Effects of personality traits on visitors attending an exposition: the moderating role of anxiety attachment

Expositions or “expos” are large consumer trade shows representing a catalyst for on-site direct spending by visitors attracted to these events that are promoted by destination marketing organizations, governments, communities, and businesses. The purpose of this study was to develop and test a new research model involving the analysis of five specific personality traits representing pleasure visitors attending an annual expo to provide more meaningful information for destination marketing professionals. This study then examined the effects of how visitor personality traits play upon expo attachment, satisfaction, and revisit intention using anxiety attachment as a moderator. Results revealed the relationships between expo attachment and satisfaction, attachment and revisit intention, and satisfaction and revisit intention were significant. Also, anxiety attachment was shown to moderate the relationships between all visitor personality traits and expo attachment. Accordingly, this study provides theoretical insights for future tourism research and offers new promotional implications for expo practitioners.     

The influence of self-congruity,perceived value,and satisfaction on destination loyalty: a case study of the Korean DMZ

Destination management organizations have increasingly recognized that destination loyalty provides a strategic competitive edge in tourism. In order to better understand the importance of heritage destinations, this study examined the roles of self-congruity, value perception, and travel satisfaction in the development of loyalty in the Korean demilitarized zone (DMZ) destination context. Data were collected among domestic tourists that had visited the DMZ with tour guides. Results identified that destination loyalty was positively affected by self-congruity and travel satisfaction; travel satisfaction was positively influenced by self-congruity and perceived value; and perceived value was positively influenced by self-congruity. Overall, these findings indicate that the interaction of self-congruity, perceived value, and travel satisfaction to the DMZ is essential in influencing visitors’ destination loyalty.     

Benefit Formation and Enhancement

Quantitative Marketing and Economics - The identification of product attributes and features that are essential for a benefit to exist is critical to new product development and formulation. Some...     

The impact of tour quality and tourist satisfaction on tourist loyalty: The case of Chinese tourists in Korea

This study examines the causal relationship between tourist expectations, tourist motivations, tour quality, tourist satisfaction, tourist complaints and tourist loyalty of Chinese tourists in the Republic of Korea using path analysis. It was found that tourist expectations have a negative effect on the perceived experiential quality of the tour, yet tourist motivation has a positive effect on the perceived tour quality. In turn, the perceived tour quality has a positive effect on tourist satisfaction. Similarly there is an inverse relationship between satisfaction and tourist complaints, and a positive relationship exists between satisfaction and loyalty. Equally, the higher is the number of complaints, the lower are the loyalty levels. These results will provide potential guidelines for inbound tour agents who plan to attract Chinese tourists to Korea and enable them to formulate appropriate strategies. This study also seeks to contribute to conceptual and policy formation by understanding the determinants of tourist satisfaction and loyalty.     

Revisiting the financing behavior of restaurant firms: The firm-size perspective

In International Journal of Hospitality Management, Jang and Ryu [Jang, S., Ryu, K., 2006. Cross-balance sheet interdependencies of restaurant firms: a canonical correlation analysis. International Journal of Hospitality Management 25 (1), 159–166] published a research article about the financing behavior of restaurant firms, using a canonical correlation analysis. Even though the study presents a general picture of financing in restaurant firms, the financing behaviors of firms of different sizes may differ because they often face different financing environments. Thus, this study re-examines restaurant firms and compares the results with Jang and Ryu [Jang, S., Ryu, K., 2006. Cross-balance sheet interdependencies of restaurant firms: a canonical correlation analysis. International Journal of Hospitality Management 25 (1), 159–166] to further enhance the understanding of the financing behaviors. The results show that, despite the differences in firm sizes, overall financing behaviors are similar to those reported by Jang and Ryu [Jang, S., Ryu, K., 2006. Cross-balance sheet interdependencies of restaurant firms: a canonical correlation analysis. International Journal of Hospitality Management 25 (1), 159–166], although they also suggest that restaurant firms of different sizes do indeed exhibit some different cross-balance sheet interdependencies including relatively more reliance on accounts payable among small and medium firms and more use of long-term debts among large firms. Moreover, long-term assets related to stockholder equity more among large firms but related to supplier credit more among small and medium firms.     

EVA,refined EVA,MVA, or traditional performance measures for the hospitality industry?

Stewart (1991) proposed economic value added (EVA) as a true measurement of a firm's performance and an executive's evaluation tool because EVA reflects only incremental values added to a firm after considering cost of capital. Kim [Kim, W.G., 2006. EVA and traditional accounting measures: which metric is a better predictor of market value of hospitality companies? Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research 30(1), 34–39] examined EVA in the hospitality setting and concluded that EVA is not superior to other available measurements for accounting. However, this study contributes several improvements to Kim's (2006) study and compares the incremental explanatory power of six firm performance measures including EVA, refined EVA (REVA), market value added (MVA), and three traditional accounting performance measures for market adjusted returns. According to the findings, REVA and MVA are, apparently, valuable performance measures for evaluating hospitality firms.     

Understanding children's engagement with interpretation at a cultural heritage museum

This study aims to investigate how, and the extent to which, different interpretation techniques (e.g. visual, verbal and interactive) at a cultural heritage museum affect children's behaviour, associated with their engagement with interpretive materials and their understanding of the content and its key ideas and messages presented as cultural lessons. An exploratory study with classes of primary-school-aged children, adopting a qualitative method including observation and post-visit in-depth interviews, was carried out. The results did not indicate any discernible difference between the types of interpretation technique used, with regard to their interaction with the site, or their understanding of the museum's content. Rather, it is the circumstances under which the interpretation techniques were used by the children. Two main variations in the way that the children interacted with their peers and the interpretation were found to affect the level of understanding of different stories, and female and male children showed generalised preferences for different forms of behaviour. How these behavioural patterns impacted on their understanding of the interpretation and meanings of the displayed objects at the museum is discussed.     

How different are first-time attendees from repeat attendees in convention evaluation?

This study aimed to identify any distinction between first-time and repeat convention attendees based on their perspectives of convention quality dimensions, multidimensional value, and behavioral intentions. The findings showed that accessibility and extra convention opportunities were not found to affect multidimensional value from first-timers and repeaters. First-timers valued professional education the most, followed by social networking and site environment in evaluating multidimensional value. Repeaters relied on social networking more than on education in assessing value. Site environment positively contributed to multidimensional value for first-timers but not for repeaters. Multidimensional value affected behavioral intentions more positively for repeaters than for first-timers. These findings will enable convention organizers to better understand the distinctions between the two groups and thus gain insight into how to attract first-timers and turn them into repeaters.     

A model of historical development and future trends of Italian cuisine in America

This study investigated both the historical development and future trends of restaurant cuisine in America. Italian cuisine is used as the basis of a prediction model. The study identifies the historical factors in menu trends in Italian–American cuisine; the factors that will influence culinary trends in the future, and whether the results can be applied to the development of a prediction model that will predict how restaurant cuisine in America may develop. This study used both qualitative (focus groups) and quantitative (online survey) methods. The growing popularity of Italian cuisine in the United States will continue to shape the evolution of America's restaurant cuisine.