Unraveling public support for casino gaming: The case of a casino referendum in Penghu

By integrating the social exchange theory (SET) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study unravels the factors associated with residents’ intention to support casino gaming development in Penghu in future referenda. Residents’ attitudes toward casino gaming development in their community were examined in the SET framework while their intention to support such development was investigated in the TPB framework. Despite that partisan difference did not have a significant interaction with TPB variables, past behavior exerted moderating effects determining residents’ intention to support casino gaming development through two TPB variables: subjective norm and perceived behavioral control. Implications are provided.

Abbreviations: ATTU: attitude; DPP: Democratic Progress Party; ECOI: perceived economic impact; ENVI: perceived environmental impact; INT: intention to support casino gaming development in future referenda; KMT: Kuomingtang; PBC: perceived behavioral control; PPB: perceived personal benefit; SET: social exchange theory; SN: subjective norms; SOCI: perceived social impact; TPB: theory of planned behavior     

Influence of the user’s psychological factors on the online purchase intention in rural tourism: Integrating innovativeness to the UTAUT framework

This study explores the process of adoption of new information technologies by the users of rural tourism services and, more concretely, the underlying psychological factors of individuals that explain their intentions to make bookings or reservations directly through the websites of the rural accommodations (online purchase intentions). Based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), this study establishes a theoretical model that includes five explanatory variables of the online purchase intention: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, and innovativeness. The empirical results obtained in a sample of 1083 tourists that had previously visited several websites of rural accommodations suggest that the online purchase intention is positively influenced by: 1) the levels of performance and effort expected with regard to the transaction; and 2) the level of innovativeness of users. In addition, the innovativeness construct has a moderating effect on the relationship between performance expectancy and online purchase intention.     

Exploring the factors of gastronomy blogs influencing readers’ intention to taste

In recent years gastronomy blogs providing an important channel for electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) to take place are quickly becoming a popular new source of reading material for blog readers. However, little is published to understand what factors from gastronomy blogs play critical roles in predicting readers’ intention to taste local food and beverages. Based on reviewing previous studies, this study developed a research model containing three main categories of variables: (1) inspiring taste desire (i.e., experiencing appeal and generating empathy), (2) forming taste awareness (i.e., providing image, delivering knowledge and presenting guides) and (3) facilitating interpersonal interaction (i.e., social influence and cybercommunity influence), and suggested that these potential variables can influence readers’ behavioral intention to taste directly. Data collected from 329 respondents in Taiwan were tested against the research model using the structural equation modeling approach. The results indicated that excluding delivering knowledge, all the other proposed variables (i.e., experiencing appeal, generating empathy, providing image, presenting guides, social influence and cybercommunity influence) were the critical components significantly influencing online readers’ intention to taste, and the proposed model accounted for 70% of the variance. The findings of this study will not only help hospitality and tourism practitioners in understanding the perceptions of potential customers, but also provide insights into research on technology's influence on hospitality and gastronomy.     

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.     

Guest-to-guest interaction on board cruise ships: Exploring social dynamics and the role of situational factors

Cruise ships are increasing in size, itineraries are becoming more standardised, and new customer segments are emerging. These factors induce a new social reality and represent a potential differentiator for the production and offering of cruise experiences. In this light, the study of guest-to-guest interactions will expectedly gain importance over time for cruise planning and operations. This explorative-interpretative study is divided into two phases. First, a survey of 173 randomly-selected respondents aimed at comparing the significance of social interaction on board, with that of other cruise product features. Social interaction emerged as a secondary issue and no significant differences were identified between customer categories. However, a deeper exploration of the collected data questioned this finding. Subsequently, the analysis of 76 semi-structured interviews resulted to a tentative model of factors affecting satisfaction with the interaction between guests on board. Finally, suggestions for further research and practical implications are discussed.     

Domestic migrant workers in China's hotel industry: An exploratory study of their life satisfaction and job burnout

This study investigated job burnout and life satisfaction among domestic migrant workers in economy hotels in China. The results revealed that two dimensions of job burnout, emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, have significant influence on domestic migrant workers’ life satisfaction. Life satisfaction between domestic migrant workers and local workers was different. Theoretical discussion and practical implications were presented.     

Influencing factors on restaurant customers’ revisit intention: The roles of emotions and switching barriers

This study was designed to examine the relationships among consumption emotions, customer satisfaction, switching barriers, and revisit intention. Four positive and negative categories of switching barriers (preference, switching costs, relational investment, and lack of alternatives) were identified through a qualitative approach. Using structural equation analysis, the proposed relationships were tested in a full-service restaurant setting. The results showed that multiple components of consumption emotions significantly affected customer satisfaction, and satisfaction mediated the effect of emotion factors on revisit intention. The findings from the tests for metric invariances also indicated that the strength of the relationship between satisfaction and revisit intention was different across high- and low-switching barrier groups. In particular, the satisfaction-revisit intention relationship was stronger in each low-switching barrier group than in each high-switching barrier group.     

An investigation of perceptions of social equity and price acceptability judgments for campers in the U.S. national forest

In spite of the significance of social equity in determining appropriate fee levels for activities such as camping in public nature-tourism resources, there has been little understanding of the mechanisms that (a) influence the debate over scale and (b) the conditions that are used in fee determination. The main objective of this study is to investigate the decision making process that predicts social equity judgments and price acceptability of user fees for activities such as camping in protected areas (including parks) and outcome the variables. In this study of Wasatch-Cache National Forest in northeastern Utah using conjoint analysis the results indicated that the extent of public input was the most prominent predictor of social equity judgment at p < 0.01. The second highest part-worth coefficient was obtained in support of low user fees (a hypothetical scale of $3.00 vs. $8.00). The magnitude of the part-worth coefficients for price acceptability showed that the highest part-worth coefficient was a fee level of $3.00. The next highest part-worth coefficient was in support of revenue being used to maintain the quality of the site. It was also found that that “extensive public input” was an important predictor of social equity.     

Consumers’ responses to ambivalent online hotel reviews: The role of perceived source credibility and pre-decisional disposition

Electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) is prevalent in today's lodging market and has potential to influence consumers’ decision making. This study investigated how the presence of online reviewers’ personal identifying information (PII) may affect consumers’ processing of ambivalent online hotel reviews and hotel booking intentions. The results of an experiment with a sample of 274 undergraduate students indicate that the presence of PII positively affects the perceived credibility of the online reviews. When coupled with ambivalent online reviews, the presence of PII significantly lowers consumers’ hotel booking intentions.     

Online Customer Experience and Its Relationship to Repurchase Intention: An Empirical Case of Online Travel Agencies in China

The study reported here examines the relationship between flow experience and repurchase intention by focusing on the joint mediating effects of loyalty. Data were taken from a survey of shopping experiences, at online travel websites, of 325 customers in China. The results show that flow experience has a significant effect on repurchase attention. Moreover, interactive speed, skill, challenge, perceived control, telepresence, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use are positively related to flow experience. Lastly, the findings show that loyalty, to some extent, acts as a mediator between flow experience and repurchase attention.     

The effect of Facebook users’ arousal and valence on intention to go to the festival: Applying an extension of the technology acceptance model

The rapid development of social media has challenged event managers to rethink how this trend will shape traditional marketing practices. Given the rise of these technologies, the current breed of special event “fan” has started to take advantage of and venture into this social space for possible benefits. For event managers, the fundamental issue becomes how to uncover the process through which special event consumers come to accept social media marketing. This paper reviews social media marketing literature, the characteristics of event marketing, and highlights the emotional aspect of social media applications. An extended TAM (technology acceptance model) is adopted to explain the mechanism by which social media marketing influences attitudes toward Facebook event pages. The authors find that users’ emotions exhibited on the Facebook event page do have a significant impact on the perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and perceived enjoyment of such social media marketing. However, only the last construct significantly influences users’ attitudes and intentions toward an event. Implications and insights were provided to event practitioners and were discussed accordingly.     

努力实现旅游院校“校企合作,产、学、研一体化”办学之路的新突破

文章在分析和总结北京联大旅游学院 2 5年办学历程的基础上 ,针对新形势下旅游院校普遍关心的“校企合作办学”问题提出了一些新的思考 ,认为校企合作不应只是院校与某一特定企业或企业集团的合作 ,而应是面向整个产业界的广泛合作 ,旅游院校要抓住旅游业快速发展的大好时机 ,进一步加强旅游教育与旅游产业的紧密联系 ,多方寻求资产融合 ,形成多元混合资产纽带 ,逐步实现多元化办学。