Corporate social responsibility signaling,evaluation, identification,and revisit intention among cruise customers

Abstract

Improvements in customer knowledge and interest in cruise tourism have facilitated the growth of the cruise industry. However, the cruise industry has limited research attention from tourism and hospitality scholars. Furthermore, in the cruise setting, although a large number of corporate social responsibility (CSR) messages are sent to customers, it seems reasonable to suspect that not all CSR activities are effective to achieve the sustainable growth of the company. Therefore, this study aims to expand the existing knowledge of cruise CSR by examining the impact of customers’ perceived value of socially responsible consumption behavior on brand-related outcomes. Data from 292 cruise customers in the United States are collected through online surveys. Findings support the evidence that CSR signaling influences customers’ positive evaluation and identification with a cruise brand, but no direct impact on their behavioral intention is observed. Also, the mediating role of evaluation and identification in the relationship between CSR signaling and revisit intention is examined. In this study, the signaling and social identity theories are supported by an empirical study to addresses the importance of customers’ socially responsible consumption trait in sustainable growth.     

Customers’ relationships leading to brand tribalism and tribe behavioral intentions

This study investigates the influence of customer relationships on brand tribalism and tribe behavioral intention in the cruise industry. A survey was conducted on a sample of 254 luxury cruise travelers. Results suggest that customer/brand and customer/other cruiser relationships have positive influences on brand tribalism, leading to brand tribe behavioral intention. Involvement moderates the influence of sense of community on brand tribe behavioral intention. Despite the critical importance of successful brand management, it has been little known the leading factors affecting brand tribalism. Furthermore, there is a linkage void with relationship marketing although it is significantly related to brand management. To fill this gap, this paper proposes an explanatory model in which the two leading factors of the relationship are associated with brand tribalism, leading to brand tribe behavioral intentions. The findings will contribute to the development of brand-related theory and managerial directions for practitioners.     

Intergroup contact between front-line cruise staff and LGBT passengers

This article explores front-line cruise employees’ interaction with LGBT passengers. Covert data were gathered with 70 staff, many of whom were from developing countries where attitudes to LGBT people can be less accepting. Encounters are illuminated using Allport's (1954) intergroup contact theory. Interactions between staff and gay passengers were largely positive, helping normalise homosexuality and diminish negative attitudes. Staff interactions were moderated by factors such as prior knowledge of gay people, their previous service experience on gay charters, gender, the influence of working for gratuities and the sense of fun onboard. The gay cruise provides the context that gives rise to moderating conditions, which then facilitate the mediating processes such as reduced intergroup anxiety and increased cultural learning of gay lifestyles. Suggestions for future research between cruise companies and their employees explore how other variables may positively influence staff service-gay customer interactions. Managerial implications are offered for the cruise sector.     

Cruise ship dining experiencescape: The perspective of female cruise travelers in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic

The cruise dining experience is one of the core elements of the overall cruise travel experience as guests fulfill their cognitive and affective needs in this pleasant environment. Nonetheless, the cruise dining experience has been sparsely researched. There is also no holistic model conceptualizing the cruise ship dining experiencescape. This study explores how under the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, cruise ship dining environment stimuli dimensions are evaluated by female cruise travelers. Female travelers are the major spenders and travel decision-makers. They are also the dominant customer group in the cruise sector. Their perception of cruise ship dining environment is leading to their positive emotional responses and approach behavior. More precisely, this study demonstrates the potency of the moderating role of a perceived health risk from COVID-19, which strengthens female travelers’ perceptions of the dining atmosphere and interaction with other guests by evoking positive emotions and influencing their approach behavior.     

Enhancing Luxury Cruise Liner Operators' Competitive Advantage: A Study Aimed at Improving Customer Loyalty and Future Patronage

The services marketing literature focuses on the measurement of service quality and its impact and consequences on businesses. How service quality affects behavioral outcomes such as repeat purchases and loyalty continues to be debated. This study examines how service quality operates in the cruise liner industry—an industry that is now facing overcapacity. Based on data collected from travelers of a luxury cruise liner in Singapore, this study analyzed relevant dimensions of service quality and their relationships on overall satisfaction level. Additionally, it investigated details of cruise travelers' behavioral outcomes. The analysis revealed gaps in several service quality attributes. Overall customer satisfaction had a relatively strong relationship with all the three variables of behavioral intentions. The implications of the results of this study to the services marketing literature in general and to the cruise liner industry in particular are discussed.     

游客间互动对再惠顾意愿的影响研究——基于游客体验的视角

同顾客与员工、顾客与服务环境之间的互动研究相比,服务接触中顾客间互动的研究明显匮乏,这也逐渐成为了服务接触理论进一步深化研究的关键领域。文章基于顾客体验的视角,构建并实证检验了游客间互动对游客再惠顾意愿影响的概念模型,发现了游客间互动的4个维度在影响游客体验价值各层面上存在的差异性以及体验价值的不同维度在游客间互动对再惠顾意愿影响中的不同中介作用：礼仪违背、友好交谈对情感性、认知性、社会性体验价值有显著影响,并间接影响游客的再惠顾意愿;一方面干扰和争执对功能性、情感性体验价值有显著的负向影响,建议与帮助对体验价值的4个维度有显著正向影响,进而间接影响游客的再惠顾意愿,另一方面干扰与争执对再惠顾意愿有直接的负向影响,建议与帮助对再惠顾意愿有直接正向影响作用。此外,有效辨识出各人口统计变量的不同水平对各研究变量影响的差异。这对于旅游企业开展良好的顾客关系管理具有重大的指导意义和价值。     

Examining strategies for maximizing and utilizing brand prestige in the luxury cruise industry

The purpose of this research was to examine the antecedents and consequences of brand prestige in the luxury cruise industry in order to provide luxury cruise managers with practical strategies for maximizing and utilizing brand prestige. Based on the existing theoretical background, it was hypothesized that eight types of cruise experience factors influence the formation of brand prestige: food quality, service quality, staff/crew attractiveness, entertainment, ship facilities, ports of call, programs/places for children, and cabin quality. In addition, it was proposed that brand prestige can result in three managerial outcomes: well-being perception, customer brand identification, and brand loyalty. A conceptual model was developed and tested using the empirical data collected from 330 U.S. luxury cruise passengers. The results showed that all of the proposed hypotheses were statistically supported. The key theoretical/managerial implications that were derived from the analysis are presented and discussed in the last part of the article.     

Impacts of cruise industry corporate social responsibility reputation on customers’ loyalty: Mediating role of trust and identification

Despite the high relevance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in service businesses, investigations of its influence on the cruise sector are scarce. Relying on institutional theory, this study proposes a model with cruise customers’ trust and identification as the key factors between CSR reputation and customers’ loyalty. Using data from 292 cruise customers, results support the impact of customers’ perceived CSR reputation of cruise companies on two relational constructs and loyal behavior. Only customers’ identification mediates the relationships between reputation and brand loyalty. Thus, findings suggest that cruise customers likely form high-level loyal behavior when they perceive companies’ CSR activities and their similarities with such companies. From these significant findings, the authors draw several theoretical and practical implications, including the importance of enhancing the company’s focus on its CSR reputations. This study also provides directions to promote identity strengths for enhancing the impact of CSR reputation on company performance.     

Cruising in Asia: what can we dig from online cruiser reviews to understand their experience and satisfaction

In the e-tourism era, online customer reviews with pictures, textual comments, etc. have become a significant information source affecting customers’ purchase intention and behavior. Big data analytics with text mining, semantic network analysis and factor analysis, and regression analysis were applied to help understand cruiser experience and its relationship to cruiser satisfaction in the Asian cruise market through online cruiser reviews. Research results confirmed the dimensions of cruise experience from previous studies, while more importantly, “Onshore attributes” was explored in this study using the insight of big data, which was never investigated as a facet of cruise experience previously.     

The link among board characteristics,corporate social responsibility performance,and financial performance: Evidence from the hospitality and tourism industry

The aim of this study is twofold: to explore whether board characteristics (i.e. a sustainability committee, board independence, board diversity, and board diligence) lead to greater corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance, and to test whether CSR performance enhances firms' financial performance in the hospitality and tourism (H&T) industry. Data were collected from the Thomson Reuters Eikon database for the H&T firms listed there between 2011 and 2018. We employed panel data analysis, after which we ran robustness tests. The results indicated that having a CSR committee and female directors on the board are robust factors driving firms to show superior CSR performance in all dimensions, including environmental, social, and governance (ESG). Independent directors and directors' diligence selectively enhance the overall CSR score and individual pillars of CSR. Investigating the relationship between CSR performance and firms' financial performance did not produce a significant outcome. The findings propose a straightforward roadmap for H&T firms and policymakers to identify characteristics of CSR-friendly boards.     

Will you miss me if I am leaving? Unexpected market withdrawal of Norwegian Joy and customer satisfaction

The first “Made in Germany, Designed for Chinese” luxury cruise, Norwegian Joy, announced an unexpected Chinese-market-withdrawal decision on July 14th, 2018, less than a year after her maiden voyage from Shanghai. How does customer satisfaction change as a response to a cruise's market-withdrawal decision? By resorting to the confirmation of expectation theory, our paper highlights satisfaction as being a function of the baseline effect of expectations plus perceived disconfirmation of expectations. We propose that customer satisfaction will rise because the withdrawal decision implies strategic mistake of the cruise and therefore lowers customer expectation. Drawing on customers' comments on the largest travel agency website in China, we conducted sentiment analysis and used ‘difference in difference’ statistical approach to test our hypothesis. Results show that customer satisfaction increased after Norwegian Joy's withdrawal announcement.     

Marketing Aspects of Consumer Purchasing Behavior and Customer Satisfaction Aboard the Royal Viking Queen

This article is the result of onboard marketing research performed for Royal Viking Line aboard the Royal Viking Queen during the summer of 1993. Via focus groups, attributes of customer purchasing behavior and customer satisfaction are examined. The findings conclude that Royal Viking Line patrons are pleased with their cruise experience.     

境外邮轮旅游市场研究综述

邮轮旅游在我国属于一种新兴的旅游方式,近年来受到产业界和理论界的普遍关注.但目前国内对邮轮旅游市场的研究比较匮乏,所能提供的有关邮轮旅游市场需求特征的信息很少.文章全面检索了国外邮轮旅游市场研究的相关文献,并进行了文献统计分析、主题内容分析.研究发现:国外该领域研究文献的大量出现是在2000年之后,全部为实证研究,研究内容包括邮轮游客基本特征和市场细分、邮轮旅游动机、邮轮旅游决策及影响因素、邮轮旅游体验质量和满意度等方面.在此基础上,文章还就未来国内邮轮旅游市场研究和业界实践提出了若干建议.     

Rituals of cruise consumption and the 'new' middle class: desiring and 'devouring' maritime cruises

The consumption of maritime cruises is one of the most striking facets of the phenomenon of a new middle class emergence in Brazil. This study investigates the use of maritime cruises by emerging middle-class consumers to enact their new social status. Specifically, the research looks at ritualistic behaviour performed by consumers before, during, and after a cruise. The research uses a multi-method design characterised by a combination of ethnography and group discussions. The study contributes to enlarge McCracken’s typology of consumption rituals, showing how emerging consumers use the cruise as a rite of passage, during which they perform rituals of preparation, production, possession, and divestment. It also sheds light on specific rituals performed by consumers in order to transfer meanings from the cruise to their own selves. Finally, the findings suggest that consumption rituals in the context of social ascent may not have the transformative power of traditional rites.     

When social phobia meets excessive service: Effects on customer delight and loyalty

Based on the stress-vulnerability model, this study aims to investigate how social anxiety moderates the customer outcomes of excessive employee effort. Empirical data were collected from 525 respondents. All data were analyzed using PLS-SEM. Our findings indicated that customer delight fully mediated the relationship between excessive employee effort and customer loyalty. Both the negative effects of excessive employee effort on customer delight and customer loyalty were stronger for those high in social anxiety than for those low in social anxiety. The findings provide specific theoretical and practical implications for academics and service operators regarding the implementation of personalized service about delighting customers based on individual heterogeneity and psychological characteristics.     

Corporate social responsibility and customer satisfaction among US publicly traded hotels and restaurants

This study, by performing a path regression analysis, examines a mediating effect of customer satisfaction between corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and firm value for US hotels and restaurants. Further, the study differentiates positive and negative CSR activities in the analysis. Findings suggest that the customer satisfaction does not play a role of a mediator between the two factors for both hotels and restaurants.     

Influence of sustainable hospitality supply chain management on customers’ attitudes and behaviors

This study aims to identify the impact of the environmental, social and economic dimensions of sustainable hospitality supply chain management actions on customers’ attitudes and behaviors including satisfaction, loyalty and willingness to pay a premium for sustainable hospitality goods and services utilizing data collected from U.S. consumers who frequently stay at hotels. Findings suggest that while both environmental and economic dimensions’ actions of sustainable hospitality supply chain management have positive influences on customer satisfaction, loyalty and willingness to pay a premium for sustainable hospitality goods and services, the social dimension actions are found to have a positive influence on customer satisfaction and a negative influence on customer willingness to pay a premium. Results also indicate that customer satisfaction fully mediates the relationship between social dimension actions and customer loyalty. In addition, customer satisfaction positively influences customer loyalty, which ultimately increases customer willingness to pay a premium. The implications of the research findings are provided.     

Physical attractiveness of service employees and customer engagement in tourism industry

As the importance of customer engagement gains more and more recognition, it is critical to study customer engagement strategy in the intensely competitive tourism industry. Answering the call for research on antecedents of tourists' customer engagement in the tourism industry, we consider the role of employees' physical attractiveness. We adopt a mixed-methods approach; using interviews and three scenario-based experiments, we explore, hypothesize, and test the relationship between employees' physical attractiveness and customer engagement of tourists. The results show that (1) physical attractiveness of employees affects tourists' customer engagement, that (2) the main effect of physical attractiveness is mediated by the desire for social interaction, and that (3) the main effect is moderated by tourism service characteristics (i.e., tourism service expertise).     

Tourism crisis management: Can the Extended Parallel Process Model be used to understand crisis responses in the cruise industry?

The purpose of this paper was to understand the effect of crisis communication on people's risk perception attitude, perceived safety, and cruise travel intentions. Specifically, this study was concerned with the emerging health issues of Norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships. A between-subjects experiment was conducted. Responses were collected from 169 participants after presenting them with different crisis communication messages. Drawing on the Extended Parallel Process Model, the findings revealed that perceived threat directly affected respondents' attitude towards the involved cruise line, while perceived efficacy moderated the relationship between perceived threat and perceived safety of cruising. Additionally, the results of this study indicated that perceived safety mediated the relationship between perceived threat and cruise travel intentions, and this mediating relationship was moderated by perceived efficacy. This study's findings suggest new theoretical approaches for understanding tourism crisis communication and recommend an audience-centered paradigm in communicating health crisis issues in tourism and travel.