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The purpose of this paper is to assess impact of destination brand experience (DBE) on destination advocacy (DA) and to assess the role of trust and loyalty as moderators in the relationship.

Data was collected from a sample of 595 tourists from destinations in India. This study used structural equation modeling and moderated regression analysis to test the hypotheses.

Results confirm the impact of all four dimensions of DBE (sensory, behavioral, affective and intellectual) on DA. Furthermore, the moderating role of loyalty and trust is established.

The study sample is drawn from only few Indian destinations. India boasts of several different types of destinations (wildlife, adventure, heritage, etc.). Future studies may do a comparative analysis of the influence of DBE dimensions across diverse destination types.

Although past studies have examined the association between DBE and outcomes such as visit intentions, intention to recommend a destination, there is paucity of research that explores the direct association between DBE and DA. The uniqueness of the study lies in associating loyalty and trust as moderators in the relationship of DBE and DA.

Rural homestays have emerged as an interesting option for tourists. This study aims to assess the role of destination attractiveness factors and travel motivations in homestay choice. The moderating role of need for uniqueness towards enhancing these relationships is also examined.

A survey of 201 Indian tourists who had visited rural homestays in the Uttarakhand state of India was conducted. Data were analyzed using SPSS and WarpPLS, based on structural equation modelling approach.

Results indicate that two destination attractiveness factors – (a) cultural and rural attractions and (b) destination location and transportation – have a significant association with rural homestay choice. Further, need for uniqueness enhances the relationship between natural attractions and choosing rural homestays.

Although there are several studies on rural homestays, there is scant research on the factors influencing the choice of rural homestays from a tourists’ perspective. Besides, studies on rural homestay tourism have not assessed the role of need for uniqueness in influencing such choices. The implications of the study for destination marketers, homestay operators and owners are discussed which would hopefully aid in attracting discerning tourists to the rural homestays to such regions.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the influence of workplace bullying on job burnout of employees and investigate the mediating role of hardiness in the relationship and the extent to which the mediation is moderated by emotional intelligence.

The present data were collected from 350 employees working in varied companies in the ITES-BPO sectors of Delhi NCR of India. The study used stratified sampling method for good coverage from different departments of the organizations. The present data were collected in two stages following the suggestion given by Podsakoff et al. (2003) so as to minimize common method bias.

The findings suggest that workplace bullying is positively related to job burnout, and workplace bullying is negatively associated with hardiness. Hardiness was also found to be negatively associated with job burnout. It has also been found that workplace bullying is associated with job burnout through hardiness, and emotional intelligence moderates the relationship between hardiness and job burnout. The results also indicate that the indirect effect of workplace bullying on job burnout via hardiness is conditional on emotional intelligence.

As the present study pertains to only one part of India, i.e. Delhi NCR of India, the results cannot be generalized. Future research can take a larger sample for the same. The demographic variables’ effect was out of the scope of this study. If demographics were taken into consideration, it might have resulted in interesting results. Moreover, the employees who were physically present at the time of data collection were asked to respond in a given time frame. One might argue that employees were not given enough time to respond. Future work can also incorporate other sectors so as to do a comparative study between sectors.

Based on the study results, it may be suggested that managers may do well to devise strategies for coping with the phenomenon of workplace bullying and job burnout in employees, to provide a healthy work environment with better employee morale and enhanced productivity.

The findings of the study have implications for organizations in the service sector, particularly the BPO-ITES sector examined in the study. This being a customer-focused industry expects employees to ensure meeting deadlines and enhanced customer satisfaction; therefore, it would be worthwhile for managers to help employees in dealing with job stressors in their work environment. It would be useful to raise awareness about workplace bullying and encourage employees to report such incidents while assuring the complete support of the management.

While a review of extant literature indicates that emotional intelligence may lead to a reduction in job burnout of employees, yet, emotional intelligence has not been used previously as a moderator in mitigating the influence of workplace bullying and job burnout. Moreover, the role of hardiness as a mediator in the above-mentioned relationships has not been addressed in previous studies.