A customer-oriented organisational diagnostic model based on data mining of customer-complaint databases

The purpose of this paper is to develop a customer-oriented organisational diagnostic model, ‘PARA’ model, based on data mining of customer-complaint databases. The proposed ‘PARA’ model, which is designed to diagnose and correct service failures, takes its name from the initial letters of the four analytical stages of the model: (i) ‘primary diagnosis’; (ii) ‘advanced diagnosis’; (iii) ‘review’; and (iv) ‘action’. In the primary-diagnosis stage, the customer-complaint database is comprehensively analysed to identify themes and categories of complaints. In the advanced-diagnosis stage, a data-mining technique is employed to investigate the relationship between the categories of customer complaints and the deficiencies of the service system. In the review stage, the identified weaknesses of the service system are reviewed and awareness of these weaknesses is enhanced among the organisation’s employees. In the action stage, a strategy of action plans for improvement is developed. An empirical case study is conducted to demonstrate the practical efficacy of the ‘PARA’ model. The paper concludes by summarising the advantages of the proposed model and the implications for future research. Crown Copyright 2011 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.