Showing papers in "International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management in 2019"

Poster child and guinea pig – insights from a structured literature review on Airbnb

Abstract: A growing body of research from various domains has investigated Airbnb, a two-sided market platform for peer-based accommodation sharing. The authors suggest that it is due time to take a step back and assess the current state of affairs. This paper aims to conflate and synthesize research on Airbnb.,To facilitate research on Airbnb and its underlying principles in electronic commerce, the authors present a structured literature review on Airbnb.,The findings are based on 118 articles from the fields of tourism, information and management, law and economics between 2013 and 2018. Based on this broad basis, the authors find that: research on Airbnb is highly diverse in terms of domains, methods and scope; motives for using Airbnb are manifold (e.g. financial, social and environmental); trust and reputation are considered crucial by almost all scholars; the platform’s variety is reflected in prices; and the majority of work is based on surveys and empirical data while experiments are scarce.,Based on the present assessment of studied topics, domains, methods and combinations thereof, the authors suggest that research should move toward building atop of a common ground of data structures and vocabulary, and that attention should focus on the identified gaps and hitherto scarcely used combinations. The set of under-represented areas includes cross-cultural investigations, field experiments and audit studies, the consideration of dynamic processes (e.g. based on panel data), Airbnb’s “experiences” and automated pricing algorithms and the rating distribution’s skewness.,This study provides a comprehensive overview of work on the accommodation sharing platform Airbnb, to the best of the auhtors’ knowledge, representing the first systematic literature review. The authors hope that researchers and practitioners alike will find this review useful as a reference for future research on Airbnb and as a guide for the development of innovative applications based on the platform’s peculiarities and paradigms in electronic commerce practice. From a practical perspective, the general tenor suggests that hotel and tourism operators may benefit from: focusing on their core advantages over Airbnb and differentiating features and aligning their marketing communication with their users’ aspirations.

Exploring and validating social identification and social exchange-based drivers of hospitality customer loyalty

Abstract: Despite growing academic interest in social identification (e.g. customer brand identification) and social exchange (e.g. commitment/loyalty), little remains known regarding the theoretical interface of these concepts in hospitality sector. Building on this research gap, the purpose of this study is to develop and test a model that explores the effects of brand identification, satisfaction, commitment and trust on customer loyalty toward four and five-star hotels. The authors also explore the mediating role of commitment, satisfaction and trust in the association of brand identification and loyalty.,To investigate the objectives of this study, the authors deployed a convenience sample of 345 consumers from four- and five-star hotels in the emerging markets context. Data analysis consisted of confirmatory factor analysis as well as structural equation modeling.,The findings of this study indicate that customer brand identification, trust, commitment and satisfaction exert a positive impact on loyalty. Brand identification also exerts a favorable impact on customer trust, commitment and satisfaction. Specifically, satisfaction was found to exert the largest effect on commitment, trust and loyalty.,The findings may have limited applicability in contexts other than four- and five-star hotels in the emerging market context. Theoretically, this study adds insight into the dynamics characterizing focal social identification and social exchange-based theoretical relationships as observed in the hospitality sector.,The authors adopt an under-explored hybrid social identity/social exchange theoretical perspective to identify the nature and strength of associations among a set of relational, social identity/exchange-based constructs and discuss their key implications for academicians and hospitality managers.

Emerging themes and theories in the sharing economy: a critical note for hospitality and tourism

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to review and synthesise recent studies in the sharing economy literature and identify the knowledge gap and future opportunities for hospitality and tourism researchers.,The study commences by introducing sharing economy models and strategic frameworks for profitable service enabler performance. Following this, it identifies emerging overarching theories (e.g. complexity theory, social exchange theory, norm activation model, and value co-creation) and some emerging themes (i.e. trust and reputation, disruptive behaviour, choice and segmentation, pricing strategies, socially excluded consumers, personality and satisfaction) in current hospitality and tourism studies from top-tier journals.,The findings of the study suggest new paths for advancing theoretical and practical implications for hospitality and tourism studies.,The themes, models and overarching theories reviewed in this study are relevant and insightful across the fulcrum of hospitality and tourism research. It offers several useful guides for practitioners and academics to trace relevant literature on different aspects of sharing economy and perceptibly highlight the gaps in existing studies.,The paper provides new directions to broaden interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches undertaken by scholars within both the field of hospitality and tourism management and beyond.

Progression and development of information and communication technology research in hospitality and tourism: A state-of-the-art review

Abstract: This study aims to present a state-of-the art review on information and communication technology (ICT) research in hospitality and tourism published between 2014 and 2017.,A total of 288 full-length articles from eight top-tier hospitality and tourism journals were gathered by harnessing a systematic literature search approach. Subsequently, the authors used a qualitative content analysis to review, analyse and assign all included articles into a framework with six consumer-related and five supplier-related research streams.,In terms of volume (i.e. the amounts and ratios of ICT research in top-tier journals by publication year) and variety (i.e. the diversity of research topics), a significant progression of ICT research in hospitality and tourism is observed. However, some old and new knowledge gaps are still inadequately addressed, thus requiring scholars and practitioners to conduct additional research in the future.,The accumulation of knowledge and actionable clues in this study is expected to keep practitioners updated with the overwhelming volume of ICT research.,This study contributes to the literature by accelerating the accumulation of knowledge on research topics and setting forth an agenda for future research. The findings also complement prior literature reviews by providing an overview of how knowledge on ICT research in hospitality and tourism has progressed since 2014.

Service innovativeness and tourism customer outcomes

Abstract: This study aims to develop/test a model that examines the effect of service innovativeness on customer cocreation, satisfaction, advocacy and behavioral loyalty intent in the travel agency context.,To explore these issues, the authors deploy a convenience sample of 340 travel agency customers. Data analysis centered on confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM).,The results identify service innovativeness as a key driver of customer cocreation, satisfaction, advocacy and behavioral loyalty intent. The authors also identified customer cocreation to mediate the association between service innovativeness and customer advocacy, satisfaction and behavioral loyalty intent, respectively, and exerted a further direct effect on these variables.,Given the cross-sectional data, further research may wish to explore the generalizability of the findings (e.g. in other sectors, cultures or by adopting a longitudinal research design that tracks the theorized relationships over time).,The findings suggest service innovativeness as an important driver of customers’ intra- (within) and extra-or trans-(across) interaction outcomes, thereby impacting the customer experience and highlighting the significance of service innovativeness for the travel sector.,While service innovativeness and cocreation are of significant interest, their integrative investigation in tourism has remained scant. Thus, by quantifying the influence of service innovativeness on customer-based cocreation, satisfaction, advocacy and loyalty intent, the paper adds to the emerging body of knowledge on service innovativeness in tourism.

Emotions as Core Building Blocks of an Experience

Abstract: Purpose This paper aims to stimulate the discussion in the fields of hospitality, tourism and leisure on what exactly constitutes “an experience” and how to measure it; the authors unpack the experience construct into its core constituent elements, namely, emotions. Design/methodology/approach The paper reviews insights from psychology and cognitive neuroscience that define experiences as a fine-grained temporal succession of emotions that occur during an experiential episode. Limitations of current methods for measuring experiences are discussed, after which biometric and neuroscientific methods are reviewed that are optimally geared toward measuring emotions, as they occur during an experience with fine temporal detail. Findings An overview is presented of the available studies within the fields of hospitality, tourism and leisure that use these methodologies. These studies show that using these methodologies provides a fruitful methodological approach to measuring experiences in real time. Practical implications Companies are constantly seeking to create memorable experiences for their customers. The proposed research methodologies allow companies to get a more fine-grained image of what impacts customers over the course of their experience and to actively integrate the use of emotions into creating experiences, as emotions are key to making them memorable. Originality/value The paper sketches the contours of a rapidly emerging framework that unpacks memorable experiences into their constituent element – emotions. It is proposed that this will contribute to a deeper understanding of how consumers experience offerings in the hospitality, tourism and leisure industry.

Building employees’ organizational citizenship behavior for the environment: The role of environmentally-specific servant leadership and a moderated mediation mechanism

Abstract: Mechanisms behind employees’ pro-environmental behaviors have increasingly been attracting scholarly attention. The purpose of this study is to examine how environmentally specific servant leadership contributes to employees’ organizational citizenship behavior for the environment (employee OCBE).,In this research, employees from resort hotels in Central Vietnam were selected as participants. The data analysis was conducted through structural equation modeling and bootstrapping test.,Environmentally specific servant leadership exhibited the positive association with employee OCBE through employee environmental engagement as a mediator. Two moderation mechanisms – organizational support for green behaviors and person-group fit – were also found to serve as enhancers for the effect of environmentally specific servant leadership on employee OCBE.,The research results provide hospitality organizations with a premise for the focus of servant leadership and organizational support around pro-environmental values. It is also vital for practitioners to build the fit between employees and the organization’s pro-environmental values so as to further promote their positive reaction to environmentally specific servant leadership and engagement in pro-environmental behaviors.,The present study marks the confluence between environmentally specific servant leadership and employee OCBE research streams and provides a moderated mediation mechanism to shed light on such a relationship.

Supervisor support and turnover in hotels: Does subjective well-being mediate the relationship?

Abstract: This paper aims to examine whether employee subjective well-being acts as a mediator in the relationship between perceived supervisor support and turnover intention within the context of select-service hotels.,The sample included hourly employees in select-service hotels in the Midwest USA. The significance of the relationships was assessed using regression, and both the Sobel test and bootstrapping methods were performed to test the mediating effect of subjective well-being on the relationship between perceived supervisor support and turnover intention.,The results confirm subjective well-being acted as a partial mediator in the relationship between supervisor support and turnover intention. Employees who perceive higher levels of support from their supervisors are less likely to leave their organizations. At the same time, supervisor support also positively affects subjective well-being, which reduces turnover intention.,Actions by supervisors’ impact the well-being of their employees, which in turn may influence whether an employee stays with the organization. Organizations could use management training and employee feedback on supervisor support to improve employee support mechanisms. Organizations should also pay attention to improving employee subjective well-being beyond the work place. Improving the well-being of employees and supporting employees can help reduce turnover and may increase employee satisfaction, guest satisfaction and profits.,This study is the first to show that subjective well-being mediates the relationship between supervisor support and turnover intention; and one of the few within the hospitality context to examine the constructs of subjective well-being, supervisor support and turnover together.

What makes hotel online reviews credible?: an investigation of the roles of reviewer expertise, review rating consistency and review valence.

Abstract: This study aims to adopt a cognitive heuristic approach to investigate the interaction effect of a message source characteristic (reviewer expertise [RE]) and two message structure characteristics (review rating consistency [RC] and review valence [RV]) on the perceived credibility of hotel online reviews.,Data were collected from 242 university students and were analyzed by three-way analysis of variance through a 2 × 2 factorial experiments using a simulated hotel review page on TripAdvisor.,Results show a three-way interaction effect of RE, RC and RV on the perceived credibility of hotel online reviews. The main effects of the three factors are also determined. Higher perceived credibility scores are found for negative reviews, reviews written by experts and reviews with a consistent rating.,This study adopts an experimental approach and is the first to investigate the three-way interactions of message source and message structure characteristics of online hotel reviews. Data were collected from students in a university in Hong Kong. Results may not be generalizable to other markets.,Results suggest that reviews written by experts have higher perceived credibility. Hotels should pay attention to the content of online reviews and the expertise level of reviewers. Efforts should be exerted to create positive experiences for hotel guests that motivate expert reviewers to write positive reviews. Note that negative reviews have higher perceived credibility than positive ones. Hotels should promptly address negative reviews and provide professional responses to reviewers. Platform operators of user-generated content (UGC) should create well-defined reviewer profiles that can serve as cues that communicate the different expertise of reviewers.,This study is the first to test the three-way interaction effect of RE, RC and RV on the perceived credibility of hotel online reviews. Results provide recommendations to hotels and UGC operators and enable them to benefit from emerging UGC usage.

Are information quality and source credibility really important for shared content on social media? The moderating role of gender

Abstract: This paper aims to first examine tourists’ perceptions of the source credibility and information quality of social media content to see whether they would have an impact on their perceptions of the importance of shared content on social media. The moderating role of gender in this relationship was then examined.,The research sample was composed of domestic and foreign tourists in Alanya, an important tourist destination in Turkey. The data in the current study were collected by the questionnaire method. The structural relationships in the research were examined using the partial least squares structural equation modeling, and the moderating effect of gender was examined via the partial least squares multiple group analysis.,According to the research findings, tourists’ perceptions of source credibility regarding social media content had a positive impact on the importance attached to non-participant shared content, whereas their perceptions of information quality had a positive impact on the importance attached to participant shared content. Furthermore, it was also observed that gender had a moderating effect on the relationship between information quality and source credibility perceptions and the importance of shared content on social media.,Two important predictive variables have been examined in the current research in term of customer-generated contents. It has been demonstrated that the effects of these predictive variables on different customer-generated types could be different. Furthermore, it has been determined that the effects of these influences differ according to the gender of the individuals following the content. Thus, the current study provides significant findings to understand the impacts of these variables on the basis of gender.

Green hotel adoption: a personal choice or social pressure?

Abstract: This study aims to examine the potential guest perception of green hotel attributes (GHAs) and the underlying mechanism through which GHA perception influences attitude toward green hotels, intention to stay at green hotels and willingness to pay a premium. It also investigates the moderating roles of personal norms and social norms in the influence of GHA perception on identification and trust toward green hotels.,A two-stage survey was used to collect data via Prolific Academic. The authors tested the hypotheses on 521 valid responses using the partial least squares method.,The results show that identification and trust mediate the effect of GHA perception on attitude, intention to stay and willingness to pay a premium for green hotels. The authors found a positive interaction effect between GHA perception and personal norms on identification and trust and a negative interaction effect between social norms and GHA perception on trust. The interaction effect of GHA perception and social norms on identification is not significant.,This study presents an integrated framework for green hotel adoption by examining the potential guest perception of GHAs and explores how it fosters positive guest responses. Findings show that GHA perception positively influences potential guest responses through identification (the personal route) and trust (the social route). This study also simultaneously considers personal norms and social norms, together with the effects of their interactions with GHA perception on identification and trust.

Social media, customer engagement and advocacy: an empirical investigation using Twitter data for quick service restaurants.

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to examine how social media facilitates the process of customer engagement in quick service restaurants (QSRs). Customers characterized as transactional customers, loyal customers, delighted customers or fans, based on the degree of relational exchange and emotional bonds, are expected to vary in their propensity to engage in advocacy and co-create value.,Hypotheses linking the antecedents of customer engagement to advocacy are empirically investigated with data from the Twitter social media network for the top 50 US QSRs. Multiple regression analysis is carried out with proxies for advocacy as the dependent variable and connection effort, interaction effort, satisfaction, retention effort, calculative commitment and affective commitment as independent variables.,The results indicate that retention effort and calculative commitment of customers are the most important factors influencing advocacy. Efforts to retain customers using social media communication increase advocacy. Greater calculative commitment also increases advocacy. Affective commitment mediates the relationship between calculative commitment and advocacy.,Fostering retention and calculative commitment by using social media communication engenders loyalty and customers become advocates. Calculative commitment fosters affective commitment, turning customers into fans who are delighted as well as loyal, enhancing advocacy.,This study uniquely investigates the relationship between the antecedents of customer engagement and advocacy. It develops the theory and conducts an empirical analysis with actual social media network data for a specific industry where usage of the network is widely prevalent. It confirms that calculative commitment influences advocacy. Calculative commitment not only has a direct effect but also has an indirect effect through affective commitment on advocacy in the QSR context. Further, social media efforts by QSRs to retain customers encourage advocacy. Other customer engagement antecedents do not directly influence advocacy.

30 years of contemporary hospitality management

Abstract: This paper aims to showcase the trends in the research topics and their contributors over a time period of 30 years in the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management (IJCHM). To be specific, this paper uncovers IJCHM’s latent topics and hidden patterns in published research and highlights the differences across three decades and before and after Social Sciences Citation indexing.,In total, 1,573 documents published over 199 issues of IJCHM were analyzed using two computational tools, i.e. metaknowledge and structural topic modeling (STM), as the basis of the mixed method. STM was used to discover the evolution of topics over time. Moreover, bibliometrics (and network analysis) were used to highlight IJCHM’s top researchers, top-cited references, the geographical networks of the researchers and differences in the collaborative networks.,The number of papers published continually increased over time with changes of key researchers publishing in IJCHM. The co-authorship networks have also changed and revealed an increasing diversity of authorship and collaborations among authors in different countries. Moreover, the variety of topics and the relative weight of each topic have also changed.,Based on the findings of this study, theoretical and practical implications for hospitality and tourism researchers are provided.,It is the first attempt to apply topic modeling to a leading academic journal in hospitality and tourism and explore the diversity in contemporary hospitality management research (topics and contributors) from 30 years of published research.

Servant leadership and proactive customer service performance

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of servant leadership on hospitality employees’ proactive customer service performance (PCSP) by focusing on the sequential mediating roles of harmonious passion and customer orientation and the moderating role of others’ approval of contingent self-esteem.,This study uses structural equation modeling with the four-wave data collected from eight Chinese hotels.,This study finds that servant leadership can promote hospitality employees’ PCSP by sequentially boosting their harmonious passion for work and customer orientation. Moreover, others’ approval of contingent self-esteem strengthens servant leadership’s effect on harmonious passion for work.,First, this study extends the servant leadership research by extending its outcome to hospitality employees’ PCSP. Second, this study enriches the understanding of the mediating mechanism between servant leadership and PCSP. Third, this study advances the research on servant leadership by identifying the moderating effect of employees’ others’ approval of contingent self-esteem between servant leadership and harmonious passion.

A systematic literature review of emotional labor research from the hospitality and tourism literature

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to provide an exhaustive review of emotional labor research from the hospitality and tourism literature by outlining the theories, the antecedents and the outcomes of emotional labor, as well as the underlying mechanisms (i.e. mediators and moderators) of emotional labor.,This study provides a qualitative and critical review of emotional labor research from the hospitality and tourism literature, providing insights into the trends and gaps in the literature.,The conservation of resources theory and affective event theory are the two most common theories in the reviewed literature. Emotional intelligence and personality are the most commonly investigated antecedents while burnout and job satisfaction are the most investigated outcomes of emotional labor. Stress and burnout are the most examined mediators of emotional labor and subsequent outcomes, such as commitment, turnover intentions and well-being. Moderators include leader-member exchange, job position, gender and climate of authenticity.,Four major gaps for research and practice are identified as follows: the lack of an overarching theoretical framework; inconsistency in how emotional labor is defined and measured; the vast majority of emotional labor studies are cross-sectional studies; and no research examines potential interventions to help service employees engage in effective emotional labor strategies.,This review offers a model providing a comprehensive framework that outlines the various antecedents, outcomes, mediators and moderators of emotional labor and corresponding theories for future research.

The role of personalization on continuance intention in food service mobile apps: A privacy calculus perspective

Abstract: This paper aims to examine consumers’ behaviors toward personalized services offered by branded mobile apps in the food service industry by applying privacy calculus theory and technology acceptance model (TAM). Further, this research identified the moderating role of technology anxiety.,An online survey was carried out to investigate the role of personalization on continuance intention toward branded mobile apps. In total, 348 valid responses were analyzed to test hypotheses using structural equation modeling.,The results show that personalization had significantly affected perceived benefit, perceived risk and perceived ease of use. Perceived benefit had positive effects on perceived value of disclosure, but perceived risk did not affect perceived value of disclosure. Perceived value of disclosure and perceived ease of use were linked to trust. Trust, in turn, positively affected intentions to use mobile apps. With regard to the moderating effect of technology anxiety, it had a significant moderating impact on the relationship between personalization and perceived risk. However, it did not moderate the relationship between personalization and perceived benefit.,The findings of this study could provide useful theoretical and practical implications related to the successful implementation of mobile marketing.,This study proposes the integrated model of privacy calculus theory and the TAM for deeper understanding of the customers’ responses toward personalization of branded mobile apps.

Determinants of consumers’ participation in the sharing economy: A social exchange perspective within an emerging economy context

Abstract: Consumers’ intentions to participate in the sharing economy have received much attention from researchers in recent times. However, little attention has been paid to consumers’ actual participation in the sharing economy. The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that drive customers in Ghana to use Uber.,The authors used surveys as the research design. There were 500 participants who were users of Uber. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaires.,The findings of this study show that trust, customer return on investment and search convenience are the key factors that contribute to riders’ usage of Uber service. Furthermore, this study shows that consumers’ need for prestige and social connection do not play a significant role in consumers’ (riders’) usage of Uber services.,Studies investigating consumers’ participation in the sharing economy from an emerging economy context using the social exchange theory is limited. This study identifies elements of the economic and socio-emotional dimensions of the social exchange theory and the strength of their impact on people’s participation in the sharing economy.

Role of servant leadership in contemporary hospitality

Abstract: This study aims to determine the possible role of servant leadership (SL) in meliorating critical issues in the contemporary hospitality industry by synthesizing literature on SL, examining benefits and deriving future research propositions.,A systematic literature review of SL in hospitality was conducted to analyze, categorize and synthesize the state of research. A nomological framework of SL in hospitality was created, and research gaps were identified. Future directions and propositions were derived to investigate the antecedents of SL by applying the person-situation theoretical approach, and second, to address contemporary challenges in the industry.,SL theory in hospitality is examined across various themes with focus on outcome effects related to firm performance, and across different cultures, with observed dominance in Asia. All analyses demonstrate the positive effects on employers and firms and thus confirm the relevance of adopting SL in hospitality. A notable gap in hospitality research is the lack of empirical investigation of SL antecedents. Such an investigation is crucial in promoting related behaviors.,This study identifies the benefits of SL, especially in addressing contemporary issues, such as sustainability, talent shortage, competition, growing demand for experience and retention of hospitality graduates. Recommendations are elaborated for hospitality educators and industry managers to revise leadership practices.,This study is the first to review SL in hospitality and determine its role in ameliorating critical issues in the field.

The impacts of corporate social responsibility on organization citizenship behavior and task performance in hospitality.

Abstract: This paper aims to explore the impacts of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on employee organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and task performance in hospitality. The existing research emphasizes the effects of CSR on organizational performance at a macro level. There is a need to explore social responsibility at a micro level, more precisely, the effects on employee OCB and task performance. Significant evidence shows that CSR positively affects employee OCB. However, there is scant research explaining how CSR impacts OCB and consequently task performance. The main purpose of this investigation was to bridge this gap by analyzing how CSR influences employee OCB and task performance in hospitality based on social identity theory.,A theoretical model was proposed and tested through sequential mediation regressions based on a survey of 296 employees in the hospitality sector in China.,The results showed that CSR has a positive effect on social identity, which in turn influences employee OCB and consequently task performance. Social identity and OCB play sequential mediation roles between CSR and task performance. Additionally, there is an inverted U-shape relationship between OCB and task performance.,This research illustrates how and why CSR impacts employee OCB and task performance based on social identity theory. More specifically, a sequential mediation chain exists between CSR and task performance. The study suggests that hospitality businesses adopting CSR promote employee identification with their companies that leads to enhanced OCB and task performance. This may be an effective way to motivate employees through hospitality businesses accepting greater social responsibility. Additionally, it was found that OCB has a positive effect on task performance, and there is an inverted U-shape relationship between OCB and task performance.,CSR can be applied as the employee management practice in the hospitality sector. CSR has a positive impact on organizational identification that contributes to individual outcomes such as OCB and task performance at work.

Incivility, satisfaction and turnover intention of tourist hotel chefs: Moderating effects of emotional intelligence

Abstract: This study examines the relationships among workplace incivility, job satisfaction and turnover intention for tourist hotel chefs. Furthermore, emotional intelligence is taken as the moderating variable on the relationships between workplace incivility and job satisfaction and workplace incivility and turnover intention.,Tourist hotel chefs were invited to participate in this study using purposive sampling, and a structured questionnaire was administered to carry out the investigation on tourist hotel chefs.,The results show that workplace incivility has negative effects on job satisfaction and casts positive effects on turnover intention through job satisfaction. Emotional intelligence has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between workplace incivility and job satisfaction.,This study firstly demonstrated the relationships among workplace incivility, job satisfaction and turnover intention for tourist hotel chefs. Furthermore, the moderating effect of emotional intelligence on the relationship between workplace incivility and job satisfaction was also validated.

Co-creation and co-destruction of service quality through customer-to-customer interactions: Why prior experience matters

Abstract: This study draws on the service-dominant (S-D) logic paradigm to examine value co-creation and co-destruction. As these phenomena are driven by positive and negative “customer-to-customer” (C2C) interactions, this paper aims to examine their influence on tourist perceptions of service quality and how they shape affective responses toward tourism and hospitality services and brand loyalty.,Following a comprehensive literature review, the authors used convenience sampling to gather a large sample of tourists at Shanghai Disneyland, a recently opened and already popular international tourism attraction. Structural equation modeling was used to test for direct and moderated relationships.,The findings indicated that positive and negative C2C interactions have significant though differential impacts on customer responses. Furthermore, it was found that visitor arousal mediated the relationship between service quality and brand loyalty. Prior experience was identified as a moderator in the co-creation and co-destruction process during service encounters.,This paper is one of the first to examine the concept of co-destruction in the tourism and hospitality context. It contributes to the literature by demonstrating the merits of proactive service provision by tourism operators, taking account of both the co-creation and co-destruction of value.,The study extends the literature by taking account of both positive and negative C2C interactions when examining co-creation and co-destruction in the context of service encounters. It also contributes to knowledge by assessing the asymmetry of such interactions in the context of the customer experience.

Multisensory experience for enhancing hotel guest experience: empirical evidence from big data analytics.

Abstract: This study aims to investigate the effect of customers’ multisensory service experience on customer satisfaction with cognitive effort and affective evaluations using big data and business intelligence techniques.,Online customer reviews for all New York City hotels were collected from Tripadvisor.com and analyzed through business intelligence and big data analytics techniques including data mining, text analytics, sentiment analysis and regression analysis.,The current study identifies the relationship between affective evaluations (i.e. positive affect and negative affect) and customer satisfaction. Research findings also find the negative effect of reviewer’s cognitive effort on satisfaction rating. More importantly, this study demonstrates the moderating role of multisensory experience as an innovative marketing tool on the relationship between affect/cognitive evaluation and customer satisfaction in the hospitality setting.,This study is the first study to explore the critical role of sensory marketing on hotel guest experience in the context of hotel customer experience and service innovation, based on big data and business intelligence techniques.

Airline passengers' perceptions of service quality: themes in online reviews.

Abstract: This paper aims to identify the main themes shared in online reviews by airline travellers, as well as which of these themes were linked with higher and lower value for money ratings.,The research used mixed content analyses (i.e. quantitative and qualitative) to examine 1,200 reviews of six airline companies shared by airline travellers in a social media platform.,The analyses revealed nine themes in descriptions of airline travel experiences. These are the core services during “flights”, “airport” operations, crew and ground “staff”, ticket “classes”, “seats”, inflight “services”, “entertainment”, overall experiences of “airlines” and post-purchase recommendations of with which companies to “fly”. Low value for money ratings are linked with the “airport” and “flights” themes.,The results offer useful insights into airline travellers’ overall experiences based on social media information and facilitate the identification of the main themes linked with different value for money ratings.

A bibliometric analysis of social media in hospitality and tourism research.

Abstract: While the importance of social media will continue to grow, the purpose of this study is to provide a retrospective systematic literature review of the social media research published in major hospitality and tourism journals over a specific time period.,The study conducted a bibliometric analysis to review the literature of 439 social media articles published in 51 hospitality and tourism journals over a 15-year time span (2002-2016).,Ulrike Gretzel authored the highest fractional citations. The results indicated that social media-related research was mostly published in top-tier journals. The International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management was amongst the four leading journals in terms of the percentage of published social media articles. While inter-country social media research collaborations were relatively modest, interestingly, inter-country collaborations have been steadily increasing in the past five years. Another finding indicated that social media research in hospitality and tourism journals has been predominantly quantitative. The results revealed six new areas within the consumer behaviour research theme, namely, eWOM, service recovery, customer satisfaction, brand/destination image and service quality. Finally, it is important to note that four new trends in social media research appeared between 2011 and 2016, namely, big data, netnography, Travel 2.0 and Web 2.0.,While this study made significant contributions to the social media literature, some limitations do exist. For example, the current research excluded publications from major conferences, books, book chapters and dissertations. Additionally, it is not within the scope of this paper to take into account issues related to self-citations.,The results obtained from analysis contribute to a comprehensive understanding of social media research progress in hospitality and tourism. For example, evaluating the performance of individual scholars helps educational institutions to compete in the global university ranking system. Additionally, to compete for funding opportunities on the topic of social media, institutions can use citation counts to demonstrate their competitiveness. Furthermore, due to the expected future growth in the number of social media platforms, practitioners need to understand motivating factors and tourists’ needs in different countries, target market segments, age groups and cultures to create highly engaging communities around their brands.,To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the sample of this study synthesized the largest selection of social media articles published in hospitality and tourism journals. This is the first study to apply the fractional score at the author level, the adjusted appearance score at the university level and the average citation score at the journal and inter-country levels in the analysis. In addition, prevalent research orientations and research trends in social media made significant contributions to existing literature.

Understanding emotional customer experience and co-creation behaviours in luxury hotels

Abstract: A holistic understanding of sources that evoke customer emotions is essential for creating a positive emotional customer experience (ECX). Despite a significant focus on the cognitive aspect of customer experience and traditional customer behaviours (e.g. loyalty and satisfaction), limited attention has been paid to ECX and co-creation behaviours. The purpose of this paper is to address this important knowledge gap by identifying different emotions and prominent sources of ECX (i.e. emotion triggers and constructors) during service interactions. By doing so, key customer co-creation behaviours are also identified, which help enhance positive customer experience.,A combined application of the appraisal theory and thematic analysis was used to explore ECX, its sources and co-creation behaviours as observed from 1,063 TripAdvisor customer reviews of luxury hotels in Ireland.,The results show that a single service interaction can evoke multiple emotions during the interaction process. The findings capture prominent emotions that customers experience and various important emotion triggers (physical environment, service management and offerings and human interaction) and constructors (customer expectation, accumulated service experience and culture fusion and authenticity). Three main customer co-creation behaviours (reinforcing intention, active and resourceful behaviours), which help facilitate the co-creation of positive customer emotions, are also identified.,The study proposes a new framework that provides unique insights into ECX to guide service improvement and innovation. A novel approach of applying the appraisal theory to a netnographic study is used to develop an ECX framework, which integrates various emotion triggers and constructors, and subsequent customer co-creation behaviours in the hotel industry.

Empowering leadership and management innovation in the hospitality industry context: The mediating role of climate for creativity

Abstract: Purpose This study aims to examine a model that uses climate for creativity as an intervening mechanism for the relationship of empowering leadership to management innovation in the hospitality industry. Design/methodology/approach The sample comprises 127 hotels in Morocco. Data were gathered from two sources, namely, the administrative department managers and the front desk managers. Structural equation modeling analyses along with the Bayesian estimation technique were used. Findings Findings demonstrate that the climate for creativity plays a mediating role between empowering leadership and management innovation. The climate for creativity dimensions of employee creativity recognition, flexibility to change and adequate resources for innovation pave the way for empowering leaders in the adoption of new management practices, processes or structures. Practical implications This study suggests that climate for creativity can be an effective tool for implementing management innovation. Hence, leaders and managers of hotel firms, who aim to obtain innovative results in the managerial spheres, should capitalize on the benefits of building a positive climate for creativity. Originality/value The present paper bridges a gap pertaining to antecedents and factors that impact management innovation. It is the first of its kind to investigate the influence of empowering leadership on management innovation with climate for creativity as a mediating variable.

Decoding behavioural responses of green hotel guests: A deeper insight into the application of the theory of planned behaviour

Abstract: This study aims to present a unique perspective on the application of the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) in the context of the green lodging industry via configurational modelling of three TPB dimensions in formulating hotel visitors’ behavioural responses. Attitude towards behaviour, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control are the three indicators of TPB used to predict guests’ continued intention to use and recommend green hotels on Cyprus, a Mediterranean island with a fragile ecological system.,A questionnaire-based survey is used to evaluate the study’s objectives. A total of 320 guests of green hotels were approached between June and July 2017 and invited to participate. Among them, 260 valid cases were obtained and used for data analysis. The structural model was tested using structural equation modelling (SEM), the configurational model was assessed using the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) and the necessary predictor was evaluated using the necessary condition analysis (NCA).,The SEM results revealed that attitudes regarding behaviour increased the continued intention to visit and recommend green hotels. Similarly, subjective norms enhanced the guests’ desired behavioural responses. Perceived behavioural control boosted their continued intention to visit, but this was insufficient for predicting green hotel guests’ intention to recommend. The fsQCA results indicated that two causal models explained the conditions of both high and low levels of behavioural responses. The NCA results showed that attitude towards behaviour was the only necessary condition of the two expected behavioural responses.,Several previous studies have tried to modify, decompose or merge the TPB to provide theoretical support for proposed conceptual models indicating visitors’ behaviours. Beyond such attempts, pragmatic analytical approaches (e.g. set-theoretic method) should be applied to present a comprehensive perspective on the association of TPB indicators in decoding the complexity of customers’ behaviours. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first in hospitality research to use three TPB indicators and three analytical approaches to extend the knowledge of guests’ behaviours related to green hotels.

Corporate social responsibility in hotels: a stakeholder approach

Abstract: This study aims to examine stakeholder interests in and influence on corporate social responsibility (CSR) implementation in hotels through an instrumental stakeholder theory lens.,Semi-structured interviews with 54 managers from several sectors of the Cyprus tourism industry were undertaken using purposive sampling.,There is a dominance of supply-chain stakeholder interests which in turn outline the CSR orientation of hotels, whereas stakeholder influence, largely shaped by the interdependent, multi-faceted nature of the tourism industry, conditions the implementation of CSR in hotels. Interestingly, stakeholder influence on CSR in hotels is not corresponding to stakeholders’ perceived saliency, indicating that stakeholder analysis needs to move beyond the consideration of salient stakeholders’ interests.,Although the focus of this study has been the perceptions of tourism stakeholders in Cyprus, the exploratory approach adopted in the study sets the ground for further research to consider stakeholder issues regarding CSR in hotels from an instrumental perspective. In addition, insights from this study might inform practitioners in similar destinations.,In encouraging a holistic approach to strategic CSR in hotels, this study contributes a framework of stakeholder roles, emanating from stakeholder responsibility and stakeholder involvement in CSR in the hotel sector that will be of interest to both academics and practitioners.

The impact of workplace bullying on hotel employees’ well-being: Do organizational justice and friendship matter?

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the moderating effects of organizational justice and workplace friendship on the relationship between workplace bullying and hotel employees’ well-being.,The research sample included 310 entry-level employees of international tourism hotels in Taiwan. This study adopted hierarchical regression for data analysis.,The study found that workplace bullying negatively impacted on hotel employees’ well-being. Organizational justice and workplace friendship had significantly positive effects on hotel employees’ well-being. Compared with workplace friendship, organizational justice had a significant moderating effect on the relationship between workplace bullying and hotel employees’ well-being.,In the research fields of hospitality, past studies failed to use organizational justice and workplace friendship to moderate the relationship between workplace bullying and hotel employees’ well-being. This study confirmed that organizational justice could effectively buffer the negative effect of workplace bullying on hotel employees’ well-being.

Exploring perceived risk in building successful drone food delivery services.

Abstract: This paper aims to explore the types of perceived risks involved with using drone food delivery services Furthermore, this study investigates the relationship between perceived risk and image of drone food delivery services Lastly, this study examines the effect of image of drone food delivery services on desire, intentions to use and willingness to pay more,This study collected data from 331 respondents in Korea Before the start of the survey, the respondents were given a video, which made it easier for them to understand drone food delivery services,The three types of perceived risks (ie time risk, performance risk and psychological risk) have a negative influence on image of drone food delivery services and, thus, aids in increasing desire, intentions to use and willingness to pay more,The concept of perceived risk was applied to the context of drone food delivery services in this study in combination with other understudied concepts, image, desire, intentions to use and willingness to pay more This study is one of the first studies that applied those significant concepts to the context of drone food delivery services, even though there are a large number of papers in the technology field Thus, the findings of this study will be important to foodservice companies when building successful drone food delivery services