Destination attachment: Effects on customer satisfaction and cognitive,affective and conative loyalty

Tourists may develop attachment to a destination because of its ability in fulfilling specific goals or activity needs and/or because of its symbolic meaning and thus, attachment could be an important measure of tourist satisfaction and loyalty. Despite its significance, only limited research has been conducted to determine the likely influences of emotional associations or meanings tourists attach to the places they visit on their satisfaction and future behavior. This study therefore explores the role of attachment in predicting satisfactory holiday experiences and destination loyalty. Results of the structural equation modeling show that positive emotional and cognitive bonds with a place could indeed affect an individual's critical assessment of a destination and his/her loyalty to the place. Implications of the study are discussed.     

Reconsidering Media Discourses on Food Crisis from a Quantitative Perspective

In 2007–2008, when food prices started to increase dramatically, purchasing power parity of consumers, especially the urban poor, started to decrease automatically. High food prices were argued to cause poverty, hunger, and food riots among urban populations. Henceforward, “food crisis” became a new storyline in the current debate. In contrast, in the pre-2007 period, when rural farmers had been facing negative welfare effects of low food prices for many years, there were no crisis talks. This article analyzes different media coverage of urban consumers and rural producers under changes in relative incomes for the 2000–2013 period and propounds media bias on the food crisis debate by using content analysis and the OLS regression model.     

The straitjacket at workplace： Mobbing

Mobbing has been defined as a chronic asymmetric pattern of power relations and a consequent conflict transformed into a systematic discrimination or mistreatment at workplace which is expressed through unethical or aggressive communication （Leynman, 1996）. Mobbing occurs when an employee in the workplace is steadily subjected to aggressive behavior from more than one colleague or supervisor over a period of time, in a situation where the target finds it difficult to defend him/herself to escape this dire situation. Such a long term incivility tends to stigmatize the mobbed victim and may cause severe psychological trauma since （s）he is metaphorically in a straitjacket. In this double-bind and double-squeeze condition where （s）he can neither get out of the situation nor endure the ordeal, a positive outcome is unlikely. How do we differentiate mobbing from conflict in organizations and how are disputes converted into mobbing behavior, and if one may even do research on mobbing in a culture of＂organizational silence＂ and ＂obedience/submission＂ in a developing country will be the first theoretical research question. Whether systemic silence as a collective level phenomenon is not only an obstacle to healthy organizational communication and relationships, but also a serious barrier to development, participation and learning from malpractices is another relevant question. Most researches investigating the background of mobbing are based on either experiences of targets as victims or the critical cases including the perpetrators as mobber; Therefore, the findings are often at individual level and subjective. They are often ＂ex post facto＂ analysis of psychological dimensions （e.g., personality characteristics of mostly of mobbed victims and rarely of mobbers） or legal dimensions. There are few ＂ex ante＂ analyses of organizational culture dimensions so that preventive measures may be taken prior to any serious mobbing case is reported. This paper＇s objective is to approach mobbing as a function of group conflict and rumor that is uncontrolled for a long time. By exploring the background of mobbing in ten companies from service sector in IstanbuI-Turkey, this view is assessed. The findings confirmed that mobbing is a function of relational conflict and gossip particularly in companies with high positional power distance and highly centralized decision-making where high power imbalance between supervisors and subordinates are salient. Such organizations seem to be more conducive to concealed mobbing and survival than to development and participation of employees as ＂modus operandi＂.     

Tie the knot: building stronger consumers’ attachment toward a brand

Extant research has promoted the importance and seeking to establish a deeper understanding of brand loyalty. However, it still remains elusive and uncertain. A study with more than 1,500 CEOs worldwide believes that creating a bond with consumers and continuing to learn how to strengthen the bond are essential for realizing strategies and delivering on shareholder expectations. Not surprisingly, firms and researchers are seeking ways to build a stronger connection with consumers, because such attachment acts as a key requisite in a firm’s success. Consequently, understanding how marketers can intensify the attachment is important. This article offers a framework for building stronger consumers’ attachment and testing it based on a survey of 432 participants. Four factors are deemed to be important: ideal self-congruence, sensory experience, responsiveness, and CSR beliefs. Attachment influences loyalty and resilience to negative information. Additionally, attachment fully mediates ideal self-congruence and responsiveness to loyalty, as well as ideal self-congruence and sensory experience to resilience to negative information.     

Ministers’ statements: a policy implementation instrument for sustainable tourism?

Consistent communication of tourism policies by tourism ministers might raise public and industry awareness and promote support for sustainable tourism. The statements made by ministers contain messages that can inform the public and industry stakeholders, and potentially, these statements can draw attention to sensitive issues and bring about changes in practices that encourage sustainability in the tourism industry. Analyzing the statements of the five most recent tourism ministers in Turkey, delivered between 2001 and 2009, this study identifies the ministers’ priorities for tourism and compares them with the tourism policy objectives set out in Turkey's Tourism Strategic Action Plan. Further comparison is undertaken to see whether priorities changed within and between governments. The results of the content analysis indicate that the statements of the Turkish tourism ministers were economically driven and growth-oriented, and that there were inconsistencies between the ministers’ priorities and the corresponding policy objectives in the national tourism strategy. While the period between 2001 and 2009 saw changing governments and ministers, the different ministers emphasized an almost identical set of priorities. Implications are discussed for public awareness of tourism policies and for sustainable tourism.     

An evaluation of strategic responses to consumer boycotts

This article documents the relative effectiveness of the various marketing strategies, in particular the public relations strategies, that firms use to combat the likelihood of boycotts as a politically motivated form of anti-consumption. This study focuses on boycotts that relate to corporate practices and aims to provide a rationale for appropriate publicity-based responses to the threat of corporate practice related boycotts. The purpose is to determine whether the techniques that firms use to mitigate the detrimental effects of negative publicity will be similarly effective for a boycott situation. The authors use two experiments to investigate the influence of publicity-based strategic responses to boycott requests on consumers' perceptions and behavior.     

The work of mapping and the mapping of work: prosumer roles in crowdsourced maps

This paper presents an analysis of crowdsourcing work with a particular focus on exploring what forces and characteristics of the collaboration practices and technologies encourage and discourage prosumer work behaviours. Data were gathered through depth interviews with prosumers of a crowdsourced digital nautical map, observational netnographic research of prosumers on angling forums, and interviews and meetings with the map providers. Incorporating research on consumer work and prosumption, three distinct prosumer roles are identified based on how angling prosumers differentially produce and consume the crowdsourced maps. These roles show multiple behaviours along the prosumption continuum, and in so doing extend the continuum by introducing a second dimension – work as private versus public prosumer activity. It concludes by offering suggestions for marketers to engage with prosumers in crowdsourcing contexts.     

For better or for worse: the long-term effects of postwar mobilization on family formation

This article estimates the long-term legacies of female labour force mobilization on women’s family formation outcomes such as marriage, age at first marriage and divorce. We identify the long-term marriage effects of female labour force mobilization by exploring postwar mandatory employment in Germany. Using difference-in-differences analysis, we find that participation in postwar reconstruction efforts increased women’s probability of being currently married, ever married and marrying at younger ages. We also find that postwar employment had no differential effect on divorce rates of the affected cohorts of women. These results persist after accounting for the potential changes in the composition of the population, demand for female labour, war relief payments and postwar state-specific policies.     

The Interface between Organizational Learning Capability,Entrepreneurial Orientation,and SME Growth

This paper investigates the interface between organizational learning capability, entrepreneurial orientation (EO), and small business performance. It reports on the findings from 350 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in North Cyprus operating in the services and retailing sectors. The findings indicate a positive relationship between EO and sales and market share growth, but not between EO and employment growth. There is also a positive relationship between organizational learning capability and EO. This paper contributes to the small business management literature by providing a holistic analysis of the interface between organizational learning capability, EO, and growth.     

Customers’ Assessment of Destination Advertisements with Incomplete Information Interactions among Inferences,Attitudes, and Purchase Intentions

Potential visitors are often required to make judgments about destinations on the basis of limited or incomplete information. Since decision-making rules may change when information is missing, it is instrumental to understand how potential visitors respond to incomplete information. The present research explores how marketing communication containing incomplete information (in)directly affects consumers’ inferences, attitudes, and purchase intentions. The results have shown that when information is limited, consumers are unlikely to develop strong attitudes that will guide their purchase intentions. However, when exposed to the incomplete information, the involved consumers are likely to infer service quality by complementing the incompleteness with their own input, and hence they are likely to develop favorable intent toward the destination. Implications for destination advertising are discussed.