Social tourism and well-being in later life

Studies of social tourism have concentrated on the benefits for young families and people with disabilities, yet few analyses have investigated its wellbeing value for economically disadvantaged older people. Based on participant-driven interviews during a UK social tourism trip, this paper informs understandings of social tourism experiences and explores the links between wellbeing and social tourism opportunities for older people. It reveals that social tourism presents older individuals with occasions for escape, respite, companionship, and reminiscence and for renegotiation of self-identity following spousal bereavement, but that these trips can be anxiously anticipated. The study proposes a research agenda, which explores the physiological, psychological, social and spiritual impacts of social tourism on older people’s wellbeing.     

Social exchanges as motivators of hotel employees’ organizational citizenship behavior: The proposition and application of a new three-dimensional framework

This study developed and empirically tested a three-dimensional framework of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in the hotel industry. Using a social exchange perspective, the study expanded social exchange theory's emphasis on leader–member exchange to include coworker exchange and customer–employee exchange. The three types of social exchanges were tested as motivators for three types of OCB; organizational, interpersonal and customer. The findings support the distinctiveness of the three types of OCB and the importance of social exchanges as motivators for OCBs. This study contributes to the literature on OCB dimensionality in service organizations, as well as social exchange theory's application to discretionary performance in the hotel industry.     

Testing the Moderation Effect of Hotel Ambience on the Relationships Among Social Comparison,Affect, Satisfaction,and Behavioral Intentions

This study incorporated the social service environment in the hotel guest affect–satisfaction–behavioral intention model in order to elucidate the effect of social comparison on consumption-based affect by factoring in the moderation effect of hotel ambience on relationships. Structural equation modeling of survey data from hotel guests revealed that social comparison significantly influences hotel guests’ affect, and that affect has a critical role in inducing satisfaction and behavioral intentions. Hotel ambience moderates the model’s relationships – high ambience strengthens the relationships more so than low ambience. Results affirm the inclusion of social environments in predicting hotel guest experiences and shed light on managerial implications for bettering service provision.     

Social disruption theory and crime in rural communities: Comparisons across three levels of tourism growth

The study compares rural tourism places under different growth levels in terms of crime effects. Adopting social disruption theory, the study hypothesized that average crime rates would differ for tourism counties with different growth levels, and that high growth tourism counties would experience the greatest increase in average crime rates. The study used data from a sample of rural Colorado tourism communities. Results partially supported the hypothesis and confirmed some results of the relationships between rapid growth and crime identified in previous boomtown studies. The results of the study provide useful insights to public leaders and policy makers engaged in processes of evaluating alternative tourism growth strategies for their community.     

How Global Airports Engage Social Media Users: A Study of Facebook use and its Role in Stakeholder Communication

Examining airports’ use of Facebook, particularly the types of information they have provided to, and established with, users, this study was conducted using the framework of the five functional aspects: communications, promotions, product distribution, research, and management relationship building. The results show that the airports studied used Facebook for various aspects of communication with users, different airports concentrating on different areas. The study also supports previous findings in revealing a lack of strategic marketing, and showing that the limited uniformity of airports’ Facebook pages lessens the effectiveness of communication. The findings of this study benefit airports, especially those with limited budgets and limited human resources for social media. The findings also imply and highlight actions and strategies being used to successfully promote posts on Facebook. The use of such strategies is expected to gain airports greater popularity and enable them to develop a more positive public image.