Service quality and customer satisfaction: The moderating effects of hotel star rating

This research contributes to customer satisfaction knowledge with regard to accommodation in South Africa whose star grading differs. A multi-group analysis and an importance-performance map analysis by means of PLS-SEM allow us to differentiate between service quality performance scores and their influences on customer satisfaction across accommodation with a different star grading. The two most important predictors of satisfaction with one-star and two-star category accommodation are the accommodation infrastructure and the employee expertise. Both predictors were found to have relatively low levels of performance. Safety and security and room quality are two significant determinants of satisfaction with three-star establishments, although they under-perform with regard to safety and security. In respect of four-star and five-star accommodation, waiting time and customer interaction, both of which have above average performance scores, influence customer satisfaction. We provide specific guidelines for managerial interventions to improve service quality and guests’ satisfaction for each grading category.     

The death of development theory: From Friedrich von Hayek to the Washington consensus

Abstract

Development strategies followed by many countries in the 20th century bestowed a relevant role to the State. During the 1970s, it all reversed, and free markets became paramount to efficiency. F. von Hayek and the Mount Pelerin Society led the way to eliminate the State as a significant economic player, while P.T. Bauer extended such ideas to development economics, which would eventually give way to the Washington Consensus. Beyond actual results of such policies, it is surprising to see the appeal of Bauer’s theoretical approach, considering that it is constructed disregarding both empirical evidence, as well as the abundant discussion on development that was taking place contemporarily. This article explores the theoretical process of such reversal in development economics theory.     

Research on a diagnostic system of rural vitalization based on development elements in China

In 2017, the Chinese government implemented a national strategy of "Rural Vitalization" that sought to realize full-scale rural vitalization. However, is it possible to achieve vitalization for all the villages in China? How should their development potential be determined? This paper identified and analyzed the "element-composite" messages of rural development based on 99 exemplary sites of “Beautiful Villages” in China. Combined with the projection pursuit classification method, a diagnostic system of rural vitalization was established; then, Dehua County was taken as a case study for an in-depth analysis. Based on national data analysis, the final results indicated that livelihood resources (LR), agglomeration effects (AE), location and transportation (LT), cultural/natural landscapes (CN), and economic circumstance (EC) are essential elements for successful rural development. Additionally, EC was the only exogenous element, while the remaining elements were endogenous. Furthermore, the villages with better EC presented urbanization rates of 38∼82 % and Engel coefficients of 29∼41 % in their counties; exemplary sites lacking LR, CN, LT, and AE account for 13.13 %, 19.19 %, 26.26 %, and 60.61 % respectively, so the indispensability of these elements decreases progressively in sequence. Only 2 % of villages rely on single element for success, therefore, the composite pattern of development element was also critical; 10 out of 16 types were found to successfully facilitate village development, among which, the type of R-a-L-C (32.32 %) and R-A-L-C (15.15 %) were considered as the greatest potential patterns for vitalization. Finally, by means of the diagnostic system, the ratio of representative villages for high-low potential in Dehua County is evenly split; then, development paths, and land use policies that match with paths were proposed, on the basis of development potential and “element-composite” condition of themselves.     

Environmental Outcomes of Urban Land System Change: Comparing Riparian Design Approaches in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area

In the face of climate change and other environmental challenges, an increasing number of cities are turning to land design to enhance urban sustainability. Land system architecture (LSA)—which examines the role of size, shape, distribution, and connectivity of land units in relation to the system’s social-environmental dynamics—can be a useful perspective for examining how land contributes to the social and environmental aspects of urban sustainability. There are two gaps, however, that prevent LSA from fully contributing to urban sustainability dialogues. First, it is not well understood how urban design goals, as expressed by urban planners and other practitioners, relate to LSA and environmental outcomes. Second, most LSA work focuses on individual environmental outcomes, such as the urban heat island effect, instead of considering the broader suite of outcomes that LSA changes impact. Here, we undertake an integrated assessment of LSA impacts on surface urban heat island (based on land surface temperature), vegetation presence/health (based on NDVI), and bird biota at two riparian sites with different design intentions in the Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area. The Rio Salado in Tempe underwent a city-led, infill redevelopment that mixed economic, recreational, and flood control design goals. The New River in Peoria experienced a more typical developer-driven urbanization. The contexts and design goals of the sites generated differences in their LSA, but only a few of these differences were sufficiently unique to contribute to divergent environmental outcomes. These differences reside in (1) the greater distribution of recreational land-covers and (2) increased surface water at the Rio Salado site compared to the New River site. Both changes are linked to land-cover patches becoming greener and cooler as well as a greater presence of waterbird and warbler species at the Rio Salado site. The distinctions between the sites provide insight for crafting design goals for redeveloping or restoring urban riparian landscapes in the Phoenix metropolitan area that are grounded in LSA. With the incorporation of additional relevant variables, especially socioeconomic ones, the research approach employed in this study provides a foundation for the assessment of other urban land system change.     

The difference of expert opinion on the forest-based ecotourism development in developed countries and Iran

Ecotourism development in a forest area includes many positive and negative aspects and requires a comprehensive study that can consider all simultaneously. Because of the inner and outer dependence or feedback links between the criteria in this research, the Analytical Network Process (ANP) based on the BOCR Model was used. Decision making and planning for the development of ecotourism is influenced by the attitude of experts towards development impacts. The question of this research was whether due to different environmental conditions in Iran, is it appropriate to follow ecotourism development patterns of developed countries? Given the different forest conditions in Iran, the weights of decision-making criteria for ecotourism development was significantly different for experts from Iran and developed countries. Weight difference for five sub-criteria, ECB2, ECB3, SOB4, ENC4 and, ENR2 were not significant, but for the rest of the sub-criteria were significant at 1% level. The results of comparing the mean weight values of the alternatives with an independent t-test indicated the difference was significant at 1% level. According to experts of the developed countries, ecotourism development with a weight of 0.927 and according to experts of Iran with a weight of 0.531 was prioritized.     

The role of accelerators in firm survival: An fsQCA analysis of Italian startups

Accelerators are a recent yet rapidly growing phenomenon within entrepreneurial ecosystems. The distinctive characteristics exhibited by accelerators, relative to previous incubation models, imply that accelerators may play a different role and have a different impact on the survival rates of participating firms. In this study, we explore the relationship between participation in an accelerator program and firm survival using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) with key variables related to firm survival. We analyze 38 accelerated startups from five Italian accelerators and a control group of 38 non-accelerated Italian startups. Our findings support the business accelerator literature that regards accelerators as a new and distinct generation of business incubators. Our results suggest that participation in accelerator programs on its own does not influence firm survival. However, we found a relationship between firm survival and accelerated technology-based firms that do not export and between firm survival and accelerated firms in the service sector with a small team that do not export. We conclude that factors affecting the survival of accelerated firms are different from factors affecting the survival of incubated firms, providing further evidence of the characteristics that distinguish accelerators from incubators.     

要素自由流动能实现区域协调发展吗——基于“协调性集聚”的理论假说与实证检验

经济活动的空间集聚是当代经济内涵式增长的源泉,现有文献多从要素流动视角来考察经济集聚过程中的区域差异。然而,若将要素流动引入区域生产函数进行推导,可以发现非区域性要素集中规模的扩大,既能提高要素流入区域的劳动生产率,也能提高要素流出区域的要素收益率,基于此,本文以“协调性集聚”为核心概念,通过拓展现代集聚模型来构建要素在自由流动中走向协调发展的理论假说。实证结果进一步显示,虽然我国发展要素在大规模流向东部发达地区,并呈现进一步向超大城市和城市群集聚的趋势,但要素流动在提高要素流入区域劳动生产率的同时,也显著提高了要素流出区域的要素收益率,并从需求侧激发了要素流出区域的市场潜能,要素流动在要素配置效率不断提高的过程中呈现“协调性集聚”的趋势。因此,发达的要素流入区域通过优化公共服务体系提高劳动生产率,欠发达的要素流出区域通过建立健全要素自由流动机制提高要素回报率和收益率,是新时代我国形成市场主导型区域协调发展机制的有效途径。     

基于SWOT-AHP的工业仓储用岛开发利用策略研究——以舟山群岛新区为例

本文采用SWOT分析法对舟山工业仓储用岛开发利用的优势、劣势、机遇和挑战进行定性分析,再通过AHP法进行定量分析,构建SWOT-AHP模型。通过计算舟山工业仓储用岛开发利用策略四边形,确定舟山工业仓储用岛开发利用应选择开拓型战略,即发挥自身优势、抓住外部机遇。     

环境规制对制造业绿色转型的影响机制及实证研究

制造业绿色转型是大势所趋，环境规制作为实现环境效益的重要手段，其如何影响制造业绿色转型值得探讨。在阐述环境规制对制造业绿色转型直接影响和间接影响机制的基础上，使用2005—2017年中国（内地）省级面板数据，采用基于EBM-GML模型计算得出的绿色全要素生产率衡量中国制造业绿色转型程度，进而建立固定效应面板模型检验异质性环境规制对制造业绿色转型的影响。结果表明：我国制造业绿色转型程度整体保持上升趋势，增长速度呈现出明显阶段性特征。环境规制对制造业绿色转型具有非线性影响，命令控制型环境规制和自愿参与型环境规制超过一定限度后能直接加快制造业绿色转型进程，市场激励型环境规制的直接影响则不显著；环境规制能够通过技术创新、外商直接投资、产业结构间接促进制造业绿色转型，产业集聚的影响则不显著；市场激励型环境规制能够通过间接效应影响制造业绿色转型。     

区际产业转移关联溢出与产业高质量发展——对电子设备制造业的实证检验

基于我国区际产业转移大背景，使用1999-2016内地年30个省市、27个二位数工业行业数据定量测度区际产业转移，选择产业关联较强的电子设备制造业为研究对象，使用投入产出法识别关联产业、测算其关联产业溢出，利用2004—2016年内地28个省市面板数据构建模型对关联产业溢出效应与电子设备制造业转移的关系、产业转移中的关联产业溢出与电子设备制造业高质量发展的关系分别进行了实证检验。研究发现：①2014年中国工业空间基尼系数出现拐点，总体工业由之前的分散转移转为新的集中转移，而电子设备制造业仍处在向中部地区和西南地区集聚的分散转移中；②电子设备制造业转移中的产业关联溢出效应确实存在，且促进了电子设备制造业生产效率的提高和产业高质量发展；③产业转移中第三产业关联溢出效应对电子设备制造业分散转移的作用高于工业，但工业的关联溢出对电子设备制造业生产效率提升的作用明显高于第三产业。