Moderating Role of Gender in the Relationship between Hotel Service Quality Dimensions and Tourist Satisfaction

Gender has frequently been identified as one of the key attributes and predictors in developing marketing strategy. This study examines the moderating role of gender in the relationship between hotel service quality dimensions and tourist satisfaction with hotel service delivery. The results derived from multi-group structural equation modeling via the AMOS 5.0 computer program revealed that gender significantly moderated the relationship between service quality dimensions and tourist satisfaction with hotel service delivery. Empathy and tangibles both contributed as the most important significant predictors of tourist satisfaction with hotel service delivery for male tourists as opposed to female tourists. It is statistically confirmed that men and women appear to respond to different aspects of a service encounter when making judgments about their satisfaction.     

Empowering the new traveller: storytelling as a co-creative behaviour in tourism

The work proposes a theoretical and empirical model that investigates how storytelling is a powerful co-creative behaviour in tourism. The contribution takes a step forward from the classical theories on co-creation and develops the case where consumers act almost independently from traditional brands. The empirical study adopts an interpretive approach to analyse online travel reviews. Data are interpreted through Yi and Gong's model on consumer value co-creation behaviour [(2013). Customer value co-creation behavior: Scale development and validation. Journal of Business Research, 66, 127], the Phase dynamics theory of travel epiphany behaviour [Woodside, A. G., & Megehee, C. M. (2010). Advancing consumer behaviour theory in tourism via visual narrative art. International Journal of Tourism Research, 12(5), 418–431], and the Archetype theory [Woodside, A. G., Sood, S., & Miller, K. E. (2008). When consumers and brands talk: Storytelling theory and research. Psychology & Marketing, 25(2), 97–145]. The study indicates that storytelling behaviours in value co-creation activate a ‘customer delight' response, which is an affect-based construct.     

Does contingent pay encourage positive employee attitudes and intensify work?

This article explores the relationships between three dimensions of contingent pay – performance‐related pay, profit‐related pay and employee share‐ownership – and positive employee attitudes (job satisfaction, employee commitment and trust in management). The article also examines a conflicting argument that contingent pay may intensify work, and this can detract from its positive impact on employee attitudes. Of the three contingent pay dimensions, only performance‐related pay had direct positive relationships with all three employee attitudes. Profit‐related pay and employee share‐ownership had a mix of negative and no significant direct relationships with employee attitudes, but profit‐related pay showed U‐shaped curvilinear relationships with all three employee attitudes. The results also indicated that performance‐related pay is associated with work intensification, and this offsets some of its positive impact on employee attitudes.     

Role of food neophilia in food market tourists’ motivational construct: The case of La Boqueria in Barcelona,Spain

In this paper we advocate the study of local food markets to explore fundamental issues about the relationship between these urban tourist attractions and visitors’ motivation and satisfaction. Based on a survey in La Boqueria Market in Barcelona, Spain, we test the direct effect of escape from routine, cultural experience, prestige, and food market involvement on satisfaction, and also the moderator role of food neophilia in this relationship. We conclude that tourists visiting food markets are motivated mainly by cultural experience and interaction with local producers, while food neophilia plays a significant moderator role.     

Do unfair perceived own pay and top managers’ pay erode satisfaction with democracy?

Many people are relatively unsatisfied with the democratic system as it currently exists. In this empirical research note, the authors present evidence that German workers, who perceive their own pay or top managers’ pay as unfair, are on average significantly less happy with the democracy in Germany. Thus, fairness perceptions in the labour market and of income inequality seem to have spillover effects on the overall satisfaction with the democratic system.     

基于IPA方法的非中心城市酒店一线员工满意度研究

酒店业普遍存在一线员工工作满意度过低的问题,导致一线员工频繁地跳槽,人才流失严重,影响了整个酒店业的发展。在如今一线中心城市尚且存在高度"用工荒"的情况下,非中心城市的星级酒店如何留住一线员工?本文通过对市级不同星级酒店的实地调查研究以及对个别酒店领导的访谈,通过IPA方法分析了影响一线员工工作满意度的具体因素。     

南京江北新区新型城镇化发展质量评价与提升路径

文章构建了由31项指标组成的新型城镇化综合发展质量评价指标体系,运用AHP层次分析法和熵值法,选择19个国家级新区中2018年经济总量排名前十的新区进行定量对比分析,并结合民生幸福建设群众满意度问卷调查分析,对南京江北新区新型城镇化发展质量进行综合评价。研究表明:(1)南京江北新区新型城镇化整体发展处于中上游水平,与发达新区相比存在一定差距,产业结构亟需优化;(2)发展增长方式、资源利用率、环境保护类指标明显落后;(3)科教文卫、居民生活等指标具有比较优势。文章最后提出新型城镇化提升路径为加快生态环境和公共服务建设,积极提升科教和生态示范效应,做大做强主导产业,促进城乡特色均衡发展和推进以人为核心的新型城镇化。     

Exploring effects of source similarity,message valence,and receiver regulatory focus on yelp review persuasiveness and purchase intentions

This study is among the first to investigate the impact of message, source, and receiver characteristics on user attitudes toward Yelp reviews, with the subsequent impact of these attitudinal evaluations on review persuasiveness. Specifically, it examines the roles of review valence (positive/negative) and sidedness (one-sided/two-sided), as well as perceived similarity with the reviewer, on user perceptions of helpfulness, trustworthiness, and credibility of the review. The study also tests moderating effects of perceived source similarity and user regulatory focus on the relationships among message characteristics, attitudinal variables, and purchase intentions. Our results disconfirm the negativity bias reported in previous studies and indicate that positive reviews are perceived as more trustworthy, credible, and helpful than negative or two-sided reviews. Review helpfulness and credibility, in turn, positively impacts its persuasiveness, with regulatory focus playing a complex nuanced role in the persuasiveness – behavioral intentions relationship. Based on the findings, future research avenues and managerial implications are proposed.     

The influence of the DinEX service quality dimensions on casual-dining restaurant customers’ satisfaction and behavioral intentions

The following empirical study examines the effects of specific service quality dimensions from the DinEX model on customers’ satisfaction and behavioral intentions. The originality of DinEX over other restaurant service quality instruments is primarily its focus on dimensions such as social connectedness and homophily, which represent social constructs that portray an internal sense of belonging and the tendency for people to affiliate with similar others. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed in an independent casual-dining restaurant located in the southeastern United States and a sample of 209 respondents was obtained. Results show that food healthfulness and food quality have an influence on customers’ satisfaction, which in turn affects their behavioral intentions. The implications for practitioners are discussed in detail.     

Validating a customer well-being index related to natural wildlife tourism

This study reports an attempt to validate a customer well-being (CWB) index related to natural wildlife tourism. It was hypothesized that the CWB index related to wildlife tourism has a positive influence on travel outcomes (length of stay, number of visits, and total expenses), mediated by perceived value and customer loyalty. These hypotheses were tested using four waves of surveys of customers (overnight visitors) intercepted at the park in a two-year period. The survey data provided support for the hypotheses, which, in turn, lend validation support to the CWB index. Managerial implications of the customer well-being index are also discussed.