Attributes of service delivery modes and their impact on consumer satisfaction

Consumersatisfaction is fundamental to organisational success. It is well recognised that personal service is important in achieving consumer satisfaction. However, the application of self-service technology (SST) is widcning and is attennuating traditional exchanges between consumers and service employees. The effect of this reduction of personal service on consumer satisfaction judgements is not well understood. This study addresses this gap by investigating the relative effects of SST and personal service attributes on overall consumer satisfaction. Thc study highlights important service attributes applicable to SST and personal service. The conceptual framework is tested using data collected from 241 leisure and business travellers drawn from premium hotels in a regional area. Structural equation modelling techniques support the conceptual framework. As expected, the attributes of personal service and SST contribute to consumer satisfaction. However, thc impact of personal service attributes 011 consumer satisfaction is much stronger than the effects of SST attributes. Though SST is an important determinant of consumer satisfaction, interactions with staff are critical. These results have applications for the theory and practice of services marketing, and high light avenues for further investigation.

Measuring Consumer Loyalty : the loyalty orientation scale

Reflecting its importance to thc financial success of organisations, interest in consumer loyalty continues unabated. However, there are still many unanswered questions about its conceptualisation and measurement.These questions must he resolved before academics and practitioners can usefully apply the concept. We argue that consumer loyalty is best conceptualised as a multi-dimensional phenomenon. Based on this multi-dimensional view, we develop and test a new measure of consumer loyalty. We hypothesise a threedimensional structure containing affective, temporal and instrumental dimensions, Results from a preliminary test are reported. The results indicate that the construct can be reprcxeuted with two dimensions: affective and temporal loyally. As an additional check on the reliability of our results, we find significant correlations between these two dimensions and a measure of behavioural loyalty.

Art for architecture's sake?

The Architecture, Disciplinarity and the Arts symposium was organised by the Architecture. Theory, Criticism and History (ATCH) research group at the University of Queensland, run by John Macarthur and Antony Moulis, together with Andrew Leach who joined them last year and organised much of the symposium. The symposium ran for three days in a small room at the Institute of Modern Art (IMA) in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane (generously donated by director Robert Leonard), with about 40 people in attendance. Together with a long question time of an hour after every three speakers, the size of the room and the small number of people made it very different from most architecture or design conferences. The intellectual level of the symposium was high, without the speed dating aspect that one often sees at the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand (SAHANZ) meetings, where endless parallel sessions of short papers create an occasionally disorientating cacophony of words. The symposium was deliberately, unapologetically academic and the intimate nature of the forum made the discussion rich and collaborative, with an active audience. The title of the symposium, 'Architecture, Disciplinarity and the Arts', reflects the connection that already exists between the art history and the architectural history community in Brisbane, with both groups regularly attending each other's functions.

Incorporating interdependence in risk likelihood analysis to enhance diagnostics in condition monitoring

This research is aimed at addressing problems in the field of asset management relating to risk analysis and decision making based on data from a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system. It is apparent that determining risk likelihood in risk analysis is difficult, especially when historical information is unreliable. This relates to a problem in SCADA data analysis because of nested data. A further problem is in providing beneficial information from a SCADA system to a managerial level information system (e.g. Enterprise Resource Planning/ERP). A Hierarchical Model is developed to address the problems. The model is composed of three different Analyses: Hierarchical Analysis, Failure Mode and Effect Analysis, and Interdependence Analysis. The significant contributions from the model include: (a) a new risk analysis model, namely an Interdependence Risk Analysis Model which does not rely on the existence of historical information because it utilises Interdependence Relationships to determine the risk likelihood, (b) improvement of the SCADA data analysis problem by addressing the nested data problem through the Hierarchical Analysis, and (c) presentation of a framework to provide beneficial information from SCADA systems to ERP systems. The case study of a Water Treatment Plant is utilised for model validation.

Historical and Personal Perspectives on the Fall of the Berlin Wall, 1989: address to 20th anniversary forums.

The story of the fall of the Berlin Wall was an aspect of the “imagination gap” that we had to wrestle with as journalists covering the collapse of the Eastern Bloc in Europe. It was scarcely possible to believe what you found yourself reporting, and that work became a two-track process. On one hand a mass social movement was dictating the pace and direction of events; on the other, the institutional business of politics as usual, to provide a framework for all the change that was happening, had to be managed – and reported on. In later analyseds we could see, that crisis in the Soviet Union led to the crisis over the Berlin Wall; and from the fall of the Wall, came Germany’s reunification, and with that also, formation of the European Union as it is today. The government of the Federal Republic of Germany convinced its neighbours that a reunited Germany, within an expanded EU, would be a very acceptable “European Germany” -- not the leader of a “German Europe���. It committed itself financially, supporting the new Euro currency. The former communist states of Eastern Europe demanded to join and expand the EU; in order to remove themselves from the Soviet Union, enjoy human rights, and share in Western prosperity. So today, following on from the events of 1989, the European Union is an amalgam of 27 member countries, with close to 500 million citizens and accounting for 30 % of world Gross National Product.

Prehistoric hand stencils at Fern Cave, North Queensland (Australia): environmental and chronological implications of Raman spectroscopy and FT-IR imaging results

Raman spectroscopy and FT-IR imaging analyses of cave wall pigment samples from north Queensland (Australia) indicate that some hand stencils were undertaken during a dry environmental phase indicating late Holocene age. Other, earlier painting episodes also took place during dry environmental periods of the terminal Pleistocene and/or early Holocene. These results represent a rare opportunity to attain chronological information for rock art in conditions where insufficient carbon is present for radiocarbon dating.

A spectroscopic investigation of pigment and ceramic samples from Copán, Honduras

A combination of micro-Raman spectroscopy, micro-infrared spectroscopy and SEM–EDX was employed to characterize decorative pigments on Classic Maya ceramics from Copán, Honduras. Variation in red paint mixtures was correlated with changing ceramic types and improvements in process and firing techniques. We have confirmed the use of specular hematite on Coner ceramics by the difference in intensities of Raman bands. Different compositions of brown paint were correlated with imported and local wares. The carbon-iron composition of the ceramic type, Surlo Brown, was confirmed. By combining micro-Raman analysis with micro-ATR infrared and SEM–EDX, we have achieved a more comprehensive characterization of the paint mixtures. These spectroscopic techniques can be used non-destructively on raw samples as a rapid confirmation of ceramic type.

User-Created Content and Online Social Networks

Traditional media are under assault from digital technologies. Online advertising is eroding the financial basis of newspapers and television, demarcations between different forms of media are fading, and audiences are fragmenting. We can podcast our favourite radio show, data accompanies television programs, and we catch up with newspaper stories on our laptops. Yet mainstream media remain enormously powerful. The Media and Communications in Australia offers a systematic introduction to this dynamic field. Fully updated and revised to take account of recent developments, this third edition outlines the key media industries and explains how communications technologies are impacting on them. It provides a thorough overview of the main approaches taken in studying the media, and includes new chapters on social media, gaming, telecommunications, sport and cultural diversity. With contributions from some of Australia's best researchers and teachers in the field, The Media and Communications in Australia is the most comprehensive and reliable introduction to media and communications available. It is an ideal student text, and a reference for teachers of media and anyone interested in this influential industry.