Currency denominations, currency substitutions, and the price level

In a 1976 Journal of Political Economy paper, Chen has shown that gross substitutability is a necessary and sufficient condition for the deletion of a desirable currency denomination to be inflationary. The present note corrects and extends the theory by showing that such deletion is inflationary even if monies are complements.     

SOCO's impact on service outcomes of tour guides: the moderating effect of customers’ shopping orientation

This research examines the effects of both sales-oriented and customer-oriented service strategies of tour guides on service outcomes: rapport, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and willingness to tip. This research also investigates how customers’ shopping orientation moderates the above relationships. A convenience sampling was conducted and 370 valid questionnaires were obtained. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling. The findings are as follows: (1) customer-oriented strategy of tour guides has a significantly positive impact on the service outcomes; (2) selling-oriented strategy of tour guides has a significantly negative impact on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty; and (3) shopping orientation of tour members moderates the relationships between selling orientation and service outcomes. Thus, if tour guides can provide service for customers in a suitable way, they will then improve the customers’ perception of services. These findings provide practical information for travel agencies and tour guides.     

The Evaluation of Sustainable Tourism Development by Analytic Hierarchy Process and Fuzzy Set Theory: An Empirical Study on the Green Island in Taiwan

Sustainable tourism development (STD) has recently become a tourism management guideline. STD meets the needs of present tourists and host regions while protecting and enhancing opportunities for the future. It is envisaged as leading to management of all resources in such a way that economic, social and aesthetic needs can be fulfilled while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity and life support systems (World Tourism Organization, 2004, Concepts & Definitions: Sustainable Development of Tourism Conceptual Definition. Retrieved 12 August 2004 from http://www.world-tourism.org/frameset/frame_sustainable.html). The purpose of this study is to propose an evaluation procedure of STD and illustrate how it can be applied empirically to a specific destination. Green Island in Taiwan, which lies in the Pacific Ocean, was selected to act as our empirical case due to its rich resources but threatened sustainability. First, we collected indicators of STD from the literature about small islands. Second, the Delphi technique was used to refine and identify the final indicators for STD evaluation according to the characteristics of our study case. Third, we calculated the criteria weights by applying the Analytic Hierarchy Process after constructing the evaluation criteria hierarchy. Finally, the measurement of performance corresponding to each criterion was conducted under the setting of fuzzy set theory. The results illustrate that our empirical case still needs more work in order to achieve its goal of sustainable tourism development. We also provide some managerial implications for the stakeholders such as tourism authorities, tourism businesses, local communities and academics.     

Do Travel Product Types Matter? Online Review Direction and Persuasiveness

Based on perceived risk and zone of tolerance theory, this study selected two popular tour-based products and two ticket-based products to investigate how travel product types and online review directions influence review persuasiveness. The study showed that travel product type and online review direction have a combined effect on online persuasiveness. Additionally, participants perceive negative reviews to be more persuasive than positive reviews for group package tours and packages of airline ticket and hotel accommodation products. However, positive reviews are more persuasive than negative reviews for budget airline ticket products. These findings have managerial implications both for product improvement strategies and for theoretical advances in hospitality and tourism.     

A Multidimensional Measurement of Work-Leisure Conflict

Previous studies used only one item or one dimension to measure work-leisure conflict, which makes it impossible to present the nature of this conflict appropriately. To measure work-leisure conflict appropriately, we define work-leisure conflict as a form of interrole conflict in which the role pressures from work and leisure domains are mutually incompatible in some respect. Subsequently, we propose a multidimensional construct of work-leisure conflict and develop a corresponding scale, BI-WLCS. Through a rigorous development process, two directions, conflict due to work interfering with leisure and conflict due to leisure interfering with work, as well as three forms, time-based, strain-based, and behavior-based conflicts, of BI-WLCS were identified. The BI-WLCS was proven to have good fit, reliability and validity. This multidimensional scale provides an effective instrument for measuring levels of work-leisure conflict, and offers ways for stress management in practice and accentuates the research of work-leisure conflict issues academically.     

Should a lower-price service offer a full-satisfaction guarantee?

Although service guarantees have enjoyed wide popularity as marketing tools and brought impressive results for firms, it is still not clear whether different types of service guarantees have similar effects on consumers' pre-purchase evaluations of differently priced services. To answer this question, several hypotheses were formulated and then tested with a 2 × 3 between-subjects factorial design consisting of two price levels (low and high) and three types of service guarantees (none, attribute-specific, and full-satisfaction) in the context of hotel industry in Taiwan. The results indicated that it is beneficial for a higher-price service to employ a full-satisfaction guarantee, due to consumers' higher expected service quality and willingness to buy, and the lower perceived performance risk. In contrast, for lower-price services, an attribute-specific guarantee is recommended because of consumers' higher expected service quality and willingness to buy, and the lower perceived financial risk. The implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed.     

Evaluation of the 2010 Taipei International Flora Exposition from the perceptions of host-city residents: a new framework for mega-event legacies measurement

Numerous cities have recently hosted and engaged in mega-events to pursue tourism and urban development. Although ample research has focussed on the effects of mega-events, few studies have addressed the measurement indicators of mega-event legacies. Based on the triple bottom line principle, we developed measurement indicators for mega-event legacies to assess empirically the legacy of the 2010 Taipei International Flora Exposition based on the perceptions of Taipei City residents. We collected data from 1374 residents who live in Taipei City using the quota sampling method. Based on the study results, we designed a 36-item event legacy scale, comprising 10 mega-event legacy factors. The implications of these findings for managing mega-events and future research directions are discussed.     

Does world heritage list really induce more tourists? Evidence from Macau

It is commonly believed that being listed on the World Heritage List (WHL) results in attracting more tourists. However, this assumption has not been generally subject to rigorous econometric approach in the existing literature. To fill this gap, we assess the impact of the accreditation World Heritage status on the “Historic Centre of Macau” in 2005 on visitor numbers to the territory to identify the real effect of WHL on fostering tourism. In doing so, because of the policy restrictions on the mainland Chinese tourists, such tourists have been excluded from the analysis. The empirical results indicate that there is no significant effect of WHL on promoting tourism other than possibly a short-run tourism-enhancing impact. Notably, this effect is particularly relevant to Asian tourists. This paper discusses these results in the wider context of econometric analyses of tourism.     

Transcendent Experience,Flow and Happiness for Mountain Climbers

Mountaineering has become a popular form of adventure tourism. However, previous research has never explored the construct of transcendent experience and its effects on mountaineering. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships among transcendent experience, flow and happiness. Survey data from 339 mountain climbers in Taiwan indicate that transcendent experience positively affects flow and happiness. In addition, flow mediates the effect of transcendent experience on happiness. However, the relationship between flow and hedonic enjoyment is insignificant for novices. Implications of these findings as well as future research are subsequently discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Openness,Ownership, and Regional Economic Growth in Vietnam

ABSTRACT

In this article, we examine the influences of exports, multinational corporations (MNCs), and the share of state-owned enterprise (SOE) production in regional economic growth in Vietnam for the years 1996–2006. Various estimations, without and with considering the endogeneity problem, confirm that exports and the presence of MNCs are influential factors on promoting economic growth. Crucially, provinces with a higher ratio of SOE production have experienced higher economic growth. However, the positive relationship between SOE share and economic growth should be carefully interpreted.