An empirical modeling of transformation process through trip experiences

Transformative experience has been the buzzword in recent years. Tourism and hospitality experiences in natural, historical, cultural, and authentic spaces are some of them. However, to this date, specific dimensions of transformation or its process have not been empirically identified. This study reviewed the literature on transformation, used open-ended questions to collect free-elicited responses on the meanings of transformation, collected expert opinion, and developed a 101-item scale reflecting different dimensions and the steps of the transformation process. The scale was validated with a sequential scale validation procedure; Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) were used to test the psychometric properties of the scale and model the constructs of the transformation process. A measurable definition of the transformation process is provided along with the tested model. A comprehensive model with antecedents, outcomes, and moderators of transformation is also suggested to further transformation research.     

No more dancing for gods: constructing Taiwanese/Chinese identity through the Ilisin

Increasingly there is a desire amongst political and administrative authorities concerned with the management of English professional football to extend the ‘sense’ of transformation witnessed in the popularity and cultures of support surrounding the domestic game to the national team. However, there is a widely held perception that both the social formations constituted around the England team and media representations of them have proven resistant to the cultural shift (imagined or otherwise) associated with domestic club football. Concern within the UK Home Office, the English Football Association (FA) and some supporters' groups has led to a high profile attempt to overcome this ‘resistance’ and ‘re‐market’ the image of England supporters in order to create a more socially inclusive supporter base. Drawing on ethnographic and textual data collected in the build up to, and during, the 2002 men's football World Cup finals, this paper considers the frameworks of knowledge associated with this intervention and their impact on the cultural forms of support for the England team during the World Cup, in specific locations both at ‘home’ and ‘away’. This consideration then gives way to an interpretation of the extent to which ‘Englishness’ continues to be performed in culturally exclusive ways that emphasize the contingency of new and emergent social formations.     

The stereotyping of tourism management students in a business school setting

Previous research has shown that students in business schools hold stereotypes concerning their peers who are undertaking different specializations. Yet, to the authors’ knowledge, no research to date has investigated the stereotyping of tourism management students by other business students. The present study seeks to fill this research gap. The insights are important because negative perceptions exacerbate the challenge of attracting high-quality prospects for tourism degree programs and of producing graduates who enjoy favorable recognition by their peers and by industry. Tourism management students are future leaders who are critical to the long-term sustainability and competitiveness of the tourism sector. In-depth interviews revealed three stereotyping themes: personality attribution, legitimacy, and professionalism. The study concludes by discussing potential stereotype-reducing strategies.     

Transformation,meaning-making and identity creation through folklore tourism: the case of the Robin Hood Festival

Folklore tourism is often regarded as a subset of heritage tourism, although it has received less attention than comparable heritage events based on documented historic events such as civil war re-enactments and living history sites. Although the ‘theming’ of landscapes and the journeying to places based on their literary association enjoys a long tradition, this paper focuses on the relationship between tourism and folklorism. It explores how folklore events appropriate contemporary and social interpretations of stories to entertain whilst also outlining how legendary historical personalities can play a role in generating tourism. In 2013, a constructivist methodology was employed using 20 in-depth interviews and participant observations to generate qualitative data at the Robin Hood Festival in Nottinghamshire, UK. Numerous themes emerged after coding including the way folklore events blend historic fact and fiction, the power of the imagination to create spaces, and the importance of natural settings and spaces to transform people and places. However, three dominant themes emerged which are specifically presented in this paper, these are: (a) a sense of freedom and escape felt by participants, (b) camaraderie and inter-personal social authenticity and (c) the transformation of self and creation of alternative (additional) social identities.     

Effect of employee incivility on customer retaliation through psychological contract breach: The moderating role of moral identity

This study investigates the effect of employee incivility on customer retaliation through psychological contract breach in the context of upscale restaurants. Results of our study (N = 2014) show that psychological contract breach mediates the positive relationship between employee incivility and three forms of customer retaliatory behaviors. Further, drawing upon the moral identity perspective, we found that customers who are high in moral identity tend to be more likely to seek revenge by engaging in vindictive complaining (but not third party complaining or negative word of mouth) subsequent to their experience of psychological contract breach. Our study yielded both theoretical contributions and practical implications.     

Effects of experiential learning on students: an ecotourism service-learning course

Experiential learning is used to address the abstractness of classroom discussion and motivate long-lasting learning. The aims of this study were to measure the effects of a tourism service-learning course on the development of students’ generic competencies and to evaluate the influence of experiential learning on hospitality and tourism education. Preproject and postproject self-administered surveys and postproject reflective journals were completed by students enrolled on a service-learning course entitled Ecotourism in Rural and Developing Regions. The majority of the students were found to value the service-learning course, particularly a service project conducted outside the classroom setting, which made them aware of the needs of the underprivileged within the service community. The students also showed significant improvements in their generic competencies, specifically their teamwork and sense of social responsibility.     

从唐甄的旅游观看中国文化的转型

本文从人们较少注意的旅游这种特殊的行为方式及其相应的观念意识上去探讨文化转型的具体进展。认为唐甄提出的“好游者人之恒情也”的旅游观具有自然人性论的哲学基础,是对农本社会和儒家传统伦理束缚旅游的否定,是在明清之际中国手工商业（原初工业化）发展的经济土壤上,在市民阶级兴起和大众化产生的社会关系和生活方式中,形成的一种带有近代倾向的旅游观念,具有文化转型的意义。     

How does authenticity enhance flow experience through perceived value and involvement: the moderating roles of innovation and cultural identity

This study provided a new multiple mediation-moderation model to explore how authenticity may enhance the flow experience through the function of perceived value and involvement. Data from 605 tourists were collected, and the results indicate that cognition (i.e. perceived value) and behavior (i.e. involvement) of tourists is an important mechanism linking the relationship between authenticity and flow experience. Moreover, this study also finds that innovation and culture are two critical moderators, which offers evidence that the flow experience will be enhanced when the tourists have a higher level of innovation and cultural identity.     

Effects of the redevelopment of an elementary school playground

The effects of the redevelopment of an elementary school playground were evaluated by comparing the situation before and after physical transformation. Observations produced data on the actual use during play time. Interviews were held with all the pupils on their perception and evaluation of the change. A group of adult experts judged the environment before and after the change on aspects like complexity, ‘manipulability’ and ‘affordance’ for different activities. An interview with the designer of the plan gave information about his intentions and expectations, especially regarding behavioural aspects. Data from these different sources are presented and related to each other.     

Leisure Diversity as an Indicator of Cultural Capital

The diversity of activities in a repertoire of leisure is a variable shown to have considerable impact on the quality of leisure and beneficial personal outcomes, and it is proposed as one important indicator of cultural capital. Theoretical perspectives on cultural capital indicate the importance of education in preparing individuals for broad patterns of leisure consumption in addition to status attainment. Contemporary advances demonstrate that status attainment cannot be equated with high cultural consumption and that broadly omnivorous leisure pursuits may be more valuable to social actors. Role attachment theory and disengagement theory are additionally explored as possible theoretical explanations that assist in predicting leisure diversity that is highly patterned by employment and one's age. The number of different leisure experiences that constitute an individual's leisure repertoire is expected to change throughout the life-course as needs for cultural capital vary and as demands in paid and domestic work change. Tobit models of leisure diversity are proposed using American Time Use Survey (ATUS) data. Findings indicate that leisure diversity is impacted by ethnicity, recent immigration, age and socio-economic status, and theoretically relevant conditional relationships are explored.     

An exploratory study of an internship program: The case of Hong Kong students

This study aimed to investigate the difference between expectations and perceptions of hospitality students towards their internship program, and to assess the relationship between the difference and overall satisfaction. Altogether, a total of 307 usable questionnaires were returned. The results show that three internship factors of supervisor, team spirit and involvement, autonomy and help from supervisor led to student overall satisfaction. Based on the findings, recommendations for hospitality schools, industry practitioners, and students were provided in order to enhance the quality of internship programs.     

Using an educational video-briefing to mitigate the ecological impacts of scuba diving

Recreational scuba diving is rapidly increasing, and the negative impacts to marine reef biota are of conservation concern. Educational approaches have been tested to mitigate diver damage to benthic organisms, but logistical constraints impede their implementation in many locations. We investigated the behaviors of scuba divers in terms of their contacts with benthic organisms, and assessed how an educational video-briefing caused changes in diver behavior. The video provided environmental information to divers, and enhanced their use of low-impact diving techniques. Divers who received the video-briefing exhibited significantly lower rates of contact with and damage to the benthos, than did divers who did not receive a briefing. The level of diving experience did not correlate with the rate of benthic contact in either group of divers. Male divers and photographers both contacted the benthos significantly less, and female divers and photographers both caused significantly less damage when they viewed the video-briefing prior to diving. Our findings highlight the importance of easily implemented, standardized educational approaches such as the use of video-briefings to mitigate the impacts of scuba diving. This study adds to the framework of tested strategies available to support the sustainable use of marine areas by the diving tourism industry.     

Better sleep,better trip: The effect of sleep quality on tourists' experiences

Given the importance of sleep to travelers and the scarcity of tourism research on this topic, our study presents a pioneering attempt to explore the relationship between sleep quality and tourists' experiences. We employed an instrumental-variable three-way fixed-effects regression model to estimate this relationship using TripAdvisor review data from three U.S. destinations: New York City, Las Vegas, and Orlando. Results suggest that sleep quality significantly and positively influences the tourist experience. Other travel-related variables, such as demographic, trip-related, and destination-related factors, are also found to moderate the effect of sleep quality on the tourist experience. Our study provides theoretical and practical implications around managing sleep quality to enhance tourists' experiences.     

Packing for the trip: A model of competencies for successful expatriate hospitality assignment

This paper aims to propose a model to assist international hotel companies to prepare expatriate executives for their overseas assignments to minimize expatriate failure. Survey questionnaires measuring competences and skills of expatriation were administered to 66 representatives of the lodging associations and properties who are members in the International Hotel & Restaurant Association. Exploratory factor analysis findings indicate that three categories of attributes are keys for successful overseas assignments: personal competencies, global management skills, and expatriate adjustment. Human resource development professionals should be especially cognizant of identifying personal competencies as the distinguishing elements for selecting high-potential expatriate managers. Educational programs preparing students for work in international hospitality business should strive to expose students to all of the behavioral aspects of international hospitality business identified in this study.     

Use of social media across the trip experience: An application of latent transition analysis

Recent advanced technologies have enabled travelers to communicate, interact, and form relationships with destinations, businesses, and other travelers through social media. However, the nature/patterns of use of social media by travelers varies substantially between travelers and across the trip experience (e.g. pre-, during, and post-trip); consequently, travelers develop their own idiosyncratic strategies (i.e. media repertoires) for information searching, communicating, and storing memories. There are four distinct and dominant repertoires of social media use across the three stages of the trip experience. As such, the findings clearly indicate that destination marketers should target the respective groups very differently.     

Dramatizing an event through a promotional film: Testing image effects

The present article studies the effects of storytelling through film on destination image building and visitation intention. Despite the growing awareness of the importance of storytelling in marketing and the impact events have on destination attractiveness, a theoretical gap exists into the effect of a combination of storytelling and event on spectators' image of the event and, in particular, the destination. Therefore, this study uses a quasi-experimental design in order to tests the image effects of an event, dramatized into a story. In order to test these image effects, 857 respondents answered a web survey before and after exposure to a promotion film of a dog-sledge race (the Finnmarksløpet) in northern Norway (the destination). The result indicates that using a dramatized event by a promotion film positively affects spectators' attitudes toward the destination as well as the event itself. The results suggest that the promotion film of the event enhances spectators' perceptions of dogsledding as a joyful, valuable, and stimulating activity. Additionally, the findings reveal that the promotion film has a positive effect on 5 out of 7 destination-related attributes such as culture, accommodations, and the weather. Thus, the study indicates that a dramatized event is a successful marketing communication tool and may be an important element also in the strategic planning of marketing activities. Implications and recommendations for future research are also presented.     

从宗教景区上市透视宗教文化资本化

旅游市场竞争日趋激烈,上市成为提升景区发展力和竞争力的重要途径。在资本前景的诱惑下,诸多宗教型景区萌发上市冲动,而引发突破社会伦理的热议。文章围绕宗教景区上市背后的宗教文化资本化的话题,以宗教社会学、马克斯·韦伯的现代性等为理论基础,从宗教存在逻辑与资本逻辑间张力角度,分析旅游语境下的宗教文化资本化现象。结论认为,包括旅游资本在内的现代资本为宗教的发展提供支撑资源,但资本的理性、世俗性与宗教的感性、神圣性间存在不可调和的张力。单纯市场化的宗教旅游发展模式会消解宗教赖以存在的根基,因此不是宗教旅游发展的最佳选择。鉴于宗教旅游的准公共物品属性,现代非营利性组织的运营模式为宗教旅游的发展提供有益借鉴。     

Learning through engagement: undergraduate students engaging in community-based participatory research (CBPR) in hospitality and tourism education

This paper discusses how instructors can engage their students in community-based participatory research (CBPR) projects that involve not only research on a topic but also include community stakeholders in the research process and provide opportunities for service learning. CBPR is defined, examples of effective CBPR student projects are presented, the possible benefits and drawbacks of CBPR student projects are offered, and tips for conducting successful CBPR projects with hospitality and tourism students are provided.