts in the 1990s was driven by the
difficult financial situation in higher education in those years, rather than by any genuine effort to
improve services. Hwarng and Teo (2001) pointed to increased competition for funding,
resources, and students as motivators for an increased interest in quality in education.

Example: Microsoft is the most socially responsible company in the world, followed by Google and
The Walt Disney Company – at least according to the perceptions of 47,000 people from 15
countries that participated in a survey conducted by the consultancy firm Reputation
Institute.Based on the results of this survey the Reputation Institute compiled a ranking of 100
companies with the best CSR reputation worldwide. The top 3 companies in this ranking belong to
the media and communication sector: Microsoft (rank 1), Google (rank 2), and The Walt Disney
Company (rank 3) (Reputation Institute 2012, 19).

8. Status of literature on the variable in the field of study (Is it limited. What are its
limitations?)

While the Six Sigma methodology has seen broad acceptance in industry, little has been published
about its use in higher education. Although some indicate that the methodology would be
applicable to higher education (Raifsnider& Kurt, 2004) their approach is limited to a specific
administrative setting. No examples of higher education implementation of Six Sigma efforts
appear in the literature.

Yet, relatively little empirical research has been conducted systematically and extensively to
identify the key quality dimensions of purchasing’s internal service, particularly from the
perspective of purchasing’s internal customers. This

9. How, will assessment/measurement/investigation of the variable help in field of study?

In order for something to be quantifiably improved, it must be able to be measured. Higher

education, like many service industries has struggled to measure service quality.

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The key to knowing whether quality management approaches and techniques have been
successful is through performance measurement of key operational and financial metrics.

10. What are common measurements of the variable, what are the common dimensions,
which one are you using?

See: Minjoon Jun &ShaohanCai (2010): Examining the relationships between internal service
quality and its dimensions, and internal customer satisfaction, Total Quality Management &
Business Excellence, 21:2, 205-223

11. Your literature should not look like annotated bibliography, but rather a story where
ideas/concepts are linked
12. Try using latest references wherever possible in particular when highlighting the
importance of the concept/its value/its benefits
How to write when developing framework to establish relationships
1. Has previous studies linked the two concepts? If yes what were their findings

Orlitzky et al.'s (2003) findings further support the idea presented by Garriga and Mele (2004).
Their study,which involved a review of all 52 earlier surveys about the correlation between CSR
and company performance, showed that more socially responsible companies had stronger
economic results. Later, survey data was adopted from 280 companies in UAE by Rettab et al.
(2009) to examine the connection between CSR operations and company performance; the
outcomeindicated that CSR has a positive association with all three determinants of company
performance: monetary performance, personnel commitment, and corporate integrity.

2. Are the variables in any way linked to each other?

3. Were the findings of the previous studies unanimous? On the other hand, contradictory?

Studies on the relationship between market orientation and innovativeness have produced
contradictory results, as reported by Baker and Sinkula (1999) and Deshpandeand Farley (2004).
The correlation between market orientation and business performance has been amply debated.
A survey of 36 studies indicated that 23 of them found a positive correlation, while the others
found weak or non-significant correlations (Jaworski et al., 2000).

4. Why studying the linkage between variables is significant/Important (In general)

By addressing these important questions, internal suppliers can understand what service areas
they should concentrate on to effectively improve their internal service quality and internal
customer satisfaction, while avoiding the investment of much money and other resources in
providing service quality dimensions that may not pay off (Oliva et al., 1992).
The market sensing and responding competencies implied by high levels of market orientation
result in highly market-oriented firms knowing what their customers want and what the market

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offers, and responding with a service or product that meets the needs of target customers better
than competing offerings.Consequently, the success of amarket-oriented strategy can
bemeasured in terms of the customer satisfaction that it generates (see, for example,
Caruana&Calleya, 1998; Kaynak& Kara, 2004; Qu &Ennew, 2003; Singh &Ranchhod, 2004; Web,
Webster, &Krepapa, 2000).

5. Why studying the linkage between variables is significant in your area/field of study

Quality assurance is one of the core elements of the Bologna process, so the quality of service
concept is particularly important in higher education institutions (Correia, Miranda, 2012).
University education in general and the quality of it in particular, are linked in order to respond to
education’s demands of quality and social responsibility that the current situation demands.
Most previous research in student satisfaction area has been developed from the perspective of
quality of service, like antecedent. A better understanding of the satisfaction antecedents can
help a University’s marketing strategies developing more effective investments, plans, positioning
universities in the global market and so on. Nowadays, universities are re-considering strategies
employed in higher education because of the new generations of learners, technological
innovations, economic factors, etc. (Stukalina 2014), so, identifying predictors of student
satisfaction will help to designing university marketing strategies more accurate.Therefore, USR
as antecedent of student satisfaction will help management universities to lead university
marketing strategies.

6. How the independent variable affects/influences/impacts the dependent variable

In another study by AlafiandHasoneh (2012) customer satisfaction is positively affected by CSR. In

the wake of improved customer satisfaction, financial benefit will increase through lower
customer defection and more repeat businesses because it reduces costs, increases returns, and
generates more sales (Bhote, 1996; Galbreath, 2002).

7. Do the dimensions/traits of independent variable link to the dependent variable

Despite the significant differences between the two constructs, little research has examined the
relationship between service quality dimensions and external customer satisfaction. For example,
Bowers et al. (1994) have uncovered 12 service quality dimensions in the health care industry and
have found that only six of them are significantly correlated with patient satisfaction.

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