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Abstract

The supply of accurate and helpful information by tour operations staff is generally regarded as being of fundamental importance by most people within the tourism industry. When inaccurate or misleading advice is received by a visitor, a complaint often follows. This study seeks to examine major service quality response styles as a reaction to such a complaint among a sample of school leavers within a major Australian tourist city. The study also examined a range of human resource management variables as they may predict such response styles. Two basic styles were identified, involving Investigation and Avoidance. Employment motivators involving Job Interest and Pressure were found to predict the Investigation style, whereas a much wider range of employment motivators, including Job Autonomy and Fringe Benefits, were found to predict Avoidance. The implications of these findings for the industry and for those school leavers who may find themselves employed in the industry are examined.

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