[Importance-Performance Analysis for services management].

Abstract

Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) constitutes an indirect approximation to user's satisfaction measurement that allows to represent, in an easy and functional way, the main points and improvement areas of a specific product or service. Beginning from the importance and judgements concerning the performance that users grant to each prominent attributes of a service, it is possible to obtain a graphic divided into four quadrants in which recommendations for the organization economic resources management are included. Nevertheless, this tool has raised controversies since its origins, referred fundamentally to the placement of the axes that define the quadrants and the conception and measurement of the importance of attributes that compose the service. The primary goal of this article is to propose an alternative to the IPA representation that allows to overcome the limitations and contradictions derived from the original technique, without rejecting the classical graph. The analysis applies to data obtained in a survey about satisfaction with primary health care services of Galicia. Results will permit to advise to primary health care managers with a view toward the planning of future strategic actions.