LETTER FROM THE GUEST EDITOR

ABSTRACT

Research was undertaken to gain a better understanding of the nature and competitive importance of bidding on events by destination marketing organizations, with emphasis on identifying event selection criteria and critical success factors for winning bids. Data were collected on the goals and nature of the event bidding process from convention and visitor bureaus in Canada. Canadian bureaus were found to be very active in bidding on a diverse range of events, especially meetings, conventions, political events, and sports. Most bureaus encouraged and assisted other local organizations to make bids and themselves concentrated on major events with city-wide economic impacts. Although event selection criteria were frequently not formalized, respondents stressed potential economic impacts, size, media exposure, time of year, available venues, and local involvement. The most important critical success factors for winning bids were strong partners, excellent presentations, and treating each bid as a unique process, but many respondents also felt their destination needed bigger and better facilities and more marketing/bidding resources. To aid in future research and theory-building, a framework is presented to illustrate event bidding as an exchange process between owners and sellers, including antecedent conditions and event selection criteria.     

How and when servant leaders fuel creativity: The role of servant attitude and intrinsic motivation

Workplace creativity is critical to stay ahead in the current competitive hospitality industry. Recent research has suggested that servant leadership fosters creativity. However, there is a lack of research into the mechanisms and situations that make this link possible. This paper examines (1) employee servant attitude as a mediator in the servant leadership–employee creativity relationship, and (2) the role of intrinsic motivation in both the direct and the mediated relationship. Using structural equation modeling to analyze a sample of 259 hotel employees in Spain, we found that servant attitude is one of the mechanisms servant leaders use to foster creativity, and that this mediating role of servant attitude is strengthened as employee intrinsic motivation increases. However, when intrinsic motivation decreases, the mediation reverts and the leadership–employee creativity relationship becomes significant again. New light is shed on how and when servant leadership is most effective in fostering hotel staff creativity.     

Reconnoitering relationships among value,trust, affect,and loyalty at association events

Meetings and conventions organized by associations are considered the most competitive industry segment due to the number of associations and their frequency of regular meetings and events. The success of association events may result from greater attendees' loyalty. This loyalty, in turn, may be determined by association event value they received from the event, trust in the association, and by feelings or affect elicited by the association. However, little research has been done on the value of attending an association event in relation to association trust and affect, leading to loyalty toward an association and association event. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship among “association event value,” “association trust,” “association affect,” and loyalty in the context of association events. The survey has been disseminated to those who had attended an association event no more than 1 year prior to taking the survey. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to test the hypotheses. The findings suggest that attendees' perceived value at an association event builds loyalty toward the association. In addition, association trust and affect mediate the relationship between value and loyalty toward the association.     

Exploring the linkages between managerial leadership,communication and teamwork in successful event delivery

Recent growth of events has triggered research into the determinants of successful event delivery. Communication is one of the determinants, and the importance of managerial leadership in enabling communication across an event's team is recognised. Empirical research on the attributes of event managers that make them good leaders from the perspective of an event's team is however limited. Through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with employees of an established events company in the UK, this study explores the role of managerial leadership in the success of an event, referring in particular to the enablers and inhibitors of effective communication. The study finds that leadership capacity of managers correlates with their personal and inter-personal competencies. On a personal level, poor motivational and interaction skills reduce the event's team performance. On an inter-personal level, insufficient recognition of the efforts applied by individual team members as well as the entire team serves as an inhibitor.     

Affective forecasting and travel decision-making: An investigation in times of a pandemic

People mentally simulate future events, visualise themselves in these events, and then make predictions about how they would feel. This process is referred to as affective forecasting. Tourism lends itself toward affective forecasting because holiday experiences are not tangible and difficult to judge upfront. The authors conceptualise and empirically examine the mental simulation and affective forecasting in tourist decision-making. Using the COVID-19 pandemic as a proof of concept, they employ an experimental research design to demonstrate that affective forecasting can mitigate risk perceptions and travel decision-making in times of a pandemic. The findings highlight how affective forecasting can be leveraged to predict and change travel behaviour in the aftermath of pandemics, though implications reach beyond this context.     

Industry professionals’ perceptions of sustainability in meeting and event education

ABSTRACT

The size of the Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Events/Exhibitions (MICE) industry, and its popularity as a career choice are growing, along with the number of MICE college programs. Although the industry has begun to recognize its impact on sustainability, and is increasing efforts to improve sustainability-related practices, there is a lack of research on MICE education about sustainability. This study examines MICE professionals’ perceptions about sustainability in meeting and event education in order to help MICE educators equip students with the knowledge that is pertinent to their future. In-depth interviews with 10 MICE professionals show that they think students should learn about sustainability not only as a general concept but also as a business case for meeting and events. Measuring and tracking impacts were also important. The interviewees had mixed views about the industry’s current sustainability practices. Several practical recommendations for MICE educators, and future research topics are discussed.     

Assessing the contribution of a major cycle race to host communities in South Australia

The development of major sport events in rural areas offers opportunities for local communities to engage in leisure, sport and tourism activity. While current studies investigate the impact of sport events on residents individually, little research has taken a community perspective. The purpose of this research was to explore the process of event development and the impact upon social interactions in seven rural communities in the 2012 Tour Down Under cycling race in Australia. Using grounded theory to explore community activities, interviews and focus groups with over 100 participants resulted in the development of a core category of collaboration; and five subcategories to examine the role of the event in stimulating community interaction and social capital. A model of sport event development explains the impact of the event development process on community relations in this rural context. Implications are discussed for managing the relationships between communities and event management organisations.     

Creativity in the business of circus

ABSTRACT

This semi-ethnographic research is an exploration of the creative process from the unique perspective of the circus business. It examines from an interpretivist perspective how circus companies collaborate in the generation and manifestation of ideas, balancing the demands of maintaining a strict physical training regime with devising the circus aesthetic for an expectant audience. The focus of the research is a retired aerial trapeze artist and company director supported by contributions from semi-structured interviews with nine contemporary circus directors and an arts policy officer. Issues were identified from attending three circus network events providing an opportunity to conduct an online questionnaire resulting in thirty-nine responses. Following thematic analysis across all data, key themes emerge identifying networked creativity, productive creativity and intrinsic creativity which correlates to conceptual models of creativity and innovation in organisations. Preliminary findings suggest that networks, skills and intrinsic motivation are integral to creativity within the circus business environment. Whilst this may not be unique to circus, the depth to which it is experienced and its inter-relationality to the form, is readily apparent. This has potential interesting implications for further research within a circus context as well as implications for further exploration of practice in other creative sectors.     

Should I leave this industry? The role of stress and negative emotions in response to an industry negative work event

The effects of subjective stress and negative emotions on work have been theorized and widely researched, but the literature has mostly focused on organization-specific contexts. The purpose of the current paper was to understand the impact of subjective stress and negative emotions associated with COVID-19 on employee attitudes and behaviors toward the hospitality industry. In Study 1, qualitative interviews showed that the COVID-19 pandemic is (1) perceived as a negative event affecting the industry, rather than only affecting a particular job or company, and (2) distressful, provoking negative emotions. In Study 2, a quantitative study examined subjective stress and negative emotions associated with COVID-19, as well as industry turnover intentions and industry negative word-of-mouth as responses to the stress and negative emotions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The current research underscores the importance of studying work events that impact an industry and attitudes and behaviors toward the industry.     

区域间投入产出模型(IRIO)的我国会展业经济影响分析

在事件活动领域,相对于体育活动,关于会展活动经济影响的研究较为薄弱。如何将与会展相关的产业和区域全部纳入其中以避免失真和漏损,是会展经济影响研究的难点之一。该研究首次运用区域间投入产出模型(IRIO),通过将波及的12个产业部门进行归并,计算了我国30个省区会展产业的区域及区域间影响力,并以广交会为案例,进行了会展间接经济影响的实证分析。研究结果显示:我国会展业对国民经济具有较强的拉动作用,而且几乎所有的省区都会产生相互间的波及效应;在总产出层面,会展产业的影响力在东部沿海和中西部地区表现出较为明显的差异性;我国会展业还有一定的发展空间。案例研究表明,第104届广交会的间接经济影响约为162.43亿元(其中广东占比最高,为35.09%),直接与间接效应之比为1:2.94;批发和零售贸易业等五个产业部门受广交会影响较大,合计占比为77%。     

Events and online interaction: the construction of hybrid event communities

Events are per definition limited in time and space. However, the social interaction taking place during events can continue virtually. This can result in hybrid communities, existing of an offline and an online dimension. This paper explores the construction of hybrid event communities based on the following research questions: (1) What type of online practices can be identified before, during and after the event? (2) How do online and offline event practices and rituals influence each other? (3) How do combinations of online and offline practices contribute to the creation and maintenance of hybrid event communities?

The practices of three events were studied using qualitative methods. Fifty-six interviews were conducted, and participant observation took place during 11 editions of the events. This was complemented with an online study.

The findings identify different types of online practices around events such as connecting practices, recruiting practices and creative practices. Moreover, the combinations of practices lead to different types of event communities. The paper develops a framework of online/offline interaction processes that result in different types of event communities, contributing to our knowledge about the role that events can play in the contemporary network society.     

An examination of a city greening mega-event

Green mega-events have become popular, but few critical examinations of these events have been conducted. This study aimed to fill this gap by identifying present and absent factors in the greening framework of a mega-event hosted by a city in China. Using the 2011 International Horticultural Exposition in Xi’an as a case study, green practices from bidding to preparing to hosting were identified and analyzed. The results showed that (1) pollution control, improvements in the ecosystem services supply, greening of industry, and a sustainable transport strategy were utilized to enable a greener urban eco-environment, greener industries, and a more efficient transport system. (2) Hospitality management ignored solid waste minimization, eco-procurement, and the greening of visitors. And (3) a typical hierarchical model of greening governance was utilized, and an environmental certification and a participatory mechanism for various stakeholders were lacking. These findings contribute to the event management field by modeling greening principles and highlighting the similarities and differences in mega-event greening.     

Peak event: the rise,crisis and potential decline of the Olympic Games and the World Cup

This paper tracks the growth of two of the largest tourist events: the Olympic Games and the Football World Cup, drawing on a dataset containing all events between 1964 and 2018. Overall, the size of the three events has grown about 60-fold over the past 50 years, thirteen times faster than world GDP. We identify an S-shaped growth curve and four different growth periods, with an emergent crisis phase in the late 2010s that may have brought us to ‘peak event’ – the point at which these events have reached their largest size. Outlining three different scenarios, we argue that the Olympics and the World Cup are at a critical bifurcation point, which also requires new bidding and hosting policies.     

The Meaning of Applied Creativity in the Culinary Industry

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to present a study which explores the origin of applied creativity in the culinary industry, in Taiwan. A total of 36 Chinese and Western cuisine chefs from five-star hotels and top restaurants were interviewed to provide the data from this study. The findings indicate that the role of applied creativity in the culinary industry has played a key role in culinary change and evolution in Taiwan. Culinary creativity has its own distinct characteristics, such as time limitations and market acceptance, which are acquired through building blocks of professional skills and experience. The study contributes to understanding the role of applied creativity in the culinary industry.     

The development of a conceptual model of greening in the business events tourism sector

This paper examines the process of corporate greening, and proposes a general conceptual model of the process, which may be relevant in a number of different corporate sectors. The model includes drivers of greening and barriers to greening and also the organisational context in which greening decisions are taken. In addition, this paper considers the role of media coverage in influencing pro-environmental behaviour amongst organisations. The paper then tests the model in one particular tourism context – that of business events – in order to ascertain the specific nature of the corporate greening process in that context. The paper concludes that the general model may be applied to a number of industry sectors, and the model specific to business events tourism may be used to underpin future research in this area.     

Conventions,Festivals, and Tourism

Abstract

The link between conventions and tourism has often been assumed, and to some extent has been researched, and yet little research has been undertaken to study the relationships between organizations staging an event. The aim of this paper is to highlight the links between convention, festival, and tourism organizations using a case study in Lismore, Australia. The Lismore Chamber of Commerce has used an agricultural convention in conjunction with a community festival to share resources and attract wider audiences. This paper demonstrates the outcomes of this relationship in terms of innovation, cooperation, and regional development. Where previous attempts to coordinate the herb industry had failed, the case shows how coordinated events can serve an important purpose. The case also demonstrates the use of a network analysis methodology as a potential tool for researchers and managers in identifying and understanding industry relationships. The results demonstrate the success of this event and highlight the importance of developing and maintaining network relations.     

Enhancing employee creativity in the Chinese context: The mediating role of employee self-concordance

This study applies the theory of self-concordance and adopts the multi-level analysis approach to examine the mediating effect of employee self-concordance, a core component of intrinsic motivation, on the relationship between social-contextual factors and creativity using hotel industry data obtained from Mainland China. The hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) results from a multisource sample reveal that the three social-contextual variables (i.e., organizational modernity, empowering leadership, and coworkers support and helping) were associated with employee self-concordance, which in turn was associated with employee creativity. Moreover, employee self-concordance fully mediated the three social-contextual variables and creativity. This study shows that organization environment plays a significant role in predicting employee creativity. The implications of the findings for future research and their practical applications in the hotel industry are discussed.     

A multilevel investigation of the cascading effect of entrepreneurial leadership on employee creativity: Evidence from Chinese hospitality and tourism firms

This study aims to elucidate the cascading effect of entrepreneurial leadership on fostering employee creativity in hospitality and tourism firms. Drawing upon multiple theories (e.g., the affective events theory and conservation of resources theory) and utilizing a multilevel mediation model, this study predicts and examines the cross-level indirect relationship between entrepreneurial leadership and employee creativity, which is sequentially transmitted through employees’ surface acting and work-related flow. Based on a 2-wave longitudinal design, survey data were obtained from multiple sources consisting of 47 leaders and 352 employees in Chinese hospitality and tourism firms. Multilevel structural equation modeling (MSEM) analysis provides empirical support for the cross-level mediation model. This study is among the first to provide empirical evidence of the cross-level effect of entrepreneurial leadership on workplace creativity via surface acting and work-related flow in the service industry, which enriches the leadership literature in the tourism discipline.     

中外酒店业HRM研究进展及比较

酒店业作为以服务为第一产品的产业，人力资源管理（HRM：Human Resource Management）对其发展的重要性是不言而喻的。本文在回顾中外酒店业HRM研究的基础上，将两者进行了对比，从而剖析出两者在研究过程中存在的异同厦酒店业HRM未来的研究发展方向。以期为我国酒店业HRM的深入研究，提供一定的借鉴和帮助。     

Capacity of Mass Participant Sport Events for the Development of Activity Commitment and Future Exercise Intention

Mass participation sport events are often cited as increasing population-level physical activity, but empirical evidence is scarce as to their effectiveness. The current research examined the developmental role of these events in increasing positive attitudes toward physically active leisure by a) determining its motivational capacity and b) investigating how sport event participation contributes to activity commitment and future exercise intentions. A multiattribute survey was distributed on-line to participants of a running event held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, (N = 2,791) three months after the event. Inferential statistics revealed that 10 motives directed participation across 75% of the population. Multivariate multiple linear regression analyses revealed event participation motives combined with event satisfaction and physical activity involvement explained 30% of running commitment and 31% of future exercise intentions. Most notably, the event promoted stronger attitudes toward regular exercise among participants who were more satisfied with their event experience, least active before the event, and had completed fewer prior organized events. This evidence demonstrates that mass participant sporting events can serve as important social and environmental correlates of physical activity.