Ige Pirnar, Yasemin Celik Kamali and Engin Deniz Eris
The purpose of this paper is to figure out the impacts of soft innovation in the city hotels in general, whereas the focus is on figuring out if there exists a difference in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to figure out the impacts of soft innovation in the city hotels in general, whereas the focus is on figuring out if there exists a difference in vitality on the components of soft innovation among the hotel categories, as 4 stars, 5 stars and boutique hotels in Izmir, Turkey.
Design/methodology/approach
The first part is related to a detailed literature review on the soft innovation components as color, sound, light, scent and decoration. Literature review is followed by a qualitative research where expert information on the research topic is collected. Judgmental sampling is used to identify experts’ views where in-depth semi-structured interviews are conducted with 12 hotel managers in Izmir city. The soft innovation hotel application areas taken into consideration are: lobby and reception, rooms, restaurant, bar and ballroom areas, meeting and congress halls, SPA and pools, gardens and landscape and other exterior hotel architecture.
Findings
The findings of the research reveal the sample hotel managers’ views as all the soft innovation applications are important for all city hotels regardless of their category, meaning that soft innovation may lead to better marketing results. Thus, according to hotel managers, soft innovation offerings have a potential for better customer satisfaction as positive feedback. However, the vitality degree among components changes according to the hotel’s category. For boutique hotels the most important component is found to be the decoration of the hotel, whereas for 4 stars hotels it is light and for 5 stars hotels it is scent.
Research limitations/implications
The results of this study give relatively limited information because only managers’ point of view are shown. In the research, customers’ perceptions on soft innovation based interviews with the top management of the hotels studied takes place, indicating which may not be the case to reflect the real perception of customers. Therefore, for further researches, it is recommended for the other researches to take into consideration of customers’ point of views as well. Also, time limitation, sample size and application of only qualitative research may be stated as the limitations for this study. Quantitative research applies to customers on the same topic and problem statement is recommended for further studies related to city hotels’ soft innovation applications.
Practical implications
Motivation of this study is to understand how soft innovation can change hotels’ atmosphere and make it more attractive from the managers’ perceptions. According to hotel managers’ views, soft innovation applications may lead to higher customer satisfaction, but the level of investment among the components may change according to the city hotel’s category. Research implications indicate that hotel managers may optimize the effectiveness of their soft innovation efforts by taking into consideration their hotel type, application areas and innovation category as decoration, color, scent, sound and light. According to hotel managers, decoration-related soft innovation is more important to boutique hotels, lighting-related soft innovation is an effective investment for 4 stars hotels and scent-related soft innovation is a suitable investment for 5 stars hotels.
Originality/value
The originality of the study lies in the analysis of the components of soft innovation as a means for effective city hotel marketing and innovative management applications. Though it is a very suitable industry for implementation, improvement and development, there are limited studies on soft innovation applications in the hotel industry.
Details
Keywords
Aylin Caliskan, Duygu Celebi and Ige Pirnar
Focusing only on the characteristics of the wine and the type of production is insufficient to give a holistic idea on consumer’s organic wine consumption behavior. Therefore…
Abstract
Purpose
Focusing only on the characteristics of the wine and the type of production is insufficient to give a holistic idea on consumer’s organic wine consumption behavior. Therefore, this study aims to examine the impact of attitude, perceived behavioral organic wine consumption, theory of planned behavior (TPB) control and subjective norms on organic wine consumption intention and behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on the TPB, a theoretical model was developed and tested by partial least squares structural equation modeling method. The sample of the research consists of 304 participants from the vineyards in Izmir/Turkey.
Findings
The main result of this study reveals that the theoretical model belonging to the TPB is also valid in the case of organic wine consumption behavior. Specifically, research results indicate that attitude has the strongest direct impact on intention and indirect impact on organic wine consumption behavior while perceived behavioral control has the least impact.
Originality/value
Prediction of organic wine consumption behavior from the perspective of the TPB presents the originality of this paper.
Details
Keywords
Hüseyin Ozan Altın, Ige Pirnar, Engin Deniz Eriş and Ebru Gunlu
The purpose of this study is to construct a comprehensive review on family businesses in the tourism industry since glocalization and small businesses comprise most of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to construct a comprehensive review on family businesses in the tourism industry since glocalization and small businesses comprise most of the industry.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a conceptual paper which utilizes qualitative research methods. Bibliometric analysis is applied to the selected 35 articles from specific databases which include not only the general tourism industry but also subsectors of airline, hospitality, restaurant, etc. Articles in this study fixate on the family businesses within the tourism industry.
Findings
In total, 35 articles are found with the keywords “family business and tourism”, “family business and hospitality and hotels”, “family business and restaurant” and “family business and airline”. Though the family business studies focus on hospitality, tourism and restaurants as F&B, there is a research gap in the subsectors like rent-a-car companies, travel agencies and tour operators and recreation facilities. Overall qualitative research design is preferred, but majority of the authors’ focus is on business development, profit, performance and succession. For further studies, quantitative analysis on research gap areas are recommended.
Research limitations/implications
The most general limitation is that only specific selected databases are used for the data gathering process such as double reviewed indexed journals published within Web of Science, Emerald, Elton B. Stephens Company (EBSCO) and Elsevier databases from the period of 1970s. Some other databases and some different periods may be considered as well as different keywords for other research. Secondly, few studies have analyzed quantitative data, since the specific nature of the family business dynamics require qualitative data. As a suggestion, not only qualitative analysis but also mixed methods may also be studied since the literature lacks the studies conducted with these methodologies.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the existing literature by providing a comprehensive review on hospitality and tourism family business management emphasizing the research gap on subsector application areas.
Details
Keywords
Hannan Amoozad Mahdiraji, Aliasghar Abbasi Kamardi, Vahid Jafari-Sadeghi, Seyed Hossein Razavi Hajiagha and Sylvaine Castellano
In this research, the initial list of internal capabilities in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) leading to success in international markets has been extracted. Then, the…
Abstract
Purpose
In this research, the initial list of internal capabilities in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) leading to success in international markets has been extracted. Then, the most relevant capabilities to international SMEs under servitisation and hybrid offerings have been screened. Next, the selected capabilities have been classified, and ultimately the relationship amongst the capabilities has been analysed. The conceptual model for SMEs participating in international markets with hybrid offerings has been illustrated.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review has been employed to extract the initial list of internal capabilities to address the research objectives. Then, a novel hesitant fuzzy Delphi (HFD) method has been developed to select the most relevant capabilities for SMEs for hybrid offerings in international markets by using the experts opinions. Subsequently, a novel hesitant fuzzy interpretive structural modelling (HFISM) has been developed to classify the capabilities, design a level-based conceptual model and present the relationship amongst the prominent capabilities.
Findings
After the literature review, sixteen internal capabilities leading to success in the international market via hybrid offerings have been extracted. Then, eight selected capabilities were chosen for further investigation by applying 15 expert opinions and via the HFD approach. According to HFISM results, a level-based conceptual model was emanated, and “ability to take advantage of international opportunities”, “financial strength”, “technology level” and “efficient innovation management” were considered as the most fundamental capabilities resulting in successful hybrid offerings in international markets.
Originality/value
Alongside the multi-layer decision-making approach developed in this manuscript to analyse the internal capabilities roles in hybrid offering success towards international markets, to the best knowledge of the authors, the hesitant fuzzy approaches developed in this article have not been previously presented by any other scholar. A novel HFD approach has been designed for consensus amongst the experts under uncertain circumstances. Furthermore, a novel HFISM has been suggested and employed in this research to comprehend the relationship amongst the internal capabilities.