The effect of Cultural Intelligence on consumer-based destination brand equity

Achieving destination appeal and competitiveness is a major priority of tourist destination managers. They must implement new strategies that are distinct from those of their competitors and that influence tourists’ perceptions, attitudes and behaviors and reinforce the brand equity of the destination. The present work focuses on Cultural Intelligence (CQ). CQ increasingly features in business strategy due to the effect of cultural differences and diversity on tourist behavior. The aim is to propose and validate a model that captures the effect of tourists’ CQ on their evaluation of the destination. Using a sample of 503 tourists visiting Spain, the study demonstrates that a tourist’s CQ influences their assessment of destination brand equity and that this relationship is moderated by tourism type. The paper presents a series of implications of interest both to scholars and professionals in the tourism sector.     

Authenticity perceptions,brand equity and brand choice intention: The case of ethnic restaurants

This study examines the relationships between consumers’ authenticity perception and four brand equity dimensions (brand awareness, brand association, perceived quality, brand loyalty), as well as how these four dimensions are interrelated with one another. This study also examines the impact of brand equity on consumers’ brand choice intention for ethnic restaurants. Findings clearly indicate that consumers’ authenticity perception is a critical determinant of brand equity and brand equity has a significant impact on consumers’ brand choice intention. Findings of the present study would provide managers with a better understanding of the important role authenticity plays in ethnic restaurants’ brand equity. Managerial implications for better brand equity management are provided.     

Tell us your concern,and we shall together address! Role of service booking channels and brand equity on post-failure outcomes

The extant literature on service failure and recovery has overlooked the post-service failure evaluations when customers interact through different online service booking channels, such as direct websites (Direct) and online travel agents (OTAs). In this study, following the attribution theory and the expectation disconfirmation framework, we analyse the impact of service failure across service booking channels (direct vs. OTA) and its influence on post-service failure outcomes. Besides this, the study also examines the moderating roles of co-created service recovery and brand equity between channel type and post-recovery outcomes. A between-subjects experimental design revealed that when a service failure occurs in a direct (vs. OTA) website, it creates adverse outcomes of higher magnitude. The results also suggest that, in the case of a direct channel, co-created service recovery generates favourable service outcomes when the channel carries low brand equity. However, in the case of an OTA, the use of co-created service recovery works better when that OTA carries high level of brand equity. Further, the results also supported that these post-recovery outcomes are driven by recovery satisfaction and channel engagement. Thus, this study findings offer novel insights into online service recovery literature and managerial practice, primarily for efficient design and execution of recovery efforts across channels.     

Understanding the impact of culinary brand equity and destination familiarity on travel intentions

This paper explores determinants of brand equity and the role of destination familiarity for travel intentions in culinary tourism from the perspective of foreign tourists. This analysis advocates four elements for brand equity (brand loyalty, brand image, perceived quality and brand awareness) for culinary travel intentions in Taiwan. Building on extensive literature, this study developed and empirically tested a model of the relationship using survey data collected from 407 foreign tourists from ten regions. The results indicate that there is a direct positive relationship between brand equity and travel intentions in culinary tourism. Moreover, the study recognizes the moderating role of destination familiarity, which positively moderates the effect of brand loyalty and perceived quality on travel intentions.     

The financial impact of online customer reviews in the restaurant industry: A moderating effect of brand equity

The salient impact of electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) on firm performance has been widely noticed by scholars and practitioners. While eWOM serves as an important source of information that helps reduce perceived uncertainty risks in service purchases, it is highly likely that other sources of information are simultaneously used with eWOM in the purchase decisions. Thus, this study empirically examined the financial effects of restaurant eWOM (review volume and review rating) and their changes in the presence of brand equity. Three-stage least squares analysis was employed in the empirical investigation. Our findings revealed that review volume and review rating contributed to restaurant profitability. Brand equity was found to moderate the effects of the review attributes on restaurants profitability, which implies that eWOM has a greater influence on the financial performance of weak-branded restaurants than strong-branded ones. Implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed.     

The roles of brand equity and branding strategy: A study of restaurant food crises

Food crises, such as food borne illnesses, are a major threat to the restaurant industry. However, consumer responses to a food crisis are expected to differ depending on the brand equity and branding strategy of the restaurant involved. In order to test the roles of brand equity and branding strategy in a food crisis situation, this study used a scenario-based experimental survey with a 2 (brand equity: Low/High) × 2 (branding strategy: Corporate branding/House-of-brands) × 2 (presence of crisis: No/Yes) design. The results of the study supported the “amplifying” perspective by providing evidence of the negative role of brand equity during a crisis. Moreover, the three-way interaction between brand equity, branding strategy, and presence of crisis revealed the effectiveness of the corporate branding strategy, which varies depending on the level of brand equity, under crises. The findings of this study will enable marketers to develop appropriate post-crisis strategies based on predicted consumer responses depending on the level of brand equity and branding strategy. Further discussion and implications are provided in the text.     

Validating a multidimensional perspective of brand equity on motivation,expectation, and behavioural intention: a practical examination of culinary tourism

This study presents a brand equity theory of culinary tourism by integrating behavioural theory with the mediation-moderation model. The culinary tourism brand-equity model underscores the value of tourists’ expectations as a means to enhance the effects of travel motivation on behavioural intention. This study empirically tests this theory using a sample of 513 foreign tourists and provides evidence that travel motivation mediates the relationship between the four critical attributes of brand equity and behavioural intention. Furthermore, the results confirm the interrelationships within brand equity and reveal that tourist expectations positively moderate the relationship between travel motivation and behavioural intention. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.     

Examining the role of wine brand love on brand loyalty: A multi-country comparison

This study develops and tests a model through a multi-country study that considers consumer wine knowledge and wine experience, wine brand trust and wine brand satisfaction as antecedents of wine brand love, and wine brand loyalty as a consequence of wine brand love. Data were collected in five wine-producing countries (Australia, Chile, France, Mexico and Portugal) with a final sample of 3462 completed surveys. Hypotheses were tested with structural equation modeling and the findings confirm the importance of brand love as both a mediator and direct influence on brand loyalty for wine consumers. Furthermore, brand satisfaction was positively and significantly related to brand love. In addition, wine experience, rather than wine knowledge, positively influenced brand trust and satisfaction. Finally, results also identify differences between countries thereby providing insights into how companies should focus their marketing strategies internationally.     

Changing tires on a moving car: the role of timing in hospitality and service turnaround processes

Corporate turnaround processes consist of two main strategies: retrenchment and recovery. Whereas retrenchment focuses on efficiency and cost reduction, recovery entails strategic repositioning for long-term growth. Prior research has emphasized the timing of turnaround strategies as critical for the overall turnaround success and proposed a sequential or simultaneous timing of retrenchment and recovery. However, a sequential timing of turnaround strategies may have important disadvantages in the particular context of the service sector, given that it may quickly lead to staff demotivation, declining service quality and loss of customers.This research investigates the timing of retrenchment and recovery activities in service industry turnarounds with a multi-method approach. 35 service industry turnarounds in the German-speaking markets of Western Europe (Austria, Germany, and Switzerland) were analyzed. Based on the results of the first study, the research was complemented with a qualitative study of six turnaround cases in the Swiss hospitality industry. The converging evidence from both studies suggests that retrenchment and recovery activities interact in predicting the performance of service turnarounds. This suggests that a simultaneous turnaround process provides a more adequate timing for turnarounds in the specific service environment. The findings have important implications for turnaround theory and for managerial practice in service turnarounds.     

COVID-19 impact on the hospitality industry: Exploratory study of financial-slack-driven risk preparedness

The hospitality industry is regarded as one of the most affected by the consequences of COVID-19 pandemic, and the undefined persistence of the pandemic duration raises anxiety about the ability to recover from this dramatic situation. In this regard, the purpose of this exploratory study is to shed light on the COVID-19 risk preparedness of hospitality businesses, as driven by the financial slack holdings and persistence. The empirical findings confirm that their financial-slack-driven risk preparedness should be judged as relatively low. A majority of the examined hospitality businesses demonstrated low or insufficient financial slack holdings and recently have consumed their financial slack resources. Thus, the abilities of hospitality businesses to sustain the liquidity tensions that emerged after the COVID-19 outbreak are questionable. Facing this evidence, we draw conclusions about the necessary design of system interventions that could prevent bankruptcy in the hospitality industry.     

Contingent work in the hospitality industry: A mediating model of organizational attitudes

It is widely accepted that work status has an impact on emotional attachment to the organization, because of the different ways in which the two categories of workers, contingent and regular, are treated in the same organization. This study aims to investigate the effect of work status on affective commitment and how this relationship is influenced by identification processes.     

Influence of institutional economics on firm birth and death: A comparative analysis of hospitality and other industries

This paper investigates how public policies, such as taxes and regulations influence firm formation (birth) and closure (death) in the hospitality and other industries in the United States (US), using an institutional economics approach and the dimensions of the Economic Freedom of North America (EFNA) index. The literature has been scant when it comes to examining the effects of policies of formal institutions on firms’ birth and death in the hospitality industry, and whether these effects in hospitality differ from those of other sectors. The study uses panel data from government sources and the EFNA dimensions and applies cross-sectional dependence and unit root tests, followed by a panel generalized least square approach for the analysis. Our findings show that components of economic freedom have varying effects on firms’ birth and death. The study provides practical contributions for policymakers and managers by improving the understanding of firm births and deaths in the US.     

Embracing or fighting the urge: A multilevel investigation on casino service,branding and impulsive gambling

Academics and practitioners are increasingly interested in how branding and service may affect consumer behaviors. In view of intensifying competition in the casino industry, understanding these relationships would help casino operators achieve competitive advantage. The current study draws on the relevant marketing literature, and examines the antecedents, moderators and consequences of consumer buying behaviors, with a focus on impulsive buying in the casino settings. The proposed antecedents are casino service environment and employee service. Customer brand attachment and loyalty behaviors are modeled as consequences, and casino brand equity as a cross-level moderator. A quantitative method was employed for the purpose of this study. The survey was undertaken at 22 major casinos in Macau through a multilevel design. Results show that the casino service environment indeed induces impulsive gambling. Whilst employee service has little influence on impulsive gambling, the effect is enhanced by casino brand equity. Employee service is particularly salient for casinos with low brand equity. Impulsive gambling does have significant influence on loyalty outcomes through the mediating effect of brand attachment. Brand equity also demonstrates cross-level linear and nonlinear effects on the chain relationship, with the linear effect significantly larger. Implications for practitioners and the literature are provided to conclude the paper.     

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.     

Still pounding on the glass ceiling: A study of female leaders in hospitality,travel, and tourism management

Today, U.S. females represent the majority in both the hospitality and tourism management classroom and the work environment. However, the proverbial “glass ceiling” continues to exist, and evidence of career advancement obstacles remain salient in the hospitality, travel, and tourism management workplace. The purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences of successful female industry leaders in the hospitality, travel, and tourism industry, as well as their perceptions as to how they were able to overcome gender barriers and disparities. Findings offer participant reported “top issues” facing female leaders in the workplace, as well as strategies for overcoming these issues.     

Examining the effect of novelty seeking,satisfaction, and destination image on tourists’ return pattern: A two factor,non-linear latent growth model

With many destinations relying on repeat business, intention to revisit has become an important research topic. As revisit intention changes over time, this paper proposes the use of a latent growth curve to model the developmental trajectory of return behavior. The proposed model was tested in two steps in AMOS 16.0 using SEM methodologies to investigate the effects of novelty seeking, destination image and overall satisfaction levels across intent to revisit trajectories using data collected among French, English, and German travelers. Findings indicate that both novelty seeking and low satisfaction among travelers temper immediate intent to return. Conversely, a positive image of the destination enhances both immediate and future intentions to return.