Does positive affectivity moderate the effect of burnout on job outcomes? An empirical investigation among hotel employees

A conceptual model examining positive affectivity as a moderator of the influence of burnout on extra-role performance and quitting intentions is developed and tested. Data obtained from employees in the hotel industry in Turkey were used to assess the model. As hypothesized, burnout influences extra-role performance deleteriously and exacerbates quitting intentions. The results of the Chow test also reveal that positive affectivity serves as a moderator in reducing the detrimental impact of burnout on extra-role performance and quitting intentions. The findings and their implications are discussed.     

Do consumers care about CSR in their online reviews? An empirical analysis

This research investigates how consumers assess hotels’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices when writing online reviews. The study explores the CSR discourse in online reviews over a 10-year period, highlighting how CSR’s social and environmental dimensions relate to the main hospitality topics (experience, amenities, location, transactions, value). Based on a longitudinal automated text analysis covering 480,000 reviews across six European cities, the findings reveal that hotel customers have gradually begun paying more attention to CSR factors, particularly to social and environmental ones. However, the aggregate results suggest that the overall CSR consumer discourse is still very limited, although it does have important implications in terms of consumer emotions and hospitality dimensions.     

Green initiatives in the lodging sector: Are properties putting their principles into practice?

There is growing recognition of the role of good environmental management practices on the part of both tourism providers and consumers. But to what extent is this recognition translated into practice in daily operations and activities? This research note assesses the correspondence between the perceived importance of environmental management techniques and the actual adoption of these same initiatives among lodging property owners and managers in the US state of Michigan. Results showed sometimes substantial differences between the perceived importance of environmental initiatives and their actual adoption or implementation. In other words, the 217 properties surveyed appear to be failing to put their principles into practice in the case of most of the environmental management techniques assessed. The findings suggest a potential need for increased education regarding the practicalities of implementing such techniques, as well as further investigation of the barriers currently preventing higher levels of adoption.     

How do people negotiate through their constraints to engage in pro-environmental behavior? A study of front-country campers in Alberta,Canada

This study examined structural models of associations among constraints to pro-environmental nature-based tourism behavior, negotiation through these constraints, motivations to engage in pro-environmental behavior, and knowledge of pro-environmental activities. Three types of constraints (i.e., intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural) were investigated to obtain a detailed understanding of barriers to pro-environmental tourism behavior. Structural models were tested using data obtained from front-country campers (n = 1009) in Alberta, Canada. Results showed that constraints negatively and directly influence intention. Negotiation and knowledge positively and directly influenced intention. Motivation and knowledge directly and negatively influenced constraints, and directly and positively influenced negotiation. The mitigating effect of negotiation on the association between constraints and intention was supported by the data. The theoretical and practical implications relating specifically to constraints to engaging in pro-environmental nature-based tourism activities are emphasized.     

Can tourism be a key sector in reducing income inequality? An empirical investigation for Turkey

The aim of the study is to investigate the nexus between tourism and income inequality by employing the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) test cover the period 1974–2015 in Turkey. Findings indicated that the variables are cointegrated and an increase in tourism has a positive effect on income inequality, while economic growth and trade openness have a negative effect both in the long-run and short-run. Results also denote that tourism will decrease income inequality with the expansion of tourism activities and the spread of tourism throughout society. In other words, the tourism-related Kuznets Curve hypothesis is valid for Turkey.     

Transforming competitiveness into economic benefits: Does tourism stimulate economic growth in more competitive destinations?

This research note investigates the impact of a destination's competitiveness upon tourism's contribution to economic growth using a cross-section with 131 countries. Destination competitiveness is measured with the World Economic Forum's Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index, while tourism's contribution to economic growth is measured with the growth decomposition methodology. Results reveal that destination competitiveness has no statistically significant impact on tourism's contribution to economic growth. Tourism policy implications and directions for future research are also discussed.     

Service customization: To upgrade or to downgrade? An investigation of how option framing affects tourists’ choice of package-tour services

Package-tour operators often tailor trips to fit travelers’ personal requirements to create higher customer value. In practice, there are various options available for presenting an identical package tour to potential customers. This research investigates how option framing influences travelers’ decision making in a package-tour customization task. Based on a behavioral study and a logistic regression analysis, our results show that: (1) when both upgrading (i.e., starting from an economic package and customizing upwards) and downgrading (i.e., beginning with a luxury package and customizing downwards) methods are available, more consumers prefer upgrading to downgrading; (2) consumers customize their tour packages to a higher total price in the downgrading condition; (3) after separating peripheral service from core service attributes, our results further reveal that option framing affects peripheral services more than core services; and (4) consumers who are quality conscious and promotion-focused are more likely to choose a downgrading method for package-tour customization. Combined, these findings offer important managerial implications for travel companies.     

Does the geographic proximity of products influence a consumer’s decision? An evaluation in a restaurant

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Does offering an organic food menu help restaurants excel in competition? An examination of diners’ decision-making

This study aims to examine whether the presence of an organic food menu can positively influence diners’ decision-making. A 3 (restaurant segment: quick service vs. casual dining vs. fine dining) by 2 (price discrepancy between competing restaurants: small vs. large) scenario-based experiment was conducted with 405 U.S. consumers. MANCOVA results indicate that using organic ingredients offers a greater advantage for the quick-service segment regarding perceived food quality, attitudes towards the restaurant, and willingness to select, compared to casual and fine dining segments. The magnitude of a premium price of organic ingredients negatively influences such advantage in the process of consumers’ decision-making. When a large (vs. small) premium price is charged for using organic ingredients, customers’ preferences for the restaurant (over its rival) significantly drops to such an extent that customers are more willing to choose the competitor (i.e., rival restaurant with a conventional menu). Discussions and implications are further elaborated.     

Does ECO certification deliver benefits? An empirical investigation of visitors’ perceptions of the importance of ECO certification's attributes and of operators’ performance

Certification is highlighted as a key sustainable tourism management tool. Yet, very little is known about visitors’ perceptions of such schemes. This is an important gap: the success of certification schemes depends on consumers’ confidence in the quality of products and services that the schemes endorse. This paper surveyed 610 visitors to the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area and surrounds in Queensland, Australia about (1) the perceived importance of various attributes of the ECO certification scheme; and (2) the perceived performance of operators based on those attributes. Data analysis identified aspects of ECO certification and of operator performance that may need improvement. It found that importance of attributes varied across products and visitor groups; at accommodations, most attributes were perceived to be important, Nature (as an aesthetic experience) and Marketing being more important than others, while at attractions and on tours, visitors were indifferent. Younger visitors rated Environment and Conservation more highly than their older counterparts and females rated Conservation more highly than males. Visitors – notably at accommodations – considered that ECO certified operators were performing “better” than non-ECO certified operators on many attributes. How these visitor perceptions translate into reality remains an important topic for future research.     

Does the sequence of presentations matter for academic conferences? An application of the peak-end rule in event management

Abstract

In psychology, the peak-end rule has been used to describe the effects of emotional factors on live experiences. However, it has yet to be examined in the contexts of events and conferences. This study investigated the influence of conference presentation order, excitement following peak experience, previous conference experience, and time since one’s last visit on conference satisfaction and loyalty. Although no significant differences in satisfaction and loyalty were found with regard to the order of presentations, previous experience and time since last visit were found to have significant effects on attendees’ outcomes. End-of-conference peak experiences exhibited the strongest influence on loyalty.