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English social housing providers are increasingly turning to social impact measurement to assess their social value. This paper aims to understand the contextual factors causing this rise in the practice, specifically within this sector; the mechanisms that enable it to be effectively implemented within an individual organisation and the outcomes of successful implementation for individual organisations and more widely across the sector and beyond.

A realist theory-based approach is applied to the study of a small number of social housing organisations and leaders within the sector to explore the use of social impact measurement. The paper addresses three questions: Why is social impact measurement being adopted in this sector? How is it successfully implemented? And what happens (outcomes) when it is successfully implemented? Addressing these questions necessitates deeper insight into the contextual pressures that have brought to the fore social impact measurement within the sector and the beneficial outcomes the practice provides (or is anticipated to provide) to social housing providers. The methodological approach of Realist Evaluation (Pawson and Tilley, 1997, 2004) is used to structure and analyse the empirical data and findings into a programme theory for social impact measurement. Realist Evaluation provides a programme theory perspective, seeking to answer the question “what works, for whom and in what circumstances?”. In this research, the “whom” refers to English social housing providers and the circumstances are the contextual conditions experienced by the sector over the past decade. The programme theory aims to set out the links between the contextual drivers for social impact measurement, the mechanisms that bring about its implementation and the outcomes that occur as a result. Within this, greater detail on the implementation perspective is provided by developing an implementation theory using a Theory of Change approach (Connell et al., 1995; Fulbright-Anderson et al., 1998). The implementation theory is then embedded within the wider programme theory so as to bring the two elements together, thereby creating a refinement of the overall theory for social impact measurement. In turn, this paper demonstrates its importance (the outcomes that it can achieve for organisations and the sector) and how it can effectively be implemented to bring about those outcomes.

Social housing providers use social impact measurement both internally, to determine their organisational priorities and externally, to demonstrate their value to local and national governments and cross-sector partners then to shape and influence resource allocation. The practice itself is shown to be an open and active programme, rather than a fixed calculative practice.

The intensive nature of the research means that only a limited number of cases were explored. Further research could test theories developed here against evidence collected from a wider range of cases, e.g. other types of providers or non-adopters.

The research makes a strong contribution to practice in the form of a re-conceptualisation of how social impact measurement can be shown to be effective, based on a deeper understanding of causal mechanisms, how they interact and the outcomes that result. This is of value to the sector as such information could help other organisations both to understand the value of social impact measurement and to provide practical guidance on how to implement it effectively.

As the practice of impact measurement continues to develop, practitioners will need to be aware of any changes to these contextual factors and consider questions such as: is the context still supportive of impact measurement? Does the practice need to be adjusted to meet the needs of the current context? For instance, the recent tragedy at Grenfell Tower has led to a reconsideration of the role of social housing; a new Green Paper is currently being drafted (Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, 2018). This may have a number of implications for social impact measurement, such as a rebalancing of emphasis on outcomes relating to environmental improvements, towards outcomes relating to the well-being of tenants.

Existing literature is largely limited to technical guides. This paper links theory-based evaluation to practice contributing to social housing practice.

Purpose: The development of service automation continues to underpin the travel, tourism and hospitality sectors providing benefits for both customers and service companies. The purpose of this chapter is to showcase the practice of self-service technology (SST) usage in the contemporary tourism and hospitality sectors and present a conceptual framework of customer SST adoption.

Design/Methodology/Approach: This chapter offers an examination of theory, research and practice in relation to SST usage in tourism, highlighting the benefits and drawbacks arising for both customers and service providers. Since the benefits are achieved only if SSTs gain effective adoption with customers, this chapter focuses on concepts underpinning the study of customer SST adoption. Drawing on SST adoption factors and SST customer roles, a conceptual framework of SST adoption is discussed.

Findings/Practical Implications: This chapter examines the principles and practice underpinning the usage of self-service technologies in the travel, tourism and hospitality sectors, with specific reference to customer SST roles in co-creation. The customer SST roles provide a more detailed and nuanced picture of the customer perspective on SST usage. These nuanced roles are captured in a conceptual framework which seeks to further refine the understanding of customer SST adoption.

Research Implications & Originality/Value: The framework provides a useful foundation for further research with a focus on customer empowerment in SSTs. The future development of service automation will require a balance between the delivery of a personalised and smarter customer experience and technology applications that are unobtrusive and which do not pose any ethical or privacy concerns.

Self-Service Technology (SST) is a disruptive technology that has reshaped customer interactions, increased efficiency, and enabled data-driven decision-making. Its impact continues to evolve as technology advances and customer expectations change, making it a key consideration for businesses in a dynamic landscape. This chapter delves into critical findings regarding the adoption and implications of SST in tourism and hospitality. The relevant studies are sourced from the Scopus database. A mixed literature review methodology was employed to review papers. The literature review findings show facets of SST adoption, shedding light on the intricate relationships between consumer readiness variables, context-specific influences, preferred SST features, and psychological attributes. The study reveals consumer preferences, including convenience, ease of use, and speed of service, as primary drivers of the adoption of SST. The bibliometric analysis reveals the scope for developing SST literature in tourism and hospitality. Collaborations among scholars, research and funding institutions could help provide the impetus. Research in SST security, sustainability, and resilience could help enhance the SST literature. Comparative studies evaluating SST's social and economic implications are also suggested.

Vegetarian diets are increasingly common worldwide. Vegetarianism is no longer just related to food, but rather it evokes a deeper meaning, such as environmental sustainability and animal welfare. In Western cultures, many studies have examined how vegetarians' motivations relate to animal welfare, health and environmentalism. However, there is little research in this area in Asia, especially in South Korea, despite a growing number of vegetarians. This study identifies the hierarchical value maps (HVMs) of vegetarians to clarify why people choose to become vegetarians and investigates the negative aspects of these dietary types.

The authors conducted in-depth, one-to-one laddering interviews with 33 vegetarians in South Korea based on the means-end chain theory. The laddering technique is a qualitative approach to determining connections between attributes, consequences and values.

Vegetarians tend to value an ethical lifestyle, sustainable future, ecological circulation, responsibility for nature, respect for life, respect for the weak and quality of life. HVM differs slightly among groups by the type of vegetarianism (vegan vs non-vegan vegetarians) and sex (females vs males). The most dominant cognitive structures toward vegetarian diets were “meat-free,” “no factory farming,” and “plant-based” (attributes); “health,” “environment-friendly” and “animal-friendly” (consequences); and “quality of life,” “ethical life,” and “sustainable future” (values).

This study offers insights into the motivations of Korean vegetarians, and they are not culturally different from those of Westerners as they relate to animals, the environment and health.

Purpose: The purpose of this chapter is to elaborate on the major conceptual and practical considerations of the use of robots, artificial intelligence and service automation (RAISA) in travel, tourism, and hospitality companies (TTH).

Design/methodology/approach: The chapter develops a conceptual framework of the major issues related to the use of RAISA in the travel, tourism and hospitality context.

Findings: The findings indicate that while there is a creeping incursion of RAISA into TTH, there are major concerns that the TTH industry has to consider in regard to automating TTH services.

Practical implications: In a practical sense, the chapter identifies the decisions that TTH industry professionals need to take when dealing with RAISA technologies. Furthermore, the chapter elaborates on the impacts RAISA have on business operations, marketing management, human resources and financial management of TTH companies. The TTH industry has to adjust its practices and communicate with its workforce in ways as not to increase Luddite tendencies and resistance among employees.

Social implications: The analysis shows that there is an upcoming era in which automation of services will be so advanced that wealthy countries may not need to import labour to make up with its own aging workforce, suggesting that RAISA and its further development has the potential for disrupting society and international relations.

Originality/value: This chapter provides a comprehensive review of the issues related to the use of RAISA in the TTH industry, including the drivers of RAISA adoption in tourism, advantages and disadvantages of RAISA technologies compared to human employees, decisions that managers need to take, and the impacts of RAISA on business processes. It shows how macroenvironmental pressures shape the microeconomic decisions to use RAISA in a TTH context.

The global tourism industry is continuing to experience a change from high-touch to high-tech with the increasing implementation of self-service technologies (SSTs) such as hotel reservation websites, kiosk technologies at airports and smartphone applications. SSTs require active customer involvement in the service delivery process and as such, the customer serves as a co-creator of value along with the tourism provider. Although there are benefits to customer involvement in service provision, there is a risk that SST usage may also detract value from the service experience. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore customer perspectives on their experiences of SST usage in a tourism context, through the theoretical lens of the service–dominant logic framework.

This interpretivist study employs a two-stage qualitative methodology of short interviews with 133 participants at an international airport, followed by 32 in-depth interviews with SST users in a tourism context.

Six diverse customer SST experiences are identified and then classified in terms of being either value-creating or value-destroying. The first two experiences accruing from SST usage, namely accomplishment and supportiveness, are deemed to be value-creating, while the experiences of lack of control, manipulation, concern about discrimination and social tension are deemed to be value-destroying.

The study responds to a gap in the literature regarding the concept and nature of customer value co-creation pertaining to the use of SSTs in a tourism context. The research findings indicate that value is not only created but may also be destroyed in the SST encounter. The study also illustrates that SST usage may have a strong social element in terms of the presence and role of other customers and employees. This challenges the consensus in the literature that SST usage reduces or removes human interaction.