bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Impact of Culture and Gender on Customer Evaluations of Service Encounters
Authors: Mattila Anna S.
Published: March 2006

Despite the growing interest in cross-cultural research in the hospitality literature, little empirical research has been conducted on the effects of culture on consumers’ assessment of service quality. This study was designed to close this gap by investigating culture-based biases in the evaluation of service encounters in a hotel and restaurant setting. Based on prior research in consumer behavior, gender was hypothesized to moderate the impact of culture-based biases. The results of this field study suggest that customer evaluations of service encounters might indeed be culture bound. Asian travelers gave significantly lower ratings to the service provider in both settings (hotel checkout and fine dining). Contrary to our predictions, customer gender failed to have an impact on service encounter evaluations. Power distance and communication context are used as a theoretical framework to discuss the results obtained in this study.
Using Consumer Behavior Research to Understand the Baby Boomer Tourist
Authors: Cleaver Megan , Green B. Christine , Muller Thomas E.
Published: March 2006

This article focuses on consumer behavior research to better understand Australian baby boomer tourists, although the principles and methods behind this empirical study are equally applicable to the baby boomer tourism markets in the United States, Canada, and New Zealand, all of which experienced a major postwar baby boom. Lifestyle research, using both secondary and primary data, was the principal behavioral research approach enhanced with survey findings on the psychological motivation for vacation travel among baby boomers, as well as their vacation risk perceptions and travel patterns. Three prime-target baby boomer lifestyle segments were identified on the basis of their propensity for pleasure travel, and the three groups were profiled by their travel motivations, risk perceptions, and patterns. Distinct intergroup differences were found, which indicate a need to tailor the development and promotion of new tourism and hospitality products to each segment of boomers. The findings have relevance for marketing to North American baby boomers as well.
Organizational Citizenship Behaviors: Their Relationship to Organizational Effectiveness
Authors: Walz Sandra M. , Niehoff Brian P.
Published: March 2006

Organ’s organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) model implies that aggregate citizenship behaviors improve organizational effectiveness. This study investigated relationships between OCBs and organizational effectiveness indicators in limited-menu restaurants. Citizenship behaviors were associated with lower food cost percentages, increased revenue to full-time equivalent, perceived company quality, operating efficiency, customer satisfaction, and fewer customer complaints. Developing a work environment that promotes OCB performance may enhance a manager’s personal productivity and success as well as the organization’s effectiveness.
Toward a Better Cross-Cultural Understanding of U.S. and Russian Lodging Employees: A Discriminant Analysis Approach
Authors: Swerdlow Skip , Cummings W. Theodore
Published: March 2006

The lodging industry has appeared to be a successful exception to the difficulties that business in Russia has faced since perestroika. In spite of these successes, lodging operations have continued to face human resource challenges that arise out of the cross-cultural differences between Eastern and Western expectations, along with economic and political history. This study looks at differences in attitudes with regard to job satisfaction and organizational commitment between Russian and American lodging employees. Important attitudinal differences and similarities were found, and the Job Description Index (JDI) was confirmed as useful in understanding the differences. These findings imply that programs that work in U.S. organizations may have to be tested and adjusted to determine the extent to which they are transferable into the Russian lodging industry without significant modification.
An Engineering Research and Development Framework for the Challenges Faced by the Hotel Industry: Hong Kong Case Study
Authors: Ho John K. L. , Wong Lillian S. Y. , Sarwar Mohammed , Lau W. S.
Published: March 2006

Most hotels in a commercialized city are now struggling to satisfy the rapid and dynamic changes of customers’ requirements. New concepts and approaches for design and development and operation of hotel systems are necessary to cope with these challenges, to maintain market competitiveness, and to secure long-term prosperity. The article examines the present customer requirements and future hotel industry development in a rapidly changing city. The article attempts to formulate strategies to deal with challenges from the utilization of advanced information and systems engineering perspective. An engineering research and development (R&D) framework composed of a customer-oriented approach, a manufacturing system-life-cycle, and artificial intelligence employed in computer integrated manufacturing and agile manufacturing is proposed. Each important aspect of the R&D framework is discussed in detail: the current problems of hotel design and operating concepts, the engineering principles of resolving encountered problems, and methods of facing the challenges.
The Effect of Perceived Justice and Attributions Regarding Service Failure and Recovery on Post-Recovery Customer Satisfaction and Service Quality Attitudes
Authors: McCollough Michael A.
Published: March 2006

This research examines the impact of attributions regarding service failure and recovery on the relationship between satisfaction and service quality by studying a service failure in the hospitality industry resulting from overbooking. In addition, the impact of perceived justice on satisfaction and service quality is analyzed. Finally, the ability of superior recovery to completely mitigate the dissatisfaction resulting from low-harm service failure is addressed. In doing so, the relationship between satisfaction and service quality is clarified. Research hypotheses are critically evaluated through the use of a scenario-based experiment. Implications concern the ability of recovery to mitigate the harm caused by failure. Specifically, for managers in the hospitality industry, the study demonstrates a need to balance overbooking as a yield management tool against the need for organizations to assure service quality through reliability in their service products.
Investing in Interactional Justice: A Study of the Fair Process Effect within a Hospitality Failure Context
Authors: Collie Thérèse A. , Sparks Beverley , Bradley Graham
Published: March 2006

Past research has demonstrated that considerations of distributive, procedural, and interactional justice independently influence customers’ fairness and satisfaction ratings in many contexts. Other research shows evidence of a “fair process” effect—a tendency for customers to be more accepting of poor outcomes when they perceive the outcome allocation process to be fair. Van den Bos, Lind, Vermunt, and Wilke (1997) have reported that this effect may operate only when the outcomes received by others are unknown. Set in a hospitality service recovery context, this study examined the impact of interactional justice and knowledge of others’ outcomes on customers’ service evaluations. A 2 (interactional justice) 4 (others’ outcomes) experimental design was employed in which 176 respondents reported their perceptions of fairness and levels of satisfaction after imagining themselves to be customers in a hypothetical service scenario. Contrary to previous research, evidence of the fair process effect was found irrespective of the presence or absence of information regarding others’ outcomes. Implications for the tourism and hospitality industry and justice theory development are discussed.
The Bottom Line Impact of Organizational Responses to Customer Complaints
Authors: Davidow Moshe
Published: March 2006

Complaint management has become increasingly important in the tourism and hospitality fields, yet little is really known about how complainers assess the organizational response, and how those assessments affect their future consumer behavior as far as word-of-mouth activity and repurchase intentions are concerned. This research suggests an answer by presenting and testing a model of complainants’ perceptions of the organizational response and the impact of the organizational response on postcomplaint customer behavior. The results provide partial support for the model. Attentiveness is the most important organizational response dimension, affecting both word-of-mouth activity and repurchase intentions. Managerial implications are discussed.
Forming Service Relationships with Hotel Business Travelers: The Critical Attributes to Improve Retention
Authors: Scanlan Laurel , McPhail Janelle
Published: March 2006

Customer defections have been linked to service encounter failure in service organizations. This study embraces the idea of improving customer retention through proactively promoting the important role of the interpersonal service encounter to build long-term service relationships between customers and service organizations. More specifically, this study determined the critical relational attributes in the face-to-face service encounter that were most influential in the formation of a service relationship from the business traveler’s perspective. Five critical relational attributes were selected and tested in a high interpersonal service context; namely, a hotel reception encounter. Through factor analysis, the number of factors (critical relational attributes) was reduced from five to four. The results from multiple regression analysis revealed that hotel guests perceived personalization, social bonding, reliability, and familiarization to be most influential in the relationship formation process in that order of significance. Based on the findings, management could develop proactive relationship-building strategies to build customer loyalty and thus reduce the need to use recovery strategies by focusing on the psychological needs emulated in the critical relational attributes.
Service Recovery Strategies: The Impact of Cultural Differences
Authors: Becker Cherylynn
Published: March 2006

Relationship marketing and economies of scope are predicted to become the next major shift in organizational practice. The service recovery concept is a major element in effective implementation of both. This article integrates current knowledge in the area of service recovery with existing knowledge pertaining to the effect of culture on consumer behavior. With the increasing globalization of our customer base, the exploration of service recovery within the context of culture is both timely and important.
On the Efficacy of an In-House Food Sanitation Training Program: Statistical Measurements and Practical Conclusions
Authors: Cohen Eli , Reichel Arie , Schwartz Zvi
Published: March 2006

Researchers agree that in-house food sanitation training decreases the number of incidents of food-borne illness caused by improper handling of food. However, few published works have tested the effectiveness of sanitation-training programs. This study tested the impact of a sanitation-training program on microbiological food quality. The training program was carried out at the production facility of a large food service company. Food samples were tested before, during, and after the training program. Results indicate that a statistically significant improvement was indeed achieved. Because not all departments benefited equally, it might be useful to tailor the program to the unique circumstances in each department to maximize the benefits of in-house sanitation programs.
Do Emotional Appeals Work for Hotels? An Exploratory Study
Authors: Mattila Anna S.
Published: March 2006

Despite huge expenditures spent in the advertising of hotels, the communication of service quality is a relatively unexplored research topic. The main goal of this study was to examine the relative effectiveness of emotional appeals in advertising hotels to potential new customers. Moreover, the author explores the effectiveness of the following cues in the message strategy: employees or customers portrayed in the ad, pricing information, and documentation strategy emphasizing service excellence. The results of this investigation suggest that appealing to a novice consumer’s emotional responses may be highly desirable in terms of creating a favorable attitude toward a hotel brand.
The Effects of Household and Trip Characteristics on Trip Types: A Consumer Behavioral Approach for Segmenting the U.S. Domestic Leisure Travel Market
Authors: Sung Heidi H. , Morrison Alastair M. , Hong Gong-Soog , O’Leary Joseph T.
Published: March 2006

This study examined the effect of income, travel expenditures, and demographic, socio-cultural, and trip-related characteristics on four trip types of the U.S. households. Using data from the U.S. Consumer Expenditure Survey, it was found that households with different trip types varied in their income, demographic, and sociocultural and trip-related characteristics, and exhibited different expenditure patterns on their taking of pleasure/personal trips. The results emphasized the importance of trip type as a key measure for segmenting the U.S. travel markets.
Dividend Policy in the Lodging Industry
Authors: Canina Linda , Advani Rajesh , Greenman Aaron , Palimeri Ifigenia
Published: March 2006

This article analyzes the factors underlying the dividend policy of lodging firms. In addition, it tests whether the market perceives changes in dividends as information about the value of the firm. In a world that is characterized by informational asymmetries between managers and investors, cash dividend payments may be used to convey information from corporate insiders to the company’s shareholders. For example, dividend initiations and increases may convey management’s confidence that the firm is profitable enough to fund its investment projects and to support the new dividend payment level. An alternative explanation is that dividend initiations and increases may reduce agency costs between managers and shareholders, resulting in an increase in the value of the firm. As a result of cash dividend payments, managers will not invest in negative net-present-value projects. Therefore, the announcement of a dividend initiation or increase should be associated with a stock price increase.
Agency Law, Fiduciary Duties, and Hotel Management Contracts
Authors: Wilson Robert H.
Published: March 2006

A series of recent court cases have given hotel owners the power (although not necessarily the right) to terminate hotel management contracts, with or without cause. The courts have also affirmed the existence of a principal-agent relationship in hotel management contracts. Future court decisions involving hotel management contracts will apply traditional agency law, and will impose a fiduciary duty on the hotel operator as set out in the Restatement (Second) of Agency (1958). In one case recently, a jury awarded $57 million to the hotel owner because the hotel operator did not disclose hidden profits and kickbacks and breached its fiduciary duties.
Extending the Boundaries of Customer Accounting: Applications in the Hotel Industry
Authors: Guilding Chris , Kennedy David J. , McManus Lisa
Published: March 2006

In the context of the accounting, hospitality, and marketing literatures, this article explores the potential of applying novel customer accounting methodologies to hotel management. A review of the accounting literature has revealed little consideration given beyond allocating costs differentially across customers. The restricted nature of this approach is highlighted by considering differences in hotel patrons’ purchasing patterns occurring subsequent to the purchase of accommodation. Attention is also drawn to the minimal degree to which accounting commentaries have built on the “relationship marketing” philosophy that has recently commanded much attention in the marketing literature. In light of this philosophy, the notion of customers as assets is promoted and consideration is given to the methodology and implications of valuing customers as assets.
Assessing and Visualizing Tourism Impacts from Urban Residents’ Perspectives
Authors: Chen Joseph S.
Published: March 2006

This study is an attempt to help scholars and practitioners visualize the consequences of tourism development and urban residents’ support for future tourism expansion. In September 1998, 2,400 questionnaires were mailed to residents of southeastern Virginia. Three hundred sixteen useful questionnaires were analyzed. An urban tourism impact scale composed of 24 attributes was purified by a factor analysis, revealing four impact factors: Economic Benefits, Social Costs, Cultural Enrichment, and Environmental Deterioration. Using a path analysis, the relationships between tourism impacts and different levels of endorsement of tourism were exhibited. A correspondence analysis was used to further pinpoint the influences of tourism on three groups of residents with different attitudes toward tourism; these groups were categorized as supporters, moderators, and opponents. Further study adopting a segmentation approach is advocated.
Delivering Quality Service: Diagnosing Favorable and Unfavorable Service Encounters in Restaurants
Authors: Kivelä Jakša J. , Chu Carmen Yiu Ha
Published: March 2006

The development of an integrated customer feedback and employee performance strategy has underpinned the sweeping changes undertaken by many service organizations in recent years. However, it is fair to suggest that customer feedback processes that go beyond customer comment cards are often neglected in restaurant operations. In this article, customer perceptions about specific service delivery dimensions are explored and classified. The methodology was underpinned by the critical incident technique (CIT). The findings allude to the linkages between customer feedback and employee performance and the possible integration of feedback into the overall management of service delivery in restaurants. The resulting discussion highlights the CIT’s use in customer feedback analysis. The results of the survey undertaken suggest that the CIT might be sufficiently comprehensive to assess service delivery quality in restaurant operations.
Effects of Relationship Marketing on Repeat Purchase and Word of Mouth
Authors: Kim Woo Gon , Han Jin Soo , Lee Euehun
Published: March 2006

This study explores what kinds of relationship marketing activities affect relationship quality between customer-contact employees and hotel guests. In addition, this study investigates whether relationship quality influences relationship consequences such as commitment, repeat purchase, and word of mouth. This study will help hotel managers design guidelines for efficient relationship marketing activities. The effective use of relationship marketing strategies can increase repeat guests and positive word of mouth. To analyze data collected from 27 luxury hotels in Seoul, South Korea, structural equation modeling was used to discover a causal relationship. The empirical results of this study are twofold: Greater guest confidence and communication result in higher relationship quality, and higher relationship quality results in greater guest commitment and more repeat purchase and positive word of mouth.
How Constitutive Legitimation, Sociopolitical Legitimation, and Competition Affected Foundings of Singapore Hotels, 1832 to 1997
Authors: Teo Albert C. Y.
Published: March 2006

This study examines the evolution of the hotel industry in Singapore from 1832 to 1997. Specifically, the methodology of organizational ecology is used to analyze the pattern of foundings (i.e., entries) in the industry. The analyses indicate that constitutive legitimation (taken-for-granted status) has a positive impact on the founding rate, whereas competition has a negative effect. There is also evidence that various processes of sociopolitical legitimation (governmental endorsement) encourage foundings. Additionally, mass (the aggregate number of hotel rooms) is observed to lower the founding rate; however, there is no evidence that visitor arrivals affect hotel foundings.
Storage Space in Foodservice: Estimation Using a Revised Constant for the Density of Dry Foods
Authors: Luckhardt Wesley E. , Culbertson Jeff , Wan Cheung Sau
Published: March 2006

Foodservice facility design is a complex process. Of particular interest is the determination of the size of dry goods storage areas. One approach is to use a mathematical model estimating the density of foods in dry storage. This research was developed to determine an accurate value for the density of foods kept in dry storage areas. Using food items in university foodservice facilities, a local hospital, and a local restaurant, the average density of food products was found to be 28.7 lbs/ft3. The 95% confidence interval for these data was 27.3 to 30.3 lbs/ft3. Analyzed independently, the three foodservice facilities yielded densities that were not statistically different. This density estimate differs from the “standard” value of 45 lbs/ft3 used in facility design applications. The use of this revised constant would result in the construction of significantly larger storage areas than originally depicted by models.
A Comparison of the Views of Involved versus Noninvolved Citizens on Quality of Life and Tourism Development Issues
Authors: Jurowski Claudia , Brown Desmond Omotayo
Published: March 2006

Rural communities seeking to improve the quality of life for their residents often turn to tourism as a means to improve their economic position. The sustainability of any economic development plan is dependent on community organizations that are actively trying to control and shape their quality of life within their community. This study reveals that involved residents evaluate their quality of life higher than do the noninvolved residents. Even though the results indicated that there are no statistically significant differences in how involved versus noninvolved citizens evaluate the potential impacts of tourism, differences in the support each group indicated for the development of cultural tourism infrastructure were identified. The views of the involved citizens are important to decision makers because the involved citizens are the ones most likely to influence public policy.
Environmental Accounting of Municipal Solid Waste Originating from Rooms and Restaurants in the Hong Kong Hotel Industry
Authors: Chan Wilco W. , Lam Joseph
Published: March 2006

This article focuses on the estimation and the environmental accounting of municipal solid waste (MSW) produced by the hotel industry in Hong Kong. Five models to estimate the amount of the hotel industry’s MSW were developed. It was revealed that plastic toiletries in the industry ranked highest, and newspapers ranked second. Also, the research found that the minimum amount of MSW produced for each occupied room was 1.978 kg, and the quantity of MSW created by the Hong Kong hotel industry reached at least 53,070 tons in 1996, with an estimated environmental cost of 3.02 million Hong Kong dollars. The model predicted that local hotels would produce 53,607 tons of MSW by the year 2000. On average, the hotel industry’s share in the overall MSW was 1.5% in the 1986 to 2000 period. Based on the methodologies and findings, suggestions concerning green accounting at three levels are made.
Environmental Uncertainty within the Hospitality Industry: Exploring the Measure of Dynamism and Complexity between Restaurant Segments
Authors: Harrington Robert
Published: March 2006

The use of aggregated macro-level data is underrepresented in hospitality research, and it is suggested here that traditional measures of environmental uncertainty are insufficient when measuring differences within a hospitality sector. This article reviews the traditional measures of environmental uncertainty using secondary data and proposes a measure of heterogeneity as an alternative method grounded in previous theory. Aggregated segments of the restaurant industry are used to illustrate the usefulness of heterogeneity in resources as a measure of environmental uncertainty. Using this exploratory measure, significant differences are shown to exist between limited service and full service restaurant segments.
Tourism Forecasting and its Relationship with Leading Economic Indicators
Authors: Cho Vincent
Published: March 2006

This article investigates the application of three time-series forecasting techniques, namely, exponential smoothing, univariate Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA), and adjusted ARIMA to predict travel demand (i.e., the number of arrivals) from different countries to Hong Kong. The third approach, adjusted ARIMA, is an enhancement of univariate ARIMA. This uses influential economic indicators that are highly correlated with travel demand to adjust univariate ARIMA. According to the analysis, adjusted ARIMA with economic indicators seems to be the best forecasting method for Japan, whereas univariate ARIMA is the best predictor for the United States and United Kingdom. Univariate ARIMA and adjusted ARIMA behave similarly for countries like Taiwan, Singapore, and Korea. Among the three forecasting methods, exponential smoothing is the least accurate. This shows that univariate ARIMA and adjusted ARIMA are more suitable and can be applied to forecast the fluctuating series of visitor arrivals.
An Assessment of the Effectiveness of Simulation as an Instructional System in Foodservice
Authors: Feinstein Andrew Hale
Published: March 2006

This study explores the effectiveness of a Foodservice Instructional Simulation Technique (FIST) to educate foodservice managers in the dynamics of a foodservice operation. A FIST is presented that attempts to increase dynamic knowledge by immersing learners in an experiential learning environment created through a simulation model. Following the Interservice Procedures for Instructional Systems Design, an assessment instrument is then created that relies on the classifications within the cognitive domain of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives as a framework for differentiating cognitive abilities. Students of hospitality management (N = 243) are assessed using this instrument. Results indicate that the FIST significantly increased dynamic knowledge in participants of the study. Furthermore, participants who used the FIST showed a negative relationship between maturity—as identified by their age and managerial experience in foodservice—and gains in dynamic knowledge.
The Dimensions of Organizational Climate in Four- and Five-Star Australian Hotels
Authors: Davidson Michael , Manning Mark , Timo Nils , Ryder Paul
Published: March 2006

This study aimed to determine the dimensions of organizational climate within four- and five-star hotels and to assess whether these dimensions vary significantly across hotels. Jones and James’s climate survey was shortened, modified to incorporate the psychometric improvements of Ryder and Southey, and tailored for specific use within hotels. The survey was administered to 1,401 employees from 14 hotels and provided a high index of reliability (α = .959). From items representing 35 a priori concepts, principal components analysis identified seven dimensions, which were labeled leader facilitation and support; professional and organizational esprit; conflict and ambiguity; regulations, organization, and pressure; job variety, challenge, and autonomy; job standards; and workgroup cooperation, friendliness, and warmth. Univariate analyses found each of the dimensions to vary significantly across the 14 hotels (p <. 00005).
Psychographic and Demographic Profiles of Niche Market Leisure Travelers
Authors: Hsu Cathy H. C. , Kang Soo K. , Wolfe Kara
Published: March 2006

This study examined leisure travelers'interests in 11 tourism niche offerings and provided psychographic and demographic profiles of individuals interested in the various niches. Telephone interviews were conducted with 417 respondents in 12 U.S. states. The activities that received the highest interests were outdoor recreation, local fairs and festivals, art and cultural attractions, pioneer and frontier history sites, and cowboy and old West attractions. The results of discriminant analyses indicated that individuals cannot be successfully classified into groups of “enthusiasts,” “interested,” and “uninterested” for any of the tourism niches on the basis of psychographic characteristics. However, the results of MANOVAs revealed distinctive psychographic and demographic profiles of leisure travelers who were attracted to each of the tourism niches.
The Job of Department Chair at America's Chrie Member Hospitality and Tourism Programs: The Nature of the Person and the Position
Authors: La Lopa Joseph M. , Woods Bob , Liu Al
Published: March 2006

Self-report data were analyzed from 175 department chairs running Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education member hospitality and tourism programs in America to understand the nature of their job, perceptions of future trends in hospitality and tourism education, and demographics. Respondents spent greater percentages of their workweeks in teaching-related and departmental administrative roles than in research-related roles by a ratio of 7:1. Technology, distance learning, and senior living turned up as the three factors that would most likely have an impact on hospitality and tourism education in the future. A majority of respondents were Caucasian, middle-aged men with industry experience who had earned master's degrees. Most had been chairs for over 7 years at public, non-land grant, 4-year programs.
Hotel Real Estate Investment Trusts' Risk Features and Beta Determinants
Authors: Kim Hyunjoon , Gu Zheng , Mattila Anna S.
Published: March 2006

This study examines the risk features of hotel real estate investment trust (REIT) firms. In particular, it investigates the systematic and unsystematic risk of hotel REIT stocks and the determinants of their systematic risk, or beta. Using the financial data of 19 U.S. hotel REIT firms from 1993 through 1999, the authors found that 84% of the firms'total risk was contributed by firm-specific, unsystematic risk. Systematic risk correlated positively with debt leverage and growth but negatively with firm size. These findings suggest that growth via mergers and acquisitions and less reliance on debt financing may help lower systematic risk and enhance hotel REITs'value.
Boards of Directors of the Hospitality and Tourism Industries: An Exploratory Analysis of Composition and Interlocks
Authors: Keiser John D.
Published: March 2006

Companies rely on their board members to provide leadership as well as access to other organizations and industries. This article presents an exploratory analysis of the industry affiliations of board members in the airline, hotel, and restaurant industries to determine what types of industry connections and expertise they bring to the organizations they serve.
New Employees' Turnover Intentions and Organizational Commitment in the Hong Kong Hotel Industry
Authors: Lam Terry , Lo Ada , Chan Jimmy
Published: March 2006

New employee turnover has long been a concern of those who investigate human resources issues. According to Hong Kong hotel statistics, the average annual turnover rate of employees with less than 1 year of service was between 44% and 66% for the period between 1985 and 1999. Excessive employee turnover is costly. It also dampens employee morale and affects the service quality for hotel guests. The objectives of this study are to investigate the impact of job and social factors on new employees'organizational commitment and intentions to leave. The authors collected 249 self-administered questionnaires, the results of which showed that subjective norm and training are related to turnover intention, whereas subjective norm, mentorship, and the job itself are related to organizational commitment. Training, family-gathering functions, selection of quality mentors, and job enrichment are possible solutions to retain committed newcomers and reduce turnover rates.
Entrepreneurial Orientation and Environmental Hostility: An Assessment of Small, Independent Restaurant Businesses
Authors: Jogaratnam Giri
Published: March 2006

The strategic management literature suggests there is an enduring theoretical tension regarding the idea of particularly appropriate strategy-environment combinations versus the concept of equally viable strategies. This study addresses the question of whether certain entrepreneurial postures are equally effective regardless of the level of environmental hostility and/or whether success is contingent on achieving a match between entrepreneurial posture and environmental hostility. Cluster analysis was used to group a sample of small, independent restaurant businesses into entrepreneurial and conservative types. This classification suggests that restaurateurs emphasize different aspects of entrepreneurship and that this focus is associated with differences in their choice of strategies and performance. In general, entrepreneurial types were associated with higher performance compared with conservative types, which implies that the entrepreneurial and conservative postures are not equally viable strategic approaches. Contrary to normative theory, results suggest that as the environment becomes more hostile, small, independent restaurant businesses tend to adopt conservative strategies and avoid innovative, risk-taking strategies.
An Examination Of The Servqual Dimensions Using The Guttman Scaling Procedure
Authors: Yoon Tae-Hwan , Ekinci Yuksel
Published: March 2006

Despite the popularity and continued use of the SERVQUAL Scale, a number of serious criticisms have been raised concerning its validity. These criticisms focus on the generic nature of the service quality dimensions and the use of desired expectation as a comparison standard. The objectives of this research are twofold. First, it sets out to examine the validity of the five SERVQUAL dimensions using an alternative scaling methodology known as the Guttman scaling procedure. Second, it aims to determine the role of expectation in the evaluation of hotel services. Of the five SERVQUAL dimensions tested, only four are found to be valid. It is also apparent that different types of expectations are used as a comparison standard for the evaluation of service quality and customer satisfaction.
Leader-Member Exchange And Team-Member Exchange: The Roles Of Moderators In New Employees’ Socialization
Authors: Lam Terry
Published: March 2006

Studies of new employees’ socialization have largely concentrated on met and unmet expectations and their associated socialization outcomes. Academic researchers have suggested that interaction of the nature of leader-member exchange (LMX) and team-member exchange (TMX) between newcomers and their social and organizational contexts during the assimilation process should be examined. However, few studies have focused on the moderating factors that are expected to link the relationship between unmet expectations and socialization outcomes. The objective of the study is to explore the underlying job motivation factors and to determine the hypothesized moderating effects of TMX and LMX on the socialization outcomes. A sample of 417 new employees in hotels, travel agencies, and airlines in Hong Kong responded to a self-administered questionnaire. The results show that TMX produced a moderating effect on organizational commitment and LMX on turnover intentions. Implications for developing good interrelationships between coworkers are discussed.
Job Satisfaction Of Restaurant Employees: An Empirical Investigation Using The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire
Authors: Hancer Murat , George R. Thomas
Published: March 2006

The primary purpose of this study was to examine job satisfaction of restaurant employees working in nonsupervisory positions. A survey instrument including the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) short form and demographic questions was used in the study. Factor analysis was conducted to investigate the dimensions of the MSQ short form. A total of 798 usable surveys from 52 restaurants, representing a 50.5% response rate, were included in the analysis. The factor analysis resulted in a four-factor structure of the MSQ short form. A low level of satisfaction was indicated by 50.2% of the respondents, whereas 25.6% indicated an average level and 24.2% a high level of job satisfaction. Security was ranked as the highest and compensation was ranked as the lowest of the examined items. Significant differences in job satisfaction scores were found between the pairs within the subgroups of age, job tenure, gender, and job type.
Successful Factors For A Travel Web Site: Perceptions Of On-Line Purchasers In Hong Kong
Authors: Law Rob , Wong James
Published: March 2006

With the increasing popularity of on-line traveling, many studies have been stating numerous competitive advantages for setting up a travel Web site. However, the number of published articles that scrutinize the view of on-line travel purchasers on the factors for a successful travel Web site appears to be very limited. This research note reports on a study about investigating how on-line travel purchasers in Hong Kong view these successful factors. Empirical evidence from a large-scale omnibus survey indicates that 22.5% of the Hong Kong participants had visited one or more travel Web sites and that 6.54% of these e-travelers were also on-line travel purchasers. In general, e-buyers consider “secure payment methods” and “specifically designed for travelers in Asia Pacific” as the most and least important factors, respectively, for a successful travel Web site.
A Case Study Of The Yield Management Conundrum: Usage Versus Competence
Authors: Upchurch Randall S. , Ellis Taylor , Seo Junwon
Published: March 2006

This article compares usage versus perceived comfort in applying yield management principles as reported by those in charge of revenue enhancement within midsized, upper-market lodging operations located in the United States. This profile indicates that (a) the practice of yield management does have conceptual and practical links, and (b) there is a perceived difference between one’s usage and comfort in applying various principles.
Developing and Benchmarking Internet Marketing Strategies in the Hotel Sector in Greece
Authors: Sigala Marianna
Published: March 2006

Despite the exponential growth of e-commerce on the Internet, little is still known on how the new medium is transforming marketing concepts/practices and their effectiveness. This empirical study aims to fill in this gap. This article first analyzes the Internet's capabilities and features as well as the new virtual market space that Internet advances have fostered. After reviewing models and strategies for Internet marketing, an Internet marketing mix is proposed based on the Internet strategies of hotels in Greece that were investigated. Using a nonparametric technique, the data envelopment analysis (DEA), Internet strategies were also benchmarked to identify best practices and provide suggestions on the development of effective Internet marketing strategies.
Reexamining Recovery Paradox Effects and Impact Ranges of Service Failure and Recovery
Authors: Oh Haemoon
Published: March 2006

Companies'recovery efforts following service failure are known to be a critical determinant of customer satisfaction and future purchase-related decisions. Using a large corporate database in the meetings and conventions industry, this study re-examined basic assumptions imposed on the effects of service failure and recovery on customer satisfaction and repurchase intentions. Results indicate, in general, that the impacts of service failure and recovery were less critical than traditionally emphasized and that some methodological artifacts could have inflated interpretation of the impacts in previous studies. Such problems are discussed and illustrated in this study. Using a hierarchical regression modeling technique, this study also attempted to determine the boundaries of service failure and recovery impacts under realistic scenarios.
Evidence for Weak-Form Market Efficiency in Hotel Real Estate Markets
Authors: Oak Seonghee , Andrew William P.
Published: March 2006

The purpose of this study is to test for evidence of weak-form market efficiency in hotel real estate markets by measuring how rapidly price changes diffuse in geographically proximal areas. Using autocorrelation and cross-correlation analysis, we found that there is little evidence that past hotel prices predict future hotel prices in the same city as well as neigh- boring cities. In addition, buy-and-sell trading strategies based on the information in past hotel prices did not earn higher returns than buy-and-hold strategies. The results of this study are supportive of the existence of weak-form market efficiency in the pricing of hotel real estate.
Family Traveler Segmentation by Vacation Decision-Making Patterns
Authors: Kang Soo K. , Hsu Cathy H.C. , Wolfe Kara
Published: March 2006

The purposes of this study were to extend the scope of family vacation decision-making re- search by profiling various family vacation segments based on decision-making patterns, and to provide a systematic evaluation of the segments based on their profitability (i.e., expenditure per travel party and per person), accessibility (i.e., the degree to which a segment can be effectively contacted and served), and reachability (i.e., the extent to which a segment can be attracted by products/services offered). A total of 297 travelers, who visited one of the three Travel Information Centers (TIC) on the borders of Kansas and who considered themselves traveling as a family unit, participated in the study. Results of the study generated three market segments, including intergenerational (ITG) travelers, business- mixed-with-pleasure (BMP) travelers, and visiting friends and relatives (VFR) travelers. Based on the evaluation criteria, the VFR segment was identified as the most viable market for Kansas to pursue.
The Role of Emotional Commitment in Relationship Marketing: An Empirical Investigation of a Loyalty Model for Casinos
Authors: Sui Jun Jian , Baloglu Seyhmus
Published: March 2006

This study examines the antecedents and consequences of commitment to hotel casinos targeting local customers. To accomplish this goal, a model of loyalty was developed and tested to understand the behavioral outcomes (benefits) of building relationships with lo- cal customers and what elements contribute to these behavioral outcomes. The results of path analysis showed that emotional attachment is a key mediating variable between attitudinal antecedents (trust and switching costs) and behavioral variables (proportion of visit, word of mouth, cooperation, time spent in casinos, and other product usage). The most influential variables on behavioral outcomes of loyalty were found to be trust and emotional attachment. The study contributes to services and casino marketing by validating empirical linkages in gaming context and providing empirical support for conceptualized differential effects of trust and switching cost on emotional attachment and behavioral outcomes of loyalty in services marketing literature. Theoretical and practical implications and future research issues are discussed.
Mad Cow Disease: An Empirical Investigation of Restaurant Strategies and Consumer Response
Authors: Reynolds Dennis , Balinbin William M.
Published: March 2006

Mad Cow Disease is arguably one of the most substantial food-safety-related issues to have concerned the restaurant industry in recent years. In the United Kingdom, where the disease has had particularly widespread effects, the ramifications for the restaurant industry have been characterized as catastrophic—yet little empirical evidence supports this. This study examines changes in customers'in-restaurant purchasing behavior as measured through the sales activity of 86 London restaurants from 1995 through 2000. Results suggest that although restaurants did not experience an overall downturn in revenue following the outbreak of Mad Cow Disease, these same operations did see sales of beef items decline. Moreover, restaurants featuring few or no beef items experienced stronger overall sales than their counterparts with a strong beef orientation on the menu. Finally, the study indicates that educating customers at the point of service enhanced beef sales when controlling for promotional efforts aimed at nonbeef items.
Service Encounters and Service Bias: A Preliminary Investigation
Authors: Harris Kimberly J. , Bojanic David , Cannon Debra F.
Published: March 2006

The hospitality industry tends to be cyclical as well as seasonal. Therefore, hotels, restaurants, and other travel firms must be prepared to compete during periods of low demand. One of the potential areas for obtaining a competitive advantage is to offer better service than the competition. This study examines the reasons given by hotel and restaurant customers for their “excellent service” experiences and their perceptions regarding service bias. This study found that most of the reasons were tangible and the majority of the respondents believe that hospitality service is biased toward certain customers.
The Applicability of Citizen's Arrest Powers to the Hospitality Industry
Authors: Ohlin Jane Boyd , Stauber Alvin
Published: March 2006

Common law principles and state statutes traditionally have permitted a private citizen to arrest a wrongdoer. Modern statutes, however, have expanded the citizen's arrest power to enable business operators to deal with wrongdoing on their premises. The purpose of this research is to analyze the law of citizen's arrest to determine its applicability to hospitality establishments. Statutes and cases are reviewed to discover the parameters of the citizen's arrest power and to make recommendations for management.
Developing a Travel Segmentation Methodology: A Criterion-Based Approach
Authors: Chen Joseph S.
Published: March 2006

Recognizing the paucity of segmentation methodologies, this research strives to develop a scheme integrating the chi-square automatic interaction detection (CHAID) algorithm that expands the current analytical spectrum of travel segmentation. Accordingly, a segmentation procedure—travel segmentation with CHAID (TSC) method—is proposed along with a step-by-step review. Furthermore, evolving from the TSC method, a new investigative concept in connection with the detection of actionable segments is also discussed. A case study of college students' spring-break trips is used to demonstrate the necessary steps of segmenting a population into mutually exclusive subpopulations. In the conclusion section, further studies on segmentation methodologies are discussed.
Customer Choice: A Preemptive Strategy to Buffer the Effects of Service Failure and Improve Customer Loyalty
Authors: Cranage David , Sujan Harish
Published: March 2006

This study examined the impact on customer loyalty of giving customers an informed choice. The main objective was to find that if giving customers a choice in determining their service experience, and by providing relevant information about the choices, customer loyalty was maintained or improved following a service failure. The study examined the interactive effects of the foreseeability of the service failure on the choice manipulation. A 3 (choice: no choice, uninformed choice, or informed choice) by 2 (foreseeability: unforeseeable or foreseeable service failure) design was used to test the effects of informed choice on customer loyalty. The principal finding was that customer loyalty was highest in the informed choice and foreseeable condition. This would suggest that hospitality managers should give choices to their customers as well as relevant information about their choices. Additionally, it suggests that management identify possible service failures, making them foreseeable to both customer and management.