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To explore and evaluate the evidence about the effectiveness of “mystery shopping” as a technique for service evaluation in the public library system of one country.

A critical summary and review of the literature in this field. Interviews with public librarians in New Zealand who have used mystery shopping.

Demonstrates that there were three major reasons for using this method of customer service evaluation in the libraries under consideration: improving process, improving staff behaviours, and benchmarking with similar organisations. In practice, objectives were mixed, with some data being used for process improvement, and other elements of the mystery shopping used to assess library staff performance. Staff reactions were initially negative, but changed after they saw that the assessment was positive.

This examination of a particular form of service evaluation shows that it offers a narrow, very specific description of customer service that can be used in conjunction with broader forms of assessment such as customer satisfaction surveys. Offers insights into the value of this particular form of research methodology at the same time as showing the need for it to be used in conjunction with broader research techniques.

The paper can be used for thoughtful and practical guidance on the use of a specialised but powerful tool for library and information service evaluation.

This paper acts as a useful source of information for practitioners with a commitment to using research techniques for real‐life service enhancement, while also establishing that there is a sound academic basis for this research method, if implemented appropriately. The suggestions for how mystery shopping can be used to best advantage by the profession in future are of particular worth.

The aim of this paper is to document how two university libraries determined whether mystery shopping is an effective and statistically feasible instrument for evaluating customer service at public service desks.

Mystery shopping exercises were conducted at both libraries during the 2008 spring and fall semesters. Trained mystery shoppers recorded staff behaviors and the answers given to their reference questions and open‐ended comments about their reference experience. Using ClinTools, Excel, and Atlas.ti, the authors conducted a meta‐analysis of the data.

Mystery shopping is an effective method for evaluating customer service in libraries. The shoppers observed staff behaviors that were generally in line with the libraries' guidelines, but their comments revealed suggestions for improvement. When the behavior rubric results were combined with the comments, the authors learned that shoppers were somewhat unsatisfied.

The results are approximate since the two instruments used were not identical, requiring the combination of common elements with some loss of accuracy. In this study, the authors used meta‐analysis to compensate for the differences in the instruments. However, another solution would be to create one instrument for both institutions that contained common elements for inter library comparison and local elements for local customization.

Other libraries can adapt this mystery shopping methodology and data analysis to measure customer service in their libraries.

No other study of mystery shopping has included the questionnaires used at both institutions, the aggregated data, and the method of analysis for meaningful evaluation.

Mystery shopper programmes are defined as a tool for evaluating and improving customer service. The development and implementation of a mystery shopper programme is discussed as a sequence of related steps closely linked to human resource management and employee involvement. The process begins with setting the objectives of the programme and ends with rewarding behaviour and implementing change. Employee participation is seen as paramount to the success of the programme in all stages of its development. This involvement avoids shoppers being seen as spies by employees. Employees need to know what points they will be evaluated on and the expected company standards of performance. The results of shopping programmes should be used to provide diagnostic information on service delivery rather than as performance appraisals of individual employees.

The purpose of this paper is to share how the concept of organizational justice could help to explore employee satisfaction with the mystery shopping appraisal system.

The research was conducted at a fast-food restaurant chain located in Russia. Data were collected through an online-questionnaire distributed among all 516 chef-cashiers of the 86 restaurants of the chain located in Saint Petersburg. The questionnaire consisted of 17 closed-ended and one open-ended questions.

Violations of norms of procedural, distributive, and informational justice were identified. The majority of the chief-cashiers thought that the norms of interpersonal justice were met.

The paper also discusses how training and development professionals could use the concept of organizational justice to improve employee satisfaction with a mystery shopping appraisal process. The results collected through the questionnaire can be used in at least two ways: to implement structural changes in the process and to determine and address training needs of three groups of employees.

Perceptions of organizational justice predict employee satisfaction with different aspects of a performance appraisal system. This paper is first to explore how the concept of organizational justice could be useful in evaluating employee satisfaction with such performance appraisal method as mystery shopping.

The purpose of this paper is to examine what mystery shopping is, why it is used and how mystery customers are trained and how the information collected is fed back to the client organisation.

The approach was to use an online survey of mystery shoppers compares the reality of the situation with the best practice identified from the extant literature.

The main outcome was that results identify good and bad practices in all areas of the process and guidelines for the recruitment, training and monitoring of mystery shoppers are proposed including in-depth training in all aspects of the job.

A sample of 85 mystery shoppers was used and only in the UK. It would be interesting to widen this out internationally.

Mystery shoppers are used worldwide by services to evaluate the performance of their front-line people and processes but are their evaluations valid and reliable? This research identifies good and bad practice which should help managers to design their training for mystery shoppers.

The paper addresses a gap in the literature on the perceptions of mystery shoppers.

Several recent library innovations seem to make professional and clerical staff superfluous such as automated loan and delivery equipment, staff-less libraries open in 80 hours a week, and virtual services, enabling users to search the library catalogue and make reservations of library materials from their home address. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether such developments will necessarily lead to a situation where public libraries become self-service institutions or to what extent self-service and innovative staff-intensive library services can develop and co-exist. Furthermore, the paper will examine what challenges library leaders face and what they can do, and actually have done, to handle staff resistance and other related problems to the benefit of both the users, the local communities, and also, the staff, in particular, when introducing new and innovative services.

The paper is based on the author's evaluations of two recent Danish library development projects. Both evaluations are based on empirical data and apply quantitative (questionnaires) as well as qualitative (interviews, observations) methods.

The findings reveal that staff attitudes toward staff-less libraries, and – more surprising – also toward more staff-intensive practices have been somewhat reluctant and skeptical. The paper also presents leadership initiatives which have proved to handle such resistances constructively.

The paper contains a first-hand report on the results of a recent (2011-2012) unique, full-scale, Danish public library development project, investigating the experiences with pro-active and guest-customer relationships within a public library setting.

This paper aims to describe the results of three rounds of secret shopping conducted at the Hubert Library of Florida International University, and how the results affected and were affected by changes made to circulation desk student training programs.

Volunteers from the campus community asked circulation desk work‐study students preformulated questions, in person or by phone, and recorded both the answers and service quality perceptions for analysis.

Analysis of the results revealed that the program did what it was designed to do: highlight customer service strengths and weaknesses. A majority of shoppers reported favourable experiences, but identified problematic areas and situations to be addressed in student worker training.

Some of the most valuable data came from secret shoppers' comments, which made clear the need to revisit some of the questions. In some instances shoppers' desires to highlight the positive and deemphasize the negative indicated apparent bias.

This study shows how a secret shopping program can guide and fine‐tune a library student training program as opposed to a librarian or library staff training program.

Alcohol availability is strongly related to excessive alcohol consumption. This study aims to examine social marketing’s response to concerns about retailers’ noncompliance with the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) law by proposing and evaluating a social marketing intervention directed at sellers in off-premise stores.

The study is based on a non-randomized quasi-experimental design, focusing on an evaluation of the implementation of the “18 rules!” intervention in four cities in Slovenia. Two waves of underage purchase attempts were conducted pre- and post-intervention in 24 off-premise businesses, following a mystery shopping protocol.

The initial rate of retailers’ noncompliance with the MLDA law in off-premise establishments was high. After the social marketing intervention, an increase with compliance with the law was observed; the proportion of cashiers selling alcohol to minors after the intervention decreased from 96 to 67 per cent. Qualitative insight suggests an existence of retailers’ dilemma in complying with the MLDA.

A social marketing approach could contribute to a better understanding of the social working of the MLDA law.

A social marketing approach could complement the usual enforcement strategies and contribute to a better understanding of the social working of the MLDA law, and encourage deliberate retailers’ compliance with it while developing valuable exchanges among people and stakeholders.

The paper conceptualizes retailers’ dilemma in complying with the minimal legal drinking age law and offers social marketing response to it. Results of the study show that also solely non-coercive measures have the potential in increasing retailers’ compliance with regulations.

The present study aimed to understand the relationships between the various kinds of feedback received by hospitality operators. Information from guests, experts, and internal sources are often received, valued, and processed in various ways. The researchers sought to further explore the usage of such feedback and implications for theory and practice.

A survey was sent to hotel general managers of four‐ and five‐diamond properties around the USA using the listing of the American Automobile Association (AAA). A total of 140 responses were received. The researchers utilized correlations and canonical correlation analysis to help understand the relationships among the variables.

The results of the study revealed moderate to strong correlations between improvement in consumer‐generated feedback and customer satisfaction; between improvement in AAA ratings and customer satisfaction and mystery shopping scores. There were also moderate to high correlations among value placed in consumer‐generated and that placed on other electronic forms of electronic feedback such as social networking, blogs, and online travel agency feedback. Canonical correlation was also performed among the variables in the various correlation matrices. Two statistically significant dimensions emerged. The most influential variables in the first dimension were value placed on TripAdvisor and value placed on meeting planner feedback. The second dimension featured three influential variables: value placed on reviews in TripAdvisor, value placed on social networking, and perceived improvement in consumer‐generated ratings.

The present research revealed two distinct sets of general managers: those who have a strong preference towards online feedback and those who place greater value in traditional sources of feedback such as letters from customers. Additionally, the researchers discovered some similarities between improvement in scores of experts and consumers. This in turn, points out to the existence of some universal aspects of service that appeal to both stakeholder groups. The different levels of value placed on various kinds of feedback points out to the need for tourism and hospitality operators to adopt a more comprehensive strategy to collect, analyze, and take appropriate actions based on such information.

The researchers contribute to the nascent literature on consumer‐generated feedback by exploring its relationship to other variables. Furthermore, the study of various sources of feedback (i.e. guests, experts, and operators) is often studied separately in the tourism literature. It was the aim of this study to explore all of these together in order to better understand their relationships, value, and uses.

This research aims to study the recent changes in consumer behaviour and purchase pattern during the Covid-19 pandemic. Covid-19 pandemic has forced consumers to stockpile, which has its own consequences. The article proposes the importance of “minimalism in consumption” to avoid greed in consumer behaviour.

The data are collected from consumers across India using an online survey during the first lockdown from March 2020 to May 2020. A simple random sampling technique is used for data collection, and the collected data are analysed using SPSS version 26.

The study states that there will be a shift in the purchase pattern of the consumers if lockdowns are imposed in the future or during any other crisis. However, at present, consumers have developed a stockpiling mentality fearing the unavailability of essentials.

Pandemic has stimulated a drastic change in consumer behaviour, which is a situational effect. Each crisis affects consumer behaviour in a different way. In this research, we have considered only fear, greed and anxiety in the light of Covid-19. On the other hand, the research intends to draw realistic conclusions based on consumers' experiences during the lockdown.

The study proposes solutions that will help marketers frame exclusive strategies for a future crisis. Analysing the change in consumer behaviour and the shift in purchase patterns will emphasize the importance of market research to know consumer expectations during a crisis situation in order to cater to their new demands.

Consumers who stockpile should realize the unavailability of goods to other consumers who are in need. They also have to understand the importance of “minimalism in consumption” during a crisis.

The data are collected during the most taxing crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic. Data are collected at the peak time of the first wave of Covid-19 in India, during a major shift in consumers' behaviour and purchase pattern. The article brings to the larger consciousness and also preaches a life lesson to all consumers to execute their responsibilities in consumption without over-demands and expectations.