Based on a multimodal approach combining elements of ethnographic participant/observer methodology, rhetorical genre analysis, and corpus analysis, this study examines trouble ticket discourse as a genre of digital communication (IText), interpreting the findings through the lens of 18 months the author spent working in the environment.Trouble tickets are the basic form of documentation used in call centers. They record details of all actions and interactions in the call center environment that is the setting for this study. One section employs the Ethnography of Communication as a foundational model to provide a rich description of both text and environment. Trouble ticket text is written in a fragmentary style which internal and external audiences alike find difficult to process.The rhetorical moves analysis (Swales 1990) uses the rich description as a basis for interpreting and explaining its findings. Key findings are that trouble tickets are rhetorical, and that they seamlessly incorporate actions by the automated system into the human rhetoric. The corpus analysis builds on both the rich description and rhetorical moves analysis, finding that trouble tickets use grammatical structures differently than traditional spoken and written communication.This study concludes that trouble tickets are used simultaneously for direct and archival communication, are collaboratively concatenative in generation and that a new model is required for understanding the variation between speech, writing and IText. / Department of English

This study investigates the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction and academic achievement in private institutions of higher learning. Service quality is especially important to the institutions of higher learning in Malaysia as they are gearing themselves to become exporters of premier education services. / The concept of service quality is operationalized by the following variables: Human element of service delivery; Tangibles of service-servicescapes; Core service or service product; Systemization of service delivery: non-human element; Social responsibility. A research framework was developed and twelve hypotheses were posited and tested. Data was collected using the survey method. Survey questionnaires were hand-delivered to the respondents who volunteered to be participants in this study. Respondents were given the information sheets, along with verbal and written instructions. They were to complete the questionnaires and return to a mailbox on the campus. A total of 331 representative samples of the population were obtained from the private institutions of higher learning by using the “Private Institutions of Higher Learning Directory” as a sampling frame, excluding private institutions of higher learning which had ceased their operations. / The data was analysed by using descriptive statistics and inferential analysis. Statistical analyses used were the Pearson correlation and multiple regressions. Descriptive statistics were also employed. The results revealed that each of the service quality variables has a relationship with customer satisfaction and academic achievement. Using multiple regression analysis, the predictor variables indicated that all the five variables could explain 44.9% of variation that occurred in customer satisfaction, whereas, for the relationship between the predictor variables and academic achievement there was a 13.7% of variation explained. Amongst the variables, human element of service delivery, tangibles of service-servicescapes and core service/ service product have significant and positive relationships with customer satisfaction, whereas, core service or service product has a significant relationship with academic achievement. / Therefore, these variables deserve to be monitored and tailored appropriately in order to enhance organizational performance through customer satisfaction and academic performance. In conclusion, this study provides an insight into further understanding of how to enhance organizational performance by implementing excellent service quality management practices and simultaneously gives due emphasis to customer satisfaction and academic achievement. / Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration)--University of South Australia, 2005.

Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration) )--University of South Australia, 1999.

Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2001.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Kent State University, 2007. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Nov. 14, 2007). Advisor: Michael Y. Hu. Keywords: marketing, service. Includes questionnaire. Includes bibliographical references (p. 134-145).

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1994. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [56]-[57]).

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1997. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 40-42).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 2006. / Adviser: C.L. Yeung. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Florida State University, 2005. / Advisor: Dr. Steven McClung, Florida State University, College of Communication, Dept. of Communication. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed June 14, 2005). Document formatted into pages; contains vi, 52 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 126-135). Also available on the Internet.