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Although the number of guest houses in China is increasing rapidly, many of them are not performing well in developing customer loyalty. Self-congruity and functional congruity represent two cost-effective but inadequately researched ways for guest houses to maintain customers. In view of the lack of empirical research explaining the post-purchase behavior of guest house customers, the purpose of this study is to develop a congruity-based customer loyalty model for this specialized type of accommodation.

Based on a review of relevant literature, a robust conceptual framework of customer loyalty comprising satisfaction, self-congruity, functional congruity, perceived value and attractiveness of alternates was constructed. By means of an online panel survey, 828 valid questionnaires were obtained from customers who had stayed in a Chinese guest house within the previous year. Structural equation modeling was conducted to test the conceptual model and the hypothesized relationships among the constructs.

Significant relationships were found between the two congruity constructs in guest houses, which both led to positive customer post-purchase behaviors. The authors found that self-congruity, functional congruity and the attractiveness of alternates did not affect customer loyalty directly; rather, they influenced loyalty indirectly through customer satisfaction.

This study developed a unique, congruity-based model of customer loyalty in the context of guest houses. It enhances the body of knowledge regarding congruity in the field of tourism and hospitality, and it discusses relevant implications of the findings for tourism marketing researchers and for owner-managers of guest houses.

虽然民宿增长迅速, 多数民宿在顾客忠诚上表现较差。自我一致性和功能一致性作为民宿维持顾客的有效手段, 在学术上研究较少。鉴于学界缺乏对民宿顾客购后行为的实证研究, 本研究试图构建一个基于一致性的民宿顾客忠诚模型。

在文献综述基础上, 我们构建了一个基于一致性的顾客忠诚模型。用在线样本库的方法调查了过去一年有过民宿住宿体验的顾客, 最终收集了828份有效问卷。

研究发现, 两个一致性表现对顾客的购后行为存在显著影响。同时, 本研究显示, 自我一致性, 功能一致性和替代者吸引力并不直接影响顾客忠诚, 而是通过影响顾客满意影响忠诚。

基于一致性的新视角, 民宿顾客忠诚模型被重塑。本研究可以加深对接待业自我一致性研究的理解, 并为旅游营销研究提供启示。论文最后还讨论了研究结果对民宿研究和管理者的启示。

Aunque el número de casas de huéspedes en China está aumentando rápidamente, muchas de ellas no están funcionando bien en el desarrollo de la lealtad del cliente. La autocongruencia y la congruencia funcional representan dos formas rentables pero inadecuadamente investigadas para que las casas de huéspedes mantengan clientes. En vista de la falta de investigación empírica que explique el comportamiento posterior a la compra de los clientes de la casa de huéspedes, el presente estudio busca desarrollar un modelo de lealtad del cliente basado en la congruencia para este tipo especializado de alojamiento.

Con base en una revisión de literatura relevante, construimos un marco conceptual robusto de lealtad del cliente que comprende satisfacción, autocongruencia, congruencia funcional, valor percibido y atractivo de alternativas. Mediante una encuesta de panel en línea, obtuvimos 828 cuestionarios válidos de clientes que se habían alojado en una casa de huéspedes china durante el año anterior. Se realizó un modelado de ecuaciones estructurales para probar el modelo conceptual y las relaciones hipotéticas entre los constructos.

Se encontraron relaciones significativas entre las dos construcciones de congruencia en las casas de huéspedes, lo que condujo a comportamientos positivos posteriores a la compra del cliente. Descubrimos que la autocongruencia, la congruencia funcional y el atractivo de las alternativas no afectaban directamente la lealtad del cliente; más bien, influyeron indirectamente en la lealtad a través de la satisfacción del cliente.

Este estudio desarrolló un modelo único de lealtad del cliente basado en la congruencia en el contexto de las casas de huéspedes. Mejora el conjunto de conocimientos sobre congruencia en el campo del turismo y la hospitalidad, y analiza las implicaciones relevantes de los hallazgos para los investigadores de marketing turístico y para los propietarios-gerentes de casas de huéspedes.

This study aims to develop a comprehensive framework for assessing servicescape of cruise tourism and provides practical suggestions to improve the perception of Chinese tourists toward cruise servicescape.

A multistage mixed-method design was used in the sequence of in-depth interviews (n = 18), expert panel (n = 5), on-site survey (n = 317) and online survey (n = 300). Grounded theory, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used to assess cruise tourism servicescape.

The cruise tourism servicescape construct was identified with six dimensions: facilities and décor, natural scenery, onshore excursions, onboard entertainment, social interactions and dining services. These dimensions were in the order of importance, as perceived by Chinese tourists.

Cruise lines operating large ships can be more attractive to Chinese consumers than luxury cruise lines operating smaller vessels. Cruise operators can enhance perceived servicescape by integrating natural and built environments, such as air, sea and on-shore tours. Services provided by foreign crew members may serve as a strong selling point for Chinese tourists. Consumer-to-consumer activities may be introduced into the Chinese market. Cruise operators may also provide quality meal service in terms of variety, quality and flexibility.

Considering that minimal research has been conducted on cruise servicescape scale development, this study serves as the first empirical research effort in this regard. The findings also identify the specific needs of Chinese tourists, which is a fast-growing market in the cruise industry.

We examine the citations from four international business (IB) journals over 2000‐2004 to show the areas, the journals, and the institutions that impact IB research. The leading works that influence IB research are primarily management journals, scholarly books, and IB journals. IB research is published in non‐IB journals, as well and this has influenced the recent research in IB journals. U.S. and non‐U.S. academic institutions and non‐academic organizations are among the top 100 institutions that impact IB research, indicating that this research is a truly global endeavor. Finally, recent IB research is influenced more by recent published research than by past research. Scholarly books have become less influential, while the economics, finance, and marketing journals show no change in the influence on IB research over time.

This research outlines the Hong Kong film industry with examination of key actors, directors, films, and production companies within the martial arts genre of Hong Kong Action Cinema. Hong Kong Film Award winners and nominees, core films within genres, and core reference works both general and theoretical from experts in the field of Hong Kong martial arts film research have been highlighted. Web sites are suggested that provide reviews of Hong Kong martial arts films, biographical information on a variety of actors and actresses as well as comprehensive bibliographic information on select films. Also included are commercial Web sites that provide Hong Kong martial arts films.

The aims of this study were to investigate the influencing factors of wine tourism development in China, assess the marketing efforts made by the wine-tourism stakeholders, and provide constructive suggestions for the development of China's wine tourism.

A qualitative approach was adopted for the purposes of this research. The study site is the Bohai Bay wine region in Shandong Province, the birthplace of China's modern wine industry and the largest wine-producing area in China. Chateau Changyu-Castel and Chateau Junding were visited in June 2010. Qualitative data were collected in the forms of observations of the wineries, interviews with wine tourists, focus groups with tourism practitioners, and analyses of travel blogs, document excerpts, and official web sites. Content analysis produced a thematic framework on people, promotion, and place.

A number of facilitating and detrimental factors were revealed pertaining to China's wine tourism development on the three themes: people, promotion, and place.

The number of wine tourists being interviewed is relatively small, and the wineries chosen are relatively large ones. Results may not be generalized to other wine tourists and wineries in China.

The paper includes implications for the development of wine tourism in China, such as food and wine pairing that combines wine with local (Chinese) cuisine at the wineries, positioning, and genuine government support.

Research on wine tourism and wine tourists in China is scant. The current research fills a research gap by examining China's wine tourism phenomena from multiple perspectives, including those of tourists, tourism practitioners, and wine tourism destinations.

This study aims to understand whether poverty alleviation can be realized in tourism via tourism cooperatives. As a fast growing industry in the world, tourism has accelerated economic development in many participating places. A large number of tourism cooperatives have emerged to capture conspicuous economic benefits from tourism in many rural areas of China. The role of tourism cooperatives has not yet been explored from the poverty alleviation perspective.

Two field trips to Yuhu Village, Lijiang, China, which included in-depth interviews, were conducted during August and December 2011, aiming at understanding the roles of tourism cooperatives in poverty alleviation. In-depth interviews with villagers (45) and mangers of tourism cooperative (5) were conducted. A systematic coding procedure including open, axial and selective coding was conducted with the software assistance of ATLAS.TI6.2.

Evidence from Yuhu suggested that resources and power changes, both of which are further divided into both individual and collective levels, are the main contributors to substantial improvements of the poor. Material and social resources were significantly accumulated. In addition, empowerment, referring to the improvements in status, legitimacy and capability/knowledge, facilitated villagers to obtain favorable policies. By embracing a more broad understanding of poverty, the tourism cooperative is proven to effectively alleviate the poverty suffering of Yuhu villagers.

Understanding poverty from a multi-dimensional perspective is deemed to be critical to reveal the actual story, as evidenced in this study, with analyzing resource flows and power changes at different stages of tourism development. By embracing a more broad understanding of poverty, the role of tourism cooperatives in poverty alleviation was able to be noticed and emerged from in-depth interviews. A systematic scrutiny has been carried out to examine the pro-poor effects brought about by tourism cooperatives.

This study aims to understand the normative expectations of travelers on the services and experiences provided by Buddhism-themed hotels as well as how service providers perceive such expectations. The growth of religion-themed hotels in China follows a larger and more generalized global marketing trend in terms of providing tourists and consumers with “themed” experiences.

Using the service quality model, this study investigates these expectations of Buddhism-themed hotels in China. The Delphi method was used with two expert panels, namely, travelers and tourism/hotel practitioners. Preliminary interviews revealed 98 normative expectations from Buddhism-themed hotels. Two sets of Delphi questionnaires were used to compare tourist expectations with practitioner perceptions.

Results show a wide range of expectations of travelers staying in Buddhism-themed hotels. They also reveal how the expectations of the two groups aligned as well as differed.

This study extends the application of the service quality model to the context of religion-themed hotels. As this study adopted the Delphi technique through criterion sampling, future studies should use a larger random sample to verify the results of this study.

The results help religion-themed hoteliers to understand their customer expectations better.

Given the lack of studies on religion-themed hotels, especially on the gap between tourist expectations and service providers’ perceptions, this study is a timely contribution to improve the understanding on the needs and expectations of customers when visiting religion-themed hotels.

Blockchain as a disruptive technology has revolutionized many industries, such as finance, logistics and manufacturing sectors. This paper aims to explore Blockchain applications in construction to effectively manage project workflows and uplift construction efficiency.

Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with various stakeholders from a public infrastructure project to analyze Blockchain applications in the construction industry. Eleven key construction workflows are selected to identify and discover the necessity and significance of Blockchain applications in the construction industry. They are related to construction program, daily operations and payment. Based on workflow analysis, several issues are discussed to design a development roadmap of Blockchain in the construction industry.

The findings show Blockchain can improve construction efficiency, reduce paper-based manual operation and address the fragmentation and communication issue. However, the development of Blockchain in the construction industry is still impeded by some challenges. Traditional work modes might be existing even though Blockchain-enabled systems are introduced, which may increase the workload of construction practitioners. Thus, a feasible and practical development roadmap is proposed to instruct implementation of Blockchain in construction.

This research systematically analyzes the development of Blockchain in the construction industry from several existing workflows, based on a real-life case study. Several considerations are given to provide referential value for applying Blockchain in the construction industry, including opportunities and challenges, cost–benefit analysis, obstacles and possible solutions, as well as development strategies with a prototype system.

Extending the ground works of Ho (1993), Baldwin (1994), Walters and Hastings (1998a, 1998b) on property management in Hong Kong, this short paper documents the context[1] of research on illegal structures, explains the incentive for building illegal structures on government land and private property and discusses the significance of illegal structures for the proprietor and the property manager, as well as the relevant legislative provisions and policies.