4.2 PSS Requirement Identification and Analysis of Domestic Plumbing Services – Phase 1
4.2.1 User Behavior Study
Test &
Implementation
Benchmarking
Benchmarking is a continuous process; products, services, activities, and processes could be
benchmarked; for competitive advantage, performance could be measured quantitative and qualitative; and it is about learning how to do better (McGaughey, 2002) Business Model Canvas
The deliverables in developing a business model provide companies to capture, understand, design, analyze and change their business logic (Ana Paula Bezerra Barquet et al., 2013b) (Adrodegari et al., 2017).
SWOT
Business organizers, decision-makers or managers employ SWOT analysis at the early stages of the strategic planning process and proceed towards strategy formulation (Houben et al., 1999) (Jeyaraj et al., 2012) (Namugenyi et al., 2019)
4.2 PSS Requirement Identification and Analysis of Domestic Plumbing Services –
The duration spent with each respondent was around 25 - 30 minutes. Among the respondents, 128 are males and 32 are females. The data for this study was collected through the survey, which was a paper-based questionnaire. The rationale for using a survey is primarily because these data did not currently exist. This survey provided a better source for insights into plumbing service aspects from users. The data collected is tabulated and analyzed using SPSS 20.0 statistical software tool.
Plumbing service aspects were categorized into the groups viz. corrective maintenance, preventive maintenance, the time required to fix plumbing issues, servicemen responsiveness, and contact mode. The other essential variables considered were the frequency of domestic plumbing issues occurring more often and users expectations/needs towards plumbing services.
Demographic data of domestic plumbing services under the survey were categorized into residential typology, locality, occupation, age group and gender (Appendix 1). Figure 4.2 illustrates the demographic data of domestic plumbing services. Residential typology of detached houses (37.5%) comprised single-family houses within a plot with the surrounding land. The attached houses (25%) relates to single-family houses sharing walls with another.
The apartment (25%) involves families staying at multi-storey buildings. The last residential typology of residential buildings (12.5%) pertains to families within a community. Data about the respondents’ place or area of living is termed as locality and classified as very old (38%), old (12%) and new (50%).
During the survey, respondents having various occupations were considered. Occupation of 38% respondents were business, 35% were self-employed, 19% were housewife and 8% were retired persons. The respondents’ age ranged from 25 to 64 years, with the maximum age group being 35 – 44 years, which constituted 42% of the respondents. Respondents within 45 – 54 age group were 30% and 25 – 34 were approximately 18%. Altogether 10% of respondents were from the age group of 54 – 64. Among the respondents, 128 were male (78%) and 32 were female ( ). In the Indian context, men’s behavior is more significant in the case of domestic plumbing services, in particular for identification, search, contact and tracing of a plumber including procurement of spare parts.
Figure 4.2: Demographic data of domestic plumbing
4.2.1.1 Statistical Analysis of Domestic Plumbing Services with Demographic Profile Non-parametric and parametric statistical analysis of domestic plumbing services were conducted in relation to demographic profile of the respondents. The following are the non- parametric and parametric tests conducted as follows,
Chi-square tests were conducted for a significance level of 0.05 to observe the variance between the frequency of corrective maintenance, preventive maintenance, the time required to fix plumbing issues, the responsiveness of servicemen and the mode of contact made with variables viz. residential typology, locality, occupation, age-group and gender. Table 4.3 shows the significance (sig.) of the Pearson chi-square test. The study shows that there is a significant difference in the frequency of preventive maintenance with residential typology (sig.= 0.001);
servicemen responsiveness with residential typology (sig = 0.019); time required to fix plumbing issues with occupation (sig.= 0.044) and age-group (sig.= 0.003).
Table 4.3: Significance of Pearson chi-square test
Variables Residential
Typology Locality Occupation Age Group Gender
Corrective Maintenance 0.461 0.245 0.589 0.634 0.681
Preventive Maintenance 0.001 0.297 0.924 0.073 0.358
Time required to fix plumbing issues 0.514 0.086 0.044 0.003 0.190
Servicemen Responsiveness 0.019 0.101 0.637 0.741 0.395
Mode of contact 0.120 0.079 0.659 0.642 0.514
The descriptive statistics and output of tests results are presented in appendix 2. Cross tabulation for the frequency of preventive maintenance and residential typology indicates that 47.3% of respondents with the detached house have never called for preventive maintenance.
In comparison to detached houses, we observed low percentage of preventive maintenance for attached houses (26.4%), apartment blocks (20.0%) and residential buildings (6.4%).
Altogether, 36.0% of respondents with apartment blocks have called 1 or 2 times for preventive maintenance in a year. 32.0% of respondents with residential buildings have called more than three times for preventive maintenance in a year. ross tabulation for servicemen’s fre uency responding to customer plumbing issues and residential typology shows that 37.5% of respondents with the attached house disagree with servicemen responding to customer plumbing issues, followed by for detached house 21.9%, for apartment blocks 28.1% and for residential buildings 12.5%.
Cross tabulation for the frequency of time required to fix plumbing issue and occupation shows that 48.1% of respondents with business occupation opined that the time taken to fix plumbing issues takes 4 to 8 hrs. Altogether, 38.8% of respondents with self-employed occupation opined that the time taken to fix plumbing issues takes more than 24 hrs. Cross tabulation for the frequency of time required to fix plumbing issues were conducted. It has been observed that 59.2% of respondents with 35-44 age group opined that the time taken to fix plumbing issues takes more than 24 hrs. Altogether, 54.5% of respondents in the 45-54 age group have opined that the time to fix plumbing issues takes 4 to 8 hrs.
One-Way-ANOVA test was conducted for a significance level of 0.05 to observe the variance of service frequency of dripping faucets issue, water pressure issue, running toilet issue, slow/
clogged drain and leaky pipe issue with corrective maintenance, preventive maintenance, the time required to fix plumbing issues, servicemen responsiveness, mode of contact, residential typology, locality, occupation, age group and gender.
The ratings of the service frequency were measured in a 7-point semantic differential scale where 1 = never and 7 = very frequently. Statistical analyses helped us to identify and describe complex relationships between the variables of domestic plumbing services. Table 4.4 shows the ANOVA means, standard deviation and significance of descriptive statistics. The analysis of variance showed that,
• The effect of occupation on dripping faucet issue was significant, F (3,156) = 4.375, p = 0.005.
• The effect of resident typology on dripping faucet issue was significant, F (3,156) = 2.859, p = 0.039.
• The effect of locality on running toilet issue was significant, F (2,157) = 3.402, p = 0.036.
• The effect of resident typology on leaky pipes issue was significant, F (3,156) = 4.160, p = 0.004.
Table 4.4: Descriptive statistics of one-way ANOVA
Dependent Variable Independent Variable Mean SD Sig.
Dripping faucet issue Occupation 4.14 1.635 0.005 Dripping faucet issue Residential typology 4.14 1.635 0.039
Running Toilets issue Locality 3.26 1.771 0.036
Leaked pipes issue Residential typology 2.83 1.855 0.004
Further, multiple comparisons of Post Hoc tests were conducted to observe the significant differences within the groups of respondents (Appendix 2, One-Way ANOVA test results). The Tukey HSD test reflects that,
• There is a significant difference in dripping faucet issues between the groups of occupation, i.e., the housewife and the retired (p = 0.003), the self-employed and the retired (p = 0.013), and the business and the retired (p = 0.013). The mean value of dripping faucets issues was significantly different between occupation viz. housewife and retired (p = .003, 95% C.I. = [.51, 3.24]), between occupation viz. self-employed and retired (p = .013, 95% C.I. = [.24, 2.77]) and between occupation viz. business and retired (p = .023, 95% C.I. = [.23, 2.75]). The mean difference (I-J) of dripping faucets issues between occupation viz. housewife and retired is 1.874, between occupation viz. self-employed and retired is 1.504 and between occupation viz.
business and retired is 1.488. There was no statistically significant difference in the mean dripping faucets issues between occupation viz. housewife and self-employed (p = .731), between occupation viz. housewife and business (p = .694) or between occupation viz. self-employed and business (p = 1.000).
• There is a significant difference in dripping faucet issues between the groups of residential typologies, i.e., The detached house and the apartment blocks (p = 0.021).
However, there were no differences of dripping faucet issues between the residential buildings and the detached house (p = 0.709), residential buildings and the attached house (p = 0.998), residential buildings and the apartment blocks (p = 0.645). The
mean value of dripping faucets issues was significantly different between residential typologies viz. detached houses and apartment blocks (p = .021, 95% C.I. = [-1.81, - .11]). The mean difference (I-J) of dripping faucets issues between detached house and apartment blocks is -.960.
• There is a significant difference in running toilet issues between the localities groups, i.e., the very old and the new (p = 0.028). However, there were no differences of running toilet issues between old and very old (p = 0.657) and old and the new (p = 0.452). The mean value of running toilet issues was significantly different between localities viz. very old and new (p = .028, 95% C.I. = [ -1.53, -.07]). The mean difference (I-J) of running toilet issues between localities viz. very old and new is 0.800.
• There is a significant difference in leaky pipe issues between the groups of residential typologies, i.e., the residential buildings and the detached house (p = 0.002), residential buildings and the attached house (p = 0.014). However, there were no differences of leaky pipe issues between the apartment blocks and the detached house (p = 0.646), apartment blocks and the attached house (p = 0.922), apartment blocks and the residential buildings (p = 0.058). The mean value of leaky pipe issues was significantly different between residential typologies viz. residential buildings and detached house (p = .002, 95% C.I. = [.48, 2.88]), between residential typologies viz.
residential buildings and attached house (p = .014. 95% C.I. = [.23, 2.79]). The mean difference(I-J) of leaky pipe issues between residential typologies viz. residential buildings and detached house is 1.682 and between residential typologies viz.
residential buildings and attached house is 1.509.