Managing the experience co-creation process in tourism destinations: Empirical findings from Naples

The aim of this study is to investigate the main antecedents and consequences of experience co-creation in tourism. Based on an in-depth literature review, a survey was designed, and data was collected from 385 tourists visiting Naples, Italy. A path analysis revealed that the interactions among tourists and tourism service providers and the active participation of tourists are antecedents of experience co-creation in the tourism industry. Experience co-creation positively affects the satisfaction of tourists, their level of expenditures, and their happiness. Study results also revealed that the attitude of tourists of sharing their experiences with others does not influence experience co-creation. As one of the first studies in this area in the field of tourism, this study contributes to the body of knowledge by proposing and empirically testing a model that shows three antecedents and three consequences of experience co-creation in tourism.     

Innovativeness and customer value co-creation behaviors: Mediating role of customer engagement

Customer value co-creation behaviors play a crucial part in determining customer satisfaction. However, few restaurant literatures have examined how innovativeness influences customer value co-creation behaviors. This research examined the influence of innovativeness on customer value co-creation behaviors to clarify the mediating effect of customer engagement. Survey data from 501 customers demonstrated that innovativeness and customer engagement are positively related to customer value co-creation behaviors. Moreover, customer engagement mediates the association between innovativeness and customer value co-creation behaviors. This research extends current knowledge on customer co-creation and examines the associations among innovativeness, customer engagement, and customer value co-creation behaviors. Research implications suggest strategic directions for restaurant managers in terms of innovative practices and customer relationship management.     

Hospitality employee and customer role in value co-creation: Personal,organizational and collaborative outcomes

With the growing frequency and importance of peer-to-peer service exchanges, the role of front-line employees for traditional hospitality service providers is changing. This study is the first to examine differences in value co-creation appraisal between front-line employees and customers. Respondents (N = 720) were equally assigned to either an employee or customer role and performed that role for four different online co-creation scenarios based on destination resort context: co-innovation, co-creation of marketing, co-production, and co-recovery. The results of between-within online experimental design were analysed using repeated measures ANOVA and PLS-SEM. Co-created value was appraised significantly higher by employees and positively affected well-being, satisfaction, and competitive advantage for both employees and customers. Co-created value served as a mediator between the four types of co-creation and outcomes only for customers. The study contributes to understanding roles as knowledge-based resources in value co-creation and provides practical implications for successful value co-creation in hospitality.     

Value co-creation and customer citizenship behavior

Drawing on social exchange theory and the service-dominant logic framework this paper explores the association between value co-creation and the willingness to engage in customer citizenship behavior in the hospitality and tourism context. Tourism and hospitality firms are increasingly offering opportunities for co-production and value-in-use not only to increase revisit and repurchase intentions but also to benefit from manifestations of customer citizenship behavior such as customer feedback, advocacy, customer-to-customer assistance and tolerance in less satisfactory future services. The paper offers a building block for future work to investigate the causal relationship between the dimensions of value co-creation (co-production and value-in-use) and customer citizenship behavior.     

Drivers and resources of customer co-creation: A scenario-based case in the restaurant industry

The aim of this study was to build and test a model that explores customer co-creation by integrating drivers and resources that promote customer co-creation. This study used a scenario-based survey that combines respondents’ personal experiences of dining at a full-service restaurant and their responses to the hypothetical scenario of the co-creation experience. The population of the study was restaurant customers in the United States who visited any full-service restaurant within the previous three months before the survey date. Using convenience sampling, respondents were recruited from the Amazon Mechanical Turk. A total of 501 responses were used for data analysis using a two-step approach of structural equation modeling. This study found that customers with a higher level of knowledge, self-efficacy, and motivation are more likely to participate in the co-creation experience. In addition, the results supported the role of the customer as a resource integrator during the co-creation experience.     

Human value co-creation behavior in tourism: Insight from an Australian whale watching experience

This study explores and tests a comprehensive model of co-creation in creating value and tourist satisfaction. In addition to being the first study to empirically test the customer value co-creation behavior scale developed by Yi and Gong (2013), the present work adds to theory by revealing the importance of tourists' mental co-creation and employees' active participation in creating value and satisfaction for the customer. Factor analyses and econometric models of logit model and multivariable ordinary least squares regression are applied to a sample of 1024 whale watching tourists. The study finds that tourists' participation is more important in influencing their perceived value during the experience than their satisfaction. Employees' input is key to the experience in enhancing tourists' value and satisfaction. The main contribution of the study is the inclusion of co-creation behaviors from different human actors including tourists and employees. Opportunities for future research are outlined.     

Building customer satisfaction with tour leaders: the roles of customer trust,justice perception,and cooperation in group package tours

This research developed a theoretical model to explain the relationship between customer trust, justice perception, cooperation, and satisfaction in the tourism context. Survey data were collected from 309 customers of outbound group package tours in Taiwan. Empirical results indicated that both customer trust and justice perception have direct and positive influences on customer satisfaction. Compared with justice perception, customer trust has a more crucial role in the tour leader–customer satisfaction relationship. Furthermore, customer cooperation partially mediates the effects of customer trust and justice perception on customer satisfaction. Therefore, cooperation is the mechanism that explains how customer trust and justice perception are associated with satisfaction. These results demonstrate the importance of customer cooperation and imply that travel managers should strengthen customer trust and justice perception to enhance customers’ cooperative behaviors and strengthen their satisfaction.     

How Service Quality Affects Customer Loyalty in the Travel Agency: The Effects of Customer Satisfaction,Service Recovery,and Perceived Value

This study develops a conceptual model of the effects of service quality on customer loyalty that reflects the mediating role of customer satisfaction and the moderating role of service recovery and perceived value, and applies this model to the travel industry. A survey and analysis confirm that customer satisfaction is positively influenced by service quality, and customer loyalty is positively influenced by customer satisfaction. Furthermore, customer loyalty is indirectly influenced by service quality through the mediator of customer satisfaction. The relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction is found to be stronger for customers who have a positive experience of service recovery; and the correlation between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty is stronger for customers who perceive high service value.     

Real-time co-creation and nowness service: lessons from tourism and hospitality

Brands take advantage of technology, social media and constant connectivity to foster organic consumer engagement and interactions towards co-creating personalised customer service. Real-time service offers dynamic engagement with connected consumers. Brands in tourism and hospitality use technology to dynamically enhance consumer experience through co-creation. The integration of real-time consumer intelligence, dynamic big data mining, artificial intelligence, and contextualisation can transform service co-creation by mobilising recourses in the ecosystem. Nowness service emerges by dynamically engaging consumers in experience cocreation in real time. It has five interconnected characteristics that revolutionise the tourism and hospitality, namely: real-time, co-creation, data-driven, consumer-centric and experience co-creation.     

Effect of corporate social responsibility,customer attribution and prior expectation on post-recovery satisfaction

A conceptual model is proposed to account for how customers’ attributions of the cause of a service failure, their perceptions of a firm's social responsibility and their prior expectations can influence post-recovery satisfaction through the mediating effect of customer–company (C–C) identification. It was tested in the context of hospitality services. Findings from a survey of 281 restaurant patrons show that after a service failure, favorable corporate social responsibility (CSR) perception can help mitigate the negative effects of internal cause attribution on customer identification and ultimately contribute to post-recovery satisfaction. Besides, the interaction effect of CSR perception and attribution on C–C identification is particularly salient for customers with higher prior expectation. Findings also highlight that the dynamic interaction effect among attribution, CSR perception and prior expectation on customer post-recovery satisfaction is mediated by C–C identification.     

The Impact of the Internet on Travel Agencies in Hong Kong

Abstract

In recent years, the travel and tourism industry has begun to develop Internet applications more extensively. Many travel service suppliers, such as hotels and airline companies, already use the Internet as a direct channel for customer reservations. The integration of the Internet into the travel and tourism industry, however, presents a challenge towards the traditional role of travel agencies. The purpose of this study is to find out what impact the Internet has on travel agencies in Hong Kong. Outcomes of this research indicate that travel agents generally have positive attitudes towards Internet applications, and the potential threat-disintermediation-has not yet affected the travel industry. Travel agents believe that they can take advantage of the Internet technology to provide value-added services for their customers. Outcomes of the present study also indicate that there are significant relationships between company size, age and some Internet attributes. Travel agencies should therefore pay more attention to these attributes when adopting Internet technology.     

The co-creation/place attachment nexus

Co-creation in tourism has investigated a range of ways in which consumers are becoming increasingly involved in defining and creating services and products. These activities, however, constitute only a small portion of the full range of tourism experiences. The current concentration on co-creation of (mostly service-dominated) tourism products needs to be expanded to accommodate elements such as the physical environment and local social and cultural milieus of tourism. This article appropriates concepts and models from the discourse of place attachment to demonstrate an approach to extending the co-creation concept to include experiences of the physical tourism site, not merely as the setting of a service relation, but as a fundamental dimension of the tourism experience. This approach is tested and demonstrated based on an analysis and discussion of the findings of a survey study of tourists to the Historic Center of Macao.     

The memorable souvenir-shopping experience: antecedents and outcomes

This study examines the relationship among authenticity, satisfaction, co-creation, memorable souvenir-shopping experiences, and place attachment. A post-holiday web-based survey was conducted among tourists to Rovaniemi, Finland, and a valid sample of 301 tourists was used for data analysis. The survey results show that satisfaction and co-creation during onsite souvenir shopping at a tourism destination create memorable souvenir shopping experiences, and that such memories enhance tourists’ feelings of attachment to the destination. The implications for retail management are that souvenir vendors should offer a large assortment of souvenirs to suit tourists’ individual tastes. Souvenir retailers can enhance customer satisfaction through taking such steps as training personnel on customer shopping satisfaction, extending operating hours, broadening the accepted means of payment, and improving the quality and display of products as well as the external appearance of their shops. Additionally, souvenir retailers should interact with customers and engage in onsite co-creation to arouse interest and attention.     

Enhancing customer loyalty in tourism services: the role of customer-company identification and customer participation

Travel agencies are high-contact service organizations and customer orientation plays a critical role in their success. However, not all the academic research on the effect of customer orientation on service performance has been positive. This research examines the effect of customer orientation on customer loyalty through two mediators: customer satisfaction and customer-company identification. The study also investigates how customer participation moderates the relationships between two mediators and customer loyalty. The findings are as follows: (1) customer orientation has significantly positive impacts on customer satisfaction and customer-company identification as well as on customer loyalty; (2) two mediators have significantly positive impacts on customer loyalty; and (3) customer participation moderates the relationships between the two mediators and customer loyalty. The research results indicate that customer-company identification can be used as an additional way to enhance customer loyalty. Important theoretical and managerial implications for travel agencies are also provided in this research.     

旅行社顾客心理授权、顾客参与及服务质量关系研究

顾客在企业授权措施影响下产生的对服务经历的控制感被称之为顾客心理授权.文章在文献研究的基础上,提出了一个包含顾客心理授权、顾客参与、员工服务质量、顾客服务质量和顾客满意感的研究模型,并通过对旅行社顾客的调查,对模型进行了实证检验.数据分析结果表明:(1)顾客心理授权与顾客参与是两个不同的概念,且前者对后者有显著的正向影响；(2)顾客参与通过顾客服务质量间接影响员工服务质量；(3)顾客服务质量和员工服务质量都会影响顾客满意感,且与员工服务质量相比,顾客服务质量对顾客满意感的影响更大.文章研究结果可以丰富学术界对顾客授权理论的研究,同时对旅行社授予顾客权力、鼓励顾客参与,提高顾客服务质量,进而提高顾客满意度有一定的实践参考价值.     

旅游公共服务价值共创:概念模型、驱动因素与行为过程--以杭州市社会资源国际访问点为例

与商业服务领域相似,旅游公共服务近年来也经历了由产品主导逻辑向服务主导逻辑演变的过程,由公共服务供需双方共创价值的实践现象已经出现。文章以杭州市社会资源国际访问点为案例,通过扎根理论的方法,探索性地提出旅游公共服务价值共创的概念,剖析了由政府、企业、居民、游客等不同社会主体参与的旅游公共服务价值共创现象,识别了制度保障、增权激励、信息透明、技术摄入、文化契合是实现旅游公共服务价值共创的驱动因素与前提条件。而不同主体间耦合形成的服务生态系统,其内部各要素的互动与整合是旅游公共服务价值共创实现的中介要素。此外,旅游公共服务价值共创的行为过程包括价值主张提出、共创环境营造、社会成员嵌入、社会价值共识、公共价值创造和社会影响输出。文章拓展了价值共创理论在旅游公共服务领域的应用,揭示了共创的内部机理与行为规律,为旅游目的地公共服务发展与供给模式创新提供了理论工具。     

The influence of website quality dimensions on e-purchasing behaviour and e-loyalty: a comparative study of Egyptian travel agents and hotels

Websites have become a channel for tourism enterprises to market and sell their services online. These enterprises are committed to improving their online services to retain customers and improving their competitiveness. This study aims to measure the effect of website quality dimensions on customer purchasing behaviour, and how this behaviour affects customer electronic (e)-loyalty. It compares the perceptions of 275 customers of travel agencies and 355 hotels using structural equation modelling. Findings revealed that website quality dimensions significantly affect the customer purchasing behaviour. The study highlighted the dimensions with a negative effect to help managers improve their website quality.     

Customer value co-creation and employee silence: Emotional intelligence as explanatory mechanism

Although there seems to be maximum attention to co-creation for value addition, dearth of research exist about how customer co-creation might not always serve the interest of firms. . Base on the servicedominant logic, transactional stress and coping theories, we examine the effects of customer participation in value co-creation (CPVC) on employee silence (ES) andemotional intelligence (EI) as mediator to comprehend the CPVC-ES link.Using a sample of 528, comprising customers and subordinate employees from upscale hotels in Ghana, we test the proposed hypotheses. The structural equation modelling results indicate a positive influence of CPVC on ES and a significant negative effect of EI on ES. Also, there is indirect effect of CPVC on ES through EI. These findings imply that the lack of employee emotional intelligence inhibits customer co-creation with firms.     

服务失败后自我建构与质量预期对满意和口碑的影响

当顾客遭遇由个别雇员引发的服务失败时,顾客会产生怎样的心理反应?文章基于服务失败情境探讨了顾客的自我建构倾向与服务质量预期对满意度与负面口碑传播的影响。研究运用实验法模拟(餐厅)服务情境,结果发现,当服务失败源于个别雇员的不当行为时,如果顾客对企业的服务持有相对负面的质量预期,那么自我建构类型为互依型的顾客(vs.独立型自我建构)更倾向于认为企业对雇员的服务质量具有可控性,会对企业更不满意;但在负面口碑传播上,独立型自我建构的顾客却反而更有可能通过口碑传播服务失败经历(vs.互依型自我建构)。文章在此基础上主要讨论了自我建构对服务失败研究以及企业实践的启示,并指出未来可进一步研究的内容。