Customer Loyalty under the Influence of Revenue Management: The Case of Taiwanese Hotel Customers

Revenue management (RM), a common practice for the hotel industry, has been found to be very effective in generating extra revenue. However, prior studies have shown that the implementation of RM may potentially be in conflict with customer loyalty, the basis for long-term profitability. With a view to alleviating the impact of RM on customer loyalty, this study investigates the relationship between customer loyalty and RM knowledge level, and examines the moderating effect of the fairness perception for pricing based on a survey and the related statistical analyses. The findings suggest that hotel operators should facilitate the RM knowledge and the fairness perception of their customers so as to result in a potential win-win situation, in which profit-seeking hotels increase their revenue through better resource utilization, and heterogeneous customers benefit from more diversified services.     

Sexual Harassment in the Hospitality Industry: Perceptions of Restaurant Employees

Abstract

With the cost of litigation and the dollar amount of settlements both increasing substantially, it is with a pro-active view to look at the perspective of sexual harassment by restaurant employees. The purpose of this study is to measure female restaurant employees' and male restaurant employees' perceptions and attitudes on sexual harassment in the restaurant industry. By analyzing the responses of the female restaurant employees and male restaurant employees, a better understanding of the similarities and differences among these two distinct employee segments could be obtained. This research paper will try to provide some useful information when it comes to sexual harassment in the restaurant industry and what policies should be implemented.     

Development and Validation of the Green Food and Beverage Literacy Scale

This study developed a scale to evaluate green food and beverage literacy (GFBL) among hospitality college students. The scale was developed using a six-stage scale development process. An expert survey was used to confirm the definition and domain of GFBL and the developed items. Using split questionnaire design, a pretest and initial survey were conducted to purify and confirm the validity of each literacy scale. An integrated survey was then administered to 250 senior hospitality college students to confirm the reliability and validity of the entire GFBL scale. Finally, a new set of 245 samples of data was used to examine the cross-validation of the entire GFBL scale. Based on the results of second-order confirmatory factor analysis using 60 items, eight literacy factors were identified. The results indicated that the most crucial factor of GFBL is individual consumer behavior pertaining to green food and beverage (GFB). Potential theoretical and practical applications of this scale are also discussed.     

Perceptions of restaurant employees in Asia Pacific on sexual harassment in the hospitality industry

A major issue facing all of the hospitality industry is that of sexual harassment and the explosion of the number of sexual harassment lawsuits being filed. According to the National Restaurant Industry (U.S.) in 1998, in certain states there are more sexual harassment lawsuits than slip and fall cases filed within the restaurant industry. With the cost of litigation and the dollar amount of settlements both increasing substantially, it is with a pro‐active view to look at the perspective of sexual harassment by restaurant employees. The purpose of this study was to measure the perceptions and attitudes of service personnel, specifically restaurant employees in Hawaii on sexual harassment.     

The conceptual framework for ethics and corporate social responsibility in Taiwanese tourism industry

This study examines ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the Taiwanese tourism industry from the standpoints of the government, academia, and industry through the perspective of Confucianism and creates a comprehensive, tourism-specific ethics and CSR conceptual framework. A qualitative approach was adopted in this study that recruited 21 experts to share their perspectives regarding ethics and CSR in the tourism industry. An original, valuable and comprehensive ethics and CSR conceptual framework in the tourism industry within the context of Chinese society was conducted and includes seven dimensions emerged from the data and were integrated into the following four facets: first, the dimensions of ethics; second, the antecedent facet of CSR is the inside and outside force; third, the strategy facet includes the economy, the environment, society, and culture; and fourth, the consequence aspect is feedback. Further, this research provides value for academics and practical strategy for related fields.     

The Importance of Food Safety in Travel Planning and Destination Selection

Summary

This study investigates the strength of the relationship between the destination choices of respondents and the perceived risk of food-borne illnesses, as well as respondents' sources of information regarding food safety prior to traveling. Results indicate that food safety was of secondary importance to respondents with frequent travelers more willing to discount the use of food safety in their travel decisions. Female respondents were likely to regard food safety as more important than their male counterparts. Africa was the top region that most respondents would avoid due to food safety concerns. Friends and relatives, travel agents, and magazines and newspapers were the most common sources turned to for health and food safety information. Travel agents were not perceived as a reliable source of food safety information.     

Investigating the Structural Relationships Between Food Image,Food Satisfaction,Culinary Quality,and Behavioral Intentions: The Case of Malaysia

This study was designed to test a theoretical model determining the relationships among tourists' perceived food image, food satisfaction, culinary quality, and behavioral intentions. The structural relationships between the variables were examined by adopting a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach, and the empirical data was collected in Malaysia. Analysis of findings revealed that (a) tourists' perceived food image played a role in directly influencing food satisfaction and quality of culinary experience (culinary quality); (b) food image influenced tourists' behavioral intentions through culinary quality; (c) tourist satisfaction with their food experience directly affected perceived quality of their culinary experience and behavioral intentions; and (d) tourists' behavioral intentions were directly affected by their evaluation of culinary quality. This study concluded that food was an imperative contributor in destination tourism due to its capability in influencing tourists' perceived image, food satisfaction, culinary quality, and consequently impacting tourists' behaviors in the selection of a travel destination.     

The Effects of Consumers' Perceived Risk and Benefit on Attitude and Behavioral Intention: A Study of Street Food

This study examined dimensions of consumer risk/benefit perception toward street food and tested their effects on attitude toward street food and behavioral intention. Exploratory factor analysis tested a five risk and two benefit factor model. A conceptual model was tested using structural equation modeling. This study found that perceived risks negatively affected consumer attitude toward street food, and perceived benefits positively affected attitude. In turn, risk perception negatively affected behavioral intention. The study found that attitude toward street food fully mediated the relationship between benefit perception and behavioral intention and partially mediated the relationship between risk perception and behavioral intention.     

The Impacts of Mass Media on Organic Destination Image: A Case Study of Singapore

The shaping of organic destination image received limited investigation though it is an important factor influencing destination image and tourist's intention to travel. This study explores the impacts of mass media on shaping the organic destination image of tourism destinations. The organic destination images of Singapore in the views of Hong Kong residents were explored. This study explores the consumers' subconscious awareness of Singapore, and identifies that organic destination images are the outcome of readers' assimilation of material from newspapers, publications and books. The findings also demonstrate the process underlying the changes of organic destination images due to the information feeding of mass media. The findings indicate the importance for destination marketing organizations to monitor the new reports related to the destination in its main tourist origin countries/regions, and strategically deploy their marketing efforts to leverage the impacts of positive news reports, minimize the negative influence of unfavorable news.     

The motivations of visiting upscale restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic: The role of risk perception and trust in government

Despite the massive impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on hospitality industry, only limited papers empirically examined consumer reactions to current pandemic in the context of restaurants. To fill this gap, the primary aim of this paper is to reveal how individuals’ intentions to visiting upscale restaurants are affected by dining out motivations under the COVID-19 pandemic. The second aim is to investigate the moderating role of risk perceptions of COVID-19 and trust in government in building relationships. The research was conducted in Istanbul, a city deeply affected by the coronavirus. Data gathered from 681 people living Istanbul were analyzed via structural equation modeling and multi-group analysis. Findings indicated that two motivations—namely, sociability and affect regulation—have positive impacts on visit intention toward an upscale restaurant. Consumers’ COVID-19 risk perception and their trust in government moderate the relationship between some motivational factors and visit intention. The study makes a significant contribution to the literature in terms of both managing the risk perceptions of consumers and building trust in government.     

An Empirical Study of Behavioral Intentions in the Food Festival: The Case of Macau

The behavioral intentions of visitors play an important role in predicting future profits in the food festival. The purpose of this study is to identify the dimensions of festival quality and examine the interrelationships between behavioral intentions and the other constructs related to behavioral intentions as perceived by visitors to the food festival using structural equation modeling (SEM). The dimensions of festival quality are built and a multi-dimensional and hierarchical model is used as a framework to synthesize the effects of festival quality and visitor satisfaction on behavioral intentions of visitors to the Macau Food Festival (MFF). The findings of this study are based on SEM analysis of a convenience sample of 428 respondents. The findings reveal that there are four primary dimensions and 11 sub-dimensions of festival quality in the MFF.     

Understanding the Role of Local Food in the Meeting Industry: An Exploratory Study of Meeting Planners' Perception of Local Food in Sustainable Meeting Planning

The growth in socially conscious and sustainable business models has fueled the promotion of green meetings. This fact-finding article explores the viability of sourcing local food to the meeting industry through an investigation of current meeting planning priorities and sustainability values. The results show that there is a viable demand by meeting planners for locally sourced food, that meeting planners have the contractual flexibility on food selection, and that there is a willingness to pay a price-premium for local products. However, an increase in the knowledge of the benefits for both meeting planners and meeting/event attendees is needed to encourage the use of local foods.     

The Theory of Planned Behavior in the Context of a Food and Drink Event: A Case Study

The present case study seeks to contribute to the culinary event management literature, investigating key motivators among participants to the Derbyshire Food and Drink Fair, United Kingdom. A questionnaire, which was partly based on predictors related to the theory of planned behavior was designed and distributed; 308 usable responses were collected. The validity and impact of attitude toward the behavior, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norms on behavioral intention was confirmed. Additionally, several motivators, such as “commitment and perceived importance,” “consumption and entertainment,” “attendance and discovery,” and “joining others” were identified as key factors. Finally, statistically significant differences were noticed among various participating groups, namely, in terms of age, gender, or distance traveled to the event. The findings have important implications for event managers and organizers, in terms of promotion, and addressing the needs and wants of various segments of food festival attendees.     

The role of frequency of patronage and service quality of all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant: A perspective of socio-economic and demographic characteristics of African American consumers

While the sub-cultural group of African American consumers form a large and growing market segment, relatively little study has been done on their attitude and consumption behavior toward the ever popular all-you-can-eat Buffet restaurants. Paper examines the frequency of patronizing all-you-can-eat Buffet restaurants by the African Americans, the criteria that they use to evaluate service quality in those restaurants, as well as, socio-economic and demographic factors that determine their frequency of patronage and service quality evaluation. Results show that “freshness,” “hygiene,” “variety and reliability,” and “value,” are the top four dimensions of service quality most important to this group of consumers. Gender, age, income, and marital status were found to influence their patronage frequency, as well as their service quality evaluation. Managerial implications of findings for targeting and promotional strategies are discussed.     

公司团体套装旅游的影响因素研究——以中国台湾为例

本研究以中国台湾为例,在市场抽样调查的基础上,对公司团体套装旅游的影响因素进行定性分析,并建立定性分析模型.本研究采用半结构式问卷,结合深入访谈法,对台湾的30家高科技公司(其中21家上市公司),进行了深入访谈.经过严谨的分类过程,从5个题项(旅游信息渠道、目的地、行程、餐宿、景点)中产生29个类别.本研究结果表明,"目的地"、"行程"及"景点"是公司规划团体套装旅游时最主要的影响因素.     

The impact of the SARS outbreak on Taiwanese hotel stock performance: An event-study approach

The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003 weakened the Taiwanese economy. The tourism industry suffered the most, experiencing the highest stock price decline (approximately 29 percent) within a month of the SARS outbreak. This research examined the effect of the SARS epidemic on Taiwanese hotel stock price movements using an event-study approach. Seven publicly traded hotel companies experienced steep declines in earnings and stock price during the SARS outbreak period. On and after the day of the SARS outbreak, Taiwanese hotel stocks showed significantly negative cumulative mean abnormal returns, indicating a significant impact of the SARS outbreak on hotel stock performance. Empirical findings could be used to prepare businesses for the similar epidemics, such as a deadly bird-flu epidemic.     

Customer Expectations of Casual Dining Restaurants: The Case of Liberty Tap Room

The current research examines the importance of restaurant attributes as rated by customers dining in a casual-style restaurant located in a medium-sized city in the Southeast United States. Previous research and the models used to measure customer perceptions of restaurant attributes were reviewed. The assessment instrument chosen for the current study was adapted from DinEX, developed by Antun, Frash, Costen, and Runyan (2010). A total of 92 customers completed the survey over a 10-day period in late August and early September of 2011. Results showed that customers rate food and service attributes as most important when dining out. Attributes related to atmosphere received moderate importance ratings. In using a confirmatory factor analysis, six latent variables emerged: social connectedness, service quality, atmosphere, food quality, healthfulness, and food value. The only statistically significant differences between the factors related to the demographic variables were that females rated the healthfulness of the food options as more important than males, and dinner customers rated the food value as more important than the lunch customers. Implications for restaurant operators and suggestions for further research are discussed.     

The Role of Food Tourism in Sustaining Regional Identity: A Case Study of Cornwall,South West England

This exploratory paper examines the role of food tourism in developing and sustaining regional identities within the context of rural regeneration, agricultural diversification and the creation of closer relationships between production and consumption in the countryside. It focuses on Cornwall, South West England, an area with rural development issues, increasing tourism impacts and contested issues of regional identity. A literature and policy analysis, and in-depth interviews with 12 restaurateurs, were undertaken in four popular tourist locations. Correlation was found between increased levels of food tourism interest and the retention and development of regional identity, the enhancement of environmental awareness and sustainability, an increase in social and cultural benefits celebrating the production of local food and the conservation of traditional heritage, skills and ways of life. The paper draws attention to three issues: the role of food tourism in increasing tourist spending, the potential role of food tourism in extending the tourist season, and the re-examination of food tourist typologies within a sustainability framework.     

少数民族山区居民对旅游影响的感知和态度--以柴埠溪国家森林公园为例

接待地居民对旅游影响的感知和态度是国内旅游学研究的一个热点.本文通过问卷调查和访谈,对柴埠溪国家森林公园的土家族山区居民对旅游影响的感知和态度进行了实证研究.结果表明,旅游对少数民族山区居民的语言、生活风俗、民族服饰有显著影响,但对其饮食习惯和地方建筑特色影响不大,旅游所产生的社会文化变迁是积极的;居民对旅游正面影响的感知明显强于对负面影响的感知;旅游对当地居民的经济影响强于旅游的社会文化影响和环境影响.最后建议通过建立健全的旅游社区参与机制来调控居民对旅游影响的感知.     

客观地呈现中国消费者在全球旅游市场中的特性及形象

本文在对一位西方学者的新书进行简单评论的基础上,指出了对中国旅游消费者,尤其是中国出境游客进行研究的紧迫性和必要性.在这本出版于2006年的新书中,中国旅游者被描述成一个被动、无知的群体,而且这个群体在文化上受中国政府左右,缺少像西方游客一般的行为准则,缺乏欣赏西方景观的能力.该书集中代表了西方国家中对中国旅游业及中国旅游者普遍存在的偏见,以及对迅速发展的中国出境游的否定和不安.本文指出,作为扎根于这一崭新的消费群体的中国旅游研究者,是有责任而且有自身的优势向全世界客观地呈现中国旅游消费者的特征和形象的.为此,本文建议对3个迫在眉睫的研究课题,即对中国旅游者的出游动机、中国旅游者的组成成分及中国出境游客的需求进行多方位高层次的分析和研究.