Zhongyuan Zhou, Ting (Tina) Li, Chang Liu, Yang Zhou, Ping Li and Si Wen
More people share their tourism experiences on social media today than in the past, and as a result, more people follow these posts in their trip planning. However, studies into…
Abstract
Purpose
More people share their tourism experiences on social media today than in the past, and as a result, more people follow these posts in their trip planning. However, studies into tourists' intention to follow such posts are scarce. Therefore, this study investigates the antecedents influencing social media users' intentions to follow tourism-related posts (TRPs) when planning their trips.
Design/methodology/approach
Questionnaires were collected from 402 social media users who had followed TRPs for their trip planning. Data were then analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and artificial neural networks.
Findings
The authors found that blogger–user fit and users' involvement with TRPs influenced behavior components (attitudes toward TRPs and intention to follow TRPs) via assessment components (bloggers' credibility and content quality), and the authors developed a framework to explain this relationship.
Originality/value
The findings advance prior studies by investigating (1) the antecedents of intention to follow TRPs when trip planning, (2) the two main social media elements – bloggers and posts – to understanding the role of social media on travel behavior and (3) involvement with TRPs and their impacts on travel behavior. This study contributes to the research on social media and tourism marketing and proposes practical indications for bloggers, social media platforms and destination marketing organizations.
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Jingyi Tian, Ting (Tina) Li, Rui Chen, Kaining Yang, Ping Li and Si Wen
“Idol pilgrimage tour” is a popular trend among young Chinese fans who travel for idol-related purposes, engage in interactive events and have co-created experiences at…
Abstract
Purpose
“Idol pilgrimage tour” is a popular trend among young Chinese fans who travel for idol-related purposes, engage in interactive events and have co-created experiences at destinations. With the growing market size of fan economy, fan tourists generate significant revenue for the local. However, many destinations have not fully utilised this opportunity, and there is a lack of research on this niche form of tourism. This research was undertaken to address this research gap.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopted an idol worship–motivation–co-created experience–tour satisfaction–destination loyalty framework in the context of idol pilgrimage tours. In addition, this study investigated the direct influence of idol worship on the other four constructs. Data were collected from 354 Chinese fans who had such experience through online questionnaires. The partial least squares–structural equation modelling technique was used to examine the research model.
Findings
It was demonstrated that idol worship has a direct influence on motivation, co-created experience, satisfaction and loyalty and that there is a positive relationship between motivation, co-created experience, satisfaction and loyalty. The results advance the brand sacralisation literature by studying worship in a tourism context and contribute to interactive marketing literature by clarifying the interactive mechanism between relationships among the idol, fans and destinations. The study suggests some practical implications for destination management organisations attempting to target tourist fans.
Originality/value
This is the first study introducing the concept of the idol pilgrimage tour. Empirical results of this study reveal the underlying mechanism of how idols influence fans' travel-related psychology and behaviour.
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There is a distinct separation of price discovery from pricing power in China's sugar spot and futures markets. The purpose of this paper is to identify the reasons and provide…
Abstract
Purpose
There is a distinct separation of price discovery from pricing power in China's sugar spot and futures markets. The purpose of this paper is to identify the reasons and provide plausible explanations for this stylized phenomenon. Therefore, the research may deepen the understandings of the operational mechanisms and internal efficiency of China's sugar spot and futures markets.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors analyze the historical spot and futures price time series from China's sugar spot market and China's Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange (CZCE) within a co‐integration framework.
Findings
It is found that China's sugar spot market has the pricing power, even though the futures market leads the spot market in price discovery. The phenomenon of observed separation of price discovery in spot market from pricing power in futures market may be caused by: irrational speculation in CZCE sugar futures market; oligopoly and local government politics; or the operational efficiency of the wholesale spot market, especially for its comparative advantages of information accessibility in the sugar producing areas. The results are compared with other empirical findings in many other commodities markets to obtain deeper understandings.
Originality/value
The paper uncovers and provides the earliest econometric evidence of the observed stylized phenomenon and also provides plausible explanations for this phenomenon.
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Accuracy of hydrodynamic transport equations using the energy‐dependent relaxation times has been studied for electron transport in Si 〈100〉. The concept of the hydro‐kinetic…
Abstract
Accuracy of hydrodynamic transport equations using the energy‐dependent relaxation times has been studied for electron transport in Si 〈100〉. The concept of the hydro‐kinetic transport model is used to describe non‐equilibrium electron transport phenomena and to examine the validity for the assumption of energy‐dependent relaxation times. It has been shown that under the influence of a drastic increase in field the relaxation times might also strongly depend on the average velocity near the peak of strong velocity overshoot. In addition, the velocity dependence is found to be more pronounced at lower temperatures in Si 〈100〉.
Shu-Hsien Liao, Da-Chian Hu and Yi-Wen Fang
In physical stores, consumer repurchase is the primary goal of retail operators. This includes many aspects of consumers' perceived value of a store, including images of goods…
Abstract
Purpose
In physical stores, consumer repurchase is the primary goal of retail operators. This includes many aspects of consumers' perceived value of a store, including images of goods, services, brands, atmosphere etc. Thus, repurchase intention in a physical store is a critical research issue to the retailer.
Design/methodology/approach
This study took Taiwan Chunghwa Telecom's 3C electronic channel stores as the research object to investigate Taiwanese consumers' repurchase intentions for communication service and 3C products in this chain's physical stores. This study aimed to investigate the mediating role of perceived value (PV) between consumers' channel brand image (CBI) and store image (SI) on repurchase intention (RI). It further examined how the moderated mediating role of electronic word-of-mouth (EWOM) strengthens the influence of consumers' channel brand and store image on repurchase intention through perceived value.
Findings
The research results found that perceived value played a fully mediating role and electronic word-of-mouth is the moderating role on the proposed theoretical model by investigating two moderated mediation models.
Originality/value
This study considered that CBI represents commodity value and SI is the overall satisfaction obtained from consumer services. Thus, both channel brand and SI are active decision variables for consumers to purchase and repurchase in a physical store. For the moderated mediating role of EWOM, this study found that the indirect effect of both CBI and SI on RI through PV is stronger at low degree of EWOM than at high degrees of EWOM.
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Yi-Man Teng, Kun-Shan Wu, Wen-Cheng Wang and Lin-Wen Chen
This study aims to establish a comprehensive model integrating variables from the updated unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT), expectation-confirmation…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to establish a comprehensive model integrating variables from the updated unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT), expectation-confirmation model (ECM) and trust to determine what factors influence consumers’ decision to continue using food delivery apps (FDA) after the COVID-19 outbreak in Taiwan.
Design/methodology/approach
Data was collected from 350 respondents living in Taiwan via Line using a Google Forms link. A total of 333 valid responses were analyzed after 17 invalid questionnaires were eliminated. To test the suggested study paradigm, partial least squares-structural equation modeling was used as the data analysis approach.
Findings
The results indicate FDA users’ continuance intention (CI) is directly significantly affected by performance expectancy, satisfaction and habit. All the constructs of the updated UTAUT theory, confirmation and trust significantly influence the satisfaction of FDA, and users’ satisfaction significantly positively impacts users’ CI.
Originality/value
Although consumers’ intentions toward FDA have previously been the topic of research, there is a paucity of literature that discusses the connections between the variables that influence FDA users’ CI after the COVID-19 pandemic in Taiwan. By focusing on the relationships between the multiple antecedents of FDA users’ CI, this study contributes to reducing the existing literature gap. Explanation surrounding the elements influencing FDA users’ CI is provided by examining several aspects of FDA usage, including technological and psychological postadoption issues.
研究目的
本研究试图建立一个综合模型, 整合了来自统一接受和使用科技理论(UTAUT)、期望-确认模型(ECM)和信任等变量, 以确定影响消费者在COVID-19疫情爆发后继续使用食品外卖应用(FDA)的因素。
研究方法
本研究针对台湾的居民通过Line平台使用Google Forms链接收集了350份问卷数据, 经过筛选后得到333份有效回复。为了验证所提出的研究范式, 本研究采用了PLS-SEM作为数据分析方法。
研究发现
结果表明, FDA用户的继续使用意图受到性能预期、满意度和习惯的直接显著影响。UTAUT理论、期望确认和信任显著影响FDA用户的满意度, 而用户的满意度对用户的继续使用意图产生积极影响。
研究创新/价值
尽管消费者对FDA的意向不是新的研究的主题, 但在讨论COVID-19疫情后影响FDA用户继续使用意图的变量之间的关系方面, 文献中存在不足。通过探索FDA用户继续使用意图的多个前因关系, 本研究有助于弥补现有文献的空白。通过考察FDA使用的技术和心理因素等多个方面, 本研究提供了解释影响FDA用户继续使用意图的论述。
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Maria Romero-Charneco, Ana-María Casado-Molina, Pilar Alarcón-Urbistondo and Juan Pedro Cabrera Sánchez
Given the importance of chatbots in customer service in tourism, this paper aims to understand the drivers that predispose regular consumers of restaurant recommendation chatbots…
Abstract
Purpose
Given the importance of chatbots in customer service in tourism, this paper aims to understand the drivers that predispose regular consumers of restaurant recommendation chatbots to continue using them.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 386 regular consumers of a chatbot via WhatsApp restaurant recommender responded to an online questionnaire (inspired by scales found in the literature on technology adoption). Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses.
Findings
Significant predictors of intention to continue using these chatbots included “effort expectancy (EE),” “hedonic motivation (HM),” “price value (PV)” and “habit (HT).” Specifically, HT still has a long way to go in terms of its performance, and it will be possible to work on it. Furthermore, two variables, EE and HM, act as a bottleneck when it comes to explaining this recurrent usage intention. Factors such as “performance expectancy (PE),” “facilitating conditions (FC)” and “social influence (SI)” did not influence “behavioral intention (BI).” Likewise, the moderating variables, age and gender, are not significant. Finally, the predictive capability of the model is demonstrated. The study findings will enable the development of effective strategies to foster consumer loyalty to this new technology in the restaurant industry.
Originality/value
This study contributes, building on the suitability of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology 2 model, to explain users’ intention to continue using chatbot tourism services in the context of an information search for an unplanned and varied purchase decision, namely, restaurant recommendation services. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first analysis of tourist’s intention to reuse a real and fully functional chatbot via mobile instant messaging.
研究目的
鉴于聊天机器人在旅游客户服务中的重要性, 本研究旨在了解驱动消费者持续使用WhatsApp餐厅推荐聊天机器人的因素。
研究方法
共收集386名WhatsApp餐厅推荐聊天机器人的常规用户在线问卷数据(问卷设计参考技术采纳相关文献中的量表)。研究采用结构方程模型(SEM)验证假设。
研究发现
影响用户持续使用意图的显著预测因素包括“努力期望(EE)”、“享乐动机(HM)”、“价格价值(PV)”和“习惯(HT)”。其中, “习惯(HT)”表现仍有提升空间, 而“努力期望(EE)”和“享乐动机(HM)”是解释持续使用意图的瓶颈因素。此外, “绩效期望(PE)”、“促进条件(FC)”和“社会影响(SI)”对“行为意图(BI)”无显著影响。性别和年龄等调节变量同样不显著。研究结果验证了模型的预测能力, 能够为餐厅行业制定有效策略以增强消费者对这一新技术的忠诚度提供指导。
研究创新
本研究基于UTAUT2模型, 首次分析了消费者在餐厅推荐服务中持续使用移动即时通讯(MIM)聊天机器人的意图, 为探索非计划性和多样化购买决策背景下的信息搜索服务提供了新见解。
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This study aims to propose a comprehensive conceptual framework for the characterization of agricultural heritage in desert-prone areas, with a focus on Siwa Oasis in Egypt.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to propose a comprehensive conceptual framework for the characterization of agricultural heritage in desert-prone areas, with a focus on Siwa Oasis in Egypt.
Design/methodology/approach
The research utilizes a multidimensional approach, integrating perspectives from sustainability principles, stakeholders and the agricultural heritage frameworks of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO). It involves thematic analysis of qualitative data collected through focus group discussions and interviews with a diverse range of participants, including community members, government officials, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and researchers.
Findings
The study identifies five key elements of agricultural heritage in Siwa Oasis: cultural, ecological, economic, social and scientific. Cultural elements include traditional farming practices, irrigation systems and architectural features, while ecological elements encompass crop biodiversity, wildlife habitats and traditional landraces. Economically, date palm cultivation, olive production and agritourism activities play crucial roles in livelihood security and local economies. Socially, community cohesion, gender roles and cultural practices shape the social fabric of the oasis, with festivals and rituals fostering a sense of belonging. From a scientific perspective, the integration of traditional knowledge with modern agricultural practices enhances sustainability and resilience.
Research limitations/implications
The study focused solely on Siwa Oasis as a case study, limiting generalizability to other desert-prone areas. Further research could explore additional regions to enhance the understanding of agricultural heritage in diverse contexts. Additionally, the qualitative nature of the study may limit statistical analysis. Future studies could employ mixed-methods approaches for a more comprehensive understanding of agricultural heritage dynamics.
Practical implications
Understanding the multifaceted aspects of agricultural heritage in Siwa Oasis can inform sustainable development initiatives, tourism planning and cultural preservation efforts. Local policymakers and stakeholders can utilize these insights to develop policies that support traditional farming practices, ecotourism and community development. Furthermore, the promotion of agricultural heritage can enhance economic opportunities, food security and environmental sustainability in desert-prone regions.
Social implications
Recognition of the social elements embedded within Siwa Oasis’s agricultural heritage highlights the importance of community cohesion, gender roles and cultural practices. By acknowledging and preserving these aspects, initiatives can be developed to empower local communities, promote gender equality and preserve cultural identity. Such efforts can enhance social cohesion, strengthen cultural bonds and promote inclusivity in the development agenda of desert-prone areas.
Originality/value
This study contributes a novel conceptual framework that bridges multifunctionality concepts, sustainability principles and stakeholder perspectives to characterize agricultural heritage in desert-prone areas. It offers insights into the complex interplay of cultural, ecological, economic, social and scientific dimensions of agricultural heritage systems.
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Jorge Arenas-Gaitan, Francisco Javier Rondan-Cataluña and Patricio Esteban Ramírez-Correa
The main aim of this work is to explore the mechanisms that promote the transmission and reception of online opinions (electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) and referrals) by travel…
Abstract
Purpose
The main aim of this work is to explore the mechanisms that promote the transmission and reception of online opinions (electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) and referrals) by travel services buyers in the context of social networks services (SNS).
Design/methodology/approach
The research examines two areas of study: social identification theory and word-of-mouth communication in the virtual environment (eWOM). Based on these theories an explicative model has been proposed applying structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis to a sample of SNS users buying travel services. Partial least squares was chosen as a method to conduct an SEM analysis.
Findings
First, the results support the central role of social identification in SNS communication. Second, the results show that SNS users give greater importance to the transmission of communication than to its reception. This fact supports the idea that SNS is used more as a tool for highlighting and maintaining social status than as a channel for information.
Originality/value
The study highlights the role of social identification as the core element which drives SNS. It then analyses the development of eWOM communication in the new context provided by SNS. In addition eWOM communication is studied from two perspectives: from the standpoint of the communicator, but also the receiver. Finally, it seems appropriate to differentiate between virtual communities discussing tourism (e.g. www.TripAdvisor.com) and the SNS (e.g. www.facebook.com, www.twitter.com). While the former seems to be a growing source of information, the latter acts rather more in a social context.
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Julie Dona and Susan J. Ferguson
Structural factors during Chinese and Japanese immigration and settlement processes required families to adapt in ways that altered traditional gender behaviors. This study…
Abstract
Structural factors during Chinese and Japanese immigration and settlement processes required families to adapt in ways that altered traditional gender behaviors. This study examines how two factors – spousal immigration order and family economic structure – affected the gendered division of labor and how gender roles consequently were reconstructed for first and second generation Chinese Americans and Japanese Americans. These issues are investigated through secondary data analysis of 21 in‐depth interviews with daughters of Chinese and Japanese immigrants on the West Coast.