Thesis (PhD) -- University of Western Sydney, 2000. / Includes index. "November 2000" "Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree, Doctor of Philosophy, University of Western Sydney" Bibliography: leaves 321- 345.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1992. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 181-188). Also available via the Internet

Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio State University, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1999. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-141). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1999. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-141). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1994. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 238-252). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Delaware, 2007. / Principal faculty advisor: Cihan Cobanoglu, Dept. of Hotel, Restaurant, & Institutional Management. Includes bibliographical references.

This doctoral investigation explores the area of emotional labour in relation to aggressive customers’ behaviours. In more detail, it is focussing on the way employees engage in emotional labour, which can be done either by surface acting or deep acting, when they are interacting with aggressive customers and the consequences that may arise due to this method. The thematic and narrative literature review conducted by the researcher on the initial stages of this thesis provided the basis and foundations of the creation of the initial conceptual framework on managing the negative consequences of surface acting when interacting with aggressive customers and achieving the desired deep acting during those interactions. The researcher follows the constructivist / interpretivist philosophical approach in her study, and adopts the methodological triangulation for conducting her primary research by using a combination of two qualitative methods, semi-structured interviews and focus groups. The semi-structured interviews were contacted first, and the focus groups, as an additional method, had the purpose of either validating the results or adding to them accordingly. This study revealed that employees are only engaging in surface acting when they are interacting with aggressive customers. This results in a number of negative consequences. The current research has focussed on how to overcome those negative consequences. It further explored the ways that would engage employees in deep acting during those challenging interactions with aggressive customers and the positive effects. The results were presented in the empirically validated conceptual framework that has been created. The findings of this doctoral investigation have contributed both in theory as well as practice. The theoretical contributions include innovative additions to the existing theoretical gaps in the area of emotional labour in terms of how to overcome the negative consequences of surface acting and enhance the use of deep acting during interactions with aggressive customers. Further on, there are also contributions in the literature of the hospitality industry that has been under-researched in regards to this area. In addition, this research is adding to the existing knowledge of how to handle aggressive customers since it is including important findings on how to handle employees’ emotions so that aggressive customers are being treated more effectively. This also benefits the theory of marketing by offering the opportunity for further researchers to use the current empirically tested theoretical framework in order to test the relationship between engaging in deep acting and eliminating customer dissatisfaction. In terms of practical contributions, this research is adding knowledge to the hospitality industry employees, the management and the industry as a whole. While utilising this framework, both management and employees will be able to offer more genuine emotions to their aggressive customers and therefore be able to achieve the best possible results for the organisations they are working for.

Thesis (MTech (Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2005 / This study illustrates the practical value of incorporating the assessment of data obtained from surveys conducted on tourists' views of current service offerings at eating establishments. The findings from such surveys can assist tourism and the hospitality industry managers to identify priorities for product and service improvements. In essence, the research report examines how tourists (both domestic and foreign) make the choice of an eating establishment. It also examines how greater understanding of user-satisfaction (tourists) with the hospitality products or services may improve planning for the development of these service offerings. In order to conceptualise the research problem, a review of literature is provided of selected aspects of visitors perceptions in the Cape Metropolitan region. Moreover, these aspects (facilities for children, persons with disability, special attention for pensioners, African dishes on offer) are also considered based on the argument that the views of visitors on current service offerings should be given far more prominence than generally occurs at present. The survey of two hundred tourists was conducted during the peak holiday season of December 2004 to January 2005 in the Cape Metropolitan region of South Africa. The survey examined views and perceptions of visitors about a range of services at eating establishments. Survey results reported selected aspects of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the services of eating establishment in the Cape Town city centre, Waterfront and Camps Bay. The researcher concludes that current service offerings at eating establishments in the Cape Metropolitan region do little to accommodate visitors whose primary reasons for visiting are to experience the South African food and wine, especially cultural-specific foods, as well as accommodating the needs of disabled visitors, children and old age pensioners. The implications of the findings will assist relevant authorities to help enhance service offerings.

Dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology: Tourism and hospitality management in the Faculty of Business at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology / This research investigated opinions on two aspects of the World Wide Web as a marketing tool for Rwandan hotels: “Web benefits” as seen by hotels with a Web presence ("adopters"), and “barriers to Web adoption” as seen by hotels without ("non-adopters"). Evidence was collected from a sample of 86 hotels, of which 45 had adopted the Web and 41 had not. Firstly, 86 survey questionnaires were collected and secondly, seven telephone interviews were conducted. They consisted of three Web adopters and four non-adopters. For the survey, open-ended questions were used and a statistical analysis of adopters' opinions depicts the main benefits as being “advertising and promoting”, “providing hotel information”, “communicating better”, “providing online reservation”, “saving cost and time” and “being free from borders”. Importantly, respondents' data also indicates that they considered “increasing business” and “providing competitive advantage” as benefits. In the research results, the latter are considered as the high-end benefits of any marketing effort with “increase in business” depending on “competitive advantage”. The same was done with barriers to Web adoption and a statistical analysis depicts the main barriers as being “high cost of Web implementation”, “lack of external Internet infrastructure”, “lack of IT skills and knowledge”, “perceived costs and benefits”, “lack of top management support” and “lack of awareness about business opportunities and benefits of Web marketing”. The analysis of the interviews reveals that “Web benefits” came through strongly in the qualitative content analysis. The most mentioned benefit was “increasing business”. “Providing hotel information”, “saving cost and time”, “providing online reservation”, “transactions at global level”, “advertising and promoting” and “providing online payment” were also mentioned. Details will be found in the chapter dealing with research results. Further, the interviews reveal that Web adopters were satisfied and generally achieved the benefits they expected from Web adoption; no disbenefits were expressed. On the side of the non-adopters, the interviews reveal that even though they had no website, they believed that Web marketing would be beneficial in terms of marketing, especially for advertising. For a more effective implementation of Web marketing among Rwandan hotels, the researcher provides recommendations to the identified key stakeholders. Also, the researcher recommends further studies, on the use of Internet and Web marketing among Rwandan hotels.