Characteristics and Behaviour of Tourists Who Use Trails

This article documents the popularity of five types of trail-based recreation relative to other forms of recreation that tourists frequently participate in on their trips; identifies these trail users’ cross-participation in other outdoor recreation activities; and profiles the travel behaviour, media habits, trip planning behaviour, and demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of day hikers and snowmobilers as two particularly large trail user segments. Findings are based on data from a household telephone survey conducted in Michigan, surrounding states, and Ontario, Canada. Hiking/backpacking was found to be the most popular natural resource-based recreation activity that respondents participated in on pleasure trips taken during the past 12 months; other forms of trail-based recreation were significantly less popular; mountain bikers participated in nature-oriented recreation activities in Michigan at levels that were similar to those of hikers/backpackers; and snowmobiling appeared to be the focus of most pleasure trips on which this activity occurred, in contrast to day hiking, which appeared to be more of an ancillary pursuit.     

Achieving relational outcomes in casual dining restaurants through consumer commitment

The purpose of the study is to identify how we can achieve positive word-of-mouth (WOM) and share of purchases through consumer commitment in casual dining restaurants. This study proposes the theory of organizational commitment and the framework of the relationship development process as the theoretical foundation to identify the antecedents of consumer commitment (i.e. identification, switching costs, and satisfaction), and tests the role of consumer commitment between its antecedents and relational outcomes (i.e. share of purchases and positive WOM). The results of the study support that commitment plays a partial mediating role in the relationship between its antecedents and share of purchases. In addition, commitment exerts a full mediating role on the effects of identification and switching costs on positive WOM intentions, while it plays a partial mediating role between satisfaction and positive WOM intentions. Managerial implications are discussed to maximize delivering relational outcomes based on consumer commitment and its antecedents.     

Application of social media analytics in tourism crisis communication

Given the newly established communication environment of social media and highly unpredictable crisis situations, this study questioned how tourists facing an unexpected crisis situation use social media to communicate and search for information. To this end, this study developed a multi-phased social media analytic framework (data crawling, data processing and text mining, social network analysis, semantic network analysis, and network visualization) to assess the structure of information exchanges between the members of a tourism organization’s social network community and identified influential actors and information content within the social network. This study’s findings suggest genuine ways of relating with and utilizing opinion leaders and influencers in social media marketing communication as well as crisis communication. The authors expect this proposed methodological framework of social media analytics to help other scholars scientifically identify and implement the proper methodologies for utilizing social media data.     

The privatization of Korea’s Incheon International Airport

This study looks at the possible effects of the planned privatization of Incheon International Airport, Korea. To accomplish this, it uses a Delphi analysis involving nearly 50 experts to assess six possible scenarios that, for example, look at airport strategy and planning, financial, operations and approach facilities, and fees.     

The role of low expectations in health and education investment and hazardous consumption

Abstract .  Young people with little 'social or health capital' may be more likely to take up hazardous consumption and shun investments in human capital, raising their likelihood of a 'rags to rags' sequence. First, diminishing marginal utility could raise the marginal benefit of hazardous consumption and the cost of investment. But poor youths may also have lower expectations of future success, independent of the choices they make. Lower expectations of success could reduce the future cost of hazardous consumption and benefit of investment. We test the effect of expectations on decisions to smoke, drink hazardously, exercise, and complete high school, using a longitudinal study of youth in New Zealand. We find that 15-year-olds' expectations of success predict the subsequent onset of smoking, lack of exercise, and failure to complete high school, but not hazardous drinking. While some of the influence of expectations can be explained by low social and health capital, IQ, and other factors, expectations retain a direct effect on smoking and exercise once these other factors are controlled for.     

The changing pattern of industrial technology linkage structure of Korea: Did the ICT industry play a role in the 1980s and 1990s?

The notion of the knowledge-based economy highlights the strategic importance of inter-industrial knowledge flows. Among others, the crucial role of information and communications technology (ICT) industry is emphasized. The pattern whereby technological knowledge is created, accumulated and disseminated through the interactive learning among industries can be portrayed as a network. Based on the network theory, this empirical study analyses, from the dynamic perspective, inter-industrial technological knowledge structure of Korean industries during the reference period of early 1980s to mid-1990s. Overall, the density of the network increased over time, implying that the knowledge network has expanded and intensified. The role of the ICT industry in the global network has also increased but needs to be further strengthened, especially informatization of non-ICT industries by the outflow of ICT industrial knowledge in the future. The findings in turn render some important policy implications that should be addressed in developing technology policy.     

How knowledge flow affects Korean ICT manufacturing firm performance: a focus on open innovation strategy

The paper presents an integrated viewpoint of technological innovation strategy by considering both the firm and industry levels. Further, we provide a new open innovation framework by adopting a knowledge flow perspective using patent citation information. Finally, we consider a firm’s outbound open innovation performance using cites per patent information together with financial performance to look at both the practical and the potential effects of technological innovation strategy. Through these analyses, this study examines determinants of open technology innovation activity in the information and communication technology manufacturing industry in Korea and draws managerial and policy implications for effective industry promotion and improvement of technology innovation capability.     

Financing preferences: evidence from the Korean market

We investigate the financing decisions of Korean firms during the period of 1996–2015. Korean firms follow a matching strategy for funding their cash needs. Cash inflows from investing activities are the primary source of funding for capital expenditures, and cash inflows from financing activities are the major means of covering cash outflows from financing activities. We also find that Korean firms’ financing practice of handling cash deficits can be described by the pecking order model modified and augmented by cash flow variables. Cash inflows from investing activities account for the major portion of financing to make up for cash deficits, followed by short- and long-term debt, and then equity financing.