Absorptive capacity and firm performance: The mediating role of strategic agility

The purpose of the study was to examine the mediating role of strategic agility in absorptive capacity’s effects on the firm performance of accommodation establishments in Turkey. A survey was used to collect data. Questionnaires were conveyed via e-mail and 190 applicable questionnaires were gathered. From the exploratory factor analyses, absorptive capacity was determined to have two dimensions (acquisition and use). While the acquisition dimension was revealed not to have a direct effect on firm performance, the use dimension was found to have a direct effect on firm performance. The acquisition and use dimensions have a positive effect on strategic agility and strategic agility positively affects firm performance. In addition, it was revealed that the acquisition and use dimensions have an indirect effect on firm performance through strategic agility.     

Sustainability practices of family firms: the interplay between family ownership and long-term orientation

Sustainability practices are critical for family firms, as they relate directly to the continuity of the business and relationships with important stakeholders, such as members of the local community. Nevertheless, not all family firms wish to adopt sustainability practices. To examine this, we draw upon the socioemotional wealth perspective in order to develop a theoretical model of the direct negative effects of family ownership on the adoption of sustainability practices. We also suggest moderating effects of long-term orientation (LTO) on this link. Our model is tested on a sample of 195 family firms in the tourism and hospitality sector. The results support our hypothesis that family ownership negatively influences the adoption of sustainability practices. Additionally, LTO moderates the relationship between family ownership and the adoption of sustainability practices, such that family owners with a high LTO are more likely to adopt this particular practice compared to those with a low LTO.     

The sustainability behaviour of small firms in tourism: the role of self-efficacy and contextual constraints

This article presents a grounded theory to explain why some small businesses in tourism adopt sustainable business practices while others do not, even when they share environmental and wider sustainability concerns. It does so based on research undertaken among business owners in Crete. The paper starts by considering studies on sustainability awareness, knowledge and the mechanisms for accepting responsibility. Secondly, it summarises the influence of task difficulty and effort on sustainability self-efficacy. Thirdly, it focuses on social comparisons and vicarious experiences, as a way of learning what is important. Finally, it examines powerlessness due to perceived situational constraints. In so doing, the study finds that self-efficacy helps to explain sustainable attitude formation and the attitude-behaviour gap; it partly shifts the locus of responsibility for an inability to act sustainably away from the individual and towards their context. The paper contributes to the theoretical literature on small businesses and sustainability, and leads to new avenues for policy interventions.     

Sustainability implementation in restaurants: A comprehensive model of drivers,barriers, and competitiveness-mediated effects on firm performance

This study examines sustainability implementation in restaurants by theorizing and testing a comprehensive model of antecedents and effects. It represents positive and negative pressures toward sustainability respectively by entrepreneurs’ attitude and barriers to sustainability, while hypothesizing that customer satisfaction and competitiveness mediate effects of these practices on firm performance. Covariance-based structural equation modeling is used to analyze survey data on 334 restaurants in North Italy. Results show that sustainability attitude exerts pressure toward sustainability, while barriers in terms of costs, fear of regulation or skepticism about benefits have negative, but lower, effects. Sustainability implementation positively contributes to firm performance, but only via two intermediate measures of business success: competitiveness and customer satisfaction. The study fills a gap in the literature by presenting a whole construct of sustainability, by testing two mediating effects not yet hypothesized and by highlighting in the same model the role of factors enabling and deterring sustainability.     

Understanding small firms in tourism: A perspective on research trends and challenges

Although small firms in tourism have featured on the agendas of policy-makers for several decades, academic interest over the same period has fluctuated. Certainly the flurry of activity that occurred during the early 1990s became a steady flow of somewhat fragmented output rather than the ambitious and coherent programme of research that was anticipated at the time. The paper traces progress in this field by reviewing inter-, multi- and disciplinary studies that contribute to current understanding of small firms in tourism and how this understanding articulates with wider debates within tourism studies. In so doing, it challenges some conventional wisdom and provides an agenda for future research.     

The impact of material and immaterial sustainability on firm performance: The moderating role of franchising strategy

CSR and sustainability engagement is growing rapidly with ever-increasing attention. Accordingly, restaurant stakeholders now demand restaurant companies to disclose relevant ESG information (i.e., materiality) to analyze risks and opportunities that ESG factors bring to firms over the long term. As established in stakeholder theory, restaurant materiality is shaped by a firm's key stakeholders and also by the industry's distinguishing factor, franchising. However, despite their importance and timeliness, materiality and franchising remain largely absent from scholarly discussion in the field of tourism and hospitality. Using a novel industry-specific materiality classification of sustainability initiatives, here we show that franchising positively moderates the impact of investing in immaterial sustainability on firm performance. The results provide early empirical validation of stakeholder theory in relation to restaurant materiality and franchising, and show the impact of allocating a firm's resources to material and immaterial sustainability issues on firm performance in the restaurant context.     

Ecotourism-related products and activities, and the economic sustainability of small and medium island chalets

Environment-related products and activities in the tourism industry are popular among visitors to Malaysia. Such is the case off the coast of East Peninsular Malaysia, where several coral islands offer various ecotourism activities. The present study examines the products and activities offered in the four islands and related issues on the economic sustainability of small and medium island chalets (SMICs). Through the multi-method approach, results show that island hopping and combination tours are the most popular products. Meanwhile, snorkeling, round-island trips, and diving are the most highlighted activities. These ecotourism-related activities are mainly due to the attractiveness of the environment, which has drawn large numbers of tourists to the chalets on these islands. SMICs established their businesses in the late 1990s on the back of growing confidence in the tourism industry in the 1980s. Visitors include almost equal numbers of both local and international tourists. SMICs’ product and activity development are highly correlated with environmental attractions, thus positively contributing to the economic sustainability of SMICs. The present study proposes that the most appropriate business model for SMICs would be that of a small local business community operating in the island. This model would help maintain the sustainability of the island-tourism sector.     

The relationship between CRM, RM, and business performance: A study of the hotel industry in Taiwan

This study aims to investigate the implementation of customer relationship management (CRM) and its effect on relationship marketing (RM) and business performance, through an analysis of the hotel industry in Taiwan. A survey on hotels, including general and tourist hotels, and bed and breakfasts (B&Bs) was conducted, and a total of 560 questionnaires were returned. The results showed that implementing CRM has a significant and positive influence on the RM effect, positively affecting business performance for both hotels and B&Bs. However, a comparison of the influential paths of relationship models between hotels and B&Bs showed that, for hotels, the Internet service and customer support functions of the CRM strategy are the main sources of influence on the RM effect and business performance, whereas for B&Bs, the marketing support function of the CRM strategy alone influences the RM effect and business performance. To achieve higher performance, the different types of hotel enterprises should understand their main advantage before implementing key CRM strategies.     

Walking the talk in diversity management: Exploring links between strategic statements,management practices,and external recognition

Despite a link between external recognition for diversity management and important financial outcomes, very little research has examined the organizational efforts that can lead to such external recognition. To address this gap, this study examines the links between strategic diversity statements, diversity management practices, and external recognition of diversity using the theoretical lenses of the resource-based view (RBV) and institutional theory. Data on diversity statements and practices were collected from 27 Fortune 1000 companies, and, using a time-lag approach, external recognition data were collected from professional organizations one year later. Results show that organizations that “walk the talk” and institute both diversity statements and practices were more likely to gain external recognition. This study provides timely and practical recommendations for hospitality firms to integrate diversity statements with diversity practices, a process that may lead to external recognition and thus to favorable outcomes.     

The relationship between institutional ownership and casino firm performance

This study examined the relationship between institutional ownership and firm performance in the casino industry from 1999–2003. Given the evidence of the endogeneity of institutional ownership in the casino industry, institutional ownership was found to be a significant and positive determinant of casino firm performance as measured by a proxy for Tobin's Q in a simultaneous equations system. This study reveals that investing institutionally in casino firms may help casino industry investors mitigate the agency problem caused by the separation of management from ownership. In addition, financial institutions tend to invest in larger casino firms with lower financial leverage.     

Corporate social responsibility reporting by the global hotel industry: Commitment,initiatives and performance

The current study evaluates corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting practice among the largest hotel companies in the world. Based on the content analysis of websites and reports published online by the top 150 hotel companies in the world in summer 2010, it identifies the communication methods used by hotel companies as well as the scope of reported information. Specifically, it demonstrates that while a large number of companies report commitment to CSR goals, much smaller number of them provide details of specific initiatives undertaken to contribute to these goals and even less of them report actual performance achieved. The study also identifies a number of challenges which make it very difficult to meaningfully compare performance of the hotel groups that do report it, including issues such as different methodologies applied, different measures used and lack of clarity with respect to the scope of reporting.     

Asymmetric relationship between attribute performance and customer satisfaction: A new perspective

The objectives of this study were two-fold. First, this inquiry attempted to provide additional support to the studies conceptualizing the relationship between attribute-level performance and overall satisfaction as non-linear or asymmetric. Second, the study aimed to provide an explanation to the observed asymmetry, thus addressing the gap in the previous research in the area. Asymmetric response of customer satisfaction to different types of attribute performance was tested and interactions between attributes were examined as an explanation for the observed asymmetry. Results of the study confirmed the non-linear nature of the customer satisfaction function. Moderating effects of attribute type explained the asymmetrical relationships between attribute performance and customer satisfaction, thereby providing theoretical rationalization to the observed, but often ignored, phenomenon.     

The relationship between board diversity and firm performance in the lodging industry: The moderating role of internationalization

Following the emphasis on board diversity and its roles on firm performance, an examination on the relationship between board diversity and firm performance in the lodging industry is conducted. Further, this study employs internationalization, a moderator, to more comprehensively investigate the board diversity-firm performance relationship. This study found that gender diversity shows a positive and significant effect on firm performance while age diversity has an insignificant effect on firm performance. Regarding the moderating effect of internationalization, the degree of internationalization significantly magnifies the effect of gender diversity on firm performance but insignificantly moderates the effect of age diversity on firm performance. This study attempts to contribute to the hospitality and tourism literature by examining the topic that has been rarely dealt with and provide practical guidelines for stakeholders of a lodging firm especially when selecting board members.     

The relationship between organizational commitment and contextual performance among private club leaders

The present study examined the factor structure of, and relationships between, multi-dimensional constructs of organizational commitment (OC) and contextual performance (CP) in the context of the private club industry. Data were collected from private club leaders (N = 549) via a web survey. Structural equation modeling showed that affective commitment (AC) had the strongest positive effects on both dimensions of CP. Continuance commitment (CC) related negatively to both dimensions of CP; however, the relationship between CC and job dedication only was statistically significant. Normative commitment was associated positively with both dimensions of CP, but these two relationships were not statistically significant.     

Tourism,information technologies and sustainability: an exploratory review

ABSTRACT

Considerable attention has been paid in recent years to the fundamental changes in the global tourism system related to the emergence of information technologies (IT), and, specifically, the rise of social media. Opportunities to search travel-related information, to reserve and book, evaluate and judge; to receive travel advice and to communicate one's mobility patterns have all profoundly changed the practices of performing tourism, with concomitant repercussions for the management and marketing of businesses and destinations. This paper provides a discussion of the implications of these changes for the sustainability of the global tourism system. Based on an exploratory research design, key changes in the tourism system are identified and discussed with regard to their environmental, socio-cultural and psychological, as well as economic significance. The paper concludes that IT affects the tourism system in numerous and complex ways, with mixed outcomes for sustainability: while most changes would currently appear to be ambivalent – and some outright negative – there is considerable potential for IT to support more sustainable tourism. Yet, this would require considerable changes in the tourism system on global, national and individual business' levels, and require tourism academics to probe many new issues.     

Tourism culture: Nexus,characteristics, context and sustainability

This article makes the case for tourism culture; the new cultural expressions, practises and identities, influenced by hosts, guests and industry context, which may develop in destinations, as a useful perspective with which to draw together various conceptual narratives within the tourism studies literature. Research in three small islands finds evidence of a distinctive cultural landscape which emerges from the interaction of host and guest cultures, and the exchange, change and creativity that results. Tourism industry dynamics are found to facilitate or undermine this process, as in turn they may be influenced by. This tourism culture has implications for the continuation and evolution of indigenous culture, as it does for the absorption of elements of tourist cultures. The emergent fusion may be symptomatic of a richer cultural landscape and might be considered as an indicator of more sustainable communities and forms of tourism development.     

Exploring the relationship between food and spirituality: A literature review

Spirituality is emerging as a novel research area throughout different subjects but being a highly subjective and controversial topic, it very often fails to deliver academically (McSherry and Cash, 2004). Spirituality, in the same way as food, is not merely about theories or concepts but is deeply embedded in the practical elements of life (Salonen, 2018). From that perspective, the conjoint area of research between food and spirituality is auspicious fertile land for new knowledge both for academics and practitioners. The general aim of this review is to synthesize current available literature on spiritual aspects of food consumption in attempt to find reoccurring themes and ultimately establish a useful definition for future research.     

Sustainability awareness,management practices and organisational culture in hotels: Evidence from developing countries

The subject of sustainability and it its management in the hotel context is somewhat volatile with varied evidence in support of different viewpoints. This study, adopting Situated Cognition (SC), explores the role of organisational culture in sustainability practice and awareness among hotel practitioners. The findings from this study reveal that management practice of sustainability has strong relationship with both organisational culture and employees’ sustainability awareness. However, organisational culture only mediates the relationship between sustainability awareness and management on country to country basis. The study recommends that owner-managers need to realise the importance of building up a robust organisational culture particularly in support of their sustainability management and empowerment of their staff.     

Sustainable hotel practices and nationality: The impact on guest satisfaction and guest intention to return

The purpose of this study is to identify how sustainable hotel practices impact the satisfaction and intention to return of hotel guests from different nationalities. Surveys were completed by hotel guests in a popular tourist destination in Mexico. Multiple regression and multinomial logistic regression were applied to test the hypotheses. Results of this study supported the research hypotheses that indicate green practices overall do have a positive relationship on guests’ satisfaction levels and return intentions for Mexicans, Americans and other nationalities. Additionally, it was shown that the relative importance of green practices differs according to the nationality of the guest.     

An exploratory study of the relationship between customer-based casino brand equity and firm performance

This exploratory study examines the relationship between customer-based casino brand equity and firm performance using Macau casinos as a sample. The results indicated that better-performing casino brands were associated with greater customer-based brand equity, which comprises brand loyalty, brand image and brand awareness. Furthermore, Asia Pacific-based casino brands in Macau outperformed their U.S.-based counterparts in terms of customers’ perceived quality, suggesting the need for U.S.-based casino brands to better cater for the needs of Macau casino visitors and to localize their services. Future research directions are also suggested.