Work absence in industrialised societies: the Australian case

In this paper, Bob Crawford and Sam Volard present an analysis of the causes for temporary non-approved work absence in which they isolate the extent of the ‘sickie’ in Australian industry. They suggest areas in which management can properly institute programmes which are likely to reduce the incidence of this largely avoidable and costly organisational problem.     

Rationalising Inappropriate Behaviour at Contested Sites

This paper examines how tourists justify inappropriate behaviour at contested cultural heritage sites through an analysis of weblogs of people who climbed Uluru, Australia. The climb is increasingly seen as being inappropriate, culturally insensitive and socially unacceptable. Yet it remains open and up to 150,000 people participate each year. Park managers and traditional owners are trying to demarket it with the hope that falling consumer demand will ultimately result in its closure. The study revealed three types of climbers: those who reject the Aboriginality of the place; those with different value sets who see nothing inherently wrong with their actions; and a large group who is aware that its actions may be inappropriate and who, therefore, need to invoke some sort of neutralisation technique to rationalise their decision. This latter group is more likely to respond to behaviour modification messages and should be the main target of future demarketing activities.     

Attitudes of Tourism Students to the Environment and Climate Change

This paper reports on a global study of the attitudes of students studying in senior year and first-year postgraduate tourism and hospitality subjects to tourism and its relationship with the environment and climate change. The study determined that students are generally concerned about environmental degradation, feel knowledgeable about climate change, are concerned that it will become an even larger issue in the next 5 years and, generally, appreciate that tourism is a major contributor to carbon emissions. Moreover, some 70% had changed their behavior in the past 3 years to reduce their environmental impacts. However, specificity of knowledge about the causes of climate change was limited, which is symptomatic of a broader lack of detailed knowledge about environmental degradation, which in turn translates into rather generic behavior changes. Most significantly, less than 13% of students have changed their vacation patterns out of concern for the environment, with only a small minority intending to modify their travel patterns in the future.     

Capital building through gym work

This research employed Pierre Bourdieu’s model of capital accumulation to frame the benefits conferred by gym use. Thirteen participants from four gyms in Melbourne, Australia, were purposefully selected for in-depth interviews, where detailed case histories were solicited, and data were analysed using a narrative coding model. Results indicated that the two most highly valued forms of capital were bodily capital and psychological capital. All 13 participants cited gym work as the means by which they built a better looking and better functioning body. They also advised that gym work had strengthened their self-esteem and psychological resilience, which, in turn, enabled them to present themselves more confidently in their various social roles outside the gym. In contrast, these 13 gym users accrued low levels of cultural and symbolic capital through their activities, and contrary to previous studies, also secured little social capital from gym work.     

Day tour itineraries: Searching for the balance between commercial needs and experiential desires

Little research has been conducted examining the factors that influence the development of day tour itineraries. While the literature suggests that a combination of commercial, operational, political and experiential factors contribute to itinerary development, this article argues that it is the business model chosen that affects it the most. Essentially two business models predominate: commission-based and noncommission-based. This study examines the impact of the business model on the selection of day tour itineraries in the Macau Special Administrative Region of China. It finds that experiential values are traded off almost entirely in the itineraries of commission-based tours, while a better balance between experiential and operational considerations drives itinerary choices for noncommission-based tours.