Research abounds highlighting the differences between males and females when they travel. Even in business travel, these differences have been acknowledged, with suppliers and…
Abstract
Purpose
Research abounds highlighting the differences between males and females when they travel. Even in business travel, these differences have been acknowledged, with suppliers and marketers spending significant money to develop and market products to accommodate them. The purpose of this study is to ascertain whether differences exist in terms of mobile application usage between male and female business travellers.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed method approach is followed. An internet-based survey is distributed and in-depth interviews conducted with South African business travellers. The Mann–Whitney U-test is used to test the differences between males and females and their mobile application usage. Content analysis is used to analyse the interviews.
Findings
The results show that mobile applications are perceived as more important by females than males in all the phases of the travel cycle, although most of these differences in perceived importance were not significant.
Research limitations/implications
Owing to the online data-collection method and the self-selective process, the findings cannot be generalised to the global population of business travellers who use mobile applications.
Practical implications
The results should caution corporate organisations, travel management companies and their application developers not to spend unnecessary technological and financial resources on developing applications to accommodate differences between males and females, which might not exist. Companies should rather spend money on developing applications that will enhance and add convenience to the business traveller’s experience.
Originality/value
The main contribution of this study lies in investigating the applications market, particularly in the context of business travel. Applications focussed on specific sectors of the tourism industry, such as business travel applications, serve business travellers differently from generic travel applications. This research examines business travel-specific applications and expands the scale and scope of the enquiry, concentrating on the travellers’ view.
研究目的
本论文主要研究男人和女人在旅游中的行为区别。特别是在商务旅游中, 男女差别确实存在, 这也验证了供应商和营销商在开发营销产品中的针对性和区别性。本论文旨在验证是否男女商务旅游者对使用移动APP存在区别。
研究设计/方法/途径
本论文采用混合采样方法。采样方式通过网络问卷和深度访谈, 采样群体为南非商务游客。本论文采取Mann–Whitney U检验来测试男女在移动APP使用上的区别。本论文还采取文本分析法来分析访问数据。
研究结果
研究结果表明女性游客在各个旅游阶段都比男性游客对移动APP更看重, 而这些区别在统计计算上并没有获得显著效果。
研究理论限制/意义
由于线上采样和自助问卷的采样限制, 研究结果不能推广到全球商务旅客对于使用移动APP的态度。
研究实践意义
研究结果可以警示企业机构、旅游管理公司、以及APP开发商不要花费不必要的科技和财力资源来迎合男女受众的需求。因为这个区别可能不存在。公司应该花费财力在开发APP上, 使得商旅客人的使用体验更加便捷。
研究原创性/价值
本论文最重要的贡献就是研究了商旅APP市场。商旅APP区分于普通旅游APP。我们的研究检验了商旅客人APP以及扩展其度量和研究视野到旅游者的角度。
关键词
移动设备, 性别, 商务旅行, 商务旅行周期, 商务旅客, 移动商务旅行应用
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Anneli Douglas, Gijsbert Hoogendoorn and Greg Richards
This study aimed to determine the motivations of a select group of South Africans in terms of their potential engagement with cultural tourism; more specifically, the study set…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aimed to determine the motivations of a select group of South Africans in terms of their potential engagement with cultural tourism; more specifically, the study set out to show whether these motivations influence the cultural activities that the tourists want to participate in and whether their interest in specific cultural activities determines their destination choices. Furthermore, the mediating role of activities in the relationship between cultural motivations and destination choice was also assessed.
Design/methodology/approach
An online panel survey collected responses from 1,530 potential cultural tourists across South Africa. Hypotheses were tested, using structural equation modelling.
Findings
The results show that tourists' motivations for cultural tourism influence their likelihood of participating in specific cultural activities. Cultural tourism is shown to be influenced by more than learning and includes entertainment, relaxation, novelty and escape dimensions. There also seems to be a difference in the activities engaged in by destination type. For example, tourists likely to take part in indigenous cultural tourism activities are more likely to do so at hedonic destinations.
Practical implications
This paper contributes to the understanding of cultural tourism activities, aiding destinations in attracting cultural tourists. Destinations need to develop activities that match visitor motivations, increase satisfaction and encourage visitors to return.
Originality/value
The paper increases the understanding of cultural tourism in South Africa and underlines the importance of communities in providing distinctive tourism activities. The study also has an important social dimension, highlighting the role of social status in cultural tourism consumption and destination selection.
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Annelies Bobelyn, Bart Claryse and Mike Wright
This paper aims to study the effect of two important marketing decisions on the extent of value capturing by the firm owners. First, it addresses the debate whether acquirers of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to study the effect of two important marketing decisions on the extent of value capturing by the firm owners. First, it addresses the debate whether acquirers of young technology-based firms value targets that span multiple technology and market categories indicating multiples options for growth or prefer more narrowly defined targets with a clear product and market focus. Second, it investigates to what extent the use of alliances for marketing purposes contributes to value capturing and how they moderate the effect of diversification of technology and marketing.
Design/methodology/approach
To estimate the acquisition price, a linear regression model is used, including a Heckman correction controlling for the likelihood of being acquired. The hypotheses are tested in a sample of British venture capital backed firms.
Findings
Firms that convey focus in their marketing activities (either because they focus on a few market categories or because they rely on downstream alliance to market their inventions) receive higher valuations at acquisition than those that diversify. Further, also the size of the product portfolio is negatively correlated to the acquisition price. Finally, the results reveal that firms with a broad patent portfolio can reduce the negative effects on firm value by engaging in less downstream alliances.
Originality/value
This paper advances existing research on exit strategies for entrepreneurial firms by considering factors explaining acquisition prices, instead of acquisition probabilities. Further, it adds the categorization research by demonstrating how acquirers respond to complex combinations of technology and market categories.
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Päivi Hökkä, Katja Vähäsantanen, Susanna Paloniemi, Sanna Herranen and Anneli Eteläpelto
Although there has been an increase in workplace studies on professional agency, few of these have examined the role of emotions in the enactment of agency at work. To date…
Abstract
Purpose
Although there has been an increase in workplace studies on professional agency, few of these have examined the role of emotions in the enactment of agency at work. To date, professional agency has been mainly conceptualised as a goal-oriented, rational activity aimed at influencing a current state of affairs. Challenged by this, this study aims to elaborate the nature and quality of emotions and how they might be connected to the enactment of professional agency.
Design/methodology/approach
Data are collected in the context of a leadership coaching programme that aimed to promote the leaders’ professional agency over the course of a year. The participants (11 middle-management leaders working in university and hospital contexts) were interviewed before and after the programme, and the data were analysed using qualitative content analysis.
Findings
Findings showed that emotions played an important role in the leaders’ enactment of professional agency, as it pertained to their work and to their professional identity. The study suggests that enacting professional agency is by no means a matter of purely rational actions.
Practical implications
The study suggests that emotional agency can be learned and enhanced through group-based interventions reflecting on and processing one’s own professional roles and work.
Originality/value
As a theoretical conclusion, the study argues that professional agency should be reconceptualised in such a way as to acknowledge the importance of emotions (one’s own and those of one’s fellow workers) in practising agency within organisational contexts.
“OH, that socialist fellow” would have been the rejoinder of older members of the Bromley establishment up to 1950 to any mention of H. G. Wells. It was not held to be an honour…
Abstract
“OH, that socialist fellow” would have been the rejoinder of older members of the Bromley establishment up to 1950 to any mention of H. G. Wells. It was not held to be an honour for the town to have been the birthplace of H. G. Wells nor was it felt that he should be honoured by the town. No plaque marked the site of his birthplace and there was no greater stock of his books in the Bromley Library than in any other.
Lars Engwall, Enno Aljets, Tina Hedmo and Raphaël Ramuz
Computer corpus linguistics (CCL) is a scientific innovation that has facilitated the creation and analysis of large corpora in a systematic way by means of computer technology…
Abstract
Computer corpus linguistics (CCL) is a scientific innovation that has facilitated the creation and analysis of large corpora in a systematic way by means of computer technology since the 1950s. This article provides an account of the CCL pioneers in general but particularly of those in Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland. It is found that Germany and Sweden, due to more advantageous financing and weaker communities of generativists, had a faster adoption of CCL than the other two countries. A particular late adopter among the four was Switzerland, which did not take up CCL until foreign professors had been recruited.
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Kristel Wouters and Jeroen Maesschalck
– The aim of this study was to develop a valid and reliable measurement instrument for organizational culture on the basis of grid-group cultural theory (GGCT).
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study was to develop a valid and reliable measurement instrument for organizational culture on the basis of grid-group cultural theory (GGCT).
Design/methodology/approach
The study consisted of three phases. In a first phase, the literature was reviewed and experts on GGCT were consulted in order to design an item pool for the typology. In a second phase, a pilot study was done in two organizations of the Belgian federal government to evaluate this original item pool. The third phase consisted of the actual data gathering in seven organizations within the Belgian federal government.
Findings
The study showed that it is possible to measure organizational culture based on GGCT. The authors used confirmatory factor analysis to examine the underlying structure of the data and found support for the existence of four culture scales. Scale reliabilities in the third phase of the study were satisfactory and ranged between 0.703 and 0.848.
Research limitations/implications
The current research was not specifically designed to evaluate content validity. Further research is needed to explore this issue. It would also be interesting to develop a GGCT-based measurement instrument for the team level.
Practical implications
The measurement instrument can be used by practitioners to describe and assess their organizational culture.
Originality/value
This study introduces a novel way to measure organizational culture, using a promising theoretical framework.