Electronic Funds Transfer (‘EFT’) as a modern, global consumer payment method continues to expand rapidly by comparison with credit cards and traditional paper-based forms of payment. The core issue addressed in this thesis is a controversial one: the fair allocation of liability between the consumer and financial institution in the event of a disputed or unauthorised EFT transaction. The purpose of this study is considered especially apposite in view of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s (‘ASIC’) imminent review of the self-regulating Australian EFT Code of Conduct (‘EFT Code’) and both the increasing incidence of reported unauthorised EFT transactions and in noncompliance by EFT financial institutions with the EFT Code. It is also an important study because of the rapid recent growth in EFT transaction volume and the continued expansion of EFT products and services compared to other payment instruments, which are in a corresponding decline. Moreover, there has been no previous study or review of the current Australian EFT Code, which was revised in 2002. In the EFT payments system, consumers are exposed to risks quite different from those in traditional payments instruments. These include flaws in the various methods employed by financial institutions for the distribution of EFT cards and PINs, problems adducing unequivocal evidence in the event of unauthorised use of the instrument and systemic errors and technical malfunctions in processing EFT transactions. Furthermore, the distinct nature of electronic authentication using an electronic device and secret code makes the general common law principles dealing with handwritten signature authentication in the case of paper instruments (eg, by analogy with a forged cheque) particularly unhelpful. In order to address these controversies, this thesis presents an integrated multi-disciplinary analysis of EFT regulation in Australia in an attempt to identify the efficacy of current EFT regulatory arrangements as well as to appraise the merits of different EFT regulatory options to attain a more optimal and efficient regulatory regime for the future. The adapted multi-disciplines include comparative law method, economic criteria and regulation theory methods, as well as ethical, social and administrative considerations. The two (2) EFT regulations which are the subject of this comparative study are the Australian EFT Code and the US EFT Act. The latter was chosen for comparative purposes as it is a rare example of a formal legislative response to the above core issues and risks, which the EFT system in the USA has in common with Australia. Unlike the US EFT Act, for example, which has a relatively simple and administratively convenient approach to apportioning fault, the self-regulating Australian EFT Code essentially shares the burden of proof between the financial institution and the consumer in most instances. The consequence of the EFT Code’s ambiguous, undefined and multi-layered legal tests and guidelines for determining the allocation of liability to either consumer or financial institution is that it leaves the Australian Banking Industry Ombudsman (‘ABIO’), as the independent and preferred adjudicator of Australian EFT disputes, with the difficult and arbitrary task of hearing contrasting arguments and weighing the inconclusive evidence led by both sides before then seeking to reach a fair and equitable finding on the ‘balance of probabilities’. Indeed, the practical application of the EFT Code is extremely difficult and confusing, as the ABIO regularly observes in its annual reports and is almost always evident in its actual case examples. The task undertaken in this thesis to research and analyse these difficult and complex regulatory issues is both helped and hindered by another important issue: the lack of literature on consumer EFT regulation. Helped, because it represents a unique opportunity to embark upon such a study afresh, and, hindered, because little benefit can be derived from previous studies and hence there are no foundations upon which to build or progress the debate, the research and the analysis. Accordingly, the significant gaps in this area provide a rare occasion to explore these contemporary and contentious issues using multi-disciplinary techniques. As is argued in this thesis, the current regulatory arrangements in Australia are ineffective on several grounds. In particular, in: (i) efficiently settling disputed or unauthorised EFT transactions; (ii) ensuring compliance by financial institutions; and (iii) legal enforcement of its provisions. Ultimately, in consequence of this study, it is concluded that to improve consumer confidence and institutional compliance, as well as to arrest rising fraud and illegality, there is an urgent need for a comprehensive review and reform of EFT regulation in Australia. In order to design and formulate a more efficient or optimal regulatory regime, a more rigorous analysis beyond a straight legal studies approach needs to be undertaken. In this sense, the multi-disciplinary research and analytic approach adapted in this study is an integrated approach with the intention that it will not only drive the debate on an appropriate EFT regulatory framework forward, but ultimately with its 48 findings and 25 specific recommendations, also serve as a workable framework with some actual pragmatic criteria on which to assess different EFT regulatory and policy options.

Hospitality educators teach increasingly diverse student cohorts, operate within a challenging economic environment, but need to provide graduates with a wide range of academic and employability skills that reflect the complexity of their industry. An increase in the utilization of teaching technology in hospitality education can be seen as one response to a perceived need for the provision of more efficient and effective services to students. However, the suitability of technology-supported teaching approaches for this discipline is commented on in the literature, but not evidenced. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a better understanding of the individual personality types of hospitality students and its effect on the acceptance of a specific teaching technology, namely WebCT. Data were collected using a survey method. Two instruments, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator for personality and a researcher-constructed instrument based on Davis’ Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) were used. In this model, the acceptance of a technology was defined in terms of the outcome of the participant’s attitude towards this technology, which itself was a combination between Perceived Ease of Use and Perceived Usefulness. The final sample comprised 212 hospitality students in their first or second year of study at a university in the western region of Melbourne. This study hypothesised that individual personality characteristics of the students would have a significant influence on their acceptance of WebCT. The results supported the hypotheses across the personality constructs on the attitudinal score of the TAM. As such, personality differences could not be used to explain attitudinal differences towards WebCT within this cohort. However, the analysis of student personality types validated earlier studies on the dominance of STJ types and has implications for curriculum design and delivery. Moreover, individual characteristics influenced responses to single items of the acceptance questionnaire, indicating a need for using larger sample sizes. The usefulness of the TAM appears to have been validated by this study. Differences between the current results and those of previous studies may be explained by the mandated usage environment in which this study took place.

Despite the fact that special events have become key components of the tourism development strategy for many regions, the amount of research that has been conducted within the field of special events does not reflect its importance. It is unlikely that the substantial growth rate that the field of special events has experienced in recent years is sustainable and an understanding of consumer patronage in relation to special events will be crucial for the development and promotion of events in the future. This study seeks to help address these shortcomings. In seeking to understand the field of special events, a model that involved the perspectives of six major parties was proposed. The fundamental aim of this study was to explore one of these perspectives, namely, that of consumers. This perspective was then used as the basis for a proposed consumer decision making model in relation to visitor attractions, including special events, that underpinned the second part of the thesis. The first part of this study sought to conceptualise systematically, special events from a consumer perspective and to conduct a comparative methodological assessment of three approaches to market segmentation in terms of their ability to explain consumer behaviour in relation to special events. The three approaches used were personal values, psychographics and demographics. A comprehensive and systematic literature review was conducted to identify the attributes that could be used to categorise an event as ‘special’. Based upon this review, a schema of event categories was proposed as well as a listing of the core and qualifying attributes that could be used to describe each of the special event categories. A set of definitions for each of the main special event categories was then developed. In order to operationalise the term ‘special event’, primary research was then conducted to identify the attributes that consumers believed were important in describing a special event. Several distinct measuring techniques, including elicitation, attribute rating and conjoint analysis, were used in the questionnaire for this part of the study, in an effort to derive a comprehensive view of the consumer understanding of special events and to facilitate the convergent validation of the various techniques. It was found that there were four principal attributes that consumers used to describe a special event, these being: the number of attendees, the international attention due to the event, the improvement to the image and pride of the host region as a result of hosting the event, and the exciting experience associated with the event. The study also found a high degree of convergence between the techniques used. The second part of this study sought to understand and predict consumer behaviour in relation to visitor attractions in general, and special events in particular. This further developed the consumer perspective that was the key underlying theme of the thesis. In the second part of this study, 500 randomly selected Melbourne residents were asked to indicate their visit behaviour in relation to a range of visitor attractions including special events. Three dimensions of visit behaviour were measured in order to overcome limitations noted in earlier studies. The visit dimensions used were actual visitation, visit interest and visit intention. This enabled analysis of respondents’ visit behaviour on three dimensions to be assessed at both the generic level and at the individual attraction level. Being an origin-based study, unlike most of the studies that have been conducted in this field which have been destination-based, enabled consumers and non-consumers alike to be considered. Although the consumer decision making model, referred to earlier, which was used in this part of the study, included a range of variables thought to impact upon the consumer decision process, the focus of this thesis was on the comparative abilities of personal values, psychographics and demographics to explain consumer behaviour. Personal values were measured in the questionnaire via the List of Values (LOV) and psychographics were measured using a battery of AIO statements (Activity, Interest and Opinion). Assessing the explanatory power of three techniques on three dimensions of visitation to a wide range of visitor attractions enabled a systematic evaluation to be conducted that was more methodologically rigorous than many of the other studies that have been reported in this field. Analysis of the data found that special events were regarded by consumers as a separate category of visitor attractions and that the segmentation approaches assessed in this study were better able to explain behaviour in relation to special events than Despite the fact that special events have become key components of the tourism development strategy for many regions, the amount of research that has been conducted within the field of special events does not reflect its importance. It is unlikely that the substantial growth rate that the field of special events has experienced in recent years is sustainable and an understanding of consumer patronage in relation to special events will be crucial for the development and promotion of events in the future. This study seeks to help address these shortcomings. In seeking to understand the field of special events, a model that involved the perspectives of six major parties was proposed. The fundamental aim of this study was to explore one of these perspectives, namely, that of consumers. This perspective was then used as the basis for a proposed consumer decision making model in relation to visitor attractions, including special events, that underpinned the second part of the thesis. The first part of this study sought to conceptualise systematically, special events from a consumer perspective and to conduct a comparative methodological assessment of three approaches to market segmentation in terms of their ability to explain consumer behaviour in relation to special events. The three approaches used were personal values, psychographics and demographics. A comprehensive and systematic literature review was conducted to identify the attributes that could be used to categorise an event as ‘special’. Based upon this review, a schema of event categories was proposed as well as a listing of the core and qualifying attributes that could be used to describe each of the special event categories. A set of definitions for each of the main special event categories was then developed. In order to operationalise the term ‘special event’, primary research was then conducted to identify the attributes that consumers believed were important in describing a special event. Several distinct measuring techniques, including elicitation, attribute rating and conjoint analysis, were used in the questionnaire for this part of the study, in an effort to derive a comprehensive view of the consumer understanding of special events and to facilitate the convergent validation of the various techniques. It was found that there were four principal attributes that consumers used to describe a special event, these being: the number of attendees, the international attention due to the event, the improvement to the image and pride of the host region as a result of hosting the event, and the exciting experience associated with the event. The study also found a high degree of convergence between the techniques used. The second part of this study sought to understand and predict consumer behaviour in relation to visitor attractions in general, and special events in particular. This further developed the consumer perspective that was the key underlying theme of the thesis. In the second part of this study, 500 randomly selected Melbourne residents were asked to indicate their visit behaviour in relation to a range of visitor attractions including special events. Three dimensions of visit behaviour were measured in order to overcome limitations noted in earlier studies. The visit dimensions used were actual visitation, visit interest and visit intention. This enabled analysis of respondents’ visit behaviour on three dimensions to be assessed at both the generic level and at the individual attraction level. Being an origin-based study, unlike most of the studies that have been conducted in this field which have been destination-based, enabled consumers and non-consumers alike to be considered. Although the consumer decision making model, referred to earlier, which was used in this part of the study, included a range of variables thought to impact upon the consumer decision process, the focus of this thesis was on the comparative abilities of personal values, psychographics and demographics to explain consumer behaviour. Personal values were measured in the questionnaire via the List of Values (LOV) and psychographics were measured using a battery of AIO statements (Activity, Interest and Opinion). Assessing the explanatory power of three techniques on three dimensions of visitation to a wide range of visitor attractions enabled a systematic evaluation to be conducted that was more methodologically rigorous than many of the other studies that have been reported in this field. Analysis of the data found that special events were regarded by consumers as a separate category of visitor attractions and that the segmentation approaches assessed in this study were better able to explain behaviour in relation to special events than Despite the fact that special events have become key components of the tourism development strategy for many regions, the amount of research that has been conducted within the field of special events does not reflect its importance. It is unlikely that the substantial growth rate that the field of special events has experienced in recent years is sustainable and an understanding of consumer patronage in relation to special events will be crucial for the development and promotion of events in the future. This study seeks to help address these shortcomings. In seeking to understand the field of special events, a model that involved the perspectives of six major parties was proposed. The fundamental aim of this study was to explore one of these perspectives, namely, that of consumers. This perspective was then used as the basis for a proposed consumer decision making model in relation to visitor attractions, including special events, that underpinned the second part of the thesis. The first part of this study sought to conceptualise systematically, special events from a consumer perspective and to conduct a comparative methodological assessment of three approaches to market segmentation in terms of their ability to explain consumer behaviour in relation to special events. The three approaches used were personal values, psychographics and demographics. A comprehensive and systematic literature review was conducted to identify the attributes that could be used to categorise an event as ‘special’. Based upon this review, a schema of event categories was proposed as well as a listing of the core and qualifying attributes that could be used to describe each of the special event categories. A set of definitions for each of the main special event categories was then developed. In order to operationalise the term ‘special event’, primary research was then conducted to identify the attributes that consumers believed were important in describing a special event. Several distinct measuring techniques, including elicitation, attribute rating and conjoint analysis, were used in the questionnaire for this part of the study, in an effort to derive a comprehensive view of the consumer understanding iv of special events and to facilitate the convergent validation of the various techniques. It was found that there were four principal attributes that consumers used to describe a special event, these being: the number of attendees, the international attention due to the event, the improvement to the image and pride of the host region as a result of hosting the event, and the exciting experience associated with the event. The study also found a high degree of convergence between the techniques used. The second part of this study sought to understand and predict consumer behaviour in relation to visitor attractions in general, and special events in particular. This further developed the consumer perspective that was the key underlying theme of the thesis. In the second part of this study, 500 randomly selected Melbourne residents were asked to indicate their visit behaviour in relation to a range of visitor attractions including special events. Three dimensions of visit behaviour were measured in order to overcome limitations noted in earlier studies. The visit dimensions used were actual visitation, visit interest and visit intention. This enabled analysis of respondents’ visit behaviour on three dimensions to be assessed at both the generic level and at the individual attraction level. Being an origin-based study, unlike most of the studies that have been conducted in this field which have been destination-based, enabled consumers and non-consumers alike to be considered. Although the consumer decision making model, referred to earlier, which was used in this part of the study, included a range of variables thought to impact upon the consumer decision process, the focus of this thesis was on the comparative abilities of personal values, psychographics and demographics to explain consumer behaviour. Personal values were measured in the questionnaire via the List of Values (LOV) and psychographics were measured using a battery of AIO statements (Activity, Interest and Opinion). Assessing the explanatory power of three techniques on three dimensions of visitation to a wide range of visitor attractions enabled a systematic evaluation to be conducted that was more methodologically rigorous than many of the other studies that have been reported in this field. Analysis of the data found that special events were regarded by consumers as a separate category of visitor attractions and that the segmentation approaches assessed in this study were better able to explain behaviour in relation to special events than they were able to explain behaviour in relation to permanent attractions. Although psychographics demonstrated explanatory power well ahead of both the LOV and demographics, the explanatory power was not high for any of the approaches. Based on the research that has been reported on the importance of personal values to consumers, it would be expected that values should have substantial explanatory power. The fact that the LOV was not able to provide substantial explanatory power in relation to special events in this study was suggested to be related to the measurement of values as opposed to a more fundamental problem with values themselves. Results of this study questioned the comprehensiveness of the LOV. The finding that none of the variables used in this study was able to account for a large percentage of consumer behaviour suggested strongly that there were other important independent variables not measured in this study. The influences of travel party and travel occasion on behaviour were seen as two such variables.

The aim of this research is to investigate the variations in experiences, career identity and career development of female and male CEOs in Victorian local government, in order to establish if gender in any way either facilitates or hinders career success. The starting point for this study is not a hypothesis to be tested but rather an attempt to understand CEOs’ own conceptions. The study is also interested in the influence of Councillors on CEO career development and identity and seeks to establish whether CEOs and Councillors have a common understanding of success for a CEO. Phenomenography is the selected qualitative approach, as it provides a framework for describing experience and examining variations in experience. In-depth semi-structured interviews are conducted with 21 CEOs and Councillors and the interview transcripts form the basis of the research data. The findings identify that Councillors have a significant impact on the career development and experience of being a CEO. While outcomes for CEOs are clearly influenced by Councillors, CEO identity does not appear to be as interwoven with Councillor perceptions. CEOs do however, suggest that performance is not the major determinant of CEO success, but rather identify capacity to engage Councillors as the most crucial issue in gaining a successful outcome. The study also identifies a strong and recurrent theme of institutionalised sexism within the sector and as such finds that the experiences of females and males do differ in a number of ways. Female CEOs experience more scrutiny than their male colleagues and suggest that their actions reflect not only on them as individuals, but on all women.

Increasingly, relationship marketing has been viewed to be critical to the success of business firms, with the growing understanding that acquiring new customers is far more expensive than maintaining existing ones. While keeping customers loyal, however, is a key objective of relationship marketing, there is little agreement on which antecedents could be used to achieve this aim. In response, this thesis develops a model of relationship marketing based on a review of the literature to empirically investigate in one single model: (1) the affect of relational bonds (financial, social and structural) on relationship quality and customer emotions; (2) emotions on relationship quality; and (3) the ultimate affect of both relationship quality and emotions on customer loyalty. In particular, this thesis seeks to investigate the role of the emotions variable as a consequence of relational bonds (financial, social and structural), and antecedent of relationship quality. Furthermore, it presents and discusses empirical findings from a survey of 271 loyal Arab guests at five-star hotels examined from their perspectives as end users using structural equation modelling (AMOS 6.0). The findings of this thesis largely support the hypothesised relationships proposed in the theoretical model. Specifically, the results revealed that social and structural bonds, but not financial bonds, are crucial in affecting relationship quality and customer emotions. The results also provide strong evidence of the relationship between emotions and relationship quality, which in turn are necessary determinants of customer loyalty. This thesis contributes to theoretical and practical knowledge by providing for the first time, evidence about relationships between social and structural bonds and emotions, and further between emotion and relationship quality. The inclusion of an emotions construct is suggested to contribute additionally to the body of relationship marketing literature and provide a more complete model within a hospitality context. Findings imply the need for service firms in general, and hotels in particular, to strategically lever on the key antecedents of a relationship quality and customer loyalty including relational bonds and emotions, in pursuit of a more competitive advantage, and long-term profit.

Traditionally, the operational performance of enterprises has been measured in terms of financial accountability and profit since they provide a monetary yardstick of performance evaluation and comparisons. However, in the global knowledge economy, performance should be analysed beyond financial ratios criteria and systems, and should be measured in terms of corporate governance (CG), organisation behaviour (OB) and supply chain management (SCM) because these factors determine the performance of enterprises in the broader socio-economic perspective generally, and corporate social responsibility (CSR) specifically. An integrated approach to performance measurement requires an assessment of the contributions of stakeholders and the major tenets of modern organisation theory, namely OB, CG, SCM and corporate social responsibility because these are determinants of performance and missing in previous work. This dissertation develops a contemporary organisation behaviour performance measurement (OBPM) framework for enterprises in the emerging global knowledge economy. It integrates the dimensions of OB, CG and SCM by the development of an open socio-technical systems (OSTS) framework within a new model called ‘data envelopment analysis of corporate social responsibility’ (DEACSR). This framework addresses the importance of stakeholders at various stages of the supply chain, the style of management and design of organisation, as well as the need to be able to measure qualitative contributors, such as CSR, to organisation performance. In all instances of performance management however, present levels of performance must be measured before they can be improved. Therefore, this proposed framework embeds extended appropriate dimensions of measures of corporate operations and performance in the contemporary world. To implement the OBPM framework, the data envelopment analysis (DEA) linear programming technique of operations research is used to generate a ranking of CSR-related efficient performing business units. DEA is widely regarded as an effective modelling technique for the measurement of efficiencies in similar decision-making units (DMUs). The software, DEA Solver Pro 4.1, was applied to the ‘corporate social responsibility management capacity’ (CSRMC) dimensions of the OBPM framework in an Australian bank with national and international operations, thus providing a new application. DEA was applied to 231 DMUs of the bank to identify which were the most efficient CSR performers even though the bank itself, has achieved premier gold star ratings on national CSR indices for the last four years. The DEA results have listed 11 fully efficient (100%) units and rank ordered the remainder. The efficient units have strong characteristics of humanistic participative management, organisational support and empowerment, a commitment to business ethics and stakeholder acknowledgement and support. In addition, inter-item correlations of these characteristics for the efficient DMUs show that the results are not only plausible, but comprehensive and intuitively correct. Therefore the results support an OBPM framework on the basis that: 1) DEA is an effective instrument in the operations research methodology used to elicit efficiently performing business units; since 2) CSR is validated as a significant dimension of corporate governance; due to 3) the organisational behaviour inherent in an humanistic OSTS-designed enterprise which enhances corporate citizenship. The implications of an OBPM framework and the DEA results obtained by applying this framework are as follows: 1) The OBPM framework is consistent with the need to redesign the corporation of the future, as the OSTS-designed organisation can display synergies in the technical and social subsystems xvi through the enhanced performance of collaborative relationships within the organisation and the whole supply network. 2) Humanistic styles of management, with the characteristics of business ethics and stakeholder empowerment, contributes to organisation performance. 3) CSR is a platform for stakeholder engagement and an essential element of organisation performance. The limitation to this study is that the non-parametric nature of DEA means it is not applicable to the measurement of performance in every instance. This thesis has made an original contribution to the literature in the area of performance measurement theory; by developing a new approach to performance measurement which goes beyond traditional financial measures, by implying new developments in OB and management theory, CG, and SCM, and by implementing this new performance measurement approach with DEA. The quest for enterprises to be competitive in the contemporary global economy will inevitably lead them to a reconfiguration of the OSTS design presented in this thesis.

This thesis explores the impact of emotional intelligence on frontline employee service performance in the casino industry. Emotional intelligence is a relatively recent psychological construct that has attracted substantial interest in both the popular literature and within academia. A major appeal of emotional intelligence lies in its possibility of contributing to a portion of the remaining variance in job performance that traditional cognitive intelligence leaves unexplained (Van Rooy & Viswesvaran, 2003). However, the predictive validity of emotional intelligence varies considerably and depends on the context, criterion of interest, and specific theory used (e.g. Emmerling & Goleman, 2003). Furthermore, as agreed by most personality psychologists, a new construct such as emotional intelligence needs to provide incremental validity over well-established constructs to be welcomed into the relevant field (Brackett & Mayer, 2003). With respect to job context and selected criteria, it has been claimed that there is a positive relationship between emotional intelligence and job performance in the case of roles which are associated with emotional labour, such as customer service (Daus & Ashkanasy, 2005). With regard to theory, various models have been proposed as a means of conceptualising the construct within the relevant literature. These models have been associated with a range of tests which purport to assess emotional intelligence and its predictive validity. In an attempt to emphasize the importance of the role of assessment in operationalising emotional intelligence, Petrides and Furnham (2001) have proposed the theory of trait EI, which is measured using a self-report test. These authors indicated that the theory encompasses behavioural tendencies and self-perceived abilities like a personality trait; therefore, its investigation should be primarily conducted within a personality framework (Petrides & Furnham, 2001; Petrides, Furnham & Frederickson, 2004). From the perspective of predictive validity, this thesis applies the concept of trait EI in the context of the casino high-end market (casino key accounts), and analyses its relationship with the service performance of casino service representatives for the high-end market (casino key account representatives). From the perspective of incremental validity, the thesis incorporates the Five Factor Model (FFM) of personality factors as another independent variable to analyse the additional variance in the dependent variable explained by trait EI in predicting the service performance of casino key account representatives. This study also tests the mediating roles of customer orientation and adaptability in the context of hierarchical relationships of the influence of personality traits (trait EI and FFM) on service performance evaluation, based on the hierarchical model theory proposed by Brown, Mowen, Donavan & Licatal. (2002). The data used in this thesis were gathered from questionnaires, distributed within a VIP gaming room catering to casino high-end players in one of the world’s largest casinos located in Australasia. A sample of 152 usable employee responses was obtained. Multiple regression has been used to test the relevant hypotheses and Baron and Kenny’s (1986) method has been used to analyse the mediation. Through the use of the various statistical analyses, it was found that trait EI was positively related with the service performance of casino key account representatives. It also explained additional variance in the dependent variable – the service performance of casino key account representatives over and above the FFM of personality factors. Partial mediations of customer orientation and adaptability were also found between the basic personality traits and service performance of casino key account representatives. It indicates that indirect effects between the independent and dependent variables are enhanced by the incorporation of the various mediators. The thesis concludes with a discussion of the results, which includes comments on the implications of the findings, an evaluation of the limits of the current investigation, and some thoughts on possible future research.

Attractions are both an essential element of the tourism product, and an important catalyst for economic activity, particularly in regional locations. The ability of competing tourist destinations to differentiate their tourism product by emphasising the distinctive nature of attractions within their domain, is central to tourism marketing, and thereby to viable tourism industry. Ensuring their sustainable operation is an important priority. Like most organisations however, attractions are subject to a range of internal and external influences that impact on their ability to operate effectively. The ability to successfully respond to constant and pervasive change presents a significant challenge for this important sector of the tourism industry. Despite their importance however, the specific elements of change confronting the attraction sector, or the means by which they adapt to such shifts, are not well understood and this thesis seeks to help address this gap. Drawing on the perceptions and opinions of key stakeholders in two regional heritage visitor attractions, the research seeks to identify structural and strategic responses to change. Aggregation of the data points to significant commonality between the two case studies, in terms of perceived success factors and impediments to the process of adaption.

Due to its position as the main source of national income, the tourism and hospitality service industry in Thailand is now highlighted as an area to watch in terms of its value for continued national economic growth. Chiang Rai Rajabhat University (CRU) a university in the tourist area in the North of Thailand, plays a key role in hospitality service education and has a significant influence in the sector because it produces graduates for service in the workforce of this industry. Given the industry's competitive climate, decisions to increase the number of workers, or practitioners, need to take into account the quality of the workers. In this time of globalization, when English is used widely, particularly in the intercultural context ofhospitality service businesses, the quality of English must be seriously considered. Business English (BE) graduates, as prospective employees, need to be highly competent in English language skills. This demand for effective English users in hospitality service workplaces means that there is a need to give serious consideration to the ability of Thai graduates to become competent users of English in real workplaces, and to develop an understanding of how they may achieve the high level of competence required of them. This study investigates the English language skills Thai students used in intercultural communication in hospitality service workplaces. The aim was to determine what essential language skills were used, to explore how these skills were implemented while giving services to international tourists, and to use the results to reflect on English for Hospitality Services (EHS) study in order to provide some recommendations for teaching and learning in those courses. The project was designed as an ethnographic case study. Multiple research tools were used, but particularly participatory observations of student workplace interactions, and semi-structured interviews that included interviews with workplace staff, such as managers, heads of departments, business owners and on-site supervisors. There were additional sources of information used, including students' diaries and other documents relevant to internship. The data collected were then examined using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The participants were 15 volunteers and were fourth-year students in the Business English (BE) program at CRU. The case study involved an examination of data collected from ten workplaces in four hospitality service areas. The observation transcriptions were quantitatively scrutinized for the most essential functional language units used in the hospitality services. The significant findings indicate that the functional language of requests and responding to requests was the most frequently used unit in this hospitality services area. This result confirms previous studies that have found that the functional language of requests, including responding to requests, is the most essential functional pattern in hospitality services. Thanking, offering help/services, and refusing are counted as the second, third and fourth essential units used. However, apologizing and responding to complaints, which are generally considered important in the service area, were very much less frequently used in this study. There was no evidence that significant breakdown or major problems in communication occurred during hospitality service procedures examined; however, the findings suggest that the language proficiency of Thai students was very low in terms of language accuracy. From the results of the study, it is recommended that those responsible for EHS teaching and learning give serious consideration to increasing the level ofcommunicative competence of Thai BE students in terms of English language skills, and to improving the cultural awareness of graduates who expect to be involved in intercultural communication in the hospitality services industry.

Increasingly, communities in regional areas are turning to sports events of a small scale to bring new money into their local economy, provide employment, and provide intangible benefits such as increased community pride. Sports events held on an irregular basis can attract visitors from outside a host community, thus resulting in an increase in business during slow periods and possibly promote the host region as a tourist destination after an event has been staged.In many instances, sponsorship has proven to be the financial lifeblood of sport tourism events held in regional areas, and often provides a majority of the revenue necessary to sustain the successful staging of such events. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) frequently provide the sponsorship necessary to stage such events, owing to the fact that large businesses are sparse in regional areas.The academic community has paid little attention to the sponsorship nexus between SMEs and regional sport tourism events, which this study aimed to address. Grounded in the interpretivist social sciences paradigm, this qualitative study examined five case studies through interviewing five SME owner/managers and five managers of regional sport tourism events. Areas examined included perceptions of sponsorship, reasons why SMEs provided sponsorship to regional sport tourism events, sponsorship leveraging, evaluation of sponsorship effectiveness, and how sponsorships were initiated between SMEs and regional sport tourism events.The results of this research found that the event managers and SME sponsors shared differing perceptions of what constitutes ‘sponsorship’. Volunteer event managers tended to view sponsorship in a somewhat philanthropic manner, while professional event managers were well aware of the importance of reciprocating a return on investment to their sponsors. Sponsorships in this context were initiated either through formal request or networks of personal contacts between SMEs and event organising committees. The sponsorships studied were found to be highly informal in nature and bound by gentlemen’s agreements, as opposed to legally binding contracts.The primary reasons driving SMEs to sponsor such events were related to supporting their local community and to be seen as socially responsible. Engaging in sponsorship to achieve bottom-line objectives were secondary to community involvement, which confirmed findings from similar studies conducted previously.The results also indicated that sponsorship leveraging and evaluation of sponsorship effectiveness did occur, albeit with varying degrees of success. Both sponsors and event managers tended to exhibit low levels of proficiency in being able to carry out effective sponsorship leveraging and evaluations, and as such leveraging and evaluation techniques employed in these sponsorships tended to be unsophisticated and inexpensive to execute. Only one of the five events studied provided any written post-event feedback to their sponsors.