Broadband has revolutionised the way the Internet is used and has become the critical enabling infrastructure of our modem and knowledge-based economy. Its widespread introduction has not only greatly enhanced the speed at which information online can be accessed, but also the range and sophistication of the content available. It is still penetrating the telecommunication market and is seen by some as the most significant evolutionary step since the emergence of the Internet. However in the rush to achieve market share, there is a risk that insufficient attention may be paid to quality issues, the central theme of this research. The research addresses the issues of broadband quality with a stated objective of assessing broadband quality by means of an integrated framework that encompasses factors beyond strict technical characteristics of broadband networks. Indeed, the concept of quality is a multi-facetted one, for which various perspectives can be distinguished. In this work, broadband quality as perceived by users, ISP and Government in the United Kingdom (UK) is looked at and a survey report is given and analysed. The aim of this doctoral research was to provide much needed empirical broadband quality framework that would guide the service provider as well as the UK government in the provision of quality broadband to its consumers. It will also stand as a benchmark to countries wanting to provide quality broadband to its citizens. A survey research approach was employed to achieve the overall aim and objective of this research. This was conducted using the response of 133 participants located in various boroughs in the UK. The results of the survey show that quality, though desired by many, has been short-changed by the desire to have access to the Internet via broadband at the lowest cost possible. However, this has not encouraged some consumers to switch to broadband from dial-up service despite continuous low prices being offered by service providers. Furthermore, the results also indicated that focusing on broadband quality will improve and promote investment in broadband capacity and decrease the uncertainty in consumer demand for applications such as multi-media content delivery, enhanced electronic commerce and telecommuting that exploit broadband access.

M. Tech. Business Administration / An efficient canteen that serves the needs of its employees leads to employee satisfaction and adds value to the organisation. Canteens in the service industry constantly need to re-align their service delivery and image to their client base in order to remain viable. Theoretical models have been widely used in the business environment to gauge customer satisfaction. Companies are constantly measuring service quality in an effort to improve turnover and increase their client base. The need to understand customer expectations on service quality was the key motivation behind this study. The study evaluated service quality as perceived by employees in an industrial canteen operating within the automotive sector using the five components of the service quality (SERVQUAL) model. Service delivery monitoring tools are necessary in a catering environment to enable staff and management to identify customer service areas requiring improvements. The quality of service delivery impacts on brand equity and loyalty.

National Dairy Equipment (Pty) Ltd (NDE) is a privately owned stockist and distributor of stainless steel products and is a respected player in the South African stainless steel industry. NDE operates from within all four major cities in South Africa namely, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, and Durban. The organisation, with its wide range of corrosion resistant products, serves industries such as the architecture and construction, automotive, catering, and food and beverage industry. With the stainless steel industry growing in terms of the number of competitors, NDE performs a number of functions in order to achieve customer satisfaction. The general purpose of the study was to indentify the attributes that would act as drivers of customer satisfaction at NDE. Five attributes were identified namely, Service quality, Trust and commitment, Product quality, Commercial aspects and Reliability. The results of this study could assist managers at NDE in improving service delivery to customers. The literature study provided an overview of overall customer satisfaction and possible measurement models for customer satisfaction. Measurement models included, SERVQUAL, SERVPERF, the Two-factor theory, the Kano model and the Three-factor model. The latter proved to be of particular importance to the study as the model was used to classify the identified drivers into basic, performance and excitement factors. Furthermore, a literature review was provided based on each of the identified potential drivers of customer satisfaction. The empirical data needed to complete the study was collected by means of a survey, using a self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed by sales representatives at NDE. A total of 320 useable questionnaires were received. The study revealed the following: each of the five proposed attributes had a positive relationship with overall customer satisfaction,thus all five attributes were confirmed as drivers of customer satisfaction at NDE. Commercial aspects and Reliability were classified as basic satisfiers. Trust and commitment was classified as a performance satisfier, and Service quality was identified as the only excitement satisfier. Product quality did not receive any classification. All importance mean scores were higher than the corresponding satisfaction mean scores. This study contributed to the existing body of literature and is seemingly the first of its kind in the South African stainless steel industry. The study is also the first to attempt the measurement of overall customer satisfaction levels at NDE. The methodology used in the current study can be applied to stainless steel industries internationally, in order to verify whether the confirmed drivers would also act as drivers of satisfaction in a similar industry elsewhere in the world.

The container terminals play an increasingly important role in the economy of many countries. In today’s global competitive environment delivering quality service is considered as an essential strategy for success and survival. In the very competitive container terminals, service quality is important in attracting and retaining customers. The shipping companies are interested in speed and reliability from the terminals. The time a ship stays in a port must be minimised, and, therefore, the handling of containers must be executed in a fast and reliable way. The importance of customer service as a competitive strategy in container terminal has long been recognised. The growth in container volumes and higher productivity by Ngqura Container Terminal has created greater demand than before from its customers in the shipping business. The current growth in container volumes and increased customer demand has made the situation at NCT less encouraging at times, due to additional traffic of vessels awaiting to dock at the port creating congestion problems; resulting in unplanned lengthy dock occupation by vessels and the current status quo is affecting NCT strategy in terms of arrival docking and providing a quick response to customers. The Ngqura terminal is under increasing pressure from its customers and stakeholders to demonstrate that their services are customer-focused and that continuous performance improvement is being delivered. Therefore, a literature study and questionnaire survey forms the main input for this research combined with interviews with terminal managers. The purpose of this research is to examine the service quality concepts and offer an operational approach for the measurement of the quality of Ngqura Container Terminal services. The main research problem in this study was to identify customer service strategies that could be applied by Ngqura Container Terminal in order to maintain and exceed its business growth as well as customer expectations? The study employed the SERVQUAL model as a measuring tool in establishing the customers’ general expectations of a service and their perceptions of the service received at Ngqura Container Terminal. The five elements of SERVQUAL, which are tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy, were used to deal with and solve the main problem. Below are the sub-problems that have been identified in order to investigate and develop a research strategy: What is the customer’s perception of service quality at NCT?; What are the specific customer service requirements of NCT’s customers?; Does NCT’s service operations performance enable it to fulfill its customer service requirements?; How can the performance gap between customer service requirements and service operations performance be bridged?; Which service quality elements are important to customers for container terminals? This study wants to concentrate on the customers’ perception and evaluation toward service performance in Ngqura Container Terminal.

Dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the Masters Degree in Technology: Marketing, Durban University of Technology, 2011. / Customer satisfaction, customer value and service quality have become the primary focus of service organisations in today’s customer era. The higher education industry is no different. As higher education institutions strive for competitive advantage, customer service and service quality are becoming driving forces. Today, service quality is recognized as one of the most important factors in developing and maintaining successful relationships. Superior service quality leads to enhanced customer satisfaction and increased loyalty. Institutions that focus on superior quality service can enjoy a distinctive competitive edge since improved levels of service quality are linked to higher revenues, higher customer retention and increased market shares. The aim of this research study was to evaluate customer service quality at Varsity Colleges in Westville and Durban North. The SERVQUAL questionnaire was used as the instrument to measure students’ expectations and perceptions according to five quality dimensions. Four hundred and fifty one respondents were selected from the two campuses using non-probability sampling and convenience sampling. Descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were used to analyse the data. Conclusions and recommendations were made from the findings of the research study. The study revealed that students’ expectations of service quality exceeded their perceptions on the five service quality dimensions used in the SERVQUAL questionnaire. Improvements are necessary in certain dimensions of service quality. In order to improve service quality, it is recommended that Varsity Colleges close these gaps by ensuring that apt strategies are put into place in order to improve service quality.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Technology Degree: Operations and Quality Management, Durban University of Technology, 2012. / Over the last decade the institutional framework within which most universities in South Africa operate has undergone major transformation forcing the higher education sector to become more competitive in its approach to attracting and retaining quality students. Against this background, service quality has been put forward as a critical determinant of competitiveness. The purpose of this study therefore was to identify best practice in terms of postgraduate studies and research development and support service delivery in the South African (SA) and Australian (Aus) contexts in order to inform the development of a quality model for postgraduate or research centres (PG/RCs) for universities of technology (UoTs) in SA. Underpinned by the Gap Model of service delivery and an adapted SERVQUAL instrument, this study sought to determine perceptions and expectations of service quality across five dimensions, namely: tangibles; reliability; responsiveness; assurance; and empathy. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used to gather data from PG/RC staff and postgraduate and research students in SA. Various gaps between students’ perceptions and expectations indicating dissatisfaction with PG/RC services particularly among the SA students were identified. The findings revealed that the SA UoTs lag behind the Aus UoTs in terms of communicating their services and forms of support to students and providing satisfactory services according to student expectations. The findings further suggested that issues such as service quality planning and monitoring, establishing recovery mechanisms for service failures, and student-driven service design and standards need to be high on the agenda at higher education institutions to ensure service quality control. All five dimensions of SERVQUAL indicated a negative score or quality gap suggesting that the SA PG/RCs need to urgently the gaps that exist at their institutions; key recommendations were thus made to improve the gaps identified. Based on the literature reviewed, best practice gleaned from the findings of this study, and benchmarking with the Aus UoTs; this study proposed a centralized and decentralized PG/RC model for SA UoTs to provide service quality to its ‘customers’.

E-learning systems provide a promising solution as an information exchanging channel. Improved technology could mean faster and easier access to information but does not necessarily ensure the quality of this information. Therefore it is essential to develop valid and reliable methods of quality measurement and carry out careful information quality evaluations. Information quality frameworks are developed to measure the quality of information systems, generally from the designers' viewpoint. The recent proliferation of e-services, and e-learning particularly, raises the need for a new quality framework in the context of e-learning systems. The main contribution of this thesis is to propose a new information quality framework, with 14 information quality attributes grouped in three quality dimensions: intrinsic, contextual representation and accessibility. We report results based on original questionnaire data and factor analysis. Moreover, we validate the proposed framework using an empirical approach. We report our validation results on the basis of data collected from an original questionnaire and structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in particular. However, it is difficult to measure information quality in an e-learning context because the concept of information quality is complex and it is expected that the measurements will be multidimensional in nature. Reliable measures need to be obtained in a systematic way, whilst considering the purpose of the measurement. Therefore, we start by adopting a Goal Question Metrics (GQM) approach to develop a set of quality metrics for the identified quality attributes within the proposed framework. We then define an assessment model and measurement scheme, based on a multi element analysis technique. The obtained results can be considered to be promising and positive, and revealed that the framework and assessment scheme could give good predictions for information quality within e-learning context. This research generates novel contributions as it proposes a solution to the problems raised from the absence of consensus regarding evaluation standards and methods for measuring information quality within an e-learning context. Also, it anticipates the feasibility of taking advantage of web mining techniques to automate the retrieval process of the information required for quality measurement. This assessment model is useful to e-learning systems designers, providers and users as it gives a comprehensive indication of the quality of information in such systems, and also facilitates the evaluation, allows comparisons and analysis of information quality.

The approach to water management worldwide is currently in transition, with a shift evident from purely centralised infrastructure to greater consideration of decentralised technologies, such as rainwater harvesting (RWH). Initiated by recognition of drivers including increasing water demand and increasing risk of flooding, the value of RWH is beginning to filter across the academic-policy boundary. However, in the UK, implementation of RWH systems is not straight forward; social and technical barriers, concerns and knowledge gaps exist, which currently restrict its widespread utilisation. Previously, these issues have been examined independently. The research described in this thesis highlights the need for interdisciplinary working to lower the barriers and resolve the concerns. Consequently, a combination of social and engineering research perspectives, methods and analysis is utilised to achieve the aim of the research: the production of a strategic framework to support the implementation of RWH in the UK. The framework is the culmination of empirically derived social and technical evidence bases including: surveys with householders and architects; interviews with small to medium enterprises (SMEs); a design and performance evaluation of a non-domestic RWH system; non-domestic water closet (WC) monitoring to develop a demand profile and a water quality study and health impact assessment (HIA) of a non-domestic RWH system. Results indicate that householders were willing but not able to implement RWH, due to financial constraints and perceived maintenance burdens. For SMEs 5 ‘implementation deficit categories’ were identified, which undermined their ability to implement. The use of continuous simulation tools, with appropriate data, need to be promoted and the non-domestic demand profile derived was distinctly different to the well-established domestic profile, yielding implications for system design. The non-domestic RWH system was able to achieve an average water saving efficiency of 97% for the period monitored and the HIA quantified the risk to health as being within the recognised screening level. Triangulation of the results into an integrated socio-technical evidence base facilitated the identification of three core strategy aims, their corresponding actions and actors (stakeholder groups). The overall strategic framework is presented in the form of a Venn diagram. It is unlikely the comprehensive nature of the strategic framework would have been achieved, if the interdisciplinary process had not been undertaken. Therefore adoption of a socio-technical approach to implementation is vital, if RWH in the UK is to transition from novel to mainstream.

Thesis (MTech (Marketing))--Cape Technikon, 1999. / Quality of service, as perceived by the customer, has been shown by research to be a critical factor contributing to organizational performance in recent years. Therefore, the management of service quality is a key variable, and for service quality to be managed, it has to be measured. There have been significant advances in the measurement of service quality in the past fifteen years, resulting in a stream of research, mostly concentrating on the external customers of profit-seeking firms. A key factor driving this research was the development of an apparently reliable, valid instrument for the measurement of service quality. This instrument called SERVQUAL, was developed by US researchers A. "Parsu" Parasuraman, Valarie Zeithaml and Len Berry. It has spawned an enormous debate in the marketing literature, leading to the further exploration and refinement of the dimensions of the service quality construct. While the use of SERVQUAL has been extensively investigated in external markets, and in for-profit firms, less attention has been given to its use, and more importantly, its reliability and validity in internal markets, and in not-for-profit organizations. These settings are becoming increasingly important from a services marketing perspective. Internal markets (where fellow employees are also customers) are being subjected to market testing, and many services previously provided within the organization are being outsourced. In order to survive, many functions such as information systems, training, catering and cleaning are being forced to market their services internally, and this includes assessing service quality, and improving it. Likewise, private and public nonprofit organizations are coming under increasing scrutiny, as donors and taxpayers alike become evermore concerned about the value gained from the expenditures made by these organizations with their funds. In this study, the SERVQUAL instrument was used to measure service quality as perceived by the internal customers of a large IT department within an extensive government organization. The main objectives of the study were to assess the psychometric properties of the SERVQUAL instrument in this setting. It was found that SERVQUAL generally performs well under these circumstances, with regard to reliability, construct, convergent and nomological validity. However, the instrument appears to be problematical in terms of discriminant validity. This is probably less attributable to the measurement situation as to the instrument itself, for the finding mirrors evidence from the literature. The study also identifies implications for management, and opportunities for future research.

The highly competitive landscape of the automotive industry places increasing pressure on automotive dealerships to continually improve the quality of services rendered to customers. Understanding customer expectations and customer perceptions is key to making improvements in areas that matter most to the customer. It is against this background that this study was conducted. The aim of this research was to measure service quality at automotive dealerships. The literature review focused on the gaps model which resulted in the SERVQUAL measuring tool. The SERVQUAL instrument is supported by literature as the optimal instrument for measuring service quality. The 22-item questionnaire was adapted and used to solicit feedback from customers on their expectations and perceptions of the service rendered by dealerships across the five SERVQUAL dimensions; namely, tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, empathy and assurance. Gaps between customer expectations and perceptions were calculated as an indication of areas where customer expectations were met, unmet or exceeded. In order to identify priorities for improvement, each of the SERVQUAL dimensions was ranked in order of importance by the customer. Convenience sampling was used as a sampling technique. A total of 142 Volkswagen owners who had their vehicles serviced or repaired at a franchised dealership were surveyed. The reliability of the SERVQUAL questionnaire was tested by calculating the Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient for each of the five dimensions. The calculation yielded an average coefficient of 0.83, indicating a high reliability of the measuring instrument and the data collected. The overall gap score of -0.7 indicates that customer expectations exceeded customer perceptions. The lowest customer perceptions and the largest gaps were reported in the reliability and responsiveness dimensions. These two dimensions were also rated as the most important dimensions customers use for evaluating service quality. This formed the basis for recommending that dealership employees and management focus most of their efforts on improving the reliability and responsiveness dimensions.