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An AI concierge is a technologically advanced, intelligent and personalized assistant that is designated to an individual customer, proactively taking care of that customer’s needs throughout the service journey. This article envisions the idea of AI concierges and discusses how to leverage AI concierges in the customer journey.

This article takes a conceptual approach and draws insights from literature in service management, marketing, psychology, human-computer interaction and ethics.

This article delineates the fundamental forms of AI concierges: dialog interface (no embodiment), virtual avatar (embodiment in the virtual world), holographic projection (projection in the physical world) and tangible service robot (embodiment in the physical world). Key attributes of AI concierges are the ability to exhibit semantic understanding of auditory and visual inputs, maintain an emotional connection with the customer, demonstrate proactivity in refining the customer’s experience and ensure omnipresence through continuous availability in various forms to attend to service throughout the customer journey. Furthermore, the article explores the multifaceted roles that AI concierges can play across the pre-encounter, encounter and post-encounter stages of the customer journey and explores the opportunities and challenges associated with AI concierges.

This paper provides insights for professionals in hospitality, retail, travel, and healthcare on leveraging AI concierges to enhance the customer experience. By broadening AI concierge services, organizations can deliver personalized assistance and refined services across the entire customer journey.

This article is the first to introduce the concept of the AI concierge. It offers a novel perspective by defining AI concierges’ fundamental forms, key attributes and exploring their diverse roles in the customer journey. Additionally, it lays out a research agenda aimed at further advancing this domain.

This study critically examines the transformative impact of the “North Sea TikTok” phenomenon on the marine tourism sector, emphasizing the role of employee training in fostering resilience and adaptability within marine economics and integrated marine systems. It delves into how viral social media trends influence marine tourism destinations, particularly the North Sea, affecting local economies, marine resource management and tourism strategies. By analyzing this trend, the paper seeks to uncover how marine tourism destinations can effectively respond to the challenges and opportunities presented by digital media-driven tourism.

Employing a multidisciplinary framework that merges insights from digital marketing, risk perception in tourism and human resource management, this paper provides a comprehensive qualitative analysis of the “North Sea TikTok” trend. Through a meticulous content analysis of viral videos and an examination of user engagement metrics, alongside a thorough review of contemporary literature in marine tourism and sustainability, the study unpacks the far-reaching implications of social media on marine tourism ecosystems.

The analysis reveals that the “North Sea TikTok” trend has markedly altered public perceptions of the North Sea, catalyzing a shift toward adventure and risk-taking tourism. This pivot promises economic rejuvenation for local tourism sectors and necessitates agile marine management strategies to accommodate the evolving demands. Implementing innovative employee training programs focusing on safety protocols, environmental conservation and digital engagement is central to managing these dynamics. The paper emphasizes integrating sustainable practices to ensure the equitable growth of marine tourism economies and environmental preservation.

This paper pioneers exploring the nexus between social media trends and their operational and strategic impacts on marine tourism management and economics. Synthesizing social media's viral dynamics with marine tourism development introduces groundbreaking insights into adapting marine tourism strategies in the digital age. It emphasizes the critical need for a skilled workforce capable of navigating the complexities of digital trend-driven tourism markets, proposing a novel model for employee training that aligns with the shifting paradigms of marine tourism engagement. This unique contribution advances academic discourse in marine economics and provides practical frameworks for stakeholders aiming to harness social media trends for sustainable tourism development.

With the recent increasing relevance of sustainability, multinational enterprises are faced with divergent stakeholder demands and persistently shifting priorities. This study aims to examine stakeholders’ perceptions of the sustainability performance of a gold mining subsidiary in Ghana.

Using a purposive sampling technique, the authors interviewed managers and employees of the case enterprise, officials of regulatory institutions and host community members on their perceptions of the case enterprise’s sustainability performance. The authors triangulated the opinions expressed by these stakeholders with data from annual reports. The data were analysed through the lens of stakeholder theory.

The authors found that while members of the host community and the regulatory institutions were keenly interested in the case enterprise’s social and environmental activities, they perceived their performance as unimpressive, considering the economic benefits derived from the mining operations. On the contrary, the managers and employees of the case enterprise were satisfied with their environmental compliance and social intervention programmes, even though the company’s economic position had declined. The authors submit that the variations in the sustainability performance perceptions among the stakeholders are due to the lack of a deeper understanding of the other stakeholders’ expectations.

To equitably satisfy diverse stakeholder expectations, the study highlights the role of stakeholder collaborations in understanding the expectations of more salient stakeholder groups such as community members and employees, as well as the lesser salient groups such as academics. It also demonstrates the fluidity of sustainability and its benefits in designing a consensual sustainable management strategy. This implies that managers of the case mining enterprise make the necessary efforts to meet the diverse stakeholder needs while attaining their primary objective of creating wealth for shareholders.

Compared to advanced economies, studies on sustainability performance in emerging economies are limited. Nonetheless, these limited studies leave out stakeholder perceptions, focusing more on quantitative performance indicators. Using thematic and content analyses, the authors investigate stakeholder perceptions on the sustainability performance of a case mining subsidiary operating in Ghana. The study focused on Ghana because it is ranked with South Africa as the top two producers of gold in Africa. Nonetheless, unlike South Africa, Ghana faces more sustainability challenges from the mining sector due to weak institutions in enforcing sustainability standards.

This article demonstrates the reach of Tuhiwai Smith’s ideas across Pacific research. It discusses the theoretical and practical influence of her seminal work Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples through “holographic epistemology”, an indigenous way of viewing knowledge.

The authors present a talanoa (Pacific-style relational conversation) to explore Tuhiwai Smith’s legacy for Pacific Islander researchers and research. The talanoa between two academics at different career stages draws upon personal and professional research experiences and peer-reviewed published sources to explore the expansive and enduring legacy of Tuhiwai Smith’s life and ideas.

Decolonizing Methodologies has helped Pacific Islander researchers flourish, and Pacific Island research approaches gain legitimacy in higher education. Its epistemological influence can be seen in research which utilises knowledge of body, mind and spirit – holographic epistemology – and in indigenous innovations to qualitative research.

This article has value for those seeking to understand the epistemological underpinnings of indigenous approaches to research. It has originality in its presentation as a talanoa between two researchers who have found affirmation and academic freedom with Tuhiwai Smith’s ideas. It is also original in offering a Pacific perspective from a Hawaiian and a Samoan academic about the immense koha (gift) they have received from a Maori tuahine (sister).