In-group favoritism or black sheep effect? The moderating role of norm strength on destination residents’ responses towards deviant behaviors

Drawing on social identity theory and focus theory of norms, this study investigated differences in how destination residents respond to deviant behaviors by other residents—members of their in-group—and similar behavior by tourists, who they see as the out-group. We proposed and tested a conceptual model of the transition between in-group favoritism and the black sheep effect under the moderating effect of norm strength. A mixed-method approach, including a secondary data study and three scenario-based experiments, was applied. Findings of this study revealed that focal residents showed in-group favoritism for other residents' deviant behavior compared with tourists. The contagion effect of deviant behavior was stronger among in-groups than out-groups. However, with respect to behaviors about which norms are tight, the black sheep effect comes into play, as focal residents hold a higher desire to punish in-groups’ deviant behavior than the out-group. This study has theoretical and practical implications for destination marketing organizations.     

Managing customers’ undesirable responses towards hospitality service brands during service failure: The moderating role of other customer perception

This research examines how perceived service failure severity (SFS) in an interactive multi-actor service context may lead to customer retaliation and revisit intention via sequential mediation of dissatisfaction and brand hate. The research also examines how other customer perception, reflected in appearance (OCP-A), similarity (OCP-S) and behaviour (OCP-B), conditions these relationships. In this attempt, the research employs two-experimental studies (Studies 1 & 2) and two self-reported surveys (Studies 3 & 4). Findings from Study 1 establish that service failure leads to retaliation via sequential mediation of dissatisfaction and brand hate. This study also supports that other customer perception can shape the adverse effect of service failure severity on dissatisfaction. Further, in Study 2 it is established that OCP-B is more influential (over OCP-S and OCP-A) in mitigating the adverse effect of SFS on dissatisfaction. Followed by this, Study 3 extends the findings into a different setting, and also confirms the external validity of Studies 1 and 2. Finally, Study 4 incorporates the transactional vs. relational orientation of customers, and the findings elucidate that OCP-B (over OCP-A and OCP-S) dominates in mitigating dissatisfaction for relational customers. However, no such dominance is observed for transactional customers. The findings from the research provide novel insights for managing service failure in hospitality sector.     

Hotels’ environmentally-framed eWOM. The moderating role of environmental culture

Consumers are increasingly concerned about sustainable development. This study investigates the impact of environmentally-framed reviews on review rating scores considering the moderation of the reviewer's country's environmental performance. We use ordered logistic and linear regression analysis on a dataset of 45k TripAdvisor reviews of green hotels posted by reviewers from 150 countries. The findings reveal that environmentally-framed reviews are associated with higher rating scores, and the reviewer's country's environmental performance positively moderates this impact. This indicates that the environmental ranking of the reviewer's country of origin influences environmentally-framed eWOM about green and non-green services.     

The determinants of hospitality employees’ pro-environmental behaviors: The moderating role of generational differences

Seeking to build a deeper understanding of the determinants of hospitality employees’ pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs), this study explored linkages between employees’ autonomous and external motivations to perform PEBs, environmental concerns, self-efficacy, and employees’ reported PEBs. Hospitality employees (n = 432) indicated that autonomous motivation was associated with increases in employees’ environmental concern, self-efficacy, and PEBs. External motivation was significantly related to employees’ levels of environmental concern and PEBs. Employees’ environmental concern levels had positive effects on self-efficacy and PEBs. Self-efficacy was, in turn, positively associated with PEBs. The relationships between these variables were moderated by generational differences (e.g., Gen X and Gen Y) because generational characteristics might lead to formulating distinct generational perceptions in an organizational context. There were significant differences in the effects of autonomous motivation on environmental concern levels and PEBs between Gen X and Gen Y. In addition, the differences in effects of external motivation on environmental concern and PEBs were statistically significant between the two generations. Lastly, the impacts of environmental concern and self-efficacy on PEBs were significantly different between the two generations as well. Overall, our results suggest that the interplay of autonomous motivation, external motivation, environmental concern, and self-efficacy is important to the process of influencing hospitality employees’ PEBs.     

The effect of information presentation modes on tourists’ responses in Internet marketing: the moderating role of emotions

In order to enhance our understanding of the effectiveness of information transmission through virtual reality (VR), this study used a modified stimulus–organism–response framework to examine the relationships between information presentation modes (VR versus picture), emotions (pleasure and arousal), and tourists’ responses, namely attention, interest, desire, and action (AIDA) in the context of Internet tourism marketing. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) were employed to analyze data gathered from 184 respondents participating in a factorial experimental design. The results indicated that compared with the picture mode, the VR mode had superior effects on tourists’ responses, but these superior effects were moderated by arousal. High-arousal tourists had stronger AIDA responses in the VR mode than in the picture mode. However, the stronger effects of the VR mode on tourists’ AIDA responses disappeared in the low-arousal group. The findings of this study provide several important theoretical and practical implications for Internet tourism marketing.     

The influence of face on Chinese tourists’ gift purchase behaviour: The moderating role of the gift giver–receiver relationship

This study investigated the influence of face as a Chinese cultural value on Chinese outbound group tourists' gift purchase behaviour. Specifically, the study examined how face's impact on gift purchase behaviour is moderated by the gift giver–receiver relationship. The results confirmed that self-face concern positively affected gift selection effort, brand orientation, and purchase cost in gift purchase. The type and status aspects of the giver–receiver relationship were found to moderate the relationship between face concern and gift purchase behaviour. Self-face concern has a stronger impact on gift purchase for non-family receivers and higher status receivers. The findings suggest that cultural values and social relations in the home society exert influence on tourist behaviours even though tourists are physically away from home. This study also provides valuable practical implications for destinations wishing to better understand the shopping needs of Chinese tourists.     

Social servicescape’s impact on customer perceptions of the hospitality brand – The role of branded social cues

This research examines how the social servicescape (i.e., employee-customer, employee-employee and customer-customer) impacts brand-related outcomes via branded social cues. Informed by theories related to cue consistency and conceptual fluency, results from three experimental studies conducted across sectors and scales of hospitality businesses (i.e., luxury hotel, high-end restaurant and limited-service hotel), indicate that branded social servicescape cues have direct, indirect and interactive effects on brand-related outcomes. In luxury contexts, when the brand’s personality is absent in employee-customer social cues, the negative effects were buffered if brand personality is reflected in employee-employee social cues. Conceptual fluency mediated the relationship between branded employee-customer social cues and brand-related outcomes, which was moderated by branded employee-employee social cues. Conceptual fluency also mediated the relationship between branded customer-customer social cues and brand-related outcomes. This research sheds light on how hospitality firms can leverage branded social cues to enhance customer evaluation of the hospitality brand.     

Customers’ perceptions in value and food safety on customer satisfaction and loyalty in restaurant environments: moderating roles of gender and restaurant types

Using a valid sample of 334 restaurant diners, this study investigated the relative effects of perceived value and food safety on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. The proposed model was consistent with other cognitive–attitudinal–behavioral frameworks. This study also explored how these two perceptions on customer satisfaction were different based on gender and restaurant type. We found support for all of the hypothesized relationships. Results from the structural equation modeling showed that customer satisfaction mediated the relationships between two antecedents and customer loyalty. Implications of the findings, limitations of the study, and recommendations for future research were discussed.     

The Effectiveness of Post-Disaster Recovery Marketing Messages—The Case of the 2009 Australian Bushfires

An understanding of how best to communicate with the tourism market in the wake of a disastrous event is essential for destination marketing organizations seeking to manage the misperceptions and media-imposed attitudes held by potential visitors. To date, the literature remains silent in terms of the types of messages destination marketing organizations are best to employ when a disaster has hit and consequently marketers often take an “ad hoc” approach to their post-disaster communications that may or may not be effective in terms of encouraging visitation. In response to this knowledge gap, the research presented in this article adopted an experimental methodology to examine the effectiveness of nine disaster recovery message themes commonly used by destination marketing organizations. The messages were presented to respondents via a print advertisement promoting the Victorian region of Gippsland—a tourism region severely affected by the 2009 Black Saturday Bushfires. The results revealed that a marketing message endorsed by a well-known and well-associated celebrity figure is likely to be most effective in encouraging tourists to return to or visit a disaster-affected destination 12 to 24 months following the event. The findings also revealed a significant relationship between past visitation and the time frame in which visitors will visit a disaster-affected region. Those who had visited the region four times or more were much more likely to return within 6 months of the event than less frequent visitors. A final important message revealed in this study was the fact that the tourism market is not averse to disaster recovery promotional activities, a concern often considered by destination marketers when planning their post-disaster recovery campaigns.     

How nutrition information frame affects parents’ perceptions of restaurants: The moderating role of information credibility

Adding easy-to-read information on menus is recommended for customers’ healthy food selections. But what format yields the best outcomes for restaurateurs has not been investigated. We use the emphasis framing effect as a theoretical lens to examine how the credibility of nutrition information affects parents’ perceptions of restaurant healthfulness and trustworthiness when exposed to two nutrition information frames on children's menus: numeric values only and numeric values with low-calorie symbols. The results of the experimental study show that parents who do not perceive nutrition information as being highly credible perceive restaurants providing numerical values only as more healthful and trustworthy. However, parents who do perceive nutrition information as being highly credible perceive restaurants as more healthful and trustworthy when both numeric values and low-calorie symbols are presented and have more positive perceptions overall. We advise restaurateurs to increase nutrition information credibility and provide additional easy-to-read information to elicit more positive perceptions.     

How effective are your CSR messages? The moderating role of processing fluency and construal level

This study explores effective ways for hospitality companies to communicate their corporate social responsibility activities with customers. The moderating role of processing fluency and psychological distance has been examined. The findings suggest that when customers are making a decision for the distant future (e.g., three months later), they are more likely to engage in abstract thinking and rely on metacognitive cues such as processing fluency. As such, a CSR message with high processing fluency will be preferred. On contrary, when customers are making a decision for the near future (e.g., next week), their information processing strategies are influenced by their concrete mental representation of the events. Under such circumstance, customers tend to have a more positive attitude and purchase intention after reading a CSR message with low processing fluency. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed as well.     

The moderating effects of three reference groups on Asian pleasure travelers’ destination value

This study explores how the destination brand equity paradigm of Asian pleasure travelers may vary according to their level of susceptibility to the three types of reference group influences (i.e. informational, utilitarian, and value-expressive) by adapting destination awareness, image, quality, and value as a theoretical background. The results indicate that the positive effects of destination awareness, image, and quality on travelers’ destination value are moderated by informational and utilitarian reference group influences, but not by value-expressive reference group influence. This study provides both theoretical and practical implications by testing the moderating effects of three types of reference group influences.     

The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on customer experience design: The hotel managers’ perspective

This research responds to calls for research on the devastating impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the hospitality industry by investigating how hotel managers are designing safe customer experiences. Specifically, this study examines the measures adopted in high-end and luxury hotels and identifies the effects of such measures on the intended (or planned) experience. Based on thematic analysis of interviews with hotel managers, this study identifies seven safety measures: hygiene and protection, internal work reorganization, servicescape reorganization, investments in technology and digital innovations, customer wait time reorganization, staff training, and updated communication. These measures are expected to affect the intended experience in terms of reassurance, quickness, intimacy, and proximity, as emerged from correspondence factor analysis. Based on these results, this research proposes a model for safe customer experience design and suggests practical implications to help hotel managers formulate strategies aimed at customer experience creation under safe conditions.     

The role of visa exemption in Chinese tourists’ decision-making: a model of goal-directed behavior

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of visa exemption in tourist decision-making using the extended model of goal-directed behavior (EMGB). Surveys were administered to Chinese tourists interested in traveling to South Korea. The structural equation model indicates that the inclusion of the expectation of tourist visa exemption enhanced Chinese tourists’ behavioral intention. Specifically, positive and negative anticipated emotions, perceived behavioral control, and the notion of a subjective norm were important antecedents of travel intention. Desire was the only significant factor affecting Chinese tourists’ travel intention. This study enhances our understanding of Chinese tourists’ intention to travel to South Korea.     

Intrinsic or extrinsic motivations for hospitality employees’ creativity: The moderating role of organization-level regulatory focus

This study predicts that the intrinsic (creative personality) and extrinsic motivators (transformational leadership) reinforce employee creativity and job performance in the hospitality industry. More importantly, the positive moderating effects of organizational regulatory focus (promotion and prevention) on employee creativity are included in proposed model. To test the mode, data (339 employees and 72 supervisors) was collected from 62 Taiwan international hotels in the summer of 2014. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) were conducted to examine measurement model and hypotheses. The HLM results confirmed the effects of individual-level factors. However, an organizational promotion focus only enhances the extrinsic creative motivator. The intrinsic creative motivator was reinforced by an organizational prevention focus. The research findings suggest that hospitality managers should consider both individual- and organizational-level factors simultaneously. Indeed, the organizational goals could be set depending on the features of the department. Further discussions and implications are elucidated.     

How does social capital influence the hospitality firm's financial performance? The moderating role of entrepreneurial activities

Although previous studies have examined the relationship between social capital and firm performance under boundary conditions such as firm age, industry characteristics, and institutional conditions, the literature is silent on the types of firm activities linking social capital to financial performance. This study investigates the moderating role of firm-level entrepreneurial activities (service innovation, corporate venturing and strategic renewal) on the relationship between social capital and financial performance in a sample of Chinese hotels. The findings indicate that the interaction of external and internal social capital has a positive effect on financial performance. In addition, innovation and corporate venturing enhance the relationship between financial performance and social capital. To achieve a competitive advantage, hospitality firms should not only accumulate social capital but should also deliberately implement strategies that enhance entrepreneurial activities to fully unleash the potential of social capital.     

The impact of customers’ prior online experience on future hotel usage behavior

Service experience model stipulates the importance of service experience in increasing satisfaction, price acceptance, revisit intentions, etc. It has been extensively tested and validated in hotel management studies. However, the online service experience which, in these days, precedes the physical service experience has not be considered together in most hotel service experience studies. In hotel management literature, studies on online experiences are largely segregated from physical service experience model. In this study, prior online experience model is proposed which includes online experience preceding the physical service encounter, and a survey is administered. Result indicates the strong influence of online experience as a leading construct of the service experience model in hotels. Online experience strongly conditions the customers’ perception of physical service experience and, also, provides good ground for price acceptance. Interestingly, the influence of physical service experience on price acceptance seems to be rather alleviated with online experience, indicating the important role the online experience plays in managing customer perception on hotel service experience. Hotel management needs to pay close attention to their customers’ online experience beyond simple esthetics as the online experience seems to influence all the subsequent components of hotel service model.     

Does psychological capital make employees more fit to smile? The moderating role of customer-caused stressors in view of JD-R theory

This study draws on job demand-resource theory to examine the indirect effect of psychological capital (PsyCap) on emotional displays (i.e., positive affective delivery and breaking character) via emotional demands–abilities (ED–A) fit. The moderating effect of customer-related social stressors (CSS) was further assessed. 209 matched responses from airline frontline ground staff and their supervisors indicated that ED–A fit mediated the relationship between PsyCap and positive affective delivery. CSS amplified the relationship between ED–A fit and positive affective delivery. An analysis of moderated mediating effect indicated that the indirect effect of PsyCap on positive affective delivery via ED–A fit was stronger when CSS was high rather than when it was low. Finally, we discuss the implications of these findings, as well as limitations and avenues for future research.     

Evaluating domestic bias on airline passengers’ ratings: The moderating effect of cultural value orientation

We explore differences in airline passengers’ online ratings toward domestic and foreign carriers. Using a dataset of more than 380,000 airline passenger reviews obtained from TripAdvisor, we show that on average passengers express higher satisfaction (as proxied by their overall rating) for airline service encounters with domestic carriers, exhibiting a form of domestic bias. Using Hofstede’s framework, we examine how cultural dimensions influence the strength of this bias and find support for the moderating impact (positive and negative) of passengers’ cultural dimensions on their provided ratings toward domestic airlines. The study has theoretical and practical implications for international marketing researchers and airline operational planners.     

Older adults’ parasocial interaction formation process in the context of travel websites: The moderating role of parent-child geographic proximity

This study aims to identify the effects of age identity and innovativeness on parasocial interaction (PSI), and the moderating effect of parent-children proximity between age identity and PSI, and to examine the causal relationships between PSI, well-being and word-of-mouth (WOM). A sample of 271 U.S. residents aged 50 and older were recruited through an online survey company. The conceptual model was developed and tested using the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. The results found that psychological and physical age have positive effects on PSI, whereas social age has a negative one. Importantly, innovativeness had a negative impact on PSI regardless of the age identity. The psychological and social age induced PSI to a stronger extent when the children lived out of state. Finally, PSI was found to lead to well-being and WOM, whilst well-being itself had a positive effect on WOM. The managerial implications and future research directions are discussed.