Melanie Kay Smith, Ivett Pinke-Sziva and Zombor Berezvai
This paper aims to contribute to urban tourism segmentation studies by examining the role of culture as a motivation for city visits, different preferences for activities and the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to contribute to urban tourism segmentation studies by examining the role of culture as a motivation for city visits, different preferences for activities and the demographic factors that influence activity choices. This study also compares the memorability of the trip across the segments identified based on their undertaken activities.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper draws on questionnaire data that was collected from 614 tourists in Budapest, Hungary. Tourist segmentation was based on a two-step procedure: principal component analysis and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis. Multinomial logistic regression was applied to reveal the effect of different demographic and travel-related characteristics on the segments.
Findings
The research revealed that cultural activities are still the most important motivation for urban tourists and that cultural tourists constitute the biggest segment (43%). They show a preference for heritage sites, museums and galleries rather than performing arts and festivals. Multinomial logistic regression showed that party tourists can be differentiated from cultural tourists and city break tourists predominantly by age and travel status. Older age groups and women are more likely to be interested in heritage sites, museums and galleries. Party tourists found their experience significantly more memorable than any other group and were much more likely to re-visit and recommend.
Research limitations/implications
Overall, this study provides useful information for destination management organisations and city agencies about which activities to promote and how to segment and potentially target tourists. This study did not include lifestyle and personality factors, secondary and complementary attractions or cultural proximity and distance.
Originality/value
There have been relatively few recent studies on urban cultural tourism segmentation, especially in whole destinations rather than at individual attractions, it was therefore considered timely to re-visit this area of research. This paper reinforces the importance of segmentation studies in tourism and analyses the changing motivations and activity preferences of urban cultural tourists over time.
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This article identifies some of the challenges facing health tourism development in Hungary and uses research with expert respondents to make recommendations for the sector.
Abstract
Purpose
This article identifies some of the challenges facing health tourism development in Hungary and uses research with expert respondents to make recommendations for the sector.
Design/methodology/approach
A combination of literature review, recent statistics and Delphi study data involving health tourism experts is used to identify challenges in product and service development which affect customer satisfaction.
Findings
Spas need to concentrate on improving their infrastructure where funding allows and to create better quality products and services that are tailored and marketed to specific segments. Investment may also be needed in staff recruitment and training to overcome shortages.
Originality/value
New insights are provided into the current situation in Hungarian health tourism using a comparative study of V4 countries. This helped to identify common challenges and solutions.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the experience of call centre employees who have been involved in high-involvement innovation (HII) activities to understand what frontline…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the experience of call centre employees who have been involved in high-involvement innovation (HII) activities to understand what frontline and managerial employees think of these involvement activities.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative case study approach is utilised, drawing on evidence from seven UK call centres. Various sources of data are examined, i.e. interviews, observation, call listening and documentary.
Findings
From the analysis of the testimonies, it is found that job design, the mechanisms and practices as well as other people’s perceptions of involvement influence the experience of frontline and managerial employees. The findings highlight that HII has the potential to intensify jobs (both frontline and managerial employees) when the quantity of ideas submitted becomes a component of the employee performance appraisal system.
Research limitations/implications
This research has shown that the heightened targets used in many of the cases have reduced the ability of employees to be involved in any innovation activities. What is not clear from the findings is that if performance measures can be used in a more participative way with employees so that they can have less time pressure allowing them to become more involved in innovation activities. Thus, an interesting direction for future research would be to consider the effects of performance measurement systems in the role they play in facilitating HII activities.
Practical implications
The findings show that HII has the potential to enrich frontline employees’ jobs, making them feel more valued and giving them some variety and challenge in their job. Therefore, practitioners should approach employee involvement in the innovation process as something potentially fruitful and not just wasted time away from the phones.
Originality/value
This research is important as it explores what effects these involvement initiatives have on the employees and managers involved in them. This is valuable since there is no real consensus across human resource management, labour process and critical management fields resulting in a limited conceptualisation of the relationship between management practices, employee experiences and the outcomes. This research makes a contribution through the elaboration of current theory to understand the complexities and subtleties that exist between the high involvement management practices and the experience of workers and their managers.
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PROPORTIONATELY, that is to say by percentage, salaries for managers are showing what the British Institute of Management describes as a “disquieting” trend when compared to…
Abstract
PROPORTIONATELY, that is to say by percentage, salaries for managers are showing what the British Institute of Management describes as a “disquieting” trend when compared to earnings by production workers. While last year pay for the latter rose by 7.7 per cent, that of managers went up by only 7.2 per cent.
Mark Leather, Gil Fewings and Su Porter
This paper discusses the history of outdoor education at a university in the South West England, starting in 1840.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper discusses the history of outdoor education at a university in the South West England, starting in 1840.
Design/methodology/approach
This research uses secondary sources of data; original unpublished work from the university archive is used alongside published works on the university founders and first principals, as well as sources on the developments of outdoor education in the UK.
Findings
Both founding principals were driven by their strong values of social justice and their own experiences of poverty and inequality, to establish a means for everyone to access high-quality education regardless of background or means. They saw education as key to providing a pathway out of poverty and towards opportunity and achievement for all. Kay-Shuttleworth, founder of St John's, wrote that “the best book is Nature, with an intelligent interpreter”, whilst Derwent Coleridge, St Mark's first principal, had a profound love of nature and reverence for his father's poetic circle. His father, the famous English Romantic poet Samuel Taylor–Coleridge, made the first recorded use of the verb “mountaineering”. Coleridge was using a new word for a new activity; the ascending of mountains for pleasure, rather than for economic or military purposes.
Originality/value
The Romantic influence on outdoor education, the early appreciation of nature and the outdoors for physical and psychological well-being and the drive for social justice have not been told in any case study before.
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David McKevitt, Paul Davis, Roelf Woldring, Kay Smith, Anthony Flynn and Emma McEvoy
There is currently much debate about the meaning of competency and its importance to professionalization. This article explores the personal meaning and importance of competency…
Abstract
There is currently much debate about the meaning of competency and its importance to professionalization. This article explores the personal meaning and importance of competency from the perspective of public buyers and managers in Ireland and the UK. Using an in-depth mixed method research design, we propose a typology of public procurement competency and discuss the implications of the framework for professionalization of public procurement.