Cost–benefit framework for K-12 foodservice outsourcing decisions

There is scarcity of research to investigate not-for-profit sector outsourcing decisions. K-12 school foodservices are not-for-profit operations, and non-core (non-academic) school functions, making them an ideal context to contribute to this literature. We propose a generic framework to investigate K-12 foodservice outsourcing decisions based on the transactional, cost–benefit view of outsourcing. In addition, this paper lays out an agenda for future research.     

A triple lens measurement of host–guest perceptions for sustainable gaze in tourism

This paper investigates perception of self and others by hosts and guests, which may be critical for sustainability of a destination receiving tourists with different cultural backgrounds. Specifically, the study investigates self-perception of hosts and reciprocal perception between hosts and guests on several service personnel characteristics using importance and performance analysis. Thus, a triple lens of hosts’ evaluation of self, hosts’ evaluation of the guests, and hosts’ evaluation by the guests is involved in a multi-cultural tourism experience context. Results report differences between the lenses, hosts’ self-evaluation being harsher than guests’ evaluation of hosts. Suggestions are provided for destination marketing and management organizations to design effective tourism experiences for both hosts and guests for a more sustainable gaze between hosts and guests.     

An importance–performance analysis of sustainability factors for long-term strategy planning in Slovenian hotels

This paper explores the potential role of economic, environmental and social reporting in long-term strategy planning in the hospitality industry. The context of study is Slovenia. Following the development of a set of “sustainability” indicators, hospitality managers were asked to rate the importance of each indicator to sustainable operations and the performance of their firms in implementing management actions. Seven hotel performance factors were established across the triple bottom line. Using importance–performance analysis (IPA), key issues are identified as requiring the attention of stakeholders to support the sustainable development of Slovenia's hospitality industry. For managers, the 10 most important indicators include those related to economic performance, customer relationship and cost saving environmental activities: performance here, and in marketing, was perceived as poor. In contrast, actions taken to increase environmental awareness, and improve relationships with employees are seen by managers as less important, and even as possible overkills. Community relationships are seen as of low importance and where the industry performs relatively poorly. A major recommendation is that Slovenian hotel managers should focus on improving their economic performance: neglecting this could threaten hotels’ long-term survival. IPA analysis is shown as applicable to strategy making for sustainable development in hospitality industry contexts worldwide.     

Pay for performance and work attitudes: The mediating role of employee–organization service value congruence

This study examined the mediating effects of employee–organization service value congruence on pay for performance and work attitudes. Using a sample drawn from the hotel industry, we found that when employees perceived a high PFP link they tended to exhibit more positive work attitudes. We also found that the relationship between PFP link and work attitudes was mediated by P–O fit. These findings offer new insights into the important role that reward practices such as PFP play in the alignment of employer–organization service quality values. In doing so, they also pave the way for future contributions in this novel and important area of service value congruence.     

Eliciting customers’ waste reduction and water saving behaviors at a hotel

Without a doubt, sustainability is a critical issue in the world’s hotel industry. The present study examined the key cognitive, affective, and normative determinants of customers’ waste reduction and water saving intentions during their hotel stay. This research also investigated the effect of involvement of green behaviors in everyday life as a moderator. A survey methodology and quantitative approach were utilized while conducting this study. Our results revealed that environmental value, concern, and awareness acted as significant cognitive triggers in forming pro-environmental intentions, and that anticipated feelings were important contributors to increasing intentions. The salient role of moral norm in determining environmentally responsible decision was also uncovered. Moreover, the results from the invariance test demonstrated that involvement of green behaviors included a significant moderating effect. Overall, our conceptual model sufficiently explained the variance in pro-environmental intentions among hotel customers.     

Mountain bike tourism in Austria and the Alpine region – towards a sustainable model for multi-stakeholder product development

This paper interrogates the polarized and heated discussions about mountain bike tourism in Austrian forests, with several organizations favoring permitting biking on all forest roads, using claimed tourism development opportunities, while other stakeholders including hikers, hunters and landowners wish to restrict development. An international literature review on the value and impacts of mountain biking shows that both sides have oversimplified complex cases. The paper draws on 12 in-depth interviews with Austrian tourism destination and mountain bike experts to find ways forward. Results suggest that in Austria, bike tourism will increase in the future, supported by new bike technology, including electric bikes and new hand-held route information technology. It notes the complexity of the market for mountain and other forms of cycle tourism, and the pressing need to create not more trails but more sophisticated tourism products, including appealing and well-maintained trails plus attractive leisure infrastructure (bike rental, service and repair facilities, attractive localities, accommodation suited to the mountain bikers’ needs, etc.). Collaborative planning with all stakeholders, better trail construction standards adapted to differing preferences, needs and environmental conditions as well as clear standards for monitoring are prerequisites of an Austrian strategy for sustainable cycle tourism development and management, which can be replicated elsewhere.     

Which investment incentives for tourism?

Governments around the world offer a wide range of incentives to developers by acting to reduce capital costs and operating costs and to improve investment security. This analysis demonstrates that high operating leverage is a principal source of financial risk and that grants to reduce initial capital costs are more effective in reducing risk. Apart from guaranteed investment security most tourism incentives are unnecessary — the primary instrument should be the capital grant, or its equivalent in the provision of facilities.     

Tourist accommodation in Spain 1971–1981

This article presents an analysis of the spatial distribution and structure of the tourist accommodation supply in Spain throughout the 1970s. The analysis demonstrates substantial growth in tourist accommodation on a national scale with little change in the pattern of spatial differentiation. There was also found to be more variety in accommodation provision than is indicated by Spain's package-holiday image. Further diversification should stimulate market demand, and with this aim the Spanish government is promoting inland destinations in an effort to change the “sun-sand-sea” market image.     

Tourism — a vital force for peace

Tourism consultant Louis J. D'Amore sets out the ways in which tourism might contribute to a better understanding between nations. He argues that peace can be more constructively defined than as the absence of war or violence and puts the case for tourism as the instrument best placed for the promotion of world harmony.     

War and thanatourism: Waterloo 1815–1914

This paper examines the historical evolution of Waterloo as a tourism mega-attraction. It locates battlefield visits as a form of thanatourism and explores the development of Waterloo through a sight sacralization model. The model proposes that an attractions appeal is achieved through progressive stages of marking which comes to invest it with a quasi-religious mystique, sacralization, as a goal of ritual pilgrimage for tourists. The paper comments on the sequencing of the model in the case of Waterloo and suggests how the social and ideological environments of the potential tourist may affect the potency and stability of the sacralization process over time. Résumé: Guerre et thanatourisme: Waterloo 1815–1914. Cet article examine lévolution historique de Waterloo comme méga-attraction touristique. Il identifie les visites au champ de bataille comme forme de thanatourisme et examine le développement de Waterloo selon un modèle de sacralisation de lieu. Le modèle présente lidée que lattrait dun lieu touristique est réalisé par lintermédiaire des étapes progressifs de marquage, qui linvestissent dune mystique quasi religieuse, une sacralisation, comme objectif de pèlerinage rituel pour les touristes. Larticle commente lenchaînement du modèle pour le cas de Waterloo et suggère comment les environnements social et idéologique du touriste éventuel peuvent, avec le temps, avoir un effet sur la puissance et la stabilité du processus de sacralisation.     

Understanding customers’ healthy food choices at casual dining restaurants: Using the Value–Attitude–Behavior model

This study examined how individual health values influence interest in healthy foods, positive outcome expectations, hedonic expectations, and behavior intentions. A total of 1188 valid questionnaires were collected from customers who had consumed healthy menu items at casual dining restaurants. The results indicated that health value was the key element that inspired customer interest in healthy eating and aroused hedonic and positive outcome expectations, which in turn enhanced intentions to purchase healthy food items. Restaurant managers are advised to establish creative marketing strategies to motivate customer interest in healthy menu items and emphasize benefits of their healthy food items. Future studies can extend the scope of research by examining differences in geographical areas or demographic profiles.     

Designed for leisure … for all? Gendered experiences and practices of leisure at the architect designed second home

ABSTRACT

In contrast to an inherited or repurposed second home, owners are able to stipulate how their leisure practices are catered for when they employ an architect to design their second home. This longitudinal study examines gendered experiences and practices of leisure at architect designed second homes in New Zealand, through an analysis of written and visual discourse in an architecture and lifestyle magazine over a period of 80 years. The identified themes were persistent over the 80 years, but the discourses evolved through time and indicate the socio-cultural context in which they were written. The findings suggest that although the opportunity to imagine a ‘life lived differently’ exists at the second home, for the second homeowners featured in the magazine articles at least, this does not extend to gender relations. This may be in part due to the very nature of the second home, whereby it is difficult to escape the deeply ingrained gender ideologies associated with home/work, productive/reproductive dichotomies.     

Millennials’ willingness to pay for green restaurants

The hospitality industry is currently witnessing an increase in the number of restaurant companies with sustainable business models. This research explores the determinant factors of millennials’ willingness to pay (WTP) by looking at the qualitative decision of whether to pay more and the quantitative decision of how much extra to pay. While literature has investigated the factors that lead people to choose green restaurants, no analysis that simultaneously considers the qualitative and quantitative decisions has been conducted for the millennial generation. This study fills this gap by estimating the Heckit model, which (1) allows us to simultaneously model both decisions and detect their determinants—“green consumerism,” “health consciousness,” “income,” and two psychographics (“green restaurant preference” and “predisposition to make an effort in terms of time and distance”)—and (2) permits the control of sample selections bias, which turns out to be a critical issue in this research.     

Suzhou’s water grid as urban heritage and tourism resource: an urban morphology approach to a Chinese city

ABSTRACT

Historically, many cities were served by water transport as an important mode of circulation. Suzhou in China is a case in point. Its orthogonally designed water-based grid was connected to the Grand Canal and the Tai Lake. Merchants and travellers entering into Suzhou would go through city gates serving both waterborne and road traffic. The water grid once played an important role for commercial activities and social interactions in the city, but over time, more and more canals were filled to pave roads and build houses. The transport system has by now almost entirely switched to the street grid. Drawing on historical maps, chronicles, artwork and existing studies, this paper employs urban morphology as a method to understand the significance of waterways for the identity of Suzhou. The authors argue that the waterways have a high heritage value, but lack practical functions. Tourism development is then presented as a chance to reactivate the water grid for heritage conservation, transport and the enhancement of tourist experiences. The paper supports this argument based on concrete findings, and it critically reflects on the meaning of heritage and discusses the appropriateness of the urban morphology approach for heritage research.     

Changing tourism patterns,capital accumulation,and urban water consumption in Mallorca,Spain: a sustainability fix?

This paper presents interdisciplinary research based on in-depth, comparative analysis of water consumption and land use patterns over a range of urban-tourist forms in Mallorca. The changing tourism patterns towards residential and quality tourism are studied, on the basis that capital investment for capital accumulation and increasing gains are its main drivers. Social awareness about overcrowding and resource limitations has moved the regulatory planning framework toward allowing further urban sprawl, based on the alibi of quality tourism. The rhetoric of this framework represents a first sustainability fix, a fix that hides the higher water demand and climate change issues. The socio-metabolic dimension of this process is analyzed in relation to how it has resulted in an uneven socio-spatial urban landscape of water consumption. This urban-tourist landscape is vulnerable to changes in climate, because it is sustained by an excessive use of water. Water supply is a serious constraint which has been resolved through its commodification and supply privatization, which are considered as a second sustainability fix. This tourism development process worsens rather than solves the metabolic rift, resulting in the second contradiction of capital accumulation between the imperative of continual growth and finite natural resources.     

Shared parent–child leisure time in four countries

The relative influences of resource and cultural differences on leisure behaviour and orientations in a pair of new towns, one in the United States (Reston) and the other in England (Telford) are compared. Three kinds of data were obtained: (a) the investigator lived in Telford for six weeks and participated in formal and informal leisure activities, supplementing observation with informal interviewing; (b) the planning department of Telford Development Corporation supplied materials on residents and their backgrounds, recreation provision and participation, and plans for the future; (c) the survey instrument used with 215 adults in the Reston study was revised and administered to 40 Telford adults.     

Corporate social responsibility: The disclosure–performance gap

As increased stakeholder pressure requires companies to be transparent about their CSR practices, it is essential to know how reliable corporate disclosure mechanisms are, testing the gap between corporate social responsibility claims and actual practice. This study benchmarks corporate social responsibility policies and practices of ten international hotel groups of particular importance to the European leisure market. We found that corporate systems are not necessarily reflective of actual operations, environmental performance is eco-savings driven, labour policies aim to comply with local legislation, socio-economic policies are inward looking with little acceptance of impacts on the destination, and customer engagement is limited. Generally larger hotel groups have more comprehensive policies but also greater gaps in implementation, while the smaller hotel groups focus only on environmental management and deliver what they promised. As the first survey of its kind in tourism, both the methodology and the findings have implications for further research.