Destination
image, place brand, and branding continue to receive attention by researchers
and industry. However, a thorough definition and differentiation of these terms
and further investigation are still necessary. Digital information sources
provide relevant image formation and branding agents and thus, potentially
impact travelers' image and serve as platforms to communicate perceptions. With
abundant online information on places available, the data offer insights into
the brand identity communications and the image perceptions by travelers. This
study presents an automated web content mining approach. A total set of 5719
documents inform the online destination representation in various online
sources. Results demonstrate how to extract destination brand identity and
image through web content mining.
Website: http://www.arjonline.org/business-and-management/american-research-journal-of-business-and-management/
People
form gestalt country perceptions encompassing production, investment, and
tourism perspectives. Surprisingly, country image research exists in two
parallel research streams—country of origin and destination—with almost no
cross-references between them. This study develops a holistic model of
country-of-origin image (COI) and destination image (DI) that unites both
research streams and tests the relative importance of cognitive, affective, and
symbolic country connotations to predict three consumer behavior outcome
intentions (1) purchasing products and services, (2) traveling abroad, and (3)
conducting business with foreign companies. Results reveal that overall,
affective, and symbolic image dimensions complement and outperform cognitive
dimensions. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications and
guidelines for further research.
Website: http://www.arjonline.org/business-and-management/american-research-journal-of-business-and-management/
Drawing
from the theory of planned behavior and post-materialism assumptions, this
study investigates and uncovers key antecedents of the intention to engage in
ecotourism and to pay premium prices for the experience. A conceptual model
incorporates environmental beliefs, attitudes toward ecotourism, behavioral
indications, and willingness to pay premium (WTPP), in combination with
materialism and general tourism motivation. Samples of Swedish and Taiwanese
tourists empirically test the assumptions. Findings reveal attitudes and
environmental beliefs connect positively with intention and WTPP; however, materialistic
values exert a negative effect. The results also disclose diverging moderating
effects on the environmental beliefs — attitude linkage, depending on the type
of tourism motivation guiding the tourist. The research findings offer key
insights on what drives consumer behavior in the context of ecotourism.
Website: http://www.arjonline.org/business-and-management/american-research-journal-of-business-and-management/
This
study extends the self-service technology (SST) paradigm by revealing a
relatively unexplored area; namely the under-utilization of SST systems, within
service settings. Focusing on an SST kiosk system installed within one of
Macau's most luxurious hotel/casinos, this research shows that regardless of a
customer's perceived technology readiness, overall, customers deem many SST
options unimportant. The results reveal that the hotel's guests rate the SST
option that helps them obtain discounts for entertainment and dining options as
highest in importance compared to all the other SST options. Thus, fun emerges
as an antecedent to SST usage. A qualitative follow-up study reveals that the
customers also shun the hotel's SST system because customers may avoid using
SST while on vacation—to engage in a so-called technological pause. This
finding is original to the SST paradigm.
Website: http://www.arjonline.org/business-and-management/american-research-journal-of-business-and-management/
Despite
the international healthcare industry's rapid growth, little research exists
about medical hotels. To fill this gap, this study identifies international
patients' possible outcomes of staying in a medical hotel and investigates
their intention formation by considering attitudes and desires as well as the
perceived outcome's moderating impact. A qualitative approach identifies the
possible outcomes of staying in a medical hotel, which can be distinctive from
common medical/healthcare clinics, as perceived by international medical
customers. Confirmatory factor analysis verifies a four-factor structure of the
perceived outcome model (financial saving, convenience, medical service, and
hospitality product). Structural equation modeling reveals that attitudes,
desires, and intention significantly associate, and desires act as a mediator. Additionally,
a metric invariance test shows that convenience, medical-service, and
hospitality-product factors of the perceived outcomes significantly moderate
forming intentions. Study results help medical hotel operators create effective
strategies to attract more international tourists.
Website: http://www.arjonline.org/business-and-management/american-research-journal-of-business-and-management/
