How do destination social responsibility strategies affect tourists’ intention to visit? An attribution theory perspective

Destination social responsibility (DSR) initiatives have recently received increasing attention as an effective way for destinations to maintain sustainable tourism development and competitive advantages. Through the lens of attribution theory, this study divided DSR strategies into proactive and reactive approaches and explored their influences on tourists' attribution and intention to visit a destination. This study also investigated the moderating role of information sources on the relationship between DSR strategies and tourists' attribution. The results of two experiments indicated that tourists' altruism attribution and visit intention tended to be higher when a destination applied the proactive (vs. reactive) DSR strategy. Tourists who got a reactive DSR message from an internal (vs. external) information source tended to generate stronger visit intention. The findings provide important implications for destinations to adopt appropriate DSR strategies and information channels for inducing tourists’ visit intention.     

“Green cannibalism” or an “organic inside job”? Empirical insights into the rivalry of ethical grocery types

Despite having favorable purchase intentions toward organic groceries, the respective purchase behavior falls often short. This so‐called intention–behavior gap is investigated by exploring the impact of competing ethical products fulfilling green consumption motives (“green fit”) as well or lacking credibility of organic groceries on organic purchase behavior. The first two studies (n ₁ = 225; n ₂ = 321) assessing actual and reported purchase behavior are testing the impact of perceived substitutability of local and fair trade alternatives compared with organic groceries. A third study ( n ₃ = 145) examines the impact of food miles and packaging on perceived product quality and credibility as possible reasons for a lacking “green fit” of organic groceries in terms of an experimental design. Local (fair trade) and organic groceries are perceived as substitute (complementary) alternatives. Additionally, local (organic) “green fit” impedes (enhances) the transformation from organic intentions into a respective purchase behavior. Wrapped organic produces with high food miles are linked to lower quality and credibility perceptions, reducing organic sales rates in favor of local groceries.     

How to enhance the image of edible insect restaurants: Focusing on perceived risk theory

Although edible insects are getting attention all over the world, consumers are still reluctant to visit edible insect restaurants. Thus, the objective of this research is to explore what risks customers perceive in edible insect restaurants and how those risks affect the image of edible insect restaurants. More specifically, First, the results of principal components analysis showed that 21 perceived risk items were divided into seven factors: quality, psychological, health, financial, environmental, time-loss, and social risks. Second, five sub-dimensions of perceived risk had a negative effect on image, with the exception of financial and environmental risks. Lastly, image was found to increase intention to use, word-of-mouth intention, and willingness to pay more.     

Persuasive location-based messaging to increase store visits: An exploratory study of fashion shoppers

Although it appears increasingly important yet potentially challenging to attract customers to physical stores, location-based messaging, i.e., delivering mobile phone messages using data about the recipient's location when that recipient is near the sender, has been said to enable such attraction. Still, existing studies offer very limited insight into which particular location-based persuasion approach retailers should use. Drawing on persuasion theory, this exploratory study aims to investigate and compare the potential of two discrepant persuasion techniques (scarcity and social proof) to influence customers' experiences and thereby stimulate them to visit the retailer's physical store. A factorial survey design was applied to test the research model. Data were collected from a sample of actual customers of a Dutch fashion retailer (n = 579). The results suggest that scarcity is a more effective persuasion technique in the studied context than social proof; scarcity-focused messages appear to be experienced as more informative, more entertaining and less irritating, seem to be valued more because of this, and are thus more likely to incline customers to visit the store. We discuss these findings and their implications for theory as well as for practice.     

Crisis spillover of corporate environmental misconducts: The roles of perceived similarity,familiarity, and corporate environmental responsibility in determining the impact on oppositional behavioral intention

Negative impact of a firm's environmental misconduct can spread to other firms under the same category due to stakeholders' categorization. Such problem implies a sociocognitive process that has yet to be explored. Therefore, this study extends the current literature by exploring how interfirm similarity affects the spillover effects through stakeholders' engagement. We propose that interfirm similarity can be perceived by stakeholders as a categorization standard, which can lead to their opposition to other firms. Spillover of misconduct is caused by the decreasing stakeholders' trust, wherein the negative effect is contingent upon stakeholders' perceptions. A questionnaire study is conducted to investigate how people resist an innocent firm in China when a chemistry firm experienced an explosion accident. Our findings confirm that interfirm similarity increases stakeholders' opposition to the innocent firm by decreasing their trust. However, the negative effect is alleviated when the innocent firm is perceived as highly environmentally responsible. Our work contributes to the crisis spillover literature and carries important implications for the management of innocent firms that may lose from an industry peer's misconduct.     

Linking organizational social exchange to intention to leave: Does normative commitment matter?

Abstract

This study examines the effects of organizational social exchange on normative commitment and intention to leave the organization. We develop a moderated mediation model with normative commitment as a mediator in the relationship between organizational social exchange and the intention to leave, and individual-level power distance as a moderator of the indirect link between organizational social exchange and the intention to leave via normative commitment. We collected the data for our two-wave study from 176 employees of a bank in Macau. The results of hierarchical regressions and bootstrapping analyses largely support our hypotheses.     

Exploring the factors affecting customers’ intention to purchase a smart speaker

Although the sale of smart speakers is predicted to have a significant growth, the usage of smart speakers is not very popular in some countries and need further investigation. While the Bluetooth earphone and speakers are popular, the sales of smart speakers are challenging. Hence, the research purpose is to explore the determinants of the intention to purchase smart speakers and compare the differences between customers and potential customers. This study proposes ten hypotheses in a research framework according to the diffusion of innovation theory (DOI), task-technology fit (TTF), and perceived values. This study develops an online questionnaire to collect data from popular social networking sites. Finally, 249 valid responses collected from the website users are remained. The ten hypotheses are validated by using smartPLS software. According to the path analyses, five hypotheses were supported in potential customer group while only three hypotheses were supported in customer group. Users' perceived emotion-related value had significant direct influences on all customers' intention to buy smart speakers. Surprisingly, TTF was demonstrated to not significantly influence customers’ intention to purchase. The insights of the findings can be provided to smart speaker developers to design their products and sales strategies.     

Consumers’ prestige-seeking behavior in premium food markets: Application of the theory of the leisure class

Premium food markets have emerged as a new form of foodservice establishment. They feature a unique eating and shopping experience that offers a wide variety of high-quality food in a sophisticated environment with distinctive consumer services. Based on the theory of the leisure class, this study explored how consumers’ prestige values influence their behavioral intentions, particularly their customer citizenship behavioral intention and revisit intentions, toward premium food markets. The study sample included customers who have shopped at premium food markets. Using a self-administered survey, 247 valid responses were obtained for analysis. The results showed the positive effects of prestige values on affective commitment and the positive influences of affective commitment on customer citizenship behavioral intention and revisit intention. This study significantly extends prestige-consumption knowledge in the foodservice and hospitality industries.     

“I know I can,but I don't fit”: Perceived fit,self-efficacy,and entrepreneurial intention

While extant literature generally suggests a positive relationship between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention, several moderators have been identified – suggesting possible boundary conditions on that relationship. This paper introduces perceived person-entrepreneurship fit to entrepreneurship and shows that it moderates the relationship between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention. Three studies are conducted which illuminate the utility of randomized experiments and methodological approaches to address limitations in the interpretation of empirical results. Studies 1 and 2 are randomized experiments to examine causality; Study 3 contains two correlational surveys to triangulate the results by examining whether the proposed effects withstand the influence of confounding variables in real-life. The findings indicate that when a strong perception of fit with entrepreneurship is achieved, entrepreneurial intention is strongly predicted by entrepreneurial self-efficacy. In contrast, if one perceives a low level of fit or no fit, entrepreneurial intention will be low, regardless of entrepreneurial self-efficacy.     

Towel reuse in hotels: Importance of normative appeal designs

Laundry is a major factor in hotel fresh water use. Pro-environmental appeals to encourage tourists to reuse towels and bed linen have received much attention in the literature, though findings have remained inconclusive. This paper presents the results of a large field experiment with 21,000 observations in seven hotels catering to the sun, sand & sea leisure tourism market in Gran Canaria, Spain. Findings suggest that comprehensive message designs can increase towel reuse by 6.8% and bed linen reuse by 1.2%, compared to existing in-room messages. Results also show that nationality, age, length of stay, repeat visits, temperature, and hotel standard influence participation levels. The field experiment confirms that normative appeals can trigger significant behavioural change. Evidence suggests, however, that social norm generation may be a more promising avenue to changing behaviour than norm adherence.