The managed heart: The structural analysis of the stressor–strain relationship and customer orientation among emotional labor workers in Korean hotels

This study examined the structural relationships among three different dimensions of workplace stressors (customer-related stressor, CRS; work environment-related stressor, WERS; job-related stressor, JRS), negative affectivity (NA), emotional exhaustion (EE), and the negative effect of that strain on customer orientation (CO) in the context of the emotional labor (EL) of frontline employees in the hotel industry. Data were collected from self-administrated questionnaires distributed among frontline employees in room and F&B divisions in Korean deluxe tourist hotels, where EL is intense. The results of the structural equation analysis indicated a positive association between all three workplace stressors and NA and between NA and EE. There was also a relationship in the opposite direction with EE and CO, as hypothesized. The moderating effect of organizational level on the workplace stressors–NA relationships was also confirmed. In addition, in an alternative model, we found that NA partially mediates the relationship between JRS and EE; whereas, NA fully mediates the relationships between CRS/WERS and EE. Practical implications are discussed in detail and limitations of the study and future research directions are also suggested.     

Impact of quality on estimations of hotel efficiency

This paper provides empirical evidence on the impact of output quality on hotel efficiency. It demonstrates how ignoring quality can lead to erroneous efficiency estimates. The study uses stochastic frontier methodology and the model proposed by Battese and Coelli (1995) to estimate the efficiency of 838 hotels in Spain in the period 2009–2013. The key advantage of this methodology is its ability to estimate efficiency and identify factors that explain differences in efficiency in a single-stage sampling procedure. Estimates of cost efficiency, which only include the costs of higher quality, are compared to those of profit efficiency, which not only consider costs but also the revenues generated by higher quality. Results show that quality has a negative impact on cost efficiency and a positive one on profit efficiency. Thus, hotel management should implement strategies that increase the value of their services as a way to achieve sustainable competitive advantages.     

A fad or the future? Examining the effectiveness of virtual reality advertising in the hotel industry

New virtual reality technology presents hotels with wide-ranging marketing, training, and customer service opportunities. The purpose of this study was to explore both the immediate and delayed effects of hotel VR commercials as compared to traditional video commercials. Based on the perceptual load theory and elaboration likelihood model, this study designed and conducted a 2 × 2 laboratory experiment with two stages of data collection. The study demonstrated that VR commercials produced better immediate effects than the traditional commercials, especially for participants with high elaboration likelihood levels. However, the findings also revealed significant decreases in purchase intention among participants watching VR commercials and a significant improvement in attitudes among participants watching traditional commercials. Both theoretical and practical implications were discussed to leverage the power of VR in marketing.     

Do online hotel rating schemes influence booking behaviors?

Travelers’ hotel booking behaviors increasingly depend on peers' opinions and online ratings. This study investigates the effects of online hotel ratings on travelers' attitudes toward the hotel and booking intentions, using a 2 × 2 experimental research design. The results suggest that online rating lists are more useful and credible when published by well-known online travel communities (e.g., TripAdvisor). More favorable attitudes toward a hotel and higher booking intentions emerge when the hotel appears in best hotels lists. Finally, for the entries on best hotels lists, better attitudes and higher booking intentions result if the list is published on a well-known online travel community (Tripadvisor), whereas for entries on a worst hotel list, attitudes and booking intentions decrease even further if the list appears on TripAdvisor.     

Does justice affect brand advocacy? Online brand advocacy behaviors as a response to hotel customers’ justice perceptions

This study focuses on customers' information-sharing behavior in the context of online brand advocacy behavior regarding hotel brands. We aim to explain hotel customers' online brand advocacy behavior through three-sided justice evaluations (i.e., justice for employees, justice for the self, and global belief in a just world), and their hotel satisfaction. Hypotheses are tested by using survey data acquired from 688 individuals on Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) through partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings show that customers' perceptions of justice for the self positively affect their hotel satisfaction, perceptions of justice for employees and the global belief in a just world positively affect online brand advocacy behavior, and hotel satisfaction also positively affects online brand advocacy behavior. We expand current research efforts on online brand advocacy research and provide theoretical and managerial implications for the development of marketing and management research and practice.     

The Development in the Coming 3 Decades

On June 25,2008,Summit Fo- rum on the Development in the Coming 3 Decades,hosted by China Business Press and sponsored by BMW Brilliance,was held in Beijing Great Wall Sheraton Hotel. World known economists and entrepre- neurs gathered together to review the ex- perience of China's thirty years of reform and opening up as well as to explore the driving force of China's future develop- ment.China's five famous economists,as     

FDI流入我国东部地区的效应及启示

FDI为我国东部地区带来了促进经济增长、扩大就业、产业集聚、制度创新等积极效应.也带来了区域经济非均衡、\"挤出\"内资企业、冲击我国经济等消极效应.应扬长避短,发挥FDI更持久的积极效应,并在中部崛起中吸收有益经验,实现协调发展.     

From the blogosphere into the parliament: The role of digital technologies in organizing social movements

In this paper, we present a process model exploring the roles played by digital technologies (DTs) in the organization of collective action (CA) of social movements (SMs) at different points in their lifecycles. The process model, which is based on an exploratory case study of the Italian Five Star Movement, relates the environmental conditions to the working logic, structure and use of DTs at three different stages of the SMs. We explain how these choices are adopted at each stage to address internal and environmental challenges and how they create further challenges to be addressed to pass to the next stage. We further explore the dynamics between the logic of connective and collective action and reflect on the growing need for structures and control. By so doing, our work addresses the need for a better understanding of the coevolution between DTs and organizational structures and of the ways in which DTs are used to mobilize people to sustain CA along the SM lifecycle.     

Does the ‘non-traditional expatriate’ exist? A critical exploration of new expatriation categories

Non-Traditional Expatriates (NTEs) are rapidly increasing in the global talent pool, but remains a ‘black-box’ in the Expatriate Management and Global Mobility literatures. This article advances the conceptualisation of NTEs, due to the nascent research field is lacking construct clarity in terms of the meaning of the term as well as an operationalised conceptual framework. Five underlying assumptions in the scarce extant literature are identified and discussed, as a means to responding to the following research questions: (i) how credible is the NTE term as an expatriation typology?; and (ii) how can the conceptual framework of NTEs be operationalised? If these key issues remain unsolved, there is a risk of establishing flawed research design which can negatively affect researchers’ credibility when providing policy advice on global staffing and talent management to international managers and Multinational Enterprises (MNEs). This conceptual article draws upon key social anthropological and sociological theories, and proposes a relational research design for investigating NTEs, as well as propositions for future research.