Operationalization of importance-performance analysis with nine categories and tested for green practices and financial evaluation
Abstract
The Importance-Performance Analysis is a widely used diagnostic tool in many fields of economic activity, such as: transport, health, construction, public food industry, finance, banking, sustainable activities, etc. Despite its use for over 40 years in many economic and social fields, this tool has some important drawbacks that affect the accuracy of managerial decisions. Over time, many variants for improving the standard Importance-performance matrix have been proposed. The aim of our research is to propose a method to solve one of the biggest problems of the standard Importance-Performance Analysis, respectively a method of boosting confidence in the positioning of attributes in the matrix. We use a mathematical method, inspired by classification theory tools, to apply the nine categories division of attributes in the importance-performance plane. Moreover, we introduce a level of confidence in a nine categories Importance-performance matrix, which helps the practitioners to prioritize a decision on attributes, according to the resources, managerial plan, competition, etc. We test and discuss the effectiveness of the new method on two studies: on the green practices in educational restaurant operations and on the financial performance evaluation.
First published online 06 October 2022
Keyword : evaluation, diagnosis tool, confidence, decision making, importance-performance analysis (IPA), prototype, partition, economic activities
How to Cite
Ban, O. I., Droj, L., Tușe, D. A., & Botezat, E. (2022). Operationalization of importance-performance analysis with nine categories and tested for green practices and financial evaluation. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 28(6), 1711–1738. https://doi.org/10.3846/tede.2022.17653
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
References
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Almanza, B. A., Jaffe, W., & Lin, L. (1994). Use of the service attribute matrix to measure consumer satisfaction. Hospitality Research Journal, 17(2), 63–75. https://doi.org/10.1177/109634809401700207
Bacon, D. R. (2003). A comparison of approaches to importance-performance analysis. International Journal of Market Research, 45(1), 55–71. https://doi.org/10.1177/147078530304500101
Ban, O. I., Ban, A. I., & Tușe, D. A. (2016). Importance-performance analysis by Fuzzy C-Means algorithm. Expert Systems with Applications, 50, 9–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2015.12.023
Ban, O. I., Bogdan, V., & Tușe, D. (2019). Tourist destination assessment by revised importance-performance analysis. In Bilgin, M., Danis, H., Demir, E., & Can, U. (Eds.), Eurasian studies in business and economics: Vol. 11/1. Eurasian economic perspectives (pp. 49–68). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18565-7_5
Boley, B. B., McGehee, N. G., & Hammett, A. T. (2017). Importance-performance analysis (IPA) of sustainable tourism initiatives: The resident perspective. Tourism Management, 58, 66–77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2016.10.002
Chaisomboon, M., Jomnonkwao, S., & Ratanavaraha, V. (2020). Elderly users’ satisfaction with public transport in Thailand using different importance performance analysis approaches. Sustainability, 12(21), 9066. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12219066
Chang, R. D., Zuo, J., Soebarto, V., Zhao, Z. Y., Zillante, G., & Gan, X. L. (2017). Discovering the transition pathways toward sustainability for construction enterprises: Importance-performance analysis. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 143(6), 04017013. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0001295
Choi, J.-J., & Boger Jr., C. A. (2000). Association planners’ satisfaction: An application of importance-performance analysis. Journal of Convention & Exhibition Management, 2(2–3), 113–129. https://doi.org/10.1300/J143v02n02_10
Deng, J., & Pierskalla, C. D. (2018). Linking importance-performance analysis, satisfaction, and loyalty: A study of Savannah, GA. Sustainability, 10(3), 704. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10030704
Dvorak, B. (2021). Pollution prevention/environmental sustainability for industry. Environments, 8(9), 91. https://doi.org/10.3390/environments8090091
Dwyer, L., Armenski, T., Knežević Cvelbar, L., Dragičević, V., & Mihalic, T. (2016). Modified importance-performance analysis for evaluating tourism business strategies: Comparison of Slovenia and Serbia. International Journal of Tourism Research, 18(4), 327–340. https://doi.org/10.1002/jtr.2052
Esmailpour, J., Aghabayk, K., Abrari Vajari, M., & De Gruyter, C. (2020). Importance – Performance Analysis (IPA) of bus service attributes: A case study in a developing country. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 142, 129–150. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2020.10.020
Hongli, Z. (2018, January). Using revised importance performance analysis to improve service quality of airlines. In Proceedings of the 2018 2nd International Conference on Management Engineering, Software Engineering and Service Sciences – ICMSS 2018 (pp. 12–17). Association for Computing Machinery. Wuhan. https://doi.org/10.1145/3180374.3181356
Hudson, S., & Shephard, G. W. H. (1998). Measuring service quality at tourist destinations: An application of importance-performance analysis to an Alpine ski resort. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 7(3), 61–77. https://doi.org/10.1300/J073v07n03_04
Ionescu, L. (2020). The economics of the carbon tax: Environmental performance, sustainable energy, and green financial behavior. Geopolitics, History, and International Relations, 12(1), 101–107. https://doi.org/10.22381/GHIR121202010
Ionescu, L. (2021a). Transitioning to a low-carbon economy: green financial behavior, climate change mitigation, and environmental energy sustainability. Geopolitics, History, and International Relations, 13(1), 86–96. https://doi.org/10.22381/GHIR13120218
Ionescu, L. (2021b). Corporate environmental performance, climate change mitigation, and green innovation behavior in sustainable finance. Economics, Management, and Financial Markets, 16(3), 94–106. https://doi.org/10.22381/emfm16320216
Izadi, A., Jahani, Y., Rafiei, S., Masoud, A., & Vali, L. (2017). Evaluating health service quality: Using importance performance analysis. International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, 30(7), 656–663. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHCQA-02-2017-0030
Joppe, M., Martin, D. W., & Waalen, J. (2001). Toronto’s image as a destination: A comparative importance-satisfaction analysis by origin of visitor. Journal of Travel Research, 39(3), 252–260. https://doi.org/10.1177/004728750103900302
Lee, M. J., Kang, H., Choi, H., & Olds, D. (2020). Managerial attitudes towards green practices in educational restaurant operations: An importance-performance analysis. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Education, 32(3), 142–155. https://doi.org/10.1080/10963758.2019.1655437
Levine, D. M., Stephan, D., Krehbiel, T. C., & Berenson, M. L. (2005). Statistics for managers using Microsoft Excel (4th ed.). Prentice Hall.
Liew, S. L., Hussin, S. R., & Abdullah, N. H. (2021). Attributes of senior-friendly tourism destinations for current and future senior tourists: An importance-performance analysis approach. SAGE Open, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244021998658
Lin, Z., & Vlachos, I. (2018). An advanced analytical framework for improving customer satisfaction: A case of air passengers. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 114, 185–195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2018.04.003
Martilla, J. A., & James, J. C. (1977). Importance-performance analysis. Journal of Marketing, 41(1), 77–79. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224297704100112
McLeay, F., Robson, A., & Yusoff, M. (2017). New applications for importance-performance analysis (IPA) in higher education. Journal of Management Development, 36(6), 780–800. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-10-2016-0187
Mount, D. J. (2000). Determination of significant issues: Applying a quantitative method to importance-performance analysis. Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism, 1(3), 49–63. https://doi.org/10.1300/J162v01n03_03
Nam, S., & Lee, H. C. (2019). A text analytics-based importance performance analysis and its application to airline service. Sustainability, 11(21), 6153. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11216153
Nazari-Shirkouhi, S., Mousakhani, S., Tavakoli, M., Dalvand, M. R., Šaparauskas, J., & Antuchevičienė, J. (2020). Importance-performance analysis based balanced scorecard for performance evaluation in higher education institutions: An integrated fuzzy approach. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 21(3), 647–678. https://doi.org/10.3846/jbem.2020.11940
Oh, H. (2001). Revisiting importance-performance analysis. Tourism Management, 22(6), 617–627. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0261-5177(01)00036-X
Padlee, S. F., Reimers, V., Mokhlis, S., Anuar, M. M., & Ahmad, A. (2019). Keep up the good work in research universities: An importance-performance analysis. Australasian Marketing Journal, 28(2), 128–138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ausmj.2019.10.002
Patiar, A., Ma, E., Kensbock, S., & Cox, R. (2017). Hospitality management students’ expectation and perception of a virtual field trip web site: An Australian case study using importance-performance analysis. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Education, 29(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/10963758.2016.1266941
Rašovská, I., Kubickova, M., & Ryglová, K. (2021). Importance-performance analysis approach to destination management. Tourism Economics, 27(4), 777–794. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354816620903913
Rau, H. H., Wu, Y. S., Chu, C. M., Wang, F. C., Hsu, M. H., Chang, C. W., Chen, K.H., Lee, Y. L., Kao, S., Chiu, Y. L., Wen, H.-C., Fuad, A., Hsu, C. Y., & Chiu, H. W. (2017). Importance-performance analysis of personal health records in Taiwan: A web-based survey. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 19(4), e131. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.7065
Roh, Y. S., Kim, M., & Issenberg, S. B. (2019). Perceived competence and training priorities of Korean nursing simulation instructors. Clinical Simulation in Nursing, 26, 54–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecns.2018.08.001
Sever, I. (2015). Importance-performance analysis: A valid management tool? Tourism Management, 48, 43–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2014.10.022
Shieh, J. I., Huang, K. K., & Wu, H. H. (2019). Service quality evaluation of a geriatric long-term care: A combination of SERVQUAL model and importance-performance analysis. Journal of Statistics and Management Systems, 22(5), 829–843. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2014.10.022
Tarrant, M. A., & Smith, E. K. (2002). The use of a modified importance-performance framework to examine visitor satisfaction with attributes of outdoor recreation settings. Managing Leisure, 7(2), 69–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/13606710210137246
Wilkins, H. (2010). Using importance-performance analysis to appreciate satisfaction in hotels. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 19(8), 866–888. https://doi.org/10.1080/19368623.2010.514554
Wang, Z. L., Shen, H. C., & Zuo, J. (2019). Risks in prefabricated buildings in China: Importance-performance analysis approach. Sustainability, 11(12), 3450. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11123450
Wohlfart, O., & Hovemann, G. (2019). Using importance-performance analysis to bridge the information gap between industry and higher education. Industry and Higher Education, 33(4), 223–227. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950422219838465
Wu, H. H., & Shieh, J. I. (2009). The development of a confidence interval-based importance-performance analysis by considering variability in analyzing service quality. Expert Systems with Applications, 36(3), 7040–7044. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2008.08.055
Xie, L., Chen, Y., Xia, B., & Hua, C. (2020). Importance-performance analysis of prefabricated building sustainability: A case study of Guangzhou. Advances in Civil Engineering, 2020, 8839118. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/8839118
Yang, J., Xia, Y., Zhang, K., Yang, L., & Zhang, Z. (2018). Financial performance evaluation based on IPA-Taking X power supply bureau as an example. International Journal of Economics and Finance, 10(12), 67–76. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijef.v10n12p67
Zhang, Q., Lan Oo, B., & Lim, B. T. H. (2021). Mapping perceptions and implementation of corporate social responsibility for construction firms via importance-performance analysis: Paths of improvement. Journal of Management in Engineering, 37(6), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000954
Albrecht, K., & Bradford, L. J. (1990). The service advantage. How to identify and fulfill customer needs. Dow Jones Irwin.
Almanza, B. A., Jaffe, W., & Lin, L. (1994). Use of the service attribute matrix to measure consumer satisfaction. Hospitality Research Journal, 17(2), 63–75. https://doi.org/10.1177/109634809401700207
Bacon, D. R. (2003). A comparison of approaches to importance-performance analysis. International Journal of Market Research, 45(1), 55–71. https://doi.org/10.1177/147078530304500101
Ban, O. I., Ban, A. I., & Tușe, D. A. (2016). Importance-performance analysis by Fuzzy C-Means algorithm. Expert Systems with Applications, 50, 9–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2015.12.023
Ban, O. I., Bogdan, V., & Tușe, D. (2019). Tourist destination assessment by revised importance-performance analysis. In Bilgin, M., Danis, H., Demir, E., & Can, U. (Eds.), Eurasian studies in business and economics: Vol. 11/1. Eurasian economic perspectives (pp. 49–68). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18565-7_5
Boley, B. B., McGehee, N. G., & Hammett, A. T. (2017). Importance-performance analysis (IPA) of sustainable tourism initiatives: The resident perspective. Tourism Management, 58, 66–77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2016.10.002
Chaisomboon, M., Jomnonkwao, S., & Ratanavaraha, V. (2020). Elderly users’ satisfaction with public transport in Thailand using different importance performance analysis approaches. Sustainability, 12(21), 9066. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12219066
Chang, R. D., Zuo, J., Soebarto, V., Zhao, Z. Y., Zillante, G., & Gan, X. L. (2017). Discovering the transition pathways toward sustainability for construction enterprises: Importance-performance analysis. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 143(6), 04017013. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0001295
Choi, J.-J., & Boger Jr., C. A. (2000). Association planners’ satisfaction: An application of importance-performance analysis. Journal of Convention & Exhibition Management, 2(2–3), 113–129. https://doi.org/10.1300/J143v02n02_10
Deng, J., & Pierskalla, C. D. (2018). Linking importance-performance analysis, satisfaction, and loyalty: A study of Savannah, GA. Sustainability, 10(3), 704. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10030704
Dvorak, B. (2021). Pollution prevention/environmental sustainability for industry. Environments, 8(9), 91. https://doi.org/10.3390/environments8090091
Dwyer, L., Armenski, T., Knežević Cvelbar, L., Dragičević, V., & Mihalic, T. (2016). Modified importance-performance analysis for evaluating tourism business strategies: Comparison of Slovenia and Serbia. International Journal of Tourism Research, 18(4), 327–340. https://doi.org/10.1002/jtr.2052
Esmailpour, J., Aghabayk, K., Abrari Vajari, M., & De Gruyter, C. (2020). Importance – Performance Analysis (IPA) of bus service attributes: A case study in a developing country. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 142, 129–150. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2020.10.020
Hongli, Z. (2018, January). Using revised importance performance analysis to improve service quality of airlines. In Proceedings of the 2018 2nd International Conference on Management Engineering, Software Engineering and Service Sciences – ICMSS 2018 (pp. 12–17). Association for Computing Machinery. Wuhan. https://doi.org/10.1145/3180374.3181356
Hudson, S., & Shephard, G. W. H. (1998). Measuring service quality at tourist destinations: An application of importance-performance analysis to an Alpine ski resort. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 7(3), 61–77. https://doi.org/10.1300/J073v07n03_04
Ionescu, L. (2020). The economics of the carbon tax: Environmental performance, sustainable energy, and green financial behavior. Geopolitics, History, and International Relations, 12(1), 101–107. https://doi.org/10.22381/GHIR121202010
Ionescu, L. (2021a). Transitioning to a low-carbon economy: green financial behavior, climate change mitigation, and environmental energy sustainability. Geopolitics, History, and International Relations, 13(1), 86–96. https://doi.org/10.22381/GHIR13120218
Ionescu, L. (2021b). Corporate environmental performance, climate change mitigation, and green innovation behavior in sustainable finance. Economics, Management, and Financial Markets, 16(3), 94–106. https://doi.org/10.22381/emfm16320216
Izadi, A., Jahani, Y., Rafiei, S., Masoud, A., & Vali, L. (2017). Evaluating health service quality: Using importance performance analysis. International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, 30(7), 656–663. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHCQA-02-2017-0030
Joppe, M., Martin, D. W., & Waalen, J. (2001). Toronto’s image as a destination: A comparative importance-satisfaction analysis by origin of visitor. Journal of Travel Research, 39(3), 252–260. https://doi.org/10.1177/004728750103900302
Lee, M. J., Kang, H., Choi, H., & Olds, D. (2020). Managerial attitudes towards green practices in educational restaurant operations: An importance-performance analysis. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Education, 32(3), 142–155. https://doi.org/10.1080/10963758.2019.1655437
Levine, D. M., Stephan, D., Krehbiel, T. C., & Berenson, M. L. (2005). Statistics for managers using Microsoft Excel (4th ed.). Prentice Hall.
Liew, S. L., Hussin, S. R., & Abdullah, N. H. (2021). Attributes of senior-friendly tourism destinations for current and future senior tourists: An importance-performance analysis approach. SAGE Open, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244021998658
Lin, Z., & Vlachos, I. (2018). An advanced analytical framework for improving customer satisfaction: A case of air passengers. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 114, 185–195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tre.2018.04.003
Martilla, J. A., & James, J. C. (1977). Importance-performance analysis. Journal of Marketing, 41(1), 77–79. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224297704100112
McLeay, F., Robson, A., & Yusoff, M. (2017). New applications for importance-performance analysis (IPA) in higher education. Journal of Management Development, 36(6), 780–800. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMD-10-2016-0187
Mount, D. J. (2000). Determination of significant issues: Applying a quantitative method to importance-performance analysis. Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism, 1(3), 49–63. https://doi.org/10.1300/J162v01n03_03
Nam, S., & Lee, H. C. (2019). A text analytics-based importance performance analysis and its application to airline service. Sustainability, 11(21), 6153. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11216153
Nazari-Shirkouhi, S., Mousakhani, S., Tavakoli, M., Dalvand, M. R., Šaparauskas, J., & Antuchevičienė, J. (2020). Importance-performance analysis based balanced scorecard for performance evaluation in higher education institutions: An integrated fuzzy approach. Journal of Business Economics and Management, 21(3), 647–678. https://doi.org/10.3846/jbem.2020.11940
Oh, H. (2001). Revisiting importance-performance analysis. Tourism Management, 22(6), 617–627. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0261-5177(01)00036-X
Padlee, S. F., Reimers, V., Mokhlis, S., Anuar, M. M., & Ahmad, A. (2019). Keep up the good work in research universities: An importance-performance analysis. Australasian Marketing Journal, 28(2), 128–138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ausmj.2019.10.002
Patiar, A., Ma, E., Kensbock, S., & Cox, R. (2017). Hospitality management students’ expectation and perception of a virtual field trip web site: An Australian case study using importance-performance analysis. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Education, 29(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/10963758.2016.1266941
Rašovská, I., Kubickova, M., & Ryglová, K. (2021). Importance-performance analysis approach to destination management. Tourism Economics, 27(4), 777–794. https://doi.org/10.1177/1354816620903913
Rau, H. H., Wu, Y. S., Chu, C. M., Wang, F. C., Hsu, M. H., Chang, C. W., Chen, K.H., Lee, Y. L., Kao, S., Chiu, Y. L., Wen, H.-C., Fuad, A., Hsu, C. Y., & Chiu, H. W. (2017). Importance-performance analysis of personal health records in Taiwan: A web-based survey. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 19(4), e131. https://doi.org/10.2196/jmir.7065
Roh, Y. S., Kim, M., & Issenberg, S. B. (2019). Perceived competence and training priorities of Korean nursing simulation instructors. Clinical Simulation in Nursing, 26, 54–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecns.2018.08.001
Sever, I. (2015). Importance-performance analysis: A valid management tool? Tourism Management, 48, 43–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2014.10.022
Shieh, J. I., Huang, K. K., & Wu, H. H. (2019). Service quality evaluation of a geriatric long-term care: A combination of SERVQUAL model and importance-performance analysis. Journal of Statistics and Management Systems, 22(5), 829–843. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2014.10.022
Tarrant, M. A., & Smith, E. K. (2002). The use of a modified importance-performance framework to examine visitor satisfaction with attributes of outdoor recreation settings. Managing Leisure, 7(2), 69–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/13606710210137246
Wilkins, H. (2010). Using importance-performance analysis to appreciate satisfaction in hotels. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 19(8), 866–888. https://doi.org/10.1080/19368623.2010.514554
Wang, Z. L., Shen, H. C., & Zuo, J. (2019). Risks in prefabricated buildings in China: Importance-performance analysis approach. Sustainability, 11(12), 3450. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11123450
Wohlfart, O., & Hovemann, G. (2019). Using importance-performance analysis to bridge the information gap between industry and higher education. Industry and Higher Education, 33(4), 223–227. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950422219838465
Wu, H. H., & Shieh, J. I. (2009). The development of a confidence interval-based importance-performance analysis by considering variability in analyzing service quality. Expert Systems with Applications, 36(3), 7040–7044. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2008.08.055
Xie, L., Chen, Y., Xia, B., & Hua, C. (2020). Importance-performance analysis of prefabricated building sustainability: A case study of Guangzhou. Advances in Civil Engineering, 2020, 8839118. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/8839118
Yang, J., Xia, Y., Zhang, K., Yang, L., & Zhang, Z. (2018). Financial performance evaluation based on IPA-Taking X power supply bureau as an example. International Journal of Economics and Finance, 10(12), 67–76. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijef.v10n12p67
Zhang, Q., Lan Oo, B., & Lim, B. T. H. (2021). Mapping perceptions and implementation of corporate social responsibility for construction firms via importance-performance analysis: Paths of improvement. Journal of Management in Engineering, 37(6), 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000954