Purpose The purpose of this thesis is, firstly, to investigate clients’ perspective toward the Big 4’s financial audit service quality. Secondly, the gaps between clients’ perceptions and expectations of audit service quality provided by the Big 4 audit firms will be studied. Finally, factors influencing clients’ expectations of audit service quality will be categorised. Method A combination of qualitative and quantitative approach is used in the form of a web-based self-completion questionnaire. A qualitative approach is used in one section of the questionnaire which is an open-ended question asking about the clients’ perception toward audit service quality. A quantitative approach is used in the rest of the 2 sections of the questionnaire; firstly, asking the respondents to score the level of perception and expectation of audit service quality; secondly, asking for types of clients’ industries. The respondents are 25 clients who have direct experience with the Big 4 audit firms located in Thailand. Finding  Clients strongly expect assurance, reliability, and responsiveness while strongly perceive assurance and reliability of the Big4’s audit service quality. However, it is obvious that clients’ perception of all 5 dimensions is less than those of expectation; assurance, reliability and responsiveness are significantly different at .05 level. Moreover, eight factors from given expectation score are re-categorised in order from the most important issue to the least important as follows; Factor 1: Trust & Confidence, Factor 2: Responsiveness & Accuracy, Factor 3: Knowledge and skills in clients’ industry, Caring and Independence, Factor 4: Understanding of Clients, Factor 5: Timing/Scheduling & Right Service, Factor 6: Physical Facilities, Factor 7: Professional appearance & Professional Procedures, and Factor 8: Information & Communication Channels and Materials. Conclusion  In conclusion, the factors that are not satisfied by the clients; assurance, reliability, responsiveness, should be taken account of by the Big 4. Not only the Big 4 operating in Thailand have to be aware of their service quality, the other audit firms both international brands and local brands should also be aware of their service quality in order to satisfy their clients and to avoid damages of the firms and markets from audit failure. Both the audit firms and the clients together can help in audit quality improvement. Recommendation  To improve audit service quality, it is not only the Big4 audit firms’ responsibility but also the good cooperation from the clients could be the crucial support, and the ongoing policies are needed because it takes some time to see the consequences. When the quality level of audit service becomes a win-win situation, both audit firms and clients receive mutual benefits. Moreover, the Big 4 are the big actors in the audit industry in Thailand with promptly financial and human resource, they should support non-Big 4 to improve audit service quality. Because it means the overall image of audit service in Thailand would be improve somehow.

Utilizzando tecniche qualitative ed etnografiche la tesi esplora, per la prima volta in Italia, il mondo dei clienti di prostituzione trafficata. Chi sono? e (soprattutto) quali sono i motivi che li spingono a scegliere questo segmento del mercato del sesso? Per rispondere a tale domanda l'elaborato ha adottato un duplice approccio d'indagine. Da un lato l'osservazione partecipata di forum web frequentati da clienti di prostitute a cui si è aggiunta la somministrazione di un questionario anonimo in internet; dall'altro alcune interviste semi-strutturate e finalizzate a raccogliere ulteriori dettagli direttamente dai clienti. I risultati hanno permesso di tracciare un primo profilo dei clienti di prostituzione trafficata, sia per quanto riguarda le loro caratteristiche (età, scolarizzazione, ecc.) sia per le motivazioni individuali, relazionali ed ambientali che li spinge alla ricerca di prostitute vittima di tratta. / Through ethnographic and qualitative techniques the thesis explores, for the first time in Italy, the world of the clients of trafficked prostitution. Who are they? and (above all) what are the motives that push them to choose this segment of the sex market? In order to understand this question, the work has adopted two approaches. On the one side, participant observation of web forums frequented by clients, together with the administration of an anonymous internet questionnaire; on the other, some semi-structured interviews designed to collect further details directly from clients. The results allowed the drafting of a first profile of punters of trafficked prostitution, as regards both their features (age, education, etc.) and the individual, network and environmental motivations that push them to look for prostitutes victims of trafficking.

The aim of this study was to understand how social workers perceive and understand violence and threats of violence from clients, and how it effect their working environment. It seems that the respondents understand the violence and threats of violence from clients as a result of the clients background problems, vulnerability, dependency and from “the reason" that the client is currently in the contact with the organization. How respondents interpret the client´s behaviour based on the above-mentioned factors, seem to determine how the respondents perceive and define the violence and threats of violence by clients directed against them. Interestingly enough, although all respondents in the study experienced violence and threats of violence from clients, none of them perceived themselves as exposed at work. The answer to this is consensual. The respondents argue that they “knew what they got into" and thus violence and threats of violence from clients can be considered as part of the work, that the social workers must be aware of in order to work within the organization.   A further aim of this study was to examine how the social workers views the matter of who’s responsible for the threats and violent incidents and how to "best" encounter the violence and threats of violence within the organization. The respondents argue that it is when the social workers communicate in a wrong way, use their power or give "bad decisions" to the clients that most threats and violent incidents occur. The role that the respondents construct for themselves can be understood as they need to ,in their professional role "withstand a little bit" of violence and threats of violence from clients. The respondents then becomes mainly responsible for the threats and violent incidents, because they communicated in a wrong way, used the "unnecessary" exercise of power, or gave "bad decisions" to clients. The clients responsibility is then reduced due to the fact that the client merely reacts to how the respondent acted towards the client. The key element in the prevention of violence and threats of violence seems to be the way the respondents builds relations to the client. However, it also appears that the respondents expect a certain amount of violence and threats of violence from clients. Violence and threats of violence therefore run the risk of becoming something that the respondents get used to and sometimes expect, and something that they to some extent can protect themselves from, but never fully avoid or prevent.

Background: Teen pregnancy is associated with an array of negative social and health related outcomes for the mother as well as the baby. The risk of becoming a parent before the age of 20 is clearly elevated for former child welfare clients. Aim: The aim of this study is therefore to investigate the elevated birth rates among female adolescent child welfare clients by examining the relationship between contraceptive behaviour and pregnancies. Method: The study was based on a set of compiled register data. The study population were all females between the ages 14 and 19 during the years 2006-2008 (n. 487 115). The study group of main interest were child welfare clients who were compared to peers in the majority population as well as international and national adoptees. Analysis was conducted with multivariate logistic regression and the observed association was controlled for maternal, socio-demographic and behavioural factors. Results: The two sub-populations of child welfare clients both had much higher rates of retrieved hormonal contraceptives compared to the majority population, the international and the national adoptees up to age 17. In the ages 18 and 19 the rates were instead lower than the majority population. The child welfare clients had a stronger association to births than all groups of comparison, which was consistent with earlier research. All findings persisted after controlling for socio-demographic, maternal and behavioural factors. Conclusion: The child welfare clients showed a specific pattern of contraceptive behaviour over the age groups which was not consistent with the groups of comparison or with the expected relationship to birth rates. This suggests that teenage births cannot unanimously be predicted by the rates of retrieved hormonal contraceptives. The results imply that other factors than those investigated in this study are more influential regarding the contraceptive behaviour of this adolescent population.

The use of the Internet for marketing communication was studied in a sample of 200 lodge operators from Northern Ontario. These firms are located in remote areas relative to their United States-based clientele. The use of the Internet for marketing communications was perceived as important to keep existing clients and secure new ones. Results show a correlation between levels of website expenses and levels of responsiveness from prospective clients. There is an indication that investing more money and time in a website can improve customer-base diversification. _______ Nous avons étudié l'utilisation de l'Internet pour la communication commerciale par I'intermédiaire d'un échantillon de 200 hôteliers du nord de l'Ontario. Ces entreprises sont situées dans des régions éloignées de leur clientele américaine. L'utilisation de l'Internet pour la communication commerciale est considérée importante pour conserver la clientele existante et pour en acquérir une nouvelle. Nos résultats montrent une corrélation entre Ie niveau des dépenses Web et le niveau de réponse de clients éventuels. II semble qu'investir davantage d'argent et de temps dans un site Web puisse accroître la diversification de la clientèle. / The authors acknowledge and appreciate the support of CMA Ontario

The aim of our study is to explore social workers view on the importance of clothing. We want to know how and if social worker reflects on the importance of their clothing and how it may affect their clients. Dresses social workers differently due to different work situations? Play client`s clothes any role in the social welfare officers? Can client`s clothing affect the assessment of their problem? The study is based on a qualitative method. The data consists of two focus group interviews with four social workers in each group, containing three women and one man in each focusgroup, with a total of eight informants. The results of our study indicate that the clothes are important in meeting with clients and especially as to help create a relationship with the client. The result also indicate that client`s clothing acts as a marker for the clients health.

Små reklambyråer har, i skuggan av den ekonomiska krisen, fått konkurrens om sina kunder av större reklambyråer och tryckerier. En lösning kan vara att skapa relationer till företag utanför närområdet. Internetbaserade verktyg för distanskommunikation skulle i sådana fall kunna erbjuda ett bra komplement till det fysiska mötet. Distanskommunikation är effektivt eftersom det bland annat ger minskad tidsåtgång för möten och minskade resekostnader. Denna typ av kommunikation kan dock innebära större risk för missförstånd, och färre tillfällen att bygga en personlig relation till kunden. Användningen av internetbaserade verktyg för att kommunicera på distans förväntas dock bli allt vanligare i framtiden, i takt med att utbudet av kommunikationsverktyg ökar. Huvudmålet med denna studie har därför varit att undersöka förutsättningarna för distanskommunikation mellan reklambyrå och kund. Syftet har varit att ta reda på hur för- och nackdelar med distanskommunikation värderas av respektive parter, samt vilket kommunikationssätt som de anser lämpar sig bäst vid olika arbetssteg. Detta undersöktes genom enkätundersökning till utvalda företag samt intervjuer med fyra mindre reklambyråer i Dalarna. Studiens resultat, visade tydligt att det personliga mötet är mycket viktigt, och att det inte kan ersättas av någon form av distanskommunikation. Däremot ansåg både företag och reklambyråer att verktyg för distanskommunikation kan användas vid arbetsmöten. / Small advertising agencies have in recent years lost clients due to competition from larger agencies. A solution could be to create a relationship to clients outside the nearby area, Internet based communication tools might here be a good complement to physical meetings. Telecommunication is effective because it is less time consuming and it decreases travel costs. It could however result in misunderstandings and less opportunities to develop a close relationship with the client. The use of internet based communication tools is expected to increase in the future, along with the development of telecommunication tools. The aim of this study has been to examine the possibilities for small agencies to use telecommunication with their clients. Our purpose has been to determine the effects of telecommunication for both agencies and clients. The study also aims to recommend tools for each production step in the creative process. Results of this study clearly indicates that the personal meeting is very important, and it can not be substituted with telecommunication. Both agencies and clients considered telecommunication as an option for work meetings.

Income support is often described as the community’s farthest protection, as a last economic way out. From the clients perspective it´s very important to get possibility to an equivalent and correct assessment. Even if it´s an individual assessment the individual social worker´s assessment should not be different than other social worker´s, this from two aspects – quality and the rule of law. The purpose of this study was to describe and analyze social worker´s assessments relate to gender. The central questions is what it is for likeness and differences in the social worker´s assessments and decisions and if the social worker´s assessments is based in their ideas of the clients gender. To achieve the purpose a quality method with interviews and cases has been used. The social worker´s has after the interview got two cases and has given an assessment. Half of the social worker´s got the case with a female client and half of the social worker´s with a male client. The result is based on six different social worker´s answers in three different municipalities in the same county. Symbolic interactionism and socialization has been used as theoretical framework and gender role and legal security as relevant concepts. The result shows that it is certain differences in the social worker´s assessments of clients who applying for incoming support. In some cases the differences can deduce to the clients gender. Men and women get different help depending on different needs.

Statistics shows that drunk driving and relapse increases in the Swedish society and it’s a problem that can be considered worth examining because of all the negative consequences that it conveys. To reduce the number of relapse it’s urgent that individuals that have been drunk and driving begins treatment and precedes it. The purpose of this study was to, from a client and therapeutic perspective, examine why drunk drivers begin treatment for their alcohol abuse and furthermore to investigate what’s important for the individual so that he completes the treatment. The study is built on eight interviews with both clients and therapists in the region of Kalmar in Sweden.The clients have been driving a car under the influence of alcohol, not any drugs. The individuals that has participated are men in the ages 25-60 years old. The methodological approach is qualitative, moreover the study is descriptive and comparing. The intention was to seek comprehension about central factors in a successful treatment for clients. The research findings are fairly similar between the clients opinions and the therapists. Overall a respectful attitude and reception from the therapist has turned out to be important. Furthermore the relationship and support from the family, relatives and friends has turned out to be central for the clients to commence and continue treatment. The therapeutic relationship is another essential aspect. There’s no simple answer why individuals initiate and completes treatment, the causes are several and variety.

Thèse de doctorat : Sciences économiques : Lille 1 : 2001. / Bibliogr. f. 332-362.