Human factors affecting university hospitality and tourism students' intention to use e-learning: A comparative study between Egypt and the UK

ABSTRACT

The main purpose of this study is to apply the technology acceptance model in examining two human factors (i.e., engagement with e-learning, self-efficacy) influencing university hospitality and tourism students' intention to use e-learning in two different higher education contexts: Egypt, as an example of a developing country, and the United Kingdom (UK), as an example of a developed country. A total of 600 online questionnaires were sent to a convenience sample of university hospitality and tourism students. Among the questionnaires returned, 442 were usable ones, representing a response rate of 73.7%. The results from structural equation modeling show that student engagement with e-learning and e-learning self-efficacy had significant effects on both the Egyptian and UK students' intention to use e-learning platforms through the mediating variables of perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. Additionally, gender and background were significant factors affecting students' intention.     

A pathway to consumer forgiveness in the sharing economy: The role of relationship norms

The emergence of peer-to-peer accommodations has revolutionized the hospitality industry. Yet, research on peer-to-peer service failures and consumer forgiveness remains scant. This paper shows that relationship type—whether communal ("Airbnb host") or exchange ("hotel")—influences consumer forgiveness in a post-recovery context. Across five studies, this research demonstrates how peer providers (focusing on communal norms) versus conventional providers (focusing on exchange norms) influence consumer forgiveness and their responses to service recovery efforts. Our findings indicate that focusing on social service recovery is particularly effective for Airbnb hosts. These findings have important implications for crafting effective service recovery strategies based on the type of accommodation provider-customer relationship. Finally, our findings can also help peer-to-peer and conventional hospitality providers alleviate consumers’ negative responses to service failures.     

Peer-to-peer interactions: Perspectives of Airbnb guests and hosts

In peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation settings such as Airbnb, social interactions between peers are distinctively different from those between guests and employees in conventional lodging establishments. This study focuses on a reciprocal aspect of social interactions in P2P accommodations and aims to: 1) explore how guests and hosts perceive online and face-to-face interactions between them and 2) investigate the association between P2P interactions and some outcome variables (encounter satisfaction, word-of-mouth intention, and continuous intention to use) based on the roles of guest and host. A total of 503 responses from an online research panel were analyzed. The results show that guests perceive overall interaction experiences more positively than do hosts. Moreover, guests and hosts place weight on different interaction factors that contribute to their satisfaction and behavioral intentions. This study sheds light on the reciprocal interactions between guests and hosts, providing important theoretical and practical implications for the P2P lodging experience.     

Towards constructing the meaning of “aggressive hospitality”

ABSTRACT

“Aggressive hospitality” is an emergent phenomenon that is yet to be understood in the tourism field. This phenomenon involves social interaction between hosts and guests that imitates a hospitable encounter, but at the same time fails to demonstrate some characteristic(s) inherent to hospitable behavior. The underlying forces of the phenomenon are traced back to imperialism, high tourism dependence of the developing regions, staged authenticity, and the mutual gaze. The study focuses on two cruise destinations in the Caribbean region and utilizes over 1200 online reviews to construct the meaning of the phenomenon. Theoretical insights and practical implications are provided based on the findings.     

Exploring home-based accommodation operators' responses to Covid-19: Implications of untact hospitality adoption

Unlike the mainstream research conducted on the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on both large-scale tourism and hospitality firms, and also at the destination level, the current study focused on home-based accommodations in Iran which have experienced rapid development throughout the country. In-depth interviews with a number (n = 45) of such accommodation operators revealed that due to their perceived high vulnerability to the pandemic and self-protection, they adopted “untact hospitality”, thereby decreasing their direct interaction with guests. Looking through the lens of Protection Motivation Theory, four main themes were explored: motivations to work in the hospitality industry; local accommodation operators' perception of threat; coping appraisal; and protection behavior intention. The results revealed that many local ventures were unable to survive, leading to the bankruptcy of such units throughout the country. With few exceptions, the public sector's responses to the pandemic, and the hospitality sector's measures, were generally unsuccessful in managing the health crisis. The current study contributes to the risk, crisis preparation and crisis management of hospitality organizations at the local level in the context of their health protection motivation behavior.     

Welcoming host,cozy house? The impact of service attitude on sensory experience

Shared accommodations (e.g., Airbnb) are growing rapidly with ever-increasing attention given to the features of the home decoration style and a homely atmosphere. Similar to an old saying, “Love me, Love my dog”, it has been established that the perception of hosts’ service quality is integrated with customers’ evaluations of house amenities. However, little is known about the influence of service attitude (how it is perceived by guests) on customers’ sensory experience, which is key to their loyalty and satisfaction. Through a pilot study analyzing guest houses’ online reviews, two experiments as well as a survey, service attitude (i.e., enthusiasm and hospitality) was found to be positively associated with customers’ sensory experience. In this process, home-like feelings acted as the mediator, sincerity served as a moderator, and only sincere enthusiasm and hospitality helped promote the home-like feeling for customers. This study sheds light on the customer sensory experience management of shared accommodations from the embodied cognition perspective.     

Influence of the user’s psychological factors on the online purchase intention in rural tourism: Integrating innovativeness to the UTAUT framework

This study explores the process of adoption of new information technologies by the users of rural tourism services and, more concretely, the underlying psychological factors of individuals that explain their intentions to make bookings or reservations directly through the websites of the rural accommodations (online purchase intentions). Based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), this study establishes a theoretical model that includes five explanatory variables of the online purchase intention: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, and innovativeness. The empirical results obtained in a sample of 1083 tourists that had previously visited several websites of rural accommodations suggest that the online purchase intention is positively influenced by: 1) the levels of performance and effort expected with regard to the transaction; and 2) the level of innovativeness of users. In addition, the innovativeness construct has a moderating effect on the relationship between performance expectancy and online purchase intention.     

This hotel is family-run! Enabling positive consumer response via perceived hospitableness

Family-run businesses are key players in the hotel industry and provide accommodations in many tourism regions such as the Austrian Alps. To date, research has failed to see the family firm status as a source of competitive advantage for the hospitality industry, despite often being used in practice to attract customers. Through the theoretical lens of signaling theory, this study therefore conducted experiments using fictitious hotel websites with participants from a German online panel (Austria’s largest incoming market) to investigate the effectiveness of family firm brand signals. The results confirm positive effects of communicating the family firm image on consumer response such as word-of-mouth, willingness to pay a price premium, and booking intention. We highlight that this effect is explained by perceived hospitableness. As such, we demonstrate that hotels can capitalize on their unique status by communicating their family firm image.     

Corporate social responsibility signaling,evaluation, identification,and revisit intention among cruise customers

Abstract

Improvements in customer knowledge and interest in cruise tourism have facilitated the growth of the cruise industry. However, the cruise industry has limited research attention from tourism and hospitality scholars. Furthermore, in the cruise setting, although a large number of corporate social responsibility (CSR) messages are sent to customers, it seems reasonable to suspect that not all CSR activities are effective to achieve the sustainable growth of the company. Therefore, this study aims to expand the existing knowledge of cruise CSR by examining the impact of customers’ perceived value of socially responsible consumption behavior on brand-related outcomes. Data from 292 cruise customers in the United States are collected through online surveys. Findings support the evidence that CSR signaling influences customers’ positive evaluation and identification with a cruise brand, but no direct impact on their behavioral intention is observed. Also, the mediating role of evaluation and identification in the relationship between CSR signaling and revisit intention is examined. In this study, the signaling and social identity theories are supported by an empirical study to addresses the importance of customers’ socially responsible consumption trait in sustainable growth.     

What factors influence Generation Y’s employee retention in the hospitality industry?: An internal marketing approach

Individuals from Generation Y are entering into the hospitality job market, but little is known about their intention to remain in the hospitality business. The purpose of this study was to examine what factors affect a Generation Y employee’s intention to remain with a hospitality company with respect to internal marketing tactics. Qualtrics, an online survey service company, was used to distribute and collect a self-administered questionnaire survey. A theoretically proposed model was tested using structural equation modeling. The results of this study indicated that “work environment” significantly influence Generation Y employees’ job satisfaction, followed by “empowerment,” “pay,” and “relationships with managers,” which in turn, influences “employee commitment” and “intention to remain in hospitality business.” The implications of the study are discussed.     

Some stay and some quit: Understanding P2P accommodation providers’ continuous sharing behavior from the perspective of feedback theory

Building on feedback theory, this study aims to understand providers' continuous sharing behavior (CSB) by integrating subjective and objective feedback in the context of peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodations. In Study 1, we test a mediation model by using survey data collected from 289 hosts of P2P accommodations. The results show that providers' positive feedback perception (PFP) is positively related to CSB and that intrinsic motivation mediates this effect. In Study 2, we collect 169 multisource data to explore the effect of objective online feedback on providers' PFP and subsequent effects in further detail. This study reveals that online ratings positively influence providers' PFP and that this effect is strengthened by the volume of online reviews. Further, we find sequential positive effects among providers’ PFP, intrinsic motivation, and CSB, which is consistent with Study 1. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

“Couchsurfing has made me a better person and the world a better place”: the transformative power of collaborative tourism experiences

ABSTRACT

Presented as an alternative form of tourism, Couchsurfing is a predominantly non-commercial accommodation type where hosts offer a “couch” to travelers through a hospitality network. Couchsurfing.com is considered as an icon of the sharing economy and more specifically of shareable tourism. This article provides a deeper understanding of couchsurfers’ motivations and shared values. Through an empirical qualitative study, we discuss the transformative power of Couchsurfing experiences, the underlying transformational processes, conditions, and socio-psychological and behavioral consequences. We also discuss the findings’ implications for society, businesses, and tourism in general.     

An investigation of the mean reversion of hospitality stock prices towards their fundamental values: The case of Taiwan

This paper tested the mean reversion behavior of stock prices in the hospitality and other industry sectors towards their fundamental values, namely earnings per share (EPS) and dividend per share (DPS). Cointegration test results showed that DPS is not a good proxy of fundamental values of stock prices in all sectors, while EPS can serve as a good proxy of fundamental values of stock prices only in the hospitality and construction sectors. Further, although hospitality stock prices have diverged away from their fundamental values from time to time, there exists an error correction mechanism in the market, which adjusts hospitality stock prices to return to their fundamental values. We also found that hospitality stock prices driven by their EPS are due to less noise trading and small size in the hospitality industry. Lastly, empirical findings suggest that hospitality stock investors should pay more attention to the underlying performance of hospitality stocks in terms of their earnings per share.     

Mapping the progress of social media research in hospitality and tourism management from 2004 to 2014

ABSTRACT

One hundred and five articles on social media in hospitality and tourism during 2004–2014 were identified from three databases and seven journals. Seven dimensions were used for analysis. Results indicated that social media research in hospitality and tourism is in its early stages with two turning points. The number of articles rose dramatically in 2010 and unexpectedly dropped in 2014. Research gaps are apparent in several industry sectors in topics beyond online reviews and in research methods, where literature reviews suffer from small numbers and few prominent researchers. Implications and future research directions are also discussed.     

FROM THE EDITOR

Abstract

Thailand has some of the finest conference venues in Southeast Asia, and the convention/exhibition industry is important to the development of the nation's overall tourism industry. The convention/exhibition industry is good for the tourism industry, because it helps to enhance the quality of accommodations, hospitality, and services that are located in such an exotic location. Also, it stimulates the convention/exhibition industry investment in terms of associated facilities and services. An analysis of the performance of the convention and exhibition industry in 1996 and 1997 was conducted in this paper. The results solidly suggest that Thailand has a strong convention and exhibition industry which should produce substantial economic impact in the years ahead. Recommendations for future research are also provided.     

Recruiting the Best

Abstract

This study investigates which workplace opportunities or offerings most influence hospitality studentss' likelihood of choosing and recommending a particular hospitality company. Data collected from hospitality management indicates that, consistent with previous research, Career Development and a Positive Work Environment continue to be important factors in influencing studentss' choice of employment. New for this study is the Quality of Life issue, a significant factor for this generation of hospitality management students. The study findings provide further recommendations for hospitality recruiters to attract and retain entry-level managers.     

网络点评对民宿顾客住宿意愿的影响——信任的中介作用探讨

网络点评是影响民宿顾客住宿意愿的重要因素。本研究以信任理论为基础,从顾客需求视角探讨民宿顾客对网络平台的信任和对民宿主人的信任在网络点评和民宿顾客住宿意愿之间的作用。研究发现:(1)网络点评对民宿顾客住宿意愿的直接影响效应显著;(2)顾客信任的二维度(对网络平台的信任和对民宿主人的信任)在网络点评和民宿顾客住宿意愿之间起串联中介作用,但是顾客信任的两个维度不能单独在网络点评和民宿顾客住宿意愿之间起中介作用。本研究揭示了网络点评对民宿顾客住宿意愿的作用路径,为民宿营销提供了新视角。     

Examination of the adoption of augmented reality: a VAM approach

ABSTRACT

Despite the growing importance and popularity of augmented reality (AR) technologies in hospitality and tourism, little research to identify the degree of user adoption, particularly in the business travel sector, has been conducted. Based on a questionnaire administered to 161 stakeholders attending two international conferences in Hong Kong, user experiences and adoption intention were examined and analyzed through structural equation modeling. Adoption was explored using a value-based adoption model. AR adoption is affected by its perceived value to which the benefits of usefulness and enjoyment contribute, along with newly identified components of technicality and captivating inputs.     

Is digital technology the magic bullet for performing work at home? Lessons learned for post COVID-19 recovery in hospitality management

PurposeThe COVID-19 pandemic has suddenly brought about a number of disruptions to when and where work is undertaken for hospitality employees. The rapid spread of COVID-19 forced many hospitality managers to use digital technologies to perform work from home, termed digital work connectivity. Yet little is known about how hospitality employees cope with it. The purpose of this study is to investigate an important yet underspecified issue as to how digital work connectivity can be detrimental for employees’ work behavior.Design/methodology/approachWe test our hypotheses using multi-wave and multi-source data collected from 467 middle managerial-level hospitality employees in China.FindingsThe findings show that digital work connectivity can lead to self-control depletion, which in turn is associated with disengagement from work. Further, the findings show that relational energy is an important resource that can buffer the detrimental effects of digital work connectivity on hospitality employees.Practical implicationsThe association of digital work connectivity with employee withdrawal behavior highlights the urgent need for hospitality enterprises to have clear guidelines that regulate technology use at home for work purposes.Social implicationsOur research shows that the absence of clear guidelines in relation to the use of digital technology for work at home risks producing unintended consequences for both hospitality employees and their enterprises.Originality/valueOur research draws from recent advances in resource allocation theories of self-control and adopts a more nuanced approach to uncover a counterintuitive reality that while people use digital technology to remain connected with work, doing so can actually contribute to their withdrawal behavior.     

Using segmentation to compete in the age of the sharing economy: Testing a core-periphery framework

Airbnb has emerged as a credible competitive threat to the hotel industry. Consequently, hotel brands are having to rethink the experiences they provide to customer in an increasingly competitive environment. Despite these trends in the industry, experience-related research that examines and informs these developments remains under-represented in the hospitality and tourism literature. The present study offers a systematic approach to examine the potential differences in experiential consumption in the accommodations industry. Using a multiple-group analysis approach, it examines the moderating effects of individual characteristics and situational factors on the nature and dynamics of experiential consumption in the accommodations industry. The findings of the study culminate in the core-periphery framework of the hospitality consumption experience that can provide a relevant theoretical lens for future research into the different sectors and types of experiences within the hospitality and tourism industry. The study also outlines important implications for the hotel industry’s strategic experience design initiatives, from the standpoint of product development, the segmentation, targeting and positioning (STP) process, and marketing communications.