This study aims to explicate the characteristics of ethical knowledge according to a knowledge management theoretical framework that conveys ethical knowledge as a form of tacit…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explicate the characteristics of ethical knowledge according to a knowledge management theoretical framework that conveys ethical knowledge as a form of tacit knowledge that is personal, subjective, intangible, and difficult to communicate to others.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on a survey with 350 public relations practitioners in the USA.
Findings
The findings show that ethical knowledge in public relations, as a professional construct, is tacit only to the extent that it is a personal body of knowledge grounded in individual actions and experiences, but it is explicit in that it is tangible and could be communicated and shared in the workplace. Age, work experience and the number of ethics courses taken in an individual's public relations career are some of the significant determinants shaping the public relations practitioners' conceptualizations of ethical knowledge.
Practical implications
The study reinforces the importance of a holistic approach to ethics, where structured and formal training programs and codes of ethics are supported directly by a congruence between formal initiatives and public relations professionals' personal values.
Originality/value
By explicating the characteristics of ethical knowledge and its implications on knowledge transfer of ethics in public relations, and in understanding the determinants shaping public relations professionals' conceptualization of ethical knowledge, this study offers an empirical contribution to an area of study that has received mostly normative and philosophical discussion.
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Seow Ting Lee and Mallika Hemant Desai
The purpose of this paper is to seek to clarify the conceptual building blocks of relationship building between non-governmental groups (NGOs) and news media, which is essential…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to seek to clarify the conceptual building blocks of relationship building between non-governmental groups (NGOs) and news media, which is essential for the development of civil society where dialogue is a product of ongoing communication and relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on an online survey with a sample size of 296 NGOs from India. The data are analyzed with SPSS to test six hypotheses related to dialogic orientation, media relations, relationship quality and the NGOs’ structural characteristics.
Findings
The study found that an organization's dialogic orientation has a positive impact on media relations knowledge and strategy but not on the action dimension that focusses on providing information subsidies to journalists. A stronger dialogic orientation is also associated with better organization-media relationships. A stronger engagement in media relations also has a more positive impact on the quality of organization-media relationship. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Research limitations/implications
The findings of this study are limited to a sample of NGOs from India. Future research should address more diverse samples to better understand the dynamics of media relations in NGOs, and how their patterns of media relations, use of information subsidies, culture and media choice shape news coverage and their impact in developing civil society.
Originality/value
By approaching media relations from an organizational perspective to investigate media relations in the NGO sector to address an under-researched area, the study is able to draw out the significant relationships between and among three distinct and yet connected conceptual building blocks of public relations.
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Extending prior studies which suggest that the disclosure practice of developed economy entities tends to be more transparent than that of emerging economy entities, this study…
Abstract
Extending prior studies which suggest that the disclosure practice of developed economy entities tends to be more transparent than that of emerging economy entities, this study investigates whether such differences in the degree of disclosure transparency translate into different levels of value‐relevance of their accounting summary measures (i.e., book values and earnings). Consistent with theories that link disclosure quality with the impact of disclosure on investors' decisions, the evidence indicates that the accounting summary measures of developed economy entities are more value‐relevant than those of emerging economy entities in the U.S. stock market. This finding has some implications for the current policy debate in IASB regarding accounting for emerging economy entities.
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Muhammad Ashraf Fauzi, Norhana Mohd Aripin, Nur Sofia Nabila Alimin, Irene Wei Kiong Ting, Walton Wider, Siti Sarah Maidin and Ahmed Zainul Abideen
This study evaluates the knowledge structure of medical tourism within the geographical context of South East Asia. This region is one of the growing economic powerhouses in the…
Abstract
Purpose
This study evaluates the knowledge structure of medical tourism within the geographical context of South East Asia. This region is one of the growing economic powerhouses in the world, and tourism activities have contributed a lot to its advancement.
Design/methodology/approach
Applying a science mapping technique using bibliometric analysis, the current and emerging themes and future trends are analyzed using bibliographic coupling and co-word analysis.
Findings
Findings show that current trends produced four themes: Fundamentals of medical tourism in Southeast Asia, determinants of tourist medical tourism visits, quality of medical and health service in Southeast Asia and impact of medical tourism on national economic growth. The future trends also produced four themes related to navigating excellence in medical tourism, medical tourism and economic growth, service quality in medical tourism services and accredited destinations in the globalized era of medical tourism.
Research limitations/implications
This study is relevant to all stakeholders, operators and local communities in Southeast Asia tourism destinations to provide the best medical tourism with the best quality service and technologies.
Originality/value
This study fills the gap by performing a bibliometric approach to reviewing medical tourism in Southeast Asia using a science mapping technique. Crucial themes are produced through topological and temporal streams that provide critical insight for future developments in medical tourism in the region.
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Elaine Chiao Ling Yang, Mona Ji Hyun Yang and Catheryn Khoo-Lattimore
This study aims to explore the meanings of solo travel for Asian women, focussing on how Asian women construct and negotiate their identities in the heteronormalised, gendered and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the meanings of solo travel for Asian women, focussing on how Asian women construct and negotiate their identities in the heteronormalised, gendered and Western-centric tourism space.
Design/methodology/approach
In-depth interviews were conducted with 35 Asian solo female travellers from ten Asian countries/societies and analysed using constructivist grounded theory. The interpretation was guided by a critical stance and intersectionality lens.
Findings
The findings show that solo travel provides a means for self-discovery but the path was different for Asian women, for whom the self is constructed by challenging the social expectations of Asian women. Western-centric discourse was identified in the participants’ interactions with other (Western) travellers and tourism service providers, as well as in the ways these Asian women perceive themselves in relation to Western travellers. In addition to gendered constraints and risks, the findings also reveal the positive meaning of being Asian women in the gendered tourism space.
Research limitations/implications
By labelling Asian women, the study risks adopting an essentialised view and overlooking the differences within the group. However, this strategic essentialism is necessary to draw attention to the inequalities that persist in contemporary tourism spaces and practices.
Originality/value
This study investigated Asian solo female travellers, an emerging but under-researched segment. It provides a critical examination of the intersectional effect of gender and race on identity construction for Asian solo female travellers. This study shows the need for a more inclusive tourism space.
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Mina Balouchi and Yuhanis Abdul Aziz
The purpose of this research is to examine, from the self-efficacy standpoint, the factors that influence medical tourists' use of social media for travel planning. To that end…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to examine, from the self-efficacy standpoint, the factors that influence medical tourists' use of social media for travel planning. To that end, this study presents a conceptual framework for evaluating medical tourists' online behaviour and empirically tests the model's validity by examining various dimensions of self-efficacy.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 224 people who searched for medical tourism information online was used in this study. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was employed to test the proposed model with data from an online questionnaire survey.
Findings
The findings suggest that sources of self-efficacy reinforce one's belief in the ability to use social media for medical travel planning purposes. According to the structural model analysis results, with the exception of social persuasion (SP), all of the proposed factors were significant sources of self-efficacy.
Practical implications
The findings can assist medical tourism providers in optimising online searches for medical travel information, as well as medical tourism destination marketers in directing the tourism providers' marketing efforts towards the use of social media to target potential medical tourists more efficiently and on a larger scale.
Originality/value
This study is being conducted in response to a significant knowledge gap in identifying the factors that influence medical tourists' online behaviour. This information can help medical tourism destination marketers gain a competitive advantage by using social media to target potential medical tourists more effectively and on a larger scale.
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Yun Fah Chang, Wei Cheng Choong, Sing Yan Looi, Wei Yeing Pan and Hong Lip Goh
The purpose of this paper is to analyse and predict the housing prices in Petaling district, Malaysia and its six sub-regions with a set of housing attributes using functional…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyse and predict the housing prices in Petaling district, Malaysia and its six sub-regions with a set of housing attributes using functional relationship model.
Design/methodology/approach
A new multiple unreplicated linear functional relationship model with both the response and explanatory variables are subject to errors is proposed. A total of 41,750 housing transacted records from November 2008 to February 2016 were used in this study. These data were divided into 70% training and 30% testing sets for each of the selected sub-regions. Individual housing price was regressed on nine housing attributes.
Findings
The results showed the proposed model has better fitting ability and prediction accuracy as compared to the hedonic model or multiple linear regression. The proposed model achieved at least 20% and 40% of predictions that have less than 5% and 10% deviations from the actual transacted housing prices, respectively. House buyers in these sub-regions showed similar preferences on most of the housing attributes, except for residents in Shah Alam who preferred to stay far away from shopping malls, and leasehold houses in Sri Kembangan are more valuable. From the h-nearest houses indicator, it is concluded that the housing market in Sungai Buloh is the most volatile in Petaling District.
Research limitations/implications
As the data used are the actual housing transaction records in Petaling District, it represents only a segment of Malaysian urban population. The result will not be generalized to the entire Malaysian population.
Practical implications
This study is expected to provide insights to policymakers, property developers and investors to understand the volatility of the housing market and the influence of determinants in different sub-regions. The potential house buyers could also use the model to determine if a house is overpriced.
Originality/value
This study introduces measurement errors into the housing attributes to provide a more reliable analysis tool for the housing market. This study is the first housing research in Malaysia that used a large number of actual housing transaction records. Previous studies relied on small survey samples.
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This study aims to unpack the notion of travelling mobilities from the perspectives of an Asian solo traveller using the context of the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to unpack the notion of travelling mobilities from the perspectives of an Asian solo traveller using the context of the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.
Design/methodology/approach
An autoethnography was used for this research, analysing reflective notes drafted on hand-written journals over the duration of six days over three host cities of the sporting event.
Findings
Asian solo men appear to be treated very differently from their Western counterparts and solo female tourists. In addition, engaging with a sport that is highly Western-centric exposes the liminal spaces of in-between. Being of Asian appearance and conversant in Japanese further blurred the travelling mobilities of being an unlikely sports fan, an impromptu translator, a presumed local resident and an unconventional wanderer.
Originality/value
These limitations notwithstanding, the research has contributed to the paucity of knowledge surrounding Asian solo male tourists and some aspects of their corresponding travelling mobilities. Such nuanced understanding then inform tourism and hospitality knowledge and practice of offering relevant experiences to such a market.
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Ediansyah, Mts Arief, Mohammad Hamsal and Sri Bramantoro Abdinagoro
This article aims to know the direction of current research based on the previous research in the last ten years (2012–2021).
Abstract
Purpose
This article aims to know the direction of current research based on the previous research in the last ten years (2012–2021).
Design/methodology/approach
Text mining was integrated with a network and content analysis as part of the mix methodological approach. The scientific articles, on the other hand, were assembled on Litmaps through web scraping. This process selected 86 articles about medical tourism published between 2012 and 2021. This study employed AntConc, RStudio and Gephi tools for data analysis and visualization.
Findings
A total of 138 articles were identified through Litmaps using web scraping and 86 studies met the criteria. The trend of medical tourism research is a positive sign for tourism and health industries; this is the beginning to recognize the importance of elaborating on these two topics. Several researchers have frequently studied issues of destination, hospital, development, quality, stakeholders, surgery, service, economics and policy. Policymakers must establish a medical tourism ecosystem to accommodate all stakeholders in this industry. This study also recommends focusing on supply and institution for medical tourism future research.
Research limitations/implications
This literature review presents research trends on medical tourism in 2012–2021 based solely on articles available on the Litmaps search engine. If the time span is extended and the sources of articles are expanded there will be more literature available for analysis. The articles obtained are also only articles published in English due to the language limitations of the author.
Practical implications
Policymakers must establish a medical tourism ecosystem to accommodate all stakeholders in this industry. Stakeholders must work together to provide medical tourism package therefore people can get their health services while visiting available tourist areas.
Originality/value
The literary study of medical tourism over 10 years is considered the most recent systematic literature review.
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In past literature, employee has been extensively utilized as input in most data envelopment analysis (DEA) studies, but different labor types are identically defined to be the…
Abstract
Purpose
In past literature, employee has been extensively utilized as input in most data envelopment analysis (DEA) studies, but different labor types are identically defined to be the same input factor without a specific assumption for their heterogeneity. The influence of manual and non-manual labor utilization on performance also has not been investigated in hotel efficiency analyses. The purpose of this study is to assess inefficiency indices derived from manual and non-manual labor, and analyze the influence of labor utilization on hotel’s operational efficiency.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the different features of the two labor types, performance indicators are evaluated through the hybrid DEA model.
Findings
More than 32 per cent of tourist hotels are evaluated as efficient and more than half the hotels have an efficiency score lower than the average. The author evaluated the inefficiency caused by radial inputs that have a greater influence on efficiency. This finding indicates that most hotels are efficient in their utilization of non-manual labor. The investigation of external factors shows that excessive utilization of non-manual labor results in a slight influence on operational efficiency across many non-chain hotels. The author also found the efficiency of non-manual labor utilization to be lower at hotels located in resort areas.
Originality/value
This study used the hybrid DEA model, in which non-manual and manual labors are assumed as non-radial and radial inputs, respectively, to evaluate efficiency. Finding the significance of heterogeneous assumptions for manual and non-manual labor types is the main contribution to the theory of hotel efficiency measurement.