Chinese tourists' views of nature and natural landscape interpretation: a generational perspective

This study investigates Chinese tourists’ views of nature, interest in animal experiences and their preferred natural landscape interpretation content from a generational perspective. Eight hundred and eight self-administered questionnaires were collected at Wulingyuan, a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site, in China. It suggests that overall Chinese traditional cultural values and beliefs, notably the thinking of tian ren he yi (oneness of nature with humans), still have considerable impacts on Chinese tourists. They were found to have a strong sense of connection with nature and a preference for cultural interpretations of natural landscapes. Meanwhile, Chinese might be reaching a point of convergence in terms of attitude towards nature and animals with their Western counterparts, as reflected by their weak anthropocentric view, and strong ethical and aesthetic appreciation of animals, regardless of generation cohorts. Yet, the study shows significant generational gaps: older generations have a stronger connection with nature, are more concerned about environmental issues and show more support for the Western approach towards nature protection; the younger generations hold weaker anthropocentrism, and are more interested in animals, yet are less likely to learn about nature through tourism interpretation.     

The influence of attitudes towards healthy eating on food consumption when travelling

This study explores tourists' attitude towards healthy eating and its influence on their travel eating behaviour. Based on focus group interviews and literature review, two instruments were developed to measure healthy eating attitude and travel eating behaviour. Factor analysis results revealed two healthy eating attitude factors (‘food content and nutrients’ and ‘balanced diet and eating habit’), and five travel eating behaviour factors (‘novelty’, ‘risk avoidance’, ‘health steadfastness’, ‘familiarity’, and ‘food supplement and medicine’). The relationships among the factors were examined using structural equation modelling. The findings revealed that respondents who had a stronger attitude towards ‘balanced diet and eating habit’ tended to be more motivated by the ‘novelty’ factor; whereas ‘risk avoidance’, ‘health steadfastness’ and ‘familiarity’ were found to be associated with a stronger attitude towards ‘food content and nutrient’. The findings suggest that the healthy eating attitude construct is multidimensional and healthy eating conscious tourists should not be treated as a homogeneous group.     

To go or not to go: travel constraints and attractiveness of travel affecting outbound Chinese tourists to Japan

The fast growth of the Chinese economy has transformed Chinese outbound tourism into one of the major players in the tourism industry worldwide. However, Chinese outbound tourists may still encounter travel constraints in some countries, such as Japan, which has had a close and complicated relationship in history with China. This study adopted the qualitative approach by applying focus group and in-depth interviews to investigate and triangulate the travel barriers affecting Chinese outbound travel to Japan. The findings indicated that domestic nationalist sentiment played a key constraining role in influencing Chinese outbound travel decision-making, followed by current political factors, while quality products and service, as well as social environment encouraged tourists to travel. This research also found that visitors and non-visitors have perception differences in terms of travel barriers and attractiveness of travel.     

The constraints of Chinese tourists to visit Korea caused by THAAD using Q-methodology

The recent deployment of the THAAD system to South Korea has resulted in complex and controversial issues, particularly in the political, diplomatic, and economic relations between Korea and China [Perlez, J. (2017, May 31). China woos South Korea’s new leader, but the U.S. left behind a spoiler. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/world/asia/china-south-korea-xi-jinping-moon-jaein-thaad.html?_r=0]. To minimize its negative impact on international tourism, the underlying psychological mechanisms of Chinese tourists associated with this complex political issue should be determined. As an attempt to resolve the current crisis, this study identified the subjective characteristics of Chinese tourists who cancelled visits to Korea using Q-methodology and classified Chinese tourists’ attitude towards the THAAD issue. Based on respondent’s evaluations on Q-sample statements, four types of Chinese tourists were articulated, namely, patriotism, risk awareness, external dependency, and Lotte sanctions. By delving into tourists’ subjectivity, Q-methodology seems powerful to elicit intrapersonal constraints, which are deeply embedded in an individual’s psychological state. The results showed that the THAAD issue greatly influenced Chinese tourists’ personal values, beliefs, and identities.     

北京旅游目的地形象的感知——中西方旅游者博客的多维话语分析

目前,很少有学者采用旅游者博客这一新兴的方式研究游客对旅游目的地形象的感知。文章选择中西方旅游者博客话语为切入点,从“文化繁荣”、“宜居和生态”、“现代化大都市”、“社会和谐”和“经济发展”5个维度探讨中西方游客对北京旅游目的地形象感知的异同,并讨论了两个不同旅游群体在文化背景、意识形态和消费水平方面的差异。最后,文章对如何提升来京中西方游客的体验评价提出了切实的建议。此研究意在强调旅游者博客在旅游目的地形象研究中的重要意义,同时亦希望能够对话语分析的跨学科发展作出贡献。     

Dimensions of Chinese culture values in relation to service provision in hospitality and tourism industry

Factor and reliability analyses were employed in this exploratory attempt to investigate and refine the structure and dimensions of Chinese cultural values (CCVs) in relation to service provision. Based on the results of factor analysis, CCVs could best be conceptualized as a five-component construct that influences the attitude or behavior of employees in providing service. These five factors were identified as follows: Integration 1 (attitude towards work); Integration 2 (attitude towards people); moral discipline; status and relationships; and moderation. The identification of these dimensions has two major implications to human resource development and service management practice in the hospitality and tourism industry. First, Chinese cultural values play a critical role in determining specific interventions, challenges and barriers in service organizational management. Second, given the profound influence of Chinese cultural values on service provision, international tourism and hotel managers, particularly in human resource development, should realize the importance of ensuring that Western management practices are adopted critically in Chinese organizations. Given the limited amount of research on this topic, the findings generated from this study are very important in guiding future research and providing insights into an area that deserves more academic attention.     

Understanding organizational citizenship behavior from a cultural perspective: An empirical study within the context of hotels in Mainland China

Scholarly concerns in organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) have increased dramatically over the past two decades. Nevertheless, there are significant issues yet to be addressed and resolved, one of which relates to the influences of cultural values on such voluntary behaviors. In view of the importance of OCB in meliorating hotel service and cultivating customer loyalty, the current study seeks to investigate a possible mechanism through which Chinese values (CVs) may function on employee citizenship behaviors within the hotels in Mainland China. The research questions focus on whether CVs have a direct impact on OCB and its verified antecedents, leader–member exchange (LMX) and employee organizational commitment (OC). Eventually, the research findings have verified the conceptual model and confirmed all the postulated linkages among the constructs under study.     

中国茶产业现状及发展趋势分析

具有5 000年历史、历经兴衰而又绵延不断的中国茶产业如何得以发展,今后将如何发展值得关注和探讨。在WTO条件下,中国茶产业的经济活动受制于国内与国际两大环境,也取决于自身的优势和弱势。该文从茶产业构成要素及产业门类两方面分别分析评价了我国茶产业自身的优势、薄弱点,以及在WTO条件下所面临的外部环境机遇、威胁,最后,探讨了中国茶产业未来发展趋势。     

海产品贸易的环境成本内部化

在国际市场上,低价出售的农产品常常被发达国家以生态倾销的名义征收反倾销税,理由是这类产品对环境所造成的破坏和影响没有计算到产品的成本中。或者说,这类产品的低价位不是技术进步的结果,而是通过牺牲环境为代价换来的。如何将产品的外部成本内化为产品的成本呢?本文以海产品为例提出一些核算方法,即排污权转让法、环境要素差距分析法以及综合分析法。     

Weekday seasonality of stock returns: The contrary case of China

We document that Chinese stock returns exhibit early-in-the-week effects opposite-signed to those observed worldwide. The period of analysis is 2001–2016. Dominated by individual investors, Chinese stock markets offer unique out-of-sample insight regarding the source of weekday seasonality, ascribed elsewhere to institutional investors’ trading patterns. High returns to the market and to small, speculative stocks early-in-the-week pose a refuter to the mood explanation for the conventional (negative) Monday effect. A battery of tests suggests that the patterns in the Market, SMB, and RMW factors are jointly associated with Chinese individual investors whose demand is tilted towards small, speculative stocks. Our findings point to a potential role of dominant investor type in driving weekday patterns and the RMW premium.