Impact of Public Service Quality on the Efficiency of the Water Industry: Evidence from 147 Cities in China
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Please explain the following issues: Why only two topics were chosen to assess the service quality of the water industry? Why is the value added to the performed research, can we adapt it in the other systems? What would be the results, if we took into account all 334 cities into account? Please the problem of subjectivity, how can you deal with it? What do you mean by pipeline network pressure pass rate? What was the motivation for using the data envelopment analysis model? What about others' model?
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
On behalf of my co-author, thank you very much for giving us the comments to revise the manuscript. We appreciate a lot the positive and constructive comments and suggestions on our manuscript which has the number 2007916 and is entitled "Impact of public service quality on the efficiency of water industry: evidence from 147 cities of China".
We found the comments all valuable and helpful, which provided us with important guidance on revising and improving the paper. We have studied the listed comments carefully and tried our best to make corrections which we hope meet with approval. Revised portions are marked using the "Track Changes" function in Microsoft Word. Attached please find the detailed responses to the comments, which we would like to submit for your kind consideration.
Again, we would like to express our great appreciation for your kind work. Thank you and best regards.
Thank you and best regards.
Yours sincerely,
Jian Chang
Yaodong Zhou
Wanhua Li
Peng Zhang
Corresponding author:
Name: Yaodong Zhou
Wanhua Li
E-mail: [email protected]
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
The submitted manuscript concerns the important issue of the impact of public service quality on the efficiency of China's water industry: Evidence from 147 cities. The paper defines the connotation of service quality at the technical and public levels innovatively, builds on the service quality system of water utilities, establishs the relationship between the quality and output efficiency model, and studies the impact of service quality on the efficiency of water utilities, based on the cities' water supply data during the 2005–2016 period in China, the Data Envelopment Analysis model and Tobit panel data model were used in the empirical research to measure the efficiency characterized by quality dimension. What about the last years of analysis after 2016? On what base the specific indicators of the water service quality system were chosen? Add units of descriptive statistics of variables used in the analysis. If possible add some information about limit values of the presented variables presented in the regualtions (if any). Table 5. Descriptive statistics of variables. Line 109. The choice of reference should be supplemented with respect to the other studies, that have incorporated quality indicators into the total value of water services, such as pipeline leakage rate, water supply parameters, water loss index and the number of complaints, as for example presented in: Modelling water distribution network failures and deterioration, 2017, IEEE International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management 2017-December, pp. 924-928, Consumers’ Perceptions of the Supply of Tap Water in Crisis Situations, Failure Risk Analysis of Water Distributions Systems Using Hydraulic Models on Real Field Data. What practical applications may the work's results be put to? The authors should adequately clarify the distinctive method's originality. What practical applications may the work's results be put to? This should be included in the section on discussing the findings.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
On behalf of my co-author, thank you very much for giving us the comments to revise the manuscript. We appreciate a lot the positive and constructive comments and suggestions on our manuscript which has the number 2007916 and is entitled "Impact of public service quality on the efficiency of water industry: evidence from 147 cities of China".
We found the comments all valuable and helpful, which provided us with important guidance on revising and improving the paper. We have studied the listed comments carefully and tried our best to make corrections which we hope meet with approval. Revised portions are marked using the "Track Changes" function in Microsoft Word. Attached please find the detailed responses to the comments, which we would like to submit for your kind consideration.
Again, we would like to express our great appreciation for your kind work. Thank you and best regards.
Thank you and best regards.
Yours sincerely,
Jian Chang
Yaodong Zhou
Wanhua Li
Peng Zhang
Corresponding author:
Name: Yaodong Zhou Wanhua Li
E-mail: [email protected]
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Reviewer 3 Report
The manuscript entitled “Impact of public service quality on the efficiency of water industry: evidence from 147 cities of China” by Jian Chang et al covers an important topic related to the impact of service quality on water efficiency. The work is interesting and generally well written and organized. The formulas and models are detailed described and the results provide important findings regarding (1) China's water industry efficiency (147 cities as samples), (2) the influence of quality on the efficiency of the water industry based on several indicators. I really liked that authors identified and specified also the limitations of their work and further recommendations.
I consider that this paper could be considered for publication in this form but I will ask the authors to make a review prior publication for some minor errors considering that:
1. The cited references should be numbered
2. Line 99 – “(Molinos-Senante et al., 2016). Argue” – typing/editing error
3. The source of Figure 1 should be specified and if is not authors own work properly cited
4. Line 250 – not properly cited “Picazo-Tadeo et al., Kumar and Managi (Picazo, Saez, & Gonzalez, 2008; Kumar and Managi, 2010)”
5. Line 289 – “Tables 4 and 5 below describe” –should be Table 6 and 7
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
On behalf of my co-author, thank you very much for giving us the comments to revise the manuscript. We appreciate a lot the positive and constructive comments and suggestions on our manuscript which has the number 2007916 and is entitled "Impact of public service quality on the efficiency of water industry: evidence from 147 cities of China".
We found the comments all valuable and helpful, which provided us with important guidance on revising and improving the paper. We have studied the listed comments carefully and tried our best to make corrections which we hope meet with approval. Revised portions are marked using the "Track Changes" function in Microsoft Word. Attached please find the detailed responses to the comments, which we would like to submit for your kind consideration.
Again, we would like to express our great appreciation for your kind work. Thank you and best regards.
Thank you and best regards.
Yours sincerely,
Jian Chang
Yaodong Zhou
Wanhua Li
Peng Zhang
Corresponding author:
Name: Yaodong Zhou Wanhua Li
E-mail: [email protected]
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
The submitted manuscript concerns the important issue of the impact of public service quality on the efficiency of China's water industry: Evidence from 147 cities. The paper defines the connotation of service quality at the technical and public levels innovatively, builds on the service quality system of water utilities, establishes the relationship between the quality and output efficiency model, and studies the impact of service quality on the efficiency of water utilities, based on the cities' water supply data during the 2005–2016 period in China, the Data Envelopment Analysis model and Tobit panel data model were used in the empirical research to measure the efficiency characterized by quality dimension. Remarks: The choice of reference should be supplemented with respect to the other studies, that have incorporated quality indicators into the total value of water services, such as pipeline leakage rate, water supply parameters, water loss index, and the number of complaints, as for example presented in Consumers’ Perceptions of the Supply of Tap Water in Crisis Situations. Energies 2020, 13, 3617. Are there concrete steps that can be recommended after performing research? If possible, please add in the conclusions a list of the main findings and interpretation, practical recommendations, and detailed research perspectives.
Author Response
On behalf of my co-author, thank you for giving us the comments to revise the manuscript. We appreciate a lot the positive and constructive comments and suggestions on our manuscript which has the number sustainability-2007916 and is entitled “Impact of public service quality on the efficiency of China's water industry: Evidence from 147 cities”.
We found the comments all valuable and helpful, which provided us with essential guidance on revising and improving the paper. We have studied the listed comments carefully and tried our best to make corrections which we hope meet with approval. Revised portions are marked using the "Track Changes" function in Microsoft Word. Attached is the specific modification reply, please check.
Again, we would like to express our great appreciation for your kind work. Looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you and best regards.
Thank you and best regards.
Yours sincerely,
Jian Chang
Yaodong Zhou
Wanhua Li
Peng Zhang
Corresponding author:
Name: Wanhua Li Yaodong Zhou
E-mail: [email protected]
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
