Consumers’ perceptions,attitudes and behavioral intentions regarding the symbolic consumption of auspiciously named foods

The extant literature documents the significance of an auspicious naming strategy using lucky names and/or numbers to promote consumer behavior. However, this practice has rarely been examined in the hospitality literature. Therefore, by integrating value-belief-norm (VBN) theory and the theory of reasoned action (TRA), this study developed a consumer behavior model to examine the influence of customer perceptions of auspiciously named foods on their attitudes and purchase intention. In total, 475 surveys were collected using a panel data service in China. This study examined the structural relationships among personal values, superstitious beliefs, attitudes, social norms, and purchase intentions. The results revealed the salient role of social norms in determining auspicious consumption. Additionally, age was found to moderate the effects of attitude and social norms on purchase intention. These results provide important insight into how to develop effective marketing strategies to increase the sales of auspiciously named food products.     

The roles of attitude,subjective norm,and perceived behavioral control in the formation of consumers’ behavioral intentions to read menu labels in the restaurant industry

Increases in food-away-from-home purchases brought public awareness to policies for improving nutritional value of foods served at restaurants. As a result, offering choices to consumers that affect health and wellness has become a growing concern in the food industry and restaurants, as evidenced by provisions for nutritional labeling to guide consumers’ food purchasing decisions for healthy eating. This study pursues an empirical examination of the consumers’ behavior toward reading nutritional labeling at casual-dining restaurants. The study tests the conceptual framework of the proposed effects of constructs on consumers’ behavioral intentions. Findings indicate that the variable of attitude acts as a mediator in the relationship between subjective norm and behavioral intention. This study is meaningful to academia by offering insights into the relationship between consumers’ behavior and nutritional information in the context of restaurants and is beneficial to the restaurant industry by offering implications for establishing marketing strategies to improve consumers’ perceptions of menu items.     

Corporate brand strategy: Drivers and outcomes of hotel industry’s brand orientation

The MNC resellers are vastly competitive and capital-intensive. Based on the corporate brand orientation, the objective is to investigate how the individual dimensions of hotel industry’s brand orientation can improve a corporate experience and subsequently create superior hotel performance and retailer preferences. A model of the integration of the hotel industry’s brand orientation was tested in a survey conducted among MNC resellers from hospitality industry. Structural equation modelling was applied to gain insight into the various influences and relationships. The research makes two main contributions. It makes a theoretical contribution by classifying the integration of the hotel industry’s brand orientation for hospitality industry and from this extrapolate key suggestions for further study. The continuous evolution and economic influence of the hospitality industry require the application of innovative marketing practices.     

Restaurant Customers’ Perceptions of Noise and Their Satisfaction and Loyalty Behaviors

This exploratory study expands the current literature on servicescapes by examining the total noise environment in restaurants and the impact of ambient noise levels and general restaurant attributes on customer satisfaction and loyalty behavior, defined as the customer's willingness to return to a restaurant and motivation to recommend it. The researchers surveyed guests at one casual dining restaurant in the Southwestern United States. The results showed that services, physical attributes, and quality of food and beverage had significant impact on overall satisfaction, overall atmosphere, and loyalty behaviors. Noise level factors such as effects of noise and appropriateness of noise levels, influenced overall satisfaction, but not loyalty behaviors.     

Factors affecting international event visitors’ behavioral intentions: the moderating role of attachment avoidance

ABSTRACT

This study developed and tested a theoretical framework of event quality, motivation, value, and destination image in order to investigate visitors’ behavioral intentions to revisit an international event, along with the moderating role of attachment avoidance. Results revealed that the relationships among event quality, motivation, value, image, and behavioral intentions were highly significant. Attachment avoidance was additionally found to moderate the relationships between quality and value, motivation and value, value and destination image, and value and behavioral intentions. Findings further provide specific implications for both theoretical insight and marketing practice in the context of annual and international events.     

Environmental corporate social responsibility and the strategy to boost the airline’s image and customer loyalty intentions

This study aimed to uncover the role of an airline’s environmental corporate social responsibility in conjunction with building loyalty intentions of its customers while considering the mediating impact of its brand image, love and respect, as well as the moderating effect of environmental concerns. Our results from the structural analysis showed the salient role of environmental corporate social responsibility in determining loyalty intentions, and it was also a significant contributor to improving brand image, love, and respect that acted as significant mediators. Moreover, the results demonstrated a significant moderating effect of environmental concern on the brand respect and loyalty relationship.     

Positive emotions and behavioral intentions of customers in full-service restaurants: Does aesthetic labor matter?

Based on the Mehrabian–Russell model, this study investigates whether aesthetic labor performance affects the positive emotions and behavioral intentions of customers in full-service restaurants. This research also identifies the mediating effects of positive emotions on aesthetic labor and behavioral intentions. A total of 320 valid questionnaires were collected from the customers of a well-known chain of restaurants in Taiwan. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate a model linking aesthetic labor, positive emotions, and behavioral intentions. The results revealed that aesthetic labor positively and significantly influences positive emotions and behavioral intentions, and that positive emotions positively and significantly influence behavioral intentions. However, when the control variables of food quality, ambiance, and service quality were added, aesthetic labor did not positively influence behavioral intentions. In addition, positive emotions did not mediate the relationship between aesthetic labor and behavioral intentions. Finally, we provide a discussion on practical implications and suggestions for future research.     

Environmental knowledge and consumers’ intentions to visit green hotels: the mediating role of consumption values

ABSTRACT

The aim of this research is to explore the effect of environmental knowledge on consumers’ intentions to visit green hotels through consumption values. The research data was collected using the questionnaire survey. The results showed that environmental knowledge is significantly related to consumption values of consumers, which in turn has significant impacts on the visiting intentions. Moreover, this study also found that consumption values mediate the relationship between environmental knowledge and the intentions to visit green hotels. According to the results, the implications, limitations, and the directions of follow-up research were discussed.     

The effect of brand popularity statements on consumers’ purchase intentions: The role of instrumental attitudes toward the act

Marketers increasingly use brand popularity statements in attempts to influence consumers’ purchase decisions. Through the use of two experiments this research finds that a brand's popularity statement exerts a greater positive influence on the purchase intentions of consumers who possess less favorable instrumental attitudes toward the associated act (i.e. useless/foolish/harmful) than on purchase intentions of those consumers who have more favorable instrumental attitudes toward the act (i.e. useful/wise/beneficial). Further, this research also finds that a popularity statement for a brand of which society generally has a less favorable instrumental attitude toward the associated act (e.g. fast food consumption) has a larger positive influence on consumers’ purchase intent than does a popularity statement for a brand of which society generally has a more favorable instrumental attitude toward the associated act (e.g. dining at a casual theme restaurant). These findings suggest that brand popularity statements should be targeted at those consumers who might possess less favorable attitude toward the associated act or can be most effective in sectors in which consumer sentiment is generally low (e.g. the fast food sector).     

Factors influencing local residents’ intentions to conserve the built heritage in Tanzania

This study used the dominant cognitive-based theory of planned behaviour (TPB) complemented by the affection-based attachment theory (AT) to investigate factors influencing local residents’ conservation intentions. Thus, in addition to TPB’s variables, such as attitudes towards conservation, perceived social pressure and perceived control over conservation, the study considered the effects of heritage affection on conservation intentions. Cross-sectional questionnaire-based data gathered from the three historic towns of Zanzibar Stone Town, Kilwa Kivinje and Pangani in Tanzania were analysed using Structural Equation Modelling. The TPB’s variables and heritage affection all showed a positive and significant correlation with conservation intention. The empirical data therefore supported using the TPB, complemented by the AT, to explain engagement in conservation in the built heritage setting. The study concludes that conservation intention is best viewed as a mixture of cognitive and affective factors. Theoretical and managerial implications as well as suggestions for future studies are provided.     

How to enhance hotel guests’ acceptance and experience of smart hotel technology: An examination of visiting intentions

Smart hotel is a novel concept in the hospitality industry, and few studies have examined hotel consumers’ intentions to visit smart hotels. This study investigates the relationship between technology readiness (TR) and technology amenities (TA) as antecedents to visiting intentions, using an extended technology acceptance model (TAM). Based on an online survey with 648 valid responses, the results indicate that perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness are correlated with TA, but not with TR. Furthermore, TR affects intentions to visit smart hotels, but TA does not. The findings enrich the hospitality literature and have practical implications for hospitality marketers designing technology-related marketing strategies to maintain competitiveness. This study contributes to raising awareness of the importance of technological amenities and services for the future visiting intentions of hotel consumers.     

Crafting and testing a central precept in service-dominant logic: Hotel employees’ brand-citizenship behavior and customers’ brand trust

Employees play an important role in hotel service branding. Their enactments of positive brand-supportive behaviors help nurture positive customer–brand relationships. This study explores the relationship between employee perceived organizational support, brand citizenship behavior, and customers’ perceptions of brand trust. Two questionnaire surveys were carried out in high-contact hotel service firms collecting employee and customer data by matched-questionnaires. The results of the study indicate that brand-citizenship behavior consists of three components: willingness-to-help, brand enthusiasm, and propensity for further development. Propensity for further development has a significant direct positive effect on the other two components, and the other two components both have significant direct positive effects on customer's brand trust. Employee-perceived higher levels of organizational support increase performance of brand citizenship behavior. The study includes empirical findings, contributions to theory, limitations, and direction for future research.     

Quality,Satisfaction and Customers’ Future Intention: The Case of Hotels’ Fitness Centers in Cyprus

In an era of fierce competition, financial hardship, and volatile customer expectations the hospitality industry is seeking out new revenue centers that can both enrich the customer experience, and contribute to financial success. Capturing the attention of the industry, fitness centers have become a fundamental component of the contemporary hospitality experience with numerous strategic, operational and tactical implications. Responding to the need for further empirical investigation, the study, by adopting a quantitative methodology, holistically investigates quality, satisfaction, and behavioral intention in fitness centers currently operating in upscale hospitality establishments in Cyprus. Findings suggest that satisfaction with the provision of fitness services in hotels is primarily associated with the dimensions of employee behavior and workout facilities. Moreover, workout facilities was the only quality dimension which was significantly associated with the respondents’ intention to renew their membership, whereas a strong relationship between satisfaction and future intention was substantiated.     

Travel app users’ continued use intentions: it’s a matter of value and trust

This study examines the factors that influence the continued use intention of mobile apps designed for travel-related purposes. Interviews with 22 individuals provided data for developing a conceptual model of travel app continued use intention. The model draws on the expectation confirmation model framework, as well as interviews, to illustrate the relationship between functional value, hedonic value, satisfaction, and trust, and to discuss the link between moderators of familiarity, travel purposes, travel app types, and technology proficiency as predictors on continued use. The study’s results establish an in-depth understanding of continued use for travel apps.     

Hotel school alumni’s intentions to use communication channels – a cross-generational comparison study

ABSTRACT

Alumni communication is vital in sustaining the relationship between alumni and their alma maters. This research investigated four cohorts of alumni, and their intentions to use a range of traditional and digital communication channels, including social media. An online questionnaire was sent to 8060 alumni and resulted in 595 usable responses, yielding a 7% response rate. The research results showed that alumni have the highest intentions to use the alumni e-newsletter and the alumni Website and the lowest intentions to use social media, e.g., Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Among alumni cohorts, significant statistical differences in their intentions to use these communication channels were identified. Given our findings, alumni communication staff are encouraged to leverage different communication channels targeting alumni in different age groups.     

Key factors maximizing art museum visitors’ satisfaction,commitment, and post-purchase intentions

As there is a lack of empirical research examining art museum visitors’ post-purchase behaviors, this study tested the theoretical associations among image congruence, quality, affective experiences, satisfaction, and commitment to build a sturdy model of behavioral intentions. The concept of involvement was also included as a moderator. A field survey at art museums was conducted. The level of construct validity and reliability for all variables were satisfactory. Results of the structural model revealed that the proposed theoretical framework sufficiently accounted for the variance in intentions. Satisfaction was of greatest importance in generating intentions. Commitment and satisfaction acted as important mediators. Among nine hypothesized direct linkages, eight hypotheses were supported. Findings from the invariance model assessment supported the moderating influence of involvement on the relationships among quality, satisfaction, commitment, and intentions. The strength of such relationships among these variables was greater when museum visitors’ involvement level was high.     

The impact of four CSR dimensions on a gaming company’s image and customers’ revisit intentions

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives affect casino customers’ corporate image as well as the customers’ behavioral intentions (i.e., revisit intentions), through the lens of Carroll’s corporate social performance model, stakeholder theory, and legitimacy theory. This study also examines the mediating effect of corporate image on the relationship between perceived CSR and behavioral intentions. An onsite survey was conducted with 596 casino customers in South Korea. The results revealed that ethical CSR had the strongest impact on corporate image, followed by economic and philanthropic CSR. Only philanthropic CSR had a significant and direct effect on behavioral intentions. Corporate image mediated the relationship between three types of CSR (ethical, economic, and philanthropic) and behavioral intentions. Companies can benefit from these findings by understanding how specific CSR initiatives can enhance corporate image and increase customer retention. This study advances the emerging field of CSR in the gaming industry.