Segmenting industrial competitive markets: An example from air freight

This paper applies a disaggregated approach to segment industrial markets under competitive structures taking the air-freight market for the high-technology product industry in Taiwan as a case study. Data from firms is used to examine the structure of the air freight industry and we find that carriers are clustered into two strategic groups, express and forwarder. Pricing is a leading strategy recognized by customers for forwarders, whereas service punctuality and freight security are the winning strategies for express. The high-tech freight market is classifiable by shipment destination and size.     

Mixed logit analysis of trade-off effects between international airline fares and fences: a revenue management perspective

As transportation is essential for tourism development, effectively utilizing its perishable resources has become an important issue. This study aims to analyse the relationship between airline fares and using conditions from the perspective of millennial tourists and taking the Taipei–Tokyo market as an example. The study attempts to show a revenue management practice in the manipulation of homogeneous seat service and give millennial tourists a better understanding of their preferences for ticket choices. We categorize availability of flight, advance booking, ticket validity, and changing conditions as main attributes and develop a stated-preference questionnaire with multiple hypothetical scenarios for respondents to select in the experiment. We effectively collect 390 valid samples for a mixed logit analysis and the results show that all applied attributes are statistically significant. Ticket validity is revealed to be the most important fence with the largest willingness-to-pay value and followed by availability of flight, advanced booking, and changing conditions.     

E-loyalty driven by website quality: The case of destination marketing organization websites

The capability of website quality management to drive tourism customer e-loyalty is the key factor to achieve superior performance of destination marketing organization (DMO) website operations. The quality management approaches that revolve around website design quality and online relationship quality have drawn intensive attention from e-loyalty researchers in recent years. Thorough empirical investigation, however, still lacks in incorporating the integrative impact generated by the two approaches into DMO website quality management. The current study introduces and validates a theoretical framework based on such impact. As the research result reveals, six facets predict tourism customer e-loyalty directly: informational usefulness, navigational effectiveness, aesthetic appeal, entertainment, social presence, and self-concept congruity embedded in the functional, emotional, and symbolic dimensions of website design quality. Online relationship quality, comprised of relationship satisfaction and relationship trust, plays a partial mediator role in amplifying the e-loyalty driving effect of website design quality in the DMO website context.     

Global Versus Local Consumer Culture Positioning in a Transitional Market: Understanding the Influence of Consumer Nationalism

To shed cultural insights on the complex interplay between globalization and local ideologies, this study presents an online experiment that tested the comparative effects of global and local consumer culture positioning strategies in China. Reflecting the prevailing trend of nationalism around the globe, the study findings highlight the power of consumer nationalism on driving the effects of these culture-oriented positioning strategies. Furthermore, self-brand connection was found to be a critical mediator of the effects of consumer nationalism on brand evaluation. Based on the findings, this study provides strategic guidelines for both domestic and global brands to craft culturally relevant campaigns that capitalize on the growing trend of consumer nationalism in transitioning markets such as China.     

Impact of bus rapid transit on housing price and accessibility changes in Sydney: A repeat sales approach

ABSTRACT

New public transport infrastructure is expected to improve accessibility for local residents, and thus contribute to increased land value. The contribution that a bus rapid transit (BRT) system can make to increased land value is less certain than for rail-based systems, with the literature mostly containing bus-based examples from developing countries with extensive BRT networks. This article considers a BRT system named the Liverpool–Parramatta Transitway (LPT) that was implemented in southwestern Sydney in 2003 to improve public transport accessibility in the local area. A repeat sales model is constructed to investigate the impact of the LPT on residential housing prices and accessibility changes using repeat sales data from before and after the opening of the LPT. This identified little price difference between properties close to LPT stations and outside of the area that could be considered as affected by the LPT service coverage. This outcome is at variance with the theoretical underpinning of land value uplift and other empirical evidence relating to the LPT. Hedonic models using the same repeat sales data investigate the study area in more detail, stratifying the sample by housing type and by comparing separate before and after models. These research outcomes identify the extent to which the BRT system has an impact on local housing prices through accessibility improvements to the study area and provide a deeper understanding as to how the quantification of land value uplift from BRT represents one element of the wider economic benefits of a BRT system.     

The conceptual framework for ethics and corporate social responsibility in Taiwanese tourism industry

This study examines ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the Taiwanese tourism industry from the standpoints of the government, academia, and industry through the perspective of Confucianism and creates a comprehensive, tourism-specific ethics and CSR conceptual framework. A qualitative approach was adopted in this study that recruited 21 experts to share their perspectives regarding ethics and CSR in the tourism industry. An original, valuable and comprehensive ethics and CSR conceptual framework in the tourism industry within the context of Chinese society was conducted and includes seven dimensions emerged from the data and were integrated into the following four facets: first, the dimensions of ethics; second, the antecedent facet of CSR is the inside and outside force; third, the strategy facet includes the economy, the environment, society, and culture; and fourth, the consequence aspect is feedback. Further, this research provides value for academics and practical strategy for related fields.     

Competency analysis of top managers in the Taiwanese hotel industry

The purpose of this study was to identify top managers’ competencies in hotel unit leaders perceived to be most critical for career development, and using the Fuzzy Delphi and Analytic Hierarchy Process methods to determine perceptions of the importance of various competencies in different dimensions. This study uses snowball sampling methods to collect data from 25 hotel top managers and uses qualitative and quantitative surveys, including interviews, questionnaire review and a questionnaire survey. A two-stage research design is adopted to understand the differences in perceived competency requirements better. The analytical results demonstrate the required competencies of top managers in the hotel industry, and divide them into generic and technical dimensions, 18 competency domains, and 107 competency indices. The top three most important competency domains are “leadership,” “crisis management,” and “problem-solving.” The proposed management competency framework provides an important implication for educators, practitioners, and researchers.     

Factors affecting hotel human resource demand in Taiwan

This study explores the factors affecting hotel human resource (HR) demand and focusing on the organizational, industrial and macroeconomic factors of the hospitality industry. A prediction model was built with eight independent variables and four dummy variables. Secondary data was collected via a governmental statistic database, and regression analysis was performed using the Generalized Least Squares (GLS) method. The results show that the HR demand of international tourist hotels is more likely to be affected by industrial factors and macroeconomic factors, while the HR demand of standard tourist hotels is less complex, and is mainly affected by organizational factors.     

The nexus between sustainable practices in hotels and future Gen Y hospitality students’ career path decisions

This study explored tertiary hospitality students’ attitudes and overall perceptions about green and sustainable practices; and how these may impact their future career paths in the hotel industry. A thematic analysis with data from 12 semi-structured interviews with students in a hotel management school in Australia was used to identify patterns and interpretive themes. Results revealed positive attitudes among Generation Y hospitality students towards working in a green and sustainable hotel environment. Implications highlight the need for sustainability education in the curriculum of tertiary education providers and strong emphasis on sustainability practices in employee training programs. The results also suggest possible impacts of sustainability practices in recruiting and hiring in the hospitality industry and how this may affect future hospitality employees and leaders.     

Consumer engagement with brands on social network sites: A cross-cultural comparison of China and the USA

To advance theoretical understanding of consumer engagement on social media, this cross-cultural study evaluates how culture influences consumers’ engagement levels and activities on brand pages of social network sites. It further evaluates the underlying motivations and engagement mechanisms in two culturally distinct countries, China and the USA. Specifically, social media dependency, parasocial interaction, and community identification are examined as the key antecedents of consumer-brand engagement. The results confirm the effects of the proposed antecedents and reveal both cultural differences and similarities between Chinese and American consumers’ engagement with brand pages on social network sites.