The managed heart: The structural analysis of the stressor–strain relationship and customer orientation among emotional labor workers in Korean hotels

This study examined the structural relationships among three different dimensions of workplace stressors (customer-related stressor, CRS; work environment-related stressor, WERS; job-related stressor, JRS), negative affectivity (NA), emotional exhaustion (EE), and the negative effect of that strain on customer orientation (CO) in the context of the emotional labor (EL) of frontline employees in the hotel industry. Data were collected from self-administrated questionnaires distributed among frontline employees in room and F&B divisions in Korean deluxe tourist hotels, where EL is intense. The results of the structural equation analysis indicated a positive association between all three workplace stressors and NA and between NA and EE. There was also a relationship in the opposite direction with EE and CO, as hypothesized. The moderating effect of organizational level on the workplace stressors–NA relationships was also confirmed. In addition, in an alternative model, we found that NA partially mediates the relationship between JRS and EE; whereas, NA fully mediates the relationships between CRS/WERS and EE. Practical implications are discussed in detail and limitations of the study and future research directions are also suggested.     

The impact of CSR on relationship quality and relationship outcomes: A perspective of service employees

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has gained increasing attention over the past decade. While many studies examined an impact of CSR on consumers, only dearth of research is found that attempts to understand the impact of CSR on employees from the relationship marketing perspective. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of CSR in predicting relationship quality and relationship outcomes. The four dimensions of CSR used in the study include economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic aspects. Data were collected via survey from employees of franchised foodservice enterprises located in South Korea. The findings of the study show that not all dimensions of CSR have the same effect on relationship quality. While economic and philanthropic dimensions have a significant influence on organizational trust, only ethical dimension has a positive effect on job satisfaction. As expected, relationship quality has a significant impact on relationship outcomes.     

Measuring festival quality and value affecting visitors’ satisfaction and loyalty using a structural approach

Perceived value is understood to be a precursor of customer satisfaction and loyalty and is itself impacted by product quality. The linkages between quality, value, satisfaction, and loyalty have been gaining increasing attention in the marketing field. Accordingly, this study examines whether quality dimensions have an impact on perceived value, which, in turn, affects satisfaction and loyalty, in the context of the Punggi Ginseng festival.     

Personalisation–privacy paradox: The effects of personalisation and privacy assurance on customer responses to travel Web sites

Personalisation refers to individualizing products, services, and contents according to customer interests and preferences. In order to deliver appropriate personalised offerings, firms inevitably need to collect rich customer data profiles. Prior research suggests that personalised services lead to positive customer responses such as increased willingness to disclose personal information and make purchases. However, another stream of research emphasizes negative outcomes of personalisation – namely, privacy concerns surrounding the use of personal information and associated negative effects on behaviour. The objectives of this study are twofold: (1) to examine how privacy assurance affects proximal outcomes of personalisation, such as perceived usefulness and privacy concerns; and (2) to identify the role such outcomes play in predicting customer behavioural responses, such as willingness to disclose personal information and make purchases. Our findings show that enhancing privacy assurance increases the perceived usefulness of services and decreases customer privacy concerns. Moreover, customer behavioural responses are positively related to the perceived usefulness of services and negatively associated with privacy concerns. However, despite the positive effects on perceived usefulness and purchase intentions, personalisation has no effect on privacy concerns and intentions to disclose personal information.     

Effects of different dimensions of corporate social responsibility on corporate financial performance in tourism-related industries

Although the stakeholder framework proposes the multidimensionality of corporate social responsibility (CSR) (Clarkson, 1995), previous research has yet to investigate the relationship between certain dimensions of CSR and corporate financial performance (CFP) in tourism-related industries. The purpose of this study was to disaggregate CSR into five dimensions based on corporate voluntary activities for five primary stakeholder issues: (1) employee relations, (2) product quality, (3) community relations, (4) environmental issues, and (5) diversity issues, and examine how each dimension would affect financial performance among firms within four tourism-related industries (airline, casino, hotel, and restaurant). While all CSR dimensions were proposed to have positive financial effects, results revealed that each dimension had a differential effect on both short-term and future profitability and that such financial impacts varied across the four industries. The findings can provide tourism managers with insights into which dimensions of CSR activities would improve their companies’ financial performance.     

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.     

Identifying changes and trends in Hong Kong outbound tourism

Despite the numerous research endeavors aimed at investigating tourists’ preferences and motivations, it remains very difficult for practitioners to utilize the results of traditional association rule mining methods in tourism management. This research presents a new approach that extends the capability of the association rules technique to contrast targeted association rules with the aim of capturing the changes and trends in outbound tourism. Using datasets collected from five large-scale domestic tourism surveys of Hong Kong residents on outbound pleasure travel, both positive and negative contrasts are identified, thus enabling practitioners and policymakers to make appropriate decisions and develop more appropriate tourism products.     

Moderating effect of capital intensity on the relationship between leverage and financial distress in the U.S. restaurant industry

During the recent and ongoing economic turmoil, countless businesses have been facing financial distress and many have filed for bankruptcy. This issue is especially critical for the restaurant industry due to restaurants’ sensitivity to economic fluctuations. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the financial distress issue in the U.S. restaurant industry. In particular, the study examines a moderating effect of capital intensity on the relationship between a firm's leverage and degree of financial distress. The dataset includes publicly traded U.S. restaurant firms during the period 1990–2008. The study measures the degree of financial distress by modified Z-scores, and findings suggest a positive moderating effect of capital intensity on the relationship between leverage and financial distress.     

The service sector and economic growth: some cross-section evidence

It has often been claimed that a relative expansion of the service sector has a deleterious effect on economic growth. This paper uses cross-section country-level data from three decades –1960s, 1970s and 1980s – to see whether in fact this negative relation is reflected in the data. It is found that the effect is negative or positive depending on how the role of the service sector is measured, but there is a strong case that effect is in fact usually negative.     

Tourists and traditional divers in a common fishing ground

We study socio-ecological models for a fishing ground open to tourists. On Jeju Island, Korea, women traditional divers called “Haenyeo” harvest resources in a common fishing ground. To investigate the impact of introducing tourists on the benefit to the fishing association and the resource level, we examine two models that differ in the way the number of tourists is controlled. In the first model, the fishing association charges an entrance fee to tourists and the level of the fee is chosen to regulate tourist number. In the second, only a part of the fishing ground is made open to tourists, and the fraction of the ground open is chosen to control the tourist number. In both models, the fishing association seeks to maximize its total benefit. Analysis shows that the way the number of tourists increases with the availability of resources strongly influences the distribution of benefits among the fishing ground stakeholders. Finally, we discuss policy implications of our results and how local government can reduce the risk of introducing tourism.